When he looked at her, she gave him a tight smile. “Okay. I like Miss Ash and you and Wren and dog. But the scary one makes me shake. I can’t sleep when he’s here.”
He smiled for her, though it felt as weak as he felt. He wasn’t able to keep her safe and he’d forever live with that guilt. God, living here, with Tristan was the least safest place for her.
“I’m not sure I agree.”
Tristan spun, just only managing to keep a startled yelp to himself. “Ash,” he hissed. “Jesus, would you let me know you’re there?”
She smiled half-heartedly. “I was enjoying the moment.”
“Miss Ash!” Elinore squeaked and rushed over to her, throwing her arms around Ash.
Ash returned the hug, smiling. She kissed Elinore on the head before resting her cheek against her. “How are you, dear?”
Tristan smiled. Looked like he wasn’t the one that felt compelled to give the girl pet names. How could anyone resist?
“Okay. Tristan made me tea. Can I watch TV?”
Ash’s smile brightened. “Of course. Tristan is going to get you more medicine but you go drink your tea and then get to bed. You need to rest.”
Ellie wiggled out of Ash’s arms and beamed a smile at her. “Okay. Will you read to me?”
“Of course. But we need to do that now. Before the sun comes up, okay? We can start my favorite book.”
Tristan actually knew what her favorite book was. And that she’d just read it before leaving Japan. He wondered how many times she had read it.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Ash said, smiling affectionately and pushed Ellie’s hair behind her ear.
The girl smiled, all teeth, before grabbing her tea and shuffling off to the TV room. Tristan was staring at Ash in awe when the TV in the other room blared with noise. There was a shocked eep that made him chuckle and then sound was turned down. He went to Ash, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a kiss.
She sighed contently, resting against him when they parted. “You are good with her.”
He shrugged unsure how to answer that. “What did you mean, that you don’t agree?”
“That her living here is the least safest place for her. Yes, living in the home of an Uruwashi does raise the likelihood for danger of those not Uruwashi. But she is marked now. We do not even know if she is Elinore anymore. And you, you are strong. I am strong. And Kiba… and Wren, should he choose to stay, they will all look out for her. She wouldn’t have a support system like that living anywhere else.”
Tristan nodded, feeling uneasy even if she was right. “I’ll um, I’ll take her to get her things this afternoon… Try to be back before dark.”
Ash touched his face softly. “Do try to sleep some. You need it.”
He looked away but nodded. “Do you know, she told me she wouldn’t miss her mom if she died. I have no idea if that’s because of everything she’s been through or what. But I don’t get it, the sentiment of hating the woman who—Shit.” He sighed. “Sorry, Ash. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, nothing to be sorry for.” Ash sighed, leaning heavily on him so that he had to hold her up. Not that she was all that heavy. “Elinore’s home life is… not well.”
“Hmm,” he hummed. “So that’s why you hired her.”
Her nodded turned into rubbing her face on his chest. “I had hoped to help her. With money if not moral support. I wasn’t thinking of the future though, that we’d have trouble so soon. I thought I could protect her though.”
He sighed, not looking forward to the visit if things between Ellie and her parents weren’t good. “And Nastasia? What are we doing with her?”
He didn’t realize that Ash even had room to slump any more in his arms, but she did and it broke his heart to see her hurting. He held her tighter.
“I have no idea, my love. None at all.”
22: Disposable Teens
THE neighborhood was real nice. As typical with most of the communities in the area, the plots were large enough that everyone had plenty of lawn. Despite the cool evening, a typical March day in Maryland, there were people outside. A jogger getting in run, a homeowner working in the garden under her front windows, a man working on his hog in the driveway.
Tristan had to check twice to make sure that he’d gotten the right place. But of course, the house Ellie led him to had to be the only one on the block that looked like it should have a no occupancy notice posted on the door. The siding was moldy, the shutters needed a good coat of paint, and the front lawn was bare and muddy from the recent rain. And those were all the better aspects of the place.
