Dark and Stormy Knights (P.N. Elrod) (Kitty Norville 0.80)

“How do we stop it?” she asked.

“Weren’t you listening? We don’t. We just pray that we’re among the first to go.”

“So, what? You’re just giving up?”

His wide shoulders lifted in a tight shrug. “Looks like. Besides, if I live, I’ll just have to go back to killing other innocents. I’ve had enough of that to last a lifetime, and there’s no retirement option for this line of work.”

“I should take Anne and run. Even as dangerous as the roads are, they can’t be as bad as whatever’s coming.”

“You can run. Anne can’t. Wherever she goes is where the thing will show up. She’s the one drawing it here.”

Jordan refused to believe that. She refused to give up and let some beast eat her daughter. “There has to be something we can do.”

His dark eyebrows twitched in irritation. “I was trying to think of an idea when you bashed me over the head.”

“I’m not sorry I did it.”

“Gee. Really?” He rolled his eyes. “I suppose we could wait until the last minute. As soon as the thing shows up, you two can run and I’ll hold it off for as long as I can. The town will still be destroyed, but you two might make it.”

“How can you say that so casually? You’re talking about the possible death of hundreds of people, yourself included.”

He gave a negligent shrug. “Wrong place, wrong time. Life sucks.”

“You’re serious. You’re going to stay behind and fight this supposedly unstoppable thing.”

“Unless you’ve got some better ideas.”

Beneath them, the ground began to shudder. The mug of hot chocolate shimmied to the edge of the table and toppled over, shattering on impact.

The man’s eyes widened. “Time’s up. It’s coming. Cut me loose.”

Jordan grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself. “How did you do that? How did you make the floor shake?”

“I didn’t. This isn’t a trick.”

“It has to be.”

“So, you think I found some way to rig your building to shake without you knowing it in order to convince you to let me go because I knew before I walked in here that you were going to manage to tie me up? Is that more believable than monsters?”

He had a point. He couldn’t have known he’d end up trapped unless he was psychic or had a time machine—neither of which seemed any more plausible than monsters.

“I’m not lying to you,” he said. “How could I know about your girl’s dreams unless I’ve been through this before?”

“You could have broken into her therapist’s office and stolen the records.”

He snorted in disgust. “Why? Why the hell would I do that?”

“I don’t know. None of this makes any sense.”

The floor trembled again, the motion swelling like the crest of a wave rising from the ocean. Chairs toppled. Dishes rattled on their shelves.

“We’re out of time,” said the man, his voice tight with urgency.

Jordan didn’t want to believe him. She wanted to wait until the police showed up and helped her straighten out this mess. But he was growing more desperate, struggling to stand even though she knew he’d simply fall over again. His powerful body strained to move, making a vein on the side of his head pop out.

“Please,” he said, looking right at her, hiding nothing. “Let me try to help. It probably won’t make a difference, but at least I won’t die lying down.”

Whatever was going on, he believed what he was saying. Of course, that could simply mean he was insane.