Hollowed (32 page)

He levels a long look at me, smirking lazily.
"
Do you keep a running tally of the number of people who
'
ve seen you naked?
"

The blush spreads all the way to the tips of my toes.
"
How did you get in?
"

He holds up a card key that reads
housekeeping.
Oh for the love of... C
an
'
t these cleaning ladies keep their hands on their important stuff??

"
Okay, fine.
What are you doing here? Not very bright, walking right into enemy territory.
"

"
Enemy territory?
"
Sighing, he runs a hand over his face and straightens up.
"
I came to clear some things up, actually. Though I
'
d rather do it without a gun in my face.
"

I squint. Trust him, don
'
t trust him? Fred doesn
'
t strike me as someone smart enough to lie about his
reasons
for being here. After a moment
'
s consideration, I gesture to the chair by the window and inch around the bed. Fred takes a seat obediently, hands in his lap. I make quick work of grabbing the complimentary robe from inside the bathroom door and tying it around myself, freeing up my other hand.

"
Start talking.
"
I sink onto the edge of the bed. No longer aiming at him, but keeping the gun in my hand.

I could swear his expression turns sympathetic.
"
First off
...
I
'
m sorry about your house.
"

My chest tightens, making it difficult to swallow the lump in my throat.
"
Uh huh. What do you know about that?
"

"
I know that it wasn
'
t me.
"
He holds up his hands.
"
And I know Maverick is willing to hand over Joel, with a few conditions attached.
"

Hand over? I narrow my eyes.
"
What conditions?
"

"
I
'
m supposed to talk to your boss about it.
"
He shifts uncomfortably.

Cole? I crack a smile.
"
Cole isn
'
t my boss. He
'
s a friend. And if it
'
s him you want, why are you in
my
room?
"

This time, he looks caught between embarrassed and
...
shy? I can
'
t tell.
"
Because I don
'
t know anything about your friends, so I thought
...
it would be easiest to approach you.
"

"
Yuh huh.
"
No point in telling him Cole likely wouldn
'
t have drawn a weapon on him, but whatever.
"
Why didn
'
t Maverick come himself?
"

Shrug.
"
Not how things work. I
'
m the messenger. He
'
s not going to put himself in potentially hostile territory when he knows his name is on the wanted list.
"

"
You could
'
ve come forward a lot sooner,
"
I mutter, sliding off the bed.
"
Saved everyone a lot of trouble.
"

Fred
'
s gaze drops guiltily but he doesn
'
t argue me on that. I can
'
t get beyond the feeling that he
'
s telling the truth, and that he
'
s as harmless as they come. At least, for now. Sighing, I push the tangle of wet hair from my face.
"
You
'
d better be here when I get back. I mean it.
"
When he nods, I shove the gun into my robe pocket, grab my card-key
,
and slip into the hall to the door next to my own.

Cole
answers to my knock, dark hair slightly mussed from sleep, although he doesn
'
t complain that I
'
ve woken him up. Instead he tips his head, giving my robe and my sour look a quizzical
raise of an eyebrow
.
"
Is everything all right?
"

"
Fred
'
s here,
"
I say. His puzzlement morphs to a frown.

"
Maverick
'
s
...
?
"

"
Yep. My room. He said he needs to talk to you.
"

Cole
'
s gaze travels
to my room. I can tell he
'
s bothered that someone managed to sneak by him and Oliver without them noticing. As he follows me back, he raps lightly on Oliver
'
s door
as we pass
. Daniel answers, watches us heading off with a purpose and a second later, he and Oliver are trailing after.

Inside my room, Fred stands abruptly to see the group I
'
ve brought with me.
"
I said
Cole,
not everyone else.
"

"
Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of all of us.
"
Cole gives him a patient
smile
, arms folding across his chest.

I feel a little bad, watching Fred shrink back into his chair,
staring
all of us like he
'
s waiting to be fed to the wolves. Without thinking too much about it, I sit on the foot of the bed, closer to him. If he
'
s telling the truth, I don
'
t want him to regret showing up here.

