Blood of the Devil

Chapter 31 - Blood of the Covenant

Mickey trained both guns on the other three and backed away, stopping only when his shoulder brushed Letha's. She flinched away, casting him a dirty look, but he didn't noticed. His attention was fixed on the crumpled photo she was clutching behind her back. The picture had been taken from a distance and zoomed in so far that the image was pixilated, but there was no denying who the red curls belonged to. His eyes darted to the rest of the pictures scattered across the table, seeing different shirts and backgrounds, but always featuring Letha.

His head swung back to the front and he assessed their kidnappers warily. The man was glaring at the pistols, fingers twitching as he fought the urge to lunge. Mickey inched the gun in his right hand in his direction, staring at him until he rocked back on his heels. Beside him, the thin girl was making woodchips of her fingernails, gnawing at them with such an anxious expression that Mickey feared she might have a panic attack at any moment. Her breathing was sporadic and shallow with the occasional hiccup but when she realised he was watching, her breathing stopped altogether.

Quickly, Mickey turned the gun away from her and she dragged in a breath. Now the weapon was fixed on Min and he felt his hear contract painfully. She wasn't angry or panicked, merely watching him with a sad smile and pained eyes. There was no guilt or regret in her features, no hint of remorse, and Mickey straightened his back to steel himself.

"Answer her question," he muttered, turning his head away from her. He physically felt it when Letha redirected some of her fury at him for interfering but he didn't acknowledge her.

Everybody shifted to look at Min.

She swallowed uncomfortably, fixing her gaze on Letha. "Some of them are photographs of you – that's why you're in them – and others are photographs of people you spend time with and you're just there by coincidence."

Letha frowned at turned around, scanning the papers quickly. "Hadrian is in some of these... so is my father. Uncle Edacitas pops up regularly as well..." Angling her head to the side, her confused eyes met Mickey's. "Who would want to surveil my family?" Apart from yours? Both of them heard the second half of her question without it being verbalised. Seeming to realise that he couldn't offer any answers, she swivelled to face those that could and repeated herself.

Min cringed, closing her eyes as if to hold back tears. "I'm so sorry Mickey," she whispered.

"Excuse me?" Letha snapped, leaning forwards threateningly, "He's not the one whose privacy you invaded!"

The woman nodded quickly. "We've been watching your family because we believe a murderer lives amongst them," she said quickly, cracking her eyes open at the end to gauge their reactions. "He's a foul beast, with no morals or hesitations who preys on the weak and vulnerable under the cover of darkness." Her speech became to impassioned at the end, so earnest, that her face lost all trace of sorrow. Instead, it almost seemed to glow.

Her words had a different reaction in Mickey. His arms began to shake, not just because of the awkward height he was holding them at, and his pulse began to beat so thunderously that he could feel it in the opposite wrist where they were still bounds together.

Letha just rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific," she sneered, tapping a foot against the concrete.

The other woman frowned slightly at that, clasping her hands in front of her and fiddling anxiously. Her eyes darted to Mickey. "You won't believe me," she mumbled, "but you have to."

Unable to recognise the woman before him, Mickey let his shoulders fall with a sigh. "Tell me," he insisted gently. Instantly, he felt Letha's dark gaze burning into his spine and he added some strength to his tone. "Us. Tell us."