by Apryl Baker
“I swear to you, Mattie, I won’t hurt you or your social worker. We simply need to talk privately and can’t do that if Mrs. Moriarity is here. Putting her to sleep was the easiest option.”
“Wake her up.”
“Not until we talk,” he says patiently. “I don’t want to frighten you—”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I interrupt, my sarcasm rearing its head. I tend to get snarky when I’m scared, and right now, I’m terrified.
My phone rings. It’s Eli.
Zeke frowns at the phone. “We need to talk, Mattie.”
I ignore my father and answer. “Hello?”
“What’s wrong?” Eli barks into my ear. “I can feel how scared you are right now.”
“My father just knocked out Nancy,” I say, watching Zeke.
“He hit her?” Eli explodes.
“No, he didn’t hit her,” I tell him. “He…put her to sleep somehow.”
“You’re alone with him?” I can hear steel in Eli’s voice, pissed that he’s not here. “I want you out of there right now, Mattie.”
“Dan’s outside. Can you text him to come upstairs for me, please?”
“Hilda—”
“Just ask Dan to come upstairs,” I interrupt. Despite being afraid, I do need to talk to my father. If Dan’s here, I’ll feel better, but then again, Zeke could just knock him out, too.
“Fine, but I don’t like it. You read what was in your Dad’s file. He’s dangerous, Mattie.”
“I know,” I say softly, feeling slightly guilty at the lie. “That’s why I want Dan. See you soon.” I hang up on him before he can protest further.
Zeke takes a step towards me and I take a step backwards. Someone starts to pound on the door in the entryway. Zeke nods to Montgomery and then Dan comes striding inside, taking in Nancy on the couch and me behind the chair.
“Did you drug her?” Dan asks, his voice deceptively soft.
“No,” Zeke replies, his voice just as soft. “She’ll be fine. I need to speak with my daughter, though.”
“Not without me, you won’t,” Dan tells him. “I know all about Mattie’s…abilities, so there’s nothing you can say that she won’t tell me, anyway.”
“That’s true.” I nod. “I tell him everything.”
Zeke sighs and then frowns when my stomach decides to finally protest my abrupt departure from filling it up. “You’re still hungry, Mattie. Montgomery? Can you have Mrs. Banks make her another plate and bring one for the boy as well?”
“Of course, sir.”
“You got up here fast,” I whisper.
“I was already on my way up,” he says. “I had one of your hinky feelings.”
I nod. Eli said Dan and I shared a sort of guardian bond, but it was one I’d forged myself. It isn’t as strong as the Guardian Angel bond, but it is strong enough for him to know when I’m scared out of mind. I wonder if Eli told him about that.
“Are you okay?” Dan asks, his eyes straying back to Nancy, lying pale and unmoving on the couch.
“I would never harm my daughter,” Zeke says, affronted.
“I’ve read your file, Mr. Crane,” Dan says, his voice hard. “Can you blame me for being worried?”
Zeke’s eyes go from aggravated to ice in less than two seconds. “You’ve read everything, I take it,” he says flatly. “Mattie? You too?”
I edge closer to Dan at the look in my father’s eyes, which only makes Zeke more upset. “I didn’t read it,” I confess.
“You didn’t read it?” Dan turns stormy eyes on me. He’s pissed. “The Crane family has a long history of criminal activity, even if none of it was ever proven. The police, the US Marshall’s office, and the FBI have tried for decades to bring them down.”
Well, that explains my rap sheet. At least I come by my criminal tendencies honestly, even if I am trying to break that habit.
“Mattie, my family has done a lot of things over the years to get ahead. I won’t apologize for that. It’s who we are. You share some of that ruthlessness. I have read your file. You’re tenacious and smart, like the rest of us. The Cranes take care of one another, and we would move mountains for our family. I won’t hurt you. I swear it.”
“Even if hurting me means getting what you ultimately want?” I ask softly and play my trump card. “Would you sacrifice me if it meant obtaining your endgame?”
