27. Epilogue
27
Epilogue
Ever
Six Months Later
“You know, I just ordered some take out, why don’t you come in for a second? It’s late, and I know you haven’t eaten.”
“No, I’m okay Jason. Thank you though,” I said with a tight smile on my face while trying and failing to run from my neighbor. The twisting staircases and maze-like halls of my apartment building left me no choice but to pass by his door on my way home from work, and he conveniently always seemed to be waiting by his peephole.
“Come on, Emily, you’re going to have to give in sooner or later,” he was trying for humor but it hit too close to home. He knew me by my given alias, Emily Caring. A twenty-three, almost twenty-four, year old records assistant at the library.
“I really can’t, tonight. I have a paper to write and, as you said, it’s already late. Goodnight, Jason.” I was trying to twist the bent key into the lock, but he wasn’t giving up that fast. I’d lived here for about three months now, choosing to move away from Seattle after my lengthy recovery from surgery. My hope was that no one from my old life could trace me here. Day one, Jason had propped himself in my door frame, grinning from ear to ear.
He pushed a hand through too-short blonde hair, baby-blue eyes crinkled in false sincerity. “You’re killing me here, Ems. Let me take you out tomorrow night.”
Blessedly the lock turned, and I pushed through it in a hurry. “I have class tomorrow, but I’ll see you around!” I closed the door with a grimace, turning the lock and propping my door-stopper against the handle. I no longer trusted locks on their own.
I’d come here for a new start, one that left Theron and my old life behind — buried where it belonged. I’d taken a life, and it haunted me that it hadn’t bothered me near as much as it should have. It rocked me to my core, gave me nightmares, and made it hard to eat red meat, but looking back — I still don’t think I would have been able to hold myself back from killing him. Not when I saw the dark brown eyes of him when the man pleaded. All I could imagine were hands all over my body, a lip curled in disgust and the feeling of carpet rubbing a rash into my knees.
Leaning against the wall I loosed a sigh, then shrugged off my coat and hung it on the rack. The apartment had a long hallway that led into the main living area, where an open kitchen connected to a small breakfast nook where I spent most of my nights studying for the library science degree that I hoped would afford me a comfortable job working for the state. On either side of the hall were doors, one leading into a small bedroom with one window and the other to a bathroom that only had a shower — not that I wanted to find myself on the floor of a bath again.
“Meow.” A small ball of calico fur called me from the living room.
A smile played across my face, and peeking around the corner I saw Claudia sitting on her perch. I’d found her a month ago on my walk home, her mother having been hit by a car. I couldn’t have picked a more suitable name for an orphaned little girl, being taken in by something dark and broken.
She made the dark, cold nights feel a little less lonely.
“Hello sweetness,” I cooed as she stretched and jumped down to greet me. “Did you have a productive day? A long nap?”
She purred, rubbing her cheeks against my leg and staring up with moon yellow eye. I picked her up, cradling her against my chest as I walked into the kitchen and sat her atop the counter. I know many would object to allowing a cat free range of the apartment and, but who was here to judge me? Certainly not Claudia.
“Alright, alright,” I tutted as she tried to knock a cereal box onto the floor. “You’re a brat.” I threw a handful of treats to her. Claudia purred happily and decided to leave the Raisin Bran be — for now.
Sitting down at the table I opened my laptop and looked over the paper I’d finished the night before, making sure everything was perfect before I turned it in. The community college I attended as a hybrid student was small, but quality. The part time study was so I could still work, not willing to touch more of the money in my bank account than strictly necessary. It was blood money.
I’d done what I had to in the first few months, staying at a hotel in the city while nameless nurses checked in on me with masks covering their faces. I called them Tabitha Two and Tabitha Three in my head. They both resembled the faceless Haunted Hill nurses more than anything, tilting their head when I asked an unnecessary question and rarely looking me in the eyes.
I put a deposit down on this apartment the moment I found it, then searched for local jobs that would cover the most basic of expenses while I found my feet. The only luxury I allotted myself was funds for school, and Claudia’s vet bills.
