Infinite Risk (30 page)

“I'm more concerned about him,” he muttered.

“Huh?”

“You have this alluring, unattainable quality.” He struggled for words, like he couldn't figure out how to articulate it without pissing me off. Finally, he settled on, “Even when you say,
I'm leaving soon
, you make people want to be the one who can make you stay.”

People? You mean
you
?
I fought the urge to ask. There was zero chance of a happy ending between Kian and me, so I had to keep him at arm's length.

“You can't
make
someone stay,” I said softly. “They have to want that.”

He let out a slow breath, clearly conflicted. “And maybe I shouldn't admit this, but it bothers me that you invited him over so easy after you told me no. Twice, actually. We're supposed to be best friends, but—”

“Whoa, hold up. My circumstances have changed. Colin doesn't live there anymore.” Not that he ever did—with
me
anyway.

“Oh, you kept the apartment? I'm glad. Your room was so shitty.”

I ignored his commentary about the Baltimore. “So if you want to come over, it's fine. The main reason I hesitated the other night is because I didn't want to give Vonna any reason to distrust you when you're just starting out.”

“Oh, shit.” It seemed like Kian hadn't even thought of that. “I'm pretty new to this stuff. Maybe I should talk to her before we make plans?”

“If it was me, even if there was nothing to worry about, I'd still want to be kept in the loop. It's respectful. Not like you're asking permission, more that you care about her feelings.”

Kian smiled, the shadows fading from his gaze. “I feel like you're tutoring me in how to be a decent boyfriend.”

“Vonna will handle the advanced classes.”

After that, I went home to find two messages on the anime board—from myself. That was pretty trippy, but I still read them eagerly. I continued the conversation about One Piece and then skimmed what she'd said about the school issue.

God, it's odd referring to myself in the third person.

Per the timestamp, she'd written this one first, so it had a more formal tone than our mutual squeeing in the anime thread.
Hi TimeWitch. (Cool handle btw. Which show is that from? I'll check it out.) Basically there's no point in telling my parents anything. They never listen to a word I say. They nod along and then tell some story from childhood that has nothing to do with anything. It's hopeless. Maybe college will be better.

I could tell that young me was purposely trying to sound older. Smiling, I typed,
Then make them take you seriously. If they respond to facts, compile some. Also, parents love deals. Tell them you'll do one year at your current school to make them happy, but if you're still miserable at the end, then they make
you
happy by sending you somewhere else. P.S. Have viable alternatives lined up, as it's always easier to sell a concrete plan. Good luck!

That was more than enough. If she couldn't get out of Blackbriar with the suggestions I'd provided, then I'd be disappointed in myself. To keep from looking like a potential stalker, I posted in a few other random threads, ones that hadn't been started by NamiNerd. Afterward, I clicked over to a few sites that Ryu and Vi had mentioned frequenting in their misspent youths, but I didn't know their usernames. Probably just as well, I shouldn't muck around in their timelines. They might both be better off not meeting me.

Around nine, my intercom went off. Since nobody but the Harbinger knew where I lived, my heart quivered to life.
He wouldn't come back this way. Not his style. He loves big entrances and pageantry.
There was no way he'd just come home and ring the bell.

Heh. Home.

Yet I still rushed to the panel and pressed the talk button. “Yeah?”

“It's me. Can I come up?”

Oh.

Selena's voice shouldn't disappoint me this much. I buzzed to open the front door. “You know what floor I'm on?”

“Of course.”

I opened the door when I heard her footsteps in the hall. “Welcome, I guess.”

As usual, she was Goth-punk fabulous. She surveyed the room before taking a seat on the sofa. “I want to talk logistics.”

“About?”

“Our hunt. The way you reacted to me shadowing you says you're not a victim, plus that glowing sword of yours? I'm
dying
to see it in action. You can't be willing to let the bag man set the rules of engagement.” She sounded more like a teen girl talking about the newest cell phone than an ancient, immortal being.

