Shadow of Doubt: Part 2 (10 page)

Meet me at the Rum Jungle
– 20 minutes

The phone vibrated a few moments
later.

2 early. Doesn’t open for
hrs
.

Dumb bitch was smart. The phone
vibrated again with a message from Aurora.

I booked my flight.
Everything ok
?

Flight? So Erebus was going to try and
hide her? She’d pull a fast one on him.

Meet me outside Rum J.
Surprise 4 U

Yeah, she had a surprise alright. She
didn’t have to wait long to find out. The phone vibrated
again.

OK. LUV U

Screw pretending to be
Erebus
. She flipped his phone shut and
headed to the downtown bar where she knew the owner. They’d fooled
around a few nights back, and the workers were used to the comings
and goings of women, many of them hookers, through the back door.
The bar’s dirty little secret. No biggie, everyone had dirty
secrets if you dug deep enough. The owner of Rum Jungle had quite
the reputation. With a bit of coaxing, he’d given her a key to the
back door. They’d screwed on the dirty, nasty mattress lying on the
floor. The room would do. She just needed a padlock to keep it
bolted shut from the outside. If the Night Council could hold court
and pass judgment, she would do the same.

Stopping at a hardware store to get a
strong combination lock, she paid and threw it into her purse. She
speed walked the short distance to the Rum Jungle and leaned
against the red brick wall, purposely hiding herself. Tapping her
foot, she continuously looked left and right for a sign of the
stupid, wimpy human.

Erebus’ girl appeared five minutes
later. Nanny stepped directly in front of the girl’s path and
groaned when the girl didn’t stop in time and banged into her. It
didn’t hurt but was just irritating. She focused on changing her
facial expression into a fake friendly one.

“Hello, Aariee.” It took an effort not
to roll her eyes, trying instead to pretend she couldn’t remember
the girl’s name. “I’m not sure you remember me?”

“It’s Aurora, and yeah, I know who you
are.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and a snort of disdain
escaped her lips. “What do you want? Nancy, isn’t it?”

“It’s NANNY.” She tried to put the
stupid smile on her face again and patted Aurora’s tense arm.
“Erebus asked me to meet you out here and escort you
in.”

“Erebus?” Disbelief filled the girl’s
voice.

Nanny waved a hand in the air. “We
sort of made a truce. This is my way of proving to him that it’s
over.” Like hell is was.

“Really?” The girl looked honestly
surprised. “Wow, I didn’t think he’d ever forgive you.” The fake
honey in her voice couldn’t be more transparent.

Nanny felt her eyes narrow as she
scowled. “Do you know a secret you’re not supposed to
know?”

“Secret? I’d hardly call it that.”
Aurora rubbed her hands together against the cold. “He mentioned
you two had a relationship. He also didn’t seem too interested in
ever being friends with you.”

The human might not know anything.
Nanny almost laughed aloud. The stupid girl would find out once
they had a private conversation in the basement of the Rum Jungle.
A little questioning-the-witness would get the bitch talking.
Blinking, Nanny made her face as blank as she could. She faked a
giggle. “Hey, I’m doing this, then I’m outta here. I’m not into the
romantic crap, but I guess Erebus is.” That should help. Let the
girl think Erebus had told her about their relationship. It was
obvious this girl cared for him, they always did, and he probably
thought he was in love her. Blah!

“Whatever. Where is he?”

“I’ll take you to him right
now.”

“Fine. Let’s go.” Aurora stepped
around Nanny and began walking.

“Not so fast. It’s this way.” She
pointed towards the semi-lit alley between the Rum Jungle and the
building beside it. “He’s around back.” She held her arm out and
waited for Aurora to turn and head down the path. She followed
close behind. Only an idiot would go down a dark alley and not
sense danger. Could Erebus seriously think he needed this
dummy?

They were halfway down the alley when
Aurora began talking. She spoke quietly, but Nanny could hear the
steel in her voice.

