Lure

  Chapter 30

  CEARO

  “Are you really surprised?” I asked. No one had a response. I had not thought this would come as a shock to her. Willa really should have known I was dangerous. With so many stories, she should know at least some of them are true. I thought back. They definitely knew that I had killed the guards when I first broke them out. I guess that was it though. Still, this was not much of a stretch.

  Willa asked, “What do you do to them?”

  “Kill them. If it is near here, feed them to the kelpies.” Eric audibly gulped, and he looked over his shoulder like the kelpies were going to come through the door at any moment. Willa seemed to be re-evaluating her entire relationship with me. I watched her calmly, waiting for her assessment. She did not yet look up.

  David had been watching me carefully, like he did not want to pass judgement even though the evidence was clear. “Why?” he asked.

  “Why what?”

  “The boogeyman only gets people who do bad things.” He looked to Willa for confirmation that the stories about me were along the same lines. She did not give him any, but he went on anyway. “Why do you kill them?” he asked me.

  David was so faithful. Of course he would look for a respectable reason. I could not say every kill was justifiable, but I thought the ones in the last few centuries had been. I focused on those. “There are rules here that must be followed. Can you imagine what would happen if the humans found out about us again?”

  Willa nodded. She had not been alive during the war with humans, when we were first relegated to this realm, but her father was. She had heard the stories. She knew it could not be allowed to happen. “So why did you let me go?” she whispered.

  I tensed. I had broken the rules. I could not tell her the reason. “Did you reveal us to the humans?”

  She shook her head.

  “I knew you would keep the secret,” I said. Truthfully, I had not known this at all, but I nodded like it was as simple as that. I got up quickly and ascended the staircase to the small sleeping area. I had not slept properly in days. I used that as an excuse to abandon the conversation.

  I got a fire going in the upstairs fireplace and lay down facing the window. I wanted to open it to let in air, but I could see the storm was still raging. I turned my back on it. I created a tiny tornado of dust on the floor, and tried to let the swirling lull me to sleep.

  A short time later, Willa came up with a blanket. I was half asleep, but I heard her say, “I’m letting the boys stay downstairs.” I knew she meant I’m keeping them away from you. She lay down between me and the door.