Chapter 16 Between Worlds
Between Worlds
Truth, they say, has a flavor. That night, I learned it could also have a temperature. Aiden and Ulysses were at the alley’s entrance, a wolf and a vampire, Aiden looking contrite, Ulysses impassive. As for me? I was the idiot who kept befriending predators.
My shift ended, and I stood on the curb, arms crossed, waiting for any sign of movement from them. Their mismatched eyes stared at me as if I were about to explode. Aiden shifted his weight, his nervous energy palpable. Ulysses remained still, hands folded behind his back.
The tension could have drawn blood. I found myself wishing for different shoes, something with spikes for self-defense.
“You said you’d tell me everything,” I reminded Aiden, my voice a mix of desperation and fury. “So start. Now.”
Aiden’s jaw flexed. His eyes flicked toward Ulysses, who leaned lazily against the bar’s back door, the picture of bored elegance. “Don’t look at me,” the vampire drawled. “You’re the one she trusted.”
That word, trusted, hit harder than it should have.
Aiden drew a breath like he was about to confess in front of a firing squad. “There’s… a system,” he began. “A council that keeps order between…” He faltered, eyes cutting to Ulysses, who offered a catlike smile.
“…non-humans,” the vampire supplied smoothly. “The things that go bump in the night, as your kind likes to say.”
My heart pounded. “So vampires, wolves… what else? You’ve got a supernatural HR department now?”
Neither of them smiled.
“The Council makes sure we don’t expose ourselves,” Aiden said. “Keeps the peace. Or tries to.” He hesitated, voice dropping. “They… punish anyone who breaks the rules.”
“That’s what happened to Ava.” Ulysses offered. “And now…” He trailed off, the rest implied: Now you’re on the hit list, too.
I crossed my arms, heat rising under my skin.
“Compassion rarely goes unpunished in our world, Josie.” His eyes glittered like glass under the streetlights. “You should consider that before you follow in her footsteps.”
My stomach dropped, but anger carried me through. “You’re seriously threatening me right now?”
“Not a threat, Ms. Anderson.” His smile was languid, indulgent. “A cautionary tale. You humans have such short memories, but your mistakes echo beautifully.” He bared his teeth, but it wasn’t a smile.
Aiden bristled. “That’s enough, Morozov.”
The vampire turned to him, amused. “Still playing the hero, are we? It didn’t save her last time.”
Something feral flashed in Aiden’s expression, and I suddenly knew they’d done this dance before, in blood and betrayal.
“Why are you even here?” I demanded, stepping between them. “What do you want from me?”
Ulysses tilted his head. “Information. Maybe leverage. But mostly…” His gaze swept over me, assessing.
“Curiosity. There’s something… unusual about you, Josie.
Not because of any cosmic prophecy, let’s not flatter ourselves, but because of your choices.
You choose to stay. You choose to dig.” He took a step closer. “Are you going to keep digging, Josie?”
Aiden’s hands clenched. “Don’t start.”
“Oh, I think she deserves to know why the Council is interested,” Ulysses murmured. “You’ve been quite selective with your honesty, Cross.”
My legs threatened mutiny, but I dug in my heels, “What the hell does it matter? I’m nobody. I just want to keep my kid alive and avoid getting dismembered by the local wildlife.”
Aiden’s face twisted with pain. He reached for my arm, but I flinched away, too raw to accept comfort from anyone, let alone a man who’d just admitted his species had a Council dedicated to cleaning up loose ends like me.
I turned on Aiden. “What is he talking about?”
His silence told me everything.
The world tilted, the air buzzing with all the things I didn’t know. “So that’s it?” I said, my voice cracking. “You both decide what’s real, and I just keep dancing around in the dark until someone kills me for existing?”
Aiden stepped forward. “Josie, it’s not like that…”
“It’s exactly like that,” Ulysses interrupted softly. “You see, my dear, our world doesn’t reward ignorance. But knowledge…” His smile deepened. “That’s a different kind of curse.”
My head buzzed with anger and terror and some weird remnant of hope. I was suddenly, painfully aware of how small I looked between them.
I glared at him. “You think I scare easily?”
“I think you’re running out of people to trust,” Ulysses replied.
That one hit too close to home.
I took a breath, steadying myself against the weight of their secrets. “I don’t care about your rules or your council. I just want to keep my son safe. If either of you comes near him…”
“You’d die before we did,” Ulysses said calmly. “And yet, I believe you would.”
Aiden moved, placing himself between us, his voice low and dangerous. “She’s off limits.”
