Night's Master (Children of The Night 3)

I switched off the radio. Two people had gone missing on the same night. That didn't sound good. I didn't want to believe that anything bad had happened to Susie, so I searched my mind for some other explanation. Maybe she and Mark had run off together. I shook my head. Even if such a far-fetched scenario was true, Susie would never have left her kids behind. She might leave her husband, but never her sons. What if Mark was the father of Susie's new baby and Rick had found out and…and what? Killed them both and buried the bodies? I shook my head. There had to be another explanation, something a little less gruesome.

I couldn't imagine Susie sneaking out to meet another man. As for Mark Littlejohn, I had never met the man and knew nothing about him except that he owned a roller-skating rink on the outskirts of town.

Susie was still much on my mind when I opened the store later that morning. Who would want to hurt a pregnant woman? Poor Susie…I thrust the thought from my mind. Until I knew otherwise, I refused to believe the worst.

Edna and Pearl stopped by later that afternoon. Instead of their usual colorful attire, they both wore black from head to foot, relieved only by tinkling silver bracelets, dangling earrings in the shape of crosses, and silver necklaces.

“Isn't it awful, dear?” Pearl murmured. “Poor Susie! And Mark. Such a nice boy.”

Edna clucked softly. “I knew something like this would happen, what with all those Vampires and Werewolves stalking the streets after dark.”

Pearl laid her hand on my arm. “Susie was a friend of yours, wasn't she?”

“Yes. Have you heard anything?”

“No, only what they said on the news this morning. But when people go missing in Oak Hollow…” Pearl's voice trailed off.

Edna nodded. “It's so sad. I don't know how Rick will raise those boys without her.”

“Stop it! She's not dead. I can't believe it. I won't!”

“I know how you must feel, dear,” Pearl said kindly. “But it's better to face the truth, however ugly it might be, and then put it behind you.”

“We're on our way over to see Rick and offer our condolences,” Edna said. “We just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”

“Be sure to go right home tonight,” Pearl said.

“And lock your doors,” Edna added.

“I will. If you hear anything…”

“We'll let you know, dear,” Pearl said.

I stared after them. They had to be wrong. Susie couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be.

I was thinking about closing the shop early when Rafe arrived.

It was the first time I had seen him when it was still light outside. “You're here early.”

“I heard about Susie.”

Tears stung my eyes. “Do you know what happened to her?”

“No, but I have a pretty good idea.”

“She's not…”

“I don't know. I was going to go look for her, but I wanted to make sure you were all right first.”

“I'm fine,” I said. “And I'm coming with you.”

“I'm not sure that's a good idea.”

“We're wasting time.”

He didn't argue further. I grabbed my purse, locked up the store, and followed him to his car. By the time we reached the cutoff to Brawley Woods, the sun had set, plunging the world into darkness. There were only a few houses out this way, and they were set a good distance from the road. There were no streetlights, no illumination of any kind save for the car's headlights and a few scattered stars.

I tapped my fingertips on the armrest, trying not to think about what we might find.

Thirty minutes later, Rafe pulled off the road. There was no sign of Susie's car. I supposed her husband or the police had taken it back to town. How many other people had disappeared that no one knew about? I fingered the cross at my throat, wondering if it would really protect me.

Rafe came around to open the door for me, and I got out of the car. “Now what?”

He signaled for me to be quiet; then, closing his eyes, he lifted his head and sniffed the wind.

He stood so still and blended into the shadows so perfectly, it was almost as if he was a part of the night. He looked so otherworldly standing there that it sent a shiver down my spine. The word Vampire whispered in the back of my mind, reminding me once again that there was an immense gulf between us that I could never cross.

Abruptly, Rafe took my hand in his. “This way,” he said, and plunged into the woods. The trees grew thick here, their branches intertwining to form a thick canopy overhead. The ground was covered with pinecones, bits of bark, and broken branches.

As I stumbled along behind Rafe, I wished my night vision was as good as his obviously was. I couldn't help thinking that looking for someone in Brawley Woods was like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack. The woods covered thirteen square miles of ground that were crisscrossed with deep crevices and gullies and pockmarked by dozens of caves. What chance did we have of finding Susie, if she was even out here?

We had been walking about twenty minutes when Rafe stopped. He sniffed the air again; then, veering to the right, he continued on.

The trees weren't so thick here. I shivered as the wind shifted. Glancing up, I saw that dark gray clouds were gathering overhead.

Another ten minutes ticked into eternity, and then I heard it, a funny whimpering sound, almost like an animal in pain. It made the short hairs prickle along my nape. “What was that?”

Before he could answer, I saw a dark shape huddled on the ground beside a tree. My foot hit a branch, and the creature's head jerked up, its eyes wild.

“Susie!” I stared at her in disbelief. She was naked, and as the moon emerged from behind the clouds, I saw that she had been crying.

“Go away!” She scooted backward, her hands awkwardly covering her nakedness.

“Susie, it's me.”

“Go away!” A sob was wrenched from deep inside her as she continued to scramble backward. “Please, just go away.”

“Susie, listen to me.” Rafe's voice, low and mesmerizing, brought her to a halt. “We're here to help you.”

“No one can help me,” she cried, her voice filled with soul-deep anguish. “No one!”

“Trust me.” Rafe moved toward her as he spoke. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

She looked up at him, her arms crossed over her br**sts, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. Leaves and debris were tangled in her hair, there were scratches on her arms and legs, scratches that were healing, fading, even as I watched. Most troubling of all was the dried blood on her inner thighs. Had she been raped? I glanced around, wondering where her clothes were.