by Dora Blume
Erik smiled at her, “Now you see why we did all this?”
She closed her mouth and swallowed hard, “Yeah, I guess.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. It was as if everything she had known about her family, and her world had just come crashing down around her. Not knowing what to do next, she just stood there, staring at her father.
Bryant looked at Sloane and then looked to Erik. “Why don’t you take your sister back to her apartment so she can rest. It’s been a long day. We can pick this back up tomorrow when everything has settled down.”
Erik nodded and headed toward the door. He took Sloane’s hand and guided her. By the expression on her face, he could tell that she needed the support.
On the way out he said, “You can’t tell anyone about this okay. We don’t know who to trust right now, and anyone could be involved. There are others playing both sides. So, don’t tell anyone.”
“Ah, that shouldn’t be a problem I don’t know who to trust myself, right now.” Sloane spoke, her voice so devoid of emotion that caused Erik to stop and look at her. She stared blankly at him.
Erik stopped and grabbed Sloane’s hand and looked her in the eyes. “You trust us though, right?”
“I just want to go home and think all this through. Bryant’s right, it’s been a long day.” She let go of his hand and headed toward the car. “I think I can get myself home, thank you.” She got into the borrowed car and headed back to Bryant’s house to get her own car. She needed some time to process all they’d told her. She texted Mike, letting him know everything was fine, and she was just going to go home. She wanted to call him and confide in him but wasn’t sure she should. She drove home as quickly as she could manage, legally.
Chapter 20
Mike looked at his phone and was glad to see that Sloane was okay. He got her text, but he was preoccupied dealing with the demons. They finished the last incantation, and Jess was about to unfreeze the students, so they could go back to their lives. They hadn’t done a body count yet, but they knew quite a few had died on both sides. One girl was kneeling over Matt’s body. The girl moved her hand gently to close his eyes then sat on the floor next to him keeping one hand on his chest. They must have been close. Jess looked around at the carnage. There were broken tables and chairs strewn everywhere; blood was splattered across the once white walls. Jess wished that they had some kind of incantation to make all the remnants of the last few hours disappear as well. She didn’t want to wake all the students up here. It was quite a scene. She couldn’t exactly move them either. She planned on unfreezing them then leading them outside, so they didn’t have to observe the surrounding scene. She was sure this would haunt her dreams for a while, and these students had enough to deal with besides a bloody mess.
Jess looked to Mike, “You ready?”
“Yeah let’s get them outside, so we can work on the rest of this mess.” He looked around, then focused back on Jess and nodded.
Jess unfroze the students, and Mike ran up to the podium. “Okay everyone, if you could just step outside the building we’ll explain everything, and make sure you find your way home okay.”
Everyone started looking around and a few of the girls screamed. Mike started again “Okay, everything will be fine we just need you to all go outside. You don’t need to see this.” A few students started heading toward the doors, slowly more followed. None of them wanted to analyze the room before them, so they listened. After a few minutes, the students were gone and a few hunters followed them out while others started to attend to the bodies in the room. They walked around closing eyes and placing pennies on their eyelids. It was all they could do for now to honor their dead. They would have this all cleaned up momentarily, and the order had a division for this sort of thing. Shaundra walked over to join Jess and Mike.
“I’m going to make a few calls to get the cleaners here. You two have had a long day. Why don’t you head back to the bar? I’m sure some of these guys could use a drink as well. We can get this all wrapped up in no time.”
“Are you sure?” Mike asked. He took a moment to examine the surrounding mess.
“Yeah, I don’t like that idea. I think we’ll stick around to make sure everything is alright.”
“Oh dear, no, I promise everything will be fine. You know the order has a division for this kind of thing. They will take care of everything. If you’ll excuse me I need to make some calls. Go, get some rest.” Shaundra walked away from them and pulled out her cell phone.
Jess looked to Mike, “I don’t know what it is exactly, but I don’t trust her.”
Mike was surprised. “Why’s that?”
“I know this is crazy, but I’ve taken her power boost before and it had more of an effect. This time was different. I think she might have done it on purpose.”
“Why would she do that?" His voice raising in question. “She’s done so much to help us.”
“I don’t know Mike, but something is off I can feel it.” Jess eyed Shaundra as she paced back and forth while she talked on the phone.
“Well, what could she possibly do now? The rumble’s over.” He shrugged, then stretched out his hand to her. “Come on let’s head to the bar. Sloane and the others already went home. It’s done for now, let it go.”
“Okay, I don’t like it, but I can let it go for now.” Jess took his hand.
“Good cause I could use a drink.” He headed for the door and to his car. Jess followed, but she still felt uneasy about the whole situation. She wanted to talk it out with Erik. She knew he would listen and believe her.
They headed to the bar and shortly after, a few others from the fight came to join them. They toasted to the ones they had lost as well as to winning the battle. Everyone was trying to be in good spirits but considering the circumstances it was hard. They always tried to celebrate the lives of their fallen comrades rather than mourning them in a traditional sense. Jess felt uneasy, but Mike didn’t want to hear it. He wanted to relax after the hard day.
