Immortal Grave (18 page)

Paden wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in the direction Roland was leading. Ree’s head was still buzzing from all of the energy, but despair smacked into her at the thought of what she might have killed. Roland took them down the back streets of the scarier parts of the city, and Ree was forced to focus on their surroundings. The amount of hate and anger in that area was overwhelming to Ree while she was brimming with so much power. She squeezed Paden’s hand and tried to focus on him and her friends. Melanie’s anger hit her like shrapnel every time she thought of her friend, which made Ree do her utmost to block everything.

The group jumped over a small wall that surrounded an apartment complex and dodged into the parking lot of a doctor’s office. Roland pulled his cell phone out and quickly dialed a number.

“We need some help.” He paused for a minute and listened to the other end. “That would work. We’re at Dr. Paulsen’s office.” Roland paused again, the corners of his mouth lifting at something the other person said. “That’s the one. See you in a bit.”

“Who was that?” Ree moved closer to where Roland was crouched.

“Nick.” Roland looked down at the hole in her shirt. “Are you okay?”

Ree jerked her head in answer, not wanting to really talk about it.

“You scarred.” Roland hooked one finger in the hole on her shirt and peered closer. His worry hit Ree like a ton of bricks, and she realized he must’ve been working very hard to contain it. Unfortunately, she could also sense the overwhelming feeling of despair from Melanie and the ping of jealousy from Paden.

“I’m okay.” Ree looked Roland in the eyes. “I guess my human genes aren’t going to work exactly like all of yours.” Very gently, she moved his hand away from her abdomen. “So, why were you laughing?”

“Nick and I met here. Holy water and a cross was involved.”  Roland looked away from Ree and sat back on his heels. An amused grin pulled at his mouth. “I don’t think he will ever really like me, but I can’t say I blame him on that account.”

“Holy water, huh?” Ree couldn’t fight the smile that came with that thought.

“Yeah. Needless to say, we were both surprised. And wet.” Roland smiled at her, and Ree felt her stomach unclench a little. With time, she thought, they could be friends. Real friends, not the uneasy truce they seemed to be walking around.

It wasn’t long before Ree saw the flashing lights on top of the ambulance. The large vehicle rumbled into the small parking lot, turning so it could back up toward the building, not far from where her friends were sitting. The red-haired young man Ree had met the first night her group tracked Dark Ones popped out of the driver side. He walked to the back and opened the door before making a small bow in their direction.

“Your chariot awaits.” His voice was calm, an amused smile causing small wrinkly lines around his mouth and between his eyebrows.

“Thank you.” Ree stood up and smiled at the red-head.

“Are you okay?” Nick’s smile dropped and he pointed at her bloody shirt. “Or are you trying to make a statement?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Ree wished she could change the shirt, but at this point it didn’t really matter.

“Fashion continues to elude me.” Nick held his hand out to help her into the back of the ambulance. She didn’t need the help, but appreciated his offer. Once everyone was in, he closed the doors and the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot. There wasn’t a lot of room for everyone, so it wasn’t the most comfortable ride. Ree sat on a chair that was facing the back doors, while everyone else squeezed onto the tiny bench on one side, sat on the bed, or folded themselves into an uncomfortable space on the floor.

Roland sat on the floor next to Ree and held onto the black net that hung from the ceiling to the floor. He gave directions to Nick, and they barreled off through the city. When Nick turned onto a major interstate, Ree looked at Roland with curiosity.

“Just going a little further away. I don’t want to risk any of the closer spaces.” Roland stared out the front windshield, his eyebrows pulled together.

“Where is Sophie?” Nick asked.

Ree turned in her seat to look at Roland. Her heart clenched at the memory of holding Sophie’s dead body. Roland’s hands clenched convulsively on the black straps and his jaw flexed. Sophie had been his family for centuries. She had been his sister for far longer than Tria had been alive.

“She’s no longer with us.” Roland didn’t look at Nick, and his eyes stayed glued to the street.

“She’s gone?” Nick didn’t take his attention from the road, but Ree felt his shock and sadness.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” Nicks eyes flicked to Roland in the rearview mirror. “She will be missed.”