I considered. “Makes sense. And no, I don't really want to fight on his turf and terms.”

“You've got good instincts. Back in the day, you could've been one of my acolytes.”

“Pass,” I said.

Seeming offended, Selena got up and went to rummage in my fridge, returning with a bottle of mineral water. “That wasn't on offer.”

Something about her manner seemed familiar. “Wait, do you know Allison?”

“Who?” A blank look met mine as she cracked open her drink.

“Lilith. I bet you'd know her as Lilith.”

“Shit, yes. We're hunting buddies. Or … we used to be anyway.”

“Huh. Small world,” I muttered. “Did you fight or something?”

“She took to prowling for easy meat in schools, and that's so not my scene. It's hardly sporting to take down prey that's constantly in a hormonal state of flux that equates to a lapse in faculties. Like fish in a barrel, you know.”

“You think teenagers are mentally impaired?” Since I didn't want Selena hunting with Allison, I decided to leave it that.
Better not to argue sometimes.

“Aren't they? Anyway, back to the bag man. I propose using you as bait. You wander around, somewhere that we've scouted. I'll hold far enough away that he doesn't sense me. Then when he thinks you're helpless, we spring our trap and glorious combat ensues.”

“I like the idea of turning the tables, but won't he wonder why you're suddenly not guarding me anymore?”

Selena tapped a long black nail against her white teeth. “Good point. Maybe Big Bro could let slip about my ‘new top secret orders' to interested parties?”

“Are we seriously using gossip against immortal entities?”

She grinned. “We come from humans after all. So … duh.”

“This is a separate issue, but…” I hesitated, wondering how far I could trust her. Buzzkill helped me, until Wedderburn ordered him not to. Selena was probably loyal to Dwyer, who might or might not be her brother. “What do you plan to tell him about my sword?”

“The feeling I get from it, I'd sound crazy if I tried to explain it to him. So I intend to take credit for any of our victories. Got a problem with that?” She chugged the rest of her fizzy water and let out a burp that could've leveled a small town, then giggled. “Damn, that's fun. Only reason I ever drink anything.”

Whoa.

With some effort, I directed the conversation away from her gaseous hobby. “I don't, actually. For me, that's a best case scenario. Don't worry, I won't be around long enough to cause trouble for you.”

“Trouble? I thrive on it, so that's the last thing you should worry about. But I'm suddenly fascinated by where you might go that one of us couldn't find you.”

“No comment,” I said.

“As long as you make it possible for Big Bro to win this round, it's fine by me. He's betting heavily on you, by the way. It's been like a hundred years or something since he beat the winter whatsit.”

“A round is a hundred years?” I asked, astonished.

“No, dummy. But he's lost the last ten. Forfeited somewhere in there because of a big fire, no, that was more than ten rounds ago … maybe it was an earthquake? Regardless, he's so thrilled that you have his opponent this agitated.”

“It's a gift.”

But her careless words put into perspective what I was up against, the scale of what these creatures had seen and the span of time they planned over. To Wedderburn, I must feel like a bug on his windshield that just wouldn't die. It was … staggering. Selena talked a little more in a disjointed fashion, and then she sprawled on my couch.

“Um. I'm going to bed soon.”

“Go ahead. I think I'll stay here for a while. Safer for you, cozy for me.” The concept of privacy or personal space seemed alien to these creatures, and I couldn't piss her off when she was keeping a dangerous secret for me.

Great, looks like I have a roomie.
Kian would be hurt if I told him not to come over again, so maybe I could get her to leave temporarily or explain her as my cousin.
Whatever
. I showered, put on sweats in the bathroom, and pulled down my bed to the soothing sounds of a chain saw on the TV. Selena seemed to thrive on the screaming and the blood spatter, which explained why she'd been good hunting buddies with Allison. It would have been normal for me to struggle to fall asleep, but in a weird way, her presence was comforting.

For the first time in a while, I slept like a rock. When I woke up, she was curled up like a cat on my sofa, TV off. I skipped breakfast and quietly slipped out for school. I found Jake Overman waiting for me in a chauffeured car.
What the hell?

