Destroyed (12 page)

I sat on a chair across from them. “Do you know me?”

The first one shrugged. “You’re Dr. Aren’s daughter.” The words fell like silk off his lips. I imagined he could get anyone to do what he wanted.

“Yes, I am. Do you know what I’m capable of?”

The second man’s eyes widened. “You’re the bitch that can take our power.”

“Yes. Now I will give you one chance. Tell Kai what it is he wants to know.”

They both started talking at once. I didn’t understand much of it but I did hear the words, “Tallahassee” and “Paul.”

After they both shut up, I looked at Kai. “Did they tell you what you needed to know?”

He frowned. “Yes.”

I nodded. “Good. Now you will go confess all of your crimes to the sheriff or I will hunt you down and take your power. Do we have an understanding?”

They both muttered something that sounded like a yes. Kai followed me back in the house and gathered me in a hug. “That was amazing. Thank you.”

“I didn’t even have to use my power. Anytime.” It was actually a little too easy. They didn’t put up a fight at all. Was I really that scary?

He pulled back. “I’m going to have to go to Florida. This shouldn’t take too long. I’m suspended anyway.”

“Why?”

“Those guys are linked to a ring in Tallahassee. I’ll go hunt down this Paul guy and shut it down.”

“Do you want me to come along?”

“Nah, I got this. Besides you need to go school.”

I’d miss him but I understood. He was in charge of the Destroyers around here and everywhere else. I didn’t envy his job.

“I’ll miss you.”

He took my hand. “You too. I’ll take you to school tomorrow morning and then go to the airport. Your dad will pick you up.”

All I could think about was those men in the garage. How many more of them were there in the world? How much more of this would I have to do? I wondered how the leaders of the Destroyers dealt with all of this before. Obviously my mother didn’t care what they did. But Kai’s dad did. He was the Master Destroyer before Mother killed him and took over.

“There, in the garage. What would your dad have done after they confessed?” I asked.

“He’d have had them killed.”

I wondered how many men his dad had killed. How many murders did Kai witness as a child? He always spoke of his dad in a loving way, but I didn’t see how that was possible. I hoped Kai never followed in his father’s footsteps.

*

The next afternoon I found my dad waiting for me. He threw a newspaper in my lap. The front page featured the two men from yesterday, with the headline, “Pedophiles arrested, make full confession.” My stomach tightened. I couldn’t wait to get back to the Guardians. All this evil was getting to me.

“You’re doing good work.”

“Thanks.” I smiled at him. He had a point. I was far more useful here than at home. Puck never let me do much. Here I was actually making a difference.

“It’s been a long time since I picked you up from anywhere. You want some ice cream?”

“Sure,” I said. I knew he was trying to make up for lost time. I knew it wasn’t his fault that he ‘went away’ for eight years, but it was going to take a lot before we’d be friends.

I looked in the back of the car. Paint, nails, a small piece of sheetrock, and a vanity mirror.

“What’s all this?”

“Now that the animals are mostly taken care of, I can work on the house. I figured I’d start with your room.”

“Thanks,” I said.

We pulled up to Sonic and I ordered a Cookie Dough Blizzard. He ordered a Grape Slushy.

“How did you know the red-haired girl?” Ruth. My insides went hollow. I missed her so bad.

“She was my best friend.”

He grimaced. “No wonder your mother wanted her dead. She was looking for every possibility to make your life miserable.”

“Did you remember something?”

“Sort of. I remember your mother being there. She took the girls’ parents away and I was supposed to take care of the girl. I don’t remember killing her. But I did remember something else.”

I took a bite of my Blizzard. “What’s that?”

“Kai was there.”

“What?”

“He was there with me.” My dad scratched his head. “I don’t remember what he was doing, or why, but he was there. I wish I could remember more.”

How could Kai do this to me? He knew Ruth was my friend and he never said anything. My stomach went cold. Did Kai have something to do with her death? If my dad didn’t kill her, then did Kai? No, he said murder stains your soul, if he’d done that he wouldn’t be able to be a Guardian. But did he turn her over to my mother or someone else that did the killing or did he rescue her?

