Destroyed (20 page)

The kid immediately moved toward the door. A few of his friends moved to follow him.

“No, stay here. I can handle this,” he said.

They looked confused, but listened. Kai gave me a look, and we followed after Tyler. I might have just given myself away. Maybe that was for the best. I was having trouble keeping this from him anyway.

Tyler took us to a small room on the second floor. It had a desk and a few chairs. We all sat down.

Kai got to the point right away.

“We had an informant tell us that you killed a few Guardians. Slit their throats and bragged about it.”

Tyler laughed.

“Let me guess, the informant was a creepy looking kid by the name of Peter.”

The music from downstairs was beating in my chest. “Yes. That was him.”

Tyler stood up. “I got news for you. The kid was lying.”

Sit down.

He sat and ran hand through his hair. “Why do you want to know about Guardians being killed?”

“Because we’re trying to bring back the old ways and killing Guardians isn’t part of the plan,” said Kai.

Tyler grinned. “The old ways, huh. My old man reminisced about those days. Told me that someday the Destroyers would rise again. Listen, Peter was pissed because I wouldn’t let him sell for me anymore. He kept stealing my money. In the old days that wouldn’t have happened, because I would be allowed to control my people. Now there is no control. Just chaos. You think you can bring that back?”

“We’re sure trying.”

“Good, remember me when you succeed. Listen, Peter is the one who killed the Guardians. Told me all about it, like I was supposed to be scared or something. He’s your guy, not me. That little weasel is the worst kind of Destroyer. He wouldn’t have lasted more than two hours in the old days. Now he’s the kind that gets away with whatever he wants. He’s despicable.”

“Thank you,” I said and started to stand, but Kai stopped me.

“What did your old man tell you about the old days? We’ve met very few Destroyers who are willing to talk about it. Most of them like the new ways.”

“There was an order to it. A ranking, like the Guardians have now. Control was strict, tight. Only those most loyal to the Master were given freedom and if that freedom was abused, it was revoked. My old man was loyal and so I knew the Master personally. Your dad was a great man.”

Kai stiffened and I tasted sour grapes. His father wasn’t mentioned often.

“What I don’t understand is what changed recently.” Tyler looked at me. “Your father has been rumored to be the Master for some time. Why are things changing only now?”

“Despite rumors, my father was not the Master for all these years,” I said.

“Are you implying that he is now?”

“She’s not implying anything. But there has been a change in leadership. Keep your ears open and tell us anything you hear about the Guardians being murdered. Those who are doing it are a threat to the rest of us. Do this, and I promise you’ll be well rewarded when the old ways are fully reinstated,” Kai said. He took my hand and squeezed. “Let’s talk again soon. Call us if you hear anything. Otherwise, I’ll be in touch. I’m interested in learning more about the old ways.”

Tyler sat back in his chair. The only sound was the music blaring from the rooms below. He didn’t say anything as we walked out of the room. Kai and I snaked our way down the stairs, weaving around people smoking and couples making out.

Once outside, I breathed in the cold air. It smelled good, after the myriad of smells inside the townhouse. None of which were good.

Peter the weasel. How were we going to handle him? The only thing I knew how to do well was suck power out of people. But if I drained his power completely, I’d have no control over him. However, I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t good at this Destroyer stuff.

Peter, meet Kai and Naomi at their house.

The commands were coming easier.

In the car, Kai sighed.

“How are we going to get him to come back? I have no idea where to look for him. This was supposed to be an easy gig, you know. When I was searching for the Master Destroyer, I never thought much about this part of the job. I want to find the bastards that killed Alejandro, but I feel like I’m failing.”

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. We’ll find Peter, too. I’m sure of it. You’ve been building a good network of informants. I bet if we talk to Jason, he’ll find him.”

Kai shrugged. “Maybe.”

We drove home in silence. Kai seemed pretty depressed and I didn’t want to pry.

“What the hell?” Kai muttered as we drove into the driveway. Peter was sitting on our front porch. I smirked.

