by Kelley York
"Hasn't stopped you thus far," Oliver points out. "It's a memorial service, not a funeral. She's a murder victim, so I doubt the coroner has released her body yet. It might not be the goodbye you're wanting anyway."
What would he know about what I want? I shrug it off and turn away, forcing back the anger and the resentment and everything else bubbling up inside. Saying goodbye to Sherry...I can't do it. Not until I make Joel and Artie pay for what they did.
Oliver sighs and touches a hand briefly to my back. "Walk with me."
I can't think of a real reason to say no. Even if I'm not ready to entirely let go of my earlier anger, being near Oliver is probably where I'm safest. He won't let the others hurt me. I lift one shoulder. "Lead the way, captain."
Oliver keeps at my side as we head down the street. The sound of his steps, the brush of his arm against mine now and again, accompanied by Algonquin's motor-boat purring...it's soothing. I try to imagine my life, just like this. Me, Cole, Oliver, Algonquin. Never seeing home again. Maybe starting a new home somewhere else. Would Cole and Oliver take me with them when they leave town? Or would they leave me here to fend for myself? No family, no friends.
No Mom and Dad and Sherry. No Noah.
We round the street corner and I blurt, "They know where my parents live."
Oliver slows. "What?"
I pause a few steps in front of him but don't look back. "I went to my parents' house today. They found me."
"The two from the park?"
"No, the others. The ones that attacked me and Sherry." It dawns on me we're heading down a path I've taken way too many times before, one that'll lead us to the light rail station. And the bridge. A chill trickles down my spine and I shrug it off as we fall back into step again. "Their names were Joel and Artie, if that helps any. They were still there when we got away."
"They'll be long gone by now." Oliver pushes a hand through his hair. "How did you escape?"
I glance down at Algonquin. "Help. And luck. They won't go back, right? They won't hurt my parents?"
No answer.
"The truth, Oliver."
That earns me a sigh. We're closing in on the bridge; I can feel it like a rock in my stomach. It can't be coincidence that Oliver stops when we're halfway across and looks out over the water, fingers looping in the chain link guard.
"If they want something from you...yes, they'll go back in hopes of drawing you to them."
I was afraid of that. Mom, Dad... Stay gone as long as you can.
He looks at me, expectant. Waiting to know my side of things. It's my turn to sigh. "A few years ago, my big sister up and vanished. We thought she was murdered."
The words are thick and stale in my throat. It's been so long since I spoke aloud about Ruby that it's physically painful. I brace myself against the railing where Algonquin wiggles out of my jacket to walk precariously along it. He has every bit of balance and grace as a real cat.
"...Then I ran into those two at the park and they kept asking where Ruby was. Like I would know."
"Do you think she's alive?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. Why else would someone be looking for her years after she disappeared?"
Oliver nods. "Doesn't sound like they're too happy with her if they're threatening her sister."
I shrug, eyes locked onto the water. Imagining I can still hear Sherry's sunshine-y voice, watching her fight with her long blonde hair in the breeze as we traipse home. The sound of her and Noah flanking me on either side, laughing at something stupid. Thinking for a second that Ruby has something to do with me losing them? I can't.
"You and Cole said you were here to go after vampires. Was it them?"
"Possibly." There's that hesitation in his voice again, the resistance. But if I can play off his guilt for a little longer, I might actually get some solid answers. "We're after a vampire named Maverick. It's likely the two you met are people he turned."
I catch him from the corner of my eye absently petting Algonquin from head to tail, but his gaze is distant.
"Did this Maverick guy do something wrong?"
"He didn't exactly, but he was close enough that Cole was sent to warn him." Oliver rubs at the back of his neck. "It's a lot to explain..."
"Try. In simple words."
"Okay, short version. We all have rules to follow. The shape-shifters, the witches, fae, were-creatures, and everything in between. Things to keep us hidden from the humans. The oldest of our kind make the rules and employ younger ones to make sure those rules aren't broken."
