Hunted (17 page)

“And you’re sure you saw someone else out there with…it?” Chase questioned her.

She nodded her answer.

“Damn, Lanie!  Whoever was out there could have killed you!” Chase told her, his hand tightening on her knee.

Whoever…whatever…was out there had
tried
to kill her.  Whoever…whatever…was out there
would
have killed her if…
he
hadn’t been there.

“Are you sure he didn’t see you?” Chase went on in a stunned tone.

Yes.  He had seen her.  “He didn’t see me,” she squeaked out, turning her gaze out the window and into the darkness.

“Well, even if he did see you, you’ll be okay,” he told her.  “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Lanie appreciated the boy’s sentiment.  But, if he…if it…decided to come after her, she knew that Chase Wylie would not be able to help her.  She knew…she’d seen…

She’d seen…

CHAPTER NINE

It was two o’clock in the morning and Lanie was sitting in the kitchen with Johnna, Devyn, and Chase, watching her dad pace up and down the room, raking his hands through his hair and trying very hard not to give in and yell at his daughter.  Again.

“Tell me again what happened, Lanie,” he said, his voice strained and his blue eyes sharp.  “Go through it all one more time and don’t leave anything out.”

Her father was angry with her, but there was something else in his tone, an edge that Lanie had never heard before and one that brought an inexplicable tightness to her throat.  It almost sounded like…fear.  Only that couldn’t be because Sam Bancroft wasn’t afraid of anything.

Drawing in a steadying breath, Lanie repeated the events that had unfolded in the park. She’d had to leave the candle light vigil because all the crying had upset her.  She’d walked a little ways into the park, had stopped to collect herself, and that’s when she’d seen the shape lying on the ground and the person standing next to it.  That person had light, almost white-blonde hair and had been wearing dark clothing.  She hadn’t been able to make out the details, but she was certain it was not the young man she’d seen near the cemetery the day before.  Once she’d realized what she was seeing, she’d turned around and ran straight back to the candle light vigil.

The story came out easier this time and she would stick with that version until she had no choice but to change it.

“So, was there another…someone…out there?” Devyn asked quietly, her eyes enormous in her face.

Sam let out a breath and stopped pacing for a minute.  “Yes.  We found another body in the park.”

“A body?  So, the person was…
dead
?” Johnna whispered the word as if it was an epithet.

“Yes.  The person was dead,” Sam answered, sounding official.  “But, I can’t give out any more details until I inform the next of kin.”

Lanie swallowed hard, her heart thudding.  “Dad, was it like what happened…to Stacy?”

“I can’t tell you that right now,” Sam said, but Lanie was looking at his face and she knew, without he dad having to say a word, that it was the same. 

The person lying out in the park had been killed the same way Stacy Miller had been killed.  And she knew, without a doubt, that neither Stacy nor the other person had their throat
slit
.  She knew the Sheriff’s office had their own reasons for telling everyone that Stacy had her throat slit, but that wasn’t the truth.

She knew.  She’d seen…

“You kids don’t need to worry too much about this right now, but none of you should be out running around on your own,” Sam said seriously.  “And Lanie, you will not leave this house unless someone is with you.  If one of your friends can’t be with you, then you do not go out, is that clear?”

Lanie nodded.  Her dad didn’t have to worry about that.  She would not be leaving the house, alone or otherwise, until she’d heard from the young man who’d saved her life.

“What…a-about the other person?” she hedged uneasily.  “The person with the yellow car?  Are you still looking for him?”

“I am,” came the answer.  “If he’s still in town, I want to talk to him, find out what he’s doing here and when he plans to move on.”

“But, it wasn’t him.  It just…wasn’t,” Lanie stated as firmly as she dared.  “I-I don’t want someone who didn’t do anything to get in trouble.”

“No one is in trouble yet.  But, I have to question anyone I can think to question, anyone who stands out, just to be thorough.  There have been two deaths in the past forty eight hours.  And I don’t know how many people might be involved,” Sam stated, his words falling like stones in the silent room.

As far as Lanie had seen, there appeared to be only one…
person
…involved.

Sam pulled in a deep breath and raked his hand through his hair again.  “It’s late and tomorrow is a school day.  Everyone needs to get some rest,” he said, sounding tired himself.  “I’ll drive you home, Chase.  Lanie, make sure you lock the door behind me.  I have to go back out to the scene and wait for sunrise so we can start processing things there, so don’t expect me home for a while.”

Lanie opened her mouth to warn her dad about what was out there in the darkness, but she quickly snapped it shut.  She couldn’t tell him what she’d seen, she couldn’t say anything about the…
monster
that might come swooping out of the shadows to tear and claw at him.  Could she?

No.  No, she couldn’t.  If she told him…if he believed her…he would only wind up getting himself killed.  He couldn’t interfere.  The young man who’d saved her life was the one who knew how to fight…him.

“Come on, Chase,” Sam said, motioning to the boy to follow him toward the kitchen door.  “Lanie, I’ll text you in the morning and tell you when to come to the station to give your statement.”

Lanie slid off her stool and followed her dad and Chase down the hallway and out into the foyer, where she found herself suddenly grabbing her dad in a hard hug.  “Be careful, Daddy,” she whispered against his shirt, breathing in his familiar scent.

