Burkheart Witch Saga Book 2 (7 page)

H
e had laughed
, watching the little pigs scramble to clean up the message he had left. He didn't really believe in playing with his food, but this was so much fun!

He could tell Kayla was terrified, and he loved it. Pigs tasted so much better when they were afraid.

While the bitch pig, the pussy pig, and the little pig in a blanket slept in their bed, he had ripped that rabbit's head off with his bare hands. While he smeared the blood all over the sidewalk to leave them a message, he hadn't been able to stop himself from taking a long drink from its mutilated little body. It tasted so good that he had almost marched into the house and ate all three of them right then.

Self-control had won out. He had simply left the message, knocked over the sad little straw hut and sat in the bushes to watch them scamper around. They had rushed in when they found the message and locked up the house as if that would do any damn good at all.

He had to admit that he had not liked the look on the woman's face. As she had walked into the house, there was defiance in her expression while she scanned the yard for danger.

He would rip that smug look off along with her lips, nose, and eyes. He hadn't realized that the whole time he was watching them, he had been digging his extended claws into his own thigh. The blood had partially soaked through the denim pant leg and began to drip onto the well-manicured grass. He had released the grip on his leg and wiped his hands on the dry part of his jeans.

He knew it would heal completely before nightfall. The mixture that his blood contained was great for self-healing, and even better for speed and strength. There would be no stopping him this time. Even that witch's magic wouldn't do the trick. He had a few "tricks" of his own to show her. Wouldn't that little pig be surprised?

W
hen the doorbell rang
, Kayla jumped out of her seat. David had finished packing and had his bags stacked up at the foot of the stairs. He would only be gone for one day, she kept telling herself as she answered the door.

"Gus!" Kayla beamed as the little man walked in through the front door. Normally, she would have leaned down to hug him, but because of the basketball she was hauling around, she put out her hand instead.

Gus took her hand and let a small grin melt his grumpy countenance.

"Hi Kayla. Is David still here?" The grouchy look had reclaimed its rightful spot.

"Yeah, he's leaving in a few minutes. Do you want some coffee?"

"No." He hoisted himself up on one of the dining room chairs. "Tell me what's happening."

David joined her at the table and gave Gus a nod. Kayla began recounting the events of the last few days. She knew Joy had told him some of the events, but he needed her to fill in the blanks. Gus sat there and listened intently to her story. When Kayla finished telling all about the blood-soaked message and the general creepiness of the last few days, Gus just looked at her blankly. After a few seconds, he decided on his response to the story.

"No magic?" he asked, disappointed.

"No magic."

"Okay, then. We need to get this house in order." He pulled a notebook and pen out of the back pocket of his jeans and began taking notes.

"All of the windows need to be sealed, doors need extra deadbolts. Do you have an alarm system?"

"Yeah, I had it installed before we moved in," David answered.

"Who installed it?" Gus asked, ready to make a note of the answer.

"Something Greek… Niolikos Security." He pronounced it
nee-all-ick-us,
pulling a business card out of his wallet and handing it over to Gus, who looked at it and then tucked it away in his pocket.

"I'll have a look at the system myself," he said gruffly, jumping out of the tall chair and looking around.

"I have to get going, Kayla," David said, picking up his two duffle bags. "Are you sure that you'll be good here?"

"Yes, honey. Go and impress the masses with your knowledge of eggplants and tomatoes." She kissed him on the lips and gave him a strong hug that was difficult to end. She did eventually let him go when the cab pulled up to take him to the airport.

They said more goodbyes and she watched out the window pensively while he got into the cab and headed for California.

Gus was already hard at work with the toolbox he had brought with him, sealing windows and beefing up the security in Kayla's little brick fortress. She hoped like hell that it was going to be enough.

A
fter all the
extra locks had been installed on the doors and bars were set across every window, Gus boarded the outside entrance to the garage and sealed almost every crack, crevice, and hole into the house.

Kayla had started cooking a dinner of spinach salad and eggplant parmigiana for the two of them while he worked. Gus loved Italian food, and since he had refused payment for his work on the house, she wanted to do something nice for him.

Gus made his way into the kitchen and sat down at the table, obviously tired. Kayla brought a cold beer and put it in front of him. She sat down and sipped a cup of tea as he opened the beer and took a long drink.

"Belgian ale, huh? Classy." He smiled one of his rarely seen smiles at her.

"Someone left it here after a party." She returned the grin. "Dinner is almost ready."

"Great! I am starving!"

"Good. I made plenty. You can take some of it with you when you go home."

"I am not leaving here until David gets back. Stop trying to play tough."

"I just feel bad about making you stay here."

"Listen, woman, get me my dinner." He gave her a serious look, but was unable to hold it for long. Gus burst out in a donkey bray of a laugh that Kayla couldn't remember ever hearing before. It was definitely contagious. Kayla's laughter mingled with his, and they both laughed until Kayla had tears running down her cheeks.

"All right, I'm going." She patted Gus on the shoulder then went to the kitchen to prepare their plates.

T
he two friends
ate their meal and talked about life.

"This is great," Gus praised. He seemed to be in an uncharacteristically good mood. Kayla liked seeing him in such high spirits, but wondered what was behind it.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you so cheerful today?"

Gus ate a big mouthful of eggplant and took a swig of his second ale. He breathed in deeply as if working up to something important. Finally, he let it out and began.

"I'm gonna ask Violet to marry me," he blurted so quickly Kayla almost didn't understand.

