No one spoke for several minutes until I broke the silence in a quiet voice. “Von?”
“I’ll not tell you what color my knickers are. Some things are meant to be private.”
I fiddled with a thread on the thigh of my jeans. “I was just thinking that it’s a freaky coincidence that I can’t do Death Omen detail on Wednesdays. You might have to take the morning off and spend it with Penny.”
Von’s shoulders relaxed. “I have to, now?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I turn into a werewolf once a week like clockwork. I’ll tell Danny that I simply can’t work then.”
“I was planning on sticking by the house Wednesday mornings, actually,” Mason offered, squeezing my hand. He leaned forward to cup Von’s shoulder in solidarity, linking the three of us together. “I have to check for werewolf hunters around the house, of course. Perfect timing, really. I can reap with her on Wednesdays while you’re with Penny.”
Von pulled onto my street, his smile taking over his handsome features. “You don’t have to do that. You’re new to our world, November, so you don’t know how much power you hold. I work around your schedule, not the other way around.”
I threw out my hands in feigned exasperation. “This is my schedule. I can’t control when the moon turns me into a werewolf.”
“That’s some affliction you’ve got there. I bet Mason will be pleased at the K9 companionship. True puppy love, that is.”
“Call Angela and set something up with Penny for next Wednesday.”
Von slowed as he drove Terence the Taurus up into the garage. “I can’t leave you unguarded.”
“I promise to stay inside and watch movies with Mason after we do the bare minimum of reaping for the day.”
Mason thumbed the outer stitching of my jeans on my thigh. “That actually sounds nice. I haven’t spent much time Topside. Might enjoy a morning with no plans.”
“I vow to be boring and make sure Danny can hear it if I suddenly feel the need for my fainting salts.” A wicked smile crossed my lips. “Do you think I can get him to unclog the shower drain for me?”
Von shrugged. “Probably. I’ve seen him cut Mariang’s meat for her before.” Von and I both grimaced in unison.
Mason cleared his throat as he dropped my hand. “Danny’s a good man. He does what he needs to for Mariang, and we shouldn’t look down on him for it.”
“Yes, boss,” Von said at Mason’s mild scolding. “You think our Gracie needs her meat cut for her?”
Mason shot me a devious smile when he took in my horrified expression. “I think she can handle the challenge.”
“Oh, shut it you two.”
Mason chuckled and reached for my hand again. I wanted to hesitate, to shirk away at the contact that surely came with germs. They would be impossible to scrub off. But the second our hands touched, I could feel him gently pulling the tension from me. My fingers slid through his, threading between his much thicker ones and squeezing. “I see you, hani,” Mason whispered. “After the sagrado stone is delivered to the nations, things won’t be this tense for you.”
“Thanks.” I ignored Von’s raised eyebrows as he watched us from the rearview mirror. I gave Mason’s fingers another squeeze before letting myself out of the car and moving into my house. I hated that I missed the contact when our fingers parted, and what that said about me.
12
Reading to Alicia
“I don’t like this,” I stated, sounding like a robot. We rounded the corner with our visitor’s badges on, but we weren’t just here to hand out pink Mylar balloons with a teddy bear on them that said “You’re the Beary Best!”
“You don’t have to like it. You’ve been reaping for two whole weeks now,” Danny grumbled, leading the way with Mariang on his arm. “Get over the fear of it already.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Yeah? Well then give me a rest from your whining.”
“Danny!” Mariang scolded him.
There were too many of us to look inconspicuous, what with the additional guards Ezra had added to our fivesome for extra protection. We walked down the winding hospital corridors toward the pediatric cancer ward, and I wished we were anywhere else. Usually the sterile smell and the uncluttered hallways gave me peace. I’d been to a few different hospitals to reap with the crew. Now after two weeks of reaping, I could categorically say that this ward felt the most wrong. It was one thing to treat inmates. It was a completely other set of compartmentalizing to look kids in the eyes, know how hard they’d fought, and that they wouldn’t make it another day.
