Heroes of Falledge Book One: Black Hellebore (15 page)

"Still a librarian?"

"Of course. She wouldn't be happy doing anything else." Julianna rocked their joined hands back and forth in between their chairs. "If you had to pick one job to do for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

He smiled. "Don't wanna argue with you so I'm not gonna answer that."

"What do you... oh." Her laugh came easily. "Black Hellebore. Vigilante."

Telling her would be stupid. Who other than Gavina would understand that he had superpowers? But he wanted her to know everything about him, his past, his present. Maybe even wanted her to have an active role in his future. Okay, more than maybe. Didn't she deserve to know the truth then?

Instead, they talked about fun times in high school, and Julianna filled him in on other students from their class. Some had stayed, but most had moved away. They talked until the radio at Julianna's side crackled. She was needed at the station. They kissed goodbye, just a quick peck, and a strange heaviness filled his chest at the sight of her walking away from him. His life was coming together in ways he had never thought possible. If this was a dream, he never wanted to wake up.

Chapter Twenty-Six

An hour or so later, the Black Hellebore zoomed up and down the streets. He made it a habit to stay toward the apartment, the only bad section in town, and tonight, he wasn't disappointed for that choice.

"This is crap. I want my money back."

"What are you talking about? This is quality stuff. You ain't getting a dime back."

"I said I want my money back!"

"Oh, lookie here, it's got a gun. So do I."

Nicholas' blood began to boil. Drugs. Aw, hell no.

He sauntered into the alley, and three guns pointed to him. Cheapskate, drug dealer, and drug dealer's backup.

Nicholas said not a word. He ripped the gun out of the closest guy's hand, either the dealer or his goon, and slammed it onto the top of the other's head.

A shot went off, and the cheapskate took off running. Nicholas cut him off. The guy skidded to a stop and whirled around. Nicholas picked him up and threw him. His body landed on top of the fallen guy.

One guy still stood. He stared Nicholas down, a gun in his steady hands.

Nicholas stalked toward him.

"Listen, buddy, we can cut you in. Say thirty?"

Nicholas didn't slow down.

"Okay, fifty-fifty. But that's it."

Nicholas was close enough to smell the stench of drugs on the guy. He lifted him by the throat. "I hate drug dealers," he hissed. He tightened his grip and dropped the guy on top of the others.

*****

Dinner the next night was just Nicholas and Julianna, since Ginny went out with one of her friends. After a warm greeting, Julianna withdrew into herself. Instead of asking her about it, he waited for her to talk. He didn't want to pry in case the source of her gloom involved something she couldn't discuss with him. He tried relating a silly story, but she didn't even crack a smile.

He focused on the spaghetti on his plate. She had made a delicious meat sauce, and he was famished.

"Nicholas..."

He brought his head up. It wasn't often that she called him that, and her serious tone worried him.

"I can't keep this a secret anymore." She held up her hands in a defensive position.

"Why not?"

"It's too much. Too many crimes, too many coincidences. You showing up at all the crime scenes--"

"I'm helping people. You believe me, don't you?"

"Some people might think you're causing the crimes so you can swoop in and save the day."

"What do you believe?"

Julianna stared at him, her brows furrowed, her fingers drumming, her lips a straight line. "You've changed, Nick."

"Of course I have, it's been ten years."

She shook her head, and some strands of hair came loose from her ponytail. "You've changed even more since you've come back."

"For better or worse?" He didn't want to admit it, but her opinion meant something to him. She meant something to him. To finally have her only to lose her, too... But did he really have her if she was already leaving him?

"You're hiding something from me. And if the only way to get to the truth is to bring you in, I'll do it." She stood.

"Sit," he growled.

She walked over to him.

"Some secrets are kept for a reason. To protect someone." He shoved another forkful into his mouth.

Julianna snorted.

"You used to be the ladylike one."

"Stop! I'm not Justina. She's dead. Let her go."

Nicholas stood, his appetite gone. He still couldn't completely give up Justina. Not yet. "Don't tell me what to do."

