I couldn’t wait to tell Evie when I returned to her.
CHAPTER FOUR
WITHIN A WEEK, we were more settled than I’d ever imagined we could be. As I had suspected, our neighbors were more interested in fucking and fighting than what we were doing. The anonymity helped us blend in easier. Whenever we did sneak out from our perfect cocoon, we were just two more nobodies in a rundown part of a broken town.
The perfection of the slice of life we’d carved out for ourselves was marred by only one thing—Evie’s continued nightmares. They struck with regularity, at least two to three times during a good week. More often than not, she would wake with a bloodcurdling scream on her lips and with her skin blazing with heat.
Whenever it happened, I tried to comfort her. With my arsenal of techniques I’d learned from years of dealing with similar awakenings with Lou, I was usually fairly successful. Plus, I was a fast study and had quickly developed some other methods of calming Evie that had nothing to do with my sister, for good reason.
As the weeks of our new life flew by, the shortage of cash we’d soon be facing worried me more than the possibility of being discovered. The money I’d withdrawn from my accounts while it had still been safe to do so, in the hours before my reunion with Evie, was fast dwindling—especially after a significant chunk went on the generous rental agreement I’d entered into. As much as I wanted to do nothing more than stay at home and enjoy every second Evie and I had, it was clear one of us needed to find a job that paid under-the-table or we’d have to resort to other less legal methods of getting some cash. Theft or credit would risk putting us back on the grid. In the end, we agreed it made sense for me to be the one to risk getting a job. Evie’s heat and unique look could cause issues and attract unwanted attention.
I hated keeping her locked away in our home while I looked for work, but it was necessary to keep her safe. She seemed to understand and was willing to do whatever she needed to in order to keep my peace of mind intact, for which I was thankful.
After days of trolling the newspaper’s classifieds and trawling the streets, I finally found something I thought might change our fortunes. It was a basic position and easy for me. A nighttime security guard, but for an establishment that wasn’t entirely legal. Although the ad glossed over the finer details, reading between the lines it was pretty evident that the business was most likely an illegal brothel being run out of premises that used to house a well-known lounge. It might not have been the best business to work for, but the pay would be good and the hours relatively short.
Best of all, if their own business wasn’t exactly above board, they wouldn’t ask questions or want to have any major background checks. It was the most promising lead for an under the table job I’d found. I hadn’t told Evie all of the specifics because I didn’t want to jinx it, but I was certain she would be okay with it if it helped our cause.
I called the number listed in the ad and, after a brief interview that consisted of finding out my name, what training I’d done, and whether I knew how to handle a weapon, I was invited in for a meeting.
I climbed into bed with Evie the night before the interview and let her know I’d be heading out in the morning. If it paid off like I hoped it would, I’d probably only need to do it for a few short months for us to be set again for a while. With no phones, no cable, and only basic needs like food and running water, we didn’t have a ton of expenses to pay out of any cash I earned.
After another night spent in my own little heaven, I woke to Evie whimpering in her sleep. She cried for her father and the sound tore at my heart. There was no denying the guilt that threatened to strangle me at the sound. Trying to alleviate the swirl of emotions within me, as well as reassure Evie and end her nightmares, I pulled her body against my chest and wrapped my arms around her as she woke with choking tears. Even as she nestled against me, the weight of her loss still crashed over me. It was my fault he was dead.
The need to do something more for her, to prove to her without a doubt that I would love her for the rest of our days, I unclasped the chain from around my neck. I’d worn the dove pendant since I was a child—it was my last link to my family. I didn’t need it any longer though, so I offered it as a symbol of the promises I’d made to her. Evie was all I needed. She was everything to me—my whole world. More than anything, I needed her to understand that. There wasn’t a single part of me that regretted what we had or what I’d had to give up to claim it.
The moment the chain left my neck, I felt naked and exposed in a way I’d never experienced before. I also felt cleansed. The jewelry wasn’t only my last remaining link to my past; it was also a symbol of my place within the Rain. The power my family wielded due to our status as part of the elite. For that reason, I hadn’t taken it off in over fifteen years.
Giving it up was me symbolically tearing out the remaining part of me that followed the Rain’s teachings, and by offering that to Evie, I was proving she meant more to me than they ever had—if there was ever a doubt. As I offered it to her, I told her to consider it a good luck charm.
She touched the dove on the pendant. “It’s your good luck charm though.”
Reaching for her, I dragged my fingers through her silky hair. “I’ve got everything I want right here; I don’t need any more good luck.”
Just like she always did when I mentioned how happy I was, or how unbelievable our life was now, she changed the subject by trailing her fingers along one of the litany of scars that crossed my body.
Over the first few days of our time together, I’d constantly worried that the next time she ran her eyes over my body the marks would have become a reminder of the terrible deeds I’d done, and that the truth of who I once was would scare her away. However, one day when we’d found a quiet moment together in a motel during our travels, she had surprised me by running along one with the softest touch. “How did you get this scar?”
