The Kelpie's Curse (book #1 in the Kelpie's Entrapment trilogy)

Day 3 pt. 4

***

It had taken a while but finally Kaloria had found Ainslie. Despite her consternation, it surprised Kali how quickly she had fallen for the Scotsman. She wouldn't say it, she wouldn't even think it, but still she knew she felt it, even as her amber eyes connected with his blue ones.

"Lass, I'm sorry, last eve-"

"Shh," she said as she pressed her finger to his lips. "You don't need to apologize. You just lost your twin brother yesterday. It's understandable. I'm sorry for snapping at you but you must know that-"

Suddenly the sound of an ear-splitting scream tore through the air, causing Kaloria's blood to freeze in her veins. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the library.

Renestrae.

Instantly, probably before her mind could process the command, she took off towards the library. She knew that her joints ached because of her psoriatic arthritis, but for once she ignored it, could hardly feel it with the adrenaline pumping through her system. She just hoped Renestrae was alright.

As she rounded the corner she noticed Evelyn running to the library from the other end of the road, but then she noticed Renestrae. She had a look of abject terror on her face and she didn't seem to notice the black-haired stranger calling her name.

Kaloria knew that she shouldn't look and was keeping her gaze focused on her friend, but then Renestrae started hyperventilating and she had to wonder what could be so bad that you forgot how to breathe. That's when she looked and she instantly wished that she hadn't because she had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to forget that sight if she tried.

Her eyes grew wide and she brought a hand to her mouth, suddenly feeling as though she was going to hurl. It was at that moment that someone turned her around and she found herself pressed into Ainslie's chest, the smell of his cologne calming her enough to speak.

"Oh my god," she whispered, aghast at the image of the old man's vacant chest cavity. Why would someone do that?

Ainslie tightened his grip on her. "Shh, Lass."

Kaloria could feel tears begin to form in her eyes. Logically she realized that this sort of thing happened all the time all over the world but there was a part of her, the naïve part she supposed, that never thought it would happen around her, that she would never see such brutality.

"Ren!"

Kaloria jerked out of Ainslie's light hold at Evelyn's shout and turned to see that the dark-haired man that had been calling Renestrae's name was holding her now unconscious form in his arms. It didn't really surprise Kaloria. If she'd found Alec's decaying body yesterday she probably would have fainted too.

However, she had a bad feeling that Evelyn might cause a scene so she ran over to stop her before that could happen.

"Re-"

"Evelyn, Ren will be fine."

Evelyn glared at her. "How do you know that? She just fainted for crying out loud. What was that scream and where does that guy think he's taking her?"

Kaloria quickly looked over her shoulder and noticed the stranger taking Renestrae back into the library. Good, hopefully she wouldn't have to see that gruesome sight again.

"Are you telling me that you didn't see anything?"

"Who could see anything with that crowd?" Evelyn snapped.

"Come on, let's get inside. The cops are probably on their way and Ren's going to be confused as it is when she wakes up," Kaloria said as she steered Evelyn into the library and away from the body. She noted that there was quite a crowd forming and if Evelyn truly hadn't seen anything then there was no need for her to now.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked. "What was that scream about?"

"There was another attack, another body exactly the way Renestrae described it," Kaloria whispered as they crossed over the threshold of the library.

"What?" Evelyn asked, her voice reduced to a breathless whisper, her eyes growing wide.

"I'm guessing that's why she fainted. The sight must have been too much for her."

Evelyn looked like she was going to be ill. "Well, this is turning into a fine vacation, isn't it?"

Kaloria scoffed. "You can say that again."