FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Blake sat in a booth, his finger tapping impatiently on the wooden surface of the the table as he turned his dead wife's ring around in his fingers. His foot bounced angrily as he replayed the memory of Carol's death over and over and over again. No matter how many time he watched it, he just couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Sure, he was concerned about who killed his wife, but that's not what was pressing on his mind; it was the fact that he doesn't feel anything. It had been four days since he discovered his wife's body, and he has yet to shed a single tear. He was pissd off, not at the killer, but at himself. How could he call himself a man, much less a husband, when his wife was murdered in cold bold and he felt nothing.

He felt a chill run down his spine as a snow white furred fox sat in the booth across the table from him. Kit gave the wolf a cold smile, chilling Blake to the bone. His blood red eyes pierced through Blake's. "What's cookin' good lookin'. How goes the hunt for your killer?" His husky voice carried across the table, prickling the fur on the back of Blake's neck.

"He killed my wife, sent me this," Blake pulled out a slip of paper and slid it across the table. It was written in a sloppy, almost illegible font saying: 'YOU'RE NEXT' "And I'm still no closer to finding him." His voice was gruff and sleep deprived.

Kit's grin faded quickly as he slightly stiffened up. "Your wife was killed?" he asked, staring off to nothingness for a moment before coming back and shaking his head. "That's... unfortunate... I'm terribly sorry. Are you doing okay?" There was a sense of guilt that flickered in his eyes before it was replaced with with the familiar cold gaze.

"Yes, and that's the problem. I don't feel anything-..." Blake stopped as he noticed what he was saying. "How did you do that?"

"Do what, dear?" He asked with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Get me to open up like that. I NEVER talk about my feelings... Is that one of your abilities?"

Kit trailed his claw around the rim around a martini glass that wasn't there before as he chuckled evilly. "Maybe, maybe not."

Blake shook his head. "Goddamn foxes..."

Kit giggled, ad for a second, Blake could have swore he saw the fox's eyes ripple like the surface of water. "Have you found anything on Boe?" Kit asked.

"No, but it would be a hell of alot easier if you gave me a discription or last name for that matter. I couldn't find him in any database."

The fox then dipped his finger into the martini. As soon as his claw touched the drink, a reddish colour began to spill from his finger and bleed through out the rest of the drink. Blake's skin began to crawl and tail twitch. The longer he was in the fox's presents, the creepier he got. He could hardly believe he let this kid give him a blow job. "Well, you're not going to find him in the computer, he has friends in high places that can make sure he disappears COMPLETELY. Though, he seems to make friends by being a generally nice person, where as i have to bribe, cheat blackmail and blow," he grinned on the last one. "In order to call in favors. I guess in a way, I'm a tad jealous."

"So then how do I find him? I know my abilities give me an advantage, but that's only if I absolutely KNOW where he's at least been. And last I checked, Pittsburgh is a damn big place."

Kit stirred his drink before bringing it to his slim muzzle and took a small sip. "Actually, how about we put that on hold for a while, There's something else I want you to do."

Blake rolled his eyes. "So what am I, your goon? Henchmen? Lacky?"

The fox lightly laughed, sending another chill down Blake's spine. "No, silly. Lackies and henchmen get paid, you get blowjobs and a cute fox to talk to." He grinned sweetly and took another sip of his... oddly coloured drink before he continued. "There's something I want you to look into for me."

~* Two (Trap) *~

Brian McCarthy, a short, shy red fox sat uncomfortably in the backseat of Frank's SUV. He and a few friends were going to stay a few days at a cabin house in the mountains. There was about ten of them, but he wasn't really friends with most of them, just Daniel, a hunky, handsome brown coloured wolf that Brian has had a crush on since forever, and Daniel's girlfriend, Serena, a cute, perky squirrel with pink highlights in her headfur and eyes. Everyone else on this trip was Daniel and Serena's friends, Brian was just here because Daniel really wanted his to come, and he couldn't say no to the wolf.

The fox leaned on the side of the door to the vehicle and sighed. He was stuck in a car with four other people he hardly knew, going to a place he didn't want to go, or why he was invited in the first place. He already knew why everyone else was going; to have a bunch of uninterrupted sex. It wasn't that hard to piece together; bunch of college students, half of them boys, half of them girls, going to an isolated cabin with no one around and no parents to stop them. what else would they do for an entire few days?

