Hollowed (13 page)

Oliver sighs and touches a hand briefly to my back.
"
Walk with me
.
"

I can
'
t think of a real reason to say no. Even if I
'
m not ready to
entirely
let go of my earlier anger, being near Oliver is probably where I
'
m safest. He won
'
t let the others hurt me. I lift one shoulder.
"
Lead the way, captain.
"

Oliver keeps at my side as we head down the street. The sound of his steps, the brush of his arm against mine now and again, accompanied by Algonquin
'
s motor-boat purring...it
'
s soothing. I try to imagine my life, just like this. Me, Cole, Oliver, Algonquin. Never seeing home again. Maybe starting a new home somewhere else. Would Cole and Oliver take me with them when they leave town? Or would they leave me here to fend for myself? No family, no friends.

No Mom and Dad and Sherry. No Noah.

We round the street corner and I blurt,
"
They know where my parents live.
"

Oliver slows.
"
What?
"

I pause a few steps in front of him but don
'
t look back.
"
I went to my parents
'
house today. They found me.
"

"
The two from the park?
"

"
No, the others. The ones that attacked me and Sherry.
"
It dawns on me we
'
re heading down a path I
'
ve taken way too many times before, one that
'
ll lead us to the light rail station. And the bridge. A chill trickles down my spine and I shrug it off as we fall back into step again.
"
Their names were Joel and Artie, if that helps any. They were still there when we got away.
"

"
They
'
ll be long gone by now.
"
Oliver pushes a hand through his hair.
"
How did you escape?
"

I glance down at Algonquin.
"
Help. And luck. They won
'
t go back, right? They won
'
t hurt my parents?
"

No answer.

"
The
truth
, Oliver.
"

That earns me a sigh. We
'
re closing in on the bridge; I can feel it like a rock in my stomach. It can
'
t be coincidence that Oliver stops when we
'
re halfway across and looks out over the water, fingers looping in the chain link guard.

"
If th
ey want something from you...
yes, they
'
ll go back in hopes of drawing you to them.
"

I was afraid of that.
Mom, Dad... Stay gone as long as you can.

He looks at me, expectant. Waiting to know my side of things. It
'
s my turn to sigh.
"
A few years ago,
my big sister up and vanished. We thought she was murdered.
"

The words are thick and stale in my throat. It
'
s been so long since I spoke aloud about Ruby that it
'
s physically
painful
. I brace myself against the railing where Algonquin wiggles out of my jacket to walk precariously along it. He has every bit of balance and grace as a real cat
.

"
...Then I ran into those two at the park and they kept asking where Ruby was. Like I would know.
"

"
Do you think she
'
s alive?
"

"
Yes. No. I don
'
t know. Why else would someone be looking for her years after she disappeared?
"

Oliver nods.
"
Doesn
'
t sound like they
'
re too happy with her if they
'
re threatening her sister.
"

I shrug, eyes locked onto the water. Imagining I can still hear Sherry
'
s sunshine-y voice, watching her fight with her long blonde hair in the breeze as we traipse home. The sound of her and Noah flanking me on either side, laughing at something stupid. Thinking for a second that Ruby has something to do with me losing them? I can
'
t.

"
You and Cole said you were here to go after vampires. Was it them?
"

"
Possibly.
"
There
'
s that hesitation in his voice again, the resistance. But if I can play off his guilt for a little longer, I might actually get some solid answers.
"
We
'
re after a vampire named Maverick. It
'
s likely the two you met are people he turned.
"

I catch him from the corner of my eye absently petting Algonquin from head to tail, but his gaze is distant.

