by Tiya Rayne
I pick up the letter and take a seat at my desk. Inhaling the sweet floral scent, I get a feeling of déjà vu, but I can’t put my finger on the fragrance. I slip my finger underneath the seam, opening the envelope.
I pull out the first catalogue card. A worn brown handwritten card with one side singed off. The information on the card reads “The Long Goodbye,” by Raymond Chandler. Another classic. I pull the other cards out of the envelope. “A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens and “Song of Solomon,” by Toni Morrison.
Always three cards at a time. The books nor the cards themselves have anything in common. I place the cards back in the envelope and stick them in the little box I’ve kept the last two packages in.
The first package contained “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” by Stephen King, “Volpone,” by Ben Johnson, and “Heart of a Dog,” by Mikhail Bulgakov. The second package had “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas, “Gone for Good,” by Harlan Coben, and “Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain. All great books which have nothing in common.
A light tap on my door causes me to look up. Tiana sticks her head in with a wide smile plastered on her lips.
“Grams is here.”
“Oh Lord,” I say, climbing to my feet.
After my parents died when I was still a baby, my Grams stepped right in to take care of me. She retired from her job early and put all her time and energy into raising me. Sylvia Brooks is a no-nonsense kind of woman.
She speaks her mind, claims her space, and can probably take down a man half her age. Despite being eighty-years old, she’s as healthy as a horse and often gets mistaken for being much younger. The woman will probably outlive me.
I find Grams sitting beside Emory. These two have a bond like no other. From the day the caseworker brought the little girl to my home, she and my grandmother connected.
“I told you, I won’t let them take you.”
“Let who take her?” I ask when I walk up on the tail end of their conversation.
Grams turns to me with a big smile. Standing up, she holds her arms out to me. “Baby girl,” she greets me.
Just like when I was a little kid, I walk into her embrace. In her arms, I’ve always found comfort. In Grams’ arms, I feel as if nothing can hurt me.
I take in her powdery scent mixed in with sunshine. The scent of my childhood. She releases me and steps back.
“I was explaining to Munchkin we wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
I turn to Emory and frown. “Of course not. You know that, right?”
She smiles, showing off her adorable dimple and nods. “Good, now you two head home. Remember, today I have my book club meeting. I’ll be late getting home.”
“Yes, we know you have your lonely woman’s club.” Grams waves her hand to blow me off.
I chuckle. “For the hundredth time, it’s not called the lonely woman’s club.”
“Well, what else would you call five grown ass women who’d rather sit around reading about folks having sex than actually going out and having sex?”
My daughter giggles beside me.
“Grams, for the hundredth time, I don’t need or want a relationship. Been there, done that, have the divorce papers to prove it. I’d much rather put all my attention on Emory.”
She once again waves her hand at me as if she’s dismissing my claim. “After your grandfather died, I was working full time, taking care of my daughter, and entertaining at least four gentlemen callers on the regular.” Tiana bursts out laughing behind me. I shake my head. “You young women today don’t know how to balance. You need real sex in your life, and not that little thing that vibrates all loud throughout the night.”
“Grams,” I warn, looking around to be sure none of my customers can hear her.
She ignores my protest. “It ain’t right. You need a man in your life. Don’t let that little dick ex ruin you for the next man.”
I groan mentally. This has been a conversation we’ve had ever since Trenton and I separated. Grams never liked my ex-husband, or any of the men I’ve dated for that matter. I probably should have listened to her about Trenton though. It would have saved me a world of hurt.
“It’s not that I’m not looking,” I lie a little. I have my reasons for not wanting a relationship, none I want to discuss with her at the moment. “But between raising my daughter and taking care of my business, I don’t have the time.”
“Make the time,” Grams demands. “Come on, Munchkin.” She grabs Emory’s bag off the floor. “I’m going to take you home so we can watch our shows.”
Emory side-eyes her. We both know the shows they will watch are mostly for Grams.
I give Emory a hug and kiss before seeing them out the door. I didn’t care what Grams says, my little girl is all I need. And no man could ever give me more.
Chapter 4
Shep & His Sheep
Lucien
* * *
Looking down at my watch, I take in the time. Seth went too long today. That kill could have been over hours ago. I need to sit down and have a talk with my brother.
The doors to the Church’s official New York office swing open. The chrome and glass foyer invite me into the cool building. The bright white walls and high ceilings give the place an airy feeling.
Pillars separate the sitting lobby area with its gray modern furniture. A short distance away is the circular receptionist desk. Behind the desk is a large LED water wall with black stone. And in her usual spot, with blue tipped hair is Ari, her face buried in a book.
“Hello, Ariane,” I say in greeting.
She looks up at me with big brown eyes and smiles. “Hey, Lucien.” She closes her book and scoots her chair closer to where I’m standing at the desk. “Are those glasses new?”
I give her a genuine smile. “They are, thank you for noticing.”
