What was I supposed to do with that? We weren't dating last fall, but we were definitely toeing that line. Then I thought about the whole thing together, then and now.
"Did you tell her about me when you called?" I asked, pulling out a few more details.
"I was honest with her." Vincent avoided looking at me.
Should I be upset about this? I mean, yes, a part of me hurt, and a part of me was angry, but did I have a right to be?
Maybe. "Are you telling me that you asked your ex to call us and tell us you were back after you told her, what, that you wanted to see me?"
Vincent didn't say anything.
"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard." My voice was a mixture of anger and laughter.
He frowned. "Amy and I had barely seen each other. It was nothing serious, and we were both very clear on that up front."
"Yeah, right. Judging from her reaction, I'm pretty sure you were clear, and she agreed."
Once again, he didn't say anything for a while. "Is that what you did last night?"
Well, I may as well tell him, right? "That's different. I'm seeing someone."
"Oh." He looked like he was trying to think of what to say. "Is it serious?" His voice was flat, and for once, I was glad for that.
"We haven’t seen each other long, but yes, it's getting serious."
"That's good." It sounded like the last of his anger had slipped away. "You deserve to be happy."
"I was happy with you."
He finally looked at me again. "I'm sorry, Cass, but that can't happen."
"So you said." I hurried on before he could read too much into that. "I'm good right now, though. I'm not sure how this got so turned around, but tell me why you're upset. I promise you that had you and I worked alone, you would have been told. I mean, once we actually started working together."
"What difference does it make if we're working alone, together, or with Logan and Rider?" It sounded like he was struggling to keep the edge out of his voice again.
"Together, Logan or Rider would have dealt with it if anything happened."
"Dealt with it how?" Vincent asked.
"I don't know. Tranquilizers seem to do the trick, although Neil figured out that anti-anxieties and heroin work well." I meant it to lighten the mood."
"Christ, Cass, what are you letting people do to you?"
I slumped back in my seat, tired of the whole thing, with Vincent, the job, everything. "You don't know what you're talking about. I was joking about Neil. He didn't know what else to do and being around Jin scared him."
"That I understand at least. But if people are drugging you, then we have a problem."
"Would you rather I hurt someone? They only had to tranq me the first time anyway. And before you suggest differently, they absolutely did the right thing. Not only did I attack them, but I also did it in public." I had attacked my partners. What the hell was wrong with me? I sniffed and tried not to tear up.
"So they're not drugging you?"
I looked out the window. "If they need to, they will. I've asked them to."
"You can't let people do that to you."
I glared at him. "We do what we do for a reason. You make it sound like I'm blindly going around and saying drug me, please." Flashes of Jin's doctor jabbing me with a needle flashed through my mind, but I clenched my eyes and drove it away. "It's not like a stranger on the street. It’s Logan and Rider. I trust them."
"What do you think I would have done to them if they drugged you in the woods?"
"Nothing!" I yelled. "Do you have any idea how furious I would be if you ever did anything to either of them?"
"I have some idea, yes."
"You're only aggravated because we didn't tell you right away."
"Do you know how infuriating you are?"
This was getting us nowhere. We were quiet for a while. I tried to see things from Vincent's point of view, but I got nowhere.
"I shouldn't have said that." Vincent's words were grudgingly said, at best.
"I'm sure you're not wrong."
"Huh." The response was sarcastic, but I guess that was better than him being so angry.
I took a few meditative breaths. "Is this really what you're upset about?"
We sat in silence. After two minutes, I let out an exasperated sigh, which turned out sadder than I intended, and started the car again.
"I've made things worse again," Vincent's voice was monotone.
"Because we argued?" I asked, leaning back in the seat again.
"No, although I'm sure that doesn't help matters. Cole is tearing apart souls because of what I told him, and now, I see what it's doing to you."
I turned that over in my head before I responded. "You're not accountable for what he does. You have to know that."
"It's not only that." The corners of Vincent's eyes and mouth tightened and his voice dropped. "I let Jin meet you. It never should have happened."
"I was there to find Jin. He would have met me with or without you."
"He wouldn't have taken you and used you the way he did."
I really wanted to tell Vincent to stop talking about it, but he obviously needed to. Instead, I ignored my instinctive reply and took his hand. "I've done the same thing, blamed myself for tracking you down, knowing that neither of us would have been caught if I hadn't."
Vincent squeezed my hand hard. "You know that's not-"
"My fault? It's no more my fault than it is yours."
While the minutes ticked by, he held onto my hand like a life preserver.
Eventually, he put his other hand over mine and held tight. "I keep wanting to ask you if you're alright, but it's a stupid question."
"I don't think either of us is okay." I thought about that, trying to find a way to soften the sentiment. "But I think we will be." It would be so easy to sit like this with Vincent all day, but that wouldn't be right or fair for either of us. "What do we do now?"
"Now?" Vincent appeared to think about the question. "I should apologize for not calling, for getting angry, and for about half the things I said."
"Only half?"
