by Domino Finn
If he was telling the truth, why hadn't Soren showed? Had he learned the truth about Red Hat? That was almost impossible. Something else had to cause him to forgo his dream of being a DJ. Maybe Pam had finally won out.
"Look, I can find him. I'll just take off and let him know that you're asking for him."
"Would you now?" he asked. He was suspicious, obviously, but he wasn't in a position to say why. He knew what Red Hat's secret was. So did I. But he couldn't broach the subject without giving it away. "And would you also pay for the chandelier?"
I choked on my answer for a second. Any repairs to this place had to be expensive.
"Don't worry about it," he cut in. "My insurance will cover it. But we still have the problem with Soren to deal with. We had a contract, he and I. Reneging on agreements is distasteful."
"Can you blame him? You don't exactly have his best interests in mind."
The man looked at me intently. There was no doubt he wondered exactly what I knew. "There are two types of people in this world, Dante. Those that know, and those that don't." He eyed me carefully as he spoke, searching for any acknowledgement of the subtext. I didn't reward him with a response. Still, instead of appearing weak, he opted to remain composed and in control of the situation. "Soren is my employee until I hear otherwise. That means he is under my watch for the time being. I'll tell you what. I'll let you work off the damage you caused. Find Soren, talk to him, and come by the Hollywood office. I take it you've been there?"
My eyes lowered to the ground unintentionally. I blinked and met his gaze. Trying to appear normal but fearing I failed. "Sure."
"Bring him there and ask for me. No tricks. I just want to talk. You can sit with us, if you like. To ease your mind."
"And what will the three of us talk about?"
He smiled casually. "The conditions of his employment. Full disclosure. Then the choice is his. And yours."
I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know what he meant by full disclosure. He wasn't planning on copping to possession, was he? It didn't matter. I was cornered and I wanted to get outside into the crisp air again. I nodded in agreement.
He looked to the door. "Emilio," he called out. The door opened and the uninjured strongman grunted. "See to it that Dante is escorted off the grounds."
I'd felt trapped in the room. I wasn't sure if I was going to get out. Hearing this order, I stood up anxiously, swinging the watch on its chain. "I'll let you know," I said weakly, inferring I would look into Soren for him. I didn't give the man another glance. I just rushed by the large Mexican and started down the hall. To my surprise, the black man followed me out.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Dante?"
I turned and saw the man in the cream-colored outfit extend his hand. It stopped me. Surprised me.
That's your chance.
As much as I wanted to continue exiting the observatory, I forced myself to backtrack down the hall.
"A handshake to seal our deal."
I met the man's solid grip with mine. Immediately, I saw the second shadow. But it was deeper than that. The presence coursed through me. Stronger than anything I'd ever felt. And different. It was foreboding, uninvited, and magnificent. I recoiled at his touch.
"My name is Marquis," he said coolly.
The man looked at me in puzzlement. I struggled to maintain eye contact. I wasn't sure what I had just felt. It was pure power. He was definitely a Royal.
"I don't like to be crossed, Dante. Five minutes ago, you and I had never spoken to each other. We had no agreements. Maybe we didn't see eye to eye. Maybe we were positioned to be at odds. I can't blame you for your previous thoughts, however ignorant. But now, you and I have come to an understanding. We've shaken hands. We know each other by name. Now I will place all blame on you if you fail to follow through."
I backed away. "Got it." Spinning around, I made for the door. The hallway felt too long, but I marched without looking back.
Halfway there, the door opened. Eladio rushed in from outside. "Boss," he called out. "Christian is gone."
The big man was ahead of me, and as I approached him to pass, he spread his wide arms to cover the hallway. Behind me, the others hurried to catch up.
"Yeah," I said, turning to Emilio and Marquis. "That's how I got in. I saw some guy wander away so I just came inside." I said it nonchalantly, wondering if I could make a run for the door.
