Page 131 of Endless Terrors
Something pale came out of the darkness.
Something living and vaguely human-shaped, crawling on all fours. I saw a flash of elbows and knees. Panic exploded in my chest, but there was no time to react. The thing moved fast as a spider, and I watched with wide-eyed horror as it stopped at the foot of the bed and straightened.
I saw the gun first, pointed right at me. Odd choice for a monster, I thought with dim shock. Then whatever held the weapon shifted closer. Light fell across its face.
“Bella?” I blurted. In a rush of relief and confusion, I realized that I hadn’t recognized her because she was wearing an animal carcass. I pressed my hand against my thundering chest. “What are you doing here?”
“Slipped inside while you were all distracted with those pretty boys,” the human said. Her hand wobbled, and her other hand shot up to steady it. She held onto the gun with both hands now, drawing my attention back to it. Then Bella asked, “Do you like my disguise?”
My gaze dropped to the fur she was wearing around her shoulders. There were bits of dried flesh and hardened blood along its edges, but I knew that fur. I’d buried my fingers in it a hundred times. Finn. A dull roar started in my ears, and I heard myself say calmly, “Where did you get that?”
“I’ve been watching this place for weeks. Months, actually. At first, I couldn’t get close enough because of the wolf. It was always around, damn it!” Hysterical laughter clung to Bella’s voice. She stopped and swiped roughly at her nose, making a visible effort to recompose herself. Once again, she adjusted her grip on the gun and continued, “Then I found one of the gooey messes it leaves behind, and this pelt was right there, just looking up at me. I got an idea. Ian liked to hunt, see, and he told me things about disguising your scent. It was easy after that. The wolf left me alone, and the others walked right by, too. I listened and watched every chance I could. I learned all about you and the rest of the demons living here.”
Oh my God. I stared at Bella as her words triggered a memory. Just before I passed out, I’d smelled a wolf. But Finn still wasn’t back from his hunt. That meant I’d been smelling Bella O’Connell while she was hiding somewhere, staying out of sight until I was vulnerable.
My mind went into survival mode. Everything Dad taught me, all the lessons from Adam. I glanced down at the gun, intending to reexamine Bella’s hold on it. I’d been taught how to disarm an attacker in multiple ways. It was the first time I’d really stared at Bella’s hands—before, I’d been absorbed by the gun. As the seconds ticked by, a distant part of me knew this was my opening. Bella’s pause was a chance to ask a question and keep her talking. But my gaze was still glued to the woman’s hands. I’d forgotten my plan to get the gun away from her.
Bella’s fingertips were black.
I looked up slowly, my stomach tight with certainty. “You’re the one who put the hex on Gretchen,” I said.
Bella’s mascara-lined eyes darkened. “She brought it on herself! I told her my suspicions about you, and she gave me this pitiful look. Like I was delusional.”
Part of me had always assumed I was responsible, in some way, for what had happened to Gretchen that day. She’d been afflicted with magic, and magic tended to follow me wherever I went. But there was no time to acknowledge how I felt about that fact. At the moment, I was facing a human on the verge of a psychotic break, or a human who was in the midst of one, and she was pointing a gun at me.
“I don’t think you’re delusional, but I am confused,” I said, trying to seem unruffled. “Why are you so convinced I killed Ian?”
“Because she told me you did,” Bella replied instantly. A glazed look had entered her eyes now. I knew that look. Dread made my insides sink.
“Who?”
“The woman.” Bella frowned, as if I’d confused her. It was the same expression I’d seen on Gretchen’s face. In that moment, I knew for sure.
Bella O’Connell had been bespelled.
“Did the woman tell you her name?” I asked.
Bella was looking through me now. Her voice softened with remembrance. “She came to our house. She said she was a witch, and she could help me get revenge on the person responsible for my husband’s death. I didn’t believe her, but then she made the furniture float. She gave me a spell and said I could make you do anything I wanted. But I told that bitch Gretchen to kill you instead. That way I got to watch, she’d have to live with the guilt afterward, and I wouldn’t get in trouble with all that DNA stuff Ian used to talk about. It was perfect.”
“Her name, Bella.” I dared to speak a little sharper, hoping it would get through to her. “What was the woman’s name?”
She wagged her head as if she were trying to shake something free, or out. One of her hands rose to hold her temple. “Fuck, I don’t remember, okay? No, wait. It was a flower. Yeah, that’s it. Some kind of flower.”
I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. So Iris had struck again. She must’ve learned the truth about Ian during my torture at the Seelie Court. A lot of that time was blank or hazy, since I’d been delirious for half of it. Who knew what else they’d gotten out of me?
I’d made myself a terrible enemy the day I’d pissed off Belanor’s pet witch.
Another train of thought that would have to wait. Bella hadn’t lowered the gun and I was still sitting in bed. The vulnerable position put me at a disadvantage. Moving slowly, as if Bella were a wild animal, I slid my legs to the floor and stood. I held my hands out and faced her, speaking in a low, even tone. “Bella, listen to me. That woman you spoke to? She isn’t a good person. She’s just trying to—”
“I don’t care what kind of person she is,” Bella snarled, her fury snapping back like a whip. “I care about the truth. Did you or did you not kill my Ian?”
Technically, Laurie had killed him. He’d only done it because I was afraid of Ian, but Bella didn’t need to know that.
“No,” I said, meeting her gaze. I didn’t flinch or look away.
Slowly, her jaw locked into place. She didn’t buy it. Okay, back to Plan A. Getting the gun away. I had one shot to do this right. Wanting another look at how her hands were positioned, my eyes flicked down.
This time, Bella noticed, and she stiffened. Immediately, I knew I’d made a grave miscalculation. A stupid, stupid mistake. I’d forgotten how much terror lived inside Bella O’Connell. When she saw that I was about to attack, her hand tensed around the gun.