Witches, fae, were-creatures? I'm not touching that right now. The rest, though, I'm following so far. Doesn't sound any different from a government, I guess. "Why don't they do it themselves?"
"Things get messy when the Elders get directly involved." He smiles wryly. "Being alive that long makes you kind of crazy. They don't interact well with most of us."
"So you're after this guy because he sorta-kinda broke a rule."
"If those four younger vampires are his, Cole wants to know why. No vampire has reason to turn that many humans in such a short period of time." He shrugs. "Of course, now two of his lackeys did something wrong—they killed Sherry, almost killed you. If Maverick won't hand over the guilty party, he'll be held responsible, too."
"It's against the rules to kill humans?"
"No, so long as they aren't so damned obvious about it." Oliver straightens up, not paying attention when Algonquin squirms his way inside his jacket. He leaves the top button undone and the kitten pops his head out, bright eyes watching me. Looking...triumphant? "It's drawn too much attention. Killing out of necessity is one thing. Slaughter is something else all together. Any more questions?"
Rules. Old people. No laughter in slaughter. Got it. My lips purse while I think. "What now?"
"We find them."
"How do we do that?"
"Simple." Oliver shoves his hands back into his pockets and resumes walking. He doesn't look back. "We use bait."
Bait. That should work—
Wait a second.
"You're using me?"
Shrug. "They're after you. They've been stupid enough to attack you twice, who's to say they won't do it again?"
"Uh, I'd rather they didn't." I hurry to catch up with him.
Oliver looks at me askance. "Put it this way: the quicker we find them, the sooner your parents will be safe. If Cole and I keep you near we're bound to find them."
He has me there. If anything happens to Mom and Dad because I was too scared to face down Joel and the others again, I'll run back to that bridge and throw myself off. I worry at my bottom lip and focus my attention straight ahead. Though the way he makes it sound like the only reason they're keeping me safe is for their own convenience? Makes me want to punch him. "I don't even know how to fight if I run into them again."
"Hopefully it won't come to that."
Playing helpless princess isn't my style. I took self-defense classes with Mom a few years back; her way of teaching us both how to be safe so we never shared Ruby's fate, I guess. Most of that knowledge is gone now so I could use a refresher course. More recently, Noah took me to a shooting range a handful of times, but that's also a moot point when I don't have a gun.
"You're not going to send me out there without some kind of defense. Something other than Algonquin. I don't want him hurt again."
There's a flicker of something like concern in Oliver's eyes. He touches a hand briefly to his chest where the cat is still nestled. Sighs. Gives me a long look. "We'll see what we can do."
Good enough for now. I let him off the hook while we head to the light rail station. I'm kind of surprised he doesn't have a car, but he makes a face when I ask him about it and simply says, "I hate driving." Maybe immortality grants you so much free time, you don't mind walking everywhere.
Back at the hotel, Oliver heads straight to Cole's room, taking Algonquin with him. He glances at me, but I wave him off and continue on to my own door. I'll talk to Cole;
I'm done being mad, I think. But I want a breather first. A few minutes of silence. I slump down onto the bed, flop back, and stare at the ceiling.
I'm all wound up again. What if Mom and Dad come home soon? What will they think, what will they do when they see the blood all over my old room? Will they notice some of Ruby's stuff gone? Will they call the cops? For that matter, do they even know that I'm supposedly missing? The worry sticks to my insides, weighing me down. I want to find the vampires now. Something, anything productive to put an end to all this. Anything to bring me answers.
Something paper-y crinkles under my back. I feel around and drag out a blank envelope, sealed neatly with an inch-long strip of tape. No name, no address. I slip it open and pull out the folded paper inside.
Briar,
I bolt upright so fast it makes me dizzy. The words on the paper take my breath away.
Meet me at Crew's tonight at 8.
No signature, but it doesn't need one. I recognize every little letter. Half-cursive, half-print, the loopy way the last letter of each word ends, like it could go on forever. It's been so long since I saw it last.
