19. Liam
Chapter 19
Liam
D inner was quiet that evening. Liam was sullen and distracted and Fix didn’t seem to know how to bridge the chasm that had suddenly formed between them.
He broke the curse on Liam’s phone and Liam quickly snatched it before he could see anything on it. His mind was a riot of half-formed ideas and plans. They went to bed on opposite sides of the mattress, Liam turning his back and hugging King to his chest.
Everything in him wanted to roll over and beg his daddy for some attention and affection, but stubbornness kept him cold and lonely. His mind continued to spin, the messages on his phone taunting him.
There was no way he could sleep, but he feigned it because he could feel Fix staring at his back.
A hand sifted through his hair where it lay on the pillow behind him, and he schooled his body not to curl into it.
Fix sighed.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Fix whispered into the space between them. “I just want you to be safe.”
Liam was glad his face was tucked into King’s ruff so it could hide the way he winced at the genuine care and raw emotion in Fix’s voice. He couldn’t let go of this fire though, this stupid courage. If he did he didn’t know if he would ever get it back.
He couldn’t live like this anymore. If he had to spend one more second waiting around for the other shoe to drop, he didn’t know if the curse would get him first or if he’d just give up entirely. Fix was sympathetic and knew better than most what curses could do to a person, but no one could truly understand what this felt like.
Years. This had been his reality for fucking years, thinking he was broken and cursed and just meant to be miserable for eternity.
He wanted a day of reckoning. A chance to fight back on his own terms before the end could find him first.
However that turned out.
He eventually heard Fix drop off behind him and turned over once it was safe to stare at his face. He did that for hours, memorizing every inch, until the sun began to threaten the horizon and he’d run out of time.
Fix’s phone lit up the darkness and Liam quickly rolled back over as Fix stirred. He felt the bed shift as Fix checked him over first, like he’d started to do every morning before he grabbed his phone.
“Hello?” he said, voice deep and rough. There was silence for a moment as he listened. “I can be there in half an hour, then send me the details for the case after that in an hour. The first one shouldn’t take me too long. Is everyone else at work already?”
Another pause.
“Just Wren? I’ll ask him to watch over Liam then. See you.” He hung up and then slipped out of bed, heading for the bathroom.
Liam’s heart was racing, already knowing he wouldn’t be getting a better opportunity than this. A red carpet had just been rolled out in front of him.
Fix got dressed while Liam continued to pretend to sleep. When he was done he approached the bed and bent down to lay a kiss on Liam’s temple. Liam watched his back as he left, hoping today wouldn’t be the last time he saw it.
He waited for the sound of the front door closing before he grabbed his phone and logged into his streaming account, finding a provocative picture of himself and posting it to his followers with a caption and a time with today’s date.
Who misses me?
No backing out.
He got ready for the day, grabbing everything he’d mentally listed, shoving it into a bag, and leaving it by the front door before using some of the adrenaline coursing through him to feed and take care of King.
He saw a wrapped bowl on the kitchen counter with his name on it in Fix’s handwriting and nearly broke, but he took some deep breaths and told himself it was fine. He could get scolded and punished later. They could have the argument to end all arguments. At least he would be around to participate in it.
He just needed to get past the only obstacle left.
Wren.
He walked out the back door with King on his leash, finding Wren dressed in a faded, baggy conservation shirt and shorts, crouched on bare feet next to a huge coop and hutch with a fully fenced attachment spanning twenty feet at least that had a sign on top that said ‘ The Cluck Hut and Fluffy Butt Friends .’ The second part was scribbled on like it had been added later.
Liam could hear the telltale cluck of chickens and walked closer to see all colors and varieties of them walking around, pecking at the feed Wren had just scattered for them.
Among the chickens seemed to be a variety of other animals, from ducks to pheasants and even one humongous rabbit that looked half the size of King.
Wren was doting on all of them, the blue bird perched in his messy hair, trying to steal pieces of feed.
“Were all of them cursed?” Liam asked, keeping a tight hold on King so he didn’t go attacking the fence.