Not wanting to lie, I had told her exactly how I’d gotten the scar. Instead of being turned off or scared away, she’d listened and nodded before thanking me for being honest. I found I enjoyed letting her into the true nature of my world a little at a time, enough to satisfy her curiosity when it appeared, but not enough to terrify her and send her running from my old life—prejudiced and hate-filled as it had been.
The second scar she’d asked about was a paper-thin one that ran across my jaw just below my chin. After I’d told her the source of that—slipping in the bathroom when I was seven and smacking my chin against the bathtub—she’d ended up laughing at me.
When she’d giggled, I had tilted my head in confusion.
“That’s just such a normal injury,” had been her explanation.
“What about this one?” she asked, drawing me back to the present. She trailed her fingers over the long-healed scar from the harpy’s claws. As I told Evie what type of creature had caused the damage, I recalled the seduction of the harpy and how completely helpless I was to fight against the hold she’d had over my body, at least until my brother, Ethan, had broken me free of her spell.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever had to face?” Evie asked.
I screwed up my face as I considered her words. There were so many ways I could answer her question, depending on how I interpreted it. Worst was such a subjective thing.
There were so many hunts during my teenage years that had me battling the worst beasts imaginable—werewolves, vamps, wendigos. Things that would make most normal people shit their pants. I’d seen so much bloodshed and violence that I would never be able to rinse away the red tinge that coated most of my memories. Only none of those leaped to the front of my mind with Evie’s question, probably because they’d all happened before she’d awoken my conscience.
Instead, I was inundated with choice from the hardest of the internal battles I’d faced. The first hunt after Evie left Ohio had been a little difficult, but I had swallowed down what I thought I’d felt for Evie, done what I needed to do, and moved o
n without too much concern.
Killing the vamp during retraining had been harder than any other kill up to that point. The only reason I had been able to do it was because she’d been so close to revealing the secret of Evie’s continued survival.
Recalling the púca and her child was an impossibility. My mind shied away from the memory of the little girl and her crying, tear-stained face. It was far too easy for me to picture Evie in the young child’s face. I was too ashamed of the mistake that had left a young girl motherless to even consider telling Evie that one. Even after so long, I couldn’t linger on thoughts of what had happened after I left Eth alone with the toddler.
There was one other case that came to mind. One that still occasionally haunted my nights, especially the part where I watched a vision of Evie being consumed in an illusion brought on by the creature’s curse. “A wendigo. In Canada.”
After she asked what happened, I explained it to her as best as I could without revealing just how idiotic I’d been flying to Canada on my own, days before anyone else was due to arrive. If there was one thing I had learned about Evie, it was that she would admonish me for risking my life that way. She would have disappointment in her eyes, and I hated being the one to put it there.
The conversation continued and brought my family back to the forefront of my mind.
Once more, I worried about how they were coping. Even though I’d made the right choice, that certainty wasn’t enough to shake my remorse over leaving them the way I had. They’d been everything to me for so long. My whole life, they’d had my back just as I’d had theirs. I didn’t want them near Evie, but that didn’t stop me missing them and the security that came from hunting with them.
I wondered, not for the first time, just how close our escape from the Sheraton had been a few months earlier. Had they been mere minutes away from discovering the truth about Evie, or would we have had a few more hours up our sleeves?
Even with her safe in my arms, the thought caused panic for her safety to claw at my throat. It tore at my sanity. In response, I held her tighter and reminded myself that either way, she was safe. It shouldn’t have mattered to me whether my family had been minutes away or days. Somehow though, it still did. It played at the edges of my mind.
I was certain they’d have reviewed the video feed from the morning we’d left the Sheraton by now. They probably would’ve checked the Hawthorne Hotel for the day that Evie and I had reunited as well. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that they’d learned of Evie’s survival, which made them acutely dangerous to us. Because I knew it would only scare her, and she didn’t any extra stress, I hadn’t told Evie that they’d known I was at the Sheraton. I could only hope she understood that when I had promised I would keep her safe, I meant it. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her from harm.
“Where do you think they are now?” Evie’s softly spoken question drew me away from my concerns.
Just like talking about happy things was hard for her, I couldn’t talk about my family. I always tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. Lingering on those memories reminded me of the way I’d deserted them.
Since settling in Detroit though, I had come to understand that if we were going to be a team then secrets and half-truths about the knowledge I had wouldn’t cut it—no matter how justified they were. It was time to start laying it all out on the table. I answered with as much information as I had about them now, which admittedly was very little. “I don’t know. I’ve tried tracking the GPS on their phones, but they must have changed them.”
Despite trying to hack into the tracking systems at the Rain a few times before we’d settled down, I hadn’t been able to find any details on their current locations from either their phones or their cars. It didn’t surprise me, they knew the methods I would use to try to track them as well as I knew the ways they’d try to find me. That was the reason I refused to use my credit cards, even the ones issued in aliases, and why I’d advised Evie not to use hers either.
