Twisted (31 page)

How could Joe do that to him? Let him go like that? Again. The most disturbing question of all, though—what would life have been like if Joe had actually loved him and kept him around? If Joe had trained him?

Junior nearly busted his eardrums with his next screech.

Calm, steady.

Tonya remained in her seat, unaffected.

Victoria threw her arms around him, settled herself in his lap and hugged him tight. “I'm so sorry. He doesn't deserve you.”

Words she'd probably said to herself—or Riley had said to her—after her own father had broken her heart. Aden held her, letting her comfort him as only she was able, breathing her in, loving her scent, his mouth watering for a taste, not letting himself have a taste or think about tasting, not letting himself bite her but simply luxuriating in what she offered. Finally he calmed the rest of the way, and so did Junior.

Aden, please,
Julian was saying.

Julian. His friend. Whom he
would
help, no matter the destruction to himself. He kissed Victoria on the temple, settled her on the couch, grabbed the paper, read it and stood. As he closed the distance between himself and Tonya, his hand fisted, crinkling the words.
This
was supposed to work?

He crouched in front of her. “Look at me, Tonya.”

She obeyed without hesitation.

Will this work?
Julian asked.
This has to work.

Aden wasn't sure what his father had proposed, something so simple, so easy a freaking caveman could do
it—too much TV?—would do anything more than embarrass him, but he said, “Tonya Smart, your heart is your own. Your soul is your own. Love may whither, love may die, but your truth will set you free.”

She blinked down at him.

Why hasn't anything happened?
Julian again.

“She's still drugged,” Victoria said. “Maybe that's preventing her from showing a reaction.”

“Fight your way from the drug's influence,” Aden said, and just as before, she obeyed. Not because she'd been told to obey him, but because he'd used his vampire voice.

Her gaze cleared of that glassy sheen, revealing the shadows churning so violently behind them. A scream ripped from her, her entire body bowing, shaking her chair, then hunching over. She shook, she moaned, she writhed, her fingers gnarling.

Aden backed away from her, unsure how to help her.

Make it stop,
Julian begged.

“I can't.” All he could do was watch, horrified, as those shadows seeped through her pores, rising from her, enveloping her in a dark mist and screams, so many screams, echoing through the room.

Her screams? The ones she'd trapped inside herself,
every time the spell forced her to do something against her will?

Aden returned to Victoria—and the movement must have scared the shadows or something, because they shot up and out, disappearing through the ceiling. Leaving silence, such heavy silence.

Tonya sagged against her seat, slid to the floor and lay there panting. She was drenched with sweat, tears pouring down her cheeks, her skin flushed a deep red. “I…he…oh, dear Lord!” Sobs racked her entire body as she curled into herself.

Victoria slipped forward and reached out. Tonya caught the motion from the corner of her eye and reared backward.

“Don't touch me! Get out! Get out of my house! I hate you. I hate you all. I hate him. Hate, hate, hate.” The sobs intensified, nearly choking her.

“Julian…Robert,” Aden said. “Is there anything you want me to tell her?”

A pause. Then,
No. She wouldn't listen now, and besides, I don't know what I'd say. I don't love her as I once did, I just couldn't let her rot in the prison Daniel had built for her. She's free,
Julian said.
She's really free, and that's all that matters.

With every word, his voice had become softer, quieter.

He was leaving, Aden realized, fighting a cry of his own. Just like that, without any other warning.
Don't go. I'm not ready.
He held the words inside himself. No reason to burden Julian with them. “How—how much time do you have left?”

Not long.
A whisper now.

Victoria linked their fingers. “Aden?”

“Come on.” He was shaking as he led her out of the house. He could have teleported them, but he was too emotionally messed up and wasn't sure where they'd land.

Cold air blustered around him, a storm clearly brewing. The sky was gray, the clouds bulky. The scenery fit his mood perfectly. He got them to a thick crop of trees before he dropped to his knees. “Julian?”

Still here. And I want you to know… I love you, Aden.
Weaker still.

“I love you, too.” So much.

Thank you for everything. You were a great host, and I will never forget you.

Once again he wanted to shout,
Don't go,
but he didn't. He'd just lost Joe—not that he wanted to be a part of Joe's life—but to lose Julian, too? Here and now, like this? His eyes were like twin coals just pulled from a fire.

“You were a great friend to me.”

Julian,
Elijah said, sad and happy all at once. Aden understood. He was sad for himself but happy for his friend.
We will never forget you, either.

Dude,
Caleb said.
I knew you were the one with the comb-over.

Julian laughed.
I love you, guys. Even when you were being a pain in my ass.

Caleb was the one to laugh this time.
You might want to rephrase that. You don't have an ass.

“I'm going to miss you,” Aden said softly. His chin trembled so violently, he barely got the words out.

