THE REST OF the day passed in a blur. Cleaning up dead bodies, destroying all security footage that contained images of us, and raiding Marcus’ home office to eliminate all of the notes containing any trace of our existence wasn’t easy.
It was hard. Freakin’ hard.
A number of times I gagged or swallowed bile that wanted to rise. I kept remembering Susannah ripping into Marcus’ flesh. The memories of bone crunching, flesh tearing and the smells that came along with it kept haunting me.
Flint stayed by my side as we worked together. The two of us cleaned up Marcus. Putting bloody remains into garbage bags was almost surreal. After that, we burned the ground where Susannah had killed him. Flint felt confident the fire would destroy any evidence. However, it would obviously still draw attention. If anyone ventured to that part of the lawn, they’d see a charred spot, but if the police never found Marcus’ body and had no evidence he’d been killed, it wouldn’t be easy to declare him deceased. Snow would hopefully cover the bald patch soon.
Thankfully, since it was winter, the gardeners who frequented the property during the summer months were all off until spring. Raven said at this time of year, it was only Cecile who worked regular hours. With any luck, nobody would see anything remiss for months.
When we returned to the ditch to retrieve the first two security men, my mouth dropped. I expected to find two unconscious guards. However, only charred human remains greeted us. The stench made me want to vomit.
“No freakin’ way,” Jet breathed.
The twins, Flint and I stared at the ashy substance. Mica had stayed behind to monitor Amber, Jacinda and Edgar. None of them had woken up yet.
I covered my mouth. “Apparently when Raven started the men in the drive on fire, he started these guys on fire too.”
Jasper nodded, his face stricken. “It’s like his fires knew who his mind targeted.”
We hurriedly rushed to the other six men we’d left unconscious in zipties—the ones we’d encountered when we’d first entered the property. All of them had burned.
I shuddered. Raven was incredibly powerful.
Since Raven’s fires burned so intensely, only ash remained of the entire security team. With shaking hands, we shoveled the ash into bags. My stomach churned the entire time.
When finished, we took what remained of the men to the woods. Flint did most of the carrying. His strength was slowly returning, convincing me the vaporized version of Marcus’ drug wasn’t nearly as powerful as the injectable kind. Within thirty minutes, Flint had a huge hole dug in the forest. He zoomed back to the house to retrieve Raven. On shaky limbs, Raven stumbled into the woods with Flint at his side.
“You need to burn that bag. Completely.” Flint pointed to the bag with Marcus’ remains. We’d thrown it into the bottom of the hole.
We didn’t tell Raven what was in it, but I guessed Raven figured it out from the haunted expression that coated his gaze.
After Marcus’ body was thoroughly burned, Raven returned to the house while the rest of us piled the remaining garbage bags with the ashy cremated guards into the hole. We all picked up the shovels we’d found in the gardener’s shed and began to cover them with dirt.
Only forest sounds filled the air while we worked. None of us said anything, our movements mechanical. With one last shovel of dirt, the hole was filled. All of us stared at the mounded soil.
The twins took their hats off. Flint murmured a prayer. All of us paid our respects to a grave that would never be marked. It didn’t matter that these men were evil. It didn’t matter that they’d tried to capture us. They were still people who deserved better than what we’d done.
I knew no trace of Marcus or any of his security team would ever be found. Guilt pummeled me as we walked back to the mansion. Even if all of those men were as evil as Trevor and Heath, was that really how they deserved to die? Did any of those men have families? Children? Would anyone miss them?
I could only hope the answer was no, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t. Each of those men had been a son, maybe a brother, father or uncle. Someone would grieve for them. Someone would miss them. Somewhere a person would go on existing with a hole in their heart, always wondering what happened to the loved one they’d lost. That realization left a deep aching sadness in my chest.
