What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

and missed, and watched in horror as it leapt on Bo.
Chapter Thirteen
    Sam didn’t stop to think. Scrambling toward Bo, he grabbed at the creature with his hands and his mind. He ignored the biting cold when his fingers sank into the thing, tuned out the shouts and sudden frantic activity of his friends. Nothing mattered but Bo, writhing in silent agony on the ground as the nightmare being sank its needle-like teeth into his thigh.
    Somehow, Sam managed to pull the thing off Bo. Whether he did it by physical or mental force, Sam didn’t know, and right then he didn’t care. He glanced at Bo. His lover lay curled on the ground, face twisted in a rictus of pain, both hands clutching his right thigh just above the knee. Blood poured from between his fingers.
    “Bo…” Sam half-turned, already reaching for Bo before he stopped himself. He wiped his palms on his jeans, fighting the need to scoop Bo into his arms and run.
    “I’ve got it.” Dropping to his knees beside Bo, Dean dug a small knife out of his back pocket. His wide eyes fixed on Sam’s face. “Send them back. Close it.”
    Sam ruthlessly suppressed the helpless anger rising in him. Dean was right. He had to stop this. Now. Turning away from Bo and Dean and the rest of the group huddling around them, Sam focused his mind on the psychic umbilical cord linking the creatures with their home and followed it to its source. Without giving himself the time to think or to doubt, he gave a mental push.
    The larger creature let out a furious screech and lurched toward Sam. Heart pounding, he redoubled his efforts. The tunnel seemed to bend, the walls angling inward. The creature’s nebulous body twisted in a stomach-turning way and disappeared. Sam felt the reverberation of the portal closing in his head.
    Sam stretched out his senses, feeling for any residual energy from the portal. There was nothing. Even the temperature remained down. Satisfied, Sam turned his attention back to Bo.
    Bo lay on his back in the dirt, looking pale and glassy-eyed. The right leg of his jeans had been cut off at the groin. Dean leaned over Bo’s injured leg, pressing his folded T-shirt to the wound with both hands. The white cotton was liberally splotched with red, and blood coated Bo’s leg and pooled on the ground under him. Cecile knelt at Bo’s left side, holding his hand in both of hers.
    “Andre’s gone to get the cops and call an ambulance,” Cecile said. “David’s looking for first-aid supplies.”
    “Okay.” Sinking to the ground, Sam slipped his sweatshirt underneath Bo’s head. He laid a hand on Bo’s forehead. The skin there was hot and damp, matting stray tendrils of hair to his face. “Bo? How do you feel?”
    “Hurts.” Rolling his eyes up, Bo pinned Sam with a feverish stare. “Sam. The portal?”
“Closed. They’re gone.”
“Actually, the little one’s not,” Dean told him, sounding remarkably calm and not at all like the teasing person Sam had come to know.
Sam blinked at him. “What?”
“It stopped moving when the portal closed,” Cecile explained. “And I can’t feel it in my head anymore. Neither could Andre. We think it’s dead.”
“Good.” Sliding his palm down to Bo’s cheek, Sam cast a worried glance at Dean. “What did that thing do to him?”
“Bit him.” Dean’s voice was grim. “It bled a lot, but I think I’ve got that under control now. I think the big worry is going to be infection. There’s already some redness and swelling spreading up and down the leg from the bite.”
Fear shot through Sam, cold and nauseating. He glanced at Cecile, and saw the same horrifying realization in her eyes. God, no. Not Bo, please not Bo.
“Okay, what aren’t y’all telling me?” Dean’s eyes were wide and wary.
Bo’s wheezing laugh startled them all. “Little girl got bitten at Oleander House,” Bo said, his voice breathy and tight with pain. “It’s why we got called to investigate. The bite got infected almost right away, and she died.”
“You’re not going to die. I won’t fucking let you.” Leaning down, Sam pressed a soft kiss to Bo’s forehead. He didn’t care who saw.
“’M not ready to die,” Bo whispered as Sam pulled away. “Not now.”
Sam’s throat went tight. The sound of voices and running feet saved him from breaking down in tears. Drawing a shaky breath, he managed to pull himself together just as Andre and two police officers crowded around them.
“Ambulance is on the way,” one