Shadows Fall (38 page)

Miraculously, his hands stilled. “What?” David asked, cocking his head as if he was studying a butterfly he’d just pinned to a board.

“Those five. Why did you pick them?”

He shrugged a bony shoulder, stood up and began to pace. “They were unnatural. And the advancements that the lab wants to make out of these studies they’re involved in…well they’re against God.”

David paused, then began to mutter, somewhat to himself. “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ‘Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them…’” He trailed off, stopped pacing, and turned to stare at me, eyes flashing with a gleam that only came from insanity.

“They never should have survived the womb, these people. Two beings existing in one body…it’s wrong,” he said, clearly feeling the strength of his convictions.

I knew little of the Bible, but I’d never heard of anything like this. “So you killed them?”

David whirled on me. He seemed to be putting in an effort to look menacing, but I had no idea why. I was paralyzed, tied up, and poised over buckets meant to catch my blood. I was completely at his mercy.

“I
saved
them! I set them free…”

He trailed off, pacing away from me and then back again. His eyes took on a glazed quality that looked so eerie in the low light that I got chills. Or at least, I got what felt like chills psychosomatically, since I was fairly sure someone with paralyzed muscles couldn’t shiver.

“I am an angel of the Lord. They are a plague and I am the remedy.”

Oh boy
. The man was certifiable, with nonsensical righteousness of fanatical religion fueling his fire. Maybe I could use that, though. If I could encourage his ranting, then I could hold out for…something, anything. “So that SevenTek Laboratories card that Brandon had, that’s the lab you were talking about? That’s how you found them?”

David nodded, a sickeningly fond smile stretching his lips. “It’s one of the labs I float to. My father is one of the principle investors, so he was probably instrumental in getting me the job. But I’m trying to keep my head down and do a good job, so I’ll be remembered on my own merit.”

I nearly choked at that statement. “
This
is…keeping your head down? Murdering people?”
Shut up, shut up, shut
up
, Titus,
I repeated inside my damn fool head. I was too argumentative for my own good. It was survival 101, be agreeable with your captor, never antagonize. Yet what did I do? “I don’t understand.”

“Of
course
you don’t. You are as unnatural as they. With your so-called ability. You call it psychic ability, but I call it devilry,” he said, and immediately launched into more mumbling of scripture.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. “And of course, there’s your perversion to take into account,” he said more loudly, with a chilling sneer.

“My
perversion
?” My voice was getting weaker. My chest felt heavier in its motion of rising and falling. I wondered if I was going to die before he ever cut me. “You don’t know me! That shit Karen said was just about teasing Ch—uh, Detective Hale. It’s their thing.” I hated myself for denying who I was, something I’d never done, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe. This was life or death.

David chuckled, running his fingers over the instruments on his stool. “Do you really think that I’d have gotten this far without researching my quarry ad nauseam? I’ve watched you, Titus. I know you’re screwing the cop, as I know there’s more to this ‘psychic’ nonsense than either of you are letting on.”

I couldn’t stop the tears that clogged my voice. I didn’t want to die at the hands of some lunatic religious fanatic. “We weren’t hurting anybody! I haven’t. Hurt anybody. I’ve always just kept to myself.”

Leaning over me until we were nose to nose, David spat his words at me—words that may as well have been a noose around my neck or a blade to my skin. “You’re hurting
God
.

“‘If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.’ That’s straight from Leviticus, twenty-thirteen, you know,” he said.

Hell of a time for Sunday school
, I thought.

“And besides, what Dr. Johanssen said about your eyes…you’re probably one of
them
, you’ve just never had a reason to get anything tested. I’ll be killing two birds with one stone.”

I was openly crying now. My face was too numb to feel the tears sliding down but I could feel the heat of them, and then the cold as the damp air gusted across my wet skin. It had just hit home that no one, not a single person, knew where I was. If I was lucky, Charlie would find it odd that I never showed up at his place. Even if he did, he’d have no idea something was wrong, or where to begin looking. I was dying down here. Whether we were in a storm drain, a sewer pipe, or a fucking mine shaft, I was going to die. I’d never see daylight again.

“Please,” I begged weakly. “Please don’t do this. I…I don’t want to die. I know what happens to the dead. I’m not ready.”

He glared at me, obviously not liking being reminded of my supernatural abilities. “Really? Why not? Do you have a family? Loved ones? People who will miss you?”

My life really did flash before my eyes. I pictured my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, whom I’d left behind in the
kumpania
. I pictured Hester—the jury was still out on how she felt about me—and I pictured Charlie. Strong, kind-eyed Charlie, who’d help me if he could, but was he a loved one? Would he miss me? “I…I don’t know. Maybe not. But I’d like to, some day,” I said between sobs. “I…I’m not done yet.”

David’s giddy laugh bounced off the walls of the tunnel, so incongruent with the dire situation. “Oh, you
are
done. You shouldn’t have ever existed.”

Pain lanced through me, bright and sharp as he made his first cut along the underside of my forearm, and I hadn’t even seen him move. I bit back a scream, knowing that would only agitate him more or, on the off chance that he got off on my screams, I didn’t want to give him that.