"
Did this Maverick guy do something wrong?
"

"
He didn
'
t exactly, but he was close enough that Cole was sent to warn him.
"
Oliver rubs at the back of his neck.
"
It
'
s a lot to explain...
"

"
Try. In simple words.
"

"
Okay, short version. We all have rules to follow. The shape-shifters, the witches, fae,
were-creatures,
and
everything in between. Things to keep us hidden from the humans. The oldest of our kind make the rules and employ younger ones to make sure those rules aren
'
t broken.
"

Witches, fae,
were-creatures
? I
'
m not touching that right now. The rest, though, I
'
m following so far. Doesn
'
t sound any different from a government, I guess.
"
Why don
'
t they do it themselves?
"

"
Things get messy when the Elders get directly involved.
"
He smiles wryly.
"
Being alive that long
makes you kind of crazy. They don
'
t interact well with most of us.
"

"
So you
'
re after this guy because he sorta-kinda broke a rule.
"

"
If those four
younger
vampires are his, Cole wants to know why. No vampire has reason to turn that many humans in such a short period of time.
"
He shrugs.
"
Of course, now two of his lackeys did something wrong
—
they killed Sherry, almost killed you.
I
f Maverick won
'
t hand over the guilty party, he
'
ll be held responsible, too.
"

"
It
'
s against the rules to kill humans?
"

"
No, so long as they aren
'
t so damned obvious about it.
"
Oliver straightens up, not paying attention when Algonquin squirms his way inside his jacket. He leaves the top button undone and the kitten pops his head out, brig
ht eyes watching me. Looking...
triumphant?
"
It
'
s drawn too much attention. Killing out of necessity is one thing.
Slaughter
is something else all together. Any more questions?
"

Rules. Old people. No laughter in slaughter. Got it. My lips purse while I think.
"
What now?
"

"
We find them.
"

"
How do we do that?
"

"
Simple.
"
Oliver shoves his hands back into his pockets and resumes walking. He doesn
'
t look back.
"
We use bait.
"

Bait. That should work
—

Wait a second.

"
You
'
re using
me?
"

Shrug.
"
They
'
re after you. They
'
ve been stupid enough to attack you twice, who
'
s to say they won
'
t do it again?
"

"
Uh, I
'
d rather they didn
'
t.
"
I hurry to catch up with him.

Oliver looks at me askance.
"
Put it this way: the quicker we find them, the sooner your parents will be safe. If Cole and I keep you near we
'
re bound to find them.
"

He has me there. If anything happens to Mom and Dad because I was too scared to face down Joel and the others again, I
'
ll run back to that bridge and throw myself off. I worry at my bottom lip and focus my attention straight ahead. Though the way he makes it sound like the only reason they
'
re keeping me safe is for their own convenience? Makes me want to punch him.
"
I don
'
t even know how to fight if I run into them again.
"

"
Hopefully it won
'
t come to that.
"

Playing helpless princess isn
'
t my style. I took self-defense classes with Mom a few years back; her way of teaching us both how to be safe so we never shared Ruby
'
s fate, I guess. Most of that knowledge is gone now so I could use a refresher course. More recently, Noah took me to a shooting range a handful of times, but that
'
s also a moot point when I don
'
t have a gun.

"
You
'
re not going to send me out there without some kind of defense. Something
other
than Algonquin. I don
'
t want him hurt again.
"

There
'
s a flicker of something like concern in
Oliver
'
s
eyes. He touches a hand briefly to his chest where the cat is still nestled. Sighs. Gives me a long look.
"
We
'
ll see what we can do.
"

Good enough for now. I let him off the hook while we head to the light rail station. I
'
m kind of surprised he doesn
'
t have a car, but he makes a face when I ask him about it and simply says,
"
I hate driving.
"
Maybe immortality grants you so much free time, you don
'
t mind walking everywhere.

Back at the hotel
,
Oliver heads straight to Cole
'
s room, taking Algonquin with him. He glances at me, but I wave him off and continue on to my own door. I
'
ll talk to Cole; I
'
m done being mad, I think. But I want a breather first. A few minutes of silence. I slump down onto the bed, flop back, and stare at the ceiling.

I
'
m all wound up again. What if Mom and Dad come home soon? What will they think, what will they do when they see the blood all over my old room? Will they notice some of Ruby
'
s stuff gone? Will they call the cops? For that matter, do they even know that I
'
m supposedly
missing?
The worry sticks to my insides, weighing me down. I want to find the vampires
now
. Something, anything productive to put an end to all this. Anything to bring me answers.