Trajectory

“Yeah, I asked him where the hell Layla was, and he said she wasn’t home. I asked him why he was putting weapons in her house if she wasn’t there, because it seemed weird. He jumped at me and knocked me to the ground. He held me down and talked right in my ear about forgetting and dark magic, and then I was back home.”

“Layla’s place, the one near the university?”

“Yes,” Deidra said. “Can I go now?”

“Yes, you can go, thank you. Thank you, Grandmother, now we’re getting somewhere. I don’t know where we’ve gotten, but it’s somewhere.”

Ash was still sitting with the gun to Zazie’s head, so Chloe wasn’t really sure how they were going to get out of the room. She’d done a quick little inventory of the room and noticed Layla had next to nothing that could be used as a weapon in their defense.

“So there’s a couple of things you need to know about my plans for the day,” Ash said like they were just talking about going to dinner together and not his psychotic plan to kill shifters and expose them to the world.

“What could we possibly need to know that you haven’t already told us?” Chloe said, starting to get irritated with his penchant for sharing with them things they didn’t want to know of.

“The festival is today and I happen to know two people who will be there.”

Chloe’s heart sank. She’d completely forgotten all about the festival. Her dad entered into the craft fair every year. It was mostly for people who collected junk and sold junk. It was called a festival because they had it catered by different vendors and could justify it that way. She should have paid more attention. The weird soup he made was probably for the festival. She could have warned them Ash was coming. She should have given them the heads-up.

“What are you going to do to them?”

Ash pulled out two pistols and strapped them into the holsters on his pants, then pulled out a shotgun as well. It seemed like a lot of fire power for a guy holding two women hostage.

“I’m going to scare them into shifting.”

“Not everyone has such a lack of control like I do,” she said. “It won’t work with everyone.”

“Maybe not, but they do have that self-preservation instinct, and when I kill a couple of people, they will indeed shift to save their skins.”

“You’re crazy,” Zazie screamed at him.

“You’re going to leave us unattended and go shoot up the square? The police will have you in seconds.”

“I have an escape plan, and I have someone to watch you.”

A girl younger than him came in. She had dark black hair and black clothes. She already had a gun in her hand and pointed it at them, smiling.

“Meet Sarmia, my little sister.”

“What?” Zazie looked at the girl in shock. “She looks just like her.”

“I know. Mother dearest and Father had one more child after they brought Samuel into our lives and she’s just as evil as Mother was. She doesn’t even care about my goals,” he laughed, “she just likes that someone will die.”

“Why can’t we all just get along?” Zazie asked.

“Are you going to start singing, Zazie? My father didn’t care when he ripped my mother to shreds.”

“Maybe she deserved it. She sounds like an evil bitch.” Chloe barely got the last word out before pain exploded in her cheek. Sarmia had hit her with the butt of her pistol right beneath the eye.

“You don’t get to talk about my mother like that, you stupid shifter.” Chloe felt the blood run down her face warm and past her lips. She probably should have kept her mouth shut.

“So I’m off to do the deed, love bug.” He kissed Sarmia on the forehead.

“God’s speed, dear brother.” Chloe thought whatever he was going to do had nothing to do with God. Her poor parents had no idea what to expect.

Ash walked out whistling and Sarmia turned back to the two of them. “I’m going to have fun with the two of you. You’ve ever seen black magic used to torture a person?”

“No, and you shouldn’t be using that stop, child, you’re poisoning your body.”

Sarmia laughed loudly at Zazie’s attempt to lecture her. Chloe had a feeling they were in for a bad time. She stood with the gun still pointed at Zazie’s head and closed her eyes.