by D. Laine
“That was stupid of you to interfere.” The blood pooled in his mouth misted over my face as he snarled at me.
I wiped it away with nothing more than a hint of annoyance. I was immune to him. I couldn’t be tagged. The agency had made sure of that. The vessel could spit blood and saliva all over me, and it wouldn’t make a difference.
All he managed to do was irritate me further.
I retaliated swiftly. My speed took him by surprise, and I landed one solid punch to the tip of his nose before he remembered how to fight. He might have still been a little loopy from the chair to the back of his head, but I preferred to think I was just a better fighter than him.
I was good. Practiced. Experienced. Lethal.
I glimpsed the confusion in his eyes when I didn’t go down like the ordinary humans he was used to preying on. His hits struck solid, well-conditioned muscle. Yeah, it hurt, but I was used to it. I knew how to take it and keep on fighting.
When he realized he wasn’t getting anywhere with his fists, he lowered his shoulder and plowed into my gut. I had half a second to brace for the impact, and that wasn’t enough. My feet flew out from under me as he drove me onto my back. My head snapped backward and cracked off the hard flood. A blinding pain shot through my skull, intensified by the sharp ringing sound that echoed from ear to ear. When the stars cleared, I got an up-close view of the vessel’s bloody knuckles a fraction of a second before they smashed into my face.
He landed a fist to my side, then stood to tower above me. I shook my head—not only to clear the fog that filled it, but also because I couldn’t believe he could be that stupid. Pure rage had turned him into the dumbest vessel I had ever had the pleasure of killing.
Or in this case, beating to a bloody pulp.
His foot reared back, lining up with my ribs. I swung my leg out to catch him off balance. He toppled over like a tree in an aging forest. He landed on the edge of the table. It tipped over on top of him as he crashed to the floor.
Behind him, Thea jumped over the back of the seat and into the next booth. I spared a glance in her direction as I got to my feet. Grabbing the vessel’s ankles, I yanked him out from under the table. I dragged him across the floor on his stomach, his legs bucking and feet kicking the entire way to the front of the restaurant. There, I disengaged the lock on the door and pulled my gun in one fluid motion.
After looking to make certain we were blocked from Thea’s view, I bent down to put the barrel to the back of the vessel’s head. He must have recognized the sensation of cold metal pressed against his scalp, because he instantly stopped kicking.
“You come around her again, and I’ll kill you,” I whispered harshly into his ear.
“Fuck you,” he muttered with his face pressed to the floor.
I pressed harder. “Do you want to try that again?”
“You’re dead.”
“You’re the one with a gun to your head,” I reminded him. “Stay away from Thea.”
I backed up slowly, keeping the gun lowered and out of Thea’s sight while I let the vessel crawl to his knees. He glanced back at me and I nodded at the door. “Go on. Charge me and you’ll find out whether or not this thing has any bullets.”
His mouth opened then snapped shut once he saw the direction my gun was pointed. Straight at his crotch. I smirked as he pushed the door open with his foot and backpedaled onto the sidewalk.
“Good little soldier,” I told him. “Keep going.”
“This isn’t over,” he threatened, but made no attempt to cash in on that threat right now. He ran, and I kept the gun trained on him until he disappeared from sight.
As much as I hated letting him go, I knew I couldn’t kill him now—not with Thea in the room to witness it. But he would have to be eliminated soon. I would talk to Jake about it later, but right now, my main concern was over Thea, and whether or not the vessel had succeeded in tagging her.
7
I found Thea in the empty space between the two booth seats. Despite standing on her own two feet, she didn’t look too good. Her face was a little on the pale side, and her eyes were glazed and glued to a spot on the floor. She held on to the wall like it was her security blanket.
“Hey?” I probed from a distance. Her eyes slowly slid up from the floor to meet mine. “Are you okay?”
Her head vibrated from side to side in rapid, barely discernable shakes. Her lips parted to say something, but nothing came out.
“He’s gone,” I informed her, because I wasn’t convinced she was aware of that yet. “You’re okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Her eyes focused on me, and she blinked when she seemed to finally recognize me. “You’re . . .”
“Dylan,” I supplied softly. I moved a step closer, and slowly reached a hand out to her while I asked for her permission with my eyes. Permission granted, I took one of her hands in mine and pulled her away from the wall. “Let me get you out of here.”
She nodded, again with the small, rapid bobs of her head. “Okay.”
With her hand in mine, I turned toward the rear of the restaurant to leave the way I had entered. After a few steps, she yanked her hand out of mine.
“No. That’s where he . . .” Her wide-set eyes darted to mine. “He was waiting for me.”
I turned to put a placating arm out to her. “You don’t have to go back out there. I can go get your car for you. Is that okay?”
A noise that sounded like a whimper came from her but she nodded her agreement. Finally, she whispered, “I lost my keys.”
“I’ll find them.” I hesitated to observe her closely. Even in the dim light, I could see that she was shaking. Fine tremors wracked her body as she wrapped her arms around her middle. Though I was nothing but a stranger to her, I stepped close to offer her my comfort. “It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let him hurt you again.”