We were better off remaining as off-grid as possible and trying to live cash-only for as long as we could. Even the utilities for our apartment weren’t in either of our names or any of my aliases. Instead, the shady manager I’d rented from had added them into the rent, for a small fee on top of the costs of course.
When I caught Evie gazing at me with clear concern and empathy, it was clear she was beginning to question what I’d given up to be with her. It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of the cost myself. Of course I had. She was simply more than worth it. I told her exactly that, needing her to see the truth. There wasn’t a single decision that had led me back into her arms that I regretted. I would make each one of them again in a heartbeat. It was hard for me to explain exactly how much I felt for her though. How important she was to me.
By the time Evie had climbed over my hips to thank me for the chain and say good morning in her own special, and fantastic, ways, I actually felt a sense of relief wash over me. By passing the last link I had to my family over to her, I was freeing myself of them. It was almost as if I no longer had their watchful eyes on me constantly. That left me free to dedicate the rest of my life to serving the beauty above me.
A LITTLE over an hour later, I was ready to go for my quasi-interview. Once more, I prayed that Evie wouldn’t have any issue with what I would be doing. I’d already decided that when the position was a certainty, I’d fill her in on the details. Then we’d see where we went from there. If I did the gig for long enough, we might even be able to save up enough to bribe our way out of the country. The more miles there were between Evie and my family, the better I would feel about her safety.
Once I found my way onto the street, after a number of lingering kisses with Evie, I looked back toward the apartment block with a smile on my face. Part of me wanted to say fuck it all and rush straight back inside into her arms, but I needed the work if we wanted to stay in Detroit. So far, I had succeeded somewhat in giving that to her, and it had exceeded my wildest expectations.
True, our apartment was a tiny mess and the screaming from the neighboring apartments could get a little unbearable at times, but it was a place where we could just be us. Together. Somewhere Evie could literally let her hair down and be free without the worry over whether the multifaceted hues would draw attention or mark her as something not-quite-human. A home where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder every second of the day for the moment my family finally caught up with us.
With some effort, I resisted the temptation to rush back up to Evie for one more kiss, or better yet a quickie against the apartment door. I left our building behind me and headed toward my job interview.
A little over twenty minutes later, walking at a casual pace, I found myself fairly close to where Evie and I had spent the night a few weeks earlier. I glanced down at the piece of paper in my hand to confirm that the red building I’d found was definitely the address listed in the ad.
Once I was sure I was in the right place, I rang the bell as instructed. Without a word from anyone inside, the door swung open. Glancing around as I moved, I headed into the darkened space, a little suspicious and a lot glad that my piece was tucked safely into the holster at my back.
“Hello?” I called into the empty dimness. “I’m here to speak to Rob.”
After the echo of my own voice stilled, there was nothing but silence in reply.
I took another step and called out once more. As soon as I moved into the muted light of the room, the door slammed shut behind me. The click of a lock sounded behind me.
The darkness became murkier and footsteps rushing away from the door sounded from the other side of the metal. I spun around and headed straight for the entry. I tried the handle, but, as I expected it would be, the door was locked.
“Clay?” a voice I didn’t recognize called my name from the darkness behind me.
“Rob?” I turned toward the sound, trying to confirm whether the person was, in fact, my supposed contact. Thro
ugh the inky black of the covered windows, I could barely make out a bar and some tables. Among the tables, I saw movement.
A tall, thin man in a black suit stepped forward but was still obscured by the shadows. I couldn’t make out many details of his features. Dark eyes met my gaze and too-pale skin seemed to almost glow in the darkness. Not enough to light the area, but enough for me to see his face through the shadows he hid in now that I had spotted him. Like clouds on a dark night lit from behind by the moon.
“Yes.” He stood in the darkness. “I apologize for the conditions. We’re still putting the finishing touches on everything.”
“No problem,” I said, moving to shake his hand as my eyes adjusted to the dark a little better. As I moved forward, he stepped farther back into the shadows with a wary glance down at my outstretched hand. He clearly wasn’t one for physical contact.
Even without the strange aversion to contact, there was something off about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. The way he stuck to the shadows certainly didn’t help to improve my impression of him, but it also made it hard for me to get a read on exactly what was strange about him. Or it might have been the atmosphere in the building playing tricks on my mind.
With its perma-dark interior and dreary ambiance, it was the sort of place I would’ve expected to be running a Rain operation in—a setting for a poltergeist or revenant—not the setting for a brothel.
It takes all sorts, I guess.
In truth, I didn’t really know what the inside of a brothel looked like—I could only rely on my imagination. It was much more Eth’s scene than mine, and even he’d prefer to find a willing partner at a local bar. It was cheaper, for starters.
When Rob turned his back to me, he gave me the opportunity to assess him a little further. From behind, I noticed that his white, oddly luminescent skin was brighter than I’d thought. His hands crossed at his back, and the skin there had a pearlescent glow against the dark suit he wore. I wondered whether there was a UV light turned on somewhere in the bar, lending him the odd glow. I glanced down at my own hands, but saw nothing unusual.
Among the Debris (Son of Rain #2) Page 4