“No.”
Dana pursed her lips. “Party pooper.”
“What ever.” Casey tipped her head and tried one last time to get through to her friend. “Just please tell me it wasn’t Karl who did that.”
“It wasn’t Karl.” Dana pushed away from the counter, and whatever teasing mood she’d been in suddenly vanished. “Look, I only stopped by to let you know I’m taking off for a while.”
“You are? Where to?”
“Don’t know. Was thinking maybe I’d head north, up to Canada. Maybe into Vancouver. You could go with me if you want.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “State-of-mind thing and all that. We could hit Robeson, do some shopping, hook up with some Canucks. You know what they say about Canadian men. Everything’s bigger up north.”
Casey cringed and held up a hand. “Ew. It’s too early in the morning to think about that.” Especially now. Especially when all it would do was get her worked up over the naked mystery man she’d had in her bed two nights ago. The one who’d left his mark on her neck, who’d branded her skin with his heat, then vanished like a thief in the night without so much as a flippin’ word.
And she wouldn’t even let herself think about the size of his…yeah.
“It’s never too early to think about sex, as the innocent Mrs. Colbert just pointed out.” Dana glanced over her shoulder. “Speaking of which, why don’t you ring me up one of those Swan books for the road.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I’m something,” Dana agreed.
When she had her new book and the coffee was gone, Dana headed for the exit. She stopped two steps from the door and turned to study Casey for a long moment. “You know, I don’t get along with most women.”
“Really?” Casey mocked. “I never would have guessed.” Though she was a good five inches shorter than Casey, Dana had always seemed bigger, more vibrant, more alive than anyone Casey knew. If Dana was in a room, people took notice. She just had that kind of personality that filled up the space around her.
“I didn’t like you at first, you know. There was something about you that I found odd. Funny, huh? Most people say that about me.”
“You are odd, Dana. Unexpected trip to Vancouver no exception.”
Dana smiled. “Yeah, well. If we were all the same, how boring would that be?”
“Very.”
“See? Different is good.” As quickly as her smile had come, something dark crept into the edges of Dana’s pretty blue eyes. “Do me a favor, Casey.”
“Anything.”
“Watch your back. People around here aren’t what they seem.”
“Meaning…?”
“Meaning, be careful. Ted Bundy was a good-looking guy and he turned out to be a serial killer. Don’t buy things at face value. Not everyone’s as sweet as I am.” Before Casey could ask what that meant, she was being hugged. “And don’t stress over what the doctor tells you.”
“How did you—?”
“Gotta run. See you when I get back.”
Dana left the store in a rush of wind. Dry leaves scattering the sidewalk outside blew into the store before the door snapped shut, bringing with them the smell of impending rain and gloom.
How had she known? Casey stared out at Dana rushing across the street, and tried to remember if she’d mentioned the appointment. Had she written it on something here in the store? Had she told Dana about her fears and then forgotten all about their conversation?
The answer to those questions was simple: she hadn’t told anyone what she was afraid might be wrong with her, so there was no way Dana could know. She’d barely even admitted it to herself.
People around here aren’t what they seem.
What the hell did that mean?
A strange sense of foreboding slid down Casey’s spine as she stood rooted in place, watching Dana through the plate-glass windows as she walked briskly down Main Street and turned onto Halston.
They’d only known each other six months. What was Dana trying to tell her? What did she know?
Nothing, Casey decided. Dana was obviously just reading the signs. Mandy’s comment, the book, feeling emotional about her trip…Maybe she’d even seen Casey’s car parked outside the clinic yesterday.
Yeah, that had to be the answer.
Pushing the jumbled thoughts out of her mind, Casey scanned the street. Two cars were parked down the curb, but the sidewalks were empty. The coffee shop across the way was a virtual deserted island. Beyond the town square where no children played, dark clouds gathered, signaling the coming storm.
People obviously had heard the forecast of high winds and heavy rain and this time taken heed, hunkering down at home, ready to wait it out.
Everyone but her.
She turned for the checkout counter and considered the possibility of closing early. But what would she do at home alone for the rest of the day? She was on pins and needles waiting for that dreaded phone call from the doctor, unable to settle down because her brain kept pinging back and forth between what she suspected was wrong with her and what had happened the other night.
The phone rang just as she reached the stock-room door. She froze and glanced toward the counter. A strange vibration hummed along the base of her spine, near her birthmark.
Be careful. Don’t buy things at face value.
She lifted the receiver and mustered up her courage. “Once Upon a Time.”
“Casey? It’s Jill Carrow.”
Her doctor. Casey pulled in a breath. “Hi. I was hoping you’d call.”
“I have your test results back.”
No beating around the bush. This couldn’t be good. “And…?”
Jill hesitated, and in the drawn out silence, Casey heard her answer before the words were even spoken. “And I think you’d better come in so we can talk about this in person. I’m afraid we found something.”
It was dangerous to open the portal in the same place he’d exited only days before. To keep from drawing unwanted attention, Theron chose a location fifty miles from Silver Hills and hot-wired a car he lifted off an abandoned side street to drive himself back to the small town.
Man, it would just be easier if he could flash from place to place on earth like he could in Argolea. But no, that was an ability he and his Argolean kin enjoyed only in their homeland. And truth be told, if any humans saw him disappear into thin air, they’d probably freak out more than if they knew daemons roamed the lands around them.
Since he’d walked among humans most of his life, he had a fair working knowledge of their technology, so the mechanical aspects of driving weren’t a big deal. He normally wasn’t one to steal, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and he was anxious to get to Silver Hills and get this little job over with.
He slowed as he neared the town’s city limits and turned onto Main Street. A series of shops lined both sides of the street, while little banners announcing the annual Autumn Harvest Festival flapped in the wind from old-fashioned-patina light posts every two hundred feet. A few leaves desperate to hang on to summer clung to branches above the road, but their days were numbered. Mother Nature was in a foul mood, judging from the swirling black sky above, and she looked nearly ready to unleash.
It was, Theron suspected, the quintessential American small town. When he’d passed through here only days before, he hadn’t paid it much heed, but now he did. The gingerbread trim, the hand-painted signs, the dried hops strung around doors and wound into wreaths. Part of him wondered what the humans who lived here would do if they knew one of his kind lived among them.
His kind?
No. Not his kind. This time the woman he’d come to find was nothing more than a human with a little something extra. Something Isadora needed.