by Tara Brown
I look back and smile, "I know. Me too."
My stomach feels him still. He isn’t close but I know he's coming. Tracking me like a bloodhound.
"So you can feel him?"
I nod, "Yeah. I guess so."
She nudges me, "This sucks. You okay?"
I shake my head, "No. No, I don’t think I'll ever be okay. My brain says this is all fake, for sure. None of this is real. My body believes, but that’s from the torture. My heart knows it's real, but wants to go back to the old way. I know my parents were evil and broke the rules, but I don’t understand why God hates me so much. I don’t even believe in God and yet he is ruining my life."
"It's heavy. I want to say I don’t believe but I do. God help me, but I do. The stuff the priest said made sense though. The torture was for a reason."
I furrow my brow, "That doesn’t take away from the fact it happened."
She shakes her head defensively, "I'm not saying that. At all. I know it happened. I can't get the image of you in that room out of my mind. It's burned there. Scarred in my brain."
I look at her. We match. Immense amounts of pity cover both our faces, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dragged you into this."
She ups the ante and lets a tear slip from her eyes, "No. No one should have to go through something like this alone Rayne. We are the loser nerd girls who will go unnoticed and not be the pass around girl in the frat. We joined that shit together. I'm in till the end."
I feel tears in my eyes but I laugh. We pick up the pace and run the rest of the way out of the huge park we are in.
Chapter Eighteen
The warmth of the restaurant and the coffee in my hand isn’t enough to remove the feeling of the huge spider I found roaming in my hoodie. Terror and anxiety are still crawling around on my skin where it was.
My skin is crawling and I can't shake the heebie-jeebies. Mona's screaming face is about the only thing that has gotten me through it.
I shove the last of the Subway sandwich into my mouth. I'm so hungry I could kill everyone in here and still be hungry. Well except for Mona.
I glance at her and point at her face, "You have dirt on your eyebrows and forehead."
She scowls, "Dude. How long has it been like that?" She wipes with the napkin but it doesn’t come off.
"Still there."
"Gross. Graveyard dirt." She stands and walks away. Her perfect little outfit is ruined from the day's adventures. Running in a park and slithering through a tunnel. I shiver again and remember the way the horrid black beast crept out of my shirt. Its eight legs tickling me. I almost gag but I take a deep breath and smell the bread, and the guy sitting behind me.
We stole a car downtown Boston and drove here, New Hampshire.
If I ever speak to Wyatt again I will have to get him to give the owners of the car some money. Just like I did with the last people I stole from. I had him mail the old people from Newport one thousand dollars. He owed me that, at the least.
I probably owed them more. The ham sandwich and the shower had to have been worth a million dollars. Not to mention the three hundred dollars I found taped to the lid of the cookie jar.
Mona comes out of the bathroom looking remarkably better. Her outfit has been cleaned up and her hair is straight and smooth. The dirt is gone.
"You made good use of the bathroom."
She smiles, "I can't stand looking like that. It's a good thing you don’t mind. I have feeling this is all about to get more interesting."
I raise an eyebrow at her, "Why?"
Her eyes dart to the window. A tall man with dark hair and a charming smile is looking at us through the glass. I jump when I see him.
"Who is that?"
She shrugs, "Not sure. He came into the bathroom when I was there and asked if I had somewhere to stay for the night. I told him to fuck off, obviously. He smiled, that exact smile, and then said if the Van Helsings catch you I bet they'll clean that mouth of yours up. Then he was gone. I actually thought I might have daydreamed it but there he is." She sighs and covers her eyes for a minute.
I get up from the table and feel my palms instantly sweat, "He came in the bathroom? Who is he? Why are you so calm? That’s creepy." He looks familiar.
She gives me an incredulous look, "How should I know? He told me that I should stay really calm. So I did."
"That doesn’t even make any sense. Great. He could be my dad."
She nods. "I thought that too."
"Well doesn’t that make you want to freak out?"
