Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
VALE
The small, shuddering form in my arms was doing nothing to calm the chaos inside me. I wanted to kill. I wanted to kill so badly.
Baz was wrong when he said I could have taken out half of Haruka’s forces. I didn’t think I could have stopped at half. If I’d fought even one person, I would have killed them, and I didn’t think I would have stopped until Gareth took me out.
It’s our deal. We’re each other’s kill switch. If one of us ever loses the plot, we’ve agreed to stop the other no matter the cost. Gareth refuses to do it otherwise, though.
Bitch fits and tantrums don’t count, apparently.
Why was it so fucking difficult to get my shit together after meeting Echo? I wanted people to hurt. I wanted people to bleed.
It was the bells’ influence. It had to be.
I wanted to smash Apple’s stupid, smiling face until he stopped being so ridiculously pretty.
I could have done it. Gareth would consider our kill-switch clause activated and give me what I’d been asking him for since we’d left that stupid base together all those years ago. But if I’d massacred Haruka’s troops and killed Apple, Adam would be upset, and I didn’t want that.
It’s impossible for me to hate Adam. He’s beyond unflappable. I’ve seen him be on fire and simply pat it out while continuing on with what he was doing.
With Apple around, his chill is infinite. Nothing bothers him. Not even me on my worst days. He’ll sit and let me rant and complain until I run out of steam, and he’ll listen to it all without interrupting. When I’m done, he just gives me a simple, “That’s rough, man.”
No judgment. No advice. Just understanding.
So, even if Adam’s choice of life partner is unimaginably idiotic, I still respect it. Especially since it improves the quality of his life so much. Who am I to begrudge such a gift?
Echo’s body was tense against mine, and I could tell he wanted to be done with the evening as much as I did, so I asked Gareth, “What else do you want to know?” to get the ball rolling once more.
“Did Lyle give him any clues about the cult while they were together the day he died? I see from their messages that he wasn’t forthcoming.”
I rolled my eyes. “He can understand you, Gareth. He only needs help communicating. From what I’ve pieced together, it helps to say as much as possible to give him something to work with.”
Echo nodded, avoiding my gaze. “Give me something to work with.”
I heard Gareth’s heart rate spike and then settle again.
He was annoyed with the situation, but he had too much self-control to show it.
His legendary self-control was one of the main reasons he was in charge.
That and the fact that he was likely the only person on the planet who could take the chaos of our household and make it into something useful.
Gareth also cared. None of us did—with the exception of our newest addition, Paris.
He cared, too, but I didn’t like him, so he didn’t count.
As nice as he seemed, Apple didn’t care about anything but Adam, and Adam was the same, but about Apple.
Baz only cared about Vix and creating chaos, while Vix only cared about Paris, Baz, making things, and getting fucked by Paris as often as possible.
I only cared about fixing what was done to me. It was impossible to care about anything when the call for blood sang so strongly throughout every fiber of my being.
You try living with a monster howling for blood inside you twenty-four hours a day and see how nice you are.
The monster was extra loud about wanting to hurt Apple as I held Echo in my arms. I wasn’t sure why I even bothered to be kind to Echo, but it was happening without me needing to force it, so I allowed it to continue.
I thought about what I’d gotten from the monster about Lyle’s memories when we drained him.
It was chaotic, as most minds are as they die.
If Echo could give me some key points, it might help me sort out what I’d seen.
“When you were with Lyle, did he talk about any friends? Did he mention gatherings of any sort? Did he talk about rituals, or rant about any beliefs?”
Echo finally looked at me, nodding enthusiastically. “He ranted. So much ranting. He mentioned gatherings.”
“Did he mention where? Or any clues about where?”
Echo nodded.
“If I gave you a map, could you point to it?”
Echo furrowed his brow and tilted his head before holding out a hand and making a so-so motion.
“So, a maybe?” I pulled out my own phone and opened an app for maps, angling it so no one could see the lockscreen of Oda Nobunaga sleeping in a sunbeam.
Vix hacked my phone, I can’t change it, and I don’t want to talk about it any further.
“How do you get through life?” I asked, talking to myself more than Echo. He had no support system from what I’d managed to pluck from his mind. I saw glimpses of him staying up late and memorizing textbooks so he could say what needed to be said during his lectures.
He would have to be smart to memorize entire chapters verbatim.
“Life is stupid,” Echo said without the stress he’d shown before when forcing out words on his own. His eyes went wide, as if he’d surprised himself.
“I can’t argue with that,” I agreed. “It’s incredibly stupid.”
I handed him my phone. “This is the town. Zoom in or out as needed.”
Echo shook his head, and he huffed in annoyance, but took my phone. He zoomed and swiped the screen carelessly until he found an outcropping of rocks.
“Here?” I asked dubiously. His body language wasn’t that of someone who was confident he’d be able to get his point across, so he likely wasn’t suggesting that it was the place.
“Not here,” Echo said impatiently, but then jabbed his finger at the rocks once more.
“Lyle mentioned something about rocks?”
Echo nodded.
“You must be frustrated all the time,” I murmured, once again, more to myself than him.
“ALL the time. All of it.” Echo blew the lock of blue hair away from his face and pouted.
“Was it a natural rock formation, or manmade?” I asked.
“Manmade.”
We went on like that for some time, but beyond my expectations, it wasn’t unpleasant. Echo had a soothing voice, and he didn’t speak just to make noise. If he had something to say, he said it, and he didn’t give up until his point was made.
He was also amusing. It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it. He managed to pack a lot of personality into a single word or echoed phrase.
I found myself happy I hadn’t killed him.
Happy? How odd. I didn’t do happy.
Our conversation ended when Gareth said, “I’ve got it. You can take him home now.”
“Home?” Echo asked, looking half relieved and half resigned.