She glanced up, briefly meeting my eyes, before looking away with a nod.
I angled my chin toward the front of the restaurant. “Can you get out through the front door?”
“Yes.”
“Go on. I’ll get your car. You can wait inside until you see me pull up to the curb.”
She nodded again and I turned to leave. I took one step before her hand snagged my elbow.
“Be—” She rolled her eyes before squeezing them shut. “He doesn’t give up easily and he usually doesn’t go anywhere without his brothers, so . . .”
Despite the sobering situation, I grinned before finishing what she had initially meant to say. “I’ll be careful. Don’t you worry about me.”
She reluctantly let me go. As I slipped through the kitchen and the dark storage room, I wondered if her hesitancy was spurred by her fear of being left alone, or if she really believed Kyle would try his luck with me again.
He doesn’t give up easily.
I was quickly starting to realize just how serious she was about that. So much so that I almost expected to find Kyle waiting for me with a gun in his hand, and a bullet with my name on it.
I slowed as I approached the exit, and peeked through the narrow opening into the parking lot. After confirming that it was deserted, I pushed the door open. With my eyes on the ground, I spotted Thea’s keys only a few steps from the exit.
He must have ambushed her at the door and pushed her inside before she had a chance to fight back. I had come along just in time. What it looked like he had been attempting to do . . .
I shook my head to clear the thought as I unlocked her car door. It was still too early to know if he had succeeded. Sure, I’d prevented him from potentially raping the girl, but he had his mouth on hers for a long time before I smashed the chair over his head. He might have tagged her. Only time would tell.
I would have to confirm with Jake, but I thought it was two or three days before the illness started with a fever. Whether Thea liked it or not, I would be watching her until I knew if the vessel had succeeded.
The thought of having to kill her did
n’t settle easily with me. Especially not when I pulled up to the curb in front of the restaurant and watched her run from the door and jump into the passenger seat of her car before I’d put the vehicle into park.
“Um . . .” My wary gaze settled on her vibrating leg as it rattled the seat beneath her. I had only intended to bring the car around for her, then let her go where she needed to go. Something told me she had something else in mind. “Do you want me to drive you somewhere?”
“I want to go home,” she told me. Her eyes were pointed out the windshield. “I have a can of mace in my right hand. I’ve never used it before, but I’ve practiced.”
I caught my bottom lip between my teeth to hold back a laugh. I fought so hard I feared I drew blood. “Okay. I won’t give you a reason to try it out on me.”
“I wish I . . .” Her voice trembled, and she stopped to take a deep breath before trying again. “He knew I had it. Threw my purse out of reach before I could grab it.”
My eyes dropped to her side, where the can of mace she claimed to have was concealed. “I never would have known you had it. Why did you tell me?”
Her head turned and her eyes met mine unflinchingly. “I want you to know I don’t completely trust you. I want you to know I’ll be watching you. The only reason I’m asking you to drive me home is because I don’t think I could make it on my own right now. You did just save me, so I assume . . .”
Her eyes widened with recognizable fear, and I quickly reassured her that she had no reason to doubt me. At least, not yet.
“If I wanted to hurt you, Thea, I would have done it already,” I told her.
She blinked at me in surprise. “You remember my name?”
I flashed a grin at her. “I told you I would.”
I wanted to say more. I wanted to pull her personality out to play. I wanted to see the girl I’d talked to in the bar a few nights ago. She was in there, hidden beneath a thick layer of terror.
Instead of trying to force it out of her, I turned to look out the windshield. “So where to?”
“I’m at the University Heights Apartments.”
“Okay. This way?” I pointed straight.
“Yeah. You—” She twisted in her seat to face me as I pulled away from the curb. “You don’t know where it’s at? Everybody on campus—ah, are you not a student? I’m sorry. I assumed you were.”
“Uh . . .” Already, I’d nearly forgotten the role I was supposed to play. “Yeah, I am a student. I just transferred here, though, so I’m not familiar with the town yet.”
“Oh, okay. Where did you transfer from?”
My fingers drummed the steering wheel as I fired off the first state that came to mind—my home state. “Utah.” I spared a peek across the seat as she offered a faint smile.
“So what’s your major?”
Jesus, what was this? Twenty Questions?
“Geology,” I answered quickly.
“Really?” I glanced in her direction at the incredulity in her voice. “So you’ve probably already met Kyle.”
“Oh, uh . . .” Shit. Shit. Shit. I hadn’t even gone to one class yet. Though I suspected Kyle was also a geology major, I had no idea if he was in any of my classes. “I’ve managed to avoid him so far.” I shrugged. “So what’s your major?”
“Photography.”
“Oh, yeah?” I stole another glance. “Like weddings and baby pictures, or . . .”
“I like landscapes. I mean . . .” She waved her arms in front of her, gesturing through the windshield. “I’m surrounded by some of the most beautiful sights in the world right here in my backyard. I like to think I’ve managed to take advantage of that opportunity.”
I observed the shadowed peaks that rose in the distance and nodded my agreement. “It is something.”