He sighs. “Let’s go to my office where we can sit down. There’s a small table there where you can finish your meal.”
A sick feeling starts in the pit of my stomach. He didn’t answer me. Dan wraps an arm around me. I lean into him as we follow Zeke, feeling tension radiating from Dan and it feeds my nervousness.
We both know something isn’t right here. The question is, just how wrong is it?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Zeke’s office is very sleek and modern, a mixture of black and chrome. One wall is nothing but books. Those are showcase pieces, though. None of them look worn. They’re all brand new, which tells me Zeke has probably never cracked one open. The massive black desk dominates the room. There are papers everywhere on it. This he uses regularly.
Dan and I are shown to the table in one corner while Montgomery sets fresh food and drinks in front of us. Zeke takes a seat across from us and accepts a glass of wine.
“Please eat,” Zeke urges. “I need a moment to process your question, Mattie. I didn’t expect it.”
Despite my nerves, my stomach wins out and I dig into my brand new burger. I’ve always been able to eat even in the worst situations, much to my own disgust. Dan just shakes his head at me. “You don’t eat yours, I will,” I tell him between mouthfuls. “It’s sooo good!”
Zeke laughs. “You have your mother’s appetite. I never understood how such a tiny woman could eat so much. The first time I took her to dinner, she inhaled an entire serving of gumbo in less than five minutes and smiled unashamedly. Watching her eat was a mixture of horror and awe.”
“How did you meet her?” I ask, curious.
“At a café on Bourbon Street in New Orleans,” he says. “She was sitting, reading a newspaper and I was fascinated by her delicate features. I introduced myself and she was gracious enough to invite me to sit with her.”
“The two of you were happy then? Before I was…well, before?”
Zeke stares at me for a long while before finally answering. “I hoped you and I could get to know one another better before getting to these kinds of questions.”
That doesn’t bode well.
“I don’t think we should go into this with secrets,” I say softly. “All I’m asking you for is the truth.”
“I would love to tell you that we were a happy family and I loved your mother, but I can’t. The truth is, I enjoyed Melissa’s company and when I found out she was pregnant, I moved her into my home. We never married. I would have married her, but your mother refused. She never explained her reasons to me. Perhaps she didn’t want to be trapped in a loveless marriage and wanted no strings, should she decide to leave when you were older. When your mother’s mental health deteriorated, I stayed with her out of obligation to you, not out of love for her.”
My parents aren’t married? I so didn’t expect that. “You never loved her?”
“I cared for her,” Zeke says. “Your mother was always a bit of a mystery to me. She never spoke of her family, where she came from, or anything to do with her past. I thought perhaps if I could get her to trust me, she’d open up and we could finally build a real relationship, if not for us, then for you. I wanted to at least try, but I don’t think she was willing. Your mother knew the type of man I was, the type of man I am. I often wonder if that is why she refused to try.”
“And what type of man would that be?” Dan asks, his voice like ice.
“The type of man who goes to any length to achieve his desires,” Zeke replies. “I won’t lie to you, Mattie. I’m not a very nice person. I have no shame in hurting others to get what I want. I am that ruthle
ss. I’m guessing you’ve already come to the realization I’m also very dangerous.” He sits back in the black leather chair, elbow on one arm and places long, elegant fingers against his chin.
“Yes, I knew you were a bad man,” I whisper. “From the moment I met you every instinct I have tells me to run fast and far away from you, and to never look back. Something about you screams danger.”
Zeke exhales slowly. “You have very good instincts, ma cherie, but yet here you sit, suspecting I might hurt you?”
It’s my turn to sigh. “I wanted to get to know you a little before I make up my mind. I know it’s crazy and I usually listen to my instincts, but I…I want to believe you when you tell me you love me, that I belong.” There I said it. Since we’re being honest, might as well plunge right into it. “I don’t want to be the weird freak anymore. I want to belong to someone who is like me, who knows what it feels like to be weird, but I’m afraid. If it comes down to a choice between me or your ultimate goals, I don’t want to be the one you sacrifice.”
