RAVEN'S HOLLOW by Jenna Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

“Freaking myself out again. I need to refocus, and lucky me, I see a light in Molly’s window. I can distract myself by reading her the riot act for turning off her phone.”
    “Isn’t shouting at Molly a bit like kicking a puppy?”
    “I said read, not shout. All I really want to do is make sure she’s safe. Because I don’t believe, and neither do you, that there’s a copycat at work here. It’s twenty years later, Eli, and somebody’s doing to me almost exactly what he did to Laura. But who’s to say that after such a long hiatus, this person doesn’t have a different plan in mind? How do we know I’m the only Bellam he intends to threaten? Or kill?”
    * * *
    H E SAT IN the dark, with the storm shrieking around him, and he breathed. In and out, in and out.
    It was all about making the right moves at the right time. He wanted Sadie. He needed Sadie to know he wanted her. But he also needed her to know she’d hurt him.
    Love and fear and anger fought a bitter, three-way battle in his head these days. Twenty years ago, he’d discovered that a sleeping monster lived deep inside him. What if the monster woke up and consumed him? He might kill Sadie the way he’d killed Laura.
    Would he, though? Could he? He loved Sadie so very, very much. He saw himself spending the rest of his life with her. Was it possible this newer, deeper love might stop the monster from clawing its way out?
    Possibly, but one thing he’d learned tonight was that accidents could happen when you carried a gun.
    The raven should have been a symbol of his love. He hadn’t meant to kill it, but at least the bullet hadn’t wound up in Sadie’s head. He could take comfort in that.
    When he started to shake, he dropped his face into his hands. He was tired, so damnably tired. Should he try to sleep? Did he dare? Or would the monster know and seize the opportunity to go on a rampage?
    To go on a witch-hunt?

Chapter Seven
    “The battery in her cell phone died.”
    Twenty minutes after they walked through her cousin’s front door. Sadie returned to the thickly shadowed room Molly called a parlor.
    “She stayed in town to have dinner with a friend who’s afraid of thunderstorms. Neat, tidy, logical. Mystery solved, Lieutenant.”
    “One mystery, anyway.” Eli held up and examined a double-edged dagger. “Any reason she collects and displays lethal weapons?”
    “Witch’s tools,” Sadie corrected. “That dagger you’re holding is an athame. Its white-handled counterpart is a boline.” She swept a hand along the sideboard. “Chalice, ritual candles, tarot cards, protective crystals—dog.”
    Eli regarded the tiny, ratlike creature at the far end. Its pointy ears quivered as the animal stared back.
    “His name’s Solomon.” Sadie bit back most of a smile. “He and Cocoa don’t get along. Seeing as Molly’s coming with us to my place, it should be a lively gathering.”
    “Especially if Cocoa’s in the mood for a midnight snack.”
    “I’ll make sure she’s well fed. By the way, you might want to put that dagger down before Molly sees you. She’s proprietorial about family heirlooms.”
    “Seriously? These things belonged to your ancestor?”
    “Most of them did. Molly’s a buff. She’s searched the manor from subcellar to tower peak. If you look closely, you’ll see Nola Bellam’s initials inscribed on the larger items.”
    “So Hezekiah Blume really did marry a witch.”
    “Depends on how you look at it. Nola possessed the implements of a witch, but then Molly currently possesses those same implements, and no one’s ever accused her of witchcraft.”
    “I’ll let that one pass.”
    “And I’ll light a metaphorical fire under my cousin.” But Sadie paused in the doorway. “Do you have any ideas, theories, even vague thoughts on tonight’s intruder?”
    “Having seen this house, I’d say he doesn’t believe in curses.”
    “Oh, well, if that’s true, you can take almost every male in both towns out of