Back at the house, the four of us fell onto the couches while Di and Father continued to handle the security footage since they were the most meticulous. Just one screen shot of us, and we’d be suspects. We knew the police already had screen shots of us from the warehouse incident in Chicago. They’d no doubt put the pieces together and realize that event and this one were connected. It was bad enough we’d spent our lives on the run from Marcus. The last thing we wanted was to run from the police too.
I watched Raven a few times throughout the afternoon and evening. He worked alongside Di and Father. Since Raven had grown up in this house, he knew it inside and out, including the hiding places where Marcus stored things. He showed Di and Father everything. But while he answered all of their questions, the dazed look remained.
It hadn’t improved by the time the sun set. His movements stayed mechanical, and his eyes perpetually blazed, but he kept going.
It wasn’t until Father uncovered some computer files that contained research data from twenty years ago that Raven fell to the floor. It was as though until that moment, he was able to tell himself that everything that had transpired was all a bad dream, that he hadn’t killed twenty-five men, that his dad wasn’t a murderer, that Marcus hadn’t done all of those things I’d claimed before.
After that, it was as if Raven slowly put the pieces of the puzzle that was his life together. When Raven randomly declared that Marcus would sometimes disappear for weeks or occasionally months at a time, he suggested it might have been related to Project Renatus. We all agreed. Raven next said that those times when Marcus had left without telling him how long he’d be gone, were most likely to study the lost children. We agreed with that too.
In a way, those disappearances worked to our advantage. If it wasn’t unusual for Marcus to disappear, then it wouldn’t be unreasonable to tell Cecile that she wasn’t needed for a few months. She was our last loose end. If she returned to the mansion and nobody was here, eventually she’d call the police, inevitably filing a missing person report.
Raven’s hands shook when he picked up his phone to call the housekeeper for a second time.
Di grasped his shaky palm, her dark eyes intense. “We’re here. You’re not alone.”
Raven swallowed audibly before forcing a greeting when Cecile picked up his call.
I listened to the conversation, Flint at my side. Raven managed to sound normal enough, but we all knew better. Cecile wouldn’t see his shaking palms or the sweat beaded on his forehead. She wouldn’t know that he had to sit down when explaining she wouldn’t be needed until spring.
“We’ll still pay you. Consider it a Christmas bonus.” Raven’s eyes blazed.
Di squeezed his hand again. She crouched at his side, her hand on his thigh, nodding encouragingly every time he seemed about to falter.
Raven’s eyes glowed brighter as he listened to the housekeeper. “I know, yeah, it’s great that you can finally take that trip to see your family.” He paused again. “Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too, Cecile. I’ll call you . . . or my dad will . . . when we get back.”
Di squeezed his hand again when he hung up.
Raven’s head dropped. His phone clattered to the floor.
He didn’t seem relieved that not having Cecile on the property nearly guaranteed that nobody would know what happened here. Even if she returned early, snow would still cover the ground, hiding any evidence of what we’d done.
“It’s going to be okay.” Di put an arm around his shoulders. “You’ll see.” She helped him stand and led him away. Seeing Di act so caring and compassionate tugged at my heart. It was as if she knew that Raven was hers. That he was the baby brother she’d
never had.
As for the security men that now lay buried in the forest, Raven didn’t know any of them well enough to truly know their identities. They were just the security guys—the men employed by Marcus who worked on the estate and traveled to do what Marcus expected of them. We had no idea if they had families or people who would look for them. Only time would tell.
We worked well into the night. By the time we finished with everything, it was the early hours of Christmas morning. I was bone tired. The last week had carried more fears and adrenaline rushes than I ever wanted to experience in the rest of my life. The only solace I took was knowing that Marcus was finally finished. He couldn’t hurt me or my family again.
However, there was still one person out there who knew about us. Albert Darlington—the third Project Renatus researcher. And we had no idea what he would do.
CHAPTER THIRTY
We flew back to Canada on Christmas Day. Jacinda, Amber and Edgar had finally woken up in the early hours of Christmas morning. All complained of pounding headaches, but other than that, they all seemed fine.