"Don't go out that door," she warned, holding up her cuffs.

"I'd like to see you try."

Her eyes narrowed, and she didn't back down. "Are you threatening me? Keep it up. I'll just add more charges against you."

He wanted to argue, to fight, but what was the use?

As if sensing his willingness to go with her, she grabbed his wrist but didn't cuff him. "Do you know you sent all three of them to the E.R.?"

No, he didn't, but he didn't feel sorry for what he had done.

*****

"The one guy has a brain bleed. You crushed another's throat. He might not be able to come off the ventilator," Julianna said. She desperately wanted Nick to explain his actions as an accident, or for him to claim an alibi. After all, she found no flower at the crime scene.

Nick shrugged.

"You don't care?" She ripped her hand away as if burned. "I tell you that you might have killed a guy, and you shrug?" A horrible thought occurred to her, and she backed away. "Nick, please tell me you never killed anyone before."

He stared at her, a pained expression on his face, guilt in his hazel eyes.

"You've killed someone?" It was barely a whisper. When he said nothing, she added, "Go on. Tell me about how it was necessary for you to survive." She held her chin high, barely able to look at him as disgust filled a pit in her stomach.

"Things aren't always cut and dry. There are a lot more colors than just black and white."

"You killed someone. You can't... I can't just let you get away with murder." With trembling hands, she cuffed him. "Let's go."

Nick Adams. Murderer. To think she had fallen for him. She didn't know him at all. Ten years certainly could change a person.

She guided him out the door. Before she ducked his head so he could climb into the back seat of her car, she looked at him. He stared straight ahead, resigned. She didn't recognize him.

A murderer.

"Who did you kill, Nick?" she asked, her voice frigid, as she slid behind the steering wheel. She jammed the key into the ignition, and the car roared to life.

He didn't answer.

"Was it the mob guy? His girlfriend?"

Still no answer.

"Someone at the lab? Did you destroy it to cover up your crime?"

She shuddered and floored it. A murderer sat in the back seat of her car. A murderer named Nicholas Adams.

The familiar drive seemed to take forever. Traffic was held up on Main Street, so Julianna cut across onto Sixth Street to Front Avenue. The back roads took them on a more circuitous route, but she wanted to get to the station as quickly as possible.

She couldn't hear him in the back seat, no squirming, no heavy breathing. He was too calm, too comfortable. It prickled at her insides. How could he feel no remorse for hurting and killing others? Who died and made him ruler of who lived and died?

Her breath hitched in her throat, and she couldn't breathe. A bitter cough cleared her throat. "Does it have something to do Justina?" She glanced in the rear view mirror in time to see him drop his head. His non-answer was no answer at all, and she had no idea if his silence was confirmation or merely a denial of response.

"Watch out."

His sudden speech drew her from her thoughts, and she jerked her head up to pay more attention to the road... a narrow dirt alley. They would arrive at the station soon. She saw nothing. What was he talking about?

Just then a dark shadow covered the car.

"What the hell was that?" She slammed on the brakes and stared at the sky. The sun shone brightly, no clouds in sight.

"I'm not sure."

"Stay here." She grabbed her gun and exited the car. The hair on the nape of her neck prickled as it always did whenever danger loomed around the corner.

A low groan sounded to her right, and she whirled around, her feet planted shoulder-width apart, her gun raised. Nothing there.

She lowered her arms and glanced up at the tall buildings beside them.

Something jumped from one to the other, something huge and furry.

"What the..." Her mind churned, recalling the reports of a huge cat. Could this be it?

Whatever it was turned in a circle before jumping down into the next alley over. Someone screamed.

She hopped back into the car and raced over to the alley. The huge animal blocked her sight, but she could hear feet pounding and cries for a Jimmy to run.

After she fired a shot into the ground as warning, the animal swiveled its head around to face her, then jumped over her car and ran away.

Julianna headed it off it in her car, forcing it to stay in the alleyways, away from people. It paused so suddenly she bumped it with her car. It lowered itself closer to the ground and leapt high enough to gain a rooftop again.