She smiles at me with glossy lips, "Yup."
I turn and watch him, just as he watches us. No one makes a move. My stomach tingle starts. I groan, "Great."
"Wyatt?"
"Yup."
"Take a chance with the stranger?"
I look around, "There is probably a back entrance. We could run."
The man outside the window laughs.
She shakes her head, "He vanished in the bathroom. Vanished. I don’t think running is a good option."
I am weak and exhausted. I need to eat but I want the devils to come for me. If I get hungry enough they will sense me and then we can kill them.
I look into the dark eyes of the stranger outside the window. His eyes meet mine and he nods, "Trust me."
The air sparkles and I feel the dead agree. They want me to go with him.
I take the first step but it feels forced. I push myself to take another and another until I am at the door. I push on it and shiver when the cold air hits my face.
"The Sin Eater at Subway, imagine." His voice is deep and sexy. His movements are confident and relaxed. I know him. It's stuck in my brain.
"Are you my father?"
He looks lost, "What? Lucifer? No. That's an odd question."
My movements feel jerky and tense.
His eyes dart to Mona, "Do you always bring food with you?"
Horror crosses my face. I gasp and take a step back and bump into her.
His eyes widen and his hands lift, "I'm sorry. I never meant to offend you. Is she your lover?"
I look back at her and laugh.
He smiles along, but is clearly confused.
"She is my friend."
He tries to swallow it down but he can't, "You have friends, friends who are human? Without, well you know."
"Yeah. I'm a human too. Well I was like two months ago."
He looks completely lost, "I don’t understand."
I laugh, "Welcome to my world. Who are you? Or should I ask what are you?"
He chuckles and points to a long black car that resembles a hearse "I'm a friend of your mother's. At least I was once."
The feeling in my stomach is getting worse but I'm terrified, "Are you my father? Tell me the truth."
His face grows cold, "No. No, your father is a bad man. I am indifferent to humans as they are fodder for most of us, but I am not like your father. His intentions have always been focused on revenge and suffering." He sniffs the air. "I suggest we move this conversation to a safer place."
He walks to the car and opens the door to the backseat. Mona is gripping my shirt. I look across the parking lot to the car speeding toward us. My heart nearly stops. I run to the backseat of the car and jump in.
"It's him."
The man climbs in the backseat and the car starts. I can't see into the front to see the driver. The dark glass all around the car prevented us from seeing him outside and in. He drives like a pro. He backs up and spins the car in a half circle. When the white car pulls into the parking lot, our black car speeds past it. Through the tinted glass I can see Wyatt and the woman and man from the church.
Our driver speeds away, skidding and peeling out at every possible moment.
We are flung about and smashed into the windows.
The man on the seat across from us, sits perfectly still. The movements of the car don’t move him.
We drive this way until the car hits a bumpy area. Then we drive slowly. I look out into the ni
ght at the forest around us.
"Where are we going?"
He smiles, "My home. The Van Helsings will not come there."
I frown. "You don’t know Wyatt very well do you?"
He shakes his head, "The youngest of the sons? No I do not. They fear my lands. Have since we left the old country. They lost a lot of family at my hands. I don’t believe they will want to run the chance of that happening again."
His dark eyes flicker to Mona constantly.
He shakes his head, "I'm sorry. It's just remarkable how much you look like the girl from that show."
I snort. "You watch Gossip Girl?"
He shrugs, "I like TV. That show in particular offers some very tantalizing young flesh."
Mona leans into me, "Gross."
My stomach turns.
He laughs, "I mean you know harm. I wish for you to succeed this time Sin Eater." His dark eyes glimmer.
"Rayne."
His face breaks into a smile, "Willow has spoken of you."
"You know my mo…Willow?"
"Of course. I know all there is to know. I am Constantine Basarab, fourth count of the House of Basarab."
He is charming and when he says his name he has an accent. It's thick and sexy and Mona leans forward slightly.
"What are you Constantine?"
