Guild of Truth 01 - Silent as the Grave

by Mary K. Norris

  Cali stood stupefied. That had gone better than she’d imagined. Only now she had two weeks to make twelve hundred dollars.

  She was so screwed.

  If she emptied out her entire savings, she’d only need two hundred dollars or so. But then she’d have no money for food. Or clothes. Or her art supplies.

  She tried not to think about that and closed the door so she could start packing her things.

  Maybe Sydney would let her live out of the clinic.

  I’m sure Felix would let you stay with him …

  The stray thoughts had her stopping dead in her tracks. Since when had she started thinking about the super squad like they were her BFFs?

  She was getting too comfortable with the idea of them being in her life. She’d been fine on her own up until now. Hadn’t she?

  “How’d it go with the landlady? She let you off the hook for the month?”

  She sidestepped Felix to get into her room, being extra careful not to touch him. “She gave me two more weeks.”

  He followed her and took a seat at the foot of her bed.

  He looked good there, like he belonged in her room, his bronze skin offset by the white-and-purple sheets.

  She could just imagine walking over to him, pushing him flat on his back and riding him till she screamed.

  “ — ali?”

  “Huh?”

  Her whole body shook with need, the burning between her thighs incessant.

  “I asked why you don’t sell any of these.” He motioned to the wall covered with license plate holders.

  She grabbed a duffle out of her closet and avoided looking at Felix, lest she do something really stupid. Like throw herself at him. “Those are more like a creative assignment. They force me to paint according to whatever is written there. I use it to make sure I don’t get sucked into painting the same old pictures over and over again.” She grabbed a handful of T-shirts and thrust them into her bag.

  She methodically made her way around her room. By the time she got to her underwear drawer, Felix was standing to examine her art close up. She hesitated.

  “Afraid I might see something?”

  He’d snuck up on her. She glared at him over her shoulder and shoved him away. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  Her shove moved him about two inches. The man was like a mountain of muscle. She could still feel the heat from his chest on her hand, as well as how firm he was to the touch.

  “Are you just going to stand there?” He hadn’t moved, which meant he would still be able to see into her drawer. For some reason the idea of Felix seeing her lingerie made her skin hot.

  That roguish grin was back. “Are you asking me to help?”

  Not dropping his challenging stare, she ripped open her drawer and purposely went to the side with the lace. She grabbed the first thing her fingers grazed. Whatever she ended up pulling out wiped that grin right off of Felix’s face.

  “I-is that … edible?”

  Her head whipped around in alarm. Sure enough, she held up the gag gift Garnet had sent her on Valentine’s Day. “Shit.” She shoved them back in her drawer and slammed it shut. She stormed over to Felix, who still looked as if he’d been bashed over the head, and practically dragged him from her room. “Get out. Now.”

  Once alone, she packed in humiliated silence.

  Chapter 12

  Edible underwear.

  Edible. Underwear.

  Edible fucking underwear.

  Felix ran a hand through his hair. “Fucking hell,” he breathed. As if his cock wasn’t hurting bad enough already. Now he had the image of Cali in … edible underwear. He slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. “Stop thinking about it.”

  He forced his feet to move him over to the kitchen and sat his ass at one of the barstools. He continued to stare at the door, as if he’d develop x-ray vision and be able to see through it. It was useless of course. He could hear Cali moving around in there, knew he should be on high alert in case anything came in through the front door, but he couldn’t get himself to focus.

  It doesn’t matter what’s in her underwear drawer, you’re never going to see it anyway.

  The harsh reality was like a face full of cold water. No matter how much he’d like to think he was making progress with her, Cali’s words from ten minutes ago kept repeating over and over in his mind.

  “I don’t want — ”

  There were a million different ways that sentence could have ended. The one that bothered him the most, and what she had probably been going to say was: I don’t want you. Ever. End of story.

  He slammed his fist down on the counter. The connection between them was not a figment of his imagination. He knew she had to feel something. Chemistry like they had wasn’t an everyday occurrence. She had pushed back against him. She’d been the one to kiss him in his home. Which meant she had to feel something. Anything.

  It didn’t fucking matter. He wasn’t about to give her up. He’d waited a long time for his Mirror Mate to come along. He could wait a little longer.

  • • •

  It turned out Sydney’s clinic had some overnighters scheduled for surgery the next morning. Ergo, Cali was not staying the night there.

  Sydney had been alarmed to find out that someone had been inside her clinic the previous night, but like Felix, Cali had no explanation of what had happened. There was nothing for them to do. Sydney couldn’t Shield everyone 24/7, no matter how much she might’ve wanted to try. The best course of action they all decided on was for her to stay with Felix.

  And so it was that she found herself back in his Hummer on her way to his house.

  At least you won’t be alone.

  The thought was comforting, but Cali didn’t want to have to rely on the others constantly. She needed to learn to take care of herself. She needed to learn control of her powers.

  Who knew? Maybe there was more to her power than she thought.

  She looked around the Hummer for anything to Silence when an idea struck her. Silence the entire car. The task was a daunting one, but Cali was determined. It was just like her license plate painting exercises. If the plate read “I’d rather be snowboarding,” she painted a mountain range. If the plate read “I’d rather be surfing,” she painted the ocean. “Daddy’s little girl?” No problem. She sketched a fictitious little girl growing into a beautiful woman.

