Bloody Claws (Camren) Book 3

Chapter 27

True to her word, I woke. I came back to myself in the woods behind Lauren's house. Dinah was with me. "Where's my phone?" I asked. "Where are the others?" Dinah startled. "They went with Normani to look for you. I volunteered to wait here just in case." I nodded, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. They were empty. Dinah handed me her cell phone. "Here, use mine," she said. I could've sworn I'd grabbed my phone before coming out to the woods, but took the one she offered and dialed Dylan's number.

Avaliah's knowledge filled my head like weeks'worth of experience, as if I'd been the one summoned and not her. Dylan answered on the second ring. "Did it work?"

"Yeah," I said. Sure, why not? It might not have gone quite like we'd wanted it to, but everyone was still standing. I hoped. "Miranda Blevins," I said, "she's staying in a motel room a few blocks away from the police station." I closed my eyes, seeing the sign, room number. I spouted the information off to him.

"She's the one that's been summoning and controlling the fey. She's your murderer. She killed her husband. You'll find his body somewhere along the northern edge of Kielder Lake, along with the car stashed in a bunch of trees."

It seemed as though Avaliah had seen everything. I knew there were traces of blood left in Miranda's silver Impala. Knew she'd used the car to transport her Great Dane and Landon's body to the lake. I knew that his frame was smaller than hers. For some reason, I'd imagined Miranda to be petite, but in Avaliah's memories, she wasn't.

I knew what she knew, and her knowledge haunted me.

Leana Davey.

I shook my head, not wanting that specific memory.

Avaliah had pleasured her while she killed her, using her magic to make Leana completely compliant and utterly willing as she strangled her, taking her half-fey life force and using it for her own personal gain as she sought to escape the astral realm.

"Got it," he said. "I'm heading out there with Zendaya to find Miranda Blevins and sending another team out to search for the body and the vehicle."

"There's blood in the vehicle," I said. "Any word on pulling that guy in from out of town? You're going to need an expert."

"Leave that to me," Dylan said. "I'll call you after we make the arrest."

He hung up. I closed Dinah's phone and handed it back to her.

I heard a twig snap and raised my head.

Lauren stood several feet away, watching me. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine," I said. Why did it feel like I was saying that a lot lately? Then again, considering the possibilities, fine wasn't such a bad answer.

"Dylan's going to call me after they make the arrest."

"So I heard."

"Where's Normani?"

"Searching with Vanessa for Avaliah."

"Is Normani going to try and kill her?" I asked. "She didn't harm me."

"No, I believe she is more concerned with placing restrictions upon her."

I didn't blame her for that, not one little bit. I felt it in my bones, how easily Avaliah would kill for herself, but not just herself, for her cause, her people. If it was a matter of taking energy to get the hell out of Dodge, she'd do it. And the only reason she'd been able to set foot in our world, to reach beyond Oíche in the first place, was thanks to Miranda Blevins and the victims she'd offered up.

"Her true name allows Norman to control her?"

"With the fey, it is so. To know the name of a being is to have power over it. If the being willingly offers their true name."