His eyes bore into mine. “You’ve been speaking with Silas, haven’t you?”
How in bloody tarnation does he know that?
“Well?” Zeke’s eyes now blaze. “Did he tell you not to trust me? I swear I’ll torture that bloody fool.”
“How do you know the demon?” Dan demands.
“Do you honestly want the details, Daniel?” Zeke asks. “How do you think my family has gained so much power through the centuries? We’ve never had qualms about dealing with demons when necessary.”
Dan’s body stiffens. “All the more reason Mattie should stay away from you,” he hisses, eyes bright with anger. “Especially since she hasn’t read your file.”
I wince. The outright fury in Dan’s tone means I’m in for a lecture later. He’ll rat me out to Eli too, I bet.
“Calm down,” I try to soothe him while my mind reels from the implications. My family makes deals with demons? Maybe I should have read that file. “I’ll read it tonight, okay?”
“I rather wish you wouldn’t, ma petite,” Zeke says softly. “I hope you’ll choose to get to know me before you become biased from what’s in that file.”
“If you don’t want me to read it, then answer my question.” I wipe my mouth and settle back, prepared to hear my father tell me something I really don’t want to hear. “Would you sacrifice me for your own ends?”
Zeke gets up and starts to pace. “When I found out Melissa was pregnant, I consulted a Seer in the swamp. She told me my child would be the culmination of everything my family has worked to achieve. You would provide the means to attaining my goals, but I would have to be prepared to sacrifice you.”
I gasp, not expecting my fears confirmed so quickly.
“You see why your question upset me, ma petite?” Zeke grinned ruefully. “It was the wording. How did you know to ask me exactly that? Did the demon put you up to it?”
“No, Silas only warned me to be cautious, that you were dangerous,” I whisper.
“Then why did you ask me that specific question?” Zeke demands.
I lift both hands, palms up. “I don’t know. It just popped into my head and seemed important.” The truth is, I’d been thinking about it from the first day I met him. It’s bothered me a lot.
“Perhaps you have a bit of Seer blood in you as well,” my father says thoughtfully and turns to stare out the window.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” I remind him.
“It is not an easy question, Emma Rose,” he mutters, but faces us again. “I told myself throughout the entire pregnancy, I wouldn’t let myself care, that I would do what needed to be done when the time came. I could sacrifice my child to gain the power I craved. I fully believed it, and was committed to it. I even had your mother fooled. I spent a small fortune on your nursery and rooms. The least I could do was give you a comfortable place to grow while I waited for your abilities to mature.”
I swallow hard. He sounds so cold, so calculated. He sounds like I do when I go to that dark place inside that allows me to survive anything. The place that scares me more than anything else.
“Then you were born,” Zeke announces.
I glance up at the small crack in his voice. He looks torn, anguished. The raw emotion in his eyes breaks my heart.
“They put you in my arms, and when I looked down into your tiny face, I was lost. I had always heard people say when you look into your child’s face for the first time, your heart will swell and burst with joy and love, but I never believed it, not until that moment. I loved you, cherished you more than anything else in the entire world. I’d never felt anything like it before and it terrified me. To love another human that much is a weakness, or so I was taught. I told myself I’d still be able to do it, that I could destroy you when the time came. I forced myself to say those words every day. I repeated them each time I held you, fed you, and rocked you to sleep.”
I stare wide-eyed into my father’s face. “Would you have done it?” I ask softly. “Will you still try to destroy me?”
He leans against his desk and stares at me. Those tortured eyes were open and honest. “No, Emma Rose, there isn’t a driving force on this Earth or any plane of existence that could make me harm you. When you were taken…” His eyes close and the tortured look increases in intensity. “To have you ripped from me, I almost died myself. The pain was unbearable. In that moment, when I realized you were gone, I knew I’d lied to myself. I could never kill my own child, the little girl who smiled up at me every morning. The child who slept on my chest when you napped. You were my baby girl, you are my baby girl. You mean more to me than my need for power. I swear to you, ma petite, I will annihilate anyone who tries to harm you, including myself.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
“Okay?” both Dan and Zeke ask, each with a different emotion. Zeke’s voice is full of hope while Dan sounded incredulous.
