Authors: Bryan Smith

The Dark Ones (37 page)

BOOK: The Dark Ones

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“No.”

“Well, then.”

Mark grinned. “I like the way this day is starting. It doth bode auspiciously, as Clay might say.”

Natasha giggled. She was already getting a little tipsy. “It doth, it doth.”

Curing one of the few lulls in their conversation, Mark’s attention was drawn to a news report airing on the TV mounted on the wall behind the bar. “Have you heard about this?”

Natasha squinted at the TV. “Oh. Yeah. That serial-killer thing up in Tennessee.”

Mark nodded and kept staring at the television. “Our old stomping grounds. I’ve been following it pretty closely. The perp’s been leaving a trail of bodies all over the midstate area for years. Cops won’t say why, but they think the killer’s a woman. They’re calling her ‘Jane the Ripper.’”

Natasha chuckled. “Cute.”

“Maybe you’ll get to play her in a movie someday and win an Oscar.”

Natasha smiled. “Maybe.”

They talked and drank a little longer. The booze loosened them up, wiping away some of the natural awkwardness caused by the long years apart. She touched him now and then to emphasize a conversational point. Some of the touches lingered longer than others. Jared and Clay wandered in after a while and there were more rounds of hugs and expressions of happiness at seeing her again. There was some more catching up. Feeling the booze a little more, Natasha surprised herself by broaching the subject of that last night in Ransom. She told them she’d tried to forget it had ever happened, but a part of her always came back to the question of how the demon’s spell had been broken. So they told her all about it, taking turns as they told the tale from different perspectives. It was a chilling tale, but it had an amusing coda. Clayton bought the abandoned property for a song and had the house encased in concrete blocks. “It’s finally idiot-proof.”

The conversation took another somber turn as the subject of Derek McGregor came up. “Like you, he got to looking for us and came down here a while back.” Jared sipped from a Corona bottle from the other side of the bar, where he’d taken up what was apparently his usual position. “He was in rough shape. You know, real skinny and haggard. Pale. He was all fucked up.”

Natasha’s nose crinkled. “Drugs?”

Jared nodded. “Yep. We tried to help him, but by then he was beyond help. He died a little later. They found him in an alley near here. Had my phone number in his pocket. I had to identify the body. Saddest goddamn thing I ever had to do.”

“Jesus. That’s terrible.”

“Yeah.”

A brief silence ensued as they all thought about the Derek they remembered. Then a few words were said in tribute to his memory and they moved on. No one was really in the mood to dwell too long on anything so depressing. There were more laughs and stories about the more fondly remembered aspects of the past, of which there were more than any of them would’ve guessed.

As much as she enjoyed catching up with Jared and Clayton, she was relieved when Mark suggested they leave so she could check out his place and confirm it constituted suitable lodgings for a celebrity of her stature. They walked out of the bar and strolled hand in hand down the sidewalk.

She felt something relax inside her.

She hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time. It was wonderful to be with Mark again. Maybe nothing much would come of it. It was possible they just weren’t meant to be together. But at least this time they’d have a chance to find out.

She relaxed even more as she made her decision.

I’ll tell him about Justin
, she thought.
Tonight
.

Then we’ll decide what to do
.

Together
.

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