Brian wasn't really worried about the 'going to spend a few day with people he doesn't know' part, as much as, what's he gonna say when boobs start flying and dicks get whipped out. He wasn't interested in girl's, and all of the guy's here were straight. He could just tell them that he was gay, but then Daniel would know, and he didn't know what the wolf would think if he knew, which was too big of a risk for him to take. He didn't know what he'd do if Daniel didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

He sighed again, this time, unintentionally, drawing the attention of the muscular deer sitting next to him. His name was Dylan, Daniel's friend from the football team back in high school. Brian didn't know him that well, but from what he's heard and seen, the deer isn't half bad. Given, he's a jock and a jerk by nature, but he was manageable and could be sweet if he wanted.

The deer roughly wrapped his thick arm around Brian's neck, jerking him to his hard chest and giving him a less than gentle noogy while chuckling. Brian tried to tug himself free of the playful torment, but wasn't nearly strong enough to get out on his own. Eventually, Dylan let the fox go and laughed. "What's wrong with you, eh? Homesick already?"

Brian fixed his, now messy, headfur as best he could and tried to lean back against the door, but Dylan kept his arm wrapped around his shoulder to keep him in place. "No, I'm just... tired..." He lied, looking down at the deer's hand that draped down over his chest. Now that Dylan's arm was around him, he noticed how soft the deer's fur really was, and he didn't actually smell that bad either.

Dylan chuckled. "Well, I don't think you'll be getting much sleep tonight, bro." Franklin, Jean and Hayley all laughed at his comment in unison, making Brian cringe a little at the thought of a giant orgy taking place in the cabin's foyer. This was going to be a LONG few days.

~*~

Blake pulled into the gravel driveway of a very large log cabin. Kit had given him this address with specific details not to tell anyone where he was going, saying that if word got out, the government could get involved and Blake could get sucked into unnecessary drama. There was just one problem though, Meg; a short haired, human woman with a strong will and a thing for the wolf. She had been pretty tame up until his wife's death, but as soon as she found out he was single again, she's been more than friendly and 'supportive.'

When she found out Blake was going out for the day, she invited herself along, saying that it was good to have company when someone goes through a traumatic loss, but he knew she just wanted to get closer to him. He didn't want to bring her, and almost didn't, Kit had mentioned that this investigation had almost everything to do with 'special' people, like himself, and with Meg around, it'll be harder to hide the fact that he has powers.

Blake parked the car in front of the front patio to the cabin and exited his vehicle. Meg stepped out of the passenger side of Blake's car and whistled when she saw the building. "Whoa, this place is huge." She gawked, poking at a few of the trimmed bushes and flowers that grew out of it.

The wolf just nodded and walked up to the front gate, taking off his left glove and touching the handle. He saw a group of ten kids, all of them college age, walking up to and past the gate on their way to the front door. They laughed and joked with each other, all except for one; a red fox with odd green markings that separated the white from the orange fur, and the orange from the chocolate. He seemed out of place, but he also had a strong attribute about him. Blake couldn't tell what it was, but it somewhat reminded him of how certain memories in Kit's locket were 'locked' or painted over.

Blake opened the gate and walked through, looking for anything out of the ordinary as he neared the door. He noticed a few disturbed flower bushes around the front porch, but didn't bother trying to see their memories; it was a lot harder to see the memories of something living, because a living thing chooses what memories mean the most to them, and can choose not to show Blake what he wants to see, where as non organic material held onto every memory and didn't intentionally hid anything... well, everything except for Kit's locket.

Blake touched the doorknob and watched a new memory. The group of kids were entering the cabin, immediately rushing to pick out their rooms and get settled in. One of the girl's mentioned a pool that was supposedly located in the back of the cabin somewhere. The shy red fox walked in, his strong feeling still clinging as he seemed to be watching someone in particular; a brown wolf. The wolf was about Blake's height, and around the same muscular build. It was like looking at his younger self. Blake noticed that the fox's attention was suddenly drawn to the front window, looking as if he had just seen something, but when Blake replayed the memory, there was nothing there.

The wolf entered the cabin, finding himself in a large, beautiful lodge. It was very woods themed, mounted game heads, wooden coffee tables, and animal fur couches and armchairs. There were a few animal skin carpets under the coffee table and furniture, but the rest was hard wood floor that looked as if they had been recently polished. On the other side of the cabin was what looked to be the kitchen/dining room, but Blake hung back in the foyer.

