Unraveled

“Is the baby keeping you up?” she asked.

“Probably,” Pe

“Any word from Tucker?”

Her friend’s baby blues clouded over. “Not a peep.”

Tucker was a moron.

After the Vampire Ball, she, Aden, Riley and Victoria had taken him to a nearby—yet not too nearby—hospital for a much-needed transfusion. Earlier she’d called his room to check on him and was told he’d taken off. Now, he was out there somewhere, armed with knowledge that could be dangerous to her friends.

Had he told anyone that vampires were real? Riley had made him vow not to—Victoria would have Voice Voodooed him, but vampire compulsion apparently didn’t work on demons—and Tucker had seemed adamant in his agreement. But as Mary A

“How’d Grant take the news?” Grant was Pe

“He won’t speak to me. Unlike you, he’s not forgiving.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No big,” she said again, but she couldn’t mask the pain in her voice.

They were quiet the rest of the drive, each lost in her own thoughts. Finally, though, they reached their destination. Red brick building after red brick building came into view, some crumbling, some brand-new, but each spaced far enough apart to accommodate larger than necessary parking lots. The streets curved, lamps shining on each side. Every stoplight was currently green.

Not that traffic was moving. In fact, just the opposite.

“Wow,” Pe

Probably. People were everywhere. Human and nonhuman, though an untrained eye wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

None of the stores were open, but that didn’t matter to the loiterers. They had lawn chairs and beer coolers, and music blasted at full volume—all evidently encouraging a multitude of sins involving the removal of clothing. The lawn chairs—major, grinding PDA. The coolers—stripper platforms for some of the girls. The music—dancing that could double as sex.

Shocking. Mary A

“What’s gotten into everyone and who are all those people?” Pe

She ignored the first question, and answered the second. “I have no idea.” And technically, she didn’t. She’d never been properly introduced to the creatures who’d chosen to mingle with the humans.

“Should I pull over?”

“Yeah, but park where we have a view of everyone but they don’t have a view of us.”

Pe

There were a few vampires, their skin pale, their lips bloodred. They moved with ethereal grace, as if each step was a ballet. There were fairies, careful to remain a safe distance from the vampires, their skin glittering slightly in the moonlight. Plus, they were mouthwateringly gorgeous, each one of them. The shifters, like Riley, had a purposeful stride, their expressions hunterish, as if the entire world was their di

The otherworld, or whatever it was called, had fully descended on Crossroads, it seemed. And the humans were loving it, even though they had no idea what was truly going on. But…

Witches, witches, where were the witches?

“With witches, you must be careful,” Victoria had once told her. “They can smile while cursing you.”

They could also cloak themselves in magic so that anyone who looked at them would see only an Average Jane, easily forgettable.

“You have to train your eyes to see below the surface,” Riley had explained.

Mary A

“What?” Pe

“Nothing, nothing.” A lie without guilt. “This is just weird, that’s all.” Truth.

“I know. Totally weird.”

One of the witches who had issued the death curse stood under a streetlamp, golden light flooding her. Long blond hair curled over a shoulder, vivid against the darkness of her coat. A breeze had kicked up, blowing the hood of that coat back to reveal her lovely, familiar face. She hadn’t worn a mask before, and she wasn’t wearing one now, her dark eyes watching the surrounding chaos with disdain.

“Have you ever seen that girl?” she asked Pe

“Pretty, but no. Have you?”

“Maybe,” she hedged. Full disclosure wasn’t an option. First, Mary A

“Can I be honest with you?” Pe

“Please.” Just don’t expect the same from me.

“This is creeping me out. But should we, I don’t know, join them? Act like cute little detectives and find out what’s going on?”

“No!”

“Okay, okay. Bad suggestion.” Pe

“Yep. When the police arrive to arrest everyone in the vicinity for indecent exposure,” she said, thinking fast, “we’ll have a better chance of getting away if we’re in the car.”

“Uh, Mary A

“We’re still staying here.” Bottom line, she wasn’t going to put her friend in danger. The creatures seemed to be behaving themselves, not hurting anyone, but that could change in a blink. And what if someone sensed the baby Pe

She shuddered. One thing she knew: different “mythological” species were at war. Like vampires and fairies. And she had no idea which species liked demons and which didn’t.

“Fine. We’ll solve the mystery from here,” Pe

“Good. Welcome to the team.” Kind of.

Except, only a few minutes later, Pe

“Sorry. Five minutes, and then we’ll head home. I promise.” So far, she’d learned nothing new.

Crap! Did the witch come here every night? Was there a party every night? If so, she’d have to nab the woman in front of a thousand potential witnesses.

So what was the best way to abduct someone from this crowded a place? she wondered. The answers slid into place as easily as if she’d been a criminal her entire life. First order of business would be noise control. A scream would draw all kinds of notice.

Second order of business would be carrying the resistant or unconscious body through the masses. Again, without drawing all kinds of notice. Third order would be storing their cargo after the kidnapping.

As her mind pondered the options and subsequent consequences, a stream of something warm rushed through Mary A