He had to stop this. Stephanie was getting way too close to this situation. She wrote off the boyfriend’s description as a drug and trauma induced haze, but what would she think when he confirmed that description upon recovery? What had the kid been doing with an enchanted necklace? It was probably the only reason he was alive, unless Stephanie’s theory was to be believed. She suggested that the murderer was sending the police a message.

She probably thought the killer was feeding the eyes to his bird, but it was much more sinister than that. There were several varieties of Nachtkrapp. Some of these varieties had no eyes, which this one obviously had in the video footage at the art gallery. The ones with eyes were different. The really bad ones could kill with little more than a glance and some power, but he hadn’t heard of any Nachtkrapp with eyes eating eyes itself. Was that how the shard convinced the Nachtkrapp to be tamed? Did the shard give the Nachtkrapp its eyes? If that was the case, then maybe the urge to eat eyes was a vestige of its eyeless state prior to joining forces with the shard. Either way the monster and beast were dangerous.

Stephanie was insisting on questioning the professor again. There were two reasons he could see the man not being truthful. Either he was an initiated or he was connected to the shard in some way. He didn’t like the thought of either scenario. Stephanie had already been hurt in the course this investigation. It took all of his willpower not to reach over and heal her bruising arms and the cuts from that man’s nails. He had to remain calm, but how could he do that when his soul mate was constantly putting herself in danger with her involvement in this case?

When he had seen that necklace, he realized that he hadn’t seen Stephanie wearing her own enchantment, the one that was meant to protect her from harm. How could he have been so stupid? Stephanie needed protection, and she had none. She had no knowledge of how to protect herself against a shard, no knowledge of what to do if cornered by a monster. He should have realized that she wasn’t protected the moment he read the recounting of her appearance in Gavinmire. She had been left in those woods terribly injured, naked, alone, and with no memory of how she got there or who had hurt her. He had failed to protect her and even knowing that he hadn’t realized that she wasn’t safe. An enchantment wouldn’t have protected her from the shard completely, but it would have been able to give her a chance to escape or call for help. It wasn’t like he could just give her a gift and expect her to accept it. She didn’t know him, and only knew what he had told her of their relationship.

He wouldn’t leave her side, Liam decided. Not until this monster was taken care of. No, that wouldn’t work. He had to take care of the monster with Aiden. Aiden couldn’t handle the shard on his own and neither could he. If he initiated her, then she might be safe from this shard, but then she would be in even greater danger. The API wouldn’t care that she had no memory of her past, she was an asset and they would insist on using her. They would get her killed, he almost growled at the thought. Stephanie needed to be protected, but this was an impossible situation.

He followed Stephanie wordlessly to the college campus and into the office of the professor who had lied to her. He wasn’t all that surprised to see that the man had a connection to his world, but damn, he hadn’t expected an irregular paranormal in a small town like this. “You lied to me,” Stephanie announced to make her presence known.

The man kept a tight hold of his illusions as he turned to face Stephanie. The man froze when he saw him, probably wondering if Stephanie was initiated. Liam shook his head in warning. “About what exactly?” the professor asked.

“You know what. Kaylie Summers was being stalked prior to her murder. You knew about it. Her boyfriend told us that you helped her with the situation.”

“I,” the man started, likely trying to come up with an explanation that didn’t involve monsters. “I thought it was handled. I never met the stalker directly, but I helped her contact some people to improve the security of her apartment and it appeared that the stalker had moved on. I didn’t think it was connected.”

“And you gave her a gift,” Stephanie’s voice was sharp as she accused the man, “Miss Summers had given her boyfriend the same type of necklace that you are wearing. Was your involvement more personal than that of a professor helping a student?”

“What, no!” the man seemed appalled. “It was a good luck charm. I’ve given them to all of my students this semester.”

Liam almost groaned aloud. He had given a bunch of uninitiated humans enchanted necklaces for protection, probably after he found out about the shard. Why hadn’t he reported it to the API instead of taking matters into his own hands? He could have saved a lot of lives. It might even be why the monster decided to stick around in this town instead of choosing a victim in one of the big cities nearby where it would easily be overlooked. “I will be checking on that story. Is there anything else you would like to add to your statement?” Stephanie suddenly switched gears.

“I,” the man hesitated. “I gave the necklaces out after I found out about the stalking. You should really take one too Detective Hughes. I heard the news tonight. The killer struck again. I don’t think they plan to leave, so be careful out there.”

Stephanie eyed the necklace with a sort of distain. “I’m sorry sir, but I cannot accept gifts from people involved in an investigation. It is against police regulations.” Liam frowned. As much as he hated the fact that another man was offering her a gift, he was frustrated that she wouldn’t accept the one thing that might give her a fighting chance of survival. “Besides, there is no such thing as luck.”

The man nodded in response and let the subject drop. Stephanie seemed to watch the man for a moment before turning to leave. Liam would have to return on his own to demand an explanation for this man’s reckless behavior. Stephanie didn’t stop moving until she slipped into her car. When he joined her she let out a sigh. He could tell that she was annoyed. “He’s hiding something, but he isn’t the killer,” Stephanie groaned. “Whatever he is keeping to himself is putting more people at risk. He should have come to the police, or at least the school’s administration about the stalker instead of taking matters into his own hands.”

“You don’t think he’s the killer?” Liam asked, trying to appear surprised. He already knew that the paranormal wasn’t the murderer. The professor wasn’t a shard, so he couldn’t be the killer, but Stephanie wouldn’t know that, and his story was fishy. “Are you going to question her classmates about the alibi?”

