The Mark of Cain (24 page)

“Promise,” he answered with a smile.

***

“So everybody’s sure that they have everything?”
Inac asked a few weeks later, his serious expression mostly masked by the dark
night.

Hara looked around the sleepy group all still in
their pajamas for the fifteen hour drive. Too tired to say anything, everybody
just nodded. Crystal was leaning against her boyfriend, Shinji—although he went
by Ji because he thought Shinji was too formal—while he attempted to rub sleep
from his tilted eyes with a fist. Tracker just looked grumpy—he never had been
a morning person unless he happened to still be awake from the night before.

“Then let’s get going. We have a long drive ahead of
us,” he said as he opened the front passenger door of the black SUV for Hara.
He was the only one dressed for the day in his usual T-shirt and jeans.

It was so early in the morning—two A.M., to be
exact—that everyone but Inac and Hara basically shuffled to their places in the
car. Hara wasn’t tired; she was too excited to be going on a trip. She had
almost a month off school so they were going to Yellowstone for two whole
weeks—Inac had said that if they were going to drive that far, they may as well
make the most of it.

They had barely all met here at Crystal and Hara’s
twenty minutes ago, but she was already getting antsy. Lucky for her, when Inac
had arrived, he’d already had everything they would need—other than their
personal items—packed and ready to go, so they didn’t have to wait too long. He
had even purchased a black shell storage thingy that he’d attached to the roof.

Once they were belted into the comfortable, dark
leather seats—Tracker was in one of the center bucket seats, Crystal and Ji
were cuddling on the back bench, and Hara in front next to Inac—Inac started
the car.

Hara waited until they were on the freeway and she
could hear Tracker’s light snores before saying, “I’m so excited for this trip!
We really need some time together.” They hadn’t had a moment alone together
since the morning after she’d almost been raped and had fallen asleep at his
house
forever
ago. Their relationship had just begun at an inconvenient
time with finals coming up.

Not that she hadn’t
seen
Inac—she’d seen him
plenty—it was just that he was always quizzing their study group. They had
barely kissed or cuddled at all recently, and she really missed it.

“I hear that,” he answered as he smiled sideways at
her, the lights of the freeway brightening his features every few moments. “I
just want to hold you in my arms. I can’t wait for bed tonight. This will be a
trip of firsts for us.”

Her heart stopped…well, it
felt
like it did.
When it began beating again, it was doing so faster than any rock and roll song
Inac had introduced her to in the past few weeks.

“Inac…you know we won’t be going
there
,
right?” she asked, her face hot and full of pressure.

He laughed, making her feel slightly foolish.
“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what
did
you mean?”

“I meant that it will be our first vacation
together. Our first time sleeping in the same sleeping bag. Your first time
camping. Your first time wearing jeans and a bathing suit….”

Inac had shown up two days ago with a stack of tees,
tank tops, swimming suits, shorts, and jeans for the trip, as well as hiking
shoes he’d forced her to wear ever since so she could break them in. It was
just another way he kept proving how thoughtful he was.

“I guess that does make it a trip of firsts,” she
responded with a smile of her own.

He moved a hand across the space between them and
took hers, smiling sideways at her. Now content as the excitement waned enough
for her to relax, she held on to it until the steady rhythm of the highway
lulled her to sleep.

***

Inac had been driving for ten hours straight. He
didn’t mind doing so—when you’ll live forever, you learn to have patience—but
his passengers all seemed to be getting crabby. At least everyone but Hara. She
was sitting next to him, happily munching away on peanut butter cookies she’d
baked for them last night.

“Let’s play a game,” she said, tossing her hair
back.

“Like what? We’ve found the alphabet at least ten
times already on everyone’s license plates,” Tracker grumbled. Inac knew he
hadn’t wanted to come but, since making their deal, he hadn’t let Inac have a
moment alone with Hara. It was getting quite irksome.

“Let’s play ‘I never,’” Hara suggested.

“What’s that?” Inac asked.

“Well,” she said, biting her lip in a way that made
him want to do the same to that very same inch of her. “Each person says
something they’ve never done. If you’ve done it, then you have to fess up. It’s
a fun way to get to know each other.”

“Okay,” everyone reluctantly agreed; it was
difficult to say no to Hara. Besides, at least it would keep them occupied.

“I’ll start,” Hara chirped. “I’ve never…hmm…I’ve
never said a curse word.”

Everyone fessed up. Not a one of them hadn’t. And
Inac, well, he usually had quite the mouth. It was difficult not swearing
around Hara, but it had to be a part of the character he played if he was to
get her.

“Okay Crystal, your turn,” Hara said.

“I’ve never been married.”

Inac chuckled. “Guess you’ve got me there.”

“That means you’re it,” Hara explained.

“Okay. I’ve never dyed my hair.”

“You mean you’ve had hair?” Ji joked. Inac hadn’t
known him long, but he already liked the skinny little Asian kid.

“My hair’s actually quite thick. I’ve even had
dreadlocks that went midway down my back.”

Everyone but Tracker got a good laugh at the picture
that surfaced before Ji and Crystal both fessed. Since Crystal had already had
a turn, it was Ji who went next.

“I’ve never been in love with somebody I could never
have,” he said.

Nobody owned up to that, though Inac expected
Tracker to. Apparently, so did Ji. Inac could hear him kick the back of
Tracker’s seat as he said, “Fess up, Track!”

Hara turned in her chair, her brow furrowed. “What?
Who? And how come I don’t know this?”

Inac glanced at Tracker in the rearview mirror. His
face was a deep crimson. Everybody but Hara knew how in love Tracker was with
her.

