Chapter 2 #2
Charlie shook his head, though I was certain he knew what I was about to say. His shaking was more out of a refusal to accept the truth I was offering as he fought to understand the difference between my old life and theirs.
“In all of those stories, one of the preferred hunting grounds of the supernaturals were the elite and prestigious schools that parents would send their heirs to.”
Levi chose that moment to return, shirt untucked, raven hair messed, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
The man had no subtlety. Behind him, Sloane appeared in the doorway, equally disheveled but somehow more dignified about it.
I could see the telltale flush of embarrassment against golden skin as she waved to us.
“Boys,” she said, her voice only lightly accented compared to her sister Dawn, and there was warmth in it. “I’ll be starting dinner in a bit. Charlie and Rowan, you two are staying?”
It wasn’t a question. We were staying.
I nodded. Sloane had decided years ago that I was too thin, too sharp around the edges, and needed feeding. It was easier to let her mother me. . . it wasn’t as if I could explain to her that in my first life, I had often survived on rations and melted snow for months at a time.
She disappeared back inside, long brown hair trailing behind her, and Levi reclaimed his seat, eyeing me with fresh suspicion. “What were you two talking about?”
“Violet,” Charlie said simply. “Rowan thinks she might be in trouble at school.”
“Rowan thinks everyone is in trouble everywhere,” Levi shot back. “According to him, we are all about to be vampyre food or demon bait or whatever monster he is dreaming up this week.”
The dismissal stung more than it should have.
Five years of trying to warn them, and Levi still thought I was delusional.
Despite the extraordinary circumstances of both his own and Charlie’s reincarnations, he was a combination of naive and narcissistic to refuse to believe there were even stranger things in the world.
“Do you want to know what I heard when I was on the phone with Violet?” I asked, looking straight at Levi. “She said that she needed to come home this weekend. She did not say that she wanted to come home. The difference was subtle, but it was there.”
Levi snorted derisively. “Did you hear that subtle difference with your superhuman hearing?”
His mockery forced me to my feet, my chair clattering on the patio. “You were so quick to believe me just now when I said your wife was home.” My voice was ice and venom as I continued. “Just because you refuse to believe me about the Godsblood does not make it less real.”
“Boy,” Levi snarled, “I’ve heard enough of your crazy fearmongering. This Godsblood you claim to have, the one by a corrupt pharmaceutical company—”
“Not corrupt,” I interrupted. “Owned and operated by vampyres.”
“I don’t give a damn,” he seethed, “about your magical blood fantasy, your silly ghost stories, your world-wide vampyre-led conspiracy, or the post-apocalyptic world you allegedly came from.” He pointed a finger at me. “Don’t drag Violet into your delusional bullshit.”
It took an immeasurable amount of patience not to punch Levi in the face. It would have been so easy to break his nose and fracture his cheek. I was standing. He was seated. By the time Charlie pulled me off of him, I could have done some serious damage.
But as much fun as fighting Levi was, I knew it would upset Sloane. Besides, we had more pressing matters at hand.
Instead, I reminded myself that I was speaking to ignorant children who had no idea what darkness lurked beyond the veil.
I took a deep breath and said, “Violet could barely keep her voice steady. There was an uncharacteristic tremble there. Your daughter is possibly scared, Levi. And whether you believe me or not, she might be in trouble.” I didn’t necessarily want to catastrophize the situation, but I needed the man to understand the urgency.
The silence stretched, broken only by the distant sound of suburban life continuing around us. Somewhere, a dog barked. A lawnmower started up. Normal sounds of a normal world that was not normal at all. I picked up my chair and the three of us sat in that silence for a moment.
Charlie was the first to speak, his voice low enough that it would not carry to the kitchen windows. “Levi, you know Violet has been. . . struggling since she started college.”
Levi’s jaw tightened. “She is having trouble adjusting for other reasons.” He gave Charlie a pointed look, a soundless communication between them. “Weren’t you just telling me it takes time, Charlie?”
“It does, but. . .” Charlie’s voice was gentle but insistent. “But from what you have told me about when you dropped her off, I am worried. And I know you are as well. She was so upset today that she hung up on Rowan.”
“She hangs up on Rowan because he annoys her,” Levi shot back, but there was less conviction in it now.
“Perhaps,” Charlie agreed. “But you said yourself that she seems. . . different. And she may be having a difficult time and might not be able to ask for help. Shouldn’t we check in on her more often?”
Whatever secret they shared that they were dancing around was annoying, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I stayed silent, letting Charlie do the work. He understood Levi better than I did, having known him far longer than my measly five years. He knew which buttons to push and which to avoid.
“What are you suggesting?” Levi asked, though from his tone it sounded as if he already knew.
Charlie said, “Maybe someone should be close by. Not hovering, just. . . available. In case she needs family.”
“I cannot just leave work and move to Atlanta,” Violet’s father said.
