As he approached the first intersection he could barely see the taillights of the SUV one street over go through their small intersection. The whole area was a grid. Tristan stayed out of sight and watched them go through intersections one street south of where he was. He’d been so intent on watching the SUV that he hadn’t been watching his GPS and soon his street came to a dead end. The GPS showed that the street the SUV was on continued into a smaller residential area.
Tristan swung his car around and headed to the nearest cross street. He took a right and then another right. The SUV was nowhere in sight. Tristan sped up. A hint of anxiety crept into his mind. He searched for the SUV, but it had vanished.
* * *
Tristan had to wait a whole day before he received another call from Sean. It was the same as the night before. Two rings and then a hang up. Again he followed the truck, and this time he knew where he was going, so he pulled out before them and went to where he had lost the SUV from the night before and waited. When the truck passed him five minutes later, he sat until he could barely see their taillights and then pulled out and followed. They rounded a bend and stopped at a gate four houses up. Tall trees surrounded the property and the tops of the walls were covered in metal spikes. The only way in was to be let in. As he drove past the house he continued for about another mile, waited a few minutes, and then flipped around and headed to the inn.
As he parked in the parking space he jumped out and ran across the street to talk to Sean. Tristan slapped five hundred dollars on the counter. Sean scooped it up like a ham sandwich in front of a starving man.
“You were right. They live in a house down off Whitehall road.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I’m not sure. The walls are covered in spikes. There’s cameras and trees everywhere.”
“Well, why don’t you go knock on the door?”
“Uh, do you think they’d let me in?” Tristan laughed.
“Why not?” Sean shrugged.
Tristan stared at him incredulously.
“They don’t want any problems and they don’t want you to draw attention to them, so why wouldn’t they let you in? All you want to do is talk, right? And find your girl. You know where she is now, so your options are to call the cops and try to draw her out through attention or walk up there and tell them that you want to talk to her and you aren’t going to leave till you do.”
It was an idea. Tristan peered at his watch—2:00 a.m.—he’d get some sleep and then decide tomorrow, when he was more level headed.
“Of course, they could just invite you in and then suck all your blood out,” Sean said as an afterthought.
Tristan stared at him for a moment. “Well then, I guess you’ll have to be my backup.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was about 10:00 p.m., and some of Evaine’s new things had arrived. She ripped through the boxes like it was Christmas morning. Picking just one outfit to wear was tough, but she finally pulled on a T-shirt and jeans. With a gigantic smile she slipped on the black platforms she had bought. They hugged her calves and made her sing with delight. Standing was awkward at first. She felt as tall as a tree, though she was only four inches taller.
Putting the rest of her things in a drawer she thought about the ache in her chest. Luca had checked in the last two nights from a city near Boston. They had gone to the abandoned building that Nate had sent them to find. In two days they had seen more than a dozen armed men come and go from the location. Men and dogs patrolled the area on eight-hour rotations. At least ten guards were inside at any given time. Security had definitely been beefed up this time around.
Evaine got more anxious the longer he was away. When he’d left she’d started to feel uncomfortable, irritable, like the way she used to feel when she getting ready to start her period. The longer they were apart though, the worse it had gotten. She was starting to feel depressed; it was becoming difficult to bear. She wondered if she would be connected like this to him always. What would happen if she and Luca didn’t work out? What would they do then? It would sure make other relationships hard if they constantly had to be close to each other to deal with the connection.
Since he had been away these last few days she’d had a lot of time to think about Luca. There was no denying it; she did love him. Evaine wanted him, for now and forever. She just couldn’t figure out how she was going to tell him. She had never felt so vulnerable before.
A knock pulled her from her thoughts. When it opened Abbey and Nate stood there. Her smile faded quickly at their grim faces. Panic began to set in.
“May we come in?”
She nodded numbly. She sat on the bed, and they pulled up some chairs from her little table. The looks on their faces were enough to make her want to throw up. Whatever they were here for, it was bad.
“We have a bit of a situation,” Nate said.
Evaine’s head felt fuzzy. She couldn’t handle it if something happened to Luca. Not now that she’d found him.
“About thirty minutes ago someone buzzed the door wanting to come onto the grounds.” Evaine tried to concentrate on his words. “Abbey answered the buzzer, as she has the couple of times that we’ve had someone get lost, but this time the person was not lost. They’re looking for you.”
“Is Luca OK?” She finally blurted, unable to hold it back any longer. Her gaze bounced between Nate and Abbey. She didn’t understand what Nate was talking about; she needed to know he was OK.
Nate looked at her confused. “Yes, he is fine. Did you hear what I said?”
Evaine relaxed. Luca was OK. She smiled to herself. Nothing else mattered.
Abbey sat forward and touched Evaine’s hands. “Did you hear what Nate said? Tristan Atwater is here.”
Evaine looked from Nate to Abbey and back again.
