Darkness Unleashed Page 0,4

she’d been on the imp’s trail, following his scent from St. Louis to the edge of Hannibal. She could almost taste her revenge when his trail mysteriously vanished on the outskirts of town. She didn’t know how the son of a bitch had managed to disappear into thin air, but it wasn’t going to stop her.

One way or another, she was finding the man who had held her captive for the past thirty years, and paying him back a hundredfold.

Not bothering to knock, Regan shoved open the door to the shack and stepped in. It was a cramped space, the walls covered with glossy pamphlets proclaiming all the wondrous sights to see in Hannibal, and one narrow window that overlooked the park.

At first glance the place looked empty, but Regan didn’t miss the cigarette smoke that hung in the air. Moving to the Formica counter at the far end of the room, she banged on the small silver bell.

There was the muffled sound of cursing, then a door behind the counter was shoved open, and a shaggy head poked out.

“Yeah?” The boy, who couldn’t have been more than eighteen, with a nose too big for his narrow face, stiffened as his pale eyes skimmed over Darcy’s long, golden blond hair and down her slender body. Slowly they lifted to study the green eyes that dominated her pale heart-shaped face. A goofy smile curved his lips as he stepped into the room and leaned against the counter. “Helloooo. What’s up?”

“I’m looking for a friend.”

“You just found him, doll. Give me ten minutes to lock up, and I’m all yours.”

As if.

Regan resisted the urge to smash the overlarge nose, barely. Instead, she pulled out the folded page she had ripped from a magazine before leaving St. Louis.

“Have you seen an RV that looks like this?”

The kid barely glanced at the picture. “Do I look like that freak from Monk? I take the money, I give them a card to put on their dash, and that’s the end of it. I don’t give a shit what their RV looks like.”

“You would have noticed this one. The driver has long red hair and eyes like a cat. He’s very…distinctive.”

“There’s no one here who doesn’t have gray hair and dentures.” The boy shuddered. “I have nightmares that one day I’ll look out there and nothing will be left but corpses and rotting RVs.”

“Charming.”

The goofy smile widened. “You could take my mind off the nasty geriatrics and their imminent death. I have a cot in the back.”

Regan once again eyed the protruding beak. Targets didn’t come more tempting. Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to attract attention. Humans always made such a fuss over bit of blood and a few broken bones.

“Not even if you came giftwrapped,” she muttered, turning to leave.

“Hey…”

Whatever he had to say was cut off as Regan slammed the door and jogged toward the nearby road leading into Hannibal.

This was the last RV park in the area. Her only hope now was that she could pick up Culligan’s trail somewhere in town.

He couldn’t have just vanished.

Not only was Culligan a greedy sadist, but he was also a pathetic imp. Unlike many of his kind, he didn’t have the skill to create portals to travel. Hell, he could barely form a hex.

Which meant he was either in his RV, or on foot.

Five hours later, she’d jogged through every street in town, finding nothing more than the usual drunken humans and a handful of sprites dancing in the gathering fog.

Damn. She was hungry, weary to the bone, and in no condition to battle Culligan, even if she did run across him. As much as it ticked her off, it was time to call it a night.

Angling back toward the main highway that snaked through town, Regan ignored the scent of food that wafted from the few fast-food restaurants that remained open. She had stolen money from Salvatore before leaving St. Louis, but it would only last so long. For now she preferred the protection of four walls and a locked door while she slept to easing the empty ache in her belly.

She returned to the hotel that she’d booked earlier (one of a dozen that had Mark Twain emblazoned in the name), in the hopes she would need a place to stash a beaten and bloody imp. That hope was shot to hell for the moment, but at least she could look forward to a hot shower and clean bed.

Keeping her head lowered, she limped across