“I believe you.” And he did. He could see the truth in her eyes, hear it in her voice. He could practically feel the feverish intent to chase down a demon humming around her like an aura of emotion. “But you’re not to be chasing demons, Alison Blair. What did you think you’d do with it once you’d caught it?”
“I—” She stopped, took a breath and then shoved the hood off her face. A few drops of rain landed on her cheeks and glistened in the lamplight like tears. “I don’t know. I only know I have to follow it. My sister. Casey.”
He already knew what was driving her. Hadn’t he been latched on to her mind for the past half hour or more? “I know. She’s gone.”
She staggered as if his words had carried a physical punch. Her bottom lip quavered, but she bit down on it. “I don’t know what happened to her. She was here at this pub last night. I spoke to a waitress who saw her leave. Alone. But after that there’s just nothing…”
Alison turned her head to look through the pub’s window at the laughing, dancing people inside, and she was so wistful, so lost, she made his heart hurt. Something it hadn’t done in a very long time.
Bristling at the very notion, Rogan straightened to his full height and looked down at her. “What makes you think a demon has her?”
“What else could have happened? She isn’t at the hospitals. Hasn’t been arrested. She doesn’t know anyone here, so she’s not staying with a friend.” She shook her head slowly and looked away from him, staring off into the shadows as if expecting to find her sister there waiting for her. “She’s vanished, Rogan, and no one’s seen her. Anywhere.” She wiped away the stray raindrops from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
She blew out a breath and sucked in another. “There are others missing, too. Lots of them. Tourists are disappearing, and I believe it’s got something to do with the seer’s warning. There is something rising here and I think it’s got Casey.” She stepped up close to him, tilted her head back and met his gaze with a steadiness he admired. “I’ve got to get her back. And you’ve got to help me.”
Behind them the pub door opened and noise and smoke rolled out around them. A couple, linked arm in arm, ran from the pub and down the sidewalk, laughing. Rogan, though, paid them no attention.
Grabbing Alison’s arm, he ignored the instantaneous burn that erupted between them and dragged her farther from the lights, deeper into the shadows. When he was sure they were alone, he let her go and said, “You’ve no business following a demon.” When she started to argue with him, he cut her off neatly and kept talking, his voice going deeper, more rough with every word. “I’ve seen this before, you know. Society members spend so much time studying Guardians that they begin to believe they, too, are capable of battling the demons. It’s a false confidence, and all it causes is more death. If you go after a demon, you’ll get yourself killed.”
She stepped back from him, and despite the darkness, the determined gleam in her eyes shone at him. He actually itched to touch her again. A humming sense of intensity built inside him, roaring like a fire just catching the tinder. He hadn’t felt that particular warmth in more years than he cared to count and wasn’t at all grateful to be feeling it now.
“I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t try to capture a demon. But I can follow one.”
“To what end?”
“Finding my sister, of course. What else?”
“You’ve no idea if she’s being held by a demon or not.”
“I’m out of options, Rogan,” she muttered, turning her gaze from him, back to the shadows that edged the riverside. A moment later Alison lifted one hand and pointed. “There! There it is again. Do you see it?”
“Aye. I see it.” It amazed him to know that she could see that faint wash of pale purple and red twisting in the night wind. But clearly she could. There was more to Alison Blair than he might have thought. And the danger of that was all too clear to him.
If he didn’t step in, keep her from following whatever demon was haunting the shadows of Westport, Alison would do it herself.
She was willing to risk her life to find her sister.
And as a Guardian, he was duty bound to protect her.
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