Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (14)
“Our welcoming ritual helps,” Wolf said, grabbing two beers from the cooler in the corner and passing one to Devil, or Judas as he was known in the mortal world.
“Speak for yourself. How am I supposed to explain a shiner when I show up to court tomorrow morning? I can heal it myself, I guess. But next time paws off the face.” Onyx grumbled, sitting on a log. He ran a hand through his messy black hair. We could have been brothers we looked so similar, though he had a more pretty-boy facade where I’d adopted nerd-core as my persona. We sat in companionable silence around the fire, Onyx stoking it every few moments. Judas stood at the corner, still in shadow, listening, watching. He was six feet six inches, easy, and massive. His dark skin only just revealed the whites of his eyes in the fire’s flickering flame. I was glad he was on our side. Or at least I hoped he was. Sometimes it was hard to tell as he rarely spoke. But he knew who and what I was. And he was his own form of dark, too. Around this fire with my chosen brothers, I was me. Collectively, we breathed in the freedom of that awareness. All of us were shirtless, beaten, bloodied, and probably the happiest we’d be outside of slitting throats or whatever each of our own preferred brands of bloodlust were. Our monster names were our true titles, revealing more about us than the letters stamped across our counterfeit birth certificates. On our third beers, I spoke. “What’d you all think of her file?”
Wolf tossed his bottle into the bonfire with a shatter. “I was skeptical but you’re right. She seems perfect. Alone, fearful, utterly fucked in the head according to the therapist notes.” His long hair was tied at the nape of his neck. He looked animalistic in the raw orange firelight. Maybe his parents were giving us all a clue when they named him Wolfgang Jack.
“This killing is going to be fun. And right around Halloween, how cute.” Onyx grinned. “I did some research on this guy, her stepfather. She wasn’t exaggerating to Dr. Omar. He’s a right nasty motherfucker. Maybe more so than she even knows.”
“What’d you find?” Wolf asked, zeroing in. I could see his excitement building. He loved the chase as much as I did. It was why he spent his days as an investigative journalist. It was basically legal stalking and prying into lives, but he had the charm to pull it off.
Dragon stoked the fire, eliciting a peppering of flame and ash into the night sky. “Mr. Simon Seth Glen had a fuckton of court filings. The dude’s got everything from assault and battery to stalking and harassment. He was sued for the involuntary manslaughter of Judy Pearl, this chick’s mother, but wasn’t charged due to a fucking technicality. I dug through the filing and he actually got away with making it look like a suicide. He’s been in and out of Alabama State Prison, but he’s currently out on parole. Which makes me wonder how he’s chasing this Blythe girl across state lines and getting away with it. I don’t get the impression he’s a mastermind. He seems like your common wife beating piece of shit. But, you never know.”
We pondered in quiet for a moment before I dared ask. “Any thoughts, Devil?”
Each of us waited patiently, knowing by now that when you speak to the Devil, you sure as hell wait for his answer. Or dismissal.
The ground crunched beneath his boots as he stepped forward. “Looks can be deceiving,” his deep timbre rumbled. “Don’t underestimate, men. A checkered past that halted its paper trail after the death of his wife . . . It’s as if he disappeared, which is uncommon for someone so patterned. Something’s changed in Simon Glen. He’s not just looking for her. He’s scaring her, hunting her. He’s in this for the chase just as much as we are.”
“You think we’re dealing with a fellow killer?” Wolf asked in surprise.
Judas didn’t answer.
“Ames, you wild motherfucker. You really did bring us a treat this Halloween, didn’t you?” Onyx purred with glee. “Not like it matters. We can all sense anyone with bad intentions the moment they cross town lines. We’ll all feel it. However, the chase is still the best part of the killing.”
“Do you think the town will let him in?” I asked, stilling, mulling over Devil’s guidance.
Wolf cracked open another beer, peering into the misty tree line. He sniffed once, assessing something or other with his keen beastly senses. “It let her in. It’ll let in whatever’s following her.”
Onyx snorted. “Fucker picked the wrong town, didn’t he? We might not be able to leave, but pretty soon, neither will he.”
The fire cracked and hissed like the Gates of Hell were rattling at our discovery. Maybe they were. Simon Glen would be joining us in Hell, that was for certain. But more than that, he’d never see me coming. I’d be the chill in his spine. My tactics would make him feel the same fear he inflicted on his victims. Blythe’s stepfather would see me out of the corner of his eye and turn to see no one and nothing. I drove my targets mad with terror before I ended them. I salivated at the thought of that taste of horror . . . There was nothing like it. I wanted him to be afraid not because of some sense of justice, but purely because I got off on it. The fear made my dick harder than any woman or man ever had.
Dragon, Wolf, and Devil were who I called my found family. My chosen brothers.
And me?
I was Ghost.
We talked strategy for a while before departing, each of us itching to exercise our skillsets. Things got boring for creatures like us. We were lions in a cage. We’d see each other again soon. Though Devil was absent the most, never staying in one spot long, traversing the coastline in search of . . . well, none of us knew for sure. He wasn’t trapped here like the rest of us. Must be nice. Regardless, I was looking forward to donning my war paint again. Hallows Fest breathed life into the year. In the dead of night, I crept toward my blue dot, parking down the road but in view of her house. From my vantage point, I could see a purple glow emitting from her tiny window in the basement. I wondered if she’d show at support group the following day. Not like it mattered, I’d see her that night. All of us would.