“You’re right.” Claire rubbed her face. Heaven above, she was tired. “You can let me go, and tell me what you already have in mind.”
“We go in low, quiet, and fast. Eric.” He stepped up, fists clenched, his jaw working. “You will cover the back door. No argument—I do not need your temper involved at this point.”
“Any more insults before I leave?”
Marcus raised one eyebrow. “They will wait.”
That pulled the hint of a smile from Eric. “See you inside.”
He took off, checking the side of the building before he slipped around the corner. Marcus looked down at her. “Ready?”
Claire took in a breath. “If she’s hurt—”
“We will deal with it. Go.”
She opened the door just enough to slip through and crouched against the wall, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Her heart skipped when she saw the figure, tied to a pillar at the other end of the wide space. Just like before.
Squashing the desire to run flat out across the warehouse, Claire skirted the edge, caught sight of Marcus doing the same on the opposite wall, his black clothes the perfect camouflage. She sprinted once she got directly across from Annie.
Blood puddled the concrete around her, matted the blonde curls.
“No—” Claire dropped to the floor, reached out, her hand shaking. She gripped Annie’s chin and eased her head up. Her heart stopped, then burst back into life when she realized it wasn’t Annie. Her blood-slicked fingers searched for a pulse, knowing already there would be none. Cold surrounded the young woman, edged with the violence of her death. “Another one you will pay for, Natasha,” she whispered, gently closing the wide blue eyes. Another one to add to my list of blame.
“Gods.” Marcus knelt beside her, brushed long fingers over the blonde curls. “We will not let her death be in vain.”
“If this isn’t Annie,” Eric’s voice turned them around, “then where the hell is she?”
Claire pushed to her feet, faced the rage pouring off him.
“I don’t know. I won’t stop until I find her, Eric. I love her as well.”
He blinked, obviously startled by her words. “Claire—”
“I need to think.” She slapped away Marcus’ hand and all but ran across the warehouse, shutting herself in the glassed-in office that took up one corner of the open ground floor.
Once out of sight, she sank to the floor and let the despair in. Afternoon sunlight streaked the floor, a reminder that time was running out for Annie. And Claire had no way to find her.
Ignoring the ache in her leg, she drew it up with the other and lowered her forehead to her knees. There was no way to track Annie, not with her power running close to empty. And Natasha would have her cloaked, just in case Claire was desperate enough to—
Her new cell phone rang, the default ringtone harsh and jangling.
She fumbled it out of her jacket pocket, looked at the display, recognized the number. It was Annie’s cell.
Taking in a deep breath, she answered.
“Annie better be alive, Natasha.”
“Claire—not even a hello before the demand?”
Natasha’s voice made her skin crawl. She heard the beast behind it, the demon who used her cousin like a suit, slowly burning her out from the inside. It was what they all did, when they found themselves banished to this plane, this earth.
Closing her eyes, Claire asked the question she knew Natasha waited to hear.
“What do you want?”
“Now we come to it.” Natasha let out a sigh. “Your Annie is alive, and will stay in that condition. I only ask one thing from you, darling Claire. That you come to me, in your true form. No more hiding—it is time to go home.”
Gripping the phone, Claire let out her breath.
“I’ll be there.”
“I will know if you try to fool me. And Annie will pay—”
“No tricks. Now tell me where.”
“The cliffs, near the main beach. Do you know—”
“I know it. I need an hour.”
“You shall have it. Cousin.”
The call disconnected. Claire stared at the wall, heart pounding, every moment from this one bringing her closer to the end. She had been expecting it for a long time, surprised as each decade went by that she still remained undiscovered, unmolested. Safe.
She could not have chosen a better reason for her sacrifice. It would save her best friend.
Dropping the phone, she stood, and turned to find both men staring at her through the glass. She moved forward, unlocked the door, opened it, and looked at each of them.
“I’m going to need your help.”
*
Claire kept her gaze on Marcus while she explained, without actually using the words that would make it crystal clear to Eric. She wanted to delay the moment she would see the revulsion in his face for as long as she could.