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She sucked in a shaky breath as words stalled in the back of her throat. How was she supposed to respond to that? A witty comeback. A smart-ass retort. Neither of those conversational avenues seemed the way to go. Especially given his title. Nothing aboutdestroyer of worldssounded the least bit promising.
“You have no one to blame but yourself, Door Master. Without your help, I would never have escaped.”
Worse and worse. How could keep getting worse? “I didn’t do anything.”
“You opened the door and set me free.”
“No.” It wasn’t true.Couldn’tbe true, but then, the strange shift she’d experienced after entering the house couldn’t be denied. She’d felt the heat in her veins. Heard the clicking inside her head and the sound of doors being unlocked. Only one had opened, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t unlocked more.
The enormity of it hit her.
Somehow, she was responsible for what had happened tonight. From start to finish. The cause of the Wendigo’s escape included.
Stupid troll.
No wonder Minador acted as though she was on a covert operation. The lawyer knew exactly what would happen the instant she stepped inside the mansion. Instead of the ally she believed, the troll had turned out to be the enemy, the catalyst that propelled her straight into the middle of the mess.
Laughter echoed down the street. “I see you’re getting it, Door Master. Good luck with that and also… brace.”
“For what?”
“The Slayer,” it said. “He will show you no mercy.”
No longer able to see it, she shouted, “You really think I’m going to take advice from you? You’re going off to eat people!”
Or something.
Praying it wasn’t so didn’t make it untrue. The Wendigo probablydidmake meals out of people. Covering her mouth with her hand, she tried to hold in her distress. She didn’t want people to die — or to be eaten by the Wendigo. It wouldn’t be a pretty death or fast clean-up… for anyone.
A chuckle drifted down the street, rolling out of the darkness. “Don’t be foolish, Door Master. Heed me well.Beware the Slayer.He will hurt you, do you allow it.”
Lovely. Another thing to worry about. The list got longer by the second.
“Just what I don’t need,” she said, the icy air making each breathe puff white in the dim light. “Seriously — what the hell is going on?”
She asked that question into the stillness.
The Wendigo was already gone. Vanished into the night. No trace of him but the lingering scent of oranges and ash. Leaving her alone in front of a house-made-in-hell, with no idea what to do next.
The realization wasn’t a welcome one. She’d always been the girl who got things done. But as she stood in her yard on a silent street in a strange neighborhood, the lingering whisper of an alien heat in her veins, she admitted to being at a loss.
One thing for sure, though — she needed to prioritize. Start making lists. Formulate different plans, one for every scenario. Zero in on the best methods of attack. Yes. Exactly. A perfectly reasonable way forward considering what lay in her future. A Slayer who planned to hurt her — according to the Wendigo. A killer queen bent on ruining her world — potentially. More weird and unexplainable events — perhaps. But first things first…
She needed to find Minador and strangled some answers out of him.
With Step 1 of her plan in hand, Truly turned back toward the house. She sighed. Too bad, really. It was such a pretty place, with its columns and sweeping front porch. Lord knew she needed a refuge, a safe place to land after months of being out in the wild, but… she should have known better. The minute she signed the papers and Minador put the keys in her hand, she should’ve expected the worst. Things like that didn’t happen to normal people.
Normal people struggled.
Normal people scraped by.
Normal people fell down and got back up every day.
Normal people were not given houses worth three million dollars in nice parts of town.
Pursing her lips, she kept walking, boot soles ringing against flagstone, gaze on the open front door. Something moved inside the house. Cloaked in shadows, a figure stood just beyond the reach of her porch lights.
Truly jerked to a stop.
