Reese wiped at the blood from a split in his skin that healed almost instantly. He rolled his head, cracking his neck from side to side, and rolled his shoulders. “I may a’ deserved that,” he said with a chuckle.
“Touch her like that again and next time, you won't get up so fast,” Vincent warned. His voice still practically a growl.
“Come on, Vince, relax,” Reese told him. “No more kisses, promise,” he said. “Are ya ready to do this?” Vincent rolled his eyes but gave him a nod. “You're small, sweetheart, so stick to the midsection,” Reese instructed.
He nodded at Vincent, raising his hands. Ellie sat down. Edward let the breath he had been holding go. He grabbed her shoulders. “How have you not had a heart attack yet?” he asked, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.
She flashed him a smile. “You kinda get used to it... eventually.”
“He is fast,” Edward said, impressed.
Vincent stepped into a right hook that probably would have killed Ellie. He slammed his fist into Reese's face. Vincent moved slower, it was still hard for them to watch. Ellie had to concentrate hard to keep track of his moves.
“Vincent, you're still going too fast,” Ellie called out.
“All right, Sunshine,” Reese said, as they went back to their respective places. “Do not ever take the hook that fat-head just did,” he told her, ignoring the look Vincent gave him. “Pay attention to his footwork, though. That is what ya need to learn. Ya will never be as fast as him. That's true, but ya need to work mostly on your speed.”
“This isn't working,” Ellie complained. To both of their questioning looks, she said. “He's too fast,” she said getting to her feet. Ellie walked over in front of Vincent and fell into the stance that she’d been taught.
“Ya sure?” Reese asked. His head bent forward.
“Just, remember I'm a squishy human,” she told him. Vincent gave her a look that said he did not like this. But he didn't argue with her, either. Vincent walked over to the bench, glaring at Reese. Vincent was pissed at him for baiting him the way he had. Vincent was angrier with himself for losing control momentarily as it was. Edward stared at Vincent like he had never seen him before.
The two of them watched as Ellie threw punch after punch at Reese. He took a moment to peel his bloody shirt off and let it drop to the snow. Reese was a pretty good teacher. Each new punch he taught her, Ellie picked up within minutes. By the half hour mark, her footwork was improving too. Edward was sure he picked up on a few things. Edward looked at Vincent. Curiosity raged within him.
“How is she still alive?” Edward asked finally.
Vincent turned to look at him, his gray eyes swirling. “You mean, why I haven't I killed her yet?” His voice sounded angry. Vincent took in a steadying breath.
“Why haven't one of you killed her, yet?” Edward asked point blank. “She is tenacious and a pain in the ass. She is brave and smart. Ellie is a lot of things. The biggest one being human.” He looked at Vincent. “I know Elliot. I know how angry she can make someone. With a temper like yours, she should be dead.”
Vincent swallowed. There was shame in his eyes. “I love her. I control it because of her. I would never hurt her, Edward. I'd rip my beating heart out first.”
That actually made Edward smile. “That's it, I'm tired of getting my ass kicked,” Reese cried. “I say we go shoot something,” he said wiggling his eyebrows at her.
“Deal,” Ellie said with a smile.
Edward gave her a smile. He laid his hand on Vincent's shoulder. “We should talk.”
Vincent shrugged his shoulders. “All right, let’s talk.”
They watched as Reese led her to the shooting range on the other side of the house. Edward stood up and began walking the other direction. Vincent spared another glance at Reese. He was pressed up against Ellie’s back, his arm out mirroring hers. He was showing her how to shoot one handed. Vincent exhaled heavily and fell into step with Edward.
“When I told you welcome to the family,” Edward began.
“Look, I get that you hate me. I can't even blame you for it. But I won't leave her,” Vincent blurted out. He was still angry at Reese. Hell, he was still pissed at Edward. Part of Vincent’s anger issues was that he could hold onto a grudge.
“I'm not asking you to,” Edward told him.
Vincent's hard expression melted. He had not expected that. “I don't understand?” Vincent said. His eyebrows knit together.
