“I hope you’re planning on leaving soon.”
Anna sat up straighter in her chair and looked around her; he had followed her? She couldn’t see him; she didn’t feel him nearby. Where the hell was he? And why the hell was he following her? She texted him back and asked him, apologizing to Derek as she argued via text with someone else. Yeah, she would make a lousy date anyway.
Anna set her phone down and was so pissed off she was about to accept Derek’s offer to let him buy her another drink, when Colin walked up to her table. He didn’t wait for an invitation to sit down. And he looked every bit as pissed off as Anna felt. Slowly, she started to realize that the drink must have been stronger than she’d thought. The alcohol had dulled her senses. She couldn’t even really tell what he was thinking now. Goddamn it, this wasn’t going to be good.
“I think it’s time for your friend to leave,” Colin said, never taking his eyes off Anna.
Anna swallowed. She suddenly felt sick and guilty and … dirty… under Colin’s gaze. She found herself wishing she had a shirt to put on over the slinky silver top she’d chosen. She crossed her arms and rested her hands on her shoulders, and she kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t that drunk. Derek had started to protest, but Colin turned that icy stare on him and told him something to the effect of get the hell out of here. At least, that’s what Anna thought he said. The world was spinning around her and it wasn’t from the alcohol. She’d never seen Colin like this before and it scared her.
“Let’s go, Anna. I’ll bring you back for your car tomorrow.”
Anna swallowed again, willing herself to speak, trying to remember things were different now, and she hadn’t done anything wrong. “Colin, we were just …”
“Just shut up, Anna.”
She felt the tears stinging behind her eyes. He had never talked to her like that before. He picked up her phone and purse and stood up, waiting for her to come with him. And Anna quietly followed him to his car. How could these 24 hours possibly get any worse?
She expected the drive home to be one of silence again; after all, if he was going to treat her like the whore of Babylon for letting one guy sit with her while she was having a drink, why would he want to talk to her? But he started talking as soon as he pulled onto the street.
“We’ve got to be especially careful right now. That wasn’t some sycophant we killed last night, and we can expect some sort of retribution. Going out alone tonight wasn’t a good idea.”
“Well, I would have called Jas …” Now that he couldn’t keep that penetrating stare on her, she was feeling more confident again.
Colin sighed. “I am very sorry about what happened to her. You haven’t exactly been letting me help you with any of this though.”
Anna wanted to laugh at him but it hurt too much. “Help me? And how are you going to help me, Colin? How are you going to comfort me without slipping, without making a mistake?”
He glanced at her and Anna’s heart beat against her ribs, her stomach drowning in the Vieux Carré from the bar. “I don’t know,” he finally said.
It was probably the alcohol or maybe the stress or maybe just how incredibly tired she was of being here and living this lie, but she reached over to him, taking his hand and slipping her fingers inside of his. It seemed like such a small gesture, so harmless and innocent, but they both knew how dangerous it was.
“Anna,” he whispered, but he didn’t let go of her hand. Colin could never let go of her.
“I miss you. I don’t even understand why we have to do this.”
Anna knew Colin didn’t have any answers either. “We just have to trust there’s a good reason, and that it won’t last much longer,” he finally said, but he didn’t sound as sure of himself as he did three months ago when he first told her about having to move to Baton Rouge, about having to do something they’d never done before – nobody was supposed to know they had ever even known each other. He was still holding her hand, and Anna was slowly regaining all of her senses. She could hear him and feel him again, and she felt the passion, the desire, the lust he was trying to keep buried.
Anna slowly disentangled her fingers from his and moved her hand away; it wasn’t fair to either of them to walk this line of temptation. Colin looked longingly at her hand as it drifted back to her side of the car but he stayed quiet. “This was never part of the deal, Colin,” Anna pouted. She knew she was pouting. But goddamn it, after everything they’d been through, asking this of them was too much.