I don’t know who hired Ariane Albertson as the receptionist, but I like to think they were in on one of the best practical jokes ever. Ari is about as qualified for this job as Seth is as a pastor. She has no idea what goes on here. I’m not a hundred percent sure she doesn’t believe we work for an actual church. She’s always in a great mood and she greets us all like family.
“You’re so much more handsome when you wear your glasses. I bet girls tell you that all the time.”
My face heats up. I duck my head, hiding what I know will be a blush.
“I always wear my glasses. It’s my brother, Seth who doesn’t wear glasses.”
She stares back at me, blinking her wide eyes twice. No matter how many times I point it out to her, she can never remember I’m Lucien and Seth is Seth.
She narrows her eyes. “Are you sure?”
I chuckle. “I’m here to turn in my order.” I slide the envelope face down toward her, successfully changing the subject.
“You cleaned your plate?” she asks, then giggles.
“Are you going to do that every time you have to ask that question?” Despite being an employee here for two years now, her response never changes.
She nods. Her blue tipped shoulder length curly hair bobbing with the movement. “It sounds so funny to me.” She clicks away on her computer.
“Do you have any items you’d like to declare?”
“No.” Thank God this time Seth didn’t take any keepsakes from his job. Nothing worse than looking in the refrigerator and finding a severed foot in a Tupperware bowl.
“Did you have to show proof of job completed?” Ari asks, going down the laundry list of questions we have to answer after every kill.
“No, not this time.”
Ari clicks away on her laptop, closing out my order for me. I glance down at my watch again.
“Lucien.” I turn at the sound of my name being called. I take in a calming breath, using all the skills I learned through the Church.
“Shep,” I reply to the person standing beside me. I look around, if Shepherd is here, Wolf is too. As I figured, he’s standing b
ehind me.
Seth and I are close, but not like Shep and Wolf. You can’t find one without the other. They’re fraternal twins, unlike Seth and me.
“Look everyone, it’s the Shepherd and his sheep,” I taunt. “How’s the outcast life treating you?”
He grins, but his eyes show the irritation my words are meant to cause.
“Poor, Twin, still can’t get over the fact that I was promoted before you?”
This time I turn my body to face Shep, leaning an elbow onto the counter. “When did selling your soul to hunt down your brethren become a promotion?”
“Only the most driven Deacons get a chance to be a Disciple.”
I shake my head before turning back to Ari who’s watching us like we’re one of those TV shows she’s always going on about. “That’s his fancy way of saying, money hungry lowlifes who want to feel superior.” Ari chuckles at my joke.
I continue on, turning back to the two brothers. “You’re a glorified bounty hunter. You’re not even allowed to use your gun. Tell me, how do those rubber bullets work?”
Shep’s nostrils flare from my diss. “That’s a lot of big talk from a man who allows his Twin to do his dirty work?”
I push away from the counter and take a step in front of him. “I don’t allow anyone to do shit for me.”
He laughs. “Wait, are my eyes deceiving me? Is this Seth standing before me?”
I count down in my head, again using the techniques the Church gave me. Once I’m done, I take a step back and smile.
“Trust me, you would know if I were Seth.” The smile on his face falls and a sneer appears.
“All done, Lucien,” Ari says, sliding my final paperwork toward me. I take the paper from her and nod.
I turn my back to Shep and Wolf.
“How’s Hawk doing?” Shep calls out and I freeze. “I hear he got blamed for killing that nunnery bitch. I guess I’ll be seeing him soon.”
My body is so rigid, I can feel the tension in my muscles. I try to count, but I’m losing the battle. That familiar twitch in my fingers starts.
“Twin,” a voice booms as my name is called. I open my eyes and lift my head to find Priest standing at the door.
He narrows his silver eyes at me, like when I was eight. The memory comes back of him standing over my battered body, those eyes narrowed as he demanded I count down to fight it. Slowly, I gain control of myself, releasing the tension that has my body ramrod straight.
The silence is broken by Ari’s voice. “This reminds me of that scene in Twilight, when Carlisle has to talk Edward out of killing Bella after James bit her.”
We all turn to stare at Ari. Her wide excited eyes show she’s completely oblivious to the true danger of the situation. I turn back in time to see Priest shake his head as he steps forward.
“Shepherd, right?”
Shep lifts his chin a little higher. I don’t care who you are in the Church or who your Priest is, everyone knows Nathaniel Otella. He is a legend among us.
“Yes sir,” Shep answers.
“Despite my reputation, I’m a pretty understanding guy,” Priest starts, but I can tell by the way he tilts his chin up and cracks his neck, he isn’t as calm as he’s pretending to be. He leans forward, making sure to keep his voice down. “But if I ever hear you call that woman a bitch again, I’ll show you why they all fear me. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes s-sir,” Shep stumbles over his words.
“Get the fuck out of my sight.”
Shep and Wolf both scurry away, but not before Shep cuts his eyes over to me as if in warning. Rivalry is a huge deal amongst the Church. What can I say? We are bred to be competitive.
My brothers and I are always trying to one up each other, but we never worry about anyone outside our circle. They don't matter to us.