Kai turned to me before we got out of the car. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Know that he would be here. When I said I was worried about him, you seemed unconcerned, and now here he is, waiting for us. How did you do that?”

I fumbled for the door handle. “I have no idea what you are talking about. But since he is here, we should probably go to talk to him.”

Kai scowled and got out of the car. I wondered how much longer I could keep the truth from him. Probably not much.

Peter stood when we approached.

“What the hell do you want?” he asked.

I knew Kai would see right through his question, so I countered before Kai could say anything.

“We just got back from visiting with Tyler, he told us a different version of the story.”

Peter visibly paled. Then he stuck his chin out. “So, he lied. I can’t help that.”

Kai was in his face. “No, you lied. Now tell us the truth before I have to force it out of you.”

I’d never seen Kai so angry before. He was usually so level-headed. We were all upset about Alejandro, but this a little extreme. We weren’t going to get any answers this way.

Peter backed away and smirked. “Oh yeah, how are you going to do that?” Kai lunged for Peter, but I stopped him before things got out of hand. I pushed Kai back a few inches, then faced Peter.

“You will tell us what you did, and what you know. Now.”

Peter paused, then glared at me and started talking. He was flustered and he paced, occasionally waving his hands in circles around his head.

“Look, I don’t know why I did it. There was this voice inside my head. It would tell me to do things. It started out small. Touch that girl. Punch that boy. Then, the tasks got bigger, and I had to be smarter about it so I didn’t get caught.

“A couple months ago, I was told to kill this Guardian. I don’t know his name, but I was told to slice open his throat.”

Kai interrupted. “Where did he live?”

Peter stopped and appeared confused for a second. “North Carolina. In the woods.”

I looked at Kai.

“That would have been the southern head.”

I nodded in silence. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the rest of what Peter had to say. Still, I encouraged him. “Keep going.”

“The power, the rush, it was amazing. I wanted to do it again. A few weeks later, the command came again. This time I had to go all the way to New York. That was harder and the man was better protected. But I still got him.”

He grabbed his hair and a wild grin appeared on his face. Then it fell.

“But a while ago, a new voice came.
Stop killing Guardians
, it said
.
Now I can’t kill them anymore. I want to. So bad. But I’m not allowed. This new voice. It hurts when it sends commands. I don’t like it.”

The kid sank down on the porch and I knew we’d gotten everything out of him we could. He was not the one that killed Ale. There were more Destroyers behind the killings, and someone else was controlling them. But who? And why?

I grabbed Kai’s arm. “What are we going to do with him? He doesn’t know anything, but he can’t get away with the murders.”

“You could take the rest of his power.”

“I don’t see how that would help. The rose drained most of it already, if I take the rest of it, we lose all control over him.”

“We don’t have control over him anyway.”

“Then how do you explain why he is here?”

“Yeah, I’d like you to explain that one to me.”

“Look, just tell him what to do and he’ll do it.”

Kai laughed derisively in my face. “No, you tell him what to do and he’ll do it.”

Kai turned and walked into the house, leaving me outside with Peter. I sighed and walked over to the man. I knelt in front of him, but he didn’t look at me.

“You will go to the police and confess all your crimes. You will say nothing about Guardians or Destroyers. You will never tell anyone about me or Kai. You do not know anything about Guardian or Destroyer leadership.”

Peter nodded once and walked toward his car. Tomorrow, there would be news headlines about a dangerous criminal being caught in our very own Donald County. I shivered. It was cold, but I didn’t want to go inside and face Kai.

Instead, I went to my garden. I had neglected my roses the past few weeks. Soon, I would need to trim them all back to barest stalks, or they’d go wild next season. The purple Destroyer rose towered over me. I hadn’t tried touching it since it attacked Peter, but I expected that it would let me. It listened to me.

I touched the edge of a bloom and the rose vibrated under my finger. I caressed the rose and traced my finger down the stalk. My finger caught on a thorn, and it should’ve drawn blood but it didn’t. I swear the rose very nearly purred with satisfaction.