He flashes a smile like I have never seen. Two large fangs hang where his canines should be.
I scream. Mona Screams.
He laughs and the car comes to a stop.
Mona is gripping me.
He closes his mouth and muffles the rich chuckles, he let burst from him.
The door is opened by a small man. He moves quickly. Every movement comes across as a twitch or jerk. But it's because he moves so quickly.
Constantine points to the door, "Ladies first." We grip each other and scramble from the car.
He climbs out and stretches his long legs. He seems bigger, taller. Or I'm just so terrified I have made him larger in my mind's eye.
He takes my hand in his and kisses the top, "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance madam Sin Eater." His eyes sparkle. He takes Mona's hand and kisses it, "Madam."
We are charmed. We can't fight the charms he has. Mona is worse than I am. His touch has calmed us both. She takes a step toward him, "It's my pleasure to meet you. Not yours."
I've never seen her be forward before. I pull her back and scowl, "Stop what you're doing." I sigh and roll my eyes, "Can we just go inside before Wyatt shows up and shit goes downhill, like it tends to when he's around?"
He watches her for a moment and then breaks his stare. He glances at the driver, "Put the car away Tom. We won't be needing it."
The driver moves quickly.
Mona doesn’t notice the driver. She is blushing and tempting Constantine. He is fighting the urge to eat her. I know that feeling.
"Can you go out in the daytime?"
He looks at me and smirks, "Of course? Thinking about fleeing already? Am I such a poor host, I'm already driving you to that?"
I shake my head, "No, just curious. You know like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and shit."
He rolls his eyes, "I will say that show was better than some." He holds a hand out. Instantly both of us are even more mesmerized. His house is like a villa on the sea, but shaped like a German castle. It has peaked roofs and a smooth finish, like stone.
My mouth hangs open, "This is where you live?"
He smiles and nods, he seems humble suddenly, "It's just a house Rayne."
Mona walks forward like she is in a dream, "It’s beautiful. So beautiful. Like a magical castle."
We are at a circular driveway in front of a huge front entryway. His house makes Wyatt's seem plain and tiny. The huge square pillars out front are two feet in diameter. Windows are lit, giving it a warm look. The house is amazing. Amazing.
The doors are the size of a wall in a regular house. A thin woman in a maid's uniform opens the door and greets us with a smile, "Good evening." Her face drops when she sees me. She looks shocked and confused. I know I look terrible. He's dressed so refined and I look homeless.
We walk in and get lost immediately. The foyer is marble with statues and a staircase that belongs in a southern plantation. Plants, a fountain, ceilings high enough to be four stories, and a pianoforte all fill the room.
"What does the rest look like if this is just the front door?" Mona spins.
"Who has a piano in their foyer? That’s weird."
He seems annoyed, "You Americans. All so impressed by grandeur and size. It's just a house. And I like to hear the piano all over the house. This is the best spot, acoustically."
Mona blushes again, but I can't help but look around more.
"Would you like something to eat?"
"No thanks we just had those subs."
"That's not what I was offering Sin Eater."
My head jerks, "What?"
He smiles and holds a hand out, "I keep a selection of things you might be interested in, in the basement."
I feel sick and intrigued. "You keep people hostage?"
He nods, "Come I'll show you."
Mona takes his hand. She is entranced again. I am frozen in my spot. I want to eat one of the hostages. I can't deny it, but at the same time I want to be disgusted. It's gross they are held downstairs, as cattle for the master.
I follow them and tell myself it's to keep Mona safe. Not to eat a hostage.
The hallway we are in turns a corner and suddenly an industrial theme becomes noticeable. We enter a doorway and descend down a wide set of stairs. The floor is rubber and the walls are steel.
It doesn’t feel luxurious like upstairs.
Mona walks, watching his eyes the entire time. He has her spellbound.
"You can't hurt her." I whisper it, certain he can hear me.
He looks back, "I swear on my own grave I would never. I couldn’t imagine her skin marred. She is pure."
