10
Mercy
When we pulledup around the back of the apartment building where I’d been staying, Gideon was deeply immersed in the real estate listings he’d pulled up on his laptop. “By the time you finish checking the place over, I’ll have a new spot picked out,” he said without looking up. “More secure this time.”
Part of me was a little worried there wasn’t any place that’d be totally secure from the psycho stalker I seemed to have picked up, but I didn’t want to say that out loud. I curled my fingers around my childhood bracelet in my pocket.
The other guys escorted me to the building’s back door and up the stairs to the apartment. The thought of stepping back into that space now that I knew my privacy there had been violated made my skin crawl, but Wylder had understandably wanted to take a look around just in case the intruder had messed with something I hadn’t noticed. I’d already packed up my meager belongings before I’d gone to meet the guys.
“Never liked cops,” Kaige muttered as we climbed the stairs. “They’re never on the right side.”
He made it sound somehow personal. “Wasn’t your Dad in the army?” I asked, remembering his dog tags. Their chain gleamed around Kaige’s neck. Like my bracelet, he always kept them on him.
Kaige touched them self-consciously. “Yeah,” he said, and then fell silent. I was about to push him to go on when we came out into the hall near my apartment. I stopped in my tracks.
The door to the apartment was slightly ajar. Wylder glanced at me. “Didn’t you lock it when you left?”
“Of course.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Was he in there now, behind the door, waiting for us to show up? Xavier. The image of him from the video recording flashed through my mind, and dread curdled in my stomach. I reached for the knife at my hip.
Wylder and Rowan both drew their guns. Kaige’s hands squeezed into fists. He stepped forward first, storming up to the door and kicking it open as if he figured he’d just pummel whoever was on the other side.
He barged right in with no sounds of struggle. The rest of us hurried after him. As we stepped inside, I noticed the curtains billowing around the living room window. The window that’d been closed when I’d left the apartment. I ran to it.
“Mercy, wait!” Kaige called from behind me, but I ignored him. I leaned over the narrow ledge into the dim dawn light to look below.
I couldn’t make out anyone or anything moving in the shadows below. My heart thumping, I pulled back inside just as Rowan reached my bedroom doorway. His hand whipped to his mouth, muffling a curse.
“What now?” Wylder snapped. He marched over, reaching the doorway just as I did.
Rowan stepped inside and over to make room for us, careful to avoid the walls. For good reason, I realized as soon as I peered inside.
A cloying, metallic smell filled my nose—not rancid like when Xavier had tossed a chopped up corpse into the Noble mansion, but equally unnerving. Even more unnerving were the dark red streaks that had been smeared across the walls all around the bed where I’d been sleeping just a few hours ago. A pool of it was soaking into the blanket.
Some of the streaks were just random splatter, but others formed letters. The cat’s running scared now, one wall said. And beside the door, Next time I’ll paint with yours.
Kaige had come up behind us. He stared at the mess, his jaw dropping. “Is that blood?”
My nose had wrinkled. “Sure smells like it,” I said, trying to keep a jaunty tone despite the horror swelling inside me.
“Probably from some kind of animal,” Rowan said, his mouth twisted at a queasy angle. “We know he has no problem killing random innocent creatures.”
Like the cat he’d slaughtered and left gutted on the lawn outside my window. I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering myself.
Wylder gripped my shoulders and forced me to back out of the room—but to be fair, I didn’t really fight him. I’d seen enough.
“He came back,” I said. “He must have been here less than an hour ago.” But then he’d left again before we got here. He could have stayed and attacked us.
But that’d never been his goal before. “He’s toying with me,” I went on, opening my eyes again to glare at the window. “He wants to scare me. Well, fuck him.”
Okay, so I was scared. But that didn’t mean I was going to run off with my tail between my legs.
Wylder let out a growl. “The bastard is taunting all of us.”
Kaige paced the living room, his fists clenched so tight the veins stood out in his forearms. “Let me get my hands on him, and we’ll see who’s laughing then. He’s a fucking coward.”
“Let’s move quickly,” Rowan said. “We don’t want to hang around here any longer than we have to.” He shot a worried glance at me, and I knew he mostly wanted to get me away from the threats painted in blood all around my bedroom. Despite my efforts, a shiver crept down my spine at the memory.