“Trevor, you’re a grown man… You’re going to do what you’re going to do. But I wish you’d stay. Iwantyou to stay. I want you to be here with me. For us to be together. Because…”Because I adore you. Because I’ve never experienced anything like what we’ve been experiencing. Because you’re lovely.
Evelyn stopped herself. She knew her truth, along with her worth. She refused to beg.
He took her hands. “They’re my parents…”
Right, of course.
The two fell into a silence that evening. They opted to have dinner on the couch and shut off the TV, especially after the report that two more demon eyes had been discovered. Instead, they let Trevor’s soul sounds carry them away to a simpler place.
He soon took her to his bedroom, a more minimalist affair than the living room, where they started to kiss. Trevor once again placed his head on her bosom, let his lips and tongue worship her nipples languorously. Her sense of time dissolved with his attentions. As did her resentment.
He pulled a condom from the drawer next to his bed, put it on, and entered Evelyn in a slow, gentle motion. Rolling like the waves. The feeling wasn’t as pleasurable as when he tasted her below, but the connection was there, him inside her, his eyes diving into hers, their bodies moving with each other, in sync. A welcome escape from district troubles.
Afterward, Trevor curled into a ball. The first time he’d folded into himself after their lovemaking. “You okay?” Evelyn whispered. Was he still mad after their spat? Trevor gave a tiny nod in response. He took Evelyn’s hand and placed it under his chin. He curled up even more, his bottom cocooned by her stomach. Another sensation to cherish before he left.
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed the back of his head.
That night, Evelyn woke up in the dark, startled, barely able to see, save for a sliver of light from an outside streetlamp. The spot beside her was empty, sheets tousled. She wondered where Trevor had gone. A few heart-wrenching seconds passed. Maybe he’d left her. Or maybe something had happened, an emergency. With his family, or…
Evelyn got up and opened the bedroom door. She heard rustling from the bathroom. She crept over to the door, which was cracked open. Light streamed through, adding a faint glow to the hallway’s shadows.
She heard a choked, strangled sound. Trevor was crying.
Evelyn gently knocked. “Sweetie, what’s the matter? Can I come in?” Was he that upset about his parents?
She knocked again. No answer.
Evelyn pushed the door open slowly. Trevor stood over the sink, naked. The mirror on the medicine cabinet, shattered, flecked with scarlet. Blood fell from his right fist, which was embedded with shards of glass. Blood streamed down his leg, dripped onto his grape toes. A puddle had formed.
His left hand was steaming. Blisters had formed on his skin.
“Trevor, my God…”
He turned to her, eyes so volcanic, so bright, for a moment Evelyn was blinded. Then she squealed and screamed and scrambled from the bathroom, fell on her rump as he lurched forward. The hallway turned blazing red from the hell in Trevor’s gaze.
“Tell me my name,” he growled as he stalked forward. “Please… TELL ME MY FUCKIN’ NAME!”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LINDA
She sat in her sedan two blocks away from Rayo Courant’s home on Thirty-Fifth Street. Linda could barely control the fury that took over when she read Elton’s latest message.
We’re checking Rayo’s background, we’ll figure out what the connection is. Things are tense, I know, but let’s not jump to any hasty conclusions…
Elton spouted bullshit, as per usual.
It was no coincidence that twenty-five of the Afflicted had engaged with Rayo in some professional capacity, mostly as his clients. Linda had done a thorough background check on the man. He was born and raised in Philly to immigrant parents who’d made their way to the States from Martinique and Jamaica. Rayo had gone to UPenn, earned both his bachelor’s and master’s there in psychology, and continued on with graduate work in the district. Had run his own practice for more than a decade. Super successful. On hisPsychology Todayprofile, he listed himself as open to new age modalities, reminiscent of what he’d said as a guest onMCURY Live, and hadstarted to give lectures about various spiritual practices from the Diaspora while running a private practice from his home in Georgetown. Which is why she’d decided to stage an impromptu stakeout close to his property.
She had inadvertently sent her own clients to this man who was hurting people… somehow. Linda kicked herself for not recognizing his name, for not connecting the dots earlier. She continued to scan the video clips of Rayo she’d found, searched for any clues that would connect him to the Afflicted. Over the past few years, he’d kept a relatively low profile, hadn’t really made public appearances other than a couple of commencement speeches for local colleges. It was after the Ghost Equinox that he began to blow up. On YouTube channels, on evening news guest spots, on afternoon talk shows, which was when she first spotted him at Smithie’s.
She stopped at one of Rayo’s TED Talks. The description under the clip indicated that the event was recorded on December 17, 2024. His locs were done up in a bun, his green button-down slightly open at the top, revealing several necklaces and the contours of his chest. A striking figure.
“Our collective experience is inherently mysterious, mystical,” he said in the clip. “We shouldn’t be afraid to explore what lies on uncharted horizons, to create within our core a more complex understanding of the world around us, even as we remember that which makes us intrinsically human. The need to be seen, for intimacy, to be close to each other…”
Rayo didn’t sound significantly different from what he’d spouted on the TV screen at Smithie’s. What he was selling, presumably the chance to enroll in a seminar. Or maybe there was a book he was hawking. She reviewed theMCURY Liveclip on the laptop she’d wedged against the steering wheel.
Linda once again listened to his words, homed in on his body language. Nothing set off any alarm bells. Sure, Rayo was smug, had a self-inflated, condescending air. An attitude she’d seen before when it cameto those who were educated and handsome and had their ass licked everywhere they went.