But really, Colin was pouting, too. No, giving up each other had never been part of the deal.
Chapter 4
Colin had drafted several emails apologizing to Anna, not for following her – no matter what she said, he would always protect her, he would never stop trying to keep her safe – but he hadn’t been fair to her. He had allowed his jealousy to get the better of him and he’d treated her terribly. But this assignment was taking a toll on both of them. The longer it went on, the more he felt like he was losing himself. And maybe it wasn’t just his imagination because Anna was noticing it now, too.
He went to bed that night without sending the email, unable to think of anything appropriate to say in writing, and vowed to apologize in person. That’s what he would normally do, with flowers and chocolates and a J. Crew gift card if he’d really screwed up. Like now. Maybe he couldn’t send her flowers, but a gift card was discreet. He decided to get her one before heading to the hunters’ downtown office the next day – shopping always helped her feel better anyway.
The next morning though, Jeremy called him early and asked him to meet him at his office so Colin never had the chance to buy Anna her gift card. Jeremy sounded anxious about something that had happened overnight and by the time Colin got there, the rest of the surviving hunters were gathered in the only other usable room – the one they used as their conference room. It had a long, rectangular table and eleven chairs, and as Colin sat down, he couldn’t help but notice that everyone glanced at the empty chair. The loss of Jas was haunting them all.
Jeremy was tapping his pencil nervously on a stack of papers, leaving gray dots and streaks across whatever else was written there. Colin had noticed Anna before anyone else though. She was always the first person he noticed no matter where they were. She was concerned about this impromptu meeting, which Jeremy had insisted he needed everyone here for – he never did that – and some people had called in sick to work to be here. But she was hiding it well. She looked calm, rested, all of that anger and resentment from yesterday was gone. And she was glad Colin was here.
Jeremy finally put his pencil down and lifted the thin stack of papers. “I, um, got an email last night,” he fidgeted with the corner of the paper, turning it down then straightening it again. He was driving Colin crazy. “Here, I’ll just let you read it for yourselves.” He started passing the copies around. Why the hell hadn’t he just forwarded it to them? Everybody was engrossed in reading and by the time it reached Colin, some had already finished and were already trying to talk to Jeremy about it, their voices a mixture of confusion and fear and disbelief. The rising panic in the room was already answering Colin’s question about why Jeremy had bothered to print out an email instead of forwarding it.
Colin quickly read it. The author of the email addressed each of the hunters by name then went on to describe the “murder” of the demon outside of White Oaks the other night, how that act – the death of an archdemon – was a declaration of war against the entire group. And it was expecting them to meet it and two other archdemons outside of Baton Rouge in a small rural area that night. Of course it warned of consequences if they didn’t show – including the death of innocent people, because that’s usually what pissed off demons did.
Colin heard Dylan’s voice thundering above the others, insisting this was a trap and it would be suicidal for them to go. Dylan was a hunter in his late 20s with short black hair and smooth brown skin, a small gauge in his ear the only outward sign of some rebellious a
nd reckless years when he was younger. But Colin had always liked Dylan. Besides Max, he was probably the only other hunter here he liked, not counting Anna, of course. Maybe that was partly because neither Max nor Dylan had ever tried to hit on Anna, but it was also because they were both smart and cautious.
The only other woman in the group now besides Anna was Tara, a Pilates instructor and triathlete who was convinced her ability to see and kill demons made her immortal. Even Jas’s death hadn’t seemed to shatter that illusion. “We have to go,” she insisted, glaring at Dylan now, “people will get hurt. They will die. Because you were too chicken shit to face a few demons?”
“What good does it do anyone if the few people in this area capable of hunting them down go and get themselves killed?” Dylan shot back.
Tara made a noise that was a cross between disgust and exasperation. “We won’t get killed if we stick together, and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Colin knew that comment pissed Anna off; she was still grieving the loss of her friend. “What are you saying, Tara? We screwed up? We let Jas die?” Anna said angrily.