"You have to take the spell off."
He shakes his head, "I can't. I'm not putting one on her. It's her response to me. She has to be the one to change it."
He opens a wide metal door. When we enter he closes it and locks it with a key.
It looks like a horse barn. Stalls with bars line the huge hallway.
"It looks like a prison."
He pauses and tilts his head looking around, "It's meant to."
His eyes are dark and dangerous, unpredictable. His face is handsome and calm. He towers over Mona and I. He puts a large hand up to the first room and holds the bars, "Come out come out wherever you are." He almost sings the words.
I peer into the dark. I can't see anything until my eyes do their thing. Then I see her, it, maybe her. She is my size but a bit thinner. She has a white nightgown on. Her long blonde hair is stringy and she is filthy. She stands in the corner of her cell, watching the moon from a small barred window.
I take a step closer to the bars. As my face almost makes contact, she turns and screams. I jump back.
Constantine laughs.
She is at the bars raging and screaming.
Mona clutches him, like she did me before.
"Easy girl. Easy." She reaches a white scrawny hand through the bars at him. He touches her and the trembling stops.
She closes her dark eyes as tears stream down her filthy cheeks.
"She drowned her children, on purpose of course. She didn’t want anyone to know, so she lied to everyone and said she had moved them to small farmhouse outside of the city. She collected the child welfare for them but they were dead. No one knew." He strokes the palm of her hand, tickling it. His voice becomes a soft whisper, "No one but me."
My skin crawls, "How-how do you know?"
Her eyes dart at me, her edgy behavior is back when she hears my voice. I watch the homicidal look in her eyes and decide she is an it, not a she.
"I can read things about people Rayne. That’s how I found you." I know him and it's driving me insane.
&nbs
p; I look back at the woman. Her evil is great. I can sense it, like Willow told me I would be able to.
He moves away from the bars and walks to the next stall.
"He was a teacher. He likes young people, more than most teachers. A girl tried to tell her parents what he had done to her. They never believed her. She had been promiscuous before. He knew that. He has a gift for picking them. The ones no one will believe."
The thing in the stall grunts. He looks at me with hatred and a hollowness I would expect to see on death row.
"He is new. He is not trained and broken properly yet." I look at the expression Constantine has and shiver. He is an evil man. I can sense his evil too. If I let myself, I can taste the blood the way he does. I can feel the life he steals flowing into my mouth. I know I will like it.
"We are the same." I mutter.
He looks at me and frowns, "You are innocent. Never let them tell you different. None of this is your fault." A sick and filthy grin crosses his delicious lips, "I however have enjoyed many aspects of my life." His tongue flicks from his mouth and wets his lips.
I am horrified at my attraction to him.
Sexually, I am dysfunctional. I am only attracted to danger and pain. I should have stayed at the convent with Michelle.
Mona's eyes are closed.
He sees my expression and speaks softly, "I don’t want her to see them. I want her to remain unchanged and unspoiled. I have her believing she is in an armchair watching Casablanca. She deserves that. I just can't let her alone in the house. She is pure."
He looks around as if the house is listening to us.
He holds a hand out, "Every stall has someone in it that has committed horrific crimes and gotten away with them. Feel free to enjoy the company of one. Just pull the lever at the end of the hall for the one you want. Tom will watch for when you want out of here."
I nod and he leaves. I never realized he would leave me alone here, with criminals. Nerves start to fill me as he closes the metal door and I am alone in the hallway.
Every noise they make gets under my skin. My fingers tense. I look around. My heart beat speeds up.
I can hear them breathing. I can hear the sick thoughts they have. The teacher watches me from the bed in his cell. He watches me and thinks something I can't let my brain comprehend. My blood boils. I feel something coming alive inside of me. My skin vibrates. I look at the metal door and the wall where the levers are. I walk to it, letting the boiling anger and disgust inside of me fill up. I pull the second lever. The stall door slides into the wall.