“This is quite a predicament. He’s demanding to see you. He said if he doesn’t, he’s going to involve the authorities. Now if he were a regular person we would tell him to go ahead. The house is secure and Abbey could take care of it. But—”
“You have to understand,” Abbey said. “We’ll do anything to protect you, like any member of our family. We have as much money and resources as he does, but he seems very persistent. I talked to him for over thirty minutes and tried to convince him that I’m the only one who lives here, but somehow he knows you’re here. He isn’t going to leave without a fight.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Evaine stood up.
“We don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to—” Nate began.
“No, this is my past and my problem. I brought this on myself and I need to deal with it.” She strode to the security room. Her hands shook in trepidation.
Ronan paced while watching a monitor, chewing his nails. On the screen Tristan leaned against the hood of his car. The car he never drove because he had a driver. She watched him for a moment, wishing Luca was there, he would know how to deal with this. Then again maybe it was better that he wasn’t.
She pushed the button on the speaker. “Tristan, I’ll be out in a minute.” He stood up immediately and turned toward the screen. “Get in your car and wait for me.” Evaine’s eye twitched watching him obey her.
“Don’t do this,” Ronan said. “We can protect you.”
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “Thanks, but this needs to be dealt with. He won’t just go away.”
She walked back down the hall to her room. Nate and Abbey were no longer there. Grabbing her hat she tucked her hair underneath it and pulled on her coat. She grabbed her new purse and the cell phone that Ronan had given her the day before. She headed to the elevator, and as she waited for it to come down, she thought of Luca. The twist in her gut made her wish he was there even more.
Bobby Lee, John Casey, Pip, and General stood right by her side at the gate as she punched the code on the panel. General and Pip barked like mad at Tristan as the gate swung inward. She took a deep breath and watched Tristan’s face thro
ugh the windshield. He looked as anxious as she felt inside.
“You sure you wouldn’t we rather let the dogs have ’im?” John Casey stared Tristan down.
“Thank you, John, but no.”
She stomped to the car, got into the passenger side, and sat in the seat facing forward. She waved one last time to Bobby Lee and John Casey, and the two moved out of the way so the gate could close.
Tristan sat in silence for a minute. She spoke finally. “Well, where do you want to go?” He didn’t speak; he just sat and stared at her. She pointed at the windshield. “Drive or leave, Tristan.”
Tristan put the car into reverse. They drove down the road in silence and out to the main road and turned south. They had gone a few miles when the old diner came into view.
She pointed. “Pull in here.”
Tristan pulled up to the front left side of the diner and cut the engine. He didn’t speak. Her nerves were getting even more irritated by his silence. She could feel the beginnings of the rage building inside of her.
Pulling her hat down she stepped out of the car and headed for the cracked glass entrance. Tristan ran ahead and opened the door for her. The smell of grease and meat assaulted her nose and made her long for something raw to eat. Not good. She looked around at the mostly deserted diner. There were four or five truckers inside, sitting at the shiny, oatmeal-colored linoleum counter, most drinking only coffee. For a split second she wondered how many of them she could feed on before they killed her. She pushed the thought out of her head and walked to a booth as far from them as possible. As she slid into the booth her hunger flared, and she realized that she hadn’t been around this many humans in months. Sure she had gone into the city, and there had been people around, but not this close. Plus, she had only had one thing on her mind then. Now, she was all too aware of the humans in the restaurant.
Tristan slid in close, and she scooted to the corner that faced away from the rest of the people. They sat there and stared at each other for a long time, neither saying a word. He looked much better than the last time she had seen him. He’d shaved and was in clean clothes. His eyes were different though, determined but with a sad quality. A waitress came over and took their order. Tristan ordered a burger and fries; Evaine asked for lemonade.
“I thought I told you not to look for me, Tristan,” Evaine blurted out. She didn’t mean for it to come out as harsh as it did, but the knot in her stomach was almost too much to control. She was using all her mental capacity to keep from going into a rage. Being this close to humans was not helping her already irritable situation.
He opened his mouth and then shut it again. He laid the palms of his hands out flat on the table. Confusion masked his features.
The gnawing in Evaine’s stomach at seeing him so upset was almost as strong as her hunger. “Did you think that you were going to come up here and rescue me?” Her tone was gentler.
“Yes.” He breathed out heavily. Tristan never got mad at her; it wasn’t his way. He was so sweet and easygoing. She didn’t want to hurt him, but there was no other way to get him to leave. Keeping her voice soft, she tried to ease his pain. “Tristan, I told you in the city that this is who I am now. There’s no fixing me. I am how I am.”
“You’re one of them. You’re like those other people.”
“Yes.” She dropped her gaze to her white hands. She had to put on her brave front. She had people to protect now.
“And you want to stay with them, even though they kidnapped you and made you like this.”
“No, it isn’t like that. They saved me from the people who did this to me. They’re my family now.”
“No!” He spoke too loudly. The other patrons looked over. Tristan smiled and waved a sheepish hand toward the other patrons. That boyish expression she had seen a million times before made her smile inside. The waitress arrived with the food. Evaine put her head down so that the waitress couldn’t see her face.
“Is everything all right over here?” She looked from Tristan to Evaine’s hat and back.