"No," stressed the big man, rubbing his head where the laptop had hit him. "I mean, he's standing out there, but he's gone. He doesn't remember anything."
Understanding registered on the Royal's face. Large hands clamped down on my shoulders from behind. They knew I was aware of their secret.
"Hold on—" I said hastily. Eladio shoved me towards his brother. I braced myself against the wall and put my other hand up, showing that I didn't want to fight. Two of them were too many. Three would not have ended well. I cowered under the strongmen as Marquis pressed close.
"How do you know about us?" he asked. "What is it that you know?"
I squeezed my back into the wall. "I know that you're not you. I know that Red Hat is a network of shades."
The black man looked from one of his guards to the other and chuckled. "What? Don't be so dramatic." He motioned for the men to give me some space. They backed away only a few feet, standing on each of my flanks. "So, you are the type of person that knows. You're one of us. I suspected as much."
"I'm nothing like you."
"Save it. I don't need to hear your reasons. We all have them. Is it our place to justify our knowledge? If we're not meant to inhabit others, then why can we do it?"
Marquis didn't get it. He thought I was a shade. It made sense, I suppose. How else would I know about them unless I was one? How else would I truly believe?
But he didn't know my secret. No one else could sense the second shadow as I could. Probably not even the Royals. It was just something I could always do. It made the hunt natural for me. As Marquis had said, if I wasn't meant to root out shades, then why was I so good at it?
"Whatever," I said. "I didn't lie about Soren. I was making sure he wasn't in your particular kind of trouble."
"There's truth to that, I suppose, but deception as well. Why go through so much for a man whose last name you don't know? No," he said, pacing away from me. "There's something else."
"You're wrong," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm just concerned for Soren."
Marquis flashed his expressive eyes at me in disappointment. There was something he didn't tell me. Something he had wanted me to say. Did he really want Soren so much that he would let me go this easily?
"It's lucky for you that I didn't like Christian very much. He was idle. And simple. But he did serve a purpose. Red Hat is less without him than with."
"Just think of it as a practical lesson."
"There is a lesson here for both of us, Dante. We are not even. Accounts need to be settled. Now, I don't care if it is Soren or not, but you owe me a soldier. And reneging on agreements is distasteful."
I looked at him in disbelief. "So you don't care that I know about Red Hat? The shades?"
"You're forgetting about the two types of people, Dante. The only ones who would listen are the ones who already know. That information has no power over me."
"And how can I trust you?"
The Royal softened his stare. "We are men, not savages. We must do right by each other. If I make a deal with you, I will honor it. Find Soren. Full disclosure. It's his choice."
I didn't try to hide the scowl on my face. "If he knew what he was getting into, why would he choose Red Hat?"
For the first time, Marquis looked stumped. It was a brief moment, but he didn't understand why I didn't understand. Before I could puzzle it out, his face relaxed. "Full disclosure," he repeated. He turned and told the others to take me outside.
"Let's go," said Emilio, placing his hand on my shoulder and pushing me through the door.
"Wait. I got it,
" said Eladio. He waved his brother off and escorted me towards the crowd. The cut on his head started bleeding again, and his eyes burned with mischief.
* * *
Getting kicked out of parties was always embarrassing. "You really don't need to walk me out," I said in protest. As I was shamefully escorted past the crowd, I scanned for Soren. Just one last check. Once again, I couldn't find him anywhere. But I did see John the drug dealer smirking at me. "F U," I mouthed to him.
"Keep moving, little man," said Eladio.
As we passed the security line in the parking lot, I turned around. "Well, it's been fun—"
The bloodied man shoved me. "Move."
I put my hands up, aware that we were in public now and other people could be watching or recording this. I walked backwards for a moment, then spun around, disquieted by the fact that the strongman was still on my tail. It was possible he just wanted to make sure I left. It was also possible he had more sinister intentions.
"You know, Eladio, the chandelier thing... It was all very heat of the moment."