He walked over to the couch and touched it, finding that there was quite a few relevant memories. In the first one, he saw a few of the kids sitting on the couch and armchairs, all talking and laughing. The fox was there again, just sitting and listening while the brown wolf cuddled next to a busty female squirrel. There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere, and Blake recognized it as definite jealousy. It was coming from the fox again, but Blake just couldn't understand why he was giving off the most emotions, or at least why everything so far seems to be especially drawn to it.

The next memory took place later on, sometime during the late evening. two of the kits were lying on top of each other, Kissing and groping and moaning as they satisfied their horny bodies. Blake skipped that memory before things could get too messy and stopped at the next one.

The fox was there again, sitting on the couch and looking at something on his phone. he was alone with earbuds in his ears, humming lightly to the inaudible tune and slightly bobbing his head to the beat. His eyes whipped from the phone screen, to the window, looking as if he had just saw something yet again, but when Blake looked, he still didn't see anything.

A tall, buff deer came bounding down the stairs that lead to the upper level and saw the fox. He saw an opportunity and took it, creeping up silently behind the fox and jabbing him with his fingers abruptly and scaring the fox. The fox's fur prickled as he turned around and scowled at the deer. "Dylan!" He exclaimed, swatting at the laughing bigger male. "It's not funny! I already don't like it here as it is and you're not helping."

"Awh, boo-hoo." The deer, Dylan, made a sarcastic sad face and wiped away invisible tears. He walked around and plopped down next to the fox, wrapping an arm around him and leaning back. Blake noticed that the fox stiffened up uncomfortably. "So, whatcha readin' there?"

"Nothing.." He mumbled as he shut his phone off and placed in face down on his lap. He sat there awkwardly as the deer scooched in a bit closer to the fox. Blake could guess where this was going, but the fox didn't seem very interested.

The deer chuckled, leaning in and nuzzling the fox's ear. "Don't be like that." He began pulling the fox into his chest as he leaned in to play with his ear, clearly making the fox even more uncomfortable and awkward than before.

"D-Dylan! What're you doing!?" The fox tried to move away, but the deer's strong arm kept him in place.

"Just getting comfortable, baby..." He mumbled, digging a few fingers past the waistband of the fox's pants and underwear. The fox gasped and grabbed Dylan's wrist to stop him. "Oh come on Brian. I know you're gay, and I know you want to be touched."

Blake watched, temporarily forgetting about why he was looking at the memory in the first place and listened to the conversation. It was like watching a television drama, only actually being able to watch it as if he were there with them. He felt a shift in the fox's demeanor, a sort of confusion and consideration for the deer's offer.

"H-how'd you know I was-... uh, you know..." The fox, Brian, fiddled around with his thumbs and looked down, avoiding any eye contact as much as possible.

"What? Gay?" The deer laughed. "It wasn't that hard; you've been eying Daniel all day and always get flustered and shit when he's around. Frankly, I'm surprised Dan's dense enough that he hasn't figured it out for himself yet." Dylan shifted his weight so that his body was facing the fox, withdrawing his hand from the fox's pants as he looked at him. "Look, if you don't want to do this, that's fine. I know I'm a jerk, but I wouldn't make you have sex if you didn't want to. I just thought that we could give each other what we both want; a warm bed."

Blake took his hand from the couches surface and was back. He sighed. So far, everything seems to be pretty normal; bunch of kids go to a cabin to get away and have sex, some drama unfolds, and that's it. He couldn't understand why Kit would send him to investigate such a pointless ordeal when there was nothing wrong. The only thing that Blake found relatively confusing was the fact that every object that he's so far touched, seems to have some kind of unspoken connection to the fox and his feelings. This wasn't normally odd; when someone has strong connections to an object, the object reacts by retaining important memories and feelings, that why some people feel nostalgic or remenicant when they find or see an object that they personally have a sentimental attachment to. The only problem with this, was that, as far as Blake could tell, the fox had never been in this cabin before prior to this last visit, meaning that there was very little time for the fox to make strong, meaningful feelings with the objects. He couldn't quite place it, but it was almost as if the cabin was trying to show him something.

Meg had already stepped inside the house and made her way to the kitchen when Blake came back from his thoughts. "This place is amazing!" she said, looking up at the high ceiling and laughed. "I wouldn't mind living here. What are we doing here anyways?"