“Protective,” Ulysses mused. “How sentimental of you. You remember how that ended last time?”
Aiden’s jaw tightened. “Try me.”
“Enough,” I said, surprising even myself with the sharpness of my tone. “You both have your rules and your history and your damn council. I’ve got a kid and rent due on Friday. We’re not the same.”
Ulysses’ expression softened. “No, Ms. Anderson. You’re far more dangerous than you realize.” He inclined his head, the faintest gesture of farewell. “I do hope you survive the week.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Aiden lingered, guilt carved into every line of him. “I was trying to keep you safe,” he said quietly.
I stared at him, tired and trembling. “You were trying to control me.”
He flinched, then nodded, because we both knew it was true.
“Go home, Aiden,” I said. “Before your council decides I’m not worth saving.”
His voice was almost a whisper. “You are.”
But I was already walking away.
I reached my apartment, locked every lock, and pushed open Mateo’s door.
He wasn’t asleep. Not really. His lamp was off, but his phone screen dimmed quickly when I stepped in.
“You’re late,” he muttered, like he hadn’t been listening for the door.
“Yeah.” I sighed.
He studied me for a second too long. Eleven going on investigator. “You okay?”
I nodded. Too fast.
He didn’t call me on it. Just shifted onto his side and made space without making it obvious he was doing it.
I sat on the edge of his bed instead of crawling in. He wasn’t small anymore. His feet nearly hit the end of the mattress.
“If anybody messes with you,” he said into the dark, casual like it wasn’t a declaration, “tell me.”
I swallowed. “What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. Something.”
That’s when I leaned over and kissed his hair.
I wondered how the truth might affect him when the day came that I couldn’t hide it anymore. But for now, I’d done the only thing I could.
I’d drawn a line in the sand.
I didn’t know if it would hold, but it was mine.
* * *
By the time I dragged myself into Neon the next afternoon, the air inside was thick with old gin and the scent of desperation disguised as citrus-scented floor cleaner.
My dreams had been a montage of wolves tearing through tax forms, vampires at a PTA bake sale, and, worse, Ava’s voice, echoing in endless apology.
But I’d learned something from the last twenty-four hours: when the world goes nuclear, you look for the person who isn’t running. For me, that was Rita.
She was restocking the shelves behind the bar. Catching my stare, she paused and set down the bottle she held with a deliberate thunk.
“Back so soon?” Rita asked, half-smile cocked. “I thought you were going to ghost me for at least a week.”
I slid onto a barstool and propped my elbows on the counter. “You always said Neon was like family. So I guess that makes you the sister I have unresolved trust issues with.”
She snorted. “If we’re sisters, we need to talk to child services. You look like hell, Josie.”
“I’ve seen hell. It has better lighting,” I said. “Got a minute? I need to ask you something off the books.”
Rita glanced over her shoulder. The only other bodies in the place were the janitor, who’d already tuned out the world with noise-canceling headphones, and a couple of regulars who looked like they were only there for the air conditioning.
She leaned in close, lowering her voice. “What is it? You’re not pregnant, are you? Because I don’t do godmother duties.”
I shook my head. “Nothing like that.” I lowered my voice to match hers. “You know that night when the guy crashed the VIP, and Aiden basically hulked out? Was that the first time you’d seen something…not human?”
Rita’s face didn’t change. She could’ve been carved from concrete. “I’ve worked here longer than you’ve been legal, Josie. You see a lot of shit.”
“Cut the crap, Rita,” I said, louder than I meant to. “You knew. About the monsters. The vampires. The Council. All of it. Didn’t you?”
She looked down, lined up the lemon wedges on her cutting board with surgical precision, and sighed. “Look, some things you only talk about after midnight or after a bottle of something strong. Which one you want?”
I glanced at the clock, 2:14 p.m., and reached for the bottle anyway. Rita poured us both a shot of tequila, because nothing says “let’s have a normal conversation about supernatural horrors” like discount agave.
She took hers in a single gulp, then watched me sip mine. “Fine,” she said. “You want the truth? Neon’s a front. Always has been. For what, I never really cared. I figured it was a mafia thing.” She shrugged, eyes searching my face. “Turns out, it’s more complicated than that.”
“You’re taking this really well,” I said. “I mean, you’re not even pretending to doubt me.”
She grinned. “You see enough weird, and you get a sense for who’s lying. You took your time to figure it out.” Her tone softened, and she leaned in. “Why now?”
I stared at the shot glass, trying to find a road map in the swirl of cheap booze. “Because last night, I made the mistake of being the only human in the room.” I looked up. “And because I can’t trust anyone else.”