The Black Masquerade Read online

  “Yeah, but that’s different. I would’ve picked the dog out, choosing one with a personality I liked. Ultimately, though, I may have always ended up with the cat.”

  “Finally, we find something we can disagree on. I love dogs—always have, always will.”

  I mock glared at him. “How many times have you had surgery on your face because your neighbor’s dog bit your cheek and the cut was deep enough for your muscle to show?”

  His eyes widened. “That happened to you?”

  I nodded. “I was four. It took a long time for me to be okay with dogs after that. Luckily, Nicole had a very sweet-tempered schnauzer that I absolutely loved. If it wasn’t for her dog, I probably never would’ve gotten over my fear of them.”

  Cole leaned forward, studying my face. “I can’t even tell where you got bit.”

  I chuckled. “It’s because the doctor I saw was very good.” I turned my head, showing him where the scar had been. Insurance had paid a plastic surgeon to practically re-create my cheek. Luckily, the dog’s teeth had been just the right size and sharpness—I shuddered thinking about it—for the scar not to have been jagged and horrible. I’d had a series of surgeries after the wound had healed and then another surgery when I was ten.

  “I can barely see anything,” he said.

  “That’s the idea.”

  I froze when his fingertips brushed my cheekbone.

  “Does it hurt at all?”

  “No. It doesn’t.”

  “What happened to the dog that bit you?”

  His eyes strayed to my lips then back up to my eyes, and I knew what he was thinking. Half of me wanted it, but the other half definitely wasn’t okay with the idea.

  He dropped his hand, but his face was very close to mine, and it made me feel a little uncomfortable.

  “Nothing. My parents didn’t have the money to do anything about it. There were a lot of dogs on our street, and when the cops came around, the neighbors denied it was theirs. Unfortunately for me, the dog was practically schizophrenic. It was very friendly around strangers, but if kids played with it too long, it would suddenly lash out. No one believed that the neighbors’ dog did it, and my parents were unwilling to blame the boxer across the street that everyone said actually bit me.

  “The next year, the neighbors’ dog attacked another kid, but that time, the bite was even deeper, and there were a lot of witnesses.”

  “What happened to the dog?”

  I shrugged. “Our neighbors moved immediately. They were gone by that night. He’s probably out terrorizing someone somewhere else.”

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Dog is man’s best friend—almost all my best friends have been dogs. They’ve kept me company when I’m alone and have been there for me when I’ve been in danger—have defended me.”

  “That’s sort of what a police dog does, though.”

  “I know. But they’re not the exception. The dog that attacked you was.”

  I settled back in my seat again, wanting to relax while we could. His touch had confused me—I hadn’t known how to handle it. And that seriously frustrated me. I was too tired to really pay attention to my mixed-up emotions right then, though.

  Nicole hadn’t been kidding when she’d said she’d arranged for the flights to be short. We landed only fifteen minutes later and quickly rushed to the next terminal.

  Chapter 10

  We raced through multiple airports, boarded multiple planes, and flew over multiple countries, and I lost track of where we’d gone and where we were going. Everything became a blur as we slowly made our way across the huge Asian continent, through Europe, and toward England.

  We finally made it to the Norwich Airport, where Cole rented a car and we drove toward Stanford, a little military-owned city where the manor was located. We decided to have Cole do the driving, since being a cop, he’d had a lot of experience with high-speed situations. If we needed to, he could make a quick getaway in a car better than I could.

  The entire drive through the beautiful English countryside, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the side mirror and kept craning my neck to look behind us.

  “What do we do if it catches up to us?” Cole asked.

  “Start killing dogs,” I said immediately.

  He chuckled. “You’ve got your amulet, right?”

  I nodded, grabbing the necklace where it rested against my sternum. “Yes, of course.”

  Realizing that Nicole had traveled the same roads many years earlier comforted me. Her experiences here had been horrifying, from what she told me. I couldn’t imagine going through everything she did and coming out on top. But she had.

  We parked the car, making sure it wasn’t visible from the road, then grabbed the potion and raced through the forest toward the location where the little town of Stanford was supposed to be.

  Nicole had planned the last flight to be longer than any of the previous—forcing the effigy to cover more ground—and we were as prepared as we ever would be. That didn’t mean we wouldn’t run as much as possible, of course.

  Detective Cole and I encountered a chain-link fence that still had a hole cut in it from when Nicole had been here before.

  We glanced at each other.

  “How is this still here?” I asked. “Wouldn’t the military have repaired it long ago?”

  “It’s fresh,” he said. “My guess is that someone cut it again yesterday or this morning.”

  We scurried through the hole and continued through the forest toward a church I could see in the distance. It was rundown and slightly imposing, but still beautiful.

  I smiled as I ran, realizing what had happened with the fence. Nicole must’ve made sure it was ready—either doing it herself or having someone do it for her. I hoped it hadn’t been her. Having her scent in the area would be a bad idea—the hounds knew her, and now that she had her memory back, she would become a target once they weren’t chasing the effigy anymore. Especially if she’d been here recently.

