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“Don’t play stupid.” The emotion had gone out of her voice. “You’re not sorry. Neither am I. But it’s done. You and that demon did what you had to do too, didn’t you? Maybe I should thank you.” Another bitter laugh. “Bye, Rae. Honestly, congrats. You survived.”
She hung up. Raelynn stared at the phone in her hand, blinking slowly, processing. What the hell had just happened? By her tone, Victoria wasn’t lying. She wasn’t faking. She was terrified.
“Kent Hadleigh is dead.” Raelynn stared up at me, something like a smile daring to pull at her lips. “He’s...he’sdead. Oh my God. Did you… Was it you?”
“I goddamn wish it was.” I began to pace as I thought. Kent was dead. The Libiri would be in chaos, scrambling for a leader. Vulnerable. And to judge by her words, Victoria thought I was the killer too. They were in the dark; they didn’t even know who was attacking them. “I told you, Kent kept himself protected. It would be difficult for any demon to cause him harm. But Juniper...Juniper could have killed him.”
“Of course! She was at the party.” She grinned, suddenly bouncing out of her chair. “It’s fuckingdone, Leon! He’sdead!” She threw her arms around me and I flinched, but so did she when her enthusiasm caused her to press her tender piercings against me. Even that didn’t dissuade her. She was smiling, moving her shoulders in that silly dance she did when she was excited.
I wished I could share her enthusiasm.
“I can go back!” She stretched her arms above her head, sighing all the tension out. “I’ve only missed a day of class, I can actually get through this semester and pass!”
But this seemed too easy, too...convenient. I did believe Kent was dead, but Ididn’tbelieve this ended with him.
This wasn’t over.But I didn’t know what was coming next. I didn’t know where the danger lay now.
Who was going to take Kent’s place?
“I’ll call Inaya and tell her I’ll pick up Cheesecake tonight,” Rae said excitedly. I didn’t stop her as she made the call, but taking her back to Abelaum felt too dangerous. It felt too soon. The Libiri couldn’t possibly give up this easily. The Hadleighs were just one family, but they weren’t the only family who put their loyalty in the Deep One.
Or maybe I really didn’t like the idea of Rae no longer needing my protection from them. Maybe I didn’t like the idea of going back to that town that held so many bad memories for me. Maybe I just wanted to take my girl anywhere else in the world but there, and watch her hunt ghosts to her heart’s content, and never have to think about the Libiri again.
Yeah. That was probably fucking it.
“Leon?”
She’d hung up the phone, and was sitting in front of her half-eaten waffles looking suddenly sobered. “Is it...I mean...do you think it’s safe to go back?”
I rubbed a hand over my face. I knew why she wanted to go back. I knew humans got attached to places and things, and that leaving all the sights and smells that had grown comfortable for her was hard. I knew she thought finishing school was important, and I knew she loved that cat. I knew humans did best when they had some semblance of normalcy. Of home. Of safety.
I knew whisking her away and forcing her to leave everything behind wouldn’t work, or that perpetually moving her from hotel to hotel was going to stress her out.
“I don’t know.” That was the most honest answer I could give. “I don’t know what the Libiri will do now that Kent is gone. And with or without the Libiri, the God still wants you.” Fear flickered over her face, and was swallowed down with a heavy gulp. “Its servants will still come after you. The monsters will still stalk you.”
The way her face fell and the way all that tense hope went out of her, felt similar to a hammer crashing against my ribs. I sat down at the edge of the bed, motioning her over. She stood in front of me, the new metal in her nipples pressed against her shirt, her fingers fiddling with her pajama pants. I brushed my fingers over her lips, her cheek, through the soft strands of her hair. I wasn’t good at being gentle; it made my fingers twitchy. But it was worth the self-restraint to feel her lean her face against my hand.
“Do you want to go back?”
She nodded. “I’m not really any safer here, am I? The monsters don’t care about city limits. It’s not like I can go out after dark here, or walk around by myself.” She sighed. “I mean, I...I still...I need you with me.”
“You’re mine,” I said simply. “I’m not leaving.”
“I think about it every day, you know.” She bit her lip, eyes staring off so she wouldn’t have to meet mine. “The deal you offered. I think about it. It’s just…” She tried to turn away, but I kept a grip on the nape of her neck. I wanted to see her face, her eyes. I didn’t want her hiding her fears from me. “It’s a big decision, Leon.”
The way I ached for her soul was nearly unbearable. It was a constant pressure on the back of my mind, an itch I couldn’t reach. The need to possess her, wholly. We demons had the power to take nearly anything we wanted, but a human soul?
That had to be given willingly.
It was fucking torture.
I got up from the bed, kissing her forehead as I tugged her head back to look up at me. “I know. I’m waiting, Rae. I’m not going anywhere. You’ll give it to me eventually.” I smirked, and shrugged, as nonplussed as I could manage to fake. “Pack up, baby girl. Let’s get you home.”
Even at midday, thick fog obscured Abelaum. The streetlights were still on, glowing pale yellow, and cars drove slowly along the narrow suburban streets. The town lay blanketed in the damp, as if it had gathered the fog close and held it there, like a cloak to hide its secrets.
I’d hoped to feel some kind of weight lift, but my unease was growing; partially because Leon was clearly on high alert. He was rigid in his seat as he drove the truck down Main Street, his eyes flickering along the sidewalks, watching every passerby, narrowing at every car.
Kent’s death didn’t hit the state news, but it got a spread in the town’s tiny newspaper. HEAD OF LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY DEAD IN AN APPARENT SUICIDE was the headline on their website.Suicide.