I look at Dan. “You love your mom, right?”
“What does that have to do with this?” he asks, frowning.
“You mom murdered your birth mother and took you from your family. She’s not the person you grew up with, Dan. She’s a pretty bad person herself, but you love her. She’s still your mom. I want the chance to know him. Can’t you understand that?”
He sighs heavily. “I don’t like it, Squirt, not one bit.”
“I need help, Dan, but it’s the type of help you, your brothers, or Doc can’t give me. Zeke can. Will you at least admit that?”
“If it means keeping you safe, then yeah, kid, I’ll admit we need help.”
Dan looks like he just swallowed the biggest mouthful of the nastiest cough syrup ever made, but he’s not going to fight me on this. I want to get to know my dad. It’s as simple as that. He might be lying to me, he’s probably lying to me, but for a little while, I want to lie to myself. I want to believe Zeke’s being honest and that he loves me.
“Thank you,” Zeke says, his eyes relieved. “Now, what did Daniel mean by keeping you safe?”
Dan quickly catches him up on the dead girls as well as his suspicions on the killer’s motivations. Zeke asks several questions throughout, and when they’re done, neither man looks happy.
“Maybe I should attach a security detail to you,” Zeke muses.
“Uh, no.” I balk at the mere thought. “I’m aware of the danger. I don’t need a bunch of idiots trying to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“Don’t even bother trying to argue,” Dan tells him. “Mattie will cause them all kinds of trouble if you do that.”
“Maybe you should stay with me then,” Zeke says. “It’s much safer here than…”
I’m shaking my head even before he can finish the sentence. “No. I’m not staying here. I don’t trust you enough for that yet.”
“Then what can I do to keep you safe?” he all but growls.
“Welcome to the club,” Dan snorts at the disgusted look on Zeke’s face.
�
�The home you’re in needs to be demon-proofed, ghost-proofed…”
“Taken care of already,” I tell him. “Dan’s brother did that. There is a small problem with the ghost-proofing, though.”
“Problem?”
“She can’t cross the doorway if it’s salted,” Dan says. “She’s made up of more ghost than human energy.”
“How is that possible?” Zeke frowns.
“I died again,” I tell him. “Eli fished me out of the bathtub when the ghost tried to drown me and had to give me CPR to get me back. I was technically dead for a few minutes so my soul became a little more ghostly. Doc says I’m becoming more Reaper than human each time I die.”
“This doc of yours is correct,” Zeke confirms. “Who is he?”
“Doctor Olivet,” Dan says. “Have you heard of him?”
“Ah, yes, the Spook Doctor, as he’s called amongst the college campuses. I know of him. It sounds as if he knows his facts.”
“He’s been our go-to guy.” Dan drains his Coke. I’ve gotten him addicted to them, much to his disgust, and my delight.
“Doc’s been great, but he only knows so much. Can you answer questions about my…abilities?” I hate talking about my gift.
“Of course.” Zeke nods and takes his place across from us again, signaling to Montgomery for fresh drinks. How did I not see him hovering near the door? Butlers, man, they’re sneakier than a cookie thief.
“You know about our lake trip already, but what the reports don’t say is that I fell asleep, and when I woke up, everyone was gone. I went into the woods looking for them. Dan says that I was there and when he blinked, I was simply gone. How is that possible?”
“That’s simple, Mattie.” Zeke grins mischievously. “It’s an old trick of ours, one we use when we don’t want to get caught. You were traveling between planes.”
I gape at him. “I was on the Ghost Plain again?”
“No—well, maybe,” he concedes. “There are different planes of existence that run parallel to our own and are almost identical to this one in geography. You could have been on any of them. I’ll have to teach you how to navigate them, however. They can be very dangerous if you don’t know which one you entered.”