My dad took a sip of his slushy, his lips pursed. I could tell he was trying to remember for me and I appreciated it.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Kai. It went straight to voicemail. I sent a text instead.

Call me now.

Are you okay?

Yes, but I need to talk to you now.

Busy. Try to call you later.

I slammed the phone down on the seat in frustration.

“No luck?”

“He says he’s busy.”

“Naomi, I really don’t think I killed her.”

So either she was alive or Kai was involved in her death.

I thought I would try my hand at combining Party Girl Rose with a Tiffany Rose. I think I’ll name it Girls’ Night Out.

I sat in the back of the car with Desi and checked my phone for the umpteenth time. Kai still hadn’t called and he wasn’t responding to my texts. I stayed up well past midnight waiting. Lincoln finally nudged the phone out of my hand and curled on my chest so I would go to sleep. He was thoughtful like that. Now, sitting in the car with the girls, all I could think about was what Kai knew about Ruth.

Tiff blared country music, so none of us talked much on the way down to Rogers. This was good, because right now I wouldn’t be much of a conversationalist.

At the restaurant, the girls chatted about Desi’s boyfriend and the trouble she was having with him. I tried to follow the conversation, but all I could think about was Ruth.

After we ordered, Desi spoke to me. “We were best friends in first grade, do you remember?”

I nodded.

“What happened?”

“My parents joined this weird church and I wasn’t allowed to have friends anymore. They kept me pretty isolated.”

Tiff took a bite of her salad and thought for a second. “That’s a pretty mild version. I heard your parents murdered an innocent family.”

“That’s not very nice,” said Desi.

“I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking. Thousands of rumors floated around after you left. I’m just curious about the truth.”

“My father had nothing to do with it. My mother is the one who did the killing. She was killed a few months ago when the police were trying to catch her. My dad was pretty messed up after the whole church thing. They sent him to a hospital to recover. He’s home now and getting better. What do you know about the murders? Did any of you go to the funeral?”

It was a little difficult to talk about it, but I needed to know what happened to Ruth. The best way I could gain their trust was to give a little. Even if I did lie about my mom.

Tiff shook her head. “No one really knew Ruth very well. She was new. Not that it would’ve been much of a funeral. They never found a body.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my dad is good friends with the sheriff. They found the parents out in the woods, but all they found from Ruth was a whole lot of blood in an abandoned cabin.”

Was it really possible? Could it be she was alive? I wanted to believe it was possible.

Desi jumped at the lull in the conversation.

“How did you get out of the whole thing? You left, right?”

“I did. When my mother tried to force me to marry Dwayne, I ran away.”

Tiff gasped. “Did you say marry?”

“Yep. That's actually how I met Kai. He picked me up when I was running away. He helped me get to Vegas to find my aunt.”

I decided that I’d leave out other details where Kai was concerned. Tiff was curious enough as it was. I wondered if she was in his harem before he met me.

“The damsel in distress, works every time.”

I laughed to ease the tension I felt building in my chest.

“Yeah, I guess.”

A couple of rowdy guys sat in the table next to us.

“My, you ladies are looking fine tonight.”

We all looked up and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Destroyers. Not very powerful ones, but still Destroyers. Again, I was surprised by their appearances; they were actually pretty hot high school boys. Most Destroyers were shabby looking. The good-looking ones got away with more because no one suspected them of being up to no good. I tried to get a sense for their intentions, but they threw shields up. That made me nervous.

Desi leaned forward. “You’re not so bad looking yourself.” She giggled.

One of the guys grinned. “Why are y’all out alone?”

Tiff answered. “Girls’ night.”

I took advantage of the opening. “And we’d like to keep it that way. Why don’t y’all just leave?”

With a shrug they stood up and walked out of the restaurant.

Desi glared at me. “Bitch, what’d you do that for?”

“Those were not good guys, I know them.”

Tiff took a sip of her coke. “Yeah, that was weird, how they just left like that. Maybe they recognized you. How do you know them?”

“They run in some of the same circles that Kai does.” I frowned. That still doesn’t explain why they left without a fight. Lately, it seemed like I could get whatever I wanted with just a thought or a statement.

