Eden's Creatures (17 page)

She looks just like Stassi. But it can’t be. Stassi is in Faedin behind the veil.

The angel suddenly disappeared below his line of sight and Cal reached for her.
Come back! Don’t leave me here.

Terrible growling sounds filled the small bedroom. Tearing. Ripping. Violent.

He couldn’t help himself. He started to cry.

A few moments later, the angel was back. “I’m here, Cal. He won’t hurt you ever again.” Her amber eyes looked feral. Her mouth impossibly red. Blood dripped down her chin, the same way that Stassi’s had when she ate the raw rabbit.

The angel laid a comforting hand against his cheek and then everything faded to black.

C
al woke when the aching throb in his head hammered him into consciousness. Disoriented and in agony, he sat up, but regretted it instantly when his stomach heaved in protest. He flopped back down and took shallow breaths, waiting for the sickness to pass.

Gray light filtering in through the curtains at the window told him it was dawn. The previous evening flashed through his mind, but he was having a hard time separating fact from fiction.

One thing he did know. It had been Stassi who stood over his bed last night. Stassi who…

He shook the thought away.
Please, God, it can’t be.

With a grunt of effort, he swung his legs to the floor and sat up. The bile threatened again, but he fought it.

He had to know.

Using the mattress for support, he stood and wobbled to the foot of the bed.

He wished he hadn’t.

Oh, Stassi. What did you do?

He gagged at the image of his stepfather lying face up, eyes and mouth open in a silent scream. Beneath that, the pulp of a throat that had been torn out.

Somehow, Stassi had escaped the realm and had come here to commit murder.

Cal ran a hand through his hair and sat back down. Where the hell was his mother? Hadn’t she come home last night? Stassi wouldn’t have harmed her, too, would she? He took a deep breath.
One problem at a time.

He sat for a moment, collecting his nerve, and then finally stood. He ripped the comforter off the bed, and draped it over his stepfather, grateful that he no longer had to look at those open, accusing eyes. He tucked the sides in tight around the body and hauled the corpse up and over his shoulder with a strength that would have been impossible just days ago.

He would later recall what happened next in what felt like snippets from a horror movie. The lonely trek into the woods. The torturous knowledge that he carried a man that had lived and breathed just hours ago. The frantic search for a place to hide the body.

Although it would have been impossible to dig a grave in the middle of winter, he knew there were plenty of gullies and holes and rocks. In the end, he didn’t have the energy to do anything other than roll the body down a steep ravine. An inelegant tumble that ended with Ross Taylor lying like a broken doll at the bottom.

Cal didn’t say a prayer or a final goodbye. He simply turned and walked away. After burying the comforter under a pile of wood, he went home in a mindless fugue that left no room for analysis or feelings of guilt. Wanting nothing more than a hot shower, he entered the house and started down the hallway toward the bathroom.

A woman’s moan stopped him dead.

He stood perfectly still to listen and heard it again. A muffled cry coming from the basement.

He ran for the door, went down the stairs and turned on the light. He hissed at the sight of his mother lying in the corner of the room, bound and gagged.

“Mom!” He rushed over and untied her arms and legs.

She took a deep breath as soon as he removed the gag. “Cal! Thank God you’re here!”

“What happened?”

She grabbed him by the shirt, her eyes wild with terror. “We’ve got to get out of here, Cal! He’s crazy! He’s going to kill me this time, I know it.”

“Don’t worry, Mom, he won’t hurt you.”

“He’s got a gun!”

“I know.”

She let go of him and stood. “Is he still upstairs?”

“No.”

“Then where is he?” she asked in a frantic whisper.

“Haven’t seen him. That’s all you need to know.”

Her eyes flicked to the blood on his hands and he stuffed them into his front pockets. “If he’s gone for good,” she said quietly with a long, level look, “that’d be all right by me.”

Cal swallowed. “I thought you couldn’t live without him.”

“I thought about what you said when you left, Cal, and I… I just couldn’t turn a blind eye any more. I told Ross he had to leave.”

“You did?” he asked in shock. He had dreamed of this moment all his life and to have it happen now?

“I did. I know I haven’t been a good mother to you, Cal, and I haven’t been there for you like I should’ve been. I’ve got no excuse. I just hope you can forgive me someday.”

He wished he could tell her that he forgave her, but he didn’t. Not yet. The emotional scars were too deep. Too recent. Maybe with time… or maybe not. “We better call 911,” he said instead.

She nodded. “Just tell them we got a missing person on our hands.”

“But—”

“Just tell them!”

Cal was momentarily taken aback by the authority in her voice. He had never seen Evie Taylor take charge before. Of anything.

He nodded, ran back up the stairs, and she followed right behind him.