But I recognize Ruby's handwriting anywhere.
I tear out of my room and down to the lobby as fast as I can, and slam my hands breathlessly onto the front desk. The girl behind it can't be any older than me, a mousy little thing with big Bambi eyes that stare up at me like I'm about to maul her.
"Uh, can I—"
"Someone was in my room," I say, waving the letter around like it's solid proof, like she has any idea what it means, how important it is. "I found this note on my bed. Who's been in my room?"
The girl squints at me then turns to her computer. "What room number?"
"Two-oh-eight."
"Oh. Um... No, no one's been in there today."
"Then get your eyes checked." More letter-waving. "Someone was in my room. Who has access to it?"
Her face is flushed. I'm upsetting her and finding it hard to care. "All the master keys are at the front desk except for one kept with each the housekeeping and maintenance staff."
Ugh. Too easy for someone to slip inside when no one is looking. The how isn't important, I guess. I have to see Ruby.
Bambi doesn't protest when I wave her off and head back upstairs, clutching the letter tight. Eight o'clock... That doesn't give me a lot of time. I could sneak out and possibly be back before anyone notices I'm gone, but...
No secrets. I have to let the boys know. I can't walk into something I obviously know nothing about.
Cole answers the door when I knock, expression solemn. That doesn't bode well. He steps aside to let me in, and before I can ask what's wrong: "Two more girls are dead."
16. Wednesday – 6:39pm
"It could be a trap," Oliver says once I fill them in about Ruby and the letter.
"I take offense to that."
"Why?"
"It implies they think I'm stupid enough to show up alone." And by the look the two of them give me, I get the impression they wouldn't put it past me, either. Jerks.
"I'll take Algonquin," I plead. "What if one of you comes with me and she doesn't show up because of it? You can wait nearby and I'll bring my phone. We'll have some kind of S.O.S. text code or something."
Cole says, taking a seat beside me on the foot of his bed. I'm getting used to that worried expression, but now it makes me wary. I don't want to have to run off against their will, but I won't let him think he's the boss of me, either. He takes a deep breath. Exhales. He rests a hand on my knee.
"May I ask you something and get a truthful answer?"
"Depends on the question."
He gives me a pointed look. "The boy Oliver fought the other night...who was he?"
Sure, salt-in-wounds. Make me think about it all over again. I look down and pick cat fur off my pants. "His name is Noah D'angelo. He is—was—my boyfriend. But he doesn't have anything to do with this, so I don't—"
"He went after you. He knew what you were," Cole says gently. "We need to know if he is going to be another threat for us to worry about."
"Oliver chased him off and he hasn't come back since." I scowl, searching for a convenient subject-change and not finding one. "He's just a guy. I don't know why it matters."
They're silent this time. I get the feeling there's something they both want to say, but I don't want to hear it. Noah has nothing to do with now, nothing to do with Ruby, or vampires, or Cole and Oliver.
I slap the tops of my thighs and stand. "So. We doing this or what?"
Oliver relaxes a little even if Cole doesn't. He quirks a small smile. "Get going then. Please be safe."
Cole sees us to the front of the hotel and we leave him behind looking like a lost puppy. Algonquin has taken the shape of a dog—a regular-sized one, this time—and he lumbers along between us. Here's hoping no one calls us on not having him on a leash.
"Why doesn't Cole ever go out?" I ask.
Oliver rolls his shoulders into an easy shrug. "I told you about how the Elders aren't really supposed to get involved."
"Yeah, but Cole isn't an Elder."
"He's still old." He pockets his hands. "Old enough that it's frowned upon if he gets his hands dirty with anything that isn't directly related to his assignment. But this..."
"...Doesn't have anything to do with his job." I have to remember that. Oliver and Cole don't owe me a thing, and I feel a little guilty for acting like they do. I've been so wrapped up in Noah and Ruby and my parents that I haven't put much thought into doing anything to help them. That needs to change.