He’d shown zero interest in any other animal since he’d had him. He didn’t chase cats or bark at birds. He’d only ever become aggressive or wary when mixing with other dogs or people, which was understandable given his background, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Wren glanced over at him and smiled in greeting before looking back at the animals. “They were. Domesticated animals, especially in the food and farming trade, are some of the most frequently cursed. People try to cut corners or force animals to overproduce for profits and it backfires. I rescue as many as I can around all my other cases.”
Liam looked at all the animals happily living their lives under Wren’s tender care and his heart ached for them like it had for King. “I’m glad they have you.”
“It’s not enough, but it’s something,” Wren said, giving the giant rabbit one last pet before closing the door, standing upright, and brushing off his hands. “What’s up? Do I need to call Fix back to break a curse? He didn’t leave too long ago.”
“Nothing like that.” Liam pulled on his best actor’s face. “I was just taking King for a walk around, but I feel bad. He hasn’t been for a proper walk since we’ve been here. I don’t know the grounds well enough and it’s not a good idea for me to be out and about and he won’t go to anyone else.”
“I can take him for a few hours. Let him blow off some steam in the woods,” Wren offered immediately, and Liam felt a stab of utter guilt for taking advantage of his kindness, but he couldn’t back out now.
“Really?”
He almost wished Wren would say no, but Wren nodded eagerly. “He’s a precious love muffin and I’d love to get to know him better. Fix said you rescued him?”
“Yeah, he’s from a dog fighting ring. That’s where his injury happened,” Liam explained. “You were right about the statistics for domesticated animal curses. They were cursing them to make more money.”
Wren set his jaw and Liam could have sworn the cursemark around his eye pulsed a deeper green. He approached King slowly and then crouched on his haunches, looking him over with a compassionate gaze. King didn’t bark at him once, like he instinctively sensed that Wren was a safe space.
“Did they say anything about the tattoo on the inside of his ear?” Wren asked.
“It was his number. It was how the assholes differentiated between them before they were rescued. He was one of thirty dogs brought in. Some of them stayed in Arcstead and some of them got shipped to the shelters over here in Slatehollow.”
Wren nodded slowly, turning his gaze back to King to stare soulfully at him. He seemed completely lost in his own head.
“What is it?” Liam asked, suddenly getting nervous. “Is there something wrong with him?”
“He’s perfect. The breaker did a good job…” Wren reached out to give King a pet under his chin. King didn’t even flinch, which was surreal to see from any hand but his own. “I’ve just seen this mark before, that’s all.”
“You have?”
“Would you mind if I took a look at his papers?” Wren asked.
“Sure. I can dig them out. Well…if I can go back to my apartment and if…if everything works out…” Liam trailed off, losing steam halfway through as he came back to his own reality. He took a deep breath before blurting out impulsively, “Would you take him?”
Wren’s doll-like mouth parted slightly as he tried to keep up. “King?”
Liam nodded shakily. “If anything ever happens to me. He can’t go back to a shelter, and I know Fix would try to keep him, but they haven’t bonded that much yet and King already seems to trust you and I’d feel better knowing he was in good hands—”
“Of course I’d take him.” Wren cut him off. “But nothing is going to happen to you.”
Liam gave a shaky smile, hoping that was true. “Thank you. It eases my mind, just in case, you know? I know we don’t know each other and it’s weird as hell to suddenly ask you to take my dog.”
Wren laughed. “He’s cute, so I don’t mind.”
“He is,” Liam whispered, stroking King’s soft ears.
“Do you want me to walk him now? Or do you want a minute?” Wren asked kindly.
“Now is good,” Liam said, but he was having a hard time letting go of the leash. Once he did, he was really going. He was really committing to this…
He took a deep breath and then transferred his hold.
King went, but he kept looking back at Liam in confusion. Liam felt like crying for some reason, but instead he smiled. “Be a good boy, King. I’ll see you soon.”
Wren stroked his head. “Come on, pretty boy. Let’s go run, huh? Stretch those legs.”
He started walking, building up into a jog and then taking off with King matching his stride easily.
Liam watched them until he couldn’t anymore.
He turned and headed inside, swiping a set of keys from the front door before hurrying out.