“Yes, Florence.” Tristan flashed a smile. “Sorry for my outburst. My fiancé just told me something I didn’t like hearing, that’s all.”
Evaine suppressed a gasp. He still thought of her as his fiancé? Even seeing her like this? It didn’t make sense. She’d been gone for months. How could he still feel that way?
“Well,” she said with a bit softer tone, “keep your voice down so you don’t upset the other customers, and don’t you go hurtin’ this here girl, either.”
“No, ma’am. I would never hurt her.” Tristan spoke with sincerity. With a small snort Florence left.
She took a sip of her lemonade. It was sweet, too sweet. It made her teeth hurt. She hadn’t had refined sugar in months. It didn’t taste as good as she remembered when she was alive. The smell of the meat inside Tristan’s burger made her mouth water, but the grease stopped her in her tracks. The meat didn’t smell the way she wanted it to. It was cooked.
Tristan picked at his fries. “I want you to come home. I can take care of you. I’ll get you whatever you need. I don’t care what you are now. I only care about you.”
“You don’t understand. I’m not the same person anymore. I’ve changed. I’m different now, in a lot of ways. I’m stronger now. I…” She couldn’t do this. The longer she sat with him the harder it was becoming. “There are things about me, things you don’t know. Things I can’t tell you. You have to forget me, move on. Please. If you love me you’ll do this for me.”
“No. They’ve done something to you, brainwashed you. They want you to think that there’s nowhere else for you to go, but that isn’t true. I’m here. I’m here for you, like I always have been.” He reached his hand across the table to take hers, but she quickly pulled her hands away, putting them in her lap.
“Tristan, I’m not brainwashed. This isn’t a cult. It may not be the way I would have chosen to be in the long run, but I am at peace with it now. I don’t need help.” Evaine stared at her hands. She hated saying this, but she had to. She had to get the words out. Like vomit held inside too long they were making her sick. “You were my first love, and I’ll always care for you. But we can’t be together anymore. You need to go home. Go home, and forget. Please.”
“No!” he yelled again. Evaine heard Florence’s shoes squeaking back over. The sound pierced her ears. She needed to get out of here.
Tristan pulled out his wallet and threw a twenty on the table. Then he grabbed Evaine by the arm. “We’re leaving.” He pulled her to her feet.
Evaine looked up at him and saw a crazed look in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what to do. She tried a small mental shove to get his arms to loosen, but nothing happened. She felt wrong, weak. He dragged her forward with his arm tight around her. She wobbled in her new shoes, still not quite accustomed to the height. Florence yelled at him about treating a lady right, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Florence followed them into the parking lot, threatening to call the sheriff. Tristan ignored the waitress and continued to pull Evaine to his car, muttering about this being for the best. Evaine struggled and told him to let go, but he wouldn’t.
They reached his car. He had his keys out and pushed the button on the remote to unlock the door. If he got her inside she would be unable to stop him from taking her to the city; and from the crazy way he was acting, she wasn’t sure what he would do once he had her there. Reaching the car he went to open her door but instead she leaned against it, pressing her whole body onto it, holding it closed. The freezing blue metal bit into her skin.
“Stop this, Evaine.” Tristan pulled on her shoulder, trying to get her off the car. She needed to focus. Reaching deep down inside she searched for her strength and gave the car door a mental shove. It was enough to keep it closed. Evaine struggled with Tristan, who continued to try to move her.
Florence had gone back inside. Evaine could see her talking to the men at the counter. They were all watching out the window.
> “Stop! I’m not going with you.”
“Yes, you are! We belong together. You’re mine.”
“Tristan—”
He grabbed her by the arms and kissed her. The kiss was strong and forceful. It wasn’t loving or passionate; it was possessive. Over and over he kissed her, pulling her to him. Shocked, all Evaine could do was stand and allow him to kiss her. He pressed her so closely to him that she thought she might break.
She didn’t like it. Not with Tristan, not like this. He’d never been forceful with her before. She tried to shove him off and managed to get his face off hers for only a moment before he started to kiss her neck.
“Tristan! Stop!” His weight crushed her into the car; she could feel his need as he pressed into her. “Tristan, please,” she begged. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She felt a jolt and Tristan was gone. In his place she felt a tingly electric presence. A hand touched her face. She opened her eyes to fire. Orange eyes blazed into view. She let out a small cry and was flooded with instant relief.
Luca whirled around and dodged in time to miss the punch that Tristan threw at him. He barely missed Evaine as well. Luca pushed her behind him and growled at Tristan. Luca swung at Tristan, but he jumped out of the way. He ran at Luca again, but this time it was Evaine who stopped him.
“Stop!” She stepped in front of Luca.
“Get out of the way, Evaine.” Tristan spoke through gritted teeth.
“Stop it!” This had gone too far. Someone was going to call the police if she didn’t get the situation under control. Tristan breathed hard, but she could see that his eyes had softened. He took a step back and finally seemed to calm down a bit. He looked from her to Luca and back again.
“I knew it was you.” Tristan spat. “You’re the one from the park. The one who followed me to my apartment.”
Dead Awakenings Page 18