"You better stop talking about the chandelier, bro."
"In my defense, you did pull a machete."
"You mean this one?"
That's when I noticed the knife was already in the Mexican's hand. As I descended the sloping street, I considered making a run to my car. It was still a good five minutes down. Maybe I could lose him and get out of here.
"Dante," we heard from behind. The click-clack of heels echoed on the street as Eva ran to catch up to us. She had never looked so good. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, just trading mustache tips with my luchador friend here."
Eladio protested as she slipped by and hugged me. "Luchadors wear masks, asshole."
"Might be a better look for you." Eladio grumbled and tightened his grip on his blade.
"Get out of here, Eladio," said Eva, slapping the man's gut softly.
"I got him," he said.
"No. He's taking me home." She batted her fake eyelashes at him. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him."
I was going to interject but I thought that would only complicate matters. Besides, it actually looked like the big man was listening to her. They exchanged glances and Eladio stopped following us as we resumed our way downhill. I turned around a couple of times, to make sure, and the strongman was just standing in place with a scowl. When we were out of earshot, Eva must have sensed I was unsure how to break the silence.
"What did you do?" she asked. "You don't want to piss him off. Trust me."
The short girl had her hand around my waist. I tried to ignore the second shadow inside her. "Me? How do you know those guys?"
She shrugged. "They work at Red Hat. Why?"
"And what about Marquis?"
She stopped. "You saw him?"
"Sure. He was inside. You know him too?"
She laughed. "You went inside the observatory? No wonder you're getting kicked out."
We arrived at my car and I pulled my keys out. "This is me."
I unlocked the dark gray Z and looked up the street. We weren't followed. Then I suddenly wondered if Eva was the kind of girl that cared how expensive my car was. I liked sporty cars but this one didn't exactly break the bank. Next thing I knew, she opened the passenger seat and sat down, without a mention of it.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"You're my ride," she said matter-of-factly.
"You weren't lying? Where's Liz?"
"She's with some friends. I came with her. Now I'm going with you."
I couldn't say I was bothered by the news. As I sat in the low bucket seat, the back of my skull hit the headrest hard. I rubbed the sore spot tenderly.
I eyed the petite girl in the tight yellow dress and marveled at my luck. Ten minutes ago I was just worried about staying alive. Now I had much more ambitious aspirations.
"Where do you live?"
* * *
I held the flame above the pipe and inhaled deeply as a skunky smoke filled my lungs. I usually don't like pot. Especially the overly strong medicinal variety. It makes me paranoid. Believe me, when you know ghosts are everywhere, the last thing you need is more paranoia. But the ecstasy I'd gotten from John was wearing off, and Eva still wanted to party.
We were sitting on the carpet of her studio apartment. The cheap Ikea coffee table was Eva's workspace. An open green pill bottle of weed rested next to a crumpled paper that once held K. She had music on, some hip hop or whatever that I wasn't really listening to. The only other noise was our occasional laughter.
The room was dark because she had duct-taped a sheet over the window to act as a blackout curtain. Despite her best efforts, I could see the sliver of light along the edge that meant the sun was coming up. The drugs had helped me forget about the pain from the brawl. Now I was just plain exhausted. I gave the pipe back to her and leaned my head against the seat cushion of the couch. I needed to tap out.
"I win," she said, taunting me. I studied her. She was so cute, even without any make-up on. She had dressed down to get comfortable, wearing only panties and a long white T-shirt.
"I should've gotten more X. Weed isn't my thing." Next time I came to this house, I thought, I needed to bring a six-pack. Alcohol had a way of keeping me level at times like this. I slid to my side and rested my head in her lap. She leaned down and gave me a kiss. Heaven. Until she blew some smoke into my mouth.
I pushed her away and exhaled. "Really," I said, "I'm done." It was a little unnerving. The joke was a bit too similar to the times I'd exsufflated shades. Shit, she was a shade. What was I doing here?
