“I’m sorry. Please. Where is she?”
“They can’t hear you, you know.”
“Who?”
“Your pack. They don’t know that anything is… amiss. It’s powerful. The spell.”
“Tell me.”
“Do you know who I am?” he asked. His eyes were bright and green until they were consumed by orange. But it wasn’t the Halloween orange I was used to, vibrant and alive. No, this orange was rotting.
“No.”
“That was another lie. Ox. Have they taught you nothing?”
I said, “Don’t do this.”
He laughed. “Do what?”
“Hurt her.”
“Ah. Well. Of course. You can stop that, Ox. If you wanted to.”
“How?”
“It’s simple, really. Give me Joe and Thomas Bennett and I will give you your mother. You will call them and ask for them to come over here. I don’t care what you have to say to get them here. Just those two and those two alone. If I even suspect you’re trying to tip them off, I will paint the walls with her blood.”
“You can’t—”
He said, “That’s where you’re wrong. Because I can do it. And even more, I am doing it. This is happening, Ox. As we speak. As you breathe. Standing there with your little rabbit heart.”
“You can’t—”
“Ox. Ox. You can’t argue with me. Not on this. I am a beast. I was made to be this way by the might and folly of men and I stopped denying what I am a long time ago. I will take what is rightfully mine and all will be well.”
“You don’t have to do this,” and my voice cracked.
He said, “You have a choice to make, Oxnard. Hurry. You have a minute to decide.”
I took a step toward him, my hands in fists at my sides. My head hurt and I could only think MOM and JOE and THOMAS and there was so much anger. So much rage that this man, this deceptively simple-looking man could come into my house and try to take everything from me. Everything I had. Everything I’d built.
I said, “Richard Collins.”
He grinned. Bowed his head. Extended his hands in a neat little flourish. “At your service.”
His rotted eyes flashed again.
I said, “I’ll kill you. For everything you’ve done.”
His smile widened. His teeth were more wolf than man. “I can see why Thomas likes you. Human or not, you’ve got a little somethin’ somethin’, am I right? Forty-five seconds, Ox.”
I said, “Don’t do this. Take me. Leave them alone. I’ll go with you.”
His smile faded. “So quick to sacrifice yourself?”
“Just take me.” Another step forward. “I’ll go quietly. Wherever you want.”
“You’ll kill me, you’ll go with me, which is it? You’re confusing the situation, Ox. How fickle the will of men.”