  The realization of what I’d just been thinking hit me, and I almost stumbled. What was I going to do to protect Nicole and my other loved ones who knew about the hounds? Would my family become targets once the effigy was gone? I didn’t have any reason not to believe they would.

  Panicking while running is a bad idea, and I did my best to control my emotions. It was tough, though.

  We passed the little houses Nicole had told me about. My heart ached as I thought about the families who had been forced to leave right as World War II was hitting. The local military needed a place for troops to practice, and the town had worked perfectly for them. Apparently, the homes were still under the control of the government, and the citizens hadn’t been allowed to return.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw an old lady inside one of the houses, staring at us. I couldn’t tell if she was a ghost and decided not to mention her to Cole.

  We continued running. The cobblestone road led us toward a very large set of gates that were open, vines growing over them. The moment I stepped through the gates, I knew we were in trouble, and I stumbled to a stop.

  “Where’s the manor?” Cole asked.

  “It should be here,” I said, panting.

  He didn’t respond.

  In front of us was a pile of blackened stone. It looked like someone had burned the manor down, then removed most of what had been left behind. Why?

  “What do we do?” Cole asked.

  “Search it.” I jogged toward the ruins.

  I wasn’t about to give up, not now, not when we’d actually arrived. My head pounded from exhaustion, my stomach was empty, and I had to use the bathroom. But there was no way I’d give up now.

  Cole and I dug through the remains of what had possibly once been a library. Charred pages fluttered around, and the parts that had not burned were glued together from the moisture.

  “Do you think the basement is still intact?” Cole asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  I n
early jumped out of my skin at the voice. It came from directly in front of me, only a couple of feet away. But nothing was there.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “What?” Cole asked.

  I ignored him.

  “You should be able to see me perfectly fine,” the woman’s voice said.

  “I can’t. Do you know where I’m supposed to return the effigy?”

  “Give it to me, then be on your way.”

  Cole gave me an expression that left no doubt in my mind what he thought of my sanity.

  “It’s not that easy,” I said. “I don’t actually have it. I’m luring it here, and the hounds will follow after. I couldn’t just pick it up and bring it, not without getting devoured in the process by those stupid dogs.”

  “What was your plan, then?”

  “I’ve got a potion that has been attracting the effigy, which will probably be here very soon. I need to find a place to dump the rest of the potion so the effigy sticks around until its effects wear off of the hounds.” I glanced at Cole. “She’s helping me,” I whispered.

  “She who?” he said.

  “Once the potion wears off and the effigy is fully in our control,” the woman said, “the hounds will no longer be influenced by it. You will need to run, and fast. The farther you are from here, the better off you’ll be.”

  “You don’t have to convince me,” I said. Even if it would take thirty-six hours for that potion to wear off, I still didn’t want to risk getting caught by stragglers. “What do we do? I can’t see you.”

  “Follow my voice.”

  The woman began reciting the Declaration of Independence—a document I was surprised she knew by heart—and I followed her across the rubble into a section of the ruins that looked like it’d been tampered with recently.

  “We tried to make the way easier for you to find, but we only have enough energy to move things a little at a time.”

  “Lizzie?”

  I looked back. Cole was staring at me, unsure of what to do. He obviously couldn’t hear the ghost.

  “It’s over here,” I said.

  He scrambled across the rubble, trying to catch up with me. “How do you know?”

  “A ghost told me.”

  The woman scoffed. “I prefer to be called a shade, thank you very much. ‘Ghost’ is so cold-sounding. And I am not cold.”

  “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to offend you. What do we need to do to get down there?”

  “Continue digging.”

  I looked back at Cole. “We have to move this stuff. Hurry, help me.”

  I began sifting through the things. It wasn’t hard—most of it was old papers, books, and other items that weren’t heavy. There were a couple of blankets that were sodden and stuck to slabs of cement, but that was as difficult as it got. My heart was thudding up in my throat, though, telling me I needed to go faster.

  Finally, I found a set of stairs leading down. We heaved a huge door out of the way—it had fallen over, partially covering the opening—and the two of us rushed down the stairs. Once we were no longer in the sunlight, I saw the ghost who’d been leading us. She wore a little bonnet and a faded dress that looked like something from a Jane Austen movie.

  “Quick, pour the contents of your bottle here. Then you had better run fast.”

  Not hesitating, I pulled the top off the bottle before dumping everything all over the cement floor, careful not to splash myself or Cole. I didn’t even turn to look at the room we’d entered.

  The moment the bottle was empty, I dropped it on the ground then turned to run up the stairs. Cole grabbed my shirt, though, yanking me backward. My heart practically stopped beating. Was this a trap? Had he been a hound all along?

  “Your hands.”

  I stared at him, not computing.

  “Hold them out. Now!”

  I did as he asked. I realized what was going on when he dumped water all over them, then drenched them in soap. I didn’t know where he’d gotten the water and soap—probably the airport—but I was glad he’d thought of it. Relief rushed over me. He wasn’t a traitor.

  I briskly rubbed my hands together, giving them a good scrub, and he dumped more water on them before handing me a towel. We dashed up the stairs while I dried my hands, and I dropped the towel behind me just in case. I would rather not risk any of the potion staying with us.