The chase resumed again, although this time, the creature led her. Julianna's gaze alternated between the road and the buildings as she floored it, struggling to keep the animal within sight. Whatever it was, it was fast, and she never got a good look at it. She caught glimpses as it moved at a furious speed, only seeing it as a blur as it jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"Um... Are you sure this is smart? Let's just go to the station."

She glanced at the rearview mirror for a second. "Don't tell me what to do," she parroted his words from earlier.

"Julianna..."

"Why, Nick? Do you know what that thing is?"

"No, but--"

"Shut up." She took a sharp turn onto Gamerson Road. She had thought it might be heading toward the foreclosures, but they were nowhere near them.

It didn't take long before they left Falledge behind, fulfilling her intention all along -- to get the thing away from her people. A large field of open meadows spanned around them, and the huge cat could no longer hide itself from them. Massive, it loomed the size of a tiger or lion at least. No, even bigger.

"Julianna..."

She ignored him. The cat whirled around, and she slammed on the brakes. It wasn't completely feline, but a monster. Rows of glittering teeth dripping with saliva. Huge, unblinking dark eyes. Its claws, so long and sharp, could rip open a person with one swipe. Its spiked tail waved about threateningly.

Following it had been stupid. Her gun would be useless against it. They needed stronger firepower. At least they knew, now, what they were up against.

"You're right," she admitted, "let's go."

It raised its paws and leapt toward them.

She put the car in reverse, but the cat monster was too fast. One of its claws slashed toward the car, the piercing screech of it scraping against the metal frame, terrifyingly loud.

"Where's the key to my cuffs?" Nicholas asked.

His voice wasn't filled with panic, as she knew hers would be. How could he be so calm?

She tried to turn the car around so she could go faster, but the monster attacked the car again. Its claw punctured a tire. Then, it leapt onto the front of the car, its weight causing the back end to tip up.

"The key!"

"In my purse." She threw it at him and grabbed her gun. She wasn't about to lie down and die.

"Can't find it."

"For the love of God!"

The cat climbed onto the roof, which sank in toward them. Glass from the shattered windows sprinkled on top of them as they tried to avoid the roof, now inches from the steering wheel.

Julianna glanced behind her to see if Nick was all right. He jerked his arms apart, and the metal chain between the cuffs snap.

She fired a few shots where she thought the monster was but heard no responding cry.

"We gotta get out of here," she said. Her voice was calmer than she thought it would sound.

Nick kicked his door once, twice. The third time, the ruined, mangled door flew from the side of the car. He jumped out. The cat growled, a nasty sound, and leapt off the car.

Julianna struggled against her door. Punching and kicking it did nothing. The amount of strength Nick must have to free himself...

Despite the crushed interior of the car, she managed to climb into the back seat and through Nick's opening. Somehow, Nick had landed on top of the cat, riding it like a bucking bronco. And bucking the cat was. It shook its head furiously, wiggling and shaking, leaping forward and back, trying its best to dislodge Nick.

They needed backup, and twenty minutes ago.

The sight of the ruined car filled her with fear. Her police radio had been busted. Her purse... where was her purse?

She spied it under the driver's seat. The thin shoulder strap snapped as she yanked on it. The purse wouldn't budge, caught on something.

The ground shook beneath her feet, and she turned around to see the cat bearing down on her. Nick pulled back on its ears, but it charged even faster.

She planted her feet and fired several shots. Most connected with its fur, but one ricocheted off its fangs back toward her. She dropped to the ground and rolled over to fire another shot as the cat jumped onto the car.

The car groaned, and the axles broke. The weight of the car now lay on her legs. She shrieked and cried out. Her gunshots had hit the monster, but it was unfazed. One small speck of red proved her aim had been true.

She dropped her worthless gun beside her.

Her legs -- the pain was immense. But pain was good. She'd feel more worried if she didn't feel them.

Nick had fallen from the cat's back when it leapt onto the car. Now the cat fixed its attention on him. She watched, horrified, as the cat jumped onto Nick, its teeth nearing his head, ready to bite it off.