“Just so you know, I’m not
an idiot. I know Erebus is not here. I’m only going along with your
crap so the two of us can have a
polite
conversation, without
interruption. I really think it would be in your best interest if
you headed back to New York or went somewhere else. Erebus has had
enough of you. Whatever you’re selling, he’s not
interested.”

They came to the end of the alley.
Nanny grabbed Aurora’s shoulder and veered her right, towards the
back door of the Rum Jungle.

“There’s a room at the back of the
bar, down in the basement. We can talk there. I haven’t been around
this town long enough to know a better spot.”

“No surprise your place of privacy
would be in the basement of a bar. Doesn’t say much for the brain,”
Aurora mumbled but Nanny caught every word.

“What did you say?”

“I’m pretty sure you heard me.” Aurora
stepped to the side and waited for Nanny to lead the way. “You can
go first. I don’t need you pushing me down the steps. I know enough
about you not to trust you, but right now I don’t care. We’ll talk
and then you can leave this town and especially Erebus
alone.”

We’ll see about
that
. Nanny stopped in front of Aurora and
down the stairs. They walked around the men carrying kegs of beer
into the back of the bar for the night’s business. Several whistled
and jeered at them. Nanny figured it was mostly because of her
tight leather pants and voluptuous chest. Men thoroughly enjoyed
her sexy body. Shame she had to stand beside the ratty human girl.
She gave the men a charming I’ll-see-you-soon smile.

Stale air mixed with a rotten, musty
odour hit them from the back of the bar basement. After leading
Aurora down the narrow flight of stairs, Nanny pulled the chain to
turn on the light at the bottom of the steps. She opened the old
cellar door on the right and reached for the old-fashion push
button switch. The light flickered and finally stayed on. It was
low wattage, but it gave off enough light that they could see each
other’s faces.

“Nice place you got here.” Aurora
scoffed. She pointed to the stained mattress on the floor and used
her hand to sweep the room.

“Have a seat.” Nanny pointed to the
steel table with the two 1970s bar stools beside it.

Aurora walked over to the table,
crossed her hands behind her back, and turned. “I’ll
stand.”

“Whatever.”

“Get to your point, Nanny. I don’t
feel like looking at your slimy face any longer than I have to.”
Aurora rolled her eyes. “Say what you have to say. I’ll tell you
what I think and then get away from Erebus.”

“
Don’t be rude,” Nanny
tutted. “I want to know what you think you’re doing with my Erebus.
And what you know about our kind.”

“Your kind?” Aurora laughed, though it
sounded kind of forced. “You some kind of special person?” She
shook her head. “Impossible. Maybe royalty? Wait! I know it. You’re
a vampire, right?” A sound of forced air escaped her lips.
“Whatever vampire you think you are, I don’t care. I hate to
disappoint you, but I know Erebus isn’t. We’ve had a few rolls in
the hay.” She pointed to the mattress on the ground. “Though I must
admit, it’s been in a lot better places than this pit. Anyway, he
doesn’t bite.” She grinned and leaned back to rest her butt against
the table.

“Vampire?” Nanny spat the word out.
“You little cu—”

“No need to be rude.”

Nanny clenched her fists, trying to
control the urge to wipe the smug look off the little girl’s face.
“You have no idea what I am, or what I’m capable of. You have all
of tomorrow to think about it. I’m not a gentle person. I don’t
have sincerity, sympathy, or a conscience. I’m extremely proficient
in wheedling out what I want to know and making people
suffer.”

“Like you’ve done to
Erebus.”

That hit a nerve. She
slapped Aurora hard across the face. “I’ve never done anything
malicious or hurtful to him. We
belong
together. You have no clue,
nor would your little mind be able wrap itself around
it.”

Aurora kept her hands at her sides,
her left cheek burning a bright red. Nanny had to give her a tiny
bit of credit; the girl had a backbone.

“I will have him,” Nanny enunciated
each word. “I don’t share. He’ll realize his rightful place after
one moment in my arms –”

“You mean, between your legs.” Aurora
smirked. “It seems he’s not interested in that, either.”