It had been years since he’d sat in the driver’s seat of a car, and even then it was under shady and questionable instructions, but Liam had no other option. The risk of someone coming home by the time he’d walked to the nearest station was too high.
He managed to get the car started and in gear, pulling away and down the driveway. It was mildly terrifying with no real control or experience, but he managed to merge onto the main road. He followed the signs and his own mental directions, thanking his lucky stars that cars were so uncommon there was hardly anyone to avoid.
After one stop at an electronics store, he pulled up outside his destination, the sagging metal fencing cordoning off the abandoned structure. It was a small mall that had gone out of business and fallen into disrepair when a huge multiplex opened in the inner city. Now it was a home to squatters and rats.
It had been his home once upon a time too.
He got out of the car and hefted his bag out, slipping through the fence and searching for a familiar entrance.
The loading dock was completely open, and Liam stepped over all the debris and trash, testing the door and finding it unlocked, even all these years later. He saw no one as he entered the dark hallway, but there were signs of life everywhere—used food containers, alcohol bottles, abandoned sleeping bags. The walls were full of graffiti and the smell of urine was strong enough to make him gag.
He pulled his shirt over his nose and carried on searching the familiar halls for a good spot to set up and wait; somewhere that would also offer avenues for escape if needed. This was home turf for him, which he intended to use to his advantage.
He couldn’t fight back the memories as he entered the huge, darkened atrium on the bottom floor, seeing the specter of himself as a teenager in every distorted, dirty reflection around him. The skylight above had holes and cracks in glass that was covered in a layer of grime and dirt, blocking the natural light that was trying to enter. Shafts broke through the holes, highlighting patches while the rest of the space was left in murky dankness.
All the stores were abandoned, the shutters long since taken off their hinges or forced upward. Naked shelves and empty boxes were the only signs that businesses had been operating there at all.
Liam walked in his old footsteps, retracing pathways he’d tried to pretend didn’t exist. This was another person’s life. Someone he’d killed and buried long ago.
He shook away the images and steeled himself.
He’d bury this right next to it, one way or the other.
In the center of the atrium he began to unload his bag, taking out his camera and the mini cameras he’d bought the store out of. He hadn’t even thought about the cost—that would be something he could deal with after.
He glanced around for the best place to set up and capture this asshole without them being able to avoid it.
Their identity remaining hidden was clearly paramount, so if Liam could leverage that and use it to his advantage he might have a shot at ending this. Or even just getting an image of their face and running away. At the very least, live streaming might help protect him if things went south.
Was this guy bold enough to murder him on camera in front of hundreds of people?
Pulling up his profile on his phone again, he posted another caption.
Come find me where the sky meets the star
Guess I’ll find out.
His phone buzzed and he jumped out of his skin, already walking on the knife’s edge of his nerves. He looked down and saw a message from an unknown number and his heart dropped.
Unknown: This is a stupid idea btw
Unknown: You shouldn't run TOWARD the stalker
Unknown: Wth did I bother helping you before if you were just going to get yourself on the side of a milk carton anyway?
The messages came through in quick succession, the assumption that this was the stalker quickly banished by the contents.
Help me?
Realization followed swiftly on its heels. The message on the TV that night had been sent by this person.
Liam: Who are you? Why did you help me?
Unknown: I have my reasons
Liam: If you can do all that, can’t you find this asshole and turn him in?
It took a while for a response to arrive, and when it came, it read petulant and annoyed.
Unknown: Guy is motherfucking slippery
Unknown: Which means he’s good at tech. He’s also good at avoiding the camera as your boyfriend already found out. So your plan to put him on blast without him knowing isn’t going to be easy
Liam: So what do you suggest?
Unknown: Who said I was offering my services?
Liam: Why else would we be talking?
Unknown: Maybe I just wanted to tell you you’re stupid
Liam: So the plan?
Unknown: Fuck, fine. Guy thinks he’s so smart, here’s what we’re gonna do to get his ass
He had no idea what he was expecting when he set it up, if he was being honest. Years of consuming over-the-top content had made his imagination wild. He pictured adrenaline making him jump over buildings and a showdown with a villain who’d deliver this well-rehearsed, creepy speech before good prevailed and whatever forces worked in Liam’s favor won.
