Page 85 of Virgin Sacrifice

“Good boy,” I said with a mischievous wink and disappeared into the night.

Chapter thirty-eight

Locke

The tall orange flames that filled the fireplace crackled and danced in a timeless choreography, casting wicked shadows about Lucian’s office. A fitting backdrop to the wicked deeds that went down here.

“The toxicology report from the latest victim was finalized. Glory Van Holt was found with large quantities of GHB in her system, which she would have consumed shortly before her murder. Given that she was last seen at a party on campus before she disappeared, someone could have slipped her the drug there.”

“This is the townie with the brother, the sports guy, right?” Everest interjected.

“I think when you say ‘the sports guy’ you mean the starting quarterback at Hollow Oak, and no, this is the shipping magnate’s granddaughter,” Lucian replied drily.

My cousin had no patience for theatrics, except for Everest’s. The man could get away with murder, quite literally, and Lucian wouldn’t bat an eye.

“Which raises the question of who provided the drugs. Everyone knows that the Blackwells don’t allow for the sale of date rape drugs in town or on campus; it’s distasteful.”

“Looks like your competitors found a market you weren’t meeting the demand for,” I said, earning myself a dirty look from both Lucian and Alister. “Don’t blame me for pointing out the simple rules of supply and demand.”

“You would be correct if this were a free market, but it’s not. Our town, our land, our rules,” Lucian said dismissively.

“It’s like Criminal Enterprises 101, Locke.” Nixon snickered. “Or do you not teach that in your classes?”

“Maybe if you had ever attended classes, you would know,” I sneered.

“You barely attend half your own lectures,” he shot back.

“Must be nice to be able to bully your TAs into doing all the heavy lifting. Maybe they should name you the Fancy-Pants Chair of Delegating and Avoiding Responsibility.”

“Listen, you pompous little shit,” I ground out. Nixon knew damn well that Lucian had been keeping me busy this semester, and my work at Hollow Oak had suffered for it.

“Enough,” my older cousin barked out. “If you’ve done your petty squabbling, we need to focus back on the matter at hand.

“It seems most likely that whoever killed the girl acquired the drug from whomever has been running drugs under our noses. If we find the killer, we can find the source of the drugs and put an end to this.

“Nixon and Alister, I want you to find out everything you can about the Van Holt girl and what happened the night she disappeared.”

“Maybe if they had been doing their job all along, we wouldn’t need a dead body just to find a simple drug dealer,” I muttered under my breath.

“Locke.” Lucian’s tone was severe and vicious. I was pushing my luck, but I was sick to fucking death of the whole mess.

Luckily, before I could open my mouth again and dig myself deeper into trouble, Everest decided to speak up.

“I don’t like this. I want to tell her,” he announced, fiddling with his phone. I had a sickening feeling in my gut that I knew exactly who he was talking about.

“You will stay the fuck away from her,” Alister rasped, confirming my suspicions.

The insidious minx had managed to crawl her way into my classroom, corrupt my cousins, and now even Everest Collins, the most remorseless, sadistic killer I had ever had the displeasure of knowing, was caught up in her orbit. With any luck he’d kill her eventually as his obsession waned, but right now, I wondered if it couldn’t come soon enough.

“What, worried you can’t handle some healthy competition, Ali?” Everest said with a manic gleam in his eyes.

“No, he’s worried that she is going to wind up in itty-bitty pieces on your basement floor,” Nixon snorted before throwing back the rest of his drink and turning to look at his twin. “You’re getting soft on her Ali, better to let Ever have her.”

“You’re just bitter she only stabbed you with a pen,” Everest muttered, turning his attention back to his phone.

“As opposed to what?” Nixon grumbled while his twin merely sat stewing in silence, glaring at Everest as if he had any influence over what the madman would do.

Lucian slammed his hands down on his desk. “I said enough!”

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