“Shut up!” Nanny shouted and punched
Aurora hard in the stomach. The girl instantly bent and hugged her
stomach, she began gasping awkward, painful-sounding breaths. Nanny
reached over and pushed the back of Aurora’s head down and wouldn’t
let her straighten up. She thought of how one of the ladies on the
Night Council would react and she let go of Aurora’s head, but not
before pulling hard on the girl’s hair. She hissed, “I’ll break
that spirit of yours, before I’m through, and take great pleasure
in the process. You’re no match, and I have years of experience at
this particular thing.” She moved with lightning speed to the door
and checked her wrist. “By the time I’m through, you won’t even
have the memories. You stupid girl.” She quickly stepped into the
hall and slammed the door as she heard Aurora come stumbling
towards it. She leaned her full weight against it and pulled the
padlock out of her purse. She could hear Aurora’s muffled yelling
and pounding on the door. It was faint enough. No one would hear
her when the bar was busy tonight.

The lock clicked shut, and Nanny
straightened her short jacket. She grabbed her red lipstick out of
her purse and applied it before heading back up the stairs. She
giggled in anticipation of the things she planned to do to Aurora
tomorrow evening. It was going to be fun breaking that girl’s
spirit. Nanny was up for the job. She enjoyed a tough
challenge.

Stepping outside, she winked at a
dark-haired bodyguard carrying a keg on his shoulder. She put an
exaggerated wiggle in her hips as she rounded the corner to the
alley. Her thoughts turned to Erebus, and she smiled. After
spending tonight in bed together, he might even want to watch her
do her magic on Aurora.

*****

Erebus shuddered as reality came back
in the form of the taxi cab driver telling him they were at the Rum
Jungle. He tossed a fifty at the driver and tore down the alley to
the back of the building. Paying no attention to the shouts from
the bartenders or bouncers, he ran inside and down the steps. He
twirled in the lock combination he recited from Nanny’s memory and
pulled. It easily clicked open. He grasped the handle to swing the
door open.

Relief pulsed through his veins when
he saw Aurora sitting on a bar stool in the far corner of the room.
Her hair poked out in matted directions, her clothes were dirty and
her hands were filthy, like she’d been trying to claw her way out.
She had a long scratch and nasty looking bruise starting to turn
purple on the side her face.

He tried to ignore the murderous look
on her face. It was enough to stop him from running over and taking
her in his arms. She looked madder than Nanny ever had.

“Want to get out of here?” He stood
frozen by the door.

She said nothing. She just got off the
stool, grabbed her coat, and stomped past him. Head down, he simply
followed.

Chapter 9

Breaking

Silent, Erebus unlocked the door to
his apartment, letting Aurora enter first. She stormed past him,
smashing her hand against the switch to flick the lights on and
kicking her shoes off to slam against the closet door. She swore
when her coat didn’t come off fast enough and whipped it onto the
couch’s arm. She threw her purse at her coat but, in her
frustration, aimed too high, and it landed with a thud on the
floor, behind the couch.

“I assume you stopped Nanny?” Aurora
barked.

Erebus nodded, unable to speak and not
sure of where to start. He had to say something. “I’m sorry. She
didn’t really hurt you, right? Let me get a cool cloth and clean
your cut.”

“No, don’t! I’ll do it
myself.” She took two steps and spun around. “Forget this,” she
muttered to herself. “You know what? I’ve had it.” That was
directed right at Erebus. She shook her head, her entire body
shaking. “I’ve had plenty of time to think about it the past
twenty-four hours. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t
know whether I’m coming or going. Or what’s going on with you. Is
there going to be some other
thing
coming to hunt you down? Or decide to take me out
of the picture?”

“What?” Erebus couldn’t think. He
forgot how to move. He recognized, at that very moment, what was
about to happen. The door clicking shut behind him echoed his
thoughts as he strode into the living room. Deep down, he knew this
was inevitable – he just didn’t want it to, not after everything
that had happened.