Even still, we have a lot of enemies. Something we’ve grown used to. For some reason, Shep and Wolf labeled themselves as my and Seth’s rivals. Despite us not giving a shit.
“You cool?” Priest asks once the twins are gone.
I nod. “Hey, any word on Hawk and Angel’s sister?”
Priest grimaces. “That woman is going to make me kill her.”
I laugh at that. He wouldn’t, not even if he had to.
“I need you and your brother to stay around,” Priest says soberly. “Many has already had to step in and help one time. Hawk may need your help too.”
“No problem, I think he already reached out to Seth earlier today.”
Priest smiles. “The virus?”
A proud smile graces my lips.
“Clean that shit up, by the way.” He and I both give a short laugh. “Any idea why those two jackasses are hanging around the building?”
It’s odd for the Disciples to be here. They only get called in if there’s a rogue agent for them to hunt down and bring in.
“No, they asked about Hawk, but he still has thirteen days, right?”
“Yeah, it couldn’t be for him.”
“Oh no, it’s not for Kilian.” Priest and I both turn to see Ari is standing behind us now. She pushes her glasses further up on her nose and smiles as if she was invited into this conversation.
“Then who?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Don’t know. Some top-secret thing. They don’t ever tell me anything.” It’s funny she says that, but whenever I need to know something, she always has an answer.
“Do you mind keeping an ear out?” I say.
“Absolutely. We can form our own secret society like in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when they—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Priest grumbles and storms off.
My laughter trails after him. I turn back to a grinning Ari. I think she does stuff like that to aggravate Priest. I love that she never lets the bad attitudes around here get to her.
“Thanks for looking out, Ari.” I place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze.
Her almond colored skin glows. Despite everyone finding her quirky, Ari is a beautiful girl. Her wide eyes and round face accent her delicate features. Lips so full it’s hard not to think of them sexually, and they’re accompanied by deep dimples.
“See you around,” I say, taking a step back to put space between us.
She waves her fingers and turns to go back to her desk.
I quickly make my way out to my car. As soon as I climb in, my phone goes off in my pocket. It’s my special ringtone, the one I have just for Seth. However, when I look down at the screen it isn’t Seth’s name that appears.
I answer the unknown call and lose my breath at the face that appears on my screen. I scan the area around me, making sure this isn’t some kind of joke.
“Angel?”
She laughs, a sound I’ve missed hearing so badly.
“Relax, Lucien. This is prerecorded. I picked up a few tricks along the way.” She winks at me before leaning back in her seat.
For a moment, my heart races and excitement fills me. Since the moment I got the news, I’d hoped it was fake. The one woman who understood me, isn’t dead. I fight the clawing feeling in my chest.
“This message is only for you right now,” she goes on to say, pushing her hair behind her ears.
For the first time since I met her, I think I’m seeing the real Albany. There are no wigs, no costumes, and no personas. This is just a woman who knew her time was up.
I pick up a few more things, like the dimness in her eyes and the tension in her shoulders. These are the things I wish I would have noticed sooner. Things that, had I noticed, I might have been able to save her.
“Even though I know he’ll find out soon enough.” She shrugs. “I left you something.” Another smile spreads over her face. One that has me touching the screen, wishing it were her before me instead of a phone.
“I won’t make it easy for you though.” She moves the camera and then the screen flips around and I can tell she’s in some kind of bookstore. There are hundreds of bookstores around here and even more, i
f you start moving outside of the city. She doesn’t show me anything that could give me a sign of which borough she’s in.
When the camera flips back around, she’s smiling. “You have to come find it. For old time sakes.”
I laugh out loud in my car. That was my and Angel’s thing. We always had a special bond. We loved playing detective and leaving clues for each other to find. We both got so good at the game, I can no longer remember who was in the lead.
“Be good, Lucien.” She smiles at the screen one last time before the recorded message goes out. I clutch the phone in my hand and again my heart breaks for my lost friend. The world will never be the same without her.
Tossing my phone onto the passenger seat, I then start my car and pull away from the curb. I have a new mission. Angel left me something, and I’m going to find it. The hard part will be keeping it from Seth.
Chapter 5
His Brother
Malia
* * *
“All right, ladies. Thanks for coming,” I say goodbye to the ladies of my book club.
I find myself looking over to the tall man at the table by the window again. He has grabbed my attention from the moment he walked in. Going by the size chart on the side of the door, he’s 6 feet 5 inches of lean muscles. He has the body of a runner and what he’s doing to that button up shirt should be a crime.
His skin is golden like he’s from Greece or Italy. Hair slightly covers his square jaw, and dark brown wavy locks are perfectly brushed back from his face.
I spent the entirety of the book club watching this man drink coffee and read a magazine. Who the hell knew the simple task could be so sexy? After seeing the ladies out, I head to the counter where Tiana stands wiping down the empty display case.
“Have you ever seen a man so handsome?” she asks the moment I reach her. “It’s like he was plucked from the heavens and placed on earth.”