“Yes.” Roland swallowed. “She will be missed.”

The rest of the ride was quiet, except for the occasional direction that Roland gave to Nick. Eventually, the ambulance ended up on a long dirt road that dead-ended at a shack with an old pier. Nick opened the rear doors for them to exit and looked around at their surroundings.

“Will that ancient bucket get you to where you need to go?” His eyes lingered on the rusty old boat tied at the end of the pier.

“It’s much sounder than it looks.” Roland held his hand out to Nick, who shook it. “Thank you for saving our tails.”

“Happy to return the favor.” Nick smiled sadly at Roland. He waved a hand at the others before hopping back into the ambulance and heading down the old road.

“Are you sure, that thing isn’t going to sink?” Weylin looked down the pier and frowned. “Because, I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to make it very far.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to swim then.” Roland smiled at Weylin. He walked over to the time-worn shack and pulled some keys out of his pocket. The rusted old lock fought it, but eventually opened. Roland threw the doors open and stepped inside.

Everyone peered into the door, wondering what Roland was doing. There were boat parts, an old car, and weapons lining the walls. Somewhere just out of sight, soft sounds of scurrying critters had Ree wondering how long it had been since someone had visited this outpost. There wasn’t a floor, just hard-packed dirt and only a single light hanging from the ceiling.

“What was this used for?” Weylin looked around the room and grimaced.

“I believe it was a smugglers’ drop point. Why?” Roland dug through some boxes in the back.

“This place is as old as dirt!” Weylin pointed at the car. “That thing has to have been here for forty years or more.”

“Try sixty.” Roland stood up and tossed something to Weylin. “Seems like just yesterday.”

Weylin caught the small thing in his hands. “A starter?”

“Yeah. Check the box on the table. There should be a wrench in there that will work.” Roland dug through another box and came up with a small pouch.

“You mean we have to fix the boat before we can use it?” Weylin dug through the tools until he found what he was looking for.

“It’s not broken. It just needs a couple of parts.” Roland walked out of the building and headed for the boat.

“Isn’t that the definition of broken?” Melanie piped in from the back of the group.

“Not if the parts are missing on purpose.” Roland jumped into the boat and dropped to his knees near the console.

Ree looked down at the boat and felt herself frown. The leather seats looked much newer than she would have expected, and the console had shiny knobs and dials. Her eyes slid over the boat to rest on the covered motor. She watched as Paden walked over and unzipped the plastic cover to reveal a large gleaming motor.

“Now, that is a motor.” Paden whistled softly.

“The best I could find out here.” Roland looked at the motor with pride. “This boat has been my project for a few years now.”

“Nice.” Paden folded up the cover and stuck it in a cubbyhole. It didn’t take long for them to get the motor put back together. They were on their way not long after locking up the shed, and it only took a little longer to reach the island than it would have from the other landings.

When they neared the island, Ree watched as the shield shimmered for a moment before dropping away. There were no waiting gods Ree could see, but she felt their presence anyway. They were keeping their word and protecting the island, but not offering any other help or interference. It was all Ree could hope for.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ree trudged into her bedroom and threw her coat onto the chair.  She sat down on the bed, pulled her boots off, and peeled off her socks. It had been a long night and day. Standing up, she shed the rest of her clothes on the way to the shower and sighed as soon as she stepped into the warm spray of water. The water ran over her head and down her body, relaxing her shoulders and the pressure in her head. She knew it was a headache from stress, because her body wouldn’t be hurt by allergies or migraines. Grabbing the soap, she started to clean away the grime, but paused when her fingers hit the ridge of the scar on her stomach. She hadn’t really looked yet, but knew it had to be bad. It was almost three inches wide, a shiny ribbon of scar tissue. Reaching around behind her, she felt along her back for the scar she knew had to be there as well. When she found it, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was wider than the one on her stomach, but, thankfully, smooth and not puckered.

The sound of someone opening the door to her bedroom made her freeze. Carefully, she reached out with her power to see who had come in her room. Instead of relaxing, her heart thumped a little harder. Paden stopped outside of the bathroom and tapped on the door.

