“There’s an en suite where you can get changed and… see to your needs,” Willa explains.
“Yeah, and I wonder wherehe’llbe seeing tohisneeds.”I cock my head at him as Willa suppresses a laugh.
“That fucking mouth of yours will land you in trouble,” the Hellhound says, and I’m not ashamed to admit that the hairs on the back of my arms stand up and a tiny flame ignites in my core, which I try to batten down.
“Is that so?”
Willa sighs.“Come along now, kids.We need to look out for one another, not fight amongst ourselves.We don’t know how long we’re going to be out here, and I, for one, do not want to have to referee you two.Do I make myself clear?”
I glare at the Beast, who stares back, and it’s me who breaks.I glance at Willa and salute before the Hellhound just nods in her direction.
But the truth is, I don’t want to behave, and he knows it.Over the past six months, there has been a strange energy between us.Something I can’t fathom.
Eyeballing the Beast, I wonder what he’s thinking.
I’m not sure what’s going on between the two of us and what Willa will have to referee.I imagine the next few days are going to be so fucking boring that I’ll have to find some way of amusing myself.
I’ve never been very good at toeing the line, and I’m not about to start now.
This could be fun.
FOURTEEN
FENRIR
PRESENT
The heatfrom the fire is making my skin crawl.The flickering flames lick at wounds that’ll never heal, so I’m relieved when Willa suggests she show Hayami around the house.It means I can go and check to see if the cameras pick them up.
There’s a small room under the stairs that houses a desk, a chair, and monitors.All allow the user to see what’s going on around the house and grounds.When I set up the cameras, I’d done a full sweep of the house.It’s grand but not ridiculously big, which is a relief.I was dreading having too many areas to cover with just me and Willa here.
I settle into the black leather chair, which’ll be my vigil site every night.Willa and Hayami come into focus on the bottom screen from the camera in the foyer.There’s no sound, just the image of them moving from the living room into the library, which sits on the left as you come in through the main entrance.
Hayami studies the shelves, her eyes wide, face full of wonder, as Willa sweeps the room out of habit, looking for anything out of place.
“You picking us up?”Willa says into her cuff.
“Yes.”
“How’s the picture?”she asks.
“Clear enough,” I reply as Hayami reaches for a book.She pulls it from the shelf, and I imagine her telling Willa she’s read it or wants to read it or that they won’t be bored here with all these books.But Willa isn’t a bookworm.Not like Hayami.
A few months ago, Hayami bought me a book.She’d been in the bookshop for over two hours, which was unsettling.The space was so calm and quiet that I found myself relaxing, which isn’t ideal when I’m supposed to be alert.She told me that books were her friends, which only confirmed her loneliness.
I understood what she was saying, but my face must have said otherwise, as she went on to ask me if I ever wanted to escape.I told her I did.I’ve spent my whole adult life trying to escape my past, but I can’t seem to shake it.
I still haven’t read the book she bought me.I don’t know what I’m afraid of.Maybe that it won’t work.That I won’t find the escape that she surrenders to so easily within the pages of a book.Or maybe I’m scared that itwillwork.Maybe that’s more frightening.
They leave the library and move across the foyer and into the sitting room, which is smaller than the formal living room.There are a few seconds where they aren’t visible, tiny pockets of the house that aren’t covered by any cameras.This is a worry.I don’t like not having my eyes on her the whole time.
It’s seconds before they reappear on the camera in the sitting room.They don’t spend long in here, quickly moving on.There’s another split second where they disappear, then reappear on the camera in the kitchen.Hayami looks in the fridge and takes out a bottle of water before heading into the dining room.
The pair then appear back in the foyer.They each grab the remaining bags I haven’t got around to taking up.We packed in such a hurry, Devall giving us no time at all to prepare for a trip and no idea how long we were going to be away for.Nothing I wasn’t used to.In the army, we could be deployed at a moment’s notice.
Willa and I had been dropped off at our homes on the way to the airport and told we had twenty minutes to pack our personal belongings before the car would leave.Willa, I suspected, found this more stressful.Not only did she have to pack but also had to say farewell to her heavily pregnant wife, not knowing when she would be seeing her again.
And me?Well, let’s just say there wasn’t much to pack from my one-bedroom apartment.Ten years in the army means I haven’t put down any roots, and it taught me to travel light.Possessions aren’t important unless they can save your life.And I’m not sure what it meant when I found myself packing the book Hayami bought me.
