The questions were: why, and what was causing it?
I decided it would be better to focus on that. Never mind what Parks had said for the moment. There was something way bigger at play than him and his threats. I needed to put him on the back burner and turn all my attention towards work. If I was lucky, it would all turn out to be something huge, maybe even bigger than a Hellion. If it was, and I was the one who figured it out and ended it, the rest would work itself out.
One could only hope.
I went to my books. I had several on demons and demonology. Since I knew bounty hunters from certain demon realms had a knack for turning head hunter, I looked them up first. I needed to find a link between what I’d seen at the mall and how Chance had ended up.
I turned page after page of ancient—and in some cases alien—text. I took notes, found interesting items here and there. I found points very close to the details involving Chance’s case, but none of them were close enough. There’d been nothing at the realtor’s office to point to any demon or creature I could find in the books. Normally, when that kind of violence was brought, there’d be a certain amount of energy used, and that would leave some sort of trace. Often there’d be a smell, markings, items floating freely in the air, or even the swarming of bugs or rodents. None of that had present in Chance’s office. There’d been nothing in the room which hadn’t been there the day before, headless client aside, of course.
I threw one of the books across the room in frustration.
After two and a half hours I was no closer to an answer than when I started. Aside from eliminating every possible species of bounty hunter or collector in the world of demons, I was empty-handed and even more frustrated than when I’d started.
I thought about checking Google. I knew it was bad when I was so desperate for answers that I’d been ready to deep dive into the hopeless world of human opinion. Luckily, my phone rang and saved me from certain disaster.
I dreaded the thought of looking at it, but did anyway. Of course it was Rouge calling me. I wasn’t sure I was going to answer it. I knew I’d sent her a message a while back asking her to call me, but I wasn’t ready for it. I needed to get my head on straight. I was a mess, and I wasn’t sure unloading any of this on her would make me feel any better. I had a good idea this would only take a turn for the worse and my pot of stress would overflow.
When my phone stopped ringing I felt a bit of relief. I’d text her back as soon as I could, and let her know I was alright; just working. That wouldn’t really be a lie. It was just a different way of looking at the truth. I’m not sure if that’s as bad, but it would have to do. I could feel guilty when this was all over.
I turned back to the computer, still thinking about searching it through the dreaded message boards, when I heard a muffled voice calling my name. It was soft and close, but surveying the room, there was nothing and nobody there. I closed my eyes, focused on it as it continued and could still hear it: small and female.
Oh no.
I looked down at my hand, at my cellphone. I’d been wrong. Rouge hadn’t hung up after all. I’d answered it without even trying. This day was like bad breath. It wasn’t going away until I did something about it.
“Rouge?” I said as I lifted the phone. “Sorry about that, I was just in the middle of something and didn’t even realize I answered.”
“No worries, Dill. You okay? You sound weird.”
“I’m fine, sort of. It’s been a day.”
“Sorry about that. It’s been one here too. Internet problems, had to run the pup to the vet, and then this weird guy came to the door asking a shit-ton of questions. I wasn’t even going to answer, but he wouldn’t go away.”
I had a bad feeling.
“What was it about?” I asked, but I was pretty sure I knew where this was going.
“Actually, it was about you more than anything. He said he was a friend of Godfrey’s and yours; that he was part of some group of super friends you’re part of and wanted to know how we met and a few other things. He said his name is Don Parks.”
I guess asking if the day could get any worse was an invite for something like that. “When was this?”
“Less than ten minutes ago. He seemed fine, but I didn’t tell him anything. I told him he could talk to you, if you guys are actually friends. He said you are, but I know you’re very private about us, and I have never heard you mention him, so I told him again to talk to you. I just didn’t feel right about telling him anything about us. So he left. Sort of.”
“Sort of? Is he still there?”
“He’s sitting in a car out on the road, typing away on a laptop. Do you actually know this guy, or should I go get my baseball bat and give him my two cents?”
As much as I would’ve paid to see her tune this asshole with a baseball bat, I didn’t want her to get hurt. I didn’t have any idea what he’d do in that situation, but I couldn’t let her find out for herself. I told her to just lock the doors and wait for me, to stay away from the windows.
“Should I be worried?” she asked, and I could tell it was already too late for that question. She was worried.
“I’ll handle him, Rouge. Just sit tight and I’ll be over soon.”
“You know, I wouldn’t have to sit tight if you moved in. Maybe think about it.” She hung up before I could say anything. Not that I had much to say about it. With everything else, moving in was the last thing on my mind.
I didn’t pull up in front of Rouge’s house. Instead, I parked at the end of the street and walked to where Parks was sitting in his car. I could see him, his face stuck in his laptop, but even though his attention was diverted, I decided to keep low so he couldn’t see me. I had my Tincher with me, tucked up in the left sleeve of my hoodie in case I needed it.