Instead, he got debilitating silence as he stood in the middle of the ground floor of an abandoned mall.
All he could hear was his heart thundering in his chest. Fear made him want to run and hide. Regret at having done this without any real backup gnawed at his insides.
He glanced at one of the cameras he had hidden and sent a pleading look into it.
Please find me. Please be on time.
Something rustled behind him. He spun on his heel and tried to see what it was, but it was too dark.
“Hello?” he called out, flinching when his voice echoed around the empty space.
“Media lies.” A raspy, slow voice sounded from somewhere to his right and he snapped his head that way.
A figure emerged from the darkness, dressed in all black, hood over their head and gloves over their hands. It was the same exact figure from that night, the one that had chased him through his dreams. He began to shake, but he locked his knees in place.
“You look approachable. Accessible. You look tangible in your streams.”
“I act in my streams,” Liam said, glancing around himself to make sure he was in the right position. “It’s a performance.”
“To everyone else, maybe,” the shadow said, voice full of reverence. “Not to me. You’re you for me.”
“Yeah?” Liam asked, trying to stop his voice from trembling. He was terrified. Cold all over from it.
“I’ve been there from the start,” the guy said. He walked into one of the shafts of light and Liam could finally see him properly.
He wasn’t wearing a mask and Liam’s heart raced in victory, his adrenaline spiking.
Got you.
Tall, with dark hair and eyes, and clean-shaven, he could have been considered handsome if not for the completely insane look in his eyes and the twitch in his neck he kept repeating. His shoulders were drawn up to his ears and he walked like a predator. Slow. Calculated.
Liam stepped back instinctually before reminding himself there were cameras. He just had to remember that.
“You showed up like an angel, wide-eyed and innocent and clumsy,” the man said, his face stretching into a horrible facsimile of a smile. “I’ve been there to see you change. But I still see the real you beneath the acts you put on. Lovely as they are.”
“You followed me,” Liam accused. “You’ve been following me.”
“I’ve always been with you,” he said, eyes fever bright. “I’ve dedicated my life to you.”
“I didn’t ask for that,” Liam whispered, feeling disgust crawling over his skin.
“You didn’t ask for any of the things I’ve given you. I gave them freely. Can’t you see how much I love you?” he implored, holding his hand out to Liam.
Liam wanted to vomit.
Love?
This wasn’t love. This was obsession. Sickness.
It was a sticky film over his skin, making him want to rub himself raw to remove it, but he was locked inside a trap of his own making.
He’d locked himself in with a predator.
“How did you find out where I live?” Liam demanded, eyes flicking to the spots where he’d placed the cameras. How much time had passed? How long did he have to keep this going?
“I’ll admit you’re tricky to find.” The man took a few steps closer. Liam forced himself to stand still even though they were now so close he could smell the scent of him, realizing that he had smelled it many times before in passing. In his hallway. On the street. It made him want to gag. “Smart and beautiful. It took me ages to figure it out. I just loved you from afar, until I could.”
“How did you do it?” Liam asked again, because he was getting as much out of this asshole on camera as he could before it all went to shit.
“You didn’t cover your window in one of your streams. You can see the balcony of the building next to yours. I spent months trying to find that balcony.”
Liam gasped, trying to wrap his head around it and not lose it. His flight reflex was screaming at him to run, to get away, but it wasn’t time yet.
“That’s a lot of attention and effort,” Liam said, trying to stay calm.
“All of my attention and effort has gone to you,” the man said, seeking approval like an eager puppy. “How do you think I knew where you’d be today? Your message was meant for me. I know everything about you, Liam. Every little detail you’ve ever accidentally slipped in one of your streams, I know. I’ve built up the image of you piece by tiny piece. Like a puzzle.”
“You’re crazy,” Liam said, because he couldn’t hold it in any longer. It was insanity.
“About you?” the man asked. “Yes. I am. I’m not sorry for any of it.”
“You should be,” Liam said, temper sparking and making him hot. “You did horrible things to me. You made me terrified!”
Liam watched as the man clenched his fists and the twitches in his neck got more prominent at his anger.