Would it be gay if we attempted a four-way hug?
Julian asked.

Yes,
Caleb answered.
How about a mental slap on the back, instead?

Another laugh, this one so weak Aden had to strain to hear it.
Yep, even when you're a pain.

“Just…if you see her, tell Eve we said hi.”

I will.

I bet she's a babe,
Caleb said, his amusement gone. Like everyone else, he was fighting with his emotions.

Julian snorted.
I can't believe this is goodbye for us. Can't believe I'll never see you again. Never hear Caleb being perverted, or Elijah bringing down the party or you Aden, the most
honorable, loving person I've ever met, finding his way into the light. I'm no psychic, but great things are in store for you, my friend. I know it.

The burning migrated to his cheeks, a wet tide, unstoppable. “We'll see each other again.” Believing otherwise would kill him.

I love you so much,
Julian said again, and then, just like that, he was gone. Aden felt the absence of him all the way to his bones.

Another goodbye he hadn't been prepared for.

He remained just as he was and let the tears flow. Victoria wound her arm around him and cried with him. He wasn't sure how much time had passed.

When they both quieted, she whispered, “Let's find Riley and Mary Ann and go home, Aden.”

“Yes. Home.”

“W
HAT DID YOU DO
to yourself?”

They were the first words Mary Ann had heard her father say in weeks—or what felt like an eternity—and she knew they were a precursor to all kinds of trouble.

She sat in the passenger seat of his sedan. He'd bailed her out of jail, or whatever. She wasn't really sure what had happened, only that she'd been cuffed, driven to the Tulsa P.D. headquarters downtown, stashed and questioned in a room for hours—not that she'd answered anything—and then uncuffed and ushered to her dad. Who hadn't spoken a word to her until now.

Since she hadn't given the cops his name and number, she could only assume Riley had. A reunion she'd wanted to both thank and slap him for.

The moment she'd seen her dad, she'd nearly run to him and thrown her arms around him. Anything to
comfort him. As Penny had told her, he looked like hell. Bruises under his eyes, lines of tension branching from his mouth. His clothes, wrinkled and stained with coffee. But she hadn't let herself hug him, too afraid the strength of her riotous emotions would cause her new wards to fail and she'd start draining him, human though he was.

Rationally she knew that wouldn't happen, but fear…well, fear was illogical and all-consuming.

“Mary Ann! I'm talking to you. You take off without any warning, without calling, and I'm left worrying to death about you. Searching for you, begging the police for help, putting out flyers, and you're out there with that…that…” Fury crackled from him, so much fury his fingers nearly bent the steering wheel in half.

Guilt filled her, but she said, “We can't leave Riley there. We have to go back.” She'd said it a thousand times before, but he'd ignored her each time. Riley could take care of himself, she knew that. Still. Leaving him behind felt wrong. Even though he'd purposely gotten them arrested.

She knew that now, too. What she didn't know was why. And there was a reason. With Riley, there was always a reason. The next time she saw him, she would find out. Because right now, all she could think was that
he'd wanted to get out of a painful, we're-breaking-up talk. Except that wasn't his style.

“Please, Dad,” she added. “Go back.”

At least he didn't ignore her this time. “We
can
leave him, and we will leave him. I don't give a flying fig about your delinquent boyfriend. That boy is an outlaw who lives by no rules but his own, and who knows if he follows those even half the time. He stole a car, Mary Ann. While you were with him! And you should start praying those are wash-off tattoos on your arms.”

The guilt intensified. “I…I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? You're
sorry?
That's all you have to say to me?”

“Dad—”

“No. Be quiet. Are you doing drugs?”

What did he want? For her to be quiet or to answer? “No. I'm not doing drugs.”

“Do you expect me to believe you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don't. I don't know who you are anymore. So, guess what? We're going to find out together. Unquestionably.”

“What? You're having me tested?”

Silence. Silence that cut her up and left her raw. He faced straight ahead.

Fine. She would ignore him, too. She turned her attention to the window, to the trees whizzing past. To the storm clouds hovering overhead. To the sign—for a town that wasn't on the way home.

Mary Ann flattened herself against her seat. Looked back at the sign, then at her father. Forget ignoring him. “Where are we going?”

“Clearly, I can't help you. So I'm taking you somewhere with people who can. No matter how long it takes.”

Dread washed over her, leaving an icy glaze in its wake. “What are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about a psych evaluation. I'm talking about group therapy. I'm talking about medication, if that's required. I'm talking about figuring out the root of your problem, whatever it is, and getting my little girl back!”

“Dad—”

“No! I don't want to hear it. I wanted to hear from you for days, then weeks, and I got nothing but silence and worry. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, couldn't work. I thought you'd been kidnapped. Thought you were being…raped and tortured. What do I find instead? You were out having fun. That isn't like you. Which means something's happened to you. Something you can't or
won't talk to me about, so I'm going to
make
you talk to others.”