“It’s nobody,” he whispered.

“Oh my goodness! Who?!” Hara was obviously delighted
with the new information.

“It doesn’t matter because I don’t have a chance.”
Probably to save himself from more humiliation, he said, “I’ve never killed a
man.”

Inac tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
Technically, Tracker had just broken the deal. He probably didn’t realize it,
though. If he did, then Inac would have to burn down the Vatican—something he
really didn’t feel like doing. He had seen too much death and destruction in
his years. However, he couldn’t go back on his word or he’d lose the control he
had over The Order. As it was, They were too scared of him to rally up an army
to defeat him.

Hara’s trilling laughter brought him out of his
reverie. “Nobody here has killed anyone. Do another. And this time, make it
something one of us probably
has
done.”

“Are you sure none of us have killed a person?”
Tracker asked.

“Of course! Who would have?”

Inac watched Tracker in the mirror—who was nodding
toward him with his head—leaving Inac to contemplate how he could kill
him
.
Out of the corner of his eye, Inac saw the moment that Hara understood where
Tracker was going with this.

She chuckled again. “Nuh-uh. Inac’s never killed
anyone. Have you?” she asked, turning to him. “Just because he looks kinda
scary doesn’t mean that he is.”

He just glanced sideways at her, unable to keep how
annoyed he was off his face. As he did, her already alabaster skin lost its
color until her usually pink cheeks were as pale as the rest of her.

“Inac?” she asked, a touch of horror in her tone.
“Please tell me it isn’t true?”

“Do you want me to lie?”

“But…but
why
?” she said, her unusual eyes
filling up with tears.

“War makes you do things you don’t want to do. When
it’s kill or be killed…” he said, swallowing. For some reason, it was really
bothering him just now. He could see each and every face of anyone he’d ever
killed. There was a sea of them pounding against the rocks in his head.
Crashing farther and farther up into his psyche. This character he was playing
was really beginning to get to him.

He felt a light touch on his knee. It was nice. It
helped the waves recede back into the black abyss he stored them in.

When he felt only the light ripple of them in his
mind, he glanced at Hara, who was now crying for him. He didn’t need or want
her pity but, the fact that she was crying for him was like sunshine lighting
up all his deep crevices.

“Inac…I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Hara said quietly
enough that he doubted anyone else could hear.

“It’s okay. It just gets to me sometimes.” Which was
true…since he’d met her, anyway. He actually felt
guilty
right now.
Maybe that was just because he was finally sane…for the most part, anyway.

The light mood was now gone as everyone sat silent
in their thoughts. He just hoped that they could all snap out of their somber
moods before they made it to their destination.

At least he wouldn’t have to murder the pope today.
Again, Tracker’s plan to undermine him had only brought Hara closer to the
moment when she would give herself wholly to Inac.

The idea brought a smile to his face and he felt
much more like himself. This trip was going to be exactly what he needed. Who
knew, maybe Hara would be dead by next week and he would be able to move on
with his life. And then, the moment her perfect presence was out of his life,
his guilt would evaporate like the water inside a burning heretic.

***

Hara sat down on the thick log perched by the fire
pit, setting herself next to Inac. Closing her eyes against the bright setting
sun, she took a deep whiff of the massive pine trees mixed with burning wood.
The fire he had built was now, according to him, perfect for them to cook their
dinners in. To her, it just looked like coals. But if he called that a fire,
then she wasn’t going to question it.

“Are you sure this will cook the food?” she asked as
she handed him the pile of tinfoil-covered mounds of food. Inside each one,
Inac had instructed her and the others to put baby carrots, onions, cut up
potatoes, and ground beef, as well as a bunch of seasonings she didn’t
recognize, mainly because they were fresh instead of coming from a spice rack. After
all, those were dried and had neat little labels on them. Still, even with
fresh spices, the food really didn’t sound that appetizing.

“I’m sure. I’ve made these a million times,” he said
as he set each one in a different part of the “fire.” He’d been like
this—distant—ever since Tracker had brought up that Inac had taken a life. He
didn’t seem angry, though, just thoughtful.

As soon as they’d made it to their campground
situated in the middle of the large, dense forest, he’d started making camp
without saying a word. After erecting three tents—one for Ji and Crystal, one
for their food, and one for him, Hara, and Track—he’d then put everything in
its place before finding wood and making the fire. Everyone else had offered to
help so much that he’d finally given in and had let them make dinner—something
that they couldn’t “mess up.”

He touched her knee and gave her a smile. “I see you
changed out of your pajamas and into jeans,” he said.

“Yup. I changed as soon as our tent was finished.
You were just too busy to notice.”

“Well, none of you have ever been camping before….”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t help. You don’t have to do
everything yourself.”

He pulled her into his arms until she was sitting
sideways on his lap and looking into his eyes. “Sorry. My head’s just been
cluttered today, and doing things by myself tends to help clear it.”

“Are you okay?” she asked with concern, lightly
putting a hand on his chest and looking up at him. The way the evening sun lit
up his face while leaving other parts of it in shadow made him hauntingly
beautiful.

Marring the picture, he gave her a small peck on the
lips before saying, “I am now.”

She smiled. “Good.”

“Where’s Tracker?” he asked, looking around their
camp.

“He went to use the restroom with Ji and Crystal.”
The campground had toilets and showers down the road a ways; probably Inac’s
way of slowly introducing the non-campers to the great outdoors. She was sure
that, had he been alone, Inac probably would have been roughing it…whatever
that
meant.