The room fell deafeningly quiet. Tara squirmed in her seat but she didn’t back down. “I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened. I’m sure you all did the best you could.”
Even Jeremy had to sneer at that. “Tara, you’ve never faced an archdemon before, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We’re not going. We can’t. Dylan’s right. But if you want, we can vote.”
Only Tara and one other hunter seemed really adamant about meeting the author of this email. A vote didn’t seem necessary. As the meeting broke up, most of the group drifted off toward the break room. Colin got Jeremy’s attention. “Let’s talk. In your office.”
Jeremy raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me you’re siding with Tara on this.”
Colin just walked across the hallway and into Jeremy’s office, waiting for him to follow. Jeremy probably would have expressed more surprise if he hadn’t been used to Colin’s impersonal behavior by now.
“Ok, O’Conner,” Jeremy sighed as he closed his office door behind him, “what’s up?”
“You ever dealt with an archdemon before?” Colin had, of course, but he was skeptical about how much experience this group had.
“No, you have?”
Colin nodded. “You’re right to be careful here. But they will eventually force us to act. We’ve just got to try to get them to meet us on our own terms.”
Jeremy looked thoughtful. He was tapping his pencil on his desk again. Colin had a sudden urge to stab him with it. He felt a little guilty about it, but God, Jeremy could be so obnoxious. “How do we get them to do that?” Jeremy finally asked, still tap tap tapping.
“Ignore them,” Colin answered. “The only thing that pisses off demons more than killing one of their elites is ignoring them. That pride goes before a fall thing.”
Jeremy stopped tapping his pencil and stared at him, open mouthed and dumbfounded. “You’re suggesting we intentionally piss them off even more?”
“I think it may be the only way we can get them to meet us on our own terms. They make mistakes then. I’ve run into them before and this has worked in the past. If you’ve got a better idea, let us know,” Colin stood up. He was done with Jeremy, even if Jeremy wanted to argue with him about it or ask more questions about his past encounters. Colin didn’t want to have either conversation with him.
As he passed by the break room, he heard Anna’s familiar voice, so mellifluous and clear, and he paused outside the door. She was agitated. He could sense that even though her voice was hiding it. He heard one of the other hunter’s talking to her. It was the other guy who had wanted to go out to meet these demons tonight.
“You’re all bent out of shape about Jas’s death but you’re willing to let countless other people die. You’re a hypocrite.” Eddie was seething.
“No, I’m being realistic,” Anna retorted, still trying to keep her voice calm and level. Colin wasn’t sure he would be able to keep himself calm and level if this kept up. “We can’t just walk into a trap …”
Eddie interrupted her. “So what if it’s a trap? I have a family here!” He was shouting at her now.
“A lot of people have families here. That doesn’t mean we can act irresponsibly just because you’re scared,” Anna shot back.
“If you’re not scared, then you’re an idiot,” Eddie snapped.
Colin couldn’t listen to this anymore. He stepped into the break room.
“If you’re so worried about your family’s safety, Eddie, then get the hell out of here. Go home and protect them. You’re not endangering everyone else’s life because you’re too goddamned stupid to realize we can’t beat them. Not right now.”
Eddie’s eyes glowed with fury but he knew he couldn’t talk to Colin the way he had been talking to Anna; in fact, everyone knew that, which is why everyone else in the room had fallen silent. They had all seen Colin fight. They had all seen the way he could maneuver around demons that moved at inhuman speeds, the way he could destroy them so quickly and efficiently. And everyone was watching Eddie now, waiting for his response: everyone, that is, except Anna.
“We should get out of here. This isn’t going to help them. Eddie’s a prick, but they’re all scared. They need some time to cool off,” Anna told him.
“Before we leave Baton Rouge, you’ve got to let me hit him at least. Just once.”
Anna tried to suppress a smile.