“I’m always careful, squirt,” Sam told her, hugging her back.  “Try and get some rest.  I’ll see you this afternoon.  Okay?”

“Okay,” she said to him, holding on until she had no choice but to let go.

Sam dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and stepped out into the night, leaving Lanie to stand at the front door and watch him as he climbed into the patrol car.  A fear that she’d never experienced before washed through her, bringing her heart up into her throat.  She didn’t want her dad to go out into the darkness.  She knew what was out there.  She knew.  She’d seen…And she wouldn’t know what to do if her dad didn’t come back to her.  Her dad was all she had.  If a monster…took him…

Lanie stepped out onto the porch, wanting to scream out, wanting to stop her dad from leaving the house, but it was too late.  The patrol car was already out of the driveway and heading down the street.  As the car disappeared around the corner, Lanie went back inside and closed the door, pushing the deadbolt into place and trying to block out the memory of those gleaming red eyes and long, needle-like teeth, trying to convince herself that she had nothing to worry about.  Her dad would come back to her, safe and sound. 

Her dad would come back to her, safe and sound. 

Her dad would come back to her, safe and sound…

Maybe if she said it enough times, it would actually happen.

Sleep eluded Lanie that night.  Her mind simply would not let go of what had happened to her in the park.  She could not stop seeing that face…that face…it was the face of a monster. 

Everything had happened so fast in the park, it all seemed like a horrible dream now, and though she had only seen that face for just a flash, for just a split second it seemed, it had been burned into her mind’s eye.  She would never be able to un-see it. 

That face…that face…was the face of a monster.  That face…that face…was the face of a demon. 

No.  Not a demon.  There was a word for what
he
was.  A word that she didn’t want to even think because it sounded so utterly ridiculous.  But, that’s what
he
was.  She knew.  She’d seen…

She was having a hard time getting her mind to come to terms with what her eyes had seen, yet she
had
seen…him.  And he’d tried to kill her.  In that split second when he’d come flying at her out of the night, she’d known what he wanted to do to her.  He’d wanted to sink those teeth into her and…that was as far as her mind would allow her to go with the scenario.

What a terrible way to die that would have been.  If that was how Stacy had died…and she just
knew
it was…she shuddered to think what the girl’s last few moments on earth had been like.  Or what hers would have been like if the young man hadn’t been there.

She wished she could talk to that young man.  She wished she could ask him…what he was.  She wanted to ask him if he was like the monster who’d tried to carry her away into the night.  He must be like that monster if he was able to fight…it…off.  And despite the fact that he had saved her life, she honestly didn’t know how she felt about that possibility.

She thought about those seconds when she was being held in the arms of that pale, handsome…monster.  Now, a few hours later, those seconds seemed like a blurry jumble, a confusion of strange thoughts and odd images, thoughts of how handsome the man was, images of his blue eyes and pale skin.  Those few seconds made absolutely no sense to her.  In fact, she couldn’t even be sure she was remembering them right.  Maybe she wasn’t.  Because she should have been remembering herself screaming and fighting and clawing instead of looking into those eyes and thinking about how beautiful they were.  Maybe she’d actually struck her head on the ground and her memories had gotten all mixed up. 

However, her memories of the ruggedly handsome young man who’d saved her life seemed to be very clear and concise.  She remembered, in vivid detail, every second with him, ever moment from the instant she’d seen him standing over the shape lying on the ground, to him firing the crossbow into the monster coming at her, to his ordering her to get home and stay there until she heard from him.  Which she fully intended on doing, even if that meant she would have to skip going to school that morning.  She was not leaving the house until she’d heard from him because she knew what was out there.  She knew.  She’d seen…

With her thoughts winding up right back at that shape flying at her from out of the shadows, Lanie decided to get up and go downstairs for a glass of water.  Lying in bed, squashed in between Devyn and Johnna, who were both sleeping soundly, was useless.  She wasn’t going to be able to rest, not with her thoughts on a continuous loop that she couldn’t break. 

Carefully, Lanie climbed out of bed, having to go over top of Johnna to do it, but the girl didn’t even move a muscle.  Seeing Johnna lying there, sleeping so soundly, caused a waft of guilt to crest inside Lanie.

Johnna Delaney was obsessed with a certain…assumedly mythical creature, thanks to all those awful novels and movies that were out there.  And Lanie knew, that deep down, Johnna actually believed those creatures existed.  Johnna actually
believed
, though she’d never admit it, that someday she, too, would find her own brooding, tortured lover who would want to sweep her away into eternity.

How pissed Johnna would be that her best friend wasn’t sharing with her the knowledge that those creatures were really roaming the earth.

She actually might have told Johnna the truth of it, had the creature she’d encountered in the park been one of those haunted, ruminating, overly handsome, perfectly coiffed types that walked in slow motion and also happened to be embedded with dazzling gemstones that glittered in the sunlight. 

That sort of being was soft and glamorous and alluring, if not completely annoying.  What she had come across in the park, though, that being was not so soft and alluring, nor was he all mesmerizingly iridescent.  It was probably better if Johnna kept her dreams set on the twinkly vision in her head.  At least that one wouldn’t tear her throat out and leave her lying in a heap in the middle of a deserted park.