The girls moved on to make-up and clothes, and I didn’t get a chance to bring the conversation back to Ruth. Before I knew it, we’d left the restaurant and moved on to the theater.

My experience with movies was limited. I went a few times with Puck and Ricki, and I was still enamored with the big screen and popcorn.

The theater was fairly empty. Wednesday wasn’t a big movie night. We sat in the middle of the theater. During the previews, a group of loud boys sat right behind us. I didn’t think much of it. Groups of boys tended to do that when I was with girls like Tiff. The same thing happened when I was out with Ricki. I didn’t sense Destroyer energy so I ruled out the guys from the restaurant.

I noticed the smell first, during the first few minutes of the movie. A stale rotting garbage smell. My nose twitched but I tried to ignore it. I thought about turning around to see what was causing the smell, but didn’t want to miss anything in the movie.

That was a mistake. I should’ve looked.

A hand squeezed my shoulder and a voice whispered in my ear.

“You belong behind me, bitch, not in front.”

I brushed the hand away from shoulder and whipped around.

“Get off. Don’t you ever touch me again.”

Dwayne leaned back in his chair, a cocky grin on his face and toothpick in his mouth.

“Oh yeah, watcha gonna do about it? Last I checked, your boyfriend isn’t around to protect you.”

I looked at the boys sitting on either side of him. Neither one was a Destroyer. Thank goodness or I’d have my work cut out for me. This would be easy.

Tiff turned around to see what the commotion was all about.

“Oh, ew. You need to leave, you’re stinking up the place.”

“Why don’t you make me?”

I touched Tiff’s knee and sent her feelings of compliance, so she wouldn’t interrupt what I was about to do. It tasted like bananas and smelled of lavender. I didn’t want her involved.

Tiff looked confused for a second and then turned back around to watch the movie.

I turned around too, wanting Dwayne to think that he’d won. I wasn’t a Destroyer so it would be nearly impossible for me to do something that would hurt him. I wanted to try something new.

I wasn’t sure how to do this. I wanted Dwayne to make his own bed. His companions were good ol’ white trash boys. I knew a few things could set off them off.

I sent Dwayne feelings of romantic love. I wanted him to be totally and completely smitten. That part was easy. Coconut and cinnamon. The harder part was getting him to be smitten with the boy sitting next to him. I took a chance with vanilla ice cream. I sent the taste to Dwayne and the smell to the boy next to him. At the same time I nudged Tiff.

“We need to move. Now,” I whispered in her ear.

“Shh, it’s just getting good.”

“We gotta move. Dwayne is giving me the creeps.”

She whispered something to Desi and we moved about six seats over, just in time.

“What the hell? Get off, man.” The voice was loud, drowning out the movie.

“But I love you.” This was Dwayne, just as loud.

We all turned and saw Dwayne tumble over the seats we just vacated. The commotion brought in the ushers, who escorted Dwayne and his buddies out of the theater.

I must’ve overdone it, because I still heard Dwayne proclaiming his love for his friend as he was hauled out.

The movie ended and we had a laugh over Dwayne and his friends. Tiff went to fill up the popcorn bucket for the ride home while Desi and I waited.

I worried that Dwayne had waited for me so I scanned the lobby. Then I ran straight for the couple sitting at a table.

Tuscany Superb + Kaiser Wilhelm = Love Triangle

I threw my arms around Puck in a fierce hug. He squeezed me tight and lifted me off the ground. I pulled his face towards mine and kissed him. I could hear kitten’s purring and felt like I was standing on a beach. He tasted of sugar cookies and honey. I missed him. Kai’s kisses were mysterious and exciting but Puck’s were sweet and passionate. Everything about it felt right and comfortable.

“Mmm,” he murmured. “I missed you.”

“Me too.” I said grinning.

He let go of me and I threw my arms around Ginny.

“I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Me either. I swore I wouldn’t come back to this hellhole after last year. It does a number on my hair.”

Of course she was dressed to perfection, in a black blouse and a funky layered pink bubble gum skirt that cut away to reveal black pumps with ribbons going halfway up her calves. I smirked at the impracticality of the outfit. She looked good.