Russ took the opportunity and lunged in after her.

She kicked at him, scrambled between the front seats. Her foot banged against the steering wheel. The horn beeped, echoing in the garage. Boxes tumbled as Sage struggled with Victor. Liberty pushed herself up from her back and scooted toward the open door. Her head jerked back.

Russ pulled her hair, and she grasped at the steering wheel, white knuckled, until her sweat betrayed her. He gave a hard tug and she lost some hair when she lost her grip, but managed to snag the keys as pulled her into the back seat.

"You're not going anywhere," he growled, and climbed on top of her.

She beat at him, punched him in the chest. He hollered out. His sour breath caused her to heave. As he ripped the shirt from her body, she turned her head toward the floor and vomited.

"Christ, you are one sick b.i.t.c.h." He grimaced, brought a fist down on her cheek, then closed his hands around her throat.

Blood filled her mouth, and she started to paw at his hands. The forgotten keys dug into her palm. Swinging back, she connected high on his face.

He released her, screamed and clutched at his eye. A stream of crimson gushed through his fingers. She gasped for breath and took the opportunity to kick and claw her way back into the front seat.

"b.i.t.c.h!"

"Sage," Liberty called out, and saw through the window her daughter's face was bleeding, she was caught from behind in a choke hold. Liberty surged forward. "Leave her alone!"

She made it halfway out the driver's side door when she was yanked back in. Russ had her pinned, using the shirt she'd worn to try and strangle her. G.o.d, was he running on rabies? Why wouldn't he die already?

He held her tight as he attempted to push himself between the seats. She clawed at her neck, then tried to rip off the shifter, couldn't, snagged the rear view mirror off and it fell. She stretched her arm to grab at it and two attempts later came up with the first solid thing her hand came into contact with.

A s...o...b..ush.

She screamed as she swung it up over the seat. Her voice sounded primal, as though it came from the car itself, or maybe the ghosts of the animals that littered the garage. The blade connected with his neck.

He let go of her hair, fell back. She let the s...o...b..ush go with him, watching in horror as he clutched his neck, made a low, gurgling sound. His good eye stared at her in shock, the one she had stabbed drooped, appeared to watch the blood arcing up and over the front seats. The blood sprayed the dome light, turning the faint yellow into a twisted pink glow. Then, like someone had crimped a garden hose, the blood flow spurted a few more times, then stopped.

He slumped back into the seat and as she scrambled out of the car, she watched the sliced skin on his neck droop down and uncover his Adam's apple, which bobbed twice being going still.

"Hey!"

She flinched, jerked up to look out the rear window. Nathaniel and Becky ran through the garage door.

Liberty stood up and pointed toward the commotion, "Help her, Nathaniel."

He froze for a second when he saw his wife, then reacted. Nathaniel pounced on a bleeding Victor, jerking him away from Sage. Becky took off her jacket, put it over Liberty's shoulders.

"Stay away from her," Nathaniel grunted, shoving Victor to the cement. A sickening thud sounded as the boy landed face up, his back arched, impaled by one half of a twelve point rack that had been lying on the garage floor.

"The h.e.l.l?" His hands went to his chest, grasped antlers, as the question exited and then died on his lips. The stain on his clothing grew at an alarming rate, and began to pool beneath him. Three of the six antlers tented up the t-shirt near his ribcage, failing to pierce through the material like the others.

Sage cried out, turned away.

"Honey, it's okay. Are you okay?" Liberty and Becky were at her side, spoke at the same time, looking her over for injuries.

"Mom." Sage sobbed and clung to her. "I'm so sorry."

Liberty held and hushed her, smoothing a hand over her hair. She released a slow breath, observed Nathaniel as he stood over Victor's body. Took in his appearance.

Flannel. Boots. Jeans and a belt. Too much clothing for him to have thrown on if he'd transformed as he'd entered the garage. She tuned in. White.

She closed her eyes. He'd taken Mitch's amulet. He'd escaped capture when Gabriel hadn't, knew Sage was in mortal danger. Got to the farmhouse when she'd already left for the Jenkins' house. Becky must have told him everything.

She opened her eyes when she felt him wrap his arms around her and Sage. Becky still at her side, she was entirely bathed in their lights.

Nathaniel's voice hitched. "Holy h.e.l.l, Lib, I thought you were dead."

She tipped her head to look up at him. "You did? Why?"

"I got away when Gabe and I got ambushed, but he didn't makea""

"I know." She ran her hand through his hair as Sage squeezed them both tighter. "I can't believe it, either."

"I hid in the field across the road and by the time I made it back, when you were caughta" His chest heaved and he choked back a sob. "I saw you lying there. You'd been shota""

"With a dart," Liberty said. "They drugged me."

Becky stepped to the side, met Liberty's eyes and nodded like she had believed it too. Then she pivoted to look at the garage doors, allowing them the faintest bit of privacy.

"I thought you were dead. Your form wavered, and then went solid human."

Liberty's eyes grew wide. "It did? I did? How?"

He looked lost, clueless. "I don't know. I really don't. Buta you can't imagine how I felt when I thought I'd lost you."

She thought she could. She'd known that terror before, and hugged Sage tighter. "Shh, it's okay. Maybe it was the tranquilizer. But, I'm okay. I'm okay and so's our girl."

In the midst of everything, she'd forgotten. Remembering, she pulled away. "Sage, honey, I need to ask you something."

Sage, puffy eyed and wet cheeked, nodded, "Okay."

"Russ said he was hired to find me. Me, in particular. Do you know anything about that?"

She nodded. "Just found out tonight. That's why I wasn't there for Mitch. I was supposed to be, you know? It was gonna be our reunion." She looked at her father, then down to his wrist. "When Mitch pa.s.sed, we were finally going to be reunited."