No Shit, Levi.
“No,” Charlie said slowly. “But Rowan could.”
What? I thought as Levi’s eyes snapped to mine, that familiar hostility flaring.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“Think about it,” Charlie pressed. “He is young enough to blend in on a college campus. Smart enough to handle whatever situation might arise, and he cares about Violet—even if he is an ass to her.”
“I am sitting right here,” I point out.
Levi was staring at Charlie as he shook his head. “She’s twenty, and he is,” he waved a hand in my direction as he said, “whatever the fuck he is. He’s a geriatric psycho stuffed into that boy’s body. You want him to watch over her?”
The implied accusation stung. I could have gotten angry.
I could have pointed out that I had never looked at Violet that way regardless of my body’s age.
Instead, I laughed and then said, “Do not project your inability to keep your dick in your pants onto me, Levi. You think I am interested in your daughter? T’fu! She is an infant compared to me.”
“Did you just make a disgusted noise about my daughter?” Levi’s face went crimson, fury flashing in his amber eyes. His stubbled jaw locked, like he was ready to lunge across the table. “Fuck him, Charlie. I don’t trust—"
“I grew up in a world,” I interrupted, “Where staying alive meant eating rats and avoiding things that hunted humans for food or sport. I did not have time for romance then, and I do not have patience for it now.” I met his eyes. “Violet will be. . . my ward.”
Plus, caring for someone gets you indebted.
I suddenly recalled the last days of my first life: breaking into The Library, stealing a radiant golden tome, being chased through the Wastelands, and finally the Hunter who had killed me for the transgression.
I had never told anybody about The Library or how I’d died.
It was an ill-timed and disturbing memory.
Charlie warned quietly, voice low but firm, “Enough, both of you.” He glanced over to the doorway, and I knew his anxiety stemmed from our conversation.
So they still haven’t told her, I mused. Sloane was one of the few normal things in all of our lives. She did not bear the cursed gift of rebirth, nor the knowledge that such a thing was even possible.
“If Rowan says he’ll keep an eye on Violet, then he will,” Charlie said, his tone did not invite argument, and Levi’s gaze flicked to him, the storm in his expression barely reined in.
Charlie held his stare—he was the one person who could tether Levi’s fury before it tore through a room. Whatever bond they shared was before me, and it showed. Levi trusted this man with everything. . . even with his wife, despite his possessive nature. It was a testament to their friendship.
After a few seconds, something shifted in Levi’s expression. “If I agree to this,” he said slowly, “you keep your distance, boy. You watch, you report, but you do not interfere unless there is actual danger.”
I took a sip of beer. “Define actual danger.”
Levi’s nostrils flared, his chest rising and falling as if each breath was a hidden battle before grinding out, “Life or death.”
I asked, “What if there is something between normal and life or death? What if she is being groomed and does not know it?”
Charlie made a sound of disgust. “Christ, Rowan.”
“I am not being dramatic. I am being realistic. These things? They do not take by force. They seduce. They make you want it. They make you think it is your idea to be indebted to them, to be owned by them.” I remembered the stories whispered in the ruins of my world.
Women who’d fallen in love with their captors.
Men who’d begged to be turned. “By the time you realize what is happening, you are already theirs.”
“And you think that’s going on? At Shademore, where Violet’s attending?” Levi’s skepticism was still there, his temper tampered down, but underneath it, I heard something else. Fear. He was starting to believe me, even if he did not want to.
I nodded. “I do.”
Levi was quiet for a long moment, staring down at his plate. I could see him weighing his options, his protectiveness of Violet warring with his deep-seated distrust of me.
“You watch her,” he said to me finally. “You don’t approach her unless she approaches you first. You don’t interfere with her life unless she is in danger. And you report back to Charlie weekly.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smirk, though my chest loosened just a fraction at the concession. “Da,” I agreed. “Those terms are acceptable.”
“And if you cross any lines—"
“You will kill me slowly and creatively,” I said. “Yes, Levi. We have established this.”
“Rowan,” Levi whispered, “I’ve done it once. For my daughter. I will do it again if necessary.”
Charlie hissed, “Levi!” His entire body tensed as he glanced at me in a panic.
Well, that’s one confession I wasn’t expecting. However, hearing that Levi had killed someone before actually made me more comfortable in his presence, not less.
“I will not touch her,” I said delicately. I respected a man willing to kill to protect his family. “She is my ward, Levi.”
That seemed to satisfy him, at least enough to stop arguing. We moved inside to help Sloane with dinner, and our conversation shifted to safer topics. . . but I could not stop thinking about that sound in Violet’s voice. That particular frequency of fear I had heard too many times in my first life.
She was in danger. Maybe not the immediate, claws-and-teeth kind. But something was causing her stress and forcing her to come home this weekend—and I was determined to find out what it was.
Even if she told me to go fuck myself for trying.