Not wanting to get too close, Tristan parked across the street, facing the way out—always good to plan a quick getaway. He yanked up the parking break and shut off the car. Squinting behind his glasses, angry at the setting sun for being too bright, he asked, “Is this it, Elinore?”
The girl, disturbingly mute the whole ride over, however short, looked up, blinked big brown eyes at him. God, and she looked like shit, like a team of monkeys spent the night picking through her hair… and they reached brain. Under her eyes were puffy and purple. After Ash read her a story and retired herself, leaving Tristan and Ellie alone, she watched some TV. Despite the yawns and her growing moans and groans, she refused to sleep. Tristan ended up reading to her through lunch—well past his own bedtime.
Every time the girl dozed off, she’d wake up screaming, clutching to Tristan as if she were drowning and he’d keep her afloat. He eventually ended up dosing her and they napped together for about three hours, not nearly enough for either of them. Tristan himself was feeling a little itchy—like his skin was on too tight. He was slightly nauseous and annoyingly hungry at the same time. Add on top of that, all this goddamn sun…
“It?” she asked, looking downright perplexed.
“Is this your house?”
She blinked again, eyes slowly slipping away from his. She looked at the house they were parked in front of and frowned. “No.”
Tristan had to stifle a sigh, remember that they were both tired and an attitude wouldn’t help. “Here.” He pointed and she looked. After she thought about, she finally nodded. “Great, let’s go.”
Tristan walked stiffly across the street, his body achy. Although, there was an ache below his navel that had nothing to do with exhaustion and the sun and everything to do with the part vampire in him. He hoped the constant… tumescence he’d been feeling since bitten would eventually subside. So far it hadn’t. It gave him a new understanding of the vampire’s sin, that was for sure.
The storm door nearly fell off the hinges when he opened it and he hoped it was the poor repair of the place and not him being all vampire-strength on it. Like this morning, when he went to make something for Ellie to eat and destroyed a kitchen drawer by simply pulling it out.
Guess there was more than a few changes happening to him now, changes he was prepared for—and a whole lot he wasn’t.
He lifted his hand to knock but Ellie had other ideas as she squirmed in under his arm and opened the front door. He grunted and followed her in.
Fuck, the stink. Litter pan, mold, weed and perfume made a glob of nastiness in the back of his throat and he had to hold back a cough. Whether Ellie noticed or cared, Tristan couldn’t tell. She moved through the house silent, passing through a foyer cramped with shoes and coats piled in a corner, to a kitchen that looked like maybe there’d been meth cooking recently to an open living room—if it hadn’t been piled to bursting with shit.
Amidst the newspaper, clothing, dirty dishes and other random shit, there was a TV blaring a perky-ass woman on some early morning talk show, and the backs of two heads facing said television.
Ellie stopped, looked at the two heads and then made a little fluttering motion, shaking herself without acknowledging the pair and stomped her way on up the stairs. Unsure what to do, Tristan shoved his hands into his pockets and waited at the bottom of the steps, hoping she wouldn’t take too long. He’d just decided
that he would go up and help her when one of the heads moved, and then there was a pair of reddened eyes glaring at him.
“Who’re you?” the man asked.
Tristan pulled his hands from his pockets, straightening. The other head turned. The woman didn’t look like she was in much better shape than the man. Her eyes weren’t red, but she was working on it with a joint stuck to her lip. Her brown hair was frizzy and un-brushed, looked a lot like Ellie’s did right then. The skin of her face looked like it was trying to melt from her skull, but Tristan could see that she was a pretty woman, once. She was also where Ellie got her freckles from.
Tristan cleared his throat to answer, “Ellie’s friend.”
“Friend?” the man grunted, getting to his feet.
He was taller than Tristan had realized and lean, not an ounce of fat on him. His entire head of hair was salt and pepper, more pepper, as well as his short cut beard. He moved with a better grace than he’d stood with and Tristan guessed the man wasn’t as stoned as his eyes suggested.
“What’re you doing here?”
Tristan considered him a moment, taking all of him before smiling and putting his hand out. His smile must have been as tight as it felt because the man flinched, just a little. “Tristan Blum.”