“It wasn’t my intention,” he bit through his teeth. “They were all tokens of my appreciation. I wanted you to think of me. I wanted to stay on your mind like you constantly stayed on mine. And it worked.”
“Did it?” Liam asked. “Is this what you wanted? For me to fear you?”
“It’s just temporary.” He said it like he was sure of it. “You just have to get to know me better. You already came to me. That’s the most important thing.”
“I’m not staying,” Liam blurted out foolishly. “I have someone waiting for me.”
Like he had flipped a switch, the man’s demeanor changed from obsessively loving to murderous in a split second. His chest began to heave like a bull’s, his neck twitching even more.
Liam stepped back.
The man followed, faster now, reactive.
“The cursebreaker.” He spat it like the word was filthy.
He’d fucked up and overplayed his hand. He should have never mentioned Fix and antagonized him. He could feel the danger in the air and he scrabbled for a foothold as his survival instincts took over.
“He knows I came to meet with you. He knows where I am. He’ll be here soon,” he said quickly, hoping the threat might make the stalker pause or retreat.
All it did was incense him further.
“He’ll stay away if he knows what’s good for him!” the man growled, dark eyes flashing. “And you.”
“Are you threatening me?” Liam asked, and before he could even finish the sentence, the man had closed the distance between them to an uncomfortable small gap, and Liam could hear him breathing.
“I’m promising you, baby,” the man said, leaning in over him. “You shouldn’t have let him touch you. You don’t belong to him.”
“I don’t belong to you,” Liam said, his heart filled with so much fear, but steadfast.
Teeth glinted at him in a snarl. “YOU DO!”
His voice echoed in the space, making Liam flinch. His heart was racing, his blood pumping in his ears. He looked at the camera, begging for help that was too slow to come.
“And if I can’t have you…then no one can.”
A hand reached for him and his life flashed before his eyes just as a broken, crooked television that was hanging on the wall with its wires sticking out the back suddenly lit up.
Reflected back at them on the cracked screen were their own figures.
How is that possible?
“You’re recording this,” the man said before Liam’s brain could fully process what he was seeing. “You tried to trick me.”
Liam’s stomach dropped. “N-no…”
The stalker snapped his head around to look directly at one of the hidden cameras and walked over to grab it. He held it up and bared his teeth. “LIAR!”
Liam bolted.
He heard the stalker scream and a smash as he trashed the camera and followed.
Liam sobbed in fear as he pushed his legs faster, aiming for an escalator at the other end of the atrium. The plan was completely screwed. Everything was messed up. He didn’t understand what had happened, or how it had gone so wrong.
He just needed to get out of here.
He passed a massive fountain halfway that had dried up long ago and screamed when it erupted with water, soaking him as he passed and continuing to spill out like a waterfall.
Curses.
These were all curses.
He knew it deep down as his chest started to get tight, not just from lack of air as he ran. There was something tugging on him.
A Thousand Curses.
Fighting the sluggishness that wanted to swallow him like quicksand, he pushed on, hitting the bottom step of the only escalator that wasn’t completely ruined or destroyed. He was halfway up when it turned on suddenly, the steps moving under his feet and dragging him back down.
Liam pumped his legs faster with a cry of anguish, barely reaching the top and dragging himself on his hands and knees to the second floor.
He scrambled back to his feet as the stalker glared at him from the bottom and yelled incoherently, running for another way up.
Liam sprinted in the opposite direction, knowing there was a store that was split-leveled on the opposite end that would lead him down directly to a side door on the back of the mall and out.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket with trembling fingers as he ran, Fix’s name the only one he could think of. As soon as he did, he could see that it was stuck on the front-facing camera and it was recording.
Liam tried to swipe out of it but it wouldn’t respond.
He watched his own face fall in hopelessness as messages started to appear at the top of his screen.
Unknown: It’s a curse
Unknown: I can’t stop it
Unknown: The police are on their way
Unknown: Get out of there if you can
Unknown: I’ll get Fix
“LIAM!!” The voice echoed in the space, full of fury, and he saw a shadow emerge to his left, eyes glinting at him from the dark.
Liam ran.