“Guns and teaching her to fight, all of that is a good start. I guess. I want her to stay here. This chasing down the escapees, I don't want her to do it,” Edward told him.
“Have you ever tried talking her out of... anything?” Vincent asked with a flash of swirling gray eyes.
“I know. She is a pain in the ass. But if anyone can do it, it's you, kid.”
Vincent scoffed at him. “If that was true,” Vincent said. “You would still be in that damned hospital.” He ran his hand through his shimmering black hair. “Six months was the best I could manage. I can’t tell her no.”
“I'm counting on you, Vincent,” Edward said, hitching up the back of his pants. “I'm counting on you to love her. Take care of her. I need to know that she is going to be safe.” Edward sighed. “I need to know that you are going to keep her safe.”
Vincent huffed out a heavy breath. His eyes narrowed. “What aren't you telling me?” Edward stared at him for a moment, before he let his gaze fall to the snow at their feet. “You hate me. I get it. Now you’re perfectly okay with me being with her? Now you trust me?”
“There is something I won't tell you. Because she can't know it and you can't keep it from her,” Edward told him.
Vincent scoffed again. “You would be surprised at the secrets I've kept from her,” Vincent said. The look in his eyes was sad.
“Just promise me, kid. Swear to me that you will take care of her,” Edward said.
“I will always love her. I will always take care of her.”
Edward smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. “That's all I needed to know,” he said nodding.
Vincent watched him walk back toward the house. Whatever this secret was; it was Edward’s. Vincent didn't want to know. He didn't want yet another thing to hide from her. Vincent shook his head. He wandered back around the house.
Reese was crouched at her side. He twisted Ellie’s leg a quarter of an inch. A hand on either side of her foot, he slid them up from her ankle, up over her calf, her thigh. Vincent opened his mouth to say something. Reese pulled his hands away and touched them to her hips instead. He tilted them forward a fraction. Reese’s eyes serious, he touched her shoulders, pulling them back a tenth of an inch, perfecting her stance.
He nodded. Taking a step back, Reese directed, “Squeeze off a round.”
Ellie pulled the trigger. A plate at far range cracked. Its pieces fell to the snow. She smiled happily. A one-handed grip. That should be something for her to be happy about. She spotted Vincent leaning against the house. “Your brother is awesome,” Ellie said with a smile.
“He sure is something,” Vincent said, sparing a glance at Reese.
“Don't give me that look. I was a saint,” Reese said, smirking. “Go kiss him before he does something stupid again.” Reese rubbed his chest.
Ellie hit the safety, slipping the Heckler into her inner-pants holster as she walked over to him. She threw her arms around Vincent’s waist, rubbing the side of her face against his warm chest. He felt good. She was freezing. Her cheeks red, nose dripping, even her fingertips tingled with the cold. “What did big brother want?” Ellie asked curiously.
“He wanted me to promise to love you and take care of you for the rest of my life.” Vincent slid his hand over her hair.
“So what did you tell him?” she asked with a grin. Ellie rolled her head up to look at him.
“I told him no. I mean that's a really long time, you know.” Vincent couldn't even finish the joke. His face split into a smile and h
e shook his head. “Really? What do you think I told him? I told him, I will love you forever,” he said sweetly.
Ellie smiled up at him. “Only forever?”
Chapter 21
Ellie shut the front door behind her, kicking off her shoes. Anna sat in the chair angled toward the fireplace typing away. Ellie went to head into the kitchen and Anna looked up.
“Ellie? Is that you?”
Ellie made a face full of sneer. Rolling her eyes she answered, “Yup, me.” Ellie made a gun of her right hand, put it in her mouth and pantomimed shooting herself. She wasn’t overly fond of Anna. Part of it was that she didn’t like anyone who dated Edward on principle. That thought slapped her on its way out leaving her with stinging guilt. She had just gotten into a fight with Edward the other day about him being a dick to Vincent. “What do you need?”
Ellie flopped down in the other chair. Her eyes danced over Anna’s face. Ellie got the loss. She did. But Ellie could not fathom giving up the way Anna had. She blamed Anna for the fact that Edward had given up. Ellie could admit sitting here that maybe that wasn’t fair either.