“What're you doing?”

More important, how did you find me?

He gazed up at the building with a curious expression. “I'm not actually here to see you.”

Ducking his head with a faint sigh, he explained. “I
own
this property. My dad makes me check in with the building manager every so often, and I don't have time after school, so—”

“That leaves early mornings. Got it. Also, holy shit, you own a building.”

“It's to build my portfolio and gain real experience handling assets,” he mumbled.

I gave him the best mock sympathy money couldn't buy. “Rich-people problems. It's so sad when all you want to do is kiss girls and play basketball, probably not in that order.”

“You're the only one who understands me.”

“It's not hard. Your subtext is written in crayon on big line paper.”

“Harsh. Listen, if you want to wait in the car for ten minutes, I'll take you to school with me after I talk to the manager.”

Pretending to shrug, I acted like it was no big deal to ride in a Rolls or whatever the hell this was. “Sure, if you want.”

Just then, Selena came running out with no shoes, her eyeliner smeared wildly. “How can you just leave without saying anything?”

She checked when she saw Jake, but his brows were already trying to climb his forehead to reach Mount Top of Head.
Awesome. My fake boyfriend thinks I have a real girlfriend.
And I was trying to simplify, not add drama. The silence was excruciating.

“I'll … let you guys talk,” he said finally.

 

ALL THE WRONG REASONS

As soon as Jake disappeared inside, I couldn't contain my laughter. “His expression was priceless. What did you want to talk about?”

“We didn't decide when we're scouting or the day of the hunt.” From her annoyed moue, I should've known that.

In my admittedly limited experience, Selena did have something of a one-track mind, so I wasn't surprised she thought this was urgent business. “Whenever. Just keep me posted.”

“Excellent. This hunt is in the bag.” She seemed really pleased with that pun.

So I chuckled, and she brightened up as she headed for the building. Jake came out a few minutes later, seeming relieved that the encounter wouldn't be repeated. He opened the back door for me, and we both slid in. Though this wasn't a stretch limo, there was a partition in back.

He lowered it partway to say, “School, please.”

“Right away, sir.”

No joke, it was all kinds of weird to hear a fortysomething guy address Jake like that. When the frosted Plexiglas went back up, I said, “So you're basically Lex Luthor, huh?”

“Why do I have to be a supervillain? Besides, I'd much rather talk about the girl whose heart you broke last night.”

“Pics, or it didn't happen.” I invoked the twenty-fourth rule of the Internet.

“I can't believe you're already cheating on me.” Jake let out a mournful sigh. “But you're wrong in your assessment of my subtext.”

“I am?”

“I'd rather be playing basketball and kissing people, not just girls.”

That surprised me, mostly that he was telling me out of the blue. In my experience, people needed to know you longer before opening up, but hell, we already shared a secret. So maybe this was a demonstration of trust?

He went on. “So you don't have to lie to me. That girl's clearly not your cousin. It's cool, I get where you're coming from. Plus, I'm aware that there are no family units in my building. Those are all studios, so you must be living with her, not your parents. Did they kick you out?”

Wow, he was ready to dive into my business. Sadly, it wasn't an outlandish assumption; too many parents reacted that way to learning their kid wasn't purely straight. I could probably use this to my advantage somehow, but since he was being so open on his end, I couldn't do it. Instead, I gave an honest response.

“I haven't seen my folks in a while,” I admitted. “But actually I'm the one renting the studio and she's staying with me, but not because we're together.”

“Sorry, I thought you were bi.” The unspoken
like me
hung between us, and his expression slid toward awkward chagrin. Jake seemed to realize he'd misunderstood and that there was no reason for him to have confessed out of solidarity.

I found myself saying, “To be honest, it hasn't been that long since I've been remotely datable for reasons I won't go into. Back in the day, my self-esteem was so low that I think I would've gone out with anyone who asked. I was basically that lonely.”