"Oh my God! That's great, Gus!" she shouted in excitement.

"I'm gonna ask her tomorrow night." His look of elation turned to uncertainty. "You do think she'll say yes, right?"

"Oh, Gus, of course she will. Violet loves you!"

"I love her, too. Even more than I thought I did. When Jess…" He began to choke up a little as he looked at Kayla. "When Mooney lost Jess, I thought about how I'd feel if I lost Vi. I couldn't even stand the thought. It took a while, but I figured out how much I need her."

Kayla leaned over in her chair and gave Gus a hug. It was partly congratulatory and partly sympathetic. She needed that hug as much or more than he did.

As she pulled away, a crash came from the front porch. Both of them scrambled out of their chairs, assuming defensive postures. Kayla's heart was beating at least a thousand beats per minute, and seemed to have relocated itself to her throat. She swallowed hard, waiting for something else to happen. After a few seconds of nothing, she began walking to the front window. Gus took hold of her hand and held her back. She was always surprised at the strength that the little man possessed.

"I'll check it out, Kayla. You stay back away from the windows." The commanding tone of his voice told her not to argue with him. Gus walked up to the window and pulled the curtains aside. He looked out at the front porch and the areas of shadows surrounding the front yard.

"Son of a bitch!" the dwarf exclaimed.

"What is it?" Kayla asked, frightened of the answer that might come.

"Don't look," he replied grimly.

Being herself, that was an invitation to, in fact, look. She silently cursed herself.

Someone had thrown what looked like a bucket full of blood at the front porch. The red liquid dripped from the wooden frame and the rafters. The overhead light was completely obscured by the viscous fluid. Sitting in the center of the porch, a severed pig's head sat staring directly at her. The dead, black eyes had been decorated with blue eye shadow smeared above them. Just below the snout, red lipstick had been applied in an exaggerated pout.

While she took in the details of the scene, a rush of sour bile and stomach acid began looking for the easiest route out of her body. The violent heaves took hold of her, but she looked away, able to stop the flow before vomiting all over the foyer floor.

She involuntarily looked again, and this time, there was no holding it back. She ran to the bathroom and vomited repeatedly. After her body was empty and her stomach muscles ached from the intense heaving, she sat down on the bathroom floor.

Gus poked his head in the doorway.

"You, ok?"

"Yeah, weak stomach, one of the perks of pregnancy."

"I went outside to check it out. See if I could see anybody running away."

"Did you?"

"No. I did find this, though, tied around the pig's neck… well, what was left of its neck." Gus handed her a card, like one you would find used as a tag at a morgue. Kayla read the blood spattered words out loud.

"Let me come in." A look of realization and horror washed out her features.

"What?" Gus asked, worried.

She looked up at him from the cold bathroom floor. The color completely drained from her face as she spoke the next line of the nursery rhyme.

"Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin."

D
avid arrived home
the next morning to find his front porch had a slight red discoloration to it.

He unlocked the door and entered the dimly lit foyer, searching for his wife.

"Kayla?"

"In here," she called out from the dining room. David walked in, finding Gus and Kayla seated at the dining room table, looking defeated.

"What happened?"

"We had a visitor last night," Gus said blandly. He continued on, telling David the entire history of events from the night before.

David placed another Belgian ale and a soda on the table as he took a seat next to Kayla. He took a long swig of his cold soda and looked at his wife.

"Hi, honey."

"Hi." She smiled. "How was your trip?"

"Good. Sold a lot of books and met some great people."

"Cool," Kayla began to chuckle at his attempt to make her feel better. It was working.

"I think I'm going to go throw away all the bacon in the house."

This time, Kayla and Gus both laughed. David had succeeded in lightening the mood, but he was about to dial it back.

"What can we do about this?"

"I got some feelers out, but other than that…" Gus trailed off.

"It has to be Lou," Kayla said, shaking her head. David got up to answer the ringing phone.

"Hello?" David paused a beat. "Hi Mooney, what's up?" He glanced over at the dwarf with another short pause. "Okay." David put the phone down on the table and pushed the button to initiate the speaker function.

"Mooney, you're on," Gus said, letting the fellow dwarf know he was there and listening.

"Hey guys," the digital version of Mooney's voice greeted them and then continued relaying what he had learned. "I found some information on that security company that you asked about, Gus. They are not exactly interested in security."

"What does that mean?" Kayla asked.

"From what I can gather, the company is a front. It appears to have been started by a group of wolves that use their knowledge of people's security codes to come back after a job and break in. They've been doing this for just over five years. They've never been caught, because they don't usually leave any survivors."

"Oh my God."

"The name of the group is The New Wolves, or Neo Lycos, or
Niolikos
." He waited for someone to have an "aha moment" while they realized what that meant.

"Fucking A,” Gus said, obviously disappointed that he had missed this little clue.

"Who runs this group, or gang, or whatever?" Kayla jumped in.

"It was started by Lou. My contacts say that he hasn't been back since, well you know."

"Shit." As hard as she tried, she just couldn't figure this out.

"Two more things, Kayla. The building where the business is run was leased by Carolyn."

"This shit keeps getting better and better." Kayla put her head in her hands and rested her elbows on the table.

"The other thing is: I found out Lou's full name. Lou Wagner," Mooney's crackling voice said with a hint of foreboding.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Kayla moaned and raised her head.

"What
does
that mean?" David asked, feeling out of the loop.

"Carolyn's maiden name was Wagner. It means that Lou is probably my half-brother."