“I want to show you something.” Anna went about pulling up the news articles she’d been collecting for the past month or so. She turned the laptop around and Ellie cocked a brow. She took the computer from Anna scanning the articles. Two women confirmed dead another missing. Ellie’s heart skipped a beat. Ripped apart dead bodies, Ellie hated that she recognized the gruesome details. Her anger and denial kicked into gear.
“You think the boys did this don’t you?” Ellie opened her mouth to bitch more. “Yes, they’re monsters. I get you guys are scared but-” The little details were clicking into place. However, the confused look on Anna’s face slowed Ellie’s tirade.
“No. I don’t think Vincent and Reese had anything to do with this,” Anna interrupted. “I think she followed us.”
Ellie blinked at her. She? Ellie knew exactly who Anna was talking about. When they rescued Edward from the Saint Verens, Ellie let several of Susan Bennet’s test subjects free. One of them was obsessed with Edward. She chased them several states, nearly killed Anna. She was the reason Ellie needed to hunt the escapees down.
“Ellie, Vincent saved my life. Reese is my friend. I’m not afraid of them.”
That softened Ellie’s mood considerably. Her eyes went back to reading the details. “Why do you think it’s her? Vincent killed her, Anna. Set the bitch on fire. It’s the one thing they don’t heal.”
“All of the women have red hair. I’ve heard Vetler talk about… what Vincent does. The dead bodies he found. These women were ripped apart. Tortured. That’s what she did to me. She could have killed me at any moment. She kept telling me to scream.”
Ellie chewed on her bottom lip. Denial crashed down hard on Ellie’s shoulders. It was the details that had her little voice screaming out. Truth was a big thing to Ellie. So big she couldn’t deny it no matter how hard she tried. Little details waved at her like red flags. Ellie worked hard to pretend she didn’t see them.
“If she found us, she’ll kill me. Ellie, she scares the hell out of me. I still don’t know why she attacked me. She broke my arm, cut me. She hurt me, Ellie. Thank God for Vincent.”
Anna shook. Fear radiated from her. Tears sparkled in her dead eyes. Ellie swallowed hard. “Anna, nothing is going to hurt you. I won’t let it. I will protect you. You don’t have to be afraid.” Ellie meant every damned word of it. Anna nodded her head a little too quickly. “Soon as the boys get back, we’ll go look into this, okay?”
Anna sniffed. “Okay, thank you.”
“Anna, when Vincent kills someone, they stay down, even those freaks.”
“I don’t want to be afraid anymore, Ellie.” It was an admission that Ellie understood. “I’m not you. I’m not strong enough to do this day in and day out.” Tears spilled down Anna's porcelain cheeks. Her slender shoulders shook. “I don’t want to die,” Anna breathed. Her voice hitched.
“You’re not going to die, Anna. I will protect you. I promise.” Ellie leaned forward and pulled Anna close. She hugged her. Let Anna sob against her. “Me and the boys, we won’t let anything happen to you.”
Anna sniffed, nodding her head. “I don’t know how you do this, Ellie.”
It was simple. Ellie didn’t know how to run. Fear boils down to two things. You can run or you can fight. “You’re going to be fine, Anna. If by some miracle that bitch survived Vincent, she sure as hell won’t a second time. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Anna looked up at the sound of Ellie’s voice. She admired the hell out of this kid. Wished she had even a tenth of Ellie’s strength. “Thank you, Ellie.”
“We won’t leave until Edward gets back. I’ll be sure there is someone here to protect you at all times okay?”
Anna nodded. She wiped at her nose. Charlie walked into the kitchen batting confused eyes. “Is everything okay, sugar?”
Ellie wasn’t exactly good at this. She jerked her head toward Anna, motioning for her to come here. “Where’s Vetler?”
“He’s out in the shed,” Charlie answered. She took Anna’s hand. “It’s going to be okay.”
Ellie nodded. “I’m going to go talk to him. Can you keep an eye on her, Charlie?”
“Of course.” Charlie slid her arm around Anna, cooing to her gently.