“Yes, home. No murder for you tonight, I’m afraid. You’ll have to content yourself with escaping relatively unscathed with a story to tell.”
“No stories, Echo,” Gareth said coldly. “Make sure of it, Vale.”
I paused and then waved my hand begrudgingly to let Gareth know I’d take care of it.
“No stories?” Echo asked in a small voice.
“I’m afraid not.” For the first time, I found myself reluctant to do what I was about to do. Without thinking, I said, “Gareth, is this really necessary?”
“I told you not to get attached,” Gareth said, sounding like he’d just told one of his nine million children they should have gone to the bathroom before they left.
I immediately took offence since I was far older than he was.
“Who’s attached?” I asked coldly. I’d found someone tolerable to talk to. It was a rarity for me, so naturally, I was hesitant to destroy the connection.
“Do you live on campus?” I asked. When Echo shook his head hesitantly, I could see he believed I was about to take him home and kill him.
I listed off all of the post-grad housing I knew of off campus, and when Echo told me which apartment building was his, I did the same with apartment numbers until he stopped me.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I said once again. “I’m just going to take you home.” Echo’s nod was meek. He didn’t believe me at all.
“You shouldn’t tell bad guys where you live,” I said, scooping him off the bench. “It’s idiotic. You’re less likely to be killed and more likely to be robbed. Then you’ll be depressed and poor, which is much worse than depressed, I assure you.”
Echo gave a short laugh and was regarding me with the look of a man about to meet his demise, but was okay with it.
He wasn’t going to believe me, and I wasn’t going to draw it out any longer, so I touched his forehead, allowing my fingers to linger on his smooth skin and whispered, “Sleep. Forget.”
Echo’s eyes drifted shut as the magic left me to do my bidding. I didn’t have much control over my power, but I could do that much.
Wraith was far better at the spell than me.
He could erase a person’s existence if he wanted to—most of the truly powerful fae could.
He assured me I could do the same if I’d only let him teach me, but I refused.
I already had enough bullshit to rein in without adding that power to my list of things I shouldn’t be allowed to do for the sake of humanity.
I didn’t care much for humanity, but I’d never hear the end of it from Gareth, and that was more headache than I needed.
I carried Echo to his apartment, using his keys to enter, and laid him down on his couch.
I removed his shoes and tucked the TV remote into his hand.
He would assume he’d fallen asleep, and I added a few fake memory prompts to help reinforce the assumption.
Then I brushed my fingers over the bite mark I’d given him.
I sent a wisp of magic into it and urged it to heal.
By morning, the mark would be almost gone.
He’d think he’d bruised it without noticing.
There was nothing to do about Echo’s phone, so hopefully he’d think he’d lost it.
Gareth kept it and likely wouldn’t give it back.
He’d take what he needed from it and then destroy it.
It wasn’t necessary for him to do so, but Gareth would assume there was a chance Echo had been lying and or had installed something on his phone to allow him to remember what had happened, even though Echo was clearly a civilian and as threatening as a butterfly.
However, Gareth had contingencies upon contingencies and overprepared like all our lives were on the line, and since his paranoia had saved us all on more than one occasion, I didn’t argue with him.
Okay, that’s a lie. I argued with him all the time, but it was more of a hobby than a need to get results from it.
It’s better to let Gareth do his thing. It makes him happy and helps keep him calm. No one wants to see Gareth Hulk out. I’ve seen it once, and it was more than enough.
I looked around Echo’s apartment. It was jammed with little odds and ends, interesting rocks, framed pictures of him on dig sites, and, most notably, a questionably legal human jawbone. These all fit in with the aspiring archeology professor I’d caught peeks of in his mind.
And the lamp with an exposed wire sitting on his side table and the half-empty pack of cigarettes lying open on his table fit in with his I want to die but I don’t want to be responsible for it mindset.
I placed a blanket on Echo, making sure to cover his small feet. His socks had little rainbow hearts on them, and something in my chest ached at the discovery.
It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant sensation.
I decided to stop mooning over Echo, his socks, and his cozy apartment, and went to his door to lock it and fasten the security chain.
I spared him one last glance before moving to exit from his window, my eyes lingering on the vibrant blue stripe covering his face.
Without thinking, I returned to Echo and tucked it behind his ear, feeling painfully aware that I would never see him again.
Pity. It would have been nice to talk to him one more time.
The sun was peeking over the horizon as I left Echo’s apartment. I hurried home so I could avoid having it brutally assault my eyes as it was so often delighted to do.
I entered my room through my window so I didn’t have to talk to anyone. If Baz had found his way home from the ravine I’d dumped him in, and if he said a single word to me, I’d likely try to choke him out. Then the filthy freak would want to fuck, and I wasn’t remotely in the mood.
Baz was a good fuck, but hardly worth the emotional drain on my reserves. Once Vix hooked up with Paris, I’d stopped taking Baz up on his many offers. Without Vix, I didn’t see the point.
I threw my clothes on the floor as I made my way to my bed. I heard the jingle of Echo’s apartment keys as my coat hit the floor. Odd. I wasn’t usually such a forgetful person.
The curse I was under included the longevity of the fae as well as their mental ability to retain vast amounts of knowledge.
If the two didn’t come as a package deal, immortality would be more weight than I could bear.
Imagine only being able to remember a human’s lifetime’s worth of information but being forced to live forever.
Perish the thought.
I lay on my bed, twirling Echo’s keys around my index finger.
Echo was an interesting little man. Maybe I’d subconsciously retained his keys so I could see him once more. The way he spoke, the way he thought, the way he cried out in my arms as he came… it was all enchanting.
I would do him a favor and make sure to return his car tomorrow.
I fell asleep holding his keys, and my last thought before the darkness consumed me was, He seemed to echo less when it was just the two of us.