Page 41 of Bleed the Shadows

I had a feeling their “work” — whatever it was — wasn’t exactly legal. The thought didn’t bother me as much as it should have. I mean, I’d tried to kill a man. Was still trying to kill that man. Who was I to judge?

We pulled onto a long drive near the top of the mountain and wound our way through thick stands of trees on either side. The place was every bit as deserted as Ethan Todd’s house, tucked away on a side street farther down the mountain.

We emerged from the tree-lined drive to a house on a knoll. Well,housewas an understatement. It was an architectural masterpiece, a cabin reimagined into a sprawling wood-and-glass structure that looked right at home in the surrounding forest.

“Wow,” I said. “Nice place.”

“Don’t get Jude started on the house,” Bram grumbled. “He’ll never shut up.”

He pulled the Hummer up to the closed garage doors and we got out of the car.

I looked around as we made our way to the front door. “It’s so quiet here.”

I felt like I’d been dropped in the middle of nowhere, nothing but blue sky and birdsong and the big house looming two stories high.

Bram rang the bell and stuffed his hands into his leather jacket. I knew he didn’t want to be here because I’d been witness to the argument about it that he’d had with Poe and Remy. They’d wanted proof that Ethan was in the house on the mountain, but Bram had said they didn’t need proof: they’d find out when they got there.

That had sounded reckless even to me, but after a lot of back and forth I’d gathered that Bram just didn’t want to ask the man named Rafe and his friends for a favor.

I’d been glad Poe and Remy had won out in the end. I was almost positive Ethan Todd lived in the house I’d cased a few weeks before but I wasn’t willing to stake someone else’s life on it.

The door was opened not by one of the three men we’d come to see but by a girl about my age with long blonde hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She was wearing leggings and a hoodie, her feet bare despite the cold.

She looked up at Bram. “Hello! You must be the Butch… um, Bram.”

She didn’t shrink away from him exactly but I saw her clock his energy, the same darkness I’d felt the first time I’d seen him. I still felt it from time to time, but more and more he was just Bram.

He nodded.

She held out her hand. “I’m Lilah.”

He looked at her hand like it was a gesture from another civilization, then took it and gave it a shake.

“Maeve,” I said, holding out my hand to come to her rescue. I was pretty sure the Butchers hadn’t shaken anyone’s hand in a long time. Or, like, ever. “Nice to meet you.”

Poe and Remy introduced themselves and Lilah led us through a foyer, past a staircase with the kind of sleek suspension railing I’d only ever seen in magazine spreads, and into a vaulted great room.

The living area was expansive, a loft area visible on the second floor, and a fire crackled in a massive stone fireplace. The furniture was modern but warm, like a high-end lodge where you wanted to curl up with a good book and a cup of cocoa and never leave.

A modern kitchen occupied a third of the sprawling space, a rough-hewn dining table situated in front of a wall of glass that looked like it opened onto a big deck. The view dominated the room, and the surrounding trees and mountains felt almost close enough to touch.

“Wow, this is so nice,” I said.

A tall muscular man with dark hair and warm eyes stood by the sofa. “That’s all Jude.” He held out a hand. “I’m Nolan.”

“Maeve.” I shook his hand.

A blond guy sitting on the sofa stood. “Jude.”

“You built this?” I asked, looking around.

He chuckled. “Hardly. I just designed it.”

“It’s gorgeous.”

“Thanks.”

The men exchanged greetings but they’d obviously met before.