Blake shook his head, still looking at the couch. "I'm not sure yet..." he answered under his breath, barely audible and talking more to himself then Meg. He looked up from the couch and through the kitchen window, seeing the inground pool that sat just outside the back patio's reach. "I'll be back." He said, walking past Meg and the kitchen and through the glass sliding doors.

The patio was nice and spacious with an overhead canopy the covered about half of the stoned area. A nice, finished oak wood table sat under the canopy with nicely carved wooden chairs to match, each one having a glass lantern on the top of the back seats. Past the table and chairs sat a little fire pit with low-sitting lawn chairs circling around it. The wood inside the pit was blackened and charred, showing signs of recent usage.

Blake touched the surface of one of the chairs and found himself standing next to Brian, who was sitting in the same chair he was touching. The fox seemed a little bit more relaxed than usual, and the odd looks he and Dylan gave each other suggested that he had taken the deer up on his offer. If that isn't proof enough, the odd sensation that was practically radiating from the fox was. Though he clearly seemed to warm up a bit to Dylan, the fox still gave longful glances at the brown wolf.

And that was it, the memory ended and pushed Blake back into the real world, almost as if the chair was trying to hide something from him. He checked the other chairs to see if they'd tell him a bit more, but they all seemed to kick him out of the memory before the memory ended. He tried searching the chairs and even the table to see if he could find anything else, anything other than what he's already seen, but he only saw the same memory over and over.

This was really weird. Object weren't supposed to be able to pick and choose what memories they could show him and what to keep to themselves, only living things could do that, like animals, plants and people. He tried touching the fire pit, he lawn chairs, even the stone ground, but with each object, he got the sense that there was something was trying to keep him out. If he had to make a guess, it was almost as if the whole cabin was alive.

A chill traveled down his spine and fur prickled. The world around him seemed to loose a little colour and the air grew cold. It was a familiar feeling, but he couldn't place it immediately, not until the blood red eyes of Kit peered at him from behind the table as he sat calmly in a chair. He gave the wolf a sweet grin, but still gave Blake the willies. Why was this fox so creepy? "What're you doing here?" Blake asked, watching as the fox stood up and walked around the table.

"I just thought I'd come help you out. Something about this place feels... off." Kit explained, stepping up to the wolf and fixing Blake's coat and vest underneath.

"You feel it too?"

Kit didn't answer, instead, he stood on the tips of his toes and gave the wolf a long, deep kiss. Blake was stiff for a moment before he relaxed and kissed back. He wasn't sure how to categorize his relationship with the fox. Boss/lacky? Fuckbuddies? Lover? Blake just couldn't figure it out. Kit was rather creepy, yet very 'loveable,' but at the same time, the fox looked to be about half his age, making things a tad uncomfortable. Kit looked to be in his early to mid twenties, while Blake was pushing forty. He was old enough to be the fox's father.

Kit pulled away and gave the wolf a sly grin before he turned around and walked through the glass-sliding doors to the cabin. Blake hung back for a tick, letting the bulge his in pants settle down before he followed the fox into the cabin. As soon as Blake touched the glass part of the door, he got pulled into a very brief memory of the glass door being smashed as some of the kids ran inside, clearly in some kind of panic, as if trying to get away from something.

The quick flash back startled the wolf, making him jerk his hand away from the door and draw the attention of the fox. Kit looked at him as if he had just saw the same vision as he stepped up to the glass door and ran a hand over its surface. "Interesting..." Was all he said.

Blake watched as the fox stood up and looked around for a moment. He walked over to the kitchen cabinets, taking a mallet that dangled from a handle on the wall and drawing it back before thrusting the hammer in through a cabinet door, creating a large hole where it entered.

"What're you doing?" Blake asked, walking over and snatching the mallet from the fox's hads. "That's destruction of private property!"

"Look," Kit said, pointing at the cabinet door. Blake looked, seeing that there was no longer a hole in the door, looking brand new, untouched and unmarked. The fox looked to Blake. "I think I'm starting to understand what's going on here... Have you been getting cut short on your memory-viewing lately?" Blake nodded, and Kit hummed. He looked down, gaze blake and face expressionless, almost as if he was looking for something without moving his eyes. He stopped for a moment, furrowing his brows and looking up to Blake. "Where's your partner?"