The corners of Vincent's mouth twitched up. "Fair enough. Almost everything."
"That sounds better."
"And you?" Vincent asked, relaxing.
"Me? No, I'm pretty sure I meant everything I said." The whole atmosphere felt lighter, and it was easier to tease.
"Did you call me stupid?" Vincent took one hand off mine and loosened his grip with his other hand.
He was leaving it up to me if I wanted to take my hand away. "No, I said what you did was the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I could get second opinions, but things don't look good for you there."
"You're probably right." Vincent looked less weighed down.
Smiling, I pressed my hand more firmly against his. "I don't think I said it before, but I'm glad you're back." Then, somewhat reluctantly, I let go and looked around. The day had run away from us.
"Next time, I'll call."
"Promise you will, no matter what?"
"I promise."
"I'm holding you to that."
I had forgotten how long the drive was, but we had plenty to talk about. By some unspoken agreement, we avoided any topic that was too serious. We talked about Rider, Gran, Logan and his kids, and a few other people from the office. It felt good to take a step back and think about other things. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that life existed outside of work. Moments like these helped.
Chapter 33
We found a parking spot about a half block away from our destination.
"Did Margaret say what we need to do here?" Vincent asked, getting out of the car.
"No, but I had my palm read last time, and I think the woman’s authentic."
"I didn't know there was such a thing." Vincent held the door open for me.
I lowered my voice as the sunlight was cut off. "Neil seems to think that everything exists somewhere."
"
I'm not sure I like that kid."
"He's not so bad," I said. "He's young and seems lost, but he's a good person at heart."
"So, I should get a reading?" Vincent asked.
"Maybe. She also sells the same jewelry that Jin was using." Seeing the look on Vincent's face, I hurried to add details. "It's empty, though. Nothing in there."
"Good day," said someone helping another customer. "If you have an appointment with Fatima Jain, the Palm Reader, she will be with you shortly."
"Thank you," I said.
"There's so much stuff in here," Vincent said, keeping his voice low. "How did you find anything?"
"It's at the front counter." I led the way and squatted down to look at the shelves. "I bought a few of them at random and they were all empty."
There was no response. When I looked around, I saw that Vincent was standing, looking behind the counter, instead of the case.
I saw that he was focusing on the photos on the wall.
"What is it?" I asked. When I looked back at Vincent, his eyes were flat black. "Vincent?" I couldn't keep the worry out of my voice.
"It's Cole." His voice could drop the temperature. "We're leaving now."
I looked at the picture of Fatima and her fiancé and then left the store.
Back in the car, I sat there, not wanting to believe it.
"We need to go," Vincent said.
Noting that his eyes remained flat black, I sighed and drove off.
"She was so nice," I said. "I don't want to believe it's him."
"Who is she?"
"Fatima, the Palm Reader. The way she talked about him, I know she loves him." I sniffed. "Her family had finally given them permission to get married."
"She might be a good person, but that is definitely Cole, and we know he isn't."
"How could she not know what he's doing?"
"You know what I do, and you continue to work with me."
My mouth fell open and I looked at him. "Are you serious? You are nothing like him."
"You don't-"
I saw the signs that he was going to argue with me, so I cut him off. "If you dare try to start an argument with me again, especially about this, I'm going to douse you with honey and leave you in a pixie field until the case is over."
He opened his mouth and shut it again. Shaking his head, he tried again.
"You heard me," I said. "You are nothing like him. There's no way you would kill for money or power or whatever kick he's getting from this."
When I next looked over, Vincent's eyes were mostly back to normal, so I relaxed. Back at the office, we met with everyone in the conference room.
"He is seeing the Palm Reader, and we know where she is. It should be easy to find him," Rider said.
"We could follow her until she leads us to him," Logan said.
"No," Vincent said. "Paper trails are fine, but we leave her out of it."
"It might be faster to follow her," Logan said, "or follow the paper trail and her."
Vincent's eyes narrowed slightly, but I could see that he was pulling back his inclination to be angry. "Walkers don't have many attachments. The ones we have are left alone and separate, at least unless they're fool enough to jump into the fray."
Logan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Those sound like Walker rules. We'll do what we can, but-"
"You don't understand." Vincent leaned forward, and his eyes swirled with tinges of darkness. "He will pull the world down around us if he suspects that we might even have a passing interest in her. If the wrong Walker found out, any attachments we might have could be used as leverage against us."
"We find another way." The way Rider said it. It wasn't a demand or a suggestion, but a statement of fact.
When Logan looked at me I nodded, and, knowing he was overruled, he went on. "Okay, we find him a different way. Now that you know he's here, in the city, would you be able to track him down."
"Yes," Vincent said, "but I think Hank might find him faster."
"If you give me the data, I could track him if you'd rather." Neil looked anxious about speaking up. He fiddled with the rock in front of him. "You'll have to tell me what I can and can't use to find him, though."
Vincent looked surprised. "That might work better."
"We can start moving on that after we're finished here," Logan said, "but we'll need a plan for once we find him."
