She nods. “I would if I were you, living out here all alone. A girl can’t be too careful.”
We say our goodbyes, I sign for the new window, and then they’re both gone. Overwhelmed with gratitude, I carry the check to my Grams’s office, where I’ve been putting all the bills and things, and sit down at her desk, breathing in the fading scent of her perfume. After staring at the check for a good long time, I leave it on the desk and move to the kitchen to heat up one of the many funeral casseroles for dinner.
I’m standing in front of the stove, staring at the striking blood-red leaves of the tree out front, when the ugly yellow wall phone rings.
“Eloise, thank the goddess.” Maeve’s voice crackles down the land line. “Why aren’t you answering your cell?”
“What?” I draw the phone from my pocket, noticing the ringer is off and there are six missed calls from her. “Shit, sorry. Ringer was off, probably since the funeral.”
“Well, at least I have you now.”
“What’s up?”
“There’s been an incident. I’ve learned that Tony’s body was found dead and burned on a boat with two other men who have mob ties. The police think foul play was involved. Probably also mob-related.”
Maeve reports this as if she doesn’t know exactly what happened to Tony last night, and I go along because who knows who else is in the room with her listening. We both know Damien took Tony's body. What happened next isn't too hard to imagine. “That’s terrible!” I say disbelievingly. “I wouldn’t have expected that of Tony.”
“No one would. But, since he has been pronounced dead, the divorce is no longer necessary. I’m calling because your court date has been canceled.”
“What?”
“You’re effectively widowed, Eloise. I’m still investigating what that means for you with regard to Tony’s estate.”
“I see.” I don’t know what else to say. A storm of emotions wars within me. Relief that the divorce is over, guilt that I’m responsible for Tony’s death, and anxiety that somehow the FBI’s investigation might lead back to me. “Thanks for everything, Maeve.”
“I’ll be in touch once we know more.”
With an uncharacteristically professional goodbye (there is definitely someone in the room with her), the line disconnects, and I reposition the phone in its cradle. I take a few deep breaths, trying to wrap my head around it all, then look out toward the setting sun.
Damien will be here soon, and I have a book waiting for me in the attic.
46
The Right Thing
DAMIEN
Ireturn to Eloise the moment the darkness will carry me, anxious to touch her again, to remind myself that she’s safe, to hear her tell me she’s mine. Tony is dead, as are the only other two men who saw her in the cavern. Eloise will have heard about the fire by now. Learned that Tony and his two allies were onboard. She’ll know I was the one who came down on them like the night itself, who torched the evidence.
For centuries, I’ve been bound to another’s will. Is it any surprise then, that when given the freedom to do as I pleased I opted for the dramatic? Last night, after I left Eloise, I carried Tony’s limp body down into that cavern and sent a text from the phone in his pocket to the number he’d last contacted about “taking care of the issue”. The issue was Eloise seeing his operation. I would have loved to be the one to kill Tony for intending to eradicate my mate, but since Eloise exacted her own vengeance, I had to settlefor all that was left, namely sending a message to anyone or anything that would dare consider harming her.
When I heard the hum of the boat’s engine in the sea cave, I punched through the back of Tony’s skull and held him next to me like a puppet. His brain matter was sliding down my sleeve by the time his two cronies exited the trawler, one blond and one with some kind of bird tattooed on his face.
“Thanks for coming.” I worked Tony’s mouth like I was the ventriloquist and he was the dummy, clacking his teeth together as I added, “Tony and I would like to have a few words with you.”
A clump of something dark and wet sluiced from Tony’s head, glopping onto the sand somewhere near my toes and eliciting a dark laugh from me. True terror registered on their faces then.
Welcome to your darkest nightmare, assholes.
The answering barrage of bullets slammed into me and what remained of Tony, riddling us both with enough lead to kill any human a hundred times over. I laughed. If bullets could kill me, I’d have been dead a long time ago. I let them believe they hurt though. I let them believe they’d killed me. I let them completely empty their weapons into me before tossing Tony’s leftovers onto the sand and flopping onto the ground.
And then I waited. Waited for those two lowlifes to creep up on me and lean over, nice and close, to make sure I was dead. With a cross and flick of two fingers, I sent a needle thin shadow to pierce the blond one’s throat, while I sent a second to puncture the lung of face tattoo. The two men crumpled, dropping their empty weapons to use both hands to staunch where they’d sprung a leak.
“I could kill you instantly,” I said, as one crawled toward the boat while the other squirmed on the ground, reloading his gun. As if the magazine of bullets they’d already emptied into me wasn’t proof enough that that plan wasn’t going to work. “All it would take would be a shadow to burrow through your brain. Unfortunately for you, I’m enjoying this. Your friend Tony attacked my mate tonight. I warned him that if he touched her, I’d kill him. He’s already dead, though. And I don’t feel any better about what happened. Yet.”
I sent another arrow of shadow though the blond’s ribs, narrowly missing his heart, and then through face tattoo’s liver. Then his stomach and his thighs. Their cries were wasted on me. I shared none of Eloise’s softness or compassion. Blood smeared across the sand as they dragged themselves away from me, and I reveled in their suffering, until I could no longer ignore the pull of sunrise. “Alas, play time is over.”
Grabbing the blond one by the back of the neck, I dragged him up and bit through his jugular. His blood flowed down my throat. It wasn’t particularly satisfying, but it would have to do. I needed my strength.
