I turn on my heel and march right back up to him, and his brow furrows. “Change your mind, sweetheart?” The closer I get, the oilier I feel. I examine his face, looking right into his eyes. He’s human—there’s no doubt about that—but something about him feels tainted.
He blinks several times, then reaches for a drink, bringing it up to his lips for a sip. Now that I know what to feel, I look around the club for others like him. I’m not surprised when I find them. Several of the corrupted humans are the same people I saw seated with Vanessa in the warded section. Could I really have closed myself off so much that I didn’t notice something more was going on here, or is this something new?
Too much strange shit has been happening for it all to be just a coincidence. Gunnar’s arrival, Grim letting me see him… I take a step back from the foul man. “Whatever you’re doing to yourself,” I move my hand around, indicating his feet where the sludge of blackness is the heaviest, “it’s going to kill you. And I promise it won’t be fun.”
His face slips into a grin before he realizes I’m being serious. Then his mouth opens like he might ask me a question, but I turn back around and walk out of the club, happy to be away from the empty feeling coming from him.
Chapter 10
“What do you think it is?” I lay down a set of three sixes. Uncle Skinny Legs is folded into the chair across from me. His long, dark fingers are curled around a spread of seven cards. I can’t see his eyes, but I know he’s looking at his hand.
“Witches, I suppose,” he drawls, his voice raspy with disuse. He rarely speaks to me. I didn’t even realize he could until a few years ago. When he would visit, I would talk and talk, just to remind myself I wasn’t alone. Then one day, he finally answered one of my silly questions—I can’t even recall what I asked now. I was so surprised that I dropped my cards. He promptly looked them all over and made a deep rasping sound that I’ve come to know as his laugh.
“Witches?” I eye him over my hand, waiting for him to take his turn. “They’re real?” I can hear how skeptical I sound.
Uncle lowers his hand and I note his blank face, I can just imagine the droll look he’d be giving me if he had more discernable features. It’s only when he opens his mouth that you get to see what he really looks like.
“Okay, so I probably should have known that, but it’s not like any of you guys are raring to answer my questions,” I grouch, and pluck at my cards. “Why do they feel so bad?” I skeeve myself out—just remembering the oily tar coating the man’s aura—and shiver.
“Dirty magic,” Uncle announces slowly.
“Like Voodoo or some shit?”
Uncle shakes his head slowly in denial. He doesn’t say it, but I know I’m not going to get any more answers from him. He picks up a card from the pile and slots it into his hand before laying them on the table between us. He has a run of four and a set of three nines.
“What about your discard?” I pipe up. I can’t believe he’s about to beat me again.
He laughs and waves his hand in my direction for me to go. I still have three cards in my hand, and I have to pick up another. The chance of me going out before him is nil. “Damn it, Uncle,” I curse and drop a discard. I wasn’t able to unload any of my cards.
Uncle ends up winning two rounds later, and he gathers his winnings of marbles and pockets them as usual.
“Will you at least tell me where Redmon went and how long she’ll be gone?” I know he’s leaving soon. He usually just sticks around for a game of cards, and then he’s on his way to haunt parks and children’s yards.
Instead of answering, Uncle lays his hand on my shoulder. He’s a good two feet taller than I am. So, I crane my neck to look up at him.
“Ugh, why don’t you guys just tell me? What’s the big secret? Nobody tells me anything.” I toss my hands in the air in frustration.
“We have rules, child.” I look over my shoulder to see Theius crouched near the door to the kitchen. He rises to his full height of maybe three and a half feet, and shakes out his shaggy, grayish fur.
Uncle gives my shoulder a squeeze before he walks into the shadows, disappearing from view. I don’t even really know how half of them get here, or why they come to me. Are they truly drawn to my power? I’ve been wondering about exactly that since Gunnar mentioned it at the club.
“Hey, Theius,” I greet, heaving a sigh of relief. With the right bribe, I can get Theius to give me some answers.
I make my way to the kitchen with Theius close on my heels. He’s one of the few baddies to visit me who’s told me some of his tale. I drag out the stool from under the island so he can climb up. His claw-tipped fingers scrape the wooden seat, but I don’t mind. It blends in with all the other scrapes and scratches from over the years.
“What’ll it be tonight, Theius?” I open the fridge and peer in. I know he doesn’t care for ice cream, or anything cold really. His legend says he was in a hunting party that got lost in a winter storm and he resorted to cannibalism to survive.
I don’t know if it actually happened or if that’s just the story told to frighten people, but I do know he’s always hungry, achingly so. And I know what it feels like to suffer with that hollow feeling. “Only what you can spare, child,” he replies, with a small drip of saliva already glinting off his gray lip.
“You can have it all, Theius.” I wave my hand around the kitchen, hating that even after he eats, he’ll still experience the same emptiness.
“May I have some bread?” He looks up at me with his dark, owlish eyes.
It takes everything inside me not to wrap my arms around him in a hug, but he would hate the pity.
“One loaf, coming up.” I force some cheeriness into my tone. When I reach the pantry, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, grounding myself. I know there’s nothing I can really do for him but offer what I have and hope one day he will find something that will sustain him the way sins nourish me.
I untwist the tie keeping the bread closed, and grab a plate from the cupboard, placing several slices on the dish before scooting it in front of Theius. Then I grab the large jar of peanut butter from the shelf and slide it over to him as well.