Blake looked up and around, finding the kitchen, dining room and living room completely vacant, spare their presents. He hadn't noticed Meg was missing until just now, making him a bit nervous and worried about her. The last thing he wanted to do was pull her into something he didn't understand. "Meg?" He called.

...

No reply.

He called a few more times, walked around and looking out windows, but still hearing and finding nothing. He tried touching the island in the kitchen to try and find any memory of her being there, but when he touched it, nothing happened, as if his powers had just been stolen. "What's going on."

Kit looked around, his tail staying very still as he peered around corners and windows, like he was looking for someone. "I don't think we're alone, Mr. Christian." Kit said quietly, almost whispering. Blake went to pull out his handgun when the fox waved his hand, still peering around a corner. "That thing will be useless." He said, walking around the corner and disappearing down a hall. "Someone's thinking really loudly..."

"You can read minds?" Blake asked, following the fox cautiously and keeping his voice low.

"Read them, talk to them, control them, among other things. One of my many gifts..." he said, almost bragging smugly, well aware of how obnoxious it sounded.

The more Blake learned of the fox's abilities, the more dangerous the fox seemed. Reading and controlling minds? That explains how he saw the memory Blake saw about the breaking glass, but it made him question whether or not he was here on his own will or not. Or if his sexual desires for the fox was his own or implantations of what the fox wanted him to want. A feeling of distrust formed in the base of Blake's stomach, making him uneasy around the fox.

"Don't stress yourself, Blake, you're mind is your own. Believe it or not, I couldn't control you even if I wanted. It'd probably kill you and me both." Kit said, turning his head to give Blake a sweet and innocent smile that both calmed his nerves and chilled him to the bone.

They walked down to the end of the hall, coming to the last door on the right. "The thoughts are coming from this room." Kit explained, reaching for the door. As soon as His fingers touched the doorknob, Kit froze and looked back to Blake. "It stopped." He whispered, as if whoever, or whatever on the other side of the door could hear them.

Blake drew his gun from its holster under his armpit and readied it. He knew Kit said it would be useless, but just having it in his hands made the wolf feel better.

Kit turned the knob and pushed on the door gently, letting gravity slowly open the door with a long creaking noise. When the door opened enough, Blake saw a brown wolf with a shotgun pointing the barrel of the gun right at their heads. Blake instinctively reacted by raising his weapon and pointing it at the wolf, about to shoot when he felt his gun behind lifted further beyond its target and aiming at the ceiling. Kit had pushed Blake's hands up higher when the wolf had pointed it at the wolf. "Hold on." Kit said, staring at the brown wolf with the shotgun.

Blake wanted to instantly rebound by lowering his gun back to aim at the other wolf. Having a shotgun aimed at you isn't exactly the best feeling in the world. But he stopped when he noticed what the fox was looking at in the brown wolf. He noticed that the brown wolf's eyes were looking through them, rather than at them, unblinking and unmoving. Kit moved his hand over his head a few times, but the brown wolf's eyes never moved or blinked.

Kit stood up and Blake noticed nine other college age looking kids huddled behind the Brown wolf, all of them unmoving, as if frozen in time. Blake noticed that the brown wolf was the kid they called Daniel in the memories. standing behind him with a lamp post stood the deer Dylan at the ready. Two of the other men of the group sat with five of the girl's looking as if they were trying to calm them down. The last one he saw was the red fox Brian, but something was different about him. Unlike the others, this one was blinking, and looking right at them.

"Brian?" Kit asked.

The fox's ears perked a bit, looking to the white furred fox. "How do you know my name?"

"That's what they're calling you, isn't it?"

Brian looked around for a second, looking almost wary as he said in a near whisper, "You can hear them too?"

Blake looked around the room. Other than the wolf, Kit and the red fox, the other kids were frozen and speechless and Blake could hear the drop of a pin it was so quiet. "Hear who?" Blake asked.

"The dead people?" Brian said.

Kit looked to Blake. "I think he's a necromancer; he can talk to spirits and understand them." He explained. He looked back to Brian and cept a little closer, ducking under the barrel of the shotgun. "Did you freeze everyone?"

The red fox shook his head. "Not me, them. They said it was to keep us safe from 'it'." He said.

"It" Blake repeated.

Brian nodded. "Something that came for us in the middle of the night; something none of us could see. They say that it killed them and took their hearts."