The ice thickened, hardened. “Dad, don't do this. Please, don't do it.”

“It's already done. It's the only way I could get you released without having to go to court or serve any time.”

No. No, no, no. “I'm sorry I hurt you. I am.” She couldn't tell him she'd done it for his own good! He wouldn't understand, and he wouldn't accept. More than that, she couldn't promise him that it wouldn't happen again. “But you have to trust me in this, okay? You have to—”

“Trust you? Oh, baby girl. You truly are delusional if you think that's happening. Trust is earned, and you did nothing but stomp on mine.”

She had never seen her dad so angry, so hurt; she wouldn't be able to reach him through her usual means. “I'm not a little girl anymore. You can't just lock me away without my permission and think—”

“Legally, you're not an adult, and yes, I can do anything I want. You're about to fail the eleventh grade. Why? Because you're hanging out with the wrong crowd. So, I'll change your crowd by force.”

“Dad—”

He wasn't done. “Ever since you became friends with that Haden Stone, you've been different. Harsher. You dumped your boyfriend to date a criminal.”

If he only knew…Tucker, the boyfriend she'd dumped, had been more of a criminal than Riley ever had. And now Tucker was dead.

The thought kept hitting her at the oddest times, and tears would fill her eyes. Now was no different. “Riley is a good guy.” Or had been, until she'd ruined his life. “You can't judge him because of this one instance.”

“You keep telling me what I can't do, but you'll learn. Oh, baby girl, will you learn.”

She gritted her teeth and tried to reach him from a yet another angle. “I'm not failing. I missed a couple weeks, and I can easily make them up.”

“Yes, you can, but you'll make up the work in rehab.”

“Rehab?” She almost laughed. Almost. “I told you. I'm not doing drugs.”

“Like I said, we'll find out.”

Rain suddenly burst from the sky and splattered all over the windshield. The wipers kicked on, and her dad slowed his speed just a bit.

“And when you learn that I'm clean?” she asked, hopeful. “You'll take me home?”

“No. You're staying there. It's not just a place for drug addicts. It's a place for kids who have gotten themselves into trouble, but can't find a way out. Not without help.”

An institution. He was talking about locking her away in an institution. Shock slammed through her, joining the dread and creating a whole lot of horror. “Dad, you can't—”

“It's done, Mary Ann,” he repeated. “It's done.”

Acid nearly burned a hole in her stomach. Did burn a hole in her throat. “For how long?” she croaked out, thinking,
Riley will bust me out. Dating or not, he won't leave me in there.

“As long as it takes.”

 

R
ILEY WALKED
the darkened, rain-drenched streets of downtown Tulsa, his hands in his pockets, his skin practically coated with ice, his hair plastered to his scalp, and breath misting in front of his face. A few cars drove past, but for the most part, no one was out and about.

The good, smart people of this town had already sought the warmth and dryness of the indoors. Mary Ann was probably warm and dry and headed home. Just as he'd wanted.

He'd given her back to her dad.

He'd disobeyed his king, his friend, and done what he'd thought best. He had never done that before. He'd always been a good little soldier, doing what he was told, his loyalty unwavering. And already he regretted his actions this day. Not because of the loyalty thing, but because he missed Mary Ann. Her smile, her sense of humor, her honesty, her kind heart.

He wanted her back.

But she'd fallen for a wolf, and he was no longer that wolf. She might think he was the same despite that fact, might think she still cared about him, but eventually she'd realize the truth: he was weak, vulnerable and soon to be an outcast among his kind.

Was he feeling sorry for himself? Hell, yeah. He didn't know who or what he was anymore. Only that he was no good. A failure. Worthless.

He couldn't protect Mary Ann, but he could make sure her dad did. And he would. He just had to take care of something first.

Riley turned a corner, the rain falling harder now. One thing Vlad had taught him was how to stay off human radar and how to keep his true identity hidden. After using his one phone call to leave a message for his brothers, telling them that they weren't to look for him, he'd busted his way free of lockup. An easy enough task.
Staying out would be a little more difficult, considering he planned to drink himself into a stupor. And why not? He wanted to forget everything that had happened, just for a little while. And if he was human, why not do what humans did?

Aden couldn't use him, and he couldn't protect Princess Victoria as he'd done for so many decades any more than he could protect Mary Ann. He was useless. So, mini-vacation, here he came.

He continued walking, searching for a liquor store, until he spotted something else. A dealer. He didn't mean to, but he stopped. The guy looked up and down and clearly judged him acceptable, since he didn't take off running.

Why not? This could work just as well. “What do you got?” he asked.