Mariang looked over her shoulder to talk to me, her white knee-length dress making her look like an angel of mercy, not an Omen of death. “It’s okay, little sister. I know it’s hard, but these children deserve a peaceful passing more than anyone we reap.”
“I guess that’s true.”
Von reached for my hand when I started clawing at the back of it, but one of the Duwende guards Danny had requested touched my back first. He sucked too hard, making me a little tipsy even after I flinched away from him. Von glowered at Rick while Mason shoved him backward. “That’s too much. You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Rick postured. “I graduated from the Academy at the top of my class, unlike some people.” He looked down his nose at Von. I was overcome with the urge to flick the tip of Rick’s long nose just to aggravate him. I resisted because, you know, adulthood. Adulthood, plus nose germs. Ick.
“Mason and I imprinted on her. So everyone else isn’t as true a fit. I’m telling you, that was too much. Focus on pulling from nurses and such to get us into the proper rooms without detection.”
“I’m trying, okay?” Rick scratched his copper sideburn. He was pale, his fair skin giving his red hair an orangy glow. “Give me a few weeks to get used to her.”
I shoved past the group irritably. “I’m not a car, guys. Quit talking about me like I’m not even here. And no one puts their hands on me unless I say so, alright? I’m not a walking basket case, but you’re going to turn me into one if you keep touching me at random.”
“Apologies, Lady October.” Rick bowed – actually bowed – his flaming hair shifting forward to reveal the genesis of a bald spot. He looked a little like a thirty-five-year-old Ron Howard, but without the boyish charm. Rick was one note: business. Nate, Chet and Bill were also on the same dull note, with a hint of Men in Black to them. Every time we turned a sterile corner, they reached for their pockets to make sure their knives wouldn’t need to be drawn. It was enough to make the most well-adjusted person tense up.
A tug in my gut directed me to room 407, though I wished it took me anywhere else. “You ready, Mason?” I asked, giving the four lackeys the hint that I didn’t want them near me for this. With Sama’s spies that could be anywhere, I didn’t trust any of the newbies. I didn’t much care for the added stress this brought me.
When Chet reached out to touch my shoulder, I shirked away. “Okay, now I feel like everyone’s constantly touching me or just all up in my business. If Mason holds my hand, will that earn me two feet of space? Honestly, I feel like I’m being pawed at.”
“Apologies, Lady October,” Chet replied, though he didn’t look the least bit repentant.
I wasn’t used to being touched all the time, so never knowing when the hands would be on me was too unnerving for my liking. I’d only just barely gotten used to the physical nature of my budding friendship with Von and Mason. When Mason’s fingers entwined through mine, my climbing anxiety stopped its perpetual race to the peak. I knew we looked like a couple, but I didn’t much care anymore.
We entered the room together with Von and a Mylar balloon, shutting the rest of the men out in the hall with Mariang, who was more used to an entourage.
Five-year-old Alicia Reynolds was very much awake. She had a bald head, and was painfully bony and pale. Her curious bugged eyes tracked us as I set the balloon on her nightstand. She had an oxygen mask, and each word she pushed ou
t sounded like it cost her more than it was worth. “You… came… to… read?” She pointed her hand to the nightstand, and I took the opportunity and brushed my finger to hers, reaping her soul so the underworld could live another day. Von’s gentle massage of my neck was all that I needed to get the icy blast of poison out of my body and feed it into his.
“Um, sure. I can read to you.” I picked up her Beatrix Potter book off the nightstand and flipped it open to the marked page. Allie had read Jemima Puddleduck to me when I was a kid. This one was Peter Rabbit, which I was embarrassed to admit I’d never read, though I’m pretty sure it was the most famous one. I sat down in the chair next to her bed and began reading.
“You’re doing it wrong,” Von complained. “You’re not doing any voices. You want voices, don’t you?” he asked Alicia, who grinned.
I harrumphed. “You’ll do it weird, Von. You’ll make it all British.”
“Hello! Beatrix Potter was one of ours! Give me that, you Yank. Honestly.” He confiscated the book and took over, ramping up his British accent to the level of a caricature to make the girl laugh. He was Dick Van Dyke in action, which I’ve got to tell you, is just about the most attractive a guy can get.