  She could do this.

  She settled back into the passenger seat and focused her body. She imagined herself like a black hole. A vacuum for sound. The back of her neck tingled. She branched out, pulling the sound from beneath her feet. She imagined going into the flooring, into the wheels, and noticed with some satisfaction that the radio grew louder without the outside noise from the wheels rolling across the pavement.

  A dull ache started behind her eyes, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins pushed her to go farther. She reached out with her powers for the engine of the car, traveling up the middle console into the radio. The light-up display still showed the radio station but the music disappeared.

  Felix reached for the volume knob.

  She watched the volume rise but nothing came from the speakers. Cali switched her focus to Felix himself, seeing him in her mind, trying to keep him from going Silent. It was the most difficult task — keeping someone in sound when she was taking away everything else, but she did it. Or so she hoped.

  Felix continued to toy with the volume. She wanted to laugh but didn’t want to break her concentration. After a moment his head turned ever so slightly from side to side, no doubt noticing all the volume changes.

  Finally his eyes fell on her. “Did you — ?” Felix slammed on his brakes.

  Cali threw her arms out in front of her. Her scream lodged in her throat as an ambulance raced past, centimeters in front of Felix’s car. They were in the middle of an intersection, the light for them glowing green.

  Instantly, her sound bubble popped.

  The ambulance’s siren waile
d out into the distance. Inside the Hummer, the radio blasted the latest dance song. Felix fumbled for the volume while simultaneously turning down the nearest street. From what Cali could tell, they were only a few blocks from his house.

  They came to an abrupt stop, her seatbelt cutting into her chest and neck.

  Felix shoved his car into park. “What the hell was that?” he snarled.

  He was white as a sheet. His pulse pounded in his neck. His grip on the steering wheel was so intense Cali feared he’d snap it. She’d never seen him so shaken.

  “Sorry. Wanted to keep you on your toes is all.” She tried to laugh it off.

  Felix’s lips didn’t even twitch. “That’s not funny, Cali. Do you know how close I was to Erasing that ambulance?”

  Cali winced as his voice rose with every word. “But you didn’t.” She tried for the silver lining. It didn’t work.

  “That’s not the point. The point is that I nearly slipped up. I could feel my powers kicking in. I felt my body act out of self defense. All I would’ve had to do was finish that final thought — move my hand just a millimeter, and all those people would have been gone.” He gently peeled his hands from the steering wheel and stared at them as if he didn’t understand what they were doing attached to his body.

  “Hey,” she said gently and reached out for him. He jerked away from her touch. It was like a punch to the gut. She covered up the hurt the only way she knew how. With anger. “Look, you were telling me earlier that it was okay to fuck up every once in a while. No one’s perfect. You can’t be prepared for everything.”

  He quit staring at his hands to pin her with his eyes. “I meant that it’s okay for you to mess up. You manipulate sound, Cali. I fucking Erase things. Gone. Never to be seen again. I don’t even fucking know where they go. Bottom of the ocean?” He shrugged. “Inside a volcano? How the hell am I supposed to know, huh? They could be trapped in some kind of limbo, starving or suffocating to death, and I would have no idea. I could be responsible for killing people with nothing more than a flick of my wrist. I’ve never Erased someone before. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”

  That was when it hit her. Somewhere deep down, under all the humor and charm, Felix was afraid of himself.

  Without even thinking about it, she leaned over and pressed her lips to his. He tried to pull away. Did he think he was going to Erase her? She grasped his shoulders and held firm. “You’re not going to Erase anyone. Especially me. Could you imagine how pitiful your life would be without me?”

  Something flashed in his eyes too fast for her to read. “Does that mean you’re sticking around for a while?”

  Her breath caught in her throat. Did it?

  She eased back into her own seat and gave him a nonchalant look that was at complete odds with what she felt inside. “Don’t push your luck.”

  The tension riding Felix’s broad shoulders seemed to have lessened. He started the Hummer and drove them the few blocks back to his place.

  By the time they got into his house he was starting to act more like himself.

  “What the hell do you have in here?” He lifted her duffle for emphasis.

  She bee-lined for his kitchen and a cool glass of water. “You’re the one that wanted to carry it for me,” she pointed out. “And be careful, some of my art supplies are in there.”

  He disappeared down the hallway and came back empty handed. “I put it in the guest room.”

  They lapsed into silence as Felix took down his own glass for water.

  “You know that’s two, right?” Cali broke the quiet. Felix raised a brow in question. “Calming your ass down.” She held up two fingers and wiggled them playfully. “That’s two.”

  Felix took a slow sip from his glass. His eyes glittered.

  Cali’s body instantly went hot. “Well, goodnight.”

  She went to escape but Felix caught her in two easy strides of his long legs. His hand clasped her upper arm loosely, letting her know he’d let go if she wished it. Which made it all the harder. If he’d hold her in place against her will, she could simply explain that she’d had no choice but to let him touch her, but when he left her the option of pulling away and she didn’t …

  She didn’t want to admit to craving his touch.