It didn’t take long, after a brief phone conversation with the police, for blue and red whirling lights to appear through the windows. Two officers in black uniforms came into the house and two others started a search of the surrounding woods. Cal answered all the questions posed to him with the same answer.

“Do you know where your stepfather might have gone?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know how long he has been missing?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know of anyone that may have wanted to harm him?”

“No, sir.”

Two hours after the call had been made to authorities, a young deputy crashed through the front door. “We found him.”

Cal’s heart stopped beating and he slowly turned to face the door.

The older detective sitting at the kitchen table stood. “Where? What happened?”

“At the bottom of a ravine. My guess? He was mauled by a bear.”

Without thought, Cal let out a moan of relief, but it was covered up by his mother’s scream. The policemen conferred privately for a few more minutes and then asked if there was anyone they could call.

Cal shook his head.

“The coroner is on his way. We’ll take care of everything else from outside. My condolences to you, son.”

“Thank you.”

After the door closed behind them, Cal went to his mother and pushed the hair from her face. He looked into her eyes, surprised to find them bone dry. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“Do you want me to go get Lan?”

She shook her head. “I’m going to Grandma’s for the night.” Her eyes glanced toward the back bedroom. “I can’t stay here.”

He nodded. “All right, go. I’ll take care of everything.”

“You aren’t coming with me?”

“No, I… I’ve got to be somewhere.”

She gave him a curious look. “Landon said you’ve been staying with a new friend. A girlfriend?”

He paused. “Yeah.”

“I’d like to meet her sometime.” She pulled his face down and kissed him on the mouth. “Do what you have to do. I’ll make the arrangements for the funeral.”

“All right. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She nodded and walked out the door. She didn’t even pack a bag. She just left.

After cleaning up the bedroom as best he could, he left the house to make his way back to the clearing. For the first time, he carried a heavy heart. The stark differences between him and Stassi weighed on him.

My God, she took a human life with no more compunction than in killing a Fallen.

He wasn’t sure if he could ever erase that bloody image of her from his mind.

The air suddenly turned warm and he realized he had already passed through the veil. He wasn’t surprised to find Stassi there waiting for him. Her eyes were full of excitement as she ran to him. “I did it, Cal! I crossed over into your world!”

“Yeah, I noticed,” he said dryly. “How did you do it?”

She held up the clump of his hair that she had picked off his shoulder the previous evening. “Just like with the feather, I can cross over if I have a part of you!”

He wasn’t sure what he thought of that. The Faedin didn’t belong in his world. And he was starting to think that he might not belong in theirs.

She noticed that he did not smile or share in her excitement. “What is wrong, Cal? Are you all right? I tried to wake you before I left your home, but you would not come to. I was very worried.”

“You shouldn’t have come to my house, Stassi.”

Her smile waned. “Why?”

“You killed my stepfather!”

“Of course I did!” she admitted forcefully. “He was a Fallen! He preyed on innocents and had to be destroyed.”

“No, Stassi, he wasn’t a Fallen. He was a man.”

Her amber eyes glinted dangerously. “You are right, he was not a Fallen. He was worse! A Fallen has no choice in the evil acts they commit. Your stepfather did!”

“You murder on a regular basis, Stassi! You can’t do that in the human world.”

“If I were more human,” she retorted, “you would be dead right now.”

Cal started to back away from her with his head in his hands. “The blood. The ravine. I can’t do this right now! I just can’t.”

“What are you saying? Where are you going?”

“Home,” he said and ran from her. “My real home!”

Stassi watched Cal go with a hollow ache filling her chest, making it difficult to take a deep breath. She longed to call him back, to beg him to understand, but she said nothing. The disappointment in his eyes had been too great. Too resolute. She had unknowingly broken a rule very dear to him.

But which one?

She had saved his life — the one he claimed was so precious to him — and would do so again without hesitation.

But at what cost?

Their differences suddenly felt insurmountable, and she had a terrible feeling that he might never return.
He likes me, but he still does not feel at home here. I’ll never have him as mine.

Her heart sank when he finally disappeared from view.

Perhaps her sire and Gilad had been right. Maybe she and Cal were not meant to be.

But if that were so, why then did the thought of never seeing him again make her feel like she was dying?

T
wo days after Christmas, Cal stood with his mother and Landon at the front of the local church to shake hands and murmur thanks to the few mourners who came through the receiving line. Mostly, they were members of Ross’s extended family and the rest were people he had worked with.

The service had been short — the comments even shorter.
My condolences. What a shame. He’s better off now.

All well meaning, but empty.

Cal supposed he should feel relief that his abuser was dead, but all he really felt was uncertainty. Would his mother be able to keep the house? Could Cal step up to be a good father figure for Landon? How would all these changes affect his commitment to the Faedin? And the most important of all. Did he even want to go back? He had struggled with that particular question for days now and still had no answer.