She thought she needed to do something. Looking around the room at the others happily celebrating was uncomfortable. She had to know for sure about Shaundra. Grabbing her jacket from the stool, she headed out the door. A bad feeling stuck in her gut, and she always trusted her instincts. Jess jumped in her car and headed back to the building on campus. A part of her wanted to know exactly how the order would “clean up” the mess of bodies that were left behind after the battle.
There were a few cars parked on the street which wasn’t all that unusual for a college campus. She walked up to the building and looked through the window first. All the lights were out so she couldn’t see inside. Using a key card that she swiped from one of the offices earlier, she let herself inside. No one was here. She crept into the auditorium just in case they were doing clean-up before the next day. The auditorium was spotless. She turned in a circle and it was as if nothing happened there a few hours ago. She couldn’t believe it. How could they have cleaned it all up that quickly? It didn’t make sense. Nothing about this was making sense. She had to go find Sloane and talk to her. How they made every mark disappear so flawlessly and where were all the bodies? They had been lying here a few hours ago, now there was no sign of them anywhere. She rushed over to Sloane’s house. She pulled into the driveway and was surprised that her car wasn’t there. She walked in the kitchen. Spending so much time in this house the last few days, she’d become accustomed to just making herself at home.
Erik heard a noise in the kitchen and headed down to see what it was. He was surprised to find Jessie walking around when no one else was there.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Erik asked.
She jumped, “Oh it’s just you. Do you know where Sloane is? I need to talk to her.”
“She went home to rest. Why what’s up?” He studied her. Her hands were clenched in fists at her sides. He felt bad for scarring her. He walked over and took one hand forcing her to unclench her fist. He looked into her eyes and waited.
> Her eyes narrowed. She trusted Erik but would rather share this with Sloane. She had too much history with Erik, and right now she could feel his presence like a beacon, calling her. “Doesn’t Sloane live here?”
Erik squeezed her hand, it felt balmy in his. “No, she has an apartment near Cedar. I can call her if you like, let her know you want to talk.” Erik was sincere in his words. He wanted to help her, and she remembered that he was one of the few guys she could trust.
She looked down to their hands, fingers interlaced. “I suppose I could talk to you.” She moved to sit down at the table pulling Erik in tow.
“Well I suppose I can listen then. What’s up, Jess?” He sat down across from her waiting to hear what could be bothering her. He could feel the tension in her as if it were his own.
She squared her shoulders and spoke. “I have a bad feeling about Shaundra.” She looked into Erik’s eyes and waited.
“What do you mean?” He looked concerned. He took both her hands in his and sat directly in front of her. His face inches from hers. “You can trust me Jess. You know that.”
She nodded, and he sat back in the chair, ready to listen. “You know how she gave me that tonic to boost my power, well I’ve used it before, and it worked better. Today it didn’t do much, and I have a feeling that’s why more people lost their lives. It should have worked to freeze the whole room. There shouldn’t have been any fighting. I don’t get what was different. When I started thinking about that. I tried to figure out why Shaundra would want today to be different, then I thought maybe she didn’t want today to be successful. Maybe she wanted us to fail. The only reason she would want us to fail is if she was helping the other side. I know this all sounds crazy but, it just doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t work today when it has worked every other time?” She stopped to take a breath.
“Huh, you could be right. It’s strange that it didn’t work like before.” He watched the softening of her mouth when he agreed with her. She sat back, relaxed in the chair.
“Exactly, I think she may be working with the demons.” Jess couldn’t believe that she said that out loud to Erik, but it was out there now. She watched Erik closely. His brow furrowed as he thought about it. He was absently stroking his thumb over her knuckles.
He looked her in the eye, determination in his gaze. “I think we should find out for sure.”
“How are we going to do that?” Jess couldn’t believe he believed her. She expected him to tell her she was delusional or something. She knew that he was trustworthy, but there was still a voice of doubt in her.
“Let’s go ask her.” He got up to grab his coat. He turned and held his hand out for her. She placed her hand in his and looked longingly into his eyes. This was her Erik, the man she entrusted with her life numerous times. Why would she ever doubt him?
“Right now? We’re just going to drive over to her place and ask her if she’s working with the demons?” She looked at him perplexed. She thought they would need more evidence to confront her.
“Yeah, why not?” Erik was at the door while she stood with a shocked look on her face.
Then she shrugged and said, “Why not?” They headed to Shaundra’s place.
Getting there in record time, they headed up to ring the bell. Jess looked to Erik. “The shop’s not open, why would the lights be on?” She walked up and peaked in the windows. Shaundra was there with another man, they seemed to be having an intense argument. Jess motioned for Erik to come join her. They both looked in to see what was going on.
“Screw this, time to get some answers.” Erik pounded on the door to the shop.
Jess stood behind him. Shaundra saw them and rushed to let them in. She unbolted the two locks and opened the door. “What on earth are you two doing here at this hour?” She motioned for them to come in. She moved out of the way to look at her two guests. Then she walked back to the counter.