Having regained his composure, the man narrowed his reddened blue-grey eyes at him, glared at his hand while he reached into his shirt pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Taking his time, he lit a cigarette and blew out a large puff of smoke, right into Tristan’s face.
“You Elinore’s boyfriend or somethin’?”
He gave a start at the question, not expecting it. In truth, he walked in here unsure of what he would say to her parents, how he’d convince them that their young daughter was moving in with him. But this worked, so he went with it.
Tristan dropped his hand but refused to look snubbed over it. “Uh, yeah.”
“Mhm, how old are you, boy?”
“Twenty-one,” he said, another lie. Eli was only eighteen, he didn’t want to be too old for her dad’s taste. Plus, he didn’t think he looked as old as he really was, Japanese blood and all. Besides, it was only a few years.
The Misses finally decided to engage and came to stand at her husband’s side. She smiled at Tristan, a lecherous sort of smile as his appearance started to register in her drug-addled brain. Dad didn’t like Tristan, but mom sure did. Too much.
“Be nice, Kevin,” she cooed in a voice that was smoother than Tristan expected.
“I am damn nice, Megan,” he grumbled.
The Misses, Megan, smiled. “Don’t worry about him, he’s always like that. It’s nice to meet cha, Tristan, was it?” She extended a bony, cold hand to him that he reluctantly shook. “Our Ellie’s found such a handsome boy. I’m charmed.”
He forced a nice smile that stank as bad as the inside of this disgusting house. “Thanks. Listen, uh, this is kind of awkward, but Ellie is, well, she’s moving in with me.”
Kevin yanked his wife back to him. “That so, boy?”
“Sir, yes.” Strong, commanding, not going to back down from this.
The couple studied Tristan for a long time in silence. One eyeing him like she was trying to size him up for sexy underwear and the other, well, he was trying to eviscerate him with a mere look.
Finally, Kevin spoke. “Don’t bring her back pregnant, you hear me? I ain’t taking care of no babies. You get tired of Elinore, you can bring her back, but you kill the thing in her belly, you got it?”
Tristan frowned as Kevin guided Megan with him back to the sofa. The woman sat with no arguments but there was a desire to talk more as she watched Tristan over her shoulder.
Anger rising, Tristan turned and stomped up the stairs. Was this the kind of home life the poor girl had before? A mother too interested in getting high and hitting on Ellie’s friends, and a dad that didn’t give a shit? He was starting to think that she just might be better off now, dumbed down n’ all.
The first room at the top of the stairs was empty. An orange tabby was stretched out the unmade bed. The next door was a bathroom—the obvious source of the cat stink. The last down the hall was where he found poor Elinore, sitting in the middle of an immaculately tidy space with her legs spread out before her and a blank look on her face.
“Ellie? What’re doing?”
She looked up, frowned. “I forget.”
He sighed and went to kneel in front of her. He smiled big, determined to chase the frown away. “Here, let me help you. Do you have a suitcase?”
She nodded and pointed. Next to the dresser painted white with little pink flowers, was a big tie-dye suitcase. She had it half packed already, nice and neat, and Tristan wondered if she had done this before Desmond almost killed her. He wouldn’t be surprised by it, not after seeing how her life was in this house.
Without her consent and needing to keep busy, Tristan started to shove everything he could into the bag. The more he thought on it, the angrier he got over the whole thing. How long has she lived like this? Her whole life? Tristan vowed to make sure her life would be better from now on. He give he whatever she wanted and needed.
“Okay, what else?” he asked, having packed as much of her clothing as he could fit into the suitcase. After the clothes, there wasn’t much to leave behind. The room was barren, especially compared to the rest of the house.
She pointed to the tiny twin sized bed done up with a frilly pink coverlet. “Rainbow Bright.”
He went to the bed and picked up the doll, examining it. It was in fact Rainbow Bright. She looked handmade and rather old, but in good condition. Ellie took the proffered doll gingerly and wrapped it in her arms against her chest.