Fred glances at me, wetting his lips.
"
Maverick
'
s been having problems ever since Joel came around.
"

"
You think?
"
Oliver mutters. Cole holds up a hand to silence him, nodding for Fred to continue.

"...
I mean, I wasn
'
t around at the time. Alex and I came
last
...
Mav said he was reluctant to turn Joel, but wanted to give him a chance.
"
He pauses, choosing his words carefully.
"
But Joel just kind of
...
stopped listening. It got worse ‘cause Artie and Alex, like, hung on his every word, so all three of them started doing their own thing. Killing without
it being necessary
.
"

What about Ruby?
I bite my tongue to keep from asking.
"
So why not hand him over?
"
I
say
instead.

Fred swivels his stormy eyes toward me.
"
Would you turn over your own family?
"

"
Turning someone
into a vampire
, in a sense, makes them a part of yourself,
"
Cole says softly.
"
Almost like a sibling, or a child.
"

"
Maverick wanted to protect us all, even if it meant taking the punishment for our actions.
"
Fred drops his gaze to his lap.
"
Then the whole thing by the river happened. Briar got turned ‘cause of it,
and
that other girl died. Mav wasn
'
t happy, but Joel and Artie kept going out and more dead people were turning up.
"

"
Unruly children.
"
The ghost of a smile touches Cole
'
s mouth, but it doesn
'
t reach his eyes. Has he dealt with something similar before, I wonder?
"
Continue.
"

Fred shakes his head helplessly.
"
They got into a big argument
the other
night
.
Mav said it was the last straw.
"

"
What was?
"
Oliver asks.

My jaw tenses. I can feel a headache creeping up the back of my neck into my skull.
"
My parents.
"

"
Yeah.
"
Fred pushes his hands through his messy black hair, frustrated.
"
You gotta believe me when I say Mav didn
'
t want any of this to happen. He
'
s willing to take whatever punishment is passed down, but first he wants Joel dealt with. I would say Artie, too, but
..."

Oliver meets my eyes from across my room knowingly.
"
The witch already took care of that one.
"

Fred nods solemnly.
"
Alex is a follower. If Joel
'
s out of the picture, she might fall back in line and do what Maverick tells her.
"

"
And you
'
re just a good little boy who has had nothing to do with any of this, huh?
"
Oliver folds his arms.
"
You came after Briar multiple times.
"

"
For Ruby,
"
he says quickly.
"
I didn
'
t
want to hurt her, I swear. W
hen Maverick told us to stop, I stopped.
"

An opening. I can ask now without it diverting the subject too much.
"
Why does he want Ruby
?
"

A frown touches his face.
"
Everything I know is only what the others have told me. I
'
ve only been with Mav a little over a year. Ruby was gone by the time I joined up.
"

"
Answer the question.
"

"
I was told she didn
'
t want to be under someone
'
s control.
"
He sighs, stands, drifts restlessly to the window.
"
She didn
'
t like taking orders, and she left. Maverick
'
s brother caught her sneaking out, they fought, and she somehow managed to kill him.
"

"
A newly infected vampire overpowering someone that old?
"
Cole asks incredulously.

Fred shrugs.
"
Like I said, I wasn
'
t there. We
'
ve been searching for her ever since, until Maverick told us to stop.
"

Obviously not an order Joel listened to, given what happened yesterday. I purse my lips.
"
Why call off the hunt? Isn
'
t he supposed to keep track of his own infected
,
or whatever?
"

Fred
'
s eyes are on me again, bewildered.
"
What
'
re you talking about?
"
he says.
"
Maverick didn
'
t turn Ruby. Joel did.
"

Fred
'
s words render everything I thought I
'
d learned in the last few weeks utterly useless. Ruby doesn
'
t belong to Maverick, she belongs to Joel. It makes no sense, and yet it makes perfect sense at the same time.