16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Kalevala Darana
A New Address To Stay Close By
Icontinue to watch her through the living room window, the glass fogging faintly from the warmth inside her house and the opposite chill on the outside.
Elowen sits curled on her couch with her best friend, Imani, talking too quickly for me to decipher through the pane.
I don’t need to hear her obnoxious voice.
I can read her movements, the tilt of her chin, the way her fingers twist when she’s anxious.
The way she laughs at something Imani says, but her eyes don’t match the sound. It’s a hollow laugh.
She’s so performative. The voice in my head argues with me and says I’m ruining everything, but I think taking over right when I did was the best decision I could have ever made for us.
I just need this skin a little longer, kiddo.
Mommy will be done soon enough. Who knows?
I might decide I like this body after all.
I haven’t had the opportunity to fuck in it, have I? I’ll save that decision for Beau.
I lean my shoulder against the cold siding of the house and narrow my eyes. For someone who claims to be so overwhelmed in her journal, she has no trouble inviting people in. She’s never invited me in. Not once. And I occupy the newly built home at the end of the subdivision.
She knows someone moved in. I left all the houses on this side of the block with a nice tray of cookies on their doorstep a week after I conned my way out of a written lease. Was her set poisoned? Of course, but she didn’t even acknowledge them!
Now, I can use the home as a base while watching Beau and Elowen. I’m always nearby. Always watching.
She smiles at Imani with an affection I once thought I could earn and use to my advantage, and it makes my teeth clench.
Too late to build a relationship with her now.
Truly, I don’t care if she likes me or even knows me for that matter.
I just want to be able to get inside her head.
It would really help me out in the long run.
Imani shifts, her voice rising as if she is trying to reassure her about something. I catch fragments of movement. A hand on Elowen’s shoulder and a sympathetic nod. Elowen accepts that comfort like she deserves it. She doesn’t.
The jealousy hits sharp and fast, a wired twitch under my skin. I try to swallow it, but it never stays down. Certainly not when it comes to him. She’s viewed as so perfect by everyone in her life. Effortlessly magnetic.
I close my eyes for a moment and summon his face in my mind. Beau. My precious boy. My soon to be hunter. The only person who has ever walked into the same room as I and made the world feel quiet. A man who carries gravity in his silence. A man who stands still but feels like motion. A god.
”We both agree that we want Beau, but it doesn't have to be this way, Emp..”
”Quiet, parasite. I’m working.” I voice back inside our head.
Beau is more than beautiful. He is utterly cinematic. He is also mine. He just doesn’t know it yet. I have put in far too much work to be cast aside. I won’t let anything tear us apart. We will work in tandem. He’ll see that in due time.
I open my eyes and look back through the window at Elowen.
Her hair falls just barely over her ears in loose curls and waves and she brushes it back in a way that looks intentional even if it’s not.
She leans toward Imani, seeking comfort again, and for a moment I imagine myself stepping inside and ripping Elowen’s head right from her shoulders.
She ruined him without even being aware of it. She claimed his attention with her clumsy charm and hopeful smile, and he let her without hesitation. Without realizing that every time he looks at her, it feels like a hand closing around my ribs and squeezing softly.
I shift my gaze toward the street, toward the path that leads towards town, and the picture changes in my mind.
I can see him in the bookstore as clearly as if I’m still there.
Though, this morning, he stands behind the counter while Kai questions him with the enthusiasm of someone who has had too much caffeine and far too little self-control.
Kai talks with his hands, waving them in front of Beau’s face while Beau tries to maintain composure.
Beau always maintains his composure. It’s one of the things I admire most about him, but today his shoulders are a little too stiff.
His jaw is a little too tense. He is worried about being found out over his sudden love-bug.
I know that before he even says a word. I know him better than anyone.
Or at least, I will if Elowen would stop pulling him in with her reckless, fragile, useless existence.
If she weren’t here, things would be so simple. Killing her grandmother quicker didn’t alter the timeline. It makes no fucking sense. No matter how many wrenches I throw in her sweet, narrow path, she dodges and persists. I want to gouge out her eyes and make her eat them.
A vibration buzzes in my coat pocket. I slide a hand inside and pull out my phone. The screen lights my face as I glance down at the caller ID.
Unknown Number. Really again?