She snuggled a cheek to the top of the doll’s head. “Grandma made it.”
“It’s very nice. Are you ready to go?”
“Where?”
“Home.”
She stood, looking around, seeing her room, her things and frowned, confused. “I thought this is.”
“This was your home, but you’re coming to stay with Ash and me now.”
Her dark eyes lit up. “Miss Ash?”
A real smile manifested. It was the thought of his vampire lover. “Yeah.”
“And you?”
He laughed now. “That’s right. You ready?” When he held his hand out, she lunged for it, slipping her fingers into his and gripped hard.
“Ready,” she said with a decisive nod.
Overfilled suitcase in one hand, Ellie hanging on the other, they walked down the narrow stairs. Kevin was in the kitchen, leaning against one of the cleaner parts of the counter, watching the pair closely with a beer in hand. Tristan barely acknowledged the man with a quick look and guided Ellie towards the front door.
“Wait.”
Tristan ground his teeth, squeezed Ellie’s hand when she tensed.
“Elinore.”
Tristan turned, pulling Ellie with him and she moved close, seeking to hide herself behind him.
“You kiss your mother goodbye, you hear?”
Kevin moved closer and Ellie scooted further behind Tristan, trembling against him.
Kevin’s brow furrowed as he scowled at Tristan and then at Ellie. “You hear me, girl?”
He bolted forward, reaching out and then he had a hold of an arm, yanking Ellie away from Tristan. Rainbow Bright tumbled out of her hold and she screeched. “Damnit, you will listen to me!” His hand was in the air and moving towards Ellie.
Tristan didn’t remember moving but was beyond grateful he had. Kevin blinked up at him, red eyes wide in shock, his wrist trapped in Tristan’s hard grip. The shock quickly shifted into rage. He opened his mouth to spew more of his bullshit, no doubt, but Tristan spoke over him.
“You do not want to do this,” Tristan said slowly, his voice low and dangerous. He felt keenly on edge, the hurricane of rage building.
Something in Kevin’s face softened, a thought, true consideration, maybe.
“Go back t
o watching TV,” Tristan strongly suggested and with that, Kevin’s face lost all expression. His body slumped and Tristan gasped, letting the man go and jerking his hand back. He recognized that blank stare in the other man, he just didn’t know he could be the cause of it. His motonō skills were starting to manifest.
Ellie’s hot, wet hand snatched up Tristan’s and she tugged hard. “I want to go now.”
Eyes locked on the mannequin of a man before him, he whispered, “Me too.”
Tristan rushed them out of the house, pulling the screen off its hinges for good, and to the car. In a daze, he unlocked the car and flipped the seat forward. Before he could put Ellie’s stuff in the backseat, she was climbing in.
“Ellie, sweetheart,” he sighed. “That’s for your bag.”
She giggled and it was like a balm for his battered soul, the first real happy gesture she’d made since she awoke. “I can sit in front?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She put on a cheesy grin, clutching her doll under her chin and got out.
Tristan had just gotten them both buckled up and ready, the car started when Ellie blurted out, “I’m hungry. Can I have fishy crackers?”
Tristan turned in his seat and gave her a cockeyed look. “Fishy—what…? Oh, right. Goldfish cracker. Yeah, sure, we’ll get some then head home. You tired?”
“Mmm, just a little tiny tired.”
“Little tiny tired,” he muttered as he pulled the car out into the street. He gave the house a glance in passing, anxiety trickling in again about what he did.
After five minutes of arguing in the parking lot about Ellie’s choice of seat in the shopping cart and thwarting a meltdown, Tristan got her happily seated in the big basket—might as well have been a dog with their head out the window, she was so damn pleased.
Tristan had just come to a stop in the chip aisle, contemplating his sudden urge for something salty instead of sweet when there was there was aloud shrill that interrupted not only Tristan’s thoughts but Ellie’s song about farting butterflies. Tristan huffed and glanced up give the other person in the aisle a glare for the ignored phone when he realized it was him.
Primal Burdens: (The Uruwashi Series #5) Page 25