She fell silent for a moment before asking, “How does Montana compare to Utah so far?”
“Honestly . . .” Though I hadn’t been home in over ten years, I said, “I don’t miss Utah at all.”
Too many bad memories—none of which I was going to tell Thea about. For starters, I didn’t like to talk about the things that happened in Utah. Sure, the first decade of my life was great. I explored caves, rode my bike, and pulled the heads off my sister’s Barbies like every other boy.
The day my parents sat my sister and me down and explained to us what we were destined for, everything changed. A few days later, my family was gone and I was officially a ward of the agency.
“You’ll like Montana,” Thea told me. “I’ve lived near here my entire life. Never plan to move away from all this beauty.”
“Are you a senior?” I asked conversationally as I braked at a red light. To our right was the university’s administrative building.
Just enough light penetrated the inside of the car for me to see Thea’s teeth come down on her lip. She nodded passively—she was still thinking about earlier. I looked away when the signal changed, and we were submerged into shadows again.
I wanted to tell her to forget about it, to not worry. Kyle would be gone soon, and she would never have to worry about him again. I couldn’t tell her that without incriminating myself and throwing up a handful of red flags. I couldn’t allow that.
After another block, Thea instructed me to turn left into a wide open parking lot bordered by clusters of three-story apartment buildings. I immediately recognized the complex. I had been here just a few nights ago. The events of that night had likely prompted the police presence that greeted us now.
“My God,” Thea breathed. “What happened?”
I pointed through the wall of red and blue flashing lights. “Where to, Thea?”
“Right there. I see my roommate on the sidewalk.” She directed me to the next building over from the one where the police had gathered. They were currently assembled in front of the room in which I had killed the tag.
Not good. I had kind of hoped her body had already been discovered, and that her death hadn’t made a big splash. From the look of the scene around me, a tidal wave was about to roll through town.
Thea jumped out of the car the moment I pulled into the parking space in front of her apartment. Keeping my eyes on the cluster of police and curious college students milling around in their pajamas, I followed Thea to the sidewalk. There, her roommate pulled her in for a hug.
“It’s Liv,” the other girl cried. “Tiff was gone all weekend, and just got back. She found her dead in a pool of blood. Her neck was—” The roommate broke off with a sob, and Thea shot me a concerned look over her shoulder.
“That’s two in a week,” Thea muttered.
I pasted on a glum face that matched those on the students around me. “Two?”
Thea pulled away from her roommate. The girl shifted to peer up at me through heavy, wet eyelashes. When her eyes widened in recognition, I shot her a smirk.
I might have had a few drinks the other night, but I remembered this girl encouraging Thea to approach me. She was a loud talker so I had heard most of what she’d said to Thea. What Thea didn’t know was that her so-called friend had also cornered me outside the bathroom later that night. I hadn’t accepted her blatant invitation, but I remembered her.
She didn’t seem to like seeing me with Thea right now.
“You didn’t hear about the hiker they found in Yellowstone last weekend?” Thea asked. “He was a student here.”
“No, I haven’t heard about that,” I muttered, and shot a concerned glance across the parking lot as two more police cars pulled up to the apartment complex.
Fucking perfect. Jake and I didn’t need this shit. They would likely search surveillance at the bar where I met the tag. I glanced at the corner of the building and spotted a tiny red light shining from the roof—more surveillance. I was screwed.
“What if there’s a serial killer on campus?” the roommate squealed.
Thea’s wide eyes darted to mine, and I swallowed down the wave of nausea that came from the realization that I was the source of
the fear in her eyes. Granted, I had killed both for a damn good reason—a reason Thea and her roommate could never know about. But still. I hated that it was me that they feared.
There were much worse things in this town than two assassins on a killing spree.
“Hey, Thea,” I called, and waited as she slipped out of her roommate’s protective arms to approach me. “I’m going to get out of here and go home.”
Her mouth dropped. “Oh, my God. You drove my car. I didn’t even think about how you would get home. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was out for a walk anyway,” I explained quickly. “I’m not far from here actually. I’ll be fine.”
“But there might be a—”
“I’ll be fine,” I repeated. “It’s you I’m worried about. Mind if I see your phone?” I held my hand out to her.
“Sure.”
She found the device in her purse and handed it to me. I felt her eyes on me as I pulled up the correct app and typed in my number. I pushed CALL and waited for my phone to ring before I disconnected.
Handing her device back to her, I said, “There. Now you have my number. Just in case.”
I backed away with a flirty wink and left her there on the sidewalk beside her roommate. She didn’t know it yet, but we were going to be seeing a lot more of each other soon. I would see her a lot more than she would see me, of course. I was good at being invisible—until I didn’t want to be.
8
THEA
“. . . State and local officials are hesitant to call this the work of a serial killer, but one thing is for certain: these murders have left the students of Montana State University crippled with fear.”
With my eyes glued to the late night news segment on the television in the living room, I moved to answer the soft knock at my door. I paused to spy through the peephole, and the tension that had gripped my body evaporated at the sight of David standing idly on the stoop. In his hand was a white plastic bag with The Nest scrawled across the front.