"We're facing the problem of him jumping into the void," Vincent said. "We need to ensure he'll never do this again. There's only one way to do that."
Logan shook his head. "We go in with the intention of bringing him in alive. That is nonnegotiable."
"Cassie blocked the demon from his powers last fall," Rider said, "maybe she could do that again?"
Taylor's eyes widened. That part had been left out of the file.
"No." Vincent didn't raise his voice, but it came out demanding. "Cole would pull her soul to try to stop her."
Having my soul sucked out wasn't high on my list of fun things to do.
"We need to attempt to bring him in. We don't go around killing people," Logan said.
"I think I have an idea for that," I said. "Let's look at what he's been doing. He pulls a soul from someone, and eventually that person withers away. He puts the soul, or a piece of a soul into an object a person would wear, like jewelry, and when worn, the person gets a small dose of what's there. Neil, will it hurt to pass around the stone?"
"No." Neil passed the stone to Logan. "This is meant to stand the test of time."
"When it's a whole soul, it can sustain itself," I said. "I'm not sure we could do this, but what if Vincent takes Cole's soul? We could put it in an object like the one Neil has."
"Would that not eventually kill Cole?" Rider asked.
I was on less stable ground here. "I don't think so, if we kept the object with Cole, his soul would be self-contained, but he would only have access to the small parts that leak out." I looked at Vincent. "I think that would sustain him. Keep him alive, but keep him basically harmless. Then we could take him in."
The room was quiet. I shifted in my chair while everyone mulled over the idea.
Finally, Logan spoke up. "It sounds like a good plan. Vincent, you know more about Walker powers and their effects. Will Cassie's idea work?"
"This has never been done before, so there's no way of knowing." Vincent leaned back in his chair. "It's a sound theory, though. Keeping his soul nearby should keep him alive. He may have limited use of his power, but it would be minimal. He shouldn't be able to capture souls or jump between the worlds."
"We would be relying on Vincent pulling the soul of a friend," Rider interrupted. "Will you do that?"
"Ex-friend," Vincent corrected. He looked up at Rider. "He's killing people. People we're supposed to protect. I don't think we have any choice."
Rider gave Vincent a sad look.
"What about the object?" Logan gestured to the rock that Rider was inspecting.
Neil looked more confident in this area. "It's made to anchor the soul." Neil walked everyone through the research he had told me about earlier.
While he talked, I sought out the turtle in my pocket. I didn't take it out, mostly because I didn't want to pass it around, but I reassured myself that I hadn't set it down somewhere.
I noticed that Logan gave Taylor the briefest of skeptical looks, but Taylor nodded, and Logan didn't raise any objections.
Vincent didn't appear to want to touch the stone when I shifted it towards him, but he slid it over to Taylor.
"Thank you, Neil," Logan said. "This looks like excellent work. We have the who, what, and how that we need in place to meet him."
"It would have to be somewhere we couldn't be seen," I said, "but if we ask him to meet in the middle of nowhere, he's going to know something's up."
"Chances are, he'll know anyway," Vincent said. "He'll come."
"If he will meet, then you do not have to hide your intentions, correct?" Rider asked.
<
br /> "I don't think it will be necessary."
"What did you have in mind?" I asked.
"The MyTH property, where he took Am." Rider looked at Taylor. "We would stay away from the gnomes, and we would need permission to use the property."
"We can look at some maps," Taylor suggested, "and find a good meeting spot. If you think he'll show up out there."
"He'll be there," Vincent said.
Chapter 34
It baffled me that Cole agreed to the meeting. The next evening, we found ourselves in the country on the top of a hill, in the middle of the woods.
We stood behind Vincent, letting him take the lead. I couldn't get a good look at Cole when he walked up the hill, but I saw his Path clearly. Dark purples swirled around black cords. Encased were small cores of other colors shifting and moving, but always being drawn back down. The remains of his victims that he hadn't yet released. Chills swept up my spine as I watched the mixed swirl of color around Cole.
"It's been a while," Cole said as he approached. "I guess by our surroundings, and our company, this isn't a casual meeting."
"It's not," Vincent said. "I didn't want to believe that you could do this."
"Have you been able to help your girl yet?" Cole looked at me and winked.
Vincent balled his hands into fists. "Not in the way you mean."
"I've been able to help mine," Cole said.
I was caught off guard by the response. He was helping Fatima in the travesty?
"What do you mean?" Vincent asked.
"Her family wouldn't let her be with me, and it was tearing her up." Unlike Vincent, Cole didn't try to hide his emotions. My mood boiled at his indifference. "I tried to get around it, of course, go the easy way, you know. But in the end, her uncle took a shine to me."
"You worked for him and received the family’s blessing," Vincent said.
Cole shifted from one foot to another. "You know you can't take me in."
"And you know I have to try," Vincent said.
"You've really changed. This girl has muddled your mind." Cole sneered in my direction before turning back to his friend. "The Vincent I know would have gone straight for the fight. Kill first and ask questions later."
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 28