I swipe to accept the call and lift the phone to my ear. A familiar voice speaks low and steady. “Are you watching them?” The headmaster hums on the other side of the line. Not a prying question, he’s looking for solid confirmation.
“Yes,” I reply. I never bother pretending otherwise.
There’s no point in pretending. I’m good at what I do.
Far better than Elowen. Far better than the boy behind the counter who thinks humor will shield him from danger.
Far better than the people who keep underestimating me.
I can watch one in the flesh and the other in my mind by simply predicting their next move. One of my many abilities.
The man continues. “Both of them?”
I look once more toward the window. Elowen leans her head into her hand as Imani gestures emphatically.
Then, I close my eyes and picture Beau again, standing in the aisles of the shop surrounded by spines of worn fantasy novels.
Kai circles him like a frantic bird, asking if Beau plans to murder him for his blood if he dips out early.
Beau just stares at him like he is weighing the pros and cons of telling the truth.
“Yes, Argus,” I say again. “I’m watching both.”
A growl crackles through the line, but with approval overall. “Do not refer to me by my name. That is headmaster to you, Kalevala. You need to maintain distance,” he says. “If you get involved too early, you risk losing leverage. This is non-negotiable.”
My fingers tighten on the phone. “I’m not losing leverage. I’m observing. That’s all.” This nobody vampire placed at the top of the food chain doesn’t need to know that I already introduced myself to Beau and Kai in the speakeasy.
“That’s not all,” Argus replies. I hear a faint scrape, something metallic, maybe a chair sliding across a concrete floor. “Your fixation is clouding your judgment.”
I bristle. “My judgment is the reason any of this is possible.”
“And your obsession is the reason it might fall apart.”
Obsession. The word hits the air between us with a cold, sharp, and undeniable tension. I don’t respond. I don’t have to, because the silence answers for me.
He sighs, softened now. “I’m not telling you to stop caring about him. I’m telling you to be patient. Beau will come around. This is part of our plan.”
“Whatever,” I repeat quietly. “He is not like the others.”
“No,” Argus agrees. “He’s not. Which means you need to be even more careful.”
My throat tightens with something I refuse to name. Fear. Hope. Want. All tangled together. “He trusts her already.”
“Maybe not fully,” he counters. “And she won’t trust him for long. You have seen what he does to keep her. Keep an eye on her. Nothing more.” Nothing more. As if it’s that simple.
I glance through the window again. Elowen’s expression crumples as Imani squeezes her hand.
Something fearful flickers across her face.
Something vulnerable. I shouldn’t care about that.
Her fear is irrelevant. Her vulnerability is a ploy.
Yet something about the way she leans into Imani makes my stomach twist. It’s probably the host of this fucking body I’m in. She feels bad for her. I don’t
Not sympathy. Contamination. She contaminates everything she touches. She draws people in with her softness and then traps them there without effort or awareness. Even Beau, who should know better, drifts toward her without realizing it. I tighten my hand around my phone.
“I’ll handle it,” I say.
“You need to listen to me, Kalevala. You cannot go off and do your own…”
The call ends. Kalevala may not be able to, but I can.
A click of finality from my end. I’m beyond tired of his agonizingly boring voice fogging my brain.
I slide my phone back into my pocket and look at Elowen one more time.
I see the threat wrapped in her softness.
I see the way she pulls Beau’s attention even when she doesn’t deserve it.
He’s meant for someone else. He’s meant for someone who understands him.
Someone who can handle the weight of who he is.
Someone who isn’t afraid of the darkness he carries.
He is meant for me. Meant to serve me. I push away from the side of the house and let the cold wind rush across my face.
It cools the heat building in my chest but doesn’t extinguish it.
I turn toward downtown, toward the bookstore where Beau still works, toward the lights glowing warm against the dark shelves.
I can still hear Kai’s frantic voice echoing in my memory as he demands to know whether Beau intends to drain him.
Beau’s laugh had been soft and helpless.
Beautiful. He is. He’s beautiful. Elowen is smart enough to know that much, at least.
He’ll never laugh like that with her. The thought soothes me. I take one step, then another, letting the darkness gather around me like a familiar coat. My phone buzzes again. A text this time.
From: Unknown Contact:
Keep your distance. Remember the plan.
For now, I ignore the message. I’m done keeping my distance. This isn’t something Kalevala nor the “Headmaster” can stop now.