Ellie hopped up slipping into her shoes. She took a moment to grab Anna’s laptop. “Can I borrow this for a minute?” Anna nodded. Ellie grabbed her jacket off the couch and jogged out to the shed.
The shed had become Vetler’s happy place. When he couldn’t deal with the monsters, he hid out here for a while. Ellie pulled the door open. He did not like the look on her face. She set the laptop on the table in front of him. “Before you say anything, this isn’t Vincent.”
Vetler blinked at her. He grabbed the laptop skimming the first article. He agreed. Vetler spent a year chasing Vincent and Ellie. He was privy to a lot of the bodies they dropped. Vincent had a defined kill signature. This wasn’t it. The fact that they didn’t have to identify her by her teeth told him Vincent didn’t do this. Her bones weren’t chewed on.
“Not Vincent, a lot of power, though. Neither of them had bites taken out of them.”
“The last one we chased raped his victims repeatedly and tore the skin off their backs over days.”
Vetler blinked at her. He would never get over how young she was. “You think one of them made their way up here?”
“Anna thinks it’s the crazy bitch that attacked her. She’s dead. Vincent torched her.”
“Okay, why are you showing me this?”
“Because whoever it is needs to die bloody. I want you to help me find them.”
Vetler chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I have no access to the databases anymore. We don’t even have a crime scene.”
“We’ll find it.”
Vetler’s forehead wrinkled. “Ellie, you don’t have to do this.” Edward wanted Ellie to give up the idea of hunting these freaks. Vetler was one of the few who agreed with him. Vetler knew what chasing serial killers does to a person. She was already cracking under the pressure as it was.
“I let them loose, Vetler. Those women are dead because of me.”
He gave her soft eyes. “It’s not your fault.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, sick and tired of this argument. It was her fault. She made her choices. She saved her brother and Ellie would do it again. But every body these freaks ripped apart haunted Ellie. “Are you going to help me or not?”
Shane nodded, though he didn’t like it. “Without crime scene photos, where you going to start?”
“The article said the last one was killed in her home. Soon as Vincent and Reese get back, I’ll head out there. I want you to come with.”
Vetler shrugged. “Alright.” He’d seen Charlie reading through the doctor's notes on occasion. “Is it just medical notes Bennet kept?”
“No. There’s psychological stuff too. The ID
system is wonky, though.”
He nodded. “It’s a place to start.”
Chapter 22
“What do you mean, you can't get a scent?” Ellie asked.
Vincent watched Vetler walk the scene. He kept reaching into his pockets for rubber gloves he no longer kept. Vetler did not miss scenes like this that was for sure.
Reese blinked bright blue eyes at her. “What part ain't ya getting, Blondie?” he asked mockingly. Ellie narrowed her eyes, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I can smell blood. How come you can’t smell this guy?” Ellie’s voice had the edge of a growl to it.
Vincent and Reese looked at one another, sharing one of those silent glances that Ellie hated so much. Blood painted the walls. Ellie had seen her fair share of crime scenes. It taught her skills that were only getting better. Vetler crouched down next to a dried patch of blood in the corner.
“He kept her alive for a while.” Shane looked up at the windows. The house was pretty far out. Secluded.
Death is never neat and clean. A gallon of blood doesn’t sound like a lot until you are staring at it dried on the walls and on the floor, soaked into the furniture. This woman didn’t die easy. The glance the Hale brothers kept sharing only made the voice in the back of Ellie’s head louder.
“Didn't you say you tracked my scent over seven hundred miles?” Ellie gave Reese high eyebrows.
Reese stood with the grace of a cat, took two steps past her his fingertips brushing across her back. “What can I say, Goldie, ya smell yummy,” he said with a smile.
Ellie rolled her eyes at him and looked up at Vincent. He was staring down at a splotch of blood that was nearly as long as he was tall. “What about you, baby?” she asked.
Vincent took in a deep breath, concentrating for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head. He turned to her, his arms crossed over his chest. Vincent shook his head. “I don't get it,” he said. Vincent’s head made a slow arc as he closed the distance between them. She tilted her head to one side.
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