  “In the Hummer you were trying to practice. If you want to practice, we’ll practice. Tomorrow. When I get off work. Deal?” The clipped way he spoke told Cali he was holding his own temptations in check.

  She shouldn’t have stayed with him. She needed to get away from him, not spend more time with him.

  Her mouth betrayed her. “Deal.”

  • • •

  Living with Felix turned out to be everything Cali could have wanted when she’d moved out on her own. The added benefit of Felix being a baker who brought her fresh pastries was just the cherry on top. Literally.

  There was a companionship between them that she never would have thought possible. And when it came to her powers, despite his wicked and playful attitude, Felix was actually a great teacher. He was patient with her when she was sure others would have quit on her. He was supportive when she wanted to quit on herself.

  The only drawback?

  Felix’s ungodly morning schedule. He even worked weekends. He woke up way before the sun rose and was finished with his day before lunch, usually around the time Cali was getting up to start her day. And on the days she was still sleeping when he got home, Felix took it upon himself to be her personal wake-up call.

  She’d only bloodied his nose once.

  And it was by accident.

  Either way, Felix loved scaring her ass out of bed.

  But as the days ticked by, Cali could feel the unspoken tension between them building. It was there in every glance. Every touch. In every unsaid freaking word.

  And on top of that tension was the anxiety that came from sitting and waiting as everyone anticipated Collette’s next move. There hadn’t been any sight of her or the mystery shadow in nearly a week. It was beginning to wear on everyone. The signs were there for all to see. Sydney was more jumpy, Joel constantly looked tired, and Niella was more snappish than usual.

  Felix was better at hiding it. He held his tension in his posture. Everywhere they went his shoulders were stiff, as if he expected an ambush attack at any moment. A few days ago the doorbell had rang. He’d been taking a nap on the couch while she’d been sketching. The sound had him shooting up over the couch and colliding with the side table so hard he sent a lamp careening into the wall, shattering it. When he’d wrenched open the front door the young boy selling magazine subscriptions had been terrified.

  “A little FYI,” she had called from her sketch spot in the kitchen. “I don’t think Collette would ring the doorbell before an attack.”

  As for herself, she tried to stay relaxed but it was difficult when everyone else was so on edge.

  Even now, as she sat sketching at Felix’s small round table in the kitchen, her body was on high alert. Felix had gone out to get them fixings for a late lunch. She’d stayed behind to finish her sketch. The clock was ticking when it came to her two-week deadline for Mrs. Deder, and she hadn’t even started painting yet. She only hoped this piece of work would make enough to reach her rent without dipping too much into her savings.

  When her phone went off she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  She fumbled in her bag, spilling makeup and other contents across the table.

  She didn’t recognize the number.

  Could it be Collette? Or was she being paranoid?

  “H-hello?”

  “May I speak to Miss Cali Crazar, please?” a pleasant feminine voice asked. This was most definitely not Collette.

  “This is she.”

  “Hello, Cali. I’m calling on behalf of Mr. Vander Donahughe in regards to the Kratos Corporation.”

  Cali stomach nearly dropped right out of her.

  Vander. The job offer he’d proposed three months ago. After all those sporadic ch
eck-ins he was finally getting back to her, for real. Excitement bubbled. She’d be able to make her rent after all.

  She wiped her suddenly sweaty palm on her shorts. “I’m so glad to hear from you. What can I do for you?”

  “Mr. Donahughe would like to schedule an interview with you for a position that has recently opened.”

  The interior design-like position. Vander had briefly explained it to her when he’d approached her with the job. They’d give her the layout of all the different room designs before they started construction on a new building, and it would be her job to match her painting to the decor of the room.

  It sounded too good to be true, but she’d done some research on the Kratos Corporation. They’d gotten their start a few years ago designing active wear. Their mission was to create “clothing that empowers.” No doubt they would expand to empower lots of new items, not just clothing.

  She flipped her sketchpad to a blank page. “An interview? Of course. Uh, what time?”

  There was the faint clicking of a keyboard on the other end of the line. “Does tomorrow at nine A.M. suit you?”

  Cali blanched at the hour. “Nothing in the afternoon?” she blurted before she could stop herself.

  There was a long pause.

  Cali dropped her head to the tabletop.

  Way to go, Cali. You just ruined any chance you had. You really couldn’t have woken your ass up at nine?

  “Miss Crazar,” the secretary spoke up. “There is an opening at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Shall I pencil you in?”

  Cali sat up so fast she nearly toppled backwards. “Yes!” She winced and lowered her voice. “I mean, yes, that works out perfectly. Thank you.”

  “We’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Crazar.” The secretary rattled off the time again and an address that Cali quickly jotted down onto her sketchpad.

  She sat for a few moments, letting the reality of it all sink in.

  The sound of Felix’s Hummer pulled her from her thoughts, and she stared at the table she’d made a mess of. “Crap.” Felix might use his guest bedroom like a messy storage unit, but he kept the rest of his house pretty neat.

  She quickly started throwing her spilled make-up back into her bag. Her eyes landed on one of her shiny lip-glosses.