  “Thank you!” I called over my shoulder to the ghost.

  And then we ran.

  Chapter 11

  Cole and I had just made it back to the car when we saw a ton of dogs about a mile down the street, chasing after something that was just a blur to my eyes.

  We hopped into the car, shutting the doors as quietly as we could, then ducked down in the seats. The car was well hidden from the road behind tall shrubberies and in a little ditch-type thing. Not only that, but it was at least fifty feet from the street. Still, my heart refused to slow down.

  I was surprised when I realized that yes, I was terrified, but that I was also excited. I would never have guessed this sort of thing would be a thrill. The moment I recognized that, I knew I’d been chosen correctly. Sort of a “this is your calling” moment.

  I, Lizzie Ashton, would destroy these evil hounds. And I would do it with or without help.

  I was glad I had help, though. I glanced over at Cole, realizing he wouldn’t be much assistance fighting these creatures. Yes, the man was a cop and could do a quick getaway in a car, but he wasn’t built big—not like Abel, anyway.

  Abel was fit, even though he wasn’t huge. He was tall and lean, made up almost entirely of muscle. He’d obviously spent a lot of time fighting. I knew I’d never forget the first time I’d seen him kill a hound. That he’d snapped the neck and pumped the body full of bullets led me to believe he wouldn’t once hesitate to kill an evil creature. I wasn’t entirely sure how that made me feel. I’d obviously need to adjust to it, though—I’d be doing the killing myself soon.

  I’d already killed once. And it hadn’t bothered me like I felt it should.

  Cole and I peeked over our windows. The effigy zipped past us, not even pausing as it neared us and raced in the opposite direction. Even though I didn’t have to, I held my breath as the hounds raced by, their feet barely seeming to hit the ground in their hurry to catch up with the thing they’d been chasing for so many years. I still couldn’t believe that these magical creatures had kept up with me as we’d flown from China to the UK.

  I tried to count the hounds as they sped past, and my heart dropped. I lost count somewhere around seventy. Glancing at Cole, I could tell he was thinking the same thing. How was I going to destroy that many evil creatures? Especially when this couldn’t possibly be all of them—not after what Alexander had told me.

  Not once did any of the hounds glance at us or the car. They were so intent on reaching the effigy, nothing would distract them from their goal, especially with it almost within reach. Perhaps they were chasing the potion as well, sensing a bit of my blood in it.

  The moment the last of them faded from view, Cole turned the car on and pulled slowly up and out of the ditch, watching as the hounds quickly disappeared into the trees.

  “Time to go,” he said.

  We pulled onto the main road. I turned and watched for hounds as we sped along the road, but nothing happened.

  Cole glanced at me. “Who knows how much time we have to get back to Utah,” he said.

  I nodded. They hadn’t been that far behind us, all things considered. We’d hoped it would be a greater distance. I needed to talk to Alexander and find out what these beasts would plan as soon as they realized they’d been fooled. I supposed it depended on their personalities—the more aggressive ones would probably come after me immediately, and the more conniving ones would, well, connive.

  The flight back home was uneventful, thank goodness. We’d slept fitfully through the earlier, shorter flights, and this one was many uninterrupted hours long. We were both able to sleep pretty much
the whole time.

  Still, when the plane touched down in Salt Lake, I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open. My body was confused. It had no idea what time or even what day it was.

  Chief had driven me to the airport, so I got a ride back with Cole. I was getting tired of being with him—never a good sign, especially for the type of extrovert I am. Generally, it takes me a long time to get tired of people who aren’t overall annoying. But I’d been with Cole for so many hours now, I felt like ripping his eyes out. Sorry—a little strong, I know. Let me try again. I felt like smacking him when he smiled at me with that dimple. Okay, still harsh, especially after I’d swooned over said dimple a couple of weeks ago.

  I was too tired to come up with the perfect phrase for how I was feeling.

  We pulled up at my house, and Cole insisted on coming inside to make sure the place was safe.

  I grumbled inwardly. “You know, if there’s a hound here, I’m going to have to get rid of it. There’s not a lot you can do to ‘make me safe.’”

  I heard Cole chuckling from my bedroom where he was checking the closet as I inspected the work the general contractor had done. It looked pretty good. I turned to my fridge and pantry, trying to decide what to eat. Nothing sounded appetizing.

  “Hey,” I called out to Cole. “Do you like Wendy’s?” A meal on me was the least I could do. I’d learned that Nicole had paid for his tickets too—Chief had gotten hold of her and arranged everything—but Cole had sacrificed a lot of time and sleep for me. Money, too, if you considered the work he’d missed.

  “Definitely.”

  “Okay. I’m heading there now. How about you stay here and keep doing whatever you’re doing? Search in the attic and all of that.” Please, please don’t see the need to come with me.

  Cole joined me in the kitchen. The expression on his face told me he wasn’t happy with the idea of me leaving alone. “How about I go with you?”

  I folded my arms and tried not to glare at him because he didn’t deserve my animosity. “The hounds are obsessed with the effigy right now. This is the best time for me to be alone.”