"I understand, honey, it's okay. Who hired Russ?"

She shook her head. "I don't know their real name."

Becky motioned to the other side of the car, toward the workroom that they'd been held in. "Come over here, no need to look at that," and she tipped her head toward the floor.

They moved and stood outside the shop door.

"What do you mean, their real name?" Nathaniel asked.

"Since Vic and I were together when I saw Adrianadid you know that? I saw him." She started to cry again. "I didn't act scared or anything, so Vic told his dad I was cool with ita They figured they could trust me. But they didn't completely. They just called this guy Raven, nothing real. That's his name on a website."

Liberty nodded, looked at Nathaniel, saw worry crease his brow.

She said, "I think I know who it is."

"Who?" They all asked at once.

She looked at Nathaniel. "Russ said I'd upset someone back at the palace. I can only a.s.sume he meant Proem."

Sage nodded. "I noticed, too. But, why would anyone do that? If they wanted something, they knew where to find us."

"You're probably right, honey." Liberty watched Nathaniel, not believing a word she said either. "He must have been mistaken."

From his face, Nathaniel had drawn the same conclusion.

Cutler Thomas. It would be just like him to nickname himself Raven. Black hair, dark eyes, dark complexion. Sleek, opportunistic predators that preyed on the weak.

But Sage had been right though. He knew where she lived. He could have sent someone to fetch or hunt her down. Why involve a human? She and Nathaniel locked eyes, understood, but silently agreed now wasn't the time to talk about it.

Becky said, "Uh, guys? I'm sorry, but we really gotta get out of here." She nodded toward the carnage in the car, on the floor. "And we need to figure out a way to make this go away."

"How?" Nathaniel asked.

"I'm thinking a huge fire?" She shrugged.

"Oh my G.o.d." Sage started to shake. "Can't we please just get out of here?"

Liberty eyed Sage, and then looked at Becky, pleaded with her silently to help.

"Sure," Becky said. "Come on. I think we can figure out a plan when we get back to the house. I'll just turn off the lights. We want it to look like everyone's asleep if someone shows up before wea"

Nathaniel pulled Sage out. "C'mon, I'll ride with you." He looked over his shoulder at Liberty. "We'll talk when we get back."

Liberty nodded, put aside her questions. She'd deal with her mixed feelings later.

Chapter Sixteen.

Becky and Nathaniel had staged it well. Initial reports called the fire accidental due to an abundance of flammables in the taxidermy shop that had apparently ignited from a lit cigarette left on the workbench. The flames spread quickly, and the bodies were found in the garage, but they and the house were fully engulfed by the time the volunteers arrived.

Two days pa.s.sed before Katie arrived, trailing a member of the Council. Liberty was gathering a few final items when Katie called out from the vestibule.

"Nathaniel? Gabriel?"

Liberty entered the corridor from the sitting chamber. "Katie?" She hadn't seen Deacon Flood in years, but he still looked the same. Wavy brown hair, olive skin, a little soft in the middle. "h.e.l.lo, Deacon."

He tipped his head in greeting.

"Nathaniel?" Katie looked over Liberty's shoulder.

"I'm the only one here. Nathaniel is, uh, at the new cavern up north. Mitch died a couple of nights ago."

"And Gabriel?"

Liberty swallowed, stepped toward Katie and proceeded to lie. "We were planning to come see you tomorrow. I'm so sorry."

Katie's face contorted, "Something happened to him."

Liberty noticed she stated it, didn't ask. "Yes. Not far from here. Nathaniel found him in a ditch on Rimrock Hill, said he didn't think he'd suffered." Katie allowed Liberty to hug her.

Liberty stepped back as Deacon shamelessly coddled and soothed Katie while she mourned her loss. Liberty raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner when he whispered in Katie's ear while smoothing her hair, and he cooled his behavior a bit. After a respectable few minutes, Katie pulled herself together, but held fast to Deacon's arm.

Sniffling, Katie said, "I suspected as much, when Adrian came home without Gabrielatold us how he'd almost gotten killed by hunters. But still. It's hard to accept."

Liberty nodded, "I can understand." Could she ever.

Katie met her eyes, "You should know something, not that it does anybody any good now, but Adrian said he believes Mitch was involved in Sage's disappearance."

Liberty feigned surprise, gasped. "What?"

"You don't have to believe it, but Adrian swears it's the truth. He said he saw a truck parked on the road near the area he last saw her. Glimpsed it through the trees. It was yellow with a black stripe."

b.u.t.terflies flitted around in Liberty's stomach. What else had he seen? "He never told us," she said, knowing full well it was Mitch's truck.

"He was ashamed that he ran. He's hated himself for it, too. All this time. He's just a boy, Liberty. You can't blame him for running."

It was true. Liberty had blamed him. She dropped her eyes and said softly, "You're right. And I'm sorry."

Katie nodded a brief acknowledgment, "Last week, whena" she paused, giving a sideways glance to Deacon, "we visited? Adrian saw the same truck parked at the farmhouse."

Liberty pretended to make the connection, then shrugged and said, "You're right about one thing. There's not much we can do about it anymore."

Deacon spoke up, "Is Nathaniel coming back tonight?"

Liberty met his dark eyes, shook her head, "He's already been and gone. In fact," she glanced over her shoulder into the sitting chamber, "I should be heading back soon. But like I said, you're welcome to stay here."

He looked to Katie for an answer, but she didn't respond, only leaned into him. "Thanks anyway," he said, "but in light of the bad news," he put an arm around Katie, "we should be getting back."

Liberty walked them to the vestibule. "I'm really sorry about Gabriel. I know things haven't been good between us for a while now, but I hope you know how much we cared about him."

The three of them stopped near the ladder and Katie said, "I appreciate it. Also, Patience wanted me to tell you she is planning to pay a visit soon."