Stay Away (The Beocraftian Gambit - Book One)

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: A HOPELESS END

William had his gaze fixed on Catherina; his breath caught in his throat. He was as shocked as everyone else in the room. "When did this happen?"

"This footage was recorded several hours ago," Catherina answered politely. "Precisely 9:45 am this morning."

"A masked shifter?" Frank said in total disbelief. "This is going to be very difficult. How are we going to find him if we can't place an ID on him? Mrs Eulich was our best chance at finding these shifters and eliminating them, but now she is gone, what do we do?"

Scott was clueless. He had not a single idea of what was being discussed.

After a long, thoughtful silence, William finally answered, "We wait." His eye narrowed, and he rested his lower jaw on his hands. "The mayor had appointed Lawrence Linus as president to take over command of the taskforce in my place. Lawrence promised to get rid of every shifter here in the city within a week. We shall wait to see how he intends to do this."

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The sky was a fair maiden with blue brocade skirts that were embellished with shimmering whorls of chalk-white wisps and enshrouding in a gold lace overskirt made of gauzy sunlight. And below it, a Jetta made its way along the lonely stretch of a long-forgotten highway, surrounded by huge towering oaks which had their incredibly long branches stretched into the road, shading the vehicle from the stabbing glare of the unforgiving sun.

Landry drove down the lonely highway in silence for several minutes before attempting to start a conversation. "You realise you're going to get her killed by making her stay with me?"

Kevin remained silent. It was all he could do to stop himself from making any more mistakes. Trying to protect Natasha from T-Murek was only putting her in harm's way. I would fix this, he assured himself. I promise, I would. Natasha was innocent in all of this. He couldn't keep protecting her like this, it'd only give T-Murek more reason to chase after her.

Landry shifted his eyes to the corner to give Kevin a sidelong glance. "What's the big idea of making her stay at my house? I feel like we're holding her hostage, worse even, like we've kidnapped her."

"We didn't kidnap her. I just want her to be—"

"She's staying in my house against her will. That's illegal," he countered, interrupting him. "She doesn't like the fact that she's staying with me, and she's really making it obvious. She wants to return to her dad, but you wouldn't let her go."

Kevin opened his mouth to say something but Landry wouldn't stop talking.

"Let's get serious, if T-Murek wants to get Natasha, he'll get her, and there's nothing you, me, or anyone can do to stop him. We're risking both our necks keeping William's daughter against her will. If William eventually finds out that we were the ones holding his daughter, he'll have us locked up for sure. It gets worse when he knows what we are, you know what they'll do to us." Then in a tone of voice that grew more tense, he went on. "Look, Kevin, I'm done with this bullshit! I will not risk my neck for someone who isn't at the very least grateful. As soon as I get home, I'm driving her straight to your place. You took her from the hospital, so you take care of her. She's your responsibility, not mine."

"No, wait! First thing tomorrow morning, I promise to take her to dad," he pleaded. "Just let her stay for the night."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, I promise." A gloom spread across his features as he said, "This was all just a big mistake."

Landry was glad that he was finally coming to his senses. He then took a bend into the next street and Kevin's brows flattened when he recognized the street. "Wait, is this the road that leads to De-Laurel?" he asked, eyes on the road as he looked about with uncertainty.