Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4), Helen Harper [free ereaders .txt] 📗

and sharp teeth snapping at Lukas’s throat. Lukas was preternaturally strong, but I knew that the bugbear was stronger.

Lazarus spread out his arms and closed his eyes. ‘Then shoot me,’ he whispered.

I glanced at Lukas and the bugbear again. The strain on Lukas’s face was obvious. He was using all his strength to hold the monster off, but its teeth were edging closer and closer. In seconds all this would be over.

I sucked in a breath. And then I fired.

The bolt hit Lazarus in his chest. For a moment he looked surprised, then he smiled and sank to his knees.

The bugbear howled once and immediately abandoned Lukas. It knocked me out of the way as it heaved itself to Lazarus, leaping at him and disappearing inside his frail body almost as if it had been swallowed up.

It was too late. Lazarus let out a single shuddering sigh and fell.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

DCI Boateng wasted no time in setting up spotlights and establishing a perimeter. ‘Is this bugbear creature still inside him?’ he asked, pointing at Lazarus’s corpse.

‘It has to be, sir.’ I stared at the body. I’d shaken it and turned it over and examined the skin. There was no blemish or mark or pulsating lump that indicated where the bugbear had gone, but it was in there somewhere. This wasn’t over yet.

‘It disappeared inside him a moment before he died. But I don’t know anything about bugbears, so I don’t know if it died when he did. I don’t know if it’s concealing itself inside Lazarus’s body until it gathers enough strength to attack us again. There’s been no sign of it since just before Lazarus hit the ground.’ Angry frustration bit at me. ‘Whether it’s still alive in there or not, I should have stopped it before it merged back so we could know for sure.’

Boateng looked at me. ‘You saved Miranda and Albion James,’ he said quietly. He glanced at the flashing blue lights on the ambulance where they were being checked over before being taken to the hospital. ‘That’s down to you. You got the guy. You’ve done a good day’s work, Emma.’

It didn’t feel that way. ‘Until we know what’s happened to that damned bugbear, this isn’t over.’

‘The body will be monitored at all times. If that parasite is still in there and it tries to come out, we’ll know about it.’ He gave me a meaningful look. ‘You killed a man. You know the drill. I need to ask for your badge.’

‘I shot that bugbear several times with silver bolts and it didn’t even flinch,’ I said. ‘It’s a supe – and a fucking powerful one at that. I can follow police protocol and head off to wait until I’ve been debriefed and cleared, but this is a supe crime and we’re dealing with a supe murderer that might still be lurking inside that corpse. A dozen of your officers won’t be a match for it.’

Boateng grimaced. ‘Should we…?’ He hesitated, unwilling to say the words out loud.

‘Should we cut him open and see what’s in there?’ I asked grimly. It was not an appealing thought but needs must. ‘I reckon so. But not here. We need to do it in a closed environment where we have full control and there’s no risk that it will escape.’

I glanced at Lukas. He was watching me with concerned eyes. I managed a smile and he smiled back briefly.

‘This Lazarus fellow was on the same train as you from London?’ Boateng asked.

I returned my attention to him and nodded. ‘He was sitting opposite to me all the way to Appledore. No doubt he killed Patrick Lacey, came to London to make sure I learned about that murder and then came to Barchapel to check it out. He was making sure that I did what he wanted.’ My mouth turned down. ‘And laughing at me, too.’

‘You got him in the end,’ Boateng repeated. ‘That’s what counts.’ He sighed heavily and rubbed his hand over his head. ‘Public safety takes priority over protocol. If you tell me you’re okay to continue, you can remain on duty until we know for sure that the bugbear has been taken care of.’

‘I’m okay, sir.’ In truth, I was more than okay. I didn’t know Lazarus’s real identity, but I knew he was dead. The man who’d murdered my parents was gone from this world and I couldn’t be sad about that, not even for a moment.

The ambulance transporting Miranda and Albion started up and carefully drove away. I watched it disappear down the driveway then looked at Boateng again. ‘We need to check out the campsite. Who was Lazarus? What was his real name? Why didn’t we pick up on him before? I know he was old and looked harmless, but he must have been interviewed. His presence must have been registered by someone.’

‘Believe me,’ Boateng said, ‘I’ll be looking into that. There’s already a team heading to the campsite. By the time dawn breaks, we’ll know everything there is to know about Lazarus, including whether there’s a monster hiding inside his dead body.’

Rothsay trotted up. He stopped when he reached us and stared down at Lazarus’s corpse. ‘Uh…’ He scratched his neck. ‘There’s an armour-plated vehicle on its way to transport him to Maidstone.’

Good. Laura was still at the morgue there; if anyone could find whether there was a monster inside a monster, it was her.

Lukas had apparently heard enough chatter. He strode up to me and put an arm round my waist. Rothsay leapt about three metres back; maybe he was afraid that Lukas would try and hug him, too.

‘We can’t rest yet,’ Lukas muttered. ‘We can’t leave that thing alone until we know what’s happened to the bugbear.’

‘It almost had you.’

He smiled down at me and my heart skipped a beat. ‘You saved me, D’Artagnan. Again.’

Boateng cleared his throat. ‘You two will travel with the body to Maidstone. We can’t take any chances. If the bugbear is still alive, it