Chapter Sixty
Dylan
It wasn’t until I was getting ready to leave my office for SpellBinders that I realized what had been bothering me about the vampire the police believed to be responsible for the killings. I quickly fished out the card for the shade detective and called him.
“Yeah,” he answered, sounding annoyed.
“This is Dylan Hunt. Listen, the vampire couldn’t have worked alone,” I said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” the shade asked.
“The vampire you think killed the succubi,” I explained. “He couldn’t have been working alone because the guy who tried to grab Allie couldn’t have been a vampire. I set the guy’s arm on fire. A vampire would have been a pile of ash. The killer is still out there.”
“Mr. Hunt,” the detective said in a patient tone. “We still don’t know who killed those succubi.”
“Someone claiming to be a police officer called Allie and told her the killer had been located and she was safe,” I told him as fear consumed me.
“Where is she now?” the detective asked more urgently.
“At work,” I answered. “At SpellBinders.”
“I’m sending someone to SpellBinders now,” he said.
After hanging up with the detective, I immediately tried Allie’s number, but it went straight to voicemail, meaning her phone was off. Trevor had messaged me to assure me Allie’s phone was on and with her before he’d left SpellBinders. After quickly locking up my office, I called Trevor on my way to the car.
“If you’re calling to beg me to pick Allie up, I can’t,” he said by way of greeting.
“I just talked to the police. They never called Allie to let her know they’d found the killer.” I was working hard to get my breathing under control. “The killer is still out there. I should have been suspicious with the details they gave her on the phone. Hell, I was suspicious, but I figured I was just having trouble believing she was finally safe. Now, Allie’s not answering her phone.”
“Shit!” Trevor cursed loudly.
“You put the tracking spell on her phone like I asked, right?”
“Yeah,” Trevor confirmed, and I could hear him running with someone beside him.
“I’m heading to my car. Let me know which way to go,” I said.
“I’ll work on tracing her when I get to my car.” I heard him speak to the person behind him then. “We think the killer has Allie.”
While I couldn’t make out what was being said, I was pretty sure that was Mel in the background, berating Trevor and me for failing to keep her cousin safe. I was pissed at myself, so I figured she had a right to chew my ass out.
“I’m still at the studio,” Trevor said. “In case you couldn’t guess by Melina’s threats to unman me.”
“I figured that out,” I said impatiently. “Which way should I start heading?”
“Give me a minute,” he said, and I knew he was focusing hard on the spell. Trevor was one of the few warlocks I knew who could successfully cast and work with a tracking spell. I knew plenty who could cast them but still couldn’t follow the spell to its source. It was one of the more advanced spells.
“I’m going to call Nick to see if he was at the club tonight,” I told him, mostly because I needed something to do while I waited on Trevor. If I didn’t distract myself, I’d continue asking questions, which would make it impossible for him to focus. “He checks up on Allie most nights, so he might have seen something,” I added, mostly for myself.
“I’ll call you when I have her location,” Trevor said in a distracted voice.
Nick answered on the second ring, sounding overly cheerful. “Hello.”
“Hey, Nick,” I greeted. “Did you see Allie at SpellBinders tonight? Her phone is off, and I think she may be in danger.”
“Why would she be in danger?” Nick asked, sounding less concerned than I’d expected, considering his attachment to Allie. “Allie told me the police found the vampire who tried to grab her. I’m sure she just turned her phone off.”
“Are you at SpellBinders?” I asked.
“Nah,” he said. “I was gonna go by there later, but I might just stay home. You should head over to the club to check on her. That’ll make you feel better.”
“You’re right. I’ll head over there now,” I agreed with a calm I didn’t feel. Of course, I was lying, but Nick wasn’t going to be any help, and I didn’t want to waste more time.
“I don’t want to be rude, but I have a few things to take care of,” Nick said. “Call me when you hear from Allie.”
“No problem,” I told him as calmly as I could when the woman I loved was in danger.
While I knew Allie’s phone could be off for any number of reasons, my gut told me she was in danger. I hadn’t called SpellBinders to check on her because the police were heading there, so I figured that was covered. As far as I was concerned, the tracking spell was my best bet for finding Allie.
My phone rang almost as soon as I hung up with Nick.
“Did you find her?” I asked.
“Yeah, I got her location,” Trevor answered, sounding somewhat dazed. “She’s in one of the vampire housing developments.”
“Send the details to my phone,” I nearly growled.
“Sending it now, and we’re on our way there, as well,” Trevor said before ending the call.
Loading the directions into my car’s GPS, I hoped like hell I wouldn’t be too late. Allie just had to be okay.