I lead the way because Oliver wouldn't know where to find Crew's. None of the buses run late so we make it with time to spare. I've only been here once, with Noah. (The Powers that Be are having a grand old time rubbing things in my face.) It's nothing special and not a local hangout hot-spot, which might be why Ruby chose it. Discrete. Non-descript.
We stop two blocks away. Oliver frowns, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, constantly glancing around. Anxious, I guess. Or paranoid. Anxious because he's paranoid.
My new phone is smaller than my old one. I keep feeling inside my pocket to make sure I haven't lost it. "I text anything at all, you can come running. Got it?"
Oliver checks his cell and nods. I start to round the corner, and have to pause and touch a fingertip to Algonquin's nose. "No, you need to stay here, too." He gazes up at me, whining low in his throat.
"That wasn't part of the deal," Oliver hisses.
"I can't take him in there like this. And we can't risk someone seeing him go all shapey-changey if things get messy." I frown. "Besides, if it's a trap do you really think they're going to try something in the middle of a public place?"
Oliver doesn't look happy, but he doesn't argue, either. Point for me. I slip away, not glancing back, knowing the look I'll see on their faces if I do. This will be okay, I tell myself over and over. Even if things go wrong, even if it's a setup, it will turn out okay.
In my head, I have this mental image of me sitting at Crew's for hours, waiting. I'll be that person in the corner booth with two menus whose date never shows up. I'll drink my sad little coffee alone, and after checking my watch a dozen times I'll finally give up, pay my tab, and leave with my head bowed in shame.
But as I step inside, I see there won't be any waiting. Ruby is the one at the booth in the corner, her blonde pixie-cut hair shorter than I've ever seen it, wearing a black dress, and one of those scarves she likes so much wound fashionably around her neck. She sips her drink and reads a book, as though she does this every day in this exact spot. Like she used to do every day at our kitchen table.
There's no anger, no resentment, nothing but a surge of warm butterflies filling my insides from head to toe. Ruby, alive. The one face I've wanted to see for years, the person I kept waiting to come home long after everyone else gave up hope.
Ruby turns her head, glossed lips pulling into a pretty smile while I stand a few feet away, stupefied i
nto silence. She gets up, still taller than me but not by much.
"Briar."
The second she says my name, the tears well up hotly in my eyes. I throw my arms around her without a care to the rest of the café, clutching at Ruby like my life depends on it. I feel like it does. She's someone who knows me, someone who isn't terrified of what I've become.
Ruby's hug is gentler, her fingers stroking through my hair, her lips to my forehead. "Look how tall you've grown," she murmurs when she draws back. "You look so much like Mom."
I would say something, but I'm too busy crying like a five-year-old. I can't form a coherent sentence between my sobs. Ruby sighs and wipes at my tears with the pads of her thumbs.
"Come on, don't be a baby. People are staring. You want another Disneyland scene?"
If nothing else, that gets me to crack a smile. My eight-year-old self had a hysterical meltdown outside Toon Town because I'd missed my chance to get Mickey's autograph. It was too much for my tiny heart to handle.
I hiccup and rub at my eyes, realizing there are a number of people watching us. Ruby ushers me into the opposite side of the booth and we both sit. Now I'm wishing she'd chosen somewhere else for our meeting, someplace less public. I have so many questions to ask and Crew's isn't open all night.
Ruby takes one of my hands from across the table in both of her own, squeezing it. "So, how are you?"
I stare at her.
"How...am I? Are you kidding me?" Oh, there's the anger. Just a little surge of it making its way through my veins. "What the hell kind of question is that?"
Ruby's expression falls a little. "The kind you answer."
I jerk my hand away from her grasp. "What's going on, Ruby? Where have you been? Do you realize we thought you were dead?"
"Of course I do."
"Do you care? Maybe that's the question I should be asking." My whole body is hot. She doesn't realize how many afternoons Mom has spent in her room, crying over pictures. Or the nights Dad couldn't sleep and would stay up until the early hours of morning with home movies playing on repeat.
