Page 9 of A Curse in Darkness

“I’m Willow,” I offered, still trying to put her at ease.

She took another sip of her drink. “Rebecca.”

“Okay, Rebecca, why don’t you tell me what brought you here today?”

Gripping the cup with both hands, she drew in a shaky breath. “My daughter Jane has been acting…odd. She’s always been a bit of a problem child, acting out, headstrong, willful…but lately she’s been hanging around with a bad crowd, and I think…” Her lips quivered. “I think they’re devil worshippers. I think they’ve been doing terrible rituals…and…and I don’t know what.”

Okay, not what I was expecting. “What makes you think that?”

Her hold on the cup tightened. “She’s been dressing differently, wearing a lot of black.” She paused, her gaze moving over me and my almost entirely black outfit.

I was starting to get the feeling that Rebecca was somewhat judgmental and I kind of felt bad for Jane. “Black clothes don’t really point to devil worship,” I said, needing her to be more specific. Whatever this task was, I needed all the details I could get.

“No, of course not. But it’s more than that…fishnet stockings, lots of black eyeliner, and…and slutty underwear.”

Was this woman for real? Slutty underwear? Jesus Christ. I would have told her I couldn’t help her and sent her on her way if it wasn’t for the way those tingles at my side had increased. “Is there anything else?”

She nodded vigorously. “I saw her walking to her room the other morning, she’d just showered and was only wearing a towel, and there were these marks, wounds, almost healed…but it looked like a bite mark on her shoulder.”

My mind started spinning. Demon? Shifter? Vamp? There were numerous others who liked to bite while they were getting busy. Or just as a way to feed.

“Right, and what did your daughter say?”

She bit her lip. “That she was bitten by a dog.”

A dog? A weird feeling curled in my belly. “You don’t believe her?”

“There were no other marks on her that I could see. Just on her shoulder. Wouldn’t there be others, and scratches if she was attacked by some dog?”

“Maybe she was telling the truth?” Or maybe it was a shifter gone rogue?

Then why is your side tingling?

She shook her head. “No…that’s not it.”

“Is there anything else? You mentioned exorcism.”

Rebecca wrapped her arms around herself. “This morning, I went to check on her. She was with her friends again last night and didn’t get home until seven a.m. She wouldn’t wake and was breathing oddly, heavily. I shook her, and when she opened her eyes, they were black. Her entire eye was black.” She gripped the small gold cross hanging around her neck. “And her voice…it wasn’t hers.”

Perhaps she should have opened with that instead of slutty underwear. “Where is she now, Rebecca?”

“She ran off before I could do anything. She threatened me and pushed me over, and then she ran. I think she’s gone back to her new friends.”

My stomach sank deeper, because I knew what she was going to say. Somehow, I just knew. “Do you know their names, her new friends? Where they live?”

“They live in Linville, and they’re a motorcycle gang…a gang of thugs. They call themselves the Devil Dogs.”

Hellhounds.

Awesome. Just freaking wonderful.

“Can you help me?” Rebecca asked, voice full of fear. “Please.”

“Of course.” It wasn’t like I had any other choice.

* * *

It was a thirty-minute drive from Roxburgh to Linville, New Jersey. The town was small, just over three thousand people resided there, and of course, the hellhounds.