The car dropped Elena off a mile from town, ostensibly so no one could follow it back to Haven.
She followed the instructions the surly guard gave her and counted to a hundred before removing the bag from her head. Then she crumpled the black velvet material in her hands. What would have happened if another car had driven by? Would they have stopped and come to her aid? Or did the locals know to leave people by the side of the road to themselves? She imagined a station wagon going down the highway. The woman would glance out and see her as they passed, then cluck her tongue and say, “Another one. What is this town coming to?”
Elena shook her head and began her walk into town. She still had her phone and her wallet if things went wrong.
Her phone. Sebastian. She pulled out her phone and turned it on. As it powered up, she peered down the highway. A sign in the distance glinted in the sunlight.
Highway 10.
The road where the police found the missing women. Wasn’t that interesting? Her hand buzzed. She had four voicemails. She let them play, having a good idea of what she would hear.
“Elena, it’s Sebastian. Call when you get this.”
“Hey, it’s me again. Call me.”
“Elena, what’s going on? Call me, please. I’ll be waiting.”
“Where are you? Call me, and I’ll come pick you up.”
Heart aching, she started to dial Sebastian’s number when her fingers hesitated. Cara’s words echoed in her mind. He would never be safe with her. She put her phone back into her pocket.
There was only one place she could go.
****
Somehow, it wasn’t a surprise to find Chloe’s car tucked into the corner of the parking lot, where no one would notice it.
Too tired to deal with the car, she sent a quick email to Sandra asking her to report the car to the station. From what Elena could see, the vehicle was wiped clean. Again, her enemy had been careful.
She looked up and took in the wide grassy field dotted with gray shapes like polka dots on the horizon. She walked along the beaten gravel path with no need to know where to go.
The path diverged, again and again, worn patterns testament to those remembered. She continued to walk until she found her mother’s resting place. A granite stone set in the ground listed her name. Simple, what her mother would have wanted.
“I miss you.”
The cold, wet grass seeped through her jeans and chilled her legs. She touched the smooth stone.
“Mom, I need your guidance.” She summoned an image of her mother and held it in her mind. Waist-length brown hair, hazel eyes, and a smile that dazzled anyone who met her. Unlike Elena, she had never stared, never recoiled when offered a hand. Her control had been absolute.
Until the Harvester had taken her.
The thought evoked a fresh wave of guilt. Tears dripped down her cheeks.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t stay because he’ll find me again and hurt Sebastian. But I can’t just leave, not after what happened to Chloe. She deserves justice.”
The wind rustled a nearby tree, startling a family of crows into flight. She watched them fly and depart until they became black smudges in the distance. The clouds above shifted, and a ray of sunlight illuminated the ground. A transparent form of a red fox flickered into view. Elena scrambled backward. Beady black eyes blinked, and she was thrust into a memory.
Three men in dark raincoats lowered the casket into the grave, putting an end to weeks of hope. The rain pattered a solemn staccato upon rows and rows of black umbrellas that hid the mournful faces of so many her mother had touched during her life.
Tears welled up, but she refused to let them go, choosing to view the world through a hazy sheen. After days of silence and an aching emptiness in her heart, the pain of her grief breached the defenses around her heart.
Without warning, the memory changed. A sound buzzed at the back of her mind, and her world expanded.
“It’s time to let go.” A woman’s voice. Her mother’s voice.
“Mom!”
She spun around, searching for her mother’s silhouette among the grieving. The people standing in front of her shuffled around and looked at her, sympathy written on their expressions.
Elena backed away from the crowd, then whispered. “Mom?”
“Yes, dear, it’s me.”
Tears leaked out of Elena’s eyes. “How is this possible?”
A gentle sigh. “I couldn’t leave you.”
“Where are we? Is this the past?”
“No, dear, just a memory. You are not yet strong enough for me to talk to you any other way.”
Elena’s arm itched. She slid back her sleeve and found a fox shade curled above her wrist.
“I’m so sorry, love. I never wanted to leave you. I tried, I swear, but he was too strong.”
“Oh, mom,” she kept her voice low, not wanting to disturb the mourners.
Then again, what did it matter? It wasn’t real. Her body was probably still in the graveyard, collapsed on the ground, or staring off into space like she was on tranquilizers.
Still, it felt disrespectful. She hid behind a tree, pressing her back to the rough wood. The fox on her forearm licked its paw and rubbed the side of its face. The shade stopped moving and looked at her. A question flew from her lips before she could think.
“How did he beat you, mom? You were so strong. Was it my fault? Did you spend all your energy keeping me from getting in trouble?”
“You know that’s not why.”
“Then how?”
“I’m almost out of time. It pains me to do this to you, but there’s something important you need to know.”
“I’m ready.”
“I’m so proud of you, love. You’ve become such a beautiful, smart young woman. I wish I had been there to see you grow up.”
Emotion clogged her throat. She rubbed her nose on her sleeve. “Why didn’t you become a shade? Then we could have stayed together.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“You can’t leave me like this. Why show up at all if you are just going to leave right away?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady. I’m still your mother.”
Elena laughed, tears tumbling down her cheeks. “You haven’t changed.”
The world tilted sideways, and she was back in the present. The fox rubbed its nose with a paw and then bunched its hindquarters and jumped, vanishing into her chest. It happened so quickly, she didn’t have a chance to scream. She peeked beneath her shirt to see the fox perched above Chloe’s boa, its tail curled around its toes.