Von was meant for children. He had a different voice for each character, and jumped around the room to give action to the words. I would have been content to sit down if I’d been the one reading. The mundane story with very little twist became harrowing under his care. Alicia and I were cheering him on when he finally bowed at the conclusion of the act, and Mason was smiling – a thing he’d not done enough of since the visit to the prison a couple weeks ago.
Von set the book on Alicia’s lap, flashing his best movie star grin at her. “Let’s see anyone beat that. You have a good day, Alicia darling.”
When Von reached for my hand this time on the way out the door and into the hallway, there was nothing to pull from me except the remnants of the soul. He had taken a grim situation and made it a fun memory for her last day on earth. “You’re kind of amazing,” I said quietly as Von snatched another balloon from the stash Chet carried. The hallway was empty, the additional Duwendes having put themselves to use cleaning it out so we wouldn’t be caught being where we most certainly weren’t allowed.
Von kissed my cheek, and I felt warmth spread through my body, starting from the light blush where his lips pressed to me. “I’m only kind of amazing?”
“A real, solid kind of.”
“Maybe I’m not laying on the accent thick enough.” His blue and gold eyes found mine, and we paused in the middle of the hallway, ignoring Chet and Nate’s dodgy glances to keep security tight. “This is their last day on earth. Let’s give these kids a good one, yeah?”
I nodded. “Alright. But in the next room, you get to be the American, and I get to be the Brit. I’m super good at saying ‘bangers and mash’.”
Von put his hand on Bill’s shoulder. “I might need a Puller myself, listening to a Yank crack out a British accent. Steady me, mate.”
We shared a laugh that felt easy. It felt right. It felt like… like I was happy.
13
Judge and Nefarious
My hands were clammy when I pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot that evening. I’d cut myself off at fifteen reaps so I wasn’t completely useless for what I knew I still had to do. The well-lit, beautifully maintained parking lot complete with sculpted topiaries bespoke of the affluence inside the eatery, yelling at me that I certainly didn’t belong. I swallowed, refusing to feel ashamed of Terence the Taurus, parked next to various BMWs and Jaguars. I lifted my chin as I put my hand on the door, ready to step out with confidence I’d learned to manufacture on command. “Remember the rules, guys.”
Von harrumphed from the backseat. “I don’t think you understand that I’ve actually been in a restaurant before. I’ve lived a mostly Topside life. I know how to interact with you lot. Though, I can’t speak for wolf-man here.” He leaned forward and clapped Mason on the shoulder.
Mason looked down, examining his white button-down and green tie I’d had to knot for him. “I don’t like that you want us to leave our knives in here.”
“I told you, no weapons. I didn’t even want to bring you into this, but I can’t seem to shake you two. It’s just childhood crap that lingered longer than it should’ve, so be cool.” I held out my palm to Mason expectantly. “Give it.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed in defiance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t make me frisk you. I know you’re hiding a knife in your boot. Hand it over, chief.”
Mason rolled his eyes at me. He slid out the contraband and tucked it under the seat with a petulant look on his face. “This is a bad idea.”
I straightened the fitted navy blouse that was the most country club thing I owned. It almost looked nice with my beige, pressed dress pants, but I’m sure none of that mattered. I knew I didn’t belong in a fancy restaurant like this. People like that could no doubt smell the bad breeding and trash on me. I inhaled deeply, recalling that I could do anything I put my mind to, and this was a thing that had to be done. “No matter what, please just stay quiet and let me handle it. Don’t do your overbearing protector thing.”
Von caught my eye in the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow at me. “Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve been told to shut up and look pretty. Are we making some poor bloke lousy with jealousy? Is that it?”
I frowned up at him. “You really think I’m that petty?”
Mason shifted the knot of his tie for the millionth time in the brief twenty-five minutes he’d had it on. “What are we about to walk into?”