With surgical precision, he made an identical cut on my other arm. I strained until my eyes ached, and I could just barely see the dark red blood seeping from the clean cuts. How long would it take me to bleed out if he hadn’t hit a major artery? I closed my eyes, no longer willing to watch.

“
Please
,” I begged again. “If you walk away now, I’ll disappear. I’ll go away and the police will never find me. You can get away. Please, just don’t kill me.”

David let out a sort of growl, then leaned over me and stuffed a rag in my mouth. There’d be no more talking for me, but he still had plenty to say.

“And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

“Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

“Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” His eyes drifted, unfocused, as if he were speaking to some unseen angel…or demon.

“Tempt me all you want, but I’ll not falter in my mission. I’ll rid the world of this scourge and take my place in the Kingdom of Heaven. They’ll thank me. They’ll praise me, when they learn what I’ve done for him. I’m ridding the world of unnatural beasts, saving us from a fate of an army of genetically engineered, mindless heathens, and aberrant hybrid creatures.

“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds,” he whispered.

“It is written.” As he started cutting along my calves, I raised my eyes and floated outside myself. I pretended I could see the world going on with its day, just above our heads. Even though it was the middle of the night, it was daytime in my fantasy. I imagined Charlie going to work with Sonny and Karen. I pictured Riot and Chelsea and the gang at Uptown. I even saw Hester driving her rickety truck with the state-of-the-art Airstream behind it.

My heart broke for the things I’d miss, for the people I’d leave behind. My strange little crowd really
was
a family, only I couldn’t tell David that anymore. I’d been effectively silenced, sliced, and bled. Knowing I’d soon join my
other
strange little crowd, with a heavy, constricted heart, I lay there and waited for death.

Chapter Twenty-seven

“Damn it, he’s not picking up!” Charlie slammed his phone down on the kitchen counter and whirled around to pace.

“Relax, man,” Sonny said, giving him a funny look—something akin to what he would give a potential jumper on a ledge. “He’s probably just busy at work. We’ve got bigger problems right now. There’s a fucking snake in our grass. You need to call Karen.”

“I’m afraid our problem might be his problem,” Charlie muttered.

He shoved his apprehension about Titus aside and picked the phone back up to call Karen. She answered on the fourth ring.

“This better be good, Hale.”

“Karen, thank god,” he breathed, relieved. “Are you still at the lab?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Is David there?”

“No, he left a little while ago. What’s going on? Why do you need to know about David.”

“I don’t have time to go into detail. I want you to wrap up what you’re doing and go home. Wait until you hear from me before you go anywhere.”

“But Charlie, that’s—”

He cut off the inevitable protest. “And when you ignore me and keep working, like I know you will, I need you to text me as soon as David comes back in. That’s non-negotiable, Karen. Don’t say anything to him, just text me and wait for me to get there.”

“Did David do—”

Again, Charlie cut her off. Now that he knew she was safe and didn’t have a line on David, he was back to worrying about Titus. “I don’t have
time
, Karen. It’s just a theory at this point, but David may be involved in the Slayer case. Just stay out of his way and text me when you see him.”

Hanging up on her protests, Charlie dialed Uptown Java. As he knew he would, he got the nighttime answering machine, as the shop was already closed. He tried Titus’s cell again, and then his house. Nothing.
Fuck
. “Where the hell are you, Titus?”

A firm hand gripped his shoulder, and Sonny turned Charlie to face him. “Hale. What is going on with you? How do you know there’s even a problem with your friend?”

Charlie felt his face heat and knew he was blushing furiously, but it wasn’t the time to quibble over who knew he was gay and who didn’t. “Because he…he was going to come over here after work. He should’ve been here by now.”

Sonny’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, but he made no comment. Charlie couldn’t be sure if he made the connection or not, and he couldn’t bring himself to care. “David saw Titus at the morgue when I brought him. What if he bought into the whole psychic thing? What if he went after Titus?”

“That’d be a hell of a coincidence, yeah?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was a quick save to his perfectly laid plans. Maybe he didn’t count on a ‘special consultant.’ Look, do me a favor and call dispatch and have them put a BOLO out on David’s car. We need to keep an eye on him until we’re able to talk to Jade Huneycutt’s parents and get proof of SevenTek’s involvement.”

“On it. What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to track down goddamn Titus.” Scrolling through his phone, Charlie pulled up Riot’s number and hit send. After six rings, he was about to give up when he heard a click and a gruff “hello.”

“Riot? This is Charlie Hale.”

“Who? Oh, hottie cop, right?”

“Yeah, sure, not like you didn’t just see me this morning.” Casting a nervous glance at Sonny, Charlie was relieved to see that he’d walked out on the balcony and was probably out of earshot. “Look, have you seen Titus tonight?”

A bag rattled in the phone, and Charlie heard crunching. Jesus, the guy was always eating. “Thought he was supposed to be with you.”

“He was. He never showed up, and he’s not answering his phone,” Charlie snapped, his voice laced with impatience. “That’s why I called you. Have you heard from him?”

More attentive than he had been at first, Riot answered quickly. “No. I haven’t talked to him since you left this morning. Is…is something wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I need you to help me find him. I have no reasonable proof that anything’s happened to him, but I have a bad feeling. Just help me, okay?”