Father didn’t stay with us when we landed in Edmonton. He took off again as soon as we stepped onto the tarmac, telling us he’d find Albert and wouldn’t return until everything was resolved.
I hugged him tightly. “What are you going to tell him?”
“I’m going to use one of the oldest tricks in the book. Blackmail. I’ve been steadily collecting information on Albert and Marcus for the past fifteen years. I knew a day like this may come, and while I don’t think blackmail would have effectively worked on Marcus, on Albert, it’s a different story. I’m fairly certain he’d rather negotiate and quietly end this now.”
His familiar scent of soap and mint filled my nose. I didn’t want to think of never smelling that again. “Then why did you think we could negotiate with Marcus when we confronted him in his driveway?”
“I didn’t.” Father shrugged sadly. “But I was willing to try.”
I gripped him again in a tight hug. Tears formed in my eyes. “Be careful and come home safe.”
He hugged me back. “I will.”
Di and he spoke quietly while the rest of us drifted through Customs. From there, we walked to the parking lot and waited. Di joined us a while later and we all got in the trucks. It was hard to believe barely a day had passed since we parked them. Who would have thought that our search for Susannah would have ended like it did.
My heart clenched again as I thought about our missing family member. Nobody had seen her. We had no idea where Susannah was. I could only hope she was safe.
When Flint slid into the driver’s seat of one truck, Raven climbed into the passenger’s side. I watched from the backseat. Every now and then, the brothers would look at each other, as if still unsure of what to do or say to the other. Each had a hand rested on a thigh.
I stared at them. Their hands were identical.
We returned to the Canadian mountain home as the sun was setting. I was so tired, I didn’t care that my stomach rumbled or that it had been two days since I’d showered and that ashy human remains still clung to my clothes. Amber and Edgar volunteered to make a quick supper of sandwiches and canned soup. Someone turned on the radio. Christmas tunes filled the air.
We all ate in silence before retreating to our individual rooms. It definitely wasn’t a joyful Christmas, but it would be the most memorable one we’d ever had.
I led Raven to the last open bedroom. He’d brought a few bags of clothes and things with him. When he sat down on the bed and let the bags fall at his sides, his eyes filled with tears.
“He’s dead, Lena. He’s really dead.” A sob shook his chest.
It was the first time he’d spoken so openly about all that transpired. I knew sooner or later this would come. Even though we all thought Marcus was a demented mad man, which in reality he was, he was still Raven’s father. He had been the only person Raven had ever known as family.
I sat beside him, the mattress sinking under my weight. “I’m sorry.” I clasped his hand.
He squeezed it back before falling against my shoulder. I moved my arm around his shoulders and held him as he cried.
My heart broke for him as rivers of tormented energy rolled off him. It was so heavy, it threatened to crush the breath right out of me.
“I’m sorry, Raven,” I said over and over again. “I’m so sorry it ended like that.”
We sat together for a long time. I felt Flint’s energy in the hall. It was questioning and concerned, but when he cracked the door open and saw Raven crying in my arms, he gave a silent nod and backed out.
I held Raven until his tears ran dry. When he finally pulled back, he sniffed and wiped his eyes. The contacts he’d worn through Customs were still in. With the brown lenses, he looked even more like Flint. I thought briefly about the strand of his hair that I’d put in the dresser, or at least, I think it was the dresser.
We’d intended to DNA check it against Flint and Di. Now, that wasn’t necessary. Raven was here. He was part of our family now. None of us needed a DNA check. We knew. He was their sibling, whether it be by blood or by choice, he was now a brother to all of us.
I’d heard once that family was simply who you said they were. That it didn’t matter how long you knew one another. That it didn’t matter if you were related or not. All that mattered was that if you declared it so—it was.
That was us.
