Page 13 of Echo (A Monster’s Prey #2)

I sprinted to the gun downstairs, tip-toeing around the blood. My heart thundered in my chest, but I still ran back upstairs. The shot gun was ready to fire by the time I got to the bedroom where I’d left him.

But when I came around the corner, the bed was empty. Nothing was left but crumpled sheets and the cum between my thighs. I checked the window, and it was still locked.

He was still in the house. I opened the closet, using the gun to move clothes out of the way.

Under the bed.

That was a compromised position. I couldn’t get down on the ground without risking myself. He could sneak up behind me, but I couldn’t clear the room without knowing for sure.

“Fuck.” I whistled for Ranger and the sound of barking came down stairs, along with nails on a door. The asshole locked up my fucking dog.

What was the best way to handle this?

Get my dog and leave myself exposed, since he would know exactly where I was going, or clear the upstairs.

I swallowed harshly, as I kneeled on the ground. I tightened my grip on the gun to stop my hands from shaking. Under the bed was thankfully clear, but that was when I heard heavy steps in the hall.

Terror seized me for a half a second, making my lungs and heart stop working. But the training and teachings from my father and Aurelio grabbed me in the second half. I scrambled to my feet, gun at the ready. I walked silently in the hall, but no one was there.

I pulled the door closed and went to the next room. The door was open to the bathroom, so it was easy to poke my head in to scan the room.

Nails screeched down the wall in the hall, and I had to fight the urge to cover my ears. The god awful sound skittered down every bad nerve I had.

But once again, when I ducked back into the hall, nothing was there. Except the evidence of giant nail marks along the floral wallpaper, right along the bathroom wall.

He was playing with me.

I slammed the door, so he knew exactly how unamused I was.

An unnatural breeze blew past me, and the lights shut off. Surrounding me in a suffocating darkness. It made me too aware of the light footsteps approaching me. I aimed based on sound alone and pulled the trigger.

The man groaned and chuckled at the same time. “That’s it. Fight, Little Rabbit.”

I pumped the gun to ready the next shot, but there was only one left. If I missed, I was fucked. Even if I used the gun itself as a weapon, I was pretty sure he could overpower me.

“You killed Mark,” I said, hoping to get him talking so I could hone in on his position better.

“He touched you,” the man replied as if he were commenting on the weather. He chuckled, and I could swear the sound came from all around me. Like he was the darkness itself. “You’re mine. No one hurts mine.”

Where was he?

The ghost of lips landed on my neck. I jerked the butt of the gun backwards, but nothing was there. I whirled around, but resisted the urge to fire.

“Pretty Rabbit.” Was whispered, before the light flickered on, and the dark pressure vanished.

My heart pounded as I ran down stairs to go find Ranger, but got stuck staring at Mark at the bottom of the stairs.

I recovered my phone from the room and called Aurelio. He answered, but didn’t speak. “Aurelio, tell me you have something.”

“That man is so full of shit.” Aurelio scoffed. “He doesn’t have anything on you. He told his boss he was taking time off for the death of his wife. Who no one has laid eyes on in ten years, mind you. In his world, you don’t exist.”

I stared at the mess of blood and meat on my couch. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all night.”

“It’s a fucking waste for a man to hide you like that,” Aurelio spat. “Probably just a cover for his suspiciously missing wife. Did you know he was married?”

“No,” I answered. “But he didn’t know about you either.”

He laughed at that. “Fair enough. Can I give you a word of advice, my darling ex-wife?”

“Why not?”

“You got hogs out there?”

“Someone is going to trace him to me. There are people who know about me.” I assumed it was people who didn’t know about his wife, or didn’t think much about a shady lawyer with a piece on the side. “I didn’t do him, Aurelio. Someone beat me to it.”

“Good riddance.”

“They were sloppy. Messy. I don’t know what to do.” That man couldn’t have shed more blood if he tried.

“Call the cops,” he said in the calmest voice imageable.

“Is this Aurelio Pesci?”

He let out a deep, hearty laugh. “I hear you. But if you’re innocent and you know they’ll be on your door sooner rather than later, perhaps you should just invite them.”

He had a point.

“You said you don’t know who did him?”

“Thanks for your help, Aurelio.” I couldn’t quite keep the fondness out of my voice. “I can always rely on you.”

“Not always.” He hissed. “But if you need me now, I’ll be there.”

“Goodbye, Aurelio.”

He sighed in defeat. “Goodnight.”

I cleared my voice and prepared myself to sound shaken when I called 911 . Luckily, the whole sex with an imposter helped everything along.

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“My boyfriend’s been murdered, and there is someone in the house.”

“ What is your location?”

“9611 Millers Lane.”

There was silence on the other side. “Ma’am, we can’t get someone out there until morning.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Our officers will not go up the mountains until morning. Especially not Rinah farm.”

“Do you know something I don’t?” Now the panic really set in, and I knew I’d sell the devastated damsel no problem. “What do I do?”

“Do what you have to. But help won’t be there anytime soon.”

Fuck this.

I ran towards the front door as a shadow walked across the window, where I’d left the curtains open.

His chuckle on the other side of the door made me freeze before I flipped the lock. “You can’t run fast enough.”

I ran across the house to the kitchen, ready to bolt out the back door. By the time I got there, he was laughing on the back porch. “I told you, Little Rabbit. You’re already trapped.”

A man couldn’t do all of this.

I grabbed the keys and ran down the hall to the crazy room that I intended to board up. I went into the room, grabbing the salt. My sweaty hands fumbled the bag, but I was able to get a line of salt over the threshold.

Tossing the bag aside, I grabbed the sage candle and lit it blindly with a match.

“Come on out,” Mark’s irritated voice said from the hallway.

“Fuck you!” I willfully held back tears, not wanting to show this thing how weak I felt.

“Madison,” Aurelio whispered. “Are you here?”

It wasn’t Aurelio. I could believe he’d tracked me down. I could believe if I called for him, he’d have a jet headed my way. But he wouldn’t show up until I asked for his presence, otherwise, he never would have let me go.

But that also meant this thing was in my head.

I backed away from the door to sit against the altar, waiting for him to come down the hall.