I hoped I wouldn’t. I was already in enough trouble, and it would be worse if I attacked and stabbed another hunter. Especially one sent to investigate me.
Still, I needed to put a scare in him, let him know he had to leave Rouge out of this.
I opened the passenger door the second I was beside it and got into the car with liquid ease. I slammed the door behind me. Parks jumped, which was good. I wanted to catch him off guard.
“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” I said with a smile, loving the look of fear on his face.
“What the hell are you doing, Dillon? Holy fuck, man. I almost gutted you.”
I looked and saw he had the blade he’d killed the Gargar with in his hand, ready to strike. I didn’t care. He wouldn’t have had a chance to use it before I got him.
“Maybe I wanted to make you feel the same way you made her feel,” I told him, and he turned towards the house. I wondered if Rouge was watching us. She wouldn’t have listened to me when I told her to stay away from the windows. She would’ve been peeking out waiting for me to show up. So she was probably seeing it all. “Why’d you come here?”
“It’s my job, Dillon. That’s what—”
“No. Your job is to deal with me, not her. That’s not how it works. So, again, what are you doing here?”
He said nothing. I reached over to pull the laptop from him, see what it was he was writing, but he stopped me, slamming it closed and putting it beside him.
“Maybe I wanted to see what the big deal was, Dillon. I came here to look at her face to face and see why you’d be willing to throw away everything you have. And you know what I saw?”
“No. Do tell.”
“Nothing. Just a human. She’s nothing but a weak, inferior species with nothing special about her worth noting. She’s just like the rest of them. There’s a reason we have to be here on Earth. They couldn’t handle being part of the Collective. Humans are small, dumb, and closed-minded. Your Rouge is no different. She’s just a little thing that needs to be protected from everything else in all the universes.”
The words le
ft his lips, and just as they did, the driver’s side window exploded inward, raining safety glass all over us. Parks screamed, but I’d seen it coming, so I just covered my face. I’d been listening to Parks ramble on and saw Rouge walk out of the house with her Louisville slugger in hand and a look on her face that showed what kind of business she meant.
“You want to tell me why you’re still here, motherfucker?” she yelled, pushing the bat through the broken window and poking it repeatedly into Parks’ throat. “I don’t think you told me everything, did you, you weasel?”
“Get away from me!” Parks tried to yell, but he sounded afraid, and raised his hands in surrender. His blade dropped from his open grip and hit the floor of the car. “Please, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Why don’t you tell me what I’m doing then? The way I see it, I’m protecting my property, my person, and my boyfriend. So why don’t you tell me what I don’t get about all this?”
“He can tell you. After all, the reason I’m here is because of him. Go ahead. Ask him.”
“Dillon? What’s this dickbag on about?”
I got out of the car and went to her. “Come on, let’s go inside and talk. This guy isn’t worth it,” I told her and reluctantly, she let up on Parks, removing the bat from his car. As she went to walk away, though, she spun away from me and brought the bat down hard on the hood of his car.
“You come back here again, and it won’t be your car I hit. Got it?”
Parks nodded and Rouge seemed satisfied with that. She headed back towards her house. I went to follow, but turned back towards the hunter.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?”
“I told you that you need to get rid of her. Break it off, or you’re leaving this planet. Time’s ticking away,” he said, clearly trying to sound unruffled, but as he swept the glass off his shoulder he turned to look at Rouge and there was fear in his eyes. “But for now, I’ll stay away from her. As long as you know, you have to make this quick. I’m sending my report in by the end of the week. Don’t make me say that you’re still with her, Dillon. It won’t go well for you.”
I said nothing else to him. I left him to clean up the broken glass and followed Rouge to the house. I wasn’t ready to talk about this, but I had no choice. It was on the table.
Time to face the music.
When I walked into her house, she was already sitting in the kitchen, her fingers tapping on the scarred wood of the small table. She had a look on her face I’d never seen aimed at me, and I knew it wasn’t good. This was the face she saved for line jumpers, people on the street who’d call out lude suggestions, and other acts that would get equally under her skin. She was pissed, and rightly so.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” she asked as I sat down across from her. I felt as though all of this would go better over some mulled wine or whiskey, but as Rouge wasn’t much of a drinker, she never had that kind of stuff in the house. “Clearly you and ass-face out there are friends like he claimed.”
“No. We’re not friends,” I said, and had no idea what else to say. I didn’t want to get into it all right then and there. I was still feeling stressed by everything else in the day, and didn’t want to pile on an emotional meltdown.
“So, who is he? Is his name really Don Parks?”
“It is, and he’s a hunter.”
“There’s another hunter in the city? I thought you said you were the only one in the area, in this part of the province for that matter.”
“I am, or I was, but now he’s here.”
“I know there’s more to it than that, Dill. Don’t keep things from me. Your face gives it all away. What’s he doing here?”