The eleven of us shared something nobody else could ever understand. Locked together from sinister beginnings that had stolen us from horrific homes, we were as bonded as siblings could be. Nobody else would ever know what we’d been through. No one else had ever experienced the horrors of experimental drugs or imprisonment, but we’d come out of it alive, stronger and as one.
I knew we’d be a family until the day we died.
A tapping sound came from the window as Raven and I sat together. He wiped his eyes and reached for a tissue. The tapping increased. I figured it was a tree brushing against the window, but when Raven’s breath sucked in, my eyes flew to the glass.
Susannah’s giant form perched on a branch, just outside the window. She cocked her head. In the moonlight, her shadowy figure looked huge and menacing.
I raced to her. The double hung protested against the cold. It had almost frozen shut. I pushed until it opened. Cold air blew in.
“Hey, Susannah.” I grinned. I couldn’t help it. I was so relieved that she was okay.
She watched me with those large, yellow eagle eyes.
“Are you going to come in?”
She screamed. The sound pierced the nighttime quiet.
I winced.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway. I knew the others had heard too.
Raven joined me at the window. When he hunkered beside me, Susannah gave an unsettled movement, her wings rising and falling as she inched back on the branch.
“You don’t need to be scared of him. He’s one of us now.”
She stopped moving backward just as everyone else barreled through the door. The twins and women grinned, while Edgar and Luke joined us at the window.
“Suzie, love!” Edgar exclaimed. “What you fink ‘ur doin’ out there? Come on in for a cuppa. It’s bloody cold, love.”
Susannah cocked her head between Edgar and Raven. I didn’t know eagle body language, but she still seemed unsure.
“Please come inside.” I reached out. I couldn’t be sure, but I got the feeling it was Raven that was holding her back. She kept eyeing him, her movements uneasy.
I opened the window fully and held out my hand. “Come on, Susannah. Come in.”
Luke jumped to my side and threw a blanket over his forearm. “She’ll shred your arm, Lena. Here, let me help her in.”
I moved to the side as Luke extended a huge, muscled arm covered in a blanket out to the tree. He crooned calming, nonsensical things.
Susannah hesitantly reached one sharply taloned foot out, then the other.
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With a bit of finagling, we got her inside. It wasn’t easy to maneuver her huge form through the window, but Luke somehow managed. He took her straight to the adjoining bathroom, but not before I saw the blood stained feathers surrounding her head and beak. Marcus’ blood. Luke deposited her on the bathroom floor before coming back in the bedroom and closing the door behind him.
“She’ll take a minute.”
A few grunts, cracking bone and fleshy ripples ensued from the bathroom. I swallowed uneasily, but sure enough, just as Luke promised, the door to the bathroom opened a minute later.
The movement was slow and hesitant. When Susannah peeked out, we all waved her forward. She emerged wrapped in a towel, her skin as white as snow while her black hair tumbled in snarly waves down her back. Her blue eyes were wide and wary. The blood had vanished. Her face shone clean. I wondered if she’d washed her face, or if the blood went to wherever her feathers had retreated.
I knew the crowd scared her, and even though we were in Raven’s room, I shooed everyone out, including him. “Just give us a minute.”
Luke and Edgar seemed to understand more than anyone that Susannah was spooked. They both made a comment about everyone going back to their rooms or downstairs. Edgar said they’d go to the kitchen to fix Susannah something to eat.
I nodded. “Good idea.”
Susannah looked even thinner than before. Bones protruded from her knees and elbows. Her collarbones jutted out prominently. It seemed the cross country flight, two days in a row, had taken a toll on her. I wondered if she’d eaten at all in the past forty-eight hours.
When it was just me and her in the room, I sat on the bed. “Are you okay?”
She still stood by the bathroom, looking wary.
I patted the bed beside me. “Want to sit with me?”
With hesitant steps, she walked forward and sat over two feet away, just on the edge of the bed. The mattress barely dipped under her weight.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I guessed what she’d done to Marcus was still fresh in her mind. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she didn’t remember anything she did in eagle form.
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