Shadows (Bayou Magic 1)

Sure enough, about a half-mile later, a small house comes into view. The back side of it butts up to the swamp and has a rickety porch suspended over the expansive water beyond it. The house is small, and it leans to one side. But the roof has been recently patched.

I stop the car and wait while Asher and his men jump out of their vehicles and surround the house, all of them armed.

Less than three minutes after they break down the door, Asher comes out and gestures for us to follow him.

“He’s not here,” he says as we walk through the front door. “But we found the women, all still alive.”

“Whoa.” Millie’s eyes are wide as she stands in the living room and stares at the photos on the walls. “It’s all three of us.”

“He told me that we were all part of his stupid plan. I was just first because I’m the oldest,” Brielle says and takes Millie’s hand in hers. “He had plans for you and Daph, too, but he didn’t say what they were.”

“I killed him.” The girl’s the first to be escorted out, wrapped in a blanket. “At least, I think I did. I stabbed him, and then he hit me and ran away. But there’s no way he could survive that. I stabbed him in the gut.”

“Get men out to the swamp,” Asher orders one of his men. “We’re going to find that fucker.”

“Sarah.” Brielle approaches the other woman carefully. “Do you remember me?”

Glassy eyes turn to Brielle, and then Sarah starts to cry.

“You found us,” she says and wraps her arms around Brielle. “I did what you said. I stabbed him.”

“You are a fucking badass, Sarah Chandler. I’m so damn proud of you.”

“We all are,” Daphne says, joining in on the hug. Millie wraps her arms around all of them, and they stand for a long moment, giving each other comfort and strength.

And if I know these girls at all, they’re adding a little magic to the mix right now for Sarah, as well.

Once all the abducted girls are loaded into ambulances and taken to the hospital, I join Asher back in the killer’s playroom.

I stop at the doorway and take it all in. I’ve seen other lairs, and I’ve seen more blood, but I don’t know if I’ve seen this level of absolute evil.

Three toddler-sized beds line one wall, each with a bare, soiled mattress. An electric chair is in the corner, and the opposite wall boasts the biggest workbench I’ve ever seen in my life, with tools of all shapes and sizes lining shelves above the bench. They’ve all been cleaned, but forensics will lift blood samples from the tools and the counter. And, most likely, the floor, beds, and chair.

“Fucking hell,” Asher says, his hands on his hips as he stares at dozens of brunette braids hung on the wall. “Thirty-six.”

“He’s killed far more than that,” I reply as I join him.

“Why didn’t he keep more trophies?”

“Oh, he most likely did. We’ll probably find them all somewhere in this house. These are just the trophies he was admiring for killing Brielle.”

Asher turns to me. “How are you able to stomach this?”

“I won’t lie to you, this one isn’t easy because it is Brielle, and she’s mine. No case is a walk in the park, but this one makes me want to kill him with my bare hands. That doesn’t happen often.”

“We’re searching the house as we speak, so we’ll discover anything else there is to find. Did you see the shrines in the bedrooms?”

“Yeah.” I swallow hard. “He’s apparently been obsessed with them since they were kids. They grew up in a house about a mile from here, and Brielle told me he used to be their handyman and that he had an affair with their mother.”

“Sick fuck,” Asher says.

“We found something!”

Both Asher and I hurry to the master bedroom where a team has been searching.

“I pulled up this rug, and sure enough, there was a hole cut in the floor,” Officer Thibideaux says. “And I found this.”

He points to the box sitting on the bed. It’s made of wood and has something sculpted into the lid.

“It’s a star,” I say, staring down at it.

“It’s a pentagram.” I spin at Brielle’s voice behind me. “I couldn’t figure out why he could see me when I was dream-walking, or how he could touch me in the dream. I’m pretty sure Sarah’s sensitive and may not know it, and that’s why she could see me. But him? I couldn’t figure it out at first.

“But after being here, in his house, and having my own shields down somewhat, I know. Not only is he psychic, but he’s also a witch. That’s a pentagram. I don’t know how long he’s been practicing. I don’t know how powerful he was or where he learned his craft. I don’t know if he comes from a line of witches. But I’ll start doing some research and ask around. But you all need to know before you open that box that it most likely has a protective spell on it, and it may have a booby trap hex, as well.”