“Get out of my house!” He was yelling, and his eyes had gone blank. I knew that look. He was in full fight or flight. There was no way I could have a productive conversation with him while he was like this.
Guilt swirled in my gut. Now that I knew he was innocent, I didn’t want him to be afraid of me. I often forgot that most people didn’t wake up every day thinking that there was a real possibility they might die.
I had been living like that since I was a child. Death didn’t scare me. If anything, I thought of myself as the harbinger of death, and when my time came, I would greet the reaper like an old friend.
I imagined death would be peaceful, and god knows my life had been anythingbutpeaceful. In my imagination, death would feel like going on a permanent vacation.
Looking at the pale and panicking Ryan Fairview, I realized he didnotfeel the same way. The idea of dying terrified him, and I had accidentally given him the impression that I would be the one to take his life away.
Oopsie.
“Alright, alright,” I said calmly, getting up from where I had been perched on the mini-fridge. I backed slowly away from Ryan. “I’ll go, but I’ll be back in the morning, so don’t freak out next time you see me. I promise I’m not coming back to kill you. We just need to talk.”
“Get out!” he yelled, reaching behind him to grab a dumbbell off the rickety rack against the far wall. He brandished it at me like it was a weapon, and I sighed but nodded.
“See you in the morning, ginger snap,” I muttered on my way out. “Try to get some rest. You look awful,” I called over my shoulder before slipping up the stairs and out of the house.
I couldn’t shake the anxious feeling in my chest that I shouldn’t have left him there while he was that upset. However, I had clearly just been making the situation worse.
‘He would feel better in the morning,’I told myself as I climbed into my Bentley. He just needed some rest.
When the intruder left, he took his ghouls with him. I was a fucking mess. That horrible woman had passed through me so many times I had lost count. I was freezing and could barely feel my fingers by the time I was able to crawl into a hot shower.
Keeping the sage burning in the bathroom with me, the space became so full of steam and smoke that it soon became difficult to breathe, but I didn’t care.
I stood under the steady beat of the boiling hot water until my head felt clear again and my body stopped shaking.
What the fuck had just happened?
By the time I got out of the shower and made my way to my bedroom, the earlier events of the night felt like a fever dream.
Had I really just been held at gunpoint?
Who was that man?
Why did he think I had been abusing Caleb?
Who did he work for?
I pulled on a soft pair of grey drawstring pants and made my way to my antique California King. My mother had insisted on me moving into the main bedroom on the second floor after my father had passed.
She said it was too much space for her, and since I had taken over the business, it was time for me to make the Fairview house my home. I had resisted at first. My childhood room was fine. I rarely spent time in it anyway, but she had insisted.
‘You’ll need the extra space when your dark angel arrives.’She had said cryptically. So I moved in. The bedroom was set at the front of the house and had massive bay windows and more floor space than anyone really needed in a bedroom.
The furniture was heavy and ornate, all made of a dark black walnut. The walls were covered in deep green antique wallpaper, and the ensuite bathroom was probably one of the most up-to-date parts of the house.
We had it redone a few years ago after the shower had sprung a leak, and Iris had gone full modern goth on the design.
There was a big, black, clawfoot tub that I never used and a walk-in shower with a rain head.
I had to admit, I was grateful for the extravagant fixtures tonight. Thankfully, I was able to get my core body temperature up relatively quickly. I may be able to avoid the aching sickness that usually comes after encounters like that.
However, I had never before had an encounter quitethatbad. That man must be a fuckingmurderer.Why else would he have so many ghouls crawling all over him?
I shuddered as I climbed into bed.
I knew I should call the police, but I felt like shit, and I didn’t want them to find Caleb here.
