Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
FENRIR
PRESENT
The heat from the fire is making my skin crawl. The flickering flames lick at wounds that’ll never heal, so I’m relieved when Willa suggests she show Hayami around the house. It means I can go and check to see if the cameras pick them up.
There’s a small room under the stairs that houses a desk, a chair, and monitors.
All allow the user to see what’s going on around the house and grounds.
When I set up the cameras, I’d done a full sweep of the house.
It’s grand but not ridiculously big, which is a relief.
I was dreading having too many areas to cover with just me and Willa here.
I settle into the black leather chair, which’ll be my vigil site every night.
Willa and Hayami come into focus on the bottom screen from the camera in the foyer.
There’s no sound, just the image of them moving from the living room into the library, which sits on the left as you come in through the main entrance.
Hayami studies the shelves, her eyes wide, face full of wonder, as Willa sweeps the room out of habit, looking for anything out of place.
“You picking us up?” Willa says into her cuff.
“Yes.”
“How’s the picture?” she asks.
“Clear enough,” I reply as Hayami reaches for a book. She pulls it from the shelf, and I imagine her telling Willa she’s read it or wants to read it or that they won’t be bored here with all these books. But Willa isn’t a bookworm. Not like Hayami.
A few months ago, Hayami bought me a book.
She’d been in the bookshop for over two hours, which was unsettling.
The space was so calm and quiet that I found myself relaxing, which isn’t ideal when I’m supposed to be alert.
She told me that books were her friends, which only confirmed her loneliness.
I understood what she was saying, but my face must have said otherwise, as she went on to ask me if I ever wanted to escape. I told her I did. I’ve spent my whole adult life trying to escape my past, but I can’t seem to shake it.
I still haven’t read the book she bought me. I don’t know what I’m afraid of. Maybe that it won’t work. That I won’t find the escape that she surrenders to so easily within the pages of a book. Or maybe I’m scared that it will work. Maybe that’s more frightening.
They leave the library and move across the foyer and into the sitting room, which is smaller than the formal living room.
There are a few seconds where they aren’t visible, tiny pockets of the house that aren’t covered by any cameras.
This is a worry. I don’t like not having my eyes on her the whole time.
It’s seconds before they reappear on the camera in the sitting room.
They don’t spend long in here, quickly moving on.
There’s another split second where they disappear, then reappear on the camera in the kitchen.
Hayami looks in the fridge and takes out a bottle of water before heading into the dining room.
The pair then appear back in the foyer. They each grab the remaining bags I haven’t got around to taking up.
We packed in such a hurry, Devall giving us no time at all to prepare for a trip and no idea how long we were going to be away for.
Nothing I wasn’t used to. In the army, we could be deployed at a moment’s notice.
Willa and I had been dropped off at our homes on the way to the airport and told we had twenty minutes to pack our personal belongings before the car would leave.
Willa, I suspected, found this more stressful.
Not only did she have to pack but also had to say farewell to her heavily pregnant wife, not knowing when she would be seeing her again.
And me? Well, let’s just say there wasn’t much to pack from my one-bedroom apartment.
Ten years in the army means I haven’t put down any roots, and it taught me to travel light.
Possessions aren’t important unless they can save your life.
And I’m not sure what it meant when I found myself packing the book Hayami bought me.
Markus supplied all the security and surveillance equipment he thought we would need and talked me through the security system that’s set up in the house. I recall the last conversation I had with him about not hesitating, being prepared, and wanting hourly updates.
Willa and Hayami appear on the monitor. They’re in the main bedroom, which will be Hayami’s.
It’s large with a king-sized bed in the centre of the room and a small sofa sitting in the far corner.
French windows lead onto a balcony, which I don’t like, for two reasons.
The first is personal—my own dislike of balconies—and the second, and more relevant, is that they pose a security risk.
They make an easy entry point for anyone wanting to gain access to the room.
The balcony is situated at the back of the house overlooking the courtyard and garden, but we can’t change rooms, as this is the only one with surveillance.
The camera is in the top right-hand corner, suspended from the ceiling, giving me the full view of her large bed, the French windows along the back wall, and the entrance to her en suite, which is over on the left.
The only thing I can’t see is a small section directly under the camera and the doorway leading into the room.
But I’m relieved I have a visual of the windows.
“You still see us?” Willa asks into her cuff as Hayami drops the last of her bags on the floor and wanders over to the en suite.
“Yes,” I answer.
“She seems to be taking this all in her stride,” Willa says quietly as Hayami disappears into the en suite.
“She’ll still be groggy after the sedative. I’m sure we’ll get her proper reaction in the morning.”
“By which point I’ll be on duty, and you’ll be catching up on your beauty sleep.”
“I don’t need much of that,” I joke drily before adding, “Wake me if you need me. No matter what time it is or whatever the situation. You wake me.”
“I’m not stupid.” Willa lowers her arm as Hayami reappears. They say something to each other, and Willa points at the camera.
They both look up as if staring at me.
Willa waves, and Hayami sticks her middle finger up before they leave the room.
We meet back in the living room.
“Okay, guys, it’s just after three in the morning, so I suggest Hayami and I go get some sleep if you’re okay with staying on watch?” Willa asks me.
“Yes.”
“You sure you can stay awake?”
“It won’t be a problem,” I reply. Willa doesn’t need to know about my insomnia. That I haven’t slept properly in the past fourteen years, and even when I do, my dreams are laden with flames and fire, the heat warping my skin, the screams piercing any chance of slumber.
“Okay, grab yourself a coffee, and I’ll take over at about nine. That should give me a good five hours of sleep.”
“Hey, you better get used to it,” Hayami tells Willa. “Hell, you’ll be lucky to get two hours when the baby arrives.”
“Don’t remind me.” Willa laughs as she and Hayami leave the room.
I follow, but instead of making my way up the stairs, I shut myself away in my security room.
As soon as the door closes, the weight of the night hits me—the adrenaline that kicked in the minute we arrived in that fucking club is finally burning out.
But the image is seared in my brain: Hayami, the strap of her dress off her shoulder, and that fucker’s mouth clamped on her tit.
I want to punch something just thinking about it.
Try as I might, I can’t get it out of my mind.
What the hell was she thinking? Why tell him to follow her?
Why is she hellbent on letting any guy touch her?
Because he’s not the first. Over the past few weeks, she’s all but thrown herself at any man with a pulse.
If it hadn’t been for me, she’d have been defiled by so many scumbags who aren’t worthy of her time, let alone the privilege of touching her.
As much as I’m annoyed at our current predicament, it’s a relief not to have to stop her from making a huge mistake with some filthy man who wants nothing more than to use her for his own gain.
But another thought plagues me. Hayami and I have never truly been alone.
We’ve always been shopping or at a club.
The only real moment we had was at the fair, when she ran into the woods.
We were alone for what? Five minutes? In those five minutes, I felt like she was going to open up to me; I felt like I could have opened up to her.
But then Bastian came bounding through the trees, and the moment was gone.
And now? There are only three of us in Belial House. What’ll happen when Willa is asleep and Hayami and I are the only ones awake?
Settling into the leather chair, I stare at the monitor that shows the inside of Hayami’s bedroom.
I guess I’m about to find out.