Stephanie shook her head, “No, I’ll have Hale do it, and I guess I shouldn’t say that he isn’t the killer as much as I don’t think he’s the killer. I’m sure the evidence will support that, but I will make sure of it.”

Her phone rang, cutting off anything he could say in response. He didn’t even know what he would have said. It was almost midnight and he was actually surprised that the professor was still at the office, but what concerned him even more was Stephanie. She couldn’t go back to her apartment and her boss had reaffirmed that. Thank God for that. The problem lied in the fact that she wasn’t likely to stay somewhere easy for him to secure. He couldn’t protect her if he couldn’t remain close, but she didn’t know him well enough to agree to anything he could suggest in terms of protecting her.

“Detective Hughes speaking,” Stephanie said into the phone.

“Stephanie,” he heard the Chief reply. “Were you able to get any information from the survivor?”

“Most of what he said was warped by the drugs that the doctors had given him along with the trauma he obviously suffered. I will have to question him again once he has recovered from surgery. The killer or his pet raven are eating one of the eyes of the victim. That might explain the murderer’s focus on eyes, though the meaning behind it isn’t clear as of yet. I also found out that the mythology professor lied to me in his statement. He apparently knew about the stalker and tried to take care of it on his own. Obviously, he failed without realizing it, but he gave a gift to the Miss Summers. She gave it to her boyfriend. He claimed that it was a good luck charm and he gave them to all of his students this semester, but I will need to confirm that. We will need to look closer at his alibi for Miss Summers’s murder. He said he was at the church on front street from ten to midnight. Do you think you could have Hale or another officer run that down?”

“No need. I can make a few calls. The church has a few support groups that run at odd hours. They are supposed to be anonymous, but I don’t think they will mind informing me if he was present in the building at the time in question.”

Stephanie looked relieved. “Good.”

“Now, I know that you don’t want to stay with Carmen and I, but I think you should stay at the safe house we have set up off of Foxwood Lane. You should have one of the agents join you for back-up, in case the murderer somehow tracks you down.” Liam was ready to jump on the suggestion. “I’m having Hale stay at the other safehouse with the same expectations.”

“Um,” Stephanie started. “I guess that’s okay, but I really don’t like the idea of putting the agents in danger.”

“I’ll do it,” Liam said before she could suggest staying somewhere else entirely. He didn’t like the circumstances that made it necessary, but he would do anything to protect her, even if it made her somewhat uncomfortable in the moment. Besides, it would give him some time to interact with Stephanie.

“Good. Stephanie, you are not to work anymore until your next shift starts at six. If I hear that you were working before then, I will have you pulled from the case,” the chief continued.

Stephanie looked like she was going to argue before the phone went dead. “God, he just can’t stop acting like a dad,” she groaned.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked. To him it seemed like the chief was ensuring that Stephanie was safe. He was her employer and he likely felt responsible for her since he had been among the officers that interacted with Stephanie after she was found in the woods.

“Isiah and his wife Carmen adopted me when they were unable to find my birth parents or any other relatives. Their kids kind of adopted me too. They treat me like a sister when they come into town a few times a year,” Stephanie explained.

He didn’t know what to say. He was relieved that she had found some sort of safe haven in Gavinmire after whatever trauma she had suffered before appearing here, relieved that she had found some semblance of normalcy here. How had the API not realized that she was here? A missing person search, especially one where she had been identified as Stephanie Hughes would have risen their alarm. Maybe someone thought the same as he did and buried it, or worse, the API hid it because they had plans for Stephanie. The API was important, but it was a risky job. He didn’t want them to meddle in Stephanie’s life again, especially knowing that she had likely suffered greatly due to her involvement in some API situation. He wouldn’t lose her again. “They care about you,” Liam said simply. “They would be fools not to.”

Stephanie looked uncomfortable with his statement, but he wouldn’t take it back. Stephanie had made him want to become a better person. She had been everything to him. He had felt as if he were on top of the world when she said that she would acknowledge their soul mate bond and crushed when she vanished. He had thought that her absence indicated that she had changed her mind for some reason. It wasn’t until he realized that she had vanished from even the API’s watchful glance that he understood that something was wrong. Still he hadn’t suspected that her disappearance hadn’t been voluntary. Now that he had found her there was no way he was letting go of her ever again.

“We’re here,” her tone was short, abrupt. She stopped the car and clambered out. When he went to follow her, she tossed him some keys. “Why don’t you get the car in the garage and get inside while I go grab us some dinner?” He opened his mouth to protest but she was already jogging down the street. Damn it all. He couldn’t protect her if she didn’t stay near him. Still he did as she said, separating the key to the small house from the rest of the keys and then finding the garage door opener inside. He quickly moved the car into the garage, but he still felt uneasy. Stephanie hadn’t been gone for long, but it felt like an eternity.

Five minutes after he completed his tasks, he began to pace the length of the living room. Something was bothering him. After ten minutes, he couldn’t stand the impatience, the worry, the fear. He slipped outside, hoping to catch sight of her approaching the safehouse. Instead, he saw an empty street, the road and sidewalks only barely illuminated by the moon and streetlights. Finally, he saw her silhouette approaching the corner of the block. Everything in him began to relax. She was fine. He had been worrying over nothing. Then a chill traveled down his spine.

No! “Stephanie!” he roared as he tried to reach her in time. She looked startled, but he wasn’t able to reach her before the shard grabbed ahold of her.