“You’re Brett, right?” Cormack furrowed his brow. If he was worried about being trapped in a building with two vampires, he didn’t show it. “I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”
“That’s because I have nothing to do with the gate.” Brett strode forward and extended his hand in greeting. He seemed resigned more than upset. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard good things about you over the years.”
His blue eyes were heavy as they tracked to me. “And I haven’t seen you in a very long time,” he continued. “Of course, I’ve seen you since you returned. You just haven’t realized it. I didn’t want to approach in case I confused you.”
His reaction threw me for a loop. “I don’t understand. I … do I know you?”
“You were little the last time we saw each other. You spent a lot of time with Oliver and me. We liked to spoil you.” His smile was wistful. “When Oliver said you were coming back, I was excited. Then, when I realized you didn’t remember us that excitement turned to trepidation. Still, you grew into a beautiful woman. I always knew you would.”
I felt out of my element. “I don’t understand why you’ve been hiding from me.”
“Hiding? No. Giving you time to adjust? Yes. We wanted to be very careful that you didn’t remember too much too soon. We agreed Oliver would spend some time with you first and then we would feel you out about the memories you’re obviously holding back. That’s a conversation for another day.” He flicked his eyes to Cormack. “You’re here about Ryan Carroll. You shouldn’t be questioning Oliver. I killed him.”
Oliver snarled and vaulted over the side of the railing. He landed next to me with an echoing thud, causing me to flinch as he took up an aggressive stance next to his boyfriend. “Don’t even think you’re taking him.”
“I’m not interested in taking him.” Cormack was matter-of-fact. “That’s the furthest thing from my mind. We need to know what’s going on. Carroll has taken up residence in a small child and he’s controlling ghosts to the point he’s prohibiting them from speaking. Izzy put herself at risk to meld with one in an effort to learn what she could.”
Oliver let loose a low groan. “Geez. You always were way too curious. I hoped you’d learned to look before you leap, but apparently that hasn’t happened.”
“We needed answers,” I replied simply. “I didn’t know where else to get them. Lauren has been trying to communicate with me from the start. She whispered the first time I saw her. I just remembered that during our … meeting of the minds. Or maybe I remembered but forgot I remembered. I don’t know. It’s not important.
“I couldn’t make out what they were saying that first day because all the ghosts talked at once,” I continued. “I was freaked out and I wanted to get away, and apparently that was a mistake because they’ve been silenced since. They tried to communicate that day, but Carroll somehow muted them. I think you know why.”
“I don’t know the specifics,” Oliver cautioned, dragging a hand through his hair and swallowing hard. “I have a few ideas. As for Ryan, … he should’ve been laid to rest years ago. I don’t understand why he’s back.”
“Because you killed him?” I glanced at Brett for confirmation.
“I did.” He showed no sign of remorse. “He had it coming. He was trying to kill people to prolong his own life.”
“And how did that work?” Cormack asked, moving to the couch in the middle of the room and sinking down. “Why don’t we all get comfortable?” he suggested. “This conversation might take some time, and there’s no reason for everyone to keep eyeing each other as if we’re at odds.”
Braden took my hand as he steered me toward the couch, making sure I was positioned between Cormack and him as Oliver and Brett took the chairs across the way. Cillian and Redmond each grabbed wooden chairs from next to a small table by the window and dragged them to either side of the couch, making sure Aunt Max was comfortable before they sat.
“This conversation won’t take all that long,” Brett countered. “I thought we should tell the truth back then, but Oliver was worried. We were already dealing with stares and whispers because we were two men living together. The vampire thing was secondary, believe it or not. He didn’t want more trouble heaped on us.”
My heart went out to him. “You said Carroll was killing people to prolong his own life. How was he doing that?”
“The normal way,” Brett replied without hesitation. “He killed people who didn’t show up on his lists – at first he tried to find criminals, but that wasn’t as easy as he thought so he started killing anyone who crossed his path and he thought he could hide – and then he took the souls and used them in a ritual he concocted with Peter to bolster his life.”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“It was an old ritual.”
“I still don’t understand.”
Brett glanced at Oliver and then sighed. “Peter was a crossroads demon.”
I was utterly flabbergasted. “What? I … what?”
“He was a crossroads demon,” Brett repeated. “I’m not sure how he wormed his way into being gatekeeper, but it was quite the coup. He managed to collect souls while also getting a paycheck. No one was the wiser … except for us.”
“Did you say anything?” Cormack asked, leaning forward. “Did you let the front office know what was happening?”
Oliver nodded. “I did, but only after the fact. That’s on me, and I’ve regretted it for a very long time.”
“We need to know the whole story,” I prodded. “It’s important.”
“I know. It’s just … Brett did what had to be done. He did what I couldn’t, or at least what I was unwilling to do at the time. I didn’t mean for things to go as far as they did.”
“That ultimately doesn’t matter. We need the whole story. I know you.” I spoke from the heart. “I feel as if I’ve known you all my life. If you felt the need to cover it up, you had a reason. There’s no reason any longer. Nothing bad can happen if you tell the truth.”