“I didn’t know you could touch it.”

I turned and smiled at Kai. “I didn’t either.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. He comforted me in ways I didn’t think I’d ever understand.

“How long have you known that you were the Master Destroyer?”

“Not long. Just before I went to Vegas.”

“Who else knows?”

“Alejandro knew. Jason knows. That’s it.”

“Why does Jason know?”

“Because Alejandro asked me to tell him. Jason helped me figure out how to use it. I was pretty unsuccessful until Ale died. I sort of snapped after that.”

Kai spun me around. His face was inches from mine. “Thank you. Now I don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not.”

I wrapped my arms around him in a fierce hug. He was far more understanding than I deserved. He pulled back and held both of my hands in his own.

“You summoned Peter here, right?”

“I did. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Why don’t you summon the other murderers? That seems like it would be an easy thing to do.”

He was right. How come I hadn’t thought of it before?

“Wait, if I summon them, then wouldn’t I be sending out a signal saying, ‘I’m the Master Destroyer.’”

“How’d you do it with Peter?”

“I told him to come to our house.”

“So summon them to a different location. We’ll go and see who shows up.” He was brilliant.
Everyone who has killed a Guardian, you will report to Big Sugar Creek State Park at 8:00 pm. tomorrow.

I pulled Kai close to me. “By this time tomorrow, we’ll know who killed Alejandro and this mess will be over.”

He crushed my lips in a kiss and I melted into him. I was supposed to come here to support him, but now the tables were turned. He would have to support me.

I could still feel the rose vibrating behind me. I felt a stalk slither across my back but didn’t think anything of it until Kai pulled back and yelped. His ear was bleeding.

“Your rose just attacked me.”

The bloom that had stabbed him in the ear retreated back into the bush.

Ruth Alexander Rose = Alive!

Kai seemed lighter, like a weight had been lifted off his chest. For this, I was grateful.

My father poked his head out of the kitchen. “Hey kids, dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks, dad.”

Kai and I settled on the couch across from the fireplace. I curled one leg underneath myself and looked at Kai. He smiled.

“Tell me something. Are you a Guardian or a Destroyer?” I asked him.

“Both. Right now, I’m a Guardian. I only become a Destroyer when absolutely necessary.”

“That would’ve made it extremely hard for you to be the Master Destroyer.”

“I know. I’ve known for some time now that something was missing. I figured it had to do with the fact that I hadn’t killed your mother. After Ale died, I thought that maybe I’d have to go finish the job, since we had to stop them from killing the Guardians. But I’d been putting it off; I really didn’t want to kill someone. For the past week, I’ve been trying to come up with a better plan.”

“Dinner’s ready,” Dad called.

I poked my head in the office, where Ginny was staying. She looked up from the computer. She’d been working with a few of her clients via email and video chats.

“Time to eat.”

“I’m in the middle of a consult, I’ll come out when I’m done. Save me a plate.”

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. I grinned. My tantrum dinner. Tonight though, I served myself and could eat whatever I wanted.

It reminded me of something. “Did you ever find Ruth?” I asked Kai.

He hesitated, as if he were debating.

“She’s in hiding with a Guardian family. Somewhere in Florida.”

Florida again.  Seriously. “I want to talk to her.”

Kai didn’t look at me. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

I reached over and lifted his chin. “Ruth is my best friend. All this time, I thought she was dead. I need to talk to her.”

Kai nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”

“Thank you.”

After dinner, I helped my dad do the dishes. Kai offered to help.

“I’d rather you see if you can find that number for Ruth. Besides, I need to update my dad with new developments.”

Kai nodded.

Dad washed and I dried.

I updated him on all the latest news on the Guardian murders.

“I’m coming with you tomorrow. I got that command, too. All the Destroyers did.” he said.

“Dad, why are you still a Destroyer?”

“I’ve thought about trying to become a Guardian again, like I was before your Grandmother died, but your mother took most of my power. I don’t have the strength to switch.”