At least you stayed with me.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks, rose, and slapped the grass and dead leaves from her legs. She looked down at her mother’s gravestone and a chill washed over her.
The date had previously read “1961 - 1999” had a scratch running through 1999, and above it was written 2015.
****
Elena had walked five miles and was just beginning to see the fringes of town when a white SUV pulled to the side of the road. A man in an immaculate suit stepped out.
“Elena! I worried something had happened to you.” He enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Good to see you too, David.” She patted his back.
He’d aged since she’d seen him last. His once black hair was shot through with silver at the temples. His suit masked some of the weight he’d gained, but she could see it, a smoothing out of hard edges. Only his eyes were the same; an intense, piercing blue.
She was not used to seeing people she knew age. It scared her.
A shade on his neck twitched its nose. An arctic hare. She sent it a mental warning to stay away. She’d had her fill of dealing with shades for a long time. She cleared her throat. David was stretching a friendly hug into something uncomfortable. He pulled away, skin flushed.
“Come on, we need to get you out of here.” He gestured to the car.
They drove past town into Minneapolis. David insisted on paying for a hotel room when he learned Sebastian’s building had gone up in flames.
“How did you know where to find me?” She tried to keep her voice casual.
David laughed. “I know you better than you think.”
They parked in the parade and made their way into one of the nicest hotels she had ever seen. While David dealt with reception, she wandered around the lobby. A fancy coffee machine sat in a corner next to a collection of porcelain mugs. She made herself a latte and sat in a plush divan to watch a TV mounted in the ceiling. A young reporter was covering the fire. In one wide-angle shot of the smoldering building, Sebastian stood at the fringes of the crowd. Her fingers clutched her mug, and she was reminded of the messages on her phone.
David appeared and handed her a key card. “Room 431.”
They took the elevator up to the fourth floor, and once in the spacious room, she looked around and huffed. “I would have been fine with a motel.”
David waved a hand. “Nonsense.” His posture was stiff. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
“You’re not telling me something. What do you know?”
The hare from earlier swam into life on his neck. She frowned. Its silver fur was stained with black. She peered closer, but the shade faded out of view. David walked past her and opened the door.
Sebastian stood there.
“I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted,” David said. He dashed out of the room.
“Where were you?” Sebastian asked. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? I was so worried.”
His words were daggers in her heart. Instead of answering, she grabbed his lapels and kissed him, drinking in the heat of him. She wound her arms around his neck, and he drew her taut against him, one hand cradling her neck, the other pressed to the small of her back.
They stumbled into the bedroom.
She ran her nails down his back. His arms tightened around her until it was almost painful. Interesting. Curious how far she could take this play, she pressed her nails deeper. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to make temporary indentations in his flesh. A strangled moan was her reward.
“You like that?” she ran her tongue along the curve of his ear. In answer, he hiked her thigh up to his hip, pressing his hardness against her center. “What do you think?”
He forced her back against the wall, crushing his mouth to hers, willing her to surrender.
Elena wrapped a leg around his hip and pulled him closer. He nipped at her lips until she opened them, then laid claim to her mouth.
The onslaught of attention made her knees weak, and she slid down the wall. He grunted and released her hands, moving them to her hips, pulling her tight against his chest.
The heat of his body thrilled her senses. He pushed her against the wall once again, cushioning the impact with his arms. She growled and threaded her fingers through his hair, then led a trail of gentle nips along his neck, stopping where his pulse was strongest and sucking. Sebastian gasped and thrust against her, the hard jut of his arousal pressing against her center. She chuckled and grasped the edge of his shirt, pulling it up and over his chest. The tanned expanse of skin gave her so very many ideas. She nipped his shoulder, just hard enough for him to feel it.
“That’s enough, you minx,” Sebastian said, his voice low.
His weight pinned her. He shifted, and she unbuttoned his trousers, then jerked them down and curled her fingers around him.
“God!”
She moved her fingers carefully up and down.
He groaned and closed his eyes. Sweat beaded along his skin.
“Oh, he likes that,” she said.
Warm hands traveled down her sides and squeezed. “You ready? Cause you’re killing me. I’m ready to burst.”
“What are you waiting for, then?”
****
Sebastian positioned himself against her entrance and pushed inside, loving the wet slickness of her lips clutching him. He hissed in pleasure and resisted the urge to thrust inside. She deserved better than that. A moment later, she wrapped her legs around his hips and did the deed for him, pulling him deep. She moaned a guttural sound that drove him to the brink.
He set a slow rhythm, one that frustrated them both. She moved beneath him, squeezing him closer with her legs, forcing him to increase his pace until they were both panting with the need for release. A quirk of her lips warned him something was coming. She squeezed her sheath around him, and the pressure made his vision darken at the edges. With one final thrust, he came inside of her.
When the ecstasy dimmed, he rolled over and trailed his hands down her side. “Want help?”
She smiled. “Put your fingers in me.”
He slid one finger inside her, then another. She was still so tight and wet that his cock stirred even so soon after spending himself.
Her head fell back. “Thrust in and out. Oh, yes, just like that.” She tensed, and he continued the motion until she quivered around his fingers.
“God, I want to feel that on my cock.”
A blush rose on her cheeks. “Maybe next time.” She curled up next to him, using his shoulder as a pillow.