He looked taken aback. “Why did you just say that?”
“Because you said it to me when I was a kid,” I replied without hesitation. “I was afraid of getting in trouble because I stole a piece of a candy from the gift shop and I was crying in the basement. I confided in you and that’s what you said.”
“You remember everything?”
I shook my head. “I remember that. I had a flash yesterday when I got a piece of hard candy from the jar on your desk. It was a quick thing. I was going to bring it up but … I never got the chance. Between ghosts and other stuff, I’ve had my hands full. You told me that then, and you were right. I didn’t get in trouble. Things were better after because I was no longer mired in guilt. The same can be true for you.”
He let loose a sigh and then shook his head. “You always were a naïve little thing. Still, you’re right. It’s time.” He tilted his head toward Brett. “It’s your story to tell. I don’t even remember most of it.”
“My story,” Brett agreed, licking his lips. “Okay. Well, here we go.”
Twenty-Seven
“It’s important to understand that I didn’t spend much time around Peter,” Brett started, adopting a far-off expression. “I had other things going on. The gate was never a concern for me. That was Oliver’s thing. He liked working near it because he was always worried something bad would happen near it. He wanted to be on the front line to stop whatever that something was.
“Me, on the other hand, I honestly didn’t care,” he continued. “I didn’t have many questions about death. I’m a vampire. Those questions didn’t mean to me what they meant to other people. Heck, Oliver had questions, but I couldn’t be bothered. I was much happier planning weddings and doing my own thing.”
He dragged a hand through his dark hair and shot me a small smile. “The first time I met Carroll was on a day Oliver needed help. There were only two people monitoring the gate back then, which was a mistake. Three pe
ople are better because it means there are fewer chances for screw-ups due to fatigue.”
I cast Oliver a rueful look. “I guess that’s why you’ve been on me to find a replacement.”
“That and other reasons,” he acknowledged.
“Oliver had something to do for the reaper council and someone needed to monitor a surprise intake,” Brett continued. “He called me to see if I could pinch hit. I agreed because I had nothing better to do and I wanted to help.
“When I got there, the room was supposed to be empty,” he said. “It was quiet at first. I sat at the desk and read a book. I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone until I heard something in the library. I headed in that direction ... and found Peter.”
“If you were called in to cover the intake, why would Peter be here?” I asked, confused. “I’m not sure I understand. Why couldn’t he monitor the computer?”
Brett snickered. “Oh, you’re so young ... but cute.” He winked at me. “First, there were no computers back then. The intakes were more ... involved.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. Of course there were no computers back then. Er, wait. “There were computers back then,” I argued. “They were simply bigger.”
“And not something we used,” Cormack said. “Early computers were expensive and the amount of memory we needed didn’t exist. Back in the day, scepters had to be transported here for the transfer.”
“Oh.” I tried to picture that in my head. “Okay, well ... go on.”
“I heard voices and was confused,” Brett explained. “When scepters were dropped off, it was usually by one person. The local reapers took turns collecting them at a central location and drove them to us. We would then discharge them into a receptacle close to the gate ... and that was basically it.
“So, when I heard Peter’s voice I was understandably confused,” he said. “I was under the impression he was outside of the office, which is why they needed me. I headed into the library, and that’s where the voices grew stronger. Peter was there ... and he wasn’t alone.”
“Carroll,” I surmised.
He shook his head. “Ghosts. Green ghosts ... and a lot of them.”
“And Peter was talking to them?” My mind was going a mile a minute. “How? Why?”
“I’m going to make a long story short because this could go on forever,” Brett replied. “I asked that very question. Peter was stunned to see me. He started freaking out and demanding I leave. When I refused, he told me the whole story … but only because I refused to let it go no matter how many times he tried to get me to give up my questions.
“It seems Carroll approached him one day when visiting the gate,” he continued. “Carroll made a point to volunteer to drop off the scepters as often as possible. He wanted access to the gate, you see, and it wasn’t because he was scientifically minded or curious.”
“That explains how he got such easy access to the gate,” Cormack mused, rubbing his chin. “I was always confused, because the gate was considered a huge secret up until about twenty years ago. No one was really supposed to talk about it, let alone visit it.”
“That was the norm,” Brett agreed. “I asked Peter what was going on and demanded answers. I was so worried, I showed him my teeth. I had no intention of hurting him, mind you, but I thought it was important to get answers.”
Cormack nodded once. “Of course.”
“Peter was a blubbering mess,” Brett supplied. “He told me a fantastical story, swearing up and down that he initially joined forces with Carroll because he was curious. He said he didn’t want to cheat death —which I’m not sure I believed at the time or even now — but that he was terrified of the things Carroll had been doing.
“Basically, he was drawing souls from the other side by way of a scepter he modified,” he continued. “He would stand very close to the gate and try to absorb souls that were directly on the other side.”
“How is that possible?” Cillian asked. “I thought once you crossed the gate you were stuck on the other side forever.” He looked to his father for confirmation.
“We all believed that,” Cormack said. “I know I did. Since the wraith crossed over and returned, though, I’ve had a few questions of my own. The home office hasn’t been keen on answering them.”