“Come in.” Ree swallowed and hoped he didn’t hear the slight squeak in her voice. She knew it was unlikely he missed it though, because she could hear him swallow before opening the door. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Paden didn’t say anything. He just walked in and closed the door behind him. She grabbed the shampoo and tried to work out the knots in her hair. She heard rustling from the other side of the shower door, but couldn’t see anything through the frosted glass. Closing her eyes, she ducked under the showerhead and tried to get all of the shampoo out of her hair. She was debating the merits of cutting her hair when she heard the door open.

“I thought maybe we would conserve water.” Her eyes opened wide and she looked up at Paden’s amused expression. He reached past her for the soap on the ledge above her head. Her heartbeat picked up as she watched him rub the soapy lather over his body.

“Hm.” Ree reached for the bottle of conditioner and tried to keep from knocking everything off the shelf in her nervousness. “Well, we might as well protect the planet in every way.”

“Right.” Stepping around her, Paden ducked under the water and rinsed the soap from his body. She watched as the soapy water ran down his chest. He peeked one eye open and chuckled. “Ree, you’re pouring conditioner on the floor.”

She looked down and realized that she was holding the bottle upside down. She snapped her mouth shut and cursed under her breath. Using her foot, she pushed the mess toward the drain. Paden slid an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. He pressed his chin to her shoulder and looked down at her stomach. With soft fingers, he traced the scar, making her stomach twitch. A warm glow grew from her center as she watched his hands trail over her skin.

“I’m so sorry, Ree.” His lips brushed against her temple as he leaned back and traced the scar next to her spine. “I should have stayed closer to you.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Pay. I should have been paying better attention.” The tips of his fingers felt electric, running over her skin. She turned around so that she was facing him and put her hands on his chest. The water from the shower trailed down his shoulders, over her hands and cascaded off of her arms. Very gently, he brushed the wet hair out of her face and tilted her face up so he could see her eyes.

“It won’t happen again.” Slowly, he brought his lips down to hers in a soft kiss. She twined her hands around his neck, melting against his body. It turned out to not be such a quick shower, and Ree was sure that they hadn’t conserved much water. However, it was the best shower she had ever experienced.

Later, they lay on her bed, their towels discarded on the floor. Ree propped her chin on his chest and looked up at Paden. He twirled some of her hair around his finger, a small smile playing along the edges of his content expression. She watched him, memorizing his face as if she didn’t already know it perfectly.  The sounds of the others moving around the house, mingled with the sounds of the wind outside, made things seem almost peaceful for a little while. Paden chuckled, making her chin bounce.

“What?” Ree wrinkled her nose.

“I can’t believe you didn’t kill me when I got in the shower.” He tugged gently on her hair. “I was a little nervous.”

“Well, I thought about it.” Ree narrowed her eyes at him.

“Oh yeah?” Paden’s grin grew even more.

“Yeah. But I figured that we were supposed to be saving the planet and all, so you had a good case.” Ree smiled.

“You know, I don’t think it worked out the way I planned.” Paden smirked.

“Are you sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure it worked out just the way you planned.” Ree looked around at the messy room pointedly. She still couldn’t control her power when she was with Paden.

He rolled her over, so he was leaning over her. “Well, maybe some of it worked out the way I planned.”

“And what was that?” Ree stared up at him, enjoying the way the low light from the table on her nightstand played on the planes of his face.

“Did you forget already?” Paden nuzzled her neck, trailing kisses along her collar bone.

“I might need a reminder.” Ree sucked in a breath as his hands slid over her body.

“Well, I might be able to help with that.”

The wave of alarm that washed through the house had Ree scrambling to sit up before someone pounded on her door. Paden didn’t ask any questions, just rolled off the bed and pulled his pants on.

“Ree!” Juliette’s voice was loud through the door.

“I’m coming! Hold on!” Paden threw her a shirt from her closet and pulled on a white T-shirt of his own. Ree scrambled into the long sleeved black shirt and ran to her dresser. Once she was decent, she pulled open the door and looked at Juliette’s white face.