Her thighs were too comfortable for me to abandon, though.
Eva winked at me. No longer did her face sparkle with glitter. No longer were her eyelashes double-length. But she was still beautiful. It was hard to think of anything else when she smiled.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
Her. That I was fucking high. About Red Hat, and Soren, and how stupid I was for being here. I was thinking about her tits right above my head. And what I knew Violet would say if I had bothered to take the watch out of my pocket.
"I don't know," I answered. "Just wondering how much people really know each other. Why people do the things they do."
Her smile softened. "Why do you?"
I tensed up for a moment. She knew. Wait, did she? That was the pot talking. There was no way she saw what happened inside the observatory. No way she had time to talk to Marquis after I had gotten the boot.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Program. Make video games. Why do you do that?"
I relaxed again. "It's fun. Coding is like solving puzzles and finding the best ways to organize things. It's—" I laughed, and she followed suit. "It's hard to talk about when I'm high. But it's very ordered and logical. It makes sense."
Eva picked up the pipe again and gave it a short drag. It was barely lit, but she didn't need that much more. "You like order," she said.
I never really thought of myself in those terms. It was true, I guessed. Shades should stay with shades, the living with the living.
"Bullshit," she said, countering her own point. "You drink. You do drugs. You sneak around. You get in fights."
"Blame that on the Mexicans," I said.
"I saw you at Avalon too. What were you doing in the bathroom?"
"Oh." I had forgotten where we first saw each other. At Avalon, I didn't know if she noticed Soren, but she saw me going into the closed bathroom. It was only afterwards that we talked outside. It was probably obvious I had been fighting. "I guess you have a point. What about you, then? Do you like guys who get in fights and stay up all night and sleep in late? 'Cause I am not waking up tomorrow morning."
"I never said you could sleep here." She tilted her head close to mine. "And those guys are all right if they can hold a good job."
"I knew it. You want me for my programming skills." I laughed. "It's a common problem. It's difficult keeping all t
he chicks at bay."
Eva put her hand on top of my face to shut me up. "It must be so hard," she said, getting serious again, "to be so black or so white all the time, never realizing that most of the world is gray. Everything doesn't always fit into a neat little box. Sometimes you just need to go with it."
I sat up and put her hands in mine. "The only place I'm going is there." I pointed to her small bed in the corner of the room. The sheets were disheveled. We had messed around a little bit already but things had stayed pretty tame. This time my plan was just to pass out.
Lifting myself up was difficult. Remaining on my feet through the sudden rush of dizziness was even more so. I shuffled to the sink and filled a glass with tap water.
"Do you have any aspirin?"
"Second drawer," she said.
Good. She didn't object to my sleeping here.
I opened the drawer and saw a few small boxes of medicine. They were colorful and had bold Korean lettering on them. One of them had a picture of what I thought was ginseng. I sighed and closed the drawer. The water would have to do.
I laid my clothes on the floor beside the bed, not bothering to take anything out of my pockets. I made sure they were mostly folded so I didn't look like a slob. Eva turned the music off and disappeared into the bathroom. She must have been in there a while. I nodded off.
Next thing I knew, she was waking me up. I was so exhausted and my head hurt. But she smiled. She was naked, and I didn't feel like sleeping anymore. I kissed her. Her mouth was fresh with mint flavor. It helped cover the feeling that there was another girl possessing her. I pulled her small frame against my chest and then pushed her down on the bed. I wondered what to do as I looked at her pale breasts. What could I do?
I put the blacks and the whites of the world out of my mind and rolled on top of her.
* * *
I was jolted awake with a subtle urgency. Something was wrong. But I was relaxed. Eva was asleep next to me. Everything was peaceful. Then I felt it.
The bed was swaying gently. No. The whole room. An earthquake. It was as though we were on an ocean with miniscule waves, rocking us back and forth. There was a low rumbling sound. I think I felt it more than heard it.