“Which means you suspect it’s possible to cross through the gate and return, too,” I mused.
He shot me a pointed look. “I don’t know that I believe that,” he clarified. “I would not risk it on the information we have right now. My belief system has shifted a bit in the past month. That doesn’t mean I believe it’s a fact. It simply means I’m curious.”
“You conveniently kept that information from us,” Braden muttered.
“What good would it have done?” Cormack challenged. “I’m not risking my life, or my children’s lives for that matter, to cross the threshold. If you think that, you’re crazier than that loon Carroll, who we’ve yet to hear the whole story about.” He turned back to Brett. “Finish it.”
“There’s not much to tell. Peter said that Carroll had been collecting souls from the other side because they were stronger than the ones he could absorb here, somehow magically emboldened or something, and then basically feeding off them, using their energy to build his strength. He was determined to live forever.”
“I still don’t get it,” I pressed. “I mean ... I understand that he wanted to live forever. Everyone who ever met him basically said the same thing. How did he feed off the energy of the dead?”
“By turning himself into a cannibal of sorts,” Oliver replied, stretching out his long legs. “I’ve done a lot of research on this since it happened. All I can say with any degree of certainty is that Carroll turned himself into a hybrid ghoul, kind of a fancy wendigo, only this time he was feeding off supercharged souls. They sustained him ... and he enslaved them. The problem was, the ghosts couldn’t go anywhere after he sucked them from the other side. They were trapped here because fractured souls can’t pass over.”
Braden stirred beside me. “That’s not true. My mother’s soul was fractured and the bigger part crossed over.”
“Really?” Oliver arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”
“We’re sure,” Maxine replied. She’d barely said anything since we’d arrived at the casino. It was obvious she was thinking ... and hard. Still, she was involved in the conversation. “Lily’s soul left a small piece behind, which was with her body. The part of her soul that crossed over was much bigger than the part left behind.”
“Hmm.” Oliver rubbed the back of his neck. “Carroll was feeding on souls to sustain himself. He had a plan to prolong his life. He also was making himself stronger. He got it into his head that he didn’t need to steal souls from the other side, which was becoming difficult.”
“You see, he didn’t know when there was a soul on the other side close enough to absorb,” Brett volunteered. “He could only take one every month or so when he started. He was fine with that because it was new and he got a rush every time he gnawed on a soul.
“The souls that had been on the other side were stronger, so he wanted those,” he said. “He didn’t have trouble murdering people for their souls, but he wanted those strong souls. He even took to taking his collected souls and releasing them at the gate only to try to capture them right away again. He thought he could fool people that way, but it didn’t work. He kept getting hungrier.
“Like any other drug, he wanted more,” he continued. “He started feeding every week ... and then he tried coming every day. Something or someone caught on across the gate and moved all the souls away from the opening at some point. Peter said that by the time he went two weeks without feeding he was almost without reason and frothing at the mouth.”
“You have to understand, he was getting stronger,” Oliver said. “Things like his bad knee improved. He had a skin rash on his elbow, something chronic, and it also healed. He thought he’d stumbled on some great elixir, a way to make life
better forever for a chosen few ... and yet he ignored the ghosts who were piling up along the way.”
“The ghosts don’t have souls,” I murmured. “That’s why the reapers can’t absorb them with their scepters.”
“Parts of their soul remain in those green forms of theirs,” Oliver corrected. “Pieces of their souls live in Carroll. Unlike Lily Grimlock, who had enough of a soul to cross over, I don’t think these ghosts are in charge of the main portion of their own souls. This is where the end of the story comes in.” He turned to Brett, expectant. “Tell them the rest. It’s time we put everything out there.”
Brett sighed and nodded. “I was frustrated with the story Peter was telling me. He painted Carroll as the bad guy. I think that was true, at least to a certain extent, but Peter knew what was going on and I found him equally evil.
“He swore up and down he was trying to stop Carroll, but I didn’t believe him,” he continued. “We argued ... rather loudly. Apparently Carroll heard. He was furious when he came into the library. He accused Peter of betraying him, telling his secrets.
“I could tell right away when I saw him that he was crazed,” he said. “He had a wild look in his eyes. Some people say cannibals go crazy after a time. I think Carroll was a different sort of a cannibal, an energy cannibal if you will, and was going crazy, too.”
“I hadn’t seen him in a bit,” Oliver offered. “Peter arranged the schedule so he was always here when the souls came in later in the day. He sent me home. It didn’t make much sense because that was the whole reason I had a job, but he kept me away in the afternoons for two weeks. I didn’t understand why until after the fact.”
“I argued with Peter and he started crying,” Brett explained. “Everything spewed out. He told me about Carroll’s plans, the murders, all of it. Obviously I was disgusted. The ghosts left behind were shells of themselves. I was determined to find a way to free them ... except that’s when Carroll showed up.
“He was crazy, like I said. He accused Peter of betraying him, trying to steal the power he’d amassed. He was a complete and total kook. I told him I was calling Oliver and stormed out of the room, leaving the two of them behind.”
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