Eddie had never taken his eyes off Colin, and he swallowed before speaking; it was so quiet in the room, they could hear the gulping sound as his saliva went down his throat. “Well, O’Conner, I guess you wouldn’t understand, would you? Seeing how you’ve got no one you care about and no one who cares about you.”
Colin wouldn’t look at Anna. He could feel her anger rising within her but he couldn’t look at her. He knew the damage Eddie’s words had inflicted, how desperately Anna wanted to defend him. And knowing Anna, her face had flushed to a deep shade of crimson by now. Fortunately, the room was still glued to the conflict between the two men so no one was paying attention to Anna anymore. They wouldn’t notice how personally she had just taken Eddie’s insult.
Colin was far less concerned about Eddie’s attempt to humiliate him, if that’s what he’d been trying to do. “No, but I still don’t want to see people getting killed. Including us. You want to try to change Jeremy’s mind, then go for it. But leave us alone.”
Colin stepped aside, indicating he expected Eddie to leave now, and after hesitating a few moments, Eddie got up and left without another word. The rest of the group still in the break room remained silent until they heard the front door of the building close and Eddie’s tires squealing out of the parking lot.
“That was mature,” Dylan mumbled.
Max just shook his head. “We need to let Jeremy know about this. Maybe Eddie needs to go on leave or something. Not sure I’d want him out alone with me anywhere right now.”
Colin was pretending to listen to their conversation but he was really focusing on Anna. He wanted her to think of an excuse to leave soon and come meet him across town for lunch so they could talk about this email. As the other hunters gradually started talking again and things got back to normal, Colin slipped out quietly and made his way to the restaurant to wait for Anna.
She showed up about half an hour later and after spending a few minutes reading the menu, she finally let Colin speak to her. He had watched her the entire time, with a smile of adoration and complete devotion on his face. “Hungry?” he asked.
“Starving. So this is new. First email we’ve ever gotten from one of them.”
Colin took a sip of his water and nodded. He wasn’t quite ready to talk about the email yet though. “Anna, about last night …”
“Colin, forget it. Please. You had every right to be pissed. If that had been you … it doesn’t matter that I would have known how innocent it was. We can’
t help feeling the way we do.”
Colin bit his lip. He couldn’t let her do this, let him off the hook for something that was killing him, that was hurting a hell of a lot worse than getting thrown by a demon halfway across a field in the English countryside had a while back.
“But I shouldn’t have talked to you that way,” he said quietly. He couldn’t even meet her eyes when he said it. He was so ashamed of himself. And then he immediately felt guilty for that too because he knew how badly Anna felt over that and this whole conversation was turning out to be such a disaster. He really wished he had just bought the damn gift card.
Anna took a deep breath. He knew she was trying to resist reaching across the table to take his hand, to kiss his fingers and tell him how much she loved him, how she would always love him. Knowing those things and being able to do them were so different. So completely different. “I’m sure I’ve said many, many things you didn’t deserve over the years, Colin,” and in that one sentence, Anna let herself speak the way she had when they were younger, the English accent of her youth so rich and lyrical. She had mastered an American accent in a way Colin had never been able to, which he thought wasn’t quite fair considering she’d never even minded hers. He was the one who had grown up despising his ancestry.
Colin tried to think back over the years to anything she had ever said that could have caused the kind of pain that he had inflicted last night, but he was pretty sure she had never treated him that way. Until this assignment in Baton Rouge, they so very rarely even disagreed about anything. But Anna wanted to believe she had; she didn’t want Colin to feel so guilty, so full of self-hatred and so he tried to bury it for her sake. It was hard. He knew he didn’t deserve her forgiveness. “You do know that I trust you. I do. It’s just …”
“Oh, Colin, I know. And I told you, that was so unfair of me. I shouldn’t have even let him sit down even if it was just to have someone to talk to. If a pretty girl had sat down with you at a bar, God knows what sort of things would have come out of my mouth.”
The Immortals Page 3