Blake and Kit exchanged glances, knowing full well what he was talking about; the same person that killed his wife and those other victims was now after a group of college kids. What could that bastard be after?

"Well, we're here to help you. Can you tell... 'them' to unfreeze everybody so we can get you out of here?" Blake asked, stepping into the room and taking the shotgun from the brown wolf's hands and tossing it to the other side of the room, making himself more comfortable.

"No," Brian said, shaking his head. "They say 'it's' still here somewhere. If they let everyone go, he'll kill us all."

Kit knelt down next to the fox, resting a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, you might not be able to see him, but I'll know where he is."

"How?"

"We have special abilities too, kid." Blake said.

Brian looked hesitant for a moment. He looked from the white fox, to the black wolf, to his group of friends before he sighed. From what Blake had seen in the memories, this fox was a shy, timid fellow that barely knew how to stand up for himself, now, there was barely a look of fear on his face, rather confusion more than anything. He supposed thats what a night of talking to spirits will do to a person.

Without much of a warning, everyone in the room that had been previously unmoving and frozen, was now moving and nervous. As soon as Daniel came to, he noticed that the gun was no longer in his hands and the door was wide open with two strangers inside. Dylan tried to take a swing at Blake, who was closest to him, but the black wolf stopped the lamp post with his bare hand, swiping his leg behind the deer's feet before jabbing him with the end of the lamp post and knocking the deer on his ass. Some of the girl's started to panic, but Brian was calming them down, saying that they were there to help.

Blake looked to Kit. "Where is he?"

Kit's red eyes darted around, looking as something that wasn't there as he 'looked' for the killer. Eventually, he stopped and looked at Blake. "He's gone. He dipped out as soon as the spirits released the house."

Blake cursed under his breath. He was, yet again, so close to catching this guy, but he managed to slip through the wolf's grasp once again. He shook his head. "Fine, let's get these kids out of here."

~*~

It was about an hour later. The police had shown up and they were talking to the kids, asking them questions about what had happened. Kit had mysteriously disappeared (again) along with Brian, Daniel, and a female squirrel Blake recognized as the brown wolf's girlfriend. He had no idea what that sneaky fox was planning, but whatever it was, he didn't like it.

Blake was standing on the porch of the cabin, watching the officers work and keeping an eye on the remaining kids. He noticed Dylan asking repeatedly where Daniel and Brian were, but no one seemed to know who he was talking about. He listened to some of the stories the kids told the officers, filling in the spots where his powers couldn't. One girl said that it all started when they were swimming in the pool. They heard a rustling noise from the bushes, and light splashes in the pool where no one else was. It creeped them out, but they thought it was just because it was dark out and everything was spooky, but that's when something grabbed her leg and tried to drown her. It wasn't until one of the kids named Frank managed to pull her back up and out of the pool.

He listened to another kid tell the story right where the first one left off. They said that they someone fell through the glass door, breaking and shattering it as they ran through. They said that it grabbed someone, trying to pull them back into the pool or woods, but Dylan got it off from them and they all ran into the room at the end of the hall. Daniel found an old hunting gun and waited at the door. Then, all the sudden it was broad daylight and here they were, as if nothing had happened.

Blake felt a little bad for these kids; being tormented for god-knows-what reason. If he had to guess, he'd say the killer was after Brian, seeming how he was the one with the special abilities, but what Blake did not understand was how the killer could know about the fox's powers before the fox even knew. Did he have some kind of radar or list? Or maybe he wasn't working alone.

Blake looked up. Wait, where was-

"Blake," Meg said quietly, standing next to the wolf with a look of horror strewn about her face.

"Meg! Where've you been?" Blake asked, looking her up and down to see if everything was okay.

"I think you should see this before anyone else..." She said, pointing to door to the cabin.

She lead him inside the cabin and up the stairs to the next level. They walked down a hall and stopped in front of a door with a broken lock dangling from it. She looked at him for a second as she pushed the door open, and Blake braced himself for whatever was behind the door.

The door opened, but Blake could hardly see past a few feet because it was too dark. Meg flicked on a light, instantly making Blake wish she hadn't. Dozens of glass jars lined the walls most of them containing a heart per jar. In front of each jar was a name written on a slab of paper arranged alphabetically. In the C's, one jar stood out over the rest as Carol Christian was written under it.