Main Street in Hemlock was an ode to the previous century, when the town thrived off coal mining and timber mills, but both enterprises dried up in the 1970s and the population of Hemlock dried up with them but for a few intrepid humans and a small but significant fae population.
Including Alec’s late mother, Aleria. A human and younger fae hybrid, her powers were much like her son’s, able to manipulate and alter the molecular structure of the physical world, but she was deeply vulnerable to synthetic chemicals and her health was poor due to the work Stu made her do—she faded, and in her weakened state, died from long-term poisoning by the very drugs Stu forced her to make.
Leif followed Alec’s directions, driving them past the nearly abandoned main drag of town, only the corner gas station and the tiny post office open. Alec frowned, eyeing the 24/7 diner that was usually open, its windows shuttered, the sign flipped to Closed as they passed.
“What day is it?” Alec asked, realizing he had no idea. He wasn’t even sure of the month.
“I think it’s Tuesday,” Leif answered, pointing to the dash of the truck that showed the time and date. “I haven’t flipped the clock on this since I bought it, so I’m not sure if the time is right or not, but the calendar should be good.”
“Huh,” Alec murmured.
“What?”
“Hemlock just seems…emptier than usual?” Alec said, frowning as he gazed at the passing houses, nearly to Stu’s place. He saw no one, not even a passing car. “Where is everyone?”
Leif rolled the truck to a slow stop in front of Stu’s house, the tiny blue cabin appearing even more run down and decrepit since Alec had last been there.
“I hope he didn’t trash my stuff,” Alec sighed. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
Alec got out of the truck, Leif turning it off and following, the big alpha shadowing his steps as Alec headed through the mini junkyard on the front lawn and to the door. Everyone in town knew the house was Stu’s and what Stu did for a living, and Alec never saw him or his mom lock the doors, so when he tested the knob, the door opened easily.
“He was the trusting sort,” Leif commented as he followed Alec into the tiny house.
“Not really. No one wanted Stu on their ass if they stole from him,” Alec said. “He had friends in high places, and he wasn’t shy about threatening people.”
“He sounds like a stellar guy,” Leif said with a heavy dose of sarcasm that made Alec snort out a laugh as he looked around the small living room, the single armchair littered with fast-food wrappers and cigarette butts, beercans set on the floor around the chair like mini offerings to the god of lazy excess.
“Too bad I killed him,” Alec replied with a grin. “Lemme see if he left my room alone. I doubt it though; he never wasted a chance to steal from me.”
Alec went to the short hall and then his room. The door was open—and he was right, the room was trashed. Clothes were torn apart, the seams and hems ripped or stretched, and jeans were cut to shreds with a knife. Even his underwear was ruined, tossed on the floor and stomped on by dirty boots. “Fuck, I guess I won’t be grabbing anything, Stu went through it all.”
Leif came up behind him in the hall, his big body a reassuring presence at Alec’s back. Leif took a look over Alec’s head and a soft growl escaped. “Asshole.”
“Yeah, that he was,” Alec confirmed. “I wonder if he sold my license and birth certificate, or if he kept them?”
“That his room?” Leif gestured with his thumb to the door at the end of the small hallway.
“Yeah,” Alec said, Leif already headed in that direction. His alpha opened the door to Stu’s room and shook his head in disgust.
“Guess I didn’t need the keys off of Stu after all,” Alec said, shaking his head.
“Stinks to high hell in here,” Leif grumbled, taking a couple steps into the room that was full of unwashed laundry and even more trash than the living room.
“I don’t know where to look,” Alec said, skin crawling in distaste at being in the room Stu once shared with Aleria. Any hint of his mother’s presence was long gone.
Leif took a long breath in, and then another, and Alec realized he was scenting when Leif suddenly went to thedresser buried under laundry, knocking aside dirty clothes and opening the second drawer down.
“Here,” Leif said, and Alec jumped across the junk and clothing to join Leif at the dresser. There was a pile of what had to be stolen IDs, and Alec’s driver license and birth certificate lay on top, carelessly tossed into the pile of contraband.
“Guess he never got around to selling them,” Alec said in relief. He reached in and, carefully, only touched his items, leaving no prints behind on the other stuff. “Wipe your prints off the dresser drawer and shut it.”
Leif grabbed a shirt from atop the dresser and wiped the handle before shutting the drawer firmly. “Worried about the cops?”
“Always worried about the cops out here,” Alec shared. “They’re on more than the state’s payroll.”
“You need anything else from here?” Leif asked, looking around the room.
“Stu has a stash of cash around here somewhere, but I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary.”