The clock on the microwave blinked 9:00 and I felt my stomach ache. Other than staying on top of my medications, I couldn’t say with honesty that I was taking care of myself. There were days I forgot to eat, and mornings that my alarm blared from my phone when I had yet to sleep. I couldn’t help it. Life had lost its flavor, and my dreams even more so.
I’d close my eyes, and the darkness would remind me of his midnight gaze. I wanted to fall forward into that emptiness and let it swallow me whole — hoping it was a pit I couldn’t crawl out of. Every morning would end in disappointment when I awoke.
My fingers trailed up my arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake as I closed my eyes and thought of his touch. His voice.
Little rabbit , he’d whisper to me. You’re hiding from me, rabbit.
I didn’t want to, I’d moan as his fingers ghosted my breasts. Please don’t be angry.
My fingers skated across my lips, dipping into my mouth . Theron, I’d beg as my other hand slid below my waistband and flirted with the crease of my pussy through wet fabric.
Yes, rabbit?
Touch me. Please! I’d beg him before shoving my fingers into my mouth and biting down. Sometimes I’d get so caught up in my daydreams I’d only be brought back by the taste of my own blood.
But you left me, rabbit. You didn’t want me.
“Uhm,” I groaned aloud as my finger pressed down on my throbbing clit.
No! I didn’t want to leave . The image of him started to blur, and I chased it. Please don’t go. I miss you.
My fingers sped up, circling my entrance as my hips jerked. Fuck — just come back!
His black eyes blinked once — twice. This is your fault, rabbit. You ran.
I tore my fingers from my mouth with a cry. “Please,” I croaked. “Theron!”
It was too late. The ghost of him had come to say his piece, and had disappeared again to the recesses of my brain where he’d stay until he decided to haunt me again. My head tilted back, staring up at the water-stained ceiling with longing.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered before closing my laptop and heading to bed.
* * *
Theron
“Please. Theron!” Her voice came through the receiver in a cry of anguish, and I groaned watching her chase a release she hadn’t been able to catch since she left me.
I watched as she closed her laptop and walked down her hallway to the bedroom. “Claudia!” She called back to the kitten she’d rescued. “Come on, girl.”
The little fur ball bounced across her counters, trotting after her owner as they moved to her bed where she flopped down with a sigh. This was her usual routine — coming home late to do school work, failing to reach climax and then falling into bed with a lonely look and a novel.
It hadn’t taken me long to find her, placing sharpened blades to the right throats gave me the dossier for a harvester in Portland which led me to the facility in Seattle she’d been taken to. My father had thought he’d placed enough money into the hands of harvesters to keep their lips sealed, but he forgot that they only recognized active hunters. Orlo Hawthorne had retired years ago, and they held no special allegiance to this man they’d never met.
I had to admit it was smart of my father to tell me she didn’t have it in her to take a heart from someone else. He’d hoped it would dissuade me, thinking that she lacked the will to live if it left a dark mark on her soul. Luckily for me, Ever Knight wasn’t so complicated. She left the city after her recovery, boasting a new alias and half a million dollars that by my calculation, she had barely touched.
So why did she take the money and run? My only thought initially was that she couldn’t stomach staying with me after seeing me in the operating room. She was so terrified that leaving her life behind seemed preferable to being part of mine. But then every night, as she slipped her fingers between wanting lips and called out my name, I became less and less sure of her reasoning.
Maybe she did hate me, but she still found our little chase appealing? Plausible. Workable even, as I could live with her hate. So long as she was mine, I didn’t care if she tried to get away. I would never give her the chance again.
I looked down at the white lines etched in my skin — tattoos of where she had last sunk her teeth into my hand. I wanted a reminder of who she was, and what we were. Ever Knight was mine, and I wasn’t letting go.
“Soon, little rabbit.” I said, staring down at the screen, a slight smile gracing my lips. My eyes trailed up, gazing out the tinted car window towards her bedroom where I could see her bedside light still glowing. “Let’s continue the chase.”