“I have some questions for you Shaundra.” Erik said as he walked up to meet the man she’d been talking to.
“Hi, I’m Erik and you are?” He reached out to shake the man’s hand. He already picked up his thoughts, but it was polite to ask. He liked it better when people didn’t know he was reading their every thought. It gave him the advantage, like whenever someone was lying.
“Hello Erik, I’m Curtis from the Madison branch. It’s nice to meet you. I came to help with the clean-up.” He smiled politely and shook Erik’s hand.
“Oh, that’s good, we could use some help.” He looked to Jess who eyed the man skeptically.
“So, Shaundra would you like to explain to us exactly why Jess’ power wasn’t boosted today, even though you gave her the drink which should have worked?” Erik stared her in the eye collecting all the things she thought before she answered him.
“Excuse me?” Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open in shock.
“You heard him.” Jess spoke up. “It should have worked better than it did. I’ve taken the same thing before and it was so much better. What was different about it today?” Jess couldn’t help it she didn’t trust Shaundra.
Shaundra looked to Curtis, then took a step further behind the counter. She reached slightly down for something as she spoke. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I gave you the same thing as I’ve always given you. I don’t know why it wouldn’t have worked the same this time.” She exchanged a glance with Curtis.
“Shaundra, why did you make it weaker?” Erik glared at her. He had all the proof he needed from her thoughts. She was paid to make the potion weaker, and report to Curtis about the day. They were both traitors.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about," she stammered and reached down further. Erik could hear when she’d gripped her gun. Her thoughts gave her away a moment before she started to raise her hand. Erik pulled his from behind his coat and shot both her and Curtis in the head. They slumped to the floor and Erik put his gun back in his pants.
“Let’s search the place and see if there is anything else we can find out about the traitors. Then we need to get rid of these two before someone else finds them.” Erik went right to it and started rifling through the stuff in the shop. Jess stood there, wide eyed staring at the woman who she thought was her friend. Now she was lying hunched against the wall with blood dripping from the small hole in her head. Her expression was blank and her eyes were stuck open, forever in shock.
“I can’t believe you just shot them,” she whispered.
“They were traitors. I listened to their thoughts. Shaundra was going for her own gun to shoot us. I just beat her to it.” He continued to go through the piles of receipts. He decided to take the stack with him. He thought it might give him an insight into others who had visited the shop, and what they bought.
“Come on let’s throw them in the trunk, we can head out of the city, and burn them in the woods so no one finds their bodies. We don’t want to clue the order into us knowing about the traitors, since we don’t know how many there are yet.” Erik moved the car to the back alley, and Jess met him by the back door. She grabbed Shuandra’s legs, and he took her head. They threw her body in the trunk and came back for the other. They jammed them both in and headed out of the city.
When they got in the car Jess asked, “So what happened today with Bryant? It’s weird that Sloane just went home.” She watched as he drew his lips into a hard line. He stared straight ahead.
“Yeah, we kind of dropped a bombshell on her. She needs time to process.” He glanced her way quickly then back to the road.
“What the hell does that mean?” She focused her attention on him, the way he gripped the wheel, the tension he held in his shoulders. He was focused on the road but kept glancing her way quickly then back at the road.
“Do I have to tell you now?” Erik asked. He blew out a breath and stole a quick glance in her direction.
“Ah, yes, you do, we have a bit of a drive ahead of us and two bodies in the trunk. You better fucking tell me what the hell is
going on.” She turned her body to face him, tucking one foot under her. Her eyes boring into his face, expectant.
“Well, Bryant didn’t exactly betray us. He’s been working to find out who in the order is working for the demons. He’s been doing this since our mother died.” He paused waiting for her reaction. He chanced a glimpse at her. Her answering scowl made him focus back on the road.
“Seriously, and you knew the whole time.” Jess eyeballed him, frowning.
“Ah… yeah, I did.” His voice was weary. He gripped the wheel stretching his arms in front of him preparing for the onslaught of Jessie’s wrath. He knew she didn’t like being lied to, and he’d experienced her angry enough times before. He knew this was going to get ugly.
Her voice was small, “You lied when you couldn’t get angry with him. It was because you knew he hadn’t really betrayed us.” She started clenching her hands at her sides. Her eyes bore into his, the anger coloring her cheeks as her eyes pierced his.
“I’m truly sorry, Jess, it was necessary at the time.” He took a deep breath, and he searched her face for understanding. He wanted to reach out to her, take her hand, explain everything. He wasn’t sure she would let him; the anger clouded her judgement.
“You better be. You didn’t trust me, Erik? Me? After everything we’ve been through together. What the fuck? I don’t even know what to say to you right now.” She held her hands in fists in her lap and turned back toward the window. “You lied to me.”
“Sorry, Jess I really am. No one knows about this. Bryant has flushed out quite a few, but no one knows how many of the order are working with the demons and until we know we have to be very careful who we trust. It’s nothing personal.” He slowed his speed. He wanted to pull over have a real conversation. He couldn’t focus on her reactions while he was driving. He was pensive, he wanted her forgiveness.
