Drown Under Earth - Shadows of the Night 3

Chapter 56

Hi!

Some of you asked if there was another book, so I'm making it official. Yes, there will be another one! Hope you'll stay with this story till the end. I love doing this, and when I get a comment from one of you guys? It makes me want to write even more :-) So thank you all - no matter if you comment or just read - thanks for letting me share this story with you!

Lara

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Chapter 56

“I’m sorry, okay?” I said for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Couldn’t you have simply lied?” Cole glared at the windshield in front of him, driving like a madman. Apparently his mood directly reflected on his driving style.

“I got the message the first time, Rankin. You didn’t want me to come. Get over it. If you can’t, try to be a bit more subtle about it.” That coming from the backseat, where Andy busied himself with asking me not so subtle questions about my current living situation.

“Yeah. He’s not going to say anything,” I said, turning to face Cole. “He’s already in. If we get busted, he’s getting copped too.”

The former CIA agent simply grunted. Whether it was a final admittance of defeat or merely a sound of displeasure was beyond me.

“Anyway, boys, why don’t you update me on the case?” I said.

“I will. Once you answer my question,” Andy said from behind.

I turned to shoot a reprimanding glance at Andy. He crossed his arms in front of him, giving me a flat stare.

“Enough already! I told you all I could tell you,” I said.

Honestly, Andy was confusing the hell out of me. When he showed up to meet me he had worn his steeled face like a shield. Tight-lipped, he had simply stared at me. It looked like he wouldn’t talk to me unless I told him the truth, and by that I meant the totality of truths that could ever be told.

Compared to the behemoth of my own personal Pandora’s box, Bluebeard’s chamber looked like a measly children’s playground. Betraying and lying to someone you didn’t know was one thing. Lying to someone you called your friend was the other.

I wasn’t ready to tell Andy the whole truth. I had no idea what kind of monsters would pour out of my box once I lifted the lid mere inches. How did you tell someone something you couldn’t comprehend and face yourself?

“For instance, you didn’t mention that you went clubbing. I’m interested to hear your explanation for that one,” Andy said in a low voice.

“I wasn’t clubbing,” I snapped, irritated. He had no idea.

“Quit the drama, we got work to do,” Cole said. I fell silent, staring at him. “You want an update? You’ll get it,” he said. “All the dead-houses in the city have been cleared. No sign of vamps or the Inri Brotherhood. Three more victims. Three more murder scenes over which to fight with the human police,” Cole said with a stony expression, the baritone voice nonchalant and uncaring, almost mechanical.

“That about sums it up,” Andy added sourly.

I did a comical wave with my hands. “Is that all you got?”

It turned out that the other victims had been murdered within three nights, which, however, didn’t necessarily mean that our murderer had gotten blood-thirstier. To the contrary, as it seemed, he or she hadn’t drunk as much as at the former crime scenes. And yet… The sheer number of victims within such a short period of time was more than disconcerting. I started my reiteration of the haystack of information we gathered so far.