CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO || COLE #3
“Why the automotive store?” Then something became more vulnerable in his expression, and I saw it all over again—what it had cost him to come here.
“Tell me, Nicolas. Please. I need to know.”
I found that, in the face of that, I couldn’t even want to refuse him.
“It was down the street from where he murdered Joseph. I followed his scent into an alley behind the store and saw there were security cameras.” I paused, then added, “The scent vanished in the alleyway, so I knew he’d gotten into a vehicle.
I figured the cameras might have caught the license plate, which I could run to give me an address.
” I sighed. “I was hypnotizing the store manager into giving me the footage.”
And mind-controlling him into giving up his addiction to cigarettes. Naturally, I didn’t say that part out loud. It wouldn’t have helped my cause any.
“And then you went to the police station,” Eli said, nodding, clearly intent on galloping off in the wrong direction about me. “You reviewed the footage there. And you had someone run the guy’s license plate. Or maybe you did it yourself. And then it brought you here.”
“Yes.”
The smile that split his lips was much colder than I could have imagined Eli capable of.
“Good. He deserved to die.” He paused long enough to glance at the corpse of Morgan Peterson with a dark look before turning back to me. “I almost wish I hadn’t interrupted you.”
“Eli, it’s not like that. I didn’t come here to get justice for these victims. I came here because—”
“Because you like it. I heard you the first, second, and third time!” Eli’s eyes flashed with anger, and I remembered, all over again, that he had a temper. “Can you just stop and think for a second, though? Has it occurred to you that maybe it doesn’t matter what you wanted?”
I had to laugh at that, even though it wasn’t especially funny.
“Not usually.”
He scowled at that, glaring me down.
“It doesn’t matter why you planned to kill him.
You stopped him from doing this to anyone else!
” He paused long enough to gesture to the wall of victims with one hand, never taking his eyes from mine.
“And it doesn’t matter if you planned on stopping him for that reason.
You saved innocent lives by ending his.”
“I’ve killed thousands.”
“Which means you’ve probably saved just as many innocent people. Probably more than that!”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why are you being such an ass right now?”
“Because you aren’t seeing me clearly!” I snapped. “I’m dangerous, Eli! And I put you in danger, just by getting close to you! I put your sister in danger, too!”
He sobered at that.
“Sam’s in danger? How?”
“There’s another vampire,” I muttered. “He—or she—is a killer, like me. They murdered someone a mile from my home.”
“Are you saying it was a message for you?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But it could have been meant for me. I’ve hurt a lot of people over the years. I’ve made a lot of enemies.” I tried to sound cold and callous, but instead it came out exhausted. “I’m not a very nice person, Eli.”
“That’s why you bought the house next door to me, isn’t it?” he demanded, understanding dawning in his expression. “It was because of this, wasn’t it?”
“You were in danger,” I said simply.
“You barely knew me! And you were worried a vampire might try to hurt me.”
I glared back at him.
“I used mind control to force your neighbors to leave town. That’s how I moved into their house.”
“Wait. You made them give you their house?” Eli’s eyebrows shot up, and he, for the very first time, seemed genuinely scandalized. “Okay, yeah—that’s a little messed up.”
“No,” I huffed. “I’m a monster, I’m not an asshole. I bought it from them in cash—way over market value. They’re in Florida, enjoying their retirement.”
Eli stared at me blankly for a long moment. Then he started laughing.
I scowled. “It’s not funny.”
He wiped at his eyes, still chuckling. “No, actually, it is. You moved into the house next door because you were worried about my safety. But you bought the house because your principles didn’t let you just take it—even though you could have.”
“I have plenty of money,” I snapped. “There’s no sense in fucking someone over if I don’t have to. It’s sloppy. That’s how you make enemies.”
“Right. I’m sure the Parsons next door would have been formidable if you crossed them.” He let out another soft chuckle. “Very scary.”
“It made sense to have all the paperwork in my name. It was the logical thing to do.”
“If you can make it so serial killers can’t move just by glaring at them or whatever, then you could have just forced anyone into obeying you, right? If someone started asking questions, I mean. You could have made them stop. You could have made them forget all about it.”
“Eli—”
“You know what I find funny?”
“Near-death experiences?”
“You’ve told me you never lie. And maybe that’s how it is with other people—I have no idea.
I think I’m finally starting to understand you a little more, and I think that’s probably true.
Or at least, you think it is. You probably don’t ever lie to anyone on purpose.
” Then he paused, and his smile vanished.
Something in his expression went much softer—almost tender.
“But it seems like you might lie to yourself, Nicolas. It seems like you might lie to yourself an awful lot.”