“Something you should’ve stayed home for. Look, my life is still mine, and while I get that you have to make sure I don’t get decapitated tying my shoes, this is something that’s really not meant for you to tag along for. It’s too much to explain, so either let me do my thing in silence, or wait in the car.”
“You’re stalling. We won’t embarrass you,” Mason assured me. I had much to say to the contrary, but Mason got out of the car, putting an end to how much I was permitted to insult them with my building nerves. Mason’s hand found the small of my back while Von offered his elbow to me like a gentleman. I was getting better at not letting that feeling of claustrophobia creep up on me when they hovered so close. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that I was growing, or a bad thing that they were changing parts of my fundamental makeup.
Von in a tie was a sight to see. The hostess couldn’t stop ogling him, making it known that, no matter your social status, Von was everyone’s taste. The strangest part of it was that he didn’t seem to care that he turned many a single and married woman’s eye as we walked in. Von was one of those rare breeds who was totally comfortable in his own skin, no matter his surroundings.
Oh, to be a TV vampire hottie and have the world adore you for the bad boy you are.
“Reservations only,” the hostess in a black cocktail dress said to me. She wore a tight smile that veiled a silent threat to keep my poor off the good furniture.
“I’m here to see Nefarious and Judge,” I explained, keeping my chin up. “Are they at their usual table?”
The woman’s eyes widened. Her chin and her voice lowered as she looked at me like I’d just told her I own six elephants. “Judge McCray?”
“That’s the one.” I knew Darius, the youngest of the notorious McCray brothers, back when he was nicknamed Crayfish, but his street name now was Nefarious. I was here to see good old Darius, since he’d ditched the moniker “Crayfish” ages ago. Nefarious was a dumb nickname, which I refused to use.
“Let me see if he’s here,” the hostess said evasively. “Who can I say would like to see him?”
Of course Judge would have gatekeepers at his regular restaurant. My lips tightened. “Tell him Baby Girl is coming back to see him in thirty seconds, whether he’s ready or not.” I didn’t know if he was entertaining criminals back
there, and didn’t want to risk using my real name.
She tapped the Bluetooth in her ear, speaking quietly.
Von nudged me, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. “I thought you didn’t know who your father was. Is it him back there? Is that who we’re meeting?”
“No. That’s just what Judge calls me. He’s known me since I was a baby, and helped Ollie and Allie raise me when things got tight.”
The hostess had a far more amiable demeanor after Judge apparently gave his permission for me to join him through her headset. “Judge and Nefarious will see you now. Right this way.” Her fingers flitted over the menus, pausing to look up at Mason and Von before leading us into the restaurant. “You should know that we have a no firearms policy in here. That extends to Judge and Nefarious’ guests, as well.”
I let out a heavy sigh. Of course this was how I would spend my Friday night. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Judge will search us.”
The hostess plastered on a breezy smile. “Right this way.” She led us through the gold bedecked dining area to Judge’s table in the backroom of the restaurant. It was closed off from the general public to give Judge the utmost discretion for his many shady business meetings. The carpet was red, like the rest of the restaurant, and the high-backed gold-trimmed chairs had black cushioned seats. The dimmed crystal chandelier hung lower in here, giving you the illusion that this was a cozy place to divulge secrets best left buried. There were no windows, only a fire exit that let out into the unlit alley. Many a drug dealer short on the take had met their maker in that alley. Of the three strangers who were seated with the McCray brothers at the table, I wondered which would bite it first.
If Darius had his way, he’d be at the most visible table in the picture window at the front of the restaurant, so everyone walking by could see his rise to greatness. He’d been a low-to-no income scrappy kid just like Ollie, Allie and me. When Bev had been too violent to go home to, we escaped to Mama McCray’s house in the trailer park across the street. Darius’ mama used to make hot applesauce and warn her three boys to do their homework so they didn’t fall into drugs. Now the McCray brothers were sitting pretty atop the drug, stolen car and who knows what else kind of empire Judge had built from the ground up. Not quite what Mama McCray had envisioned for her boys, may she rest in peace.
Tremble (Terraway Book 2) Page 8