She released a weary sigh.
Leontes' flat voice crackled the silence. "Let me guess. You looked at the card."
"It's the Midnight Poison," Kiara said. "Which means all this killing has to do with me, doesn't it? Why didn't you say something?"
"We do not know that for certain."
"Yeah, right. Just because I don't remember doesn't mean I'm stupid."
"Of course not," Leontes said with growing tension. "I simply did not want to-"
"Send me off the deep end?"
"No. I did not want to involve you until I had more facts."
"And more dead bodies."
She shut the dead men's eyes, then wiped her bloodied fingers on the skirt of her rain-soaked nightgown. That was better. Sort of. She was not fond of dead things. Especially ones that seemed to stare at her with accusing eyes.
Above her, the floorboards groaned.
She spun, dress fanning out, hair flinging water droplets to mix with the blood that spattered the wall. "He's upstairs!"
In a voice that shook as he fought for control, Leontes said, "Kiara, trust me when I say you are out of your depth here. Get out now. Please."
He was probably right. And it made her angry. She turned to leave when movement caught her attention. She twirled on the balls of her feet, ready for the worst.
CHAPTER 11
But it was not a deadly assassin wielding a scythe ready to lop off her head.
It was a puppy.
The white-blond bundle of fur padded out of an upstairs doorway, then sat down and barked.
"What was that noise? Are you outside?" Leontes asked. "Are there guard dogs?"
"No, it's upstairs."
"Well, then do not go upstairs!"
With a running start, she leapt, landing in a crouch balancing on the second story banister. "I'm upstairs."
"It is as if I am not even speaking to you," Leontes muttered, his breathing labored.
She heard more screeching tires. In the distance this time. Not just through the phone. He would arrive soon.
The puppy saw Kiara, whimpered and trotted toward her, leaving a trail of tiny red paw prints in its wake. In the room behind the puppy, another body lay broken and unmoving. Up on the landing, chairs and tables lay scattered, knocked over from a violent encounter, blue and yellow velvet pillows strewn about, and vases broken into shattered bits.
As the puppy's whimpers escalated into a howl, its body contorted. Fur receded in a slow ripple. Scrawny limbs cracked and bubbled into chubby arms and legs. The puppy's face collapsed inward, and a swollen, red-cheeked face of a human baby wailed forth. For a few moments longer, sharp needle-like teeth remained, webs of gooey saliva stringing between them. One dog leg kicked wildly from the hip, looking very much like some mad scientist had sewn it on. Then with a slurping sound, all animal features disappeared and there was just a little human baby, naked, tears streaming down its swollen rosy cheeks.
"Are you crying?!" Leontes screeched.
Kiara's face softened. "No, that's the werewolf baby. She's so cute!"
"Werewolf baby?"
"Shush, it's okay little one." Kiara slipped off the banister and opened her arms. "Come here. I've got you."
Leontes shouted a savage command. "Do not touch the baby!"
Kiara reeled back.
"Do not look at the baby! Do not smell the baby! Do not taste the baby! Do not-"
"Do anything to the baby." Kiara popped to her feet. "Got it. Jeez! But why would I taste the baby? Do you think I'd eat a baby? That's more than a little insulting. And what if the assassin comes back?"
"Protect the baby."
"How do I protect the baby without touching the baby?"
"I missed you earlier," came a raspy voice.
Kiara whirled. The phone flew out of her hand. It banged against the railing and clattered over the edge.
Downstairs stood a man cloaked in black, his face hidden in the shadows of his hood. He caught her phone in his open palm. His fingers closed around it. In his fist, the technology crushed to dust and Leontes' frantic voice faded to silence.
"Oleander," Kiara breathed.
"Kiara Blackwood." He inclined his head. "Pity I missed you earlier in your room. Since you have saved me the effort of tracking you down again, I offer you my thanks."
"No 'thanks' necessary, scumbag."
"Scumbag?" He chuckled. "Tell me, what do you remember of Oleander?"
"That you're a murderer. Scumbag," she said. "And I'm going to stop you."
"I see," he said. "Unfortunately, I have no time for conversation. It's been a killer of a night, so to speak, and I am tired." Inside the hood, red eyes with slitted pupils flashed in the darkness. "But there is one last piece of business I must attend to. Please, step aside."