Page 110 of In the Shadows

“I know!” He choked on the words, looking at her with wild

fear in his eyes. “But if I tell you, if you know, then you’ll be tainted,

too. I can’t let that happen, Minnie. I have to keep you safe.”

She held up her hand, still stained with blood. “We’re not safe

anymore. None of us. It’s too late for that.”

“I can’t lose you. I love you.”

The words charged through her like lightning, a physical sensa-

tion she felt to her fingertips. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled his

face down, meeting his lips with her own in a kiss so longed and

hoped for it was more an act of desperation than passion.

He looked dazed as she pulled back, still holding his face so

that he couldn’t break eye contact. She locked him there and didn’t

let him go. “You will never lose me.”

Finally he nodded, swallowing painfully. “We need some-

where old. If this is one of the places they visit, they’ll have a

history here and they’ll use it. There are certain places they con-

sider powerful, and they come back to them over and over again.

That’s one of the ways my father tracked them.”

Thomas cleared his throat. Minnie had forgotten he was right

there. She didn’t care. He nodded toward the church. “Isn’t this

one of the oldest buildings?”

Arthur shook his head. “Older. We’re talking centuries.”

“But the town isn’t that old!”

They both looked toward Minnie. She ran through every

structure, every building, but they were right. Nothing was older

than one hundred years. Nothing had the kind of deep-rooted

history that Arthur was talking about. It would need to predate

the town, predate the first settlers, even.

And then she knew.

“The caves!” she said, immediately breaking into a run. “They