I took a deep breath and tried to find the words. It was harder than I’d imagined. This would have been better if I’d had time to roll it around in my head for a while. I would’ve preferred playing out all kinds of different scenarios so I could have a better idea of what to say, and more importantly, what not to say. Instead, I’d barely spent a second figuring the right words, so I just came out and told her, hoping for the best.
“He’s here to investigate me. Apparently, I’ve broken a lot of rules, and he’s here to see if I need to be taken off the planet or not.”
“What rules did you break?”
I raised my eyebrow and gave her a look. I’d only told her a hundred times, after all. “Well, the gist of the more recent ones is killing Earthbound creatures, letting other creatures stay on Earth that should have been sent back, having a website, the YouTube video going public, and…” I trailed off and sighed. I didn’t think I could say it.
“And what? And me?” I nodded. “You’re saying that us dating is that bad?”
“For them it is.”
“So, they’re going to send you somewhere else because of our relationship?”
“That and the other things I said. Yeah.”
“Can you fight it? I mean there’s got to be some kind of way out of this. You do so much for them.” I didn’t respond to that, because if I did, I’d have to tell her the rest of it, and I could see where it would go from there. Instead, I reached out across the table and took her hands and tried to smile. “Oh, my God! There’s something more, isn’t there?”
“What?”
“You are easier to read than the funny pages, Dill. Your palms are sweaty, your left eye is twitching, and the smile you just gave me looks like an overcooked noodle. Please tell me what it is.”
“It’s nothing because there’s no way I’m willing to do it.”
“Just spit it out.”
There was going to be no dancing around it. “He told me I’d be allowed to stay, if I stopped dating you. He said otherwise, I’d be shipped off somewhere and the Collective would choose my punishment.”
“So it’s break up with me or get removed from Earth. Not much of a choice.”
Rouge let go of my hand and deflated in her chair. I could see the realization on her face and it hit me so hard. I watched as her bottom lip started to quiver and she casually caught it with her teeth in hopes of keeping it all in. She thought I was easy to read, but this was the same way she got when Mufasa died in the Lion King; a part we now skip over when we watch it.
“Darling,” I began, but as soon as I spoke, a tear came from her eye and she covered her face. Clearly she didn’t want me to see her cry, but hearing it tore me apart. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to leave here, but I don’t want to leave you either. I’ve never felt like this with someone before; I never loved anyone. It’s been eating at me since he dropped this bomb on me this morning. I really have no idea what to do.”
“You don’t?” she sobbed, and moved her hands from her face. I nearly screamed.
For a second, no more than the blink of an eye, she looked like one of them. Her eyes had turned black and that blackness ran down her face, her mouth twitched and swirled living darkness. And then, it was gone; Rouge looked as she always had. My heart pounded in my chest and the scream that had died in my throat felt like a stone. She didn’t seem aware of my strange reaction, something I felt lucky about. I wasn’t sure she’d want to hear about any of that.
“How do you think I feel? I don’t want you out of my life, but it looks like no matter what we do, you will be. I can’t deal with this right now.”
“What do you want to do? We can just set it aside and—”
“I can’t set this aside, Dillon! Are you kidding me? This isn’t something you just put aside while you watch movies or play cards, then take it out after and see if anything’s changed. I need to just think about all of this. I need some time alone, I think.”
“Alone?” I asked, and nearly expected to see the melting face thing start again, but it never did. Small favours there.
“Yeah. I think I do. I need to think and cry and throw things. It’s no
t going to help with you here.” She stood up and held her hand out to me. “Come on.”
I got up and she walked me to the front door. I wasn’t so sure leaving was the best idea, but it was hers, so I went along with it. I’d come to accept that Rouge usually knew best.
When we got to the door, she wrapped her arms around me and pressed herself tight against me. I returned the hug and whispered that I loved her.
“I love you too, but this isn’t going to be fixed with words or feelings, Dill. I need some time to think and deal with it. I know this can’t be easy for you either, but please give me some space to work through this.”
“Of course. Anything you need.”
She kissed me on the cheek and let me out. She closed the door without another word.
None of it felt good, especially how broken-hearted I felt.
Tuesday
I woke up late on Tuesday, after spending a night in bed tossing and turning. Nothing that happened the day before felt great or right, and my whole body ached when I finally slid out from my sheets to face the day. Beyond the window rain fell, matching my mood. Wind smashed hard against the glass, making it shake in its frame, and I thought about crawling back into bed and just staying home all day. I thought I might find some solace in my oversized comforter, wrapped up in my sheeted cocoon. I still had a lot to try and figure out, and I wanted to avoid it. Between Rouge, Parks, the melted-face people and Chance, my life felt full to the brim with stress, and sleep seemed a better choice. I stared at my bed longingly for a moment, but knew hiding away would be pointless.
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