Storykiller (24 page)

Robin looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s almost three, we all need rest,” he turned to look at Brand and Micah, “Do your parents even know where you are?” They both pointed at the other one without looking up. “Oh,” he said, “Okay, well then, sleep. Regroup once we’ve done more research.”

Snow and Fenris were gone before he even turned around.

The shaft of light from the hall cut out and Tessa looked up to see Fenris standing just outside her bedroom door. She brushed a tear away, embarrassed, hoping his keen eyesight couldn’t see
that
well into her dark room.

“What?” she asked.

He pushed the door open slightly, causing the shaft of light to fall across her feet.

“The plan is to re-group once we know more.”

Tessa stood up and crossed her arms. “Alright.” When he didn’t go, she stared at him, trying to make out his face in the shadows. It was impossible. “Something you want to say?”

“Just wondering what happened to the first plan.”

“What plan?” Tessa asked, a harsh note climbing into her voice.

“Weren’t we going after Robin’s tied-up Troll when we were ambushed?”

Tessa’s blood ran cold. “Are you implying something?”

“Not at all,” he paused, and then ticked his head to the side, examining her in that way he did. She didn’t need to see his face to know his expression. “Later, luv.”

Tessa sat back down on the bed, winded, like she’d been punched in the stomach.

A few minutes later, Robin knocked on Tessa’s door. “Tessa?”

“Come in.”

“Snow and Fenris left,” he started.

“Yeah, he came by, said he’d be back.”

“Of course he did,” Robin said under his breath, leaning against Tessa’s dresser. When Tessa didn’t say anything, he looked at her. “You okay?”

“Um.”

“What else did he say?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” he said.

“Well, it is.”

Silence hung between them. “I’d like to stay,” he said finally, but it sounded unsure. Tessa looked up at him for the first time, and there was enough moon from the window that she could see his face. Open and honest. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t what Fenris had suggested. She’d been wrong to even think it. And she was mad at herself for letting Fenris so easily push her in that direction. This was what he did.

“I’d feel better if you did stay,” Tessa said, smiling.

“Brand and Micah are staying,” he said. “I think we should stay close together, at least for the night. All on the same level. I’ll put them in your father’s room, and I’ll sleep on your floor,” he paused, now in the open doorway. “If that’s acceptable to you, of course.”

“I can stay on the floor,” she offered.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, and called out as he went down the stairs, “I’m a hero for hell’s sake.” Tessa smiled and shook her head. She had a crush on Robin freaking Hood. A serious, full-blown, monster crush. What on Earth would happen next in her life when something like THAT was true? Robin was so perfect for her it was as if she’d dreamed him up and that frightened her a little. More than a little if she was honest with herself, but she didn’t feel like being honest right now. Besides, there were far more important things going on than crushes. She went into her bathroom, and when she came out, Micah and Brand were rooting around in a hall closet for blankets. Tessa went to help and they stopped.

“You okay, Tess?” Micah asked.

“I’m fine,” she said, but it sounded sad, even to her.

“Tess,” Brand started, “You know what happened with Bishop wasn’t your fault, right?”

Tessa pulled down a big blanket from a top shelf and handed it to her friends. “Then whose fault was it?”

“Not yours,” Micah said. “Nobody’s, I think.”

“That’s not how it feels,” Tessa said, taking down another blanket and a fluffy comforter as well as an extra pillow for Robin. “You guys will
be okay in there?” Tessa asked, glancing at her father’s bedroom.

“Yeah,
of course,” they said together.

“Where’s Robin?” Tessa asked,
looking over the railing to the downstairs.

“He’s getting rid of the Franken-Dog,” Brand said, “And the blood.” Tessa nodded and went into her room to make up a spot on the floor for Robin. She heard Micah and Brand talking in the next room.

Once they were quiet, the house felt eerily still after so much activity. So much had happened in the last week, hell, the last twenty-four hours, Tessa wasn’t sure if it was even possible for her brain to process it. And then she decided she liked it better before. When there had been so many emergencies that she didn’t have time to think what it all meant. To think about what she was feeling.

To be
so
afraid.

To feel the fear and insecurity closing around her like a shroud. Now, in the lull of the house, the quiet
before whatever it was that was going to happen tomorrow, all she could do was worry and wait.

Brand and Micah were in the backyard with Robin, working on some basic training when Tessa got up. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and then pulled on some clothes and went out to watch. When she did, Brand and Micah looked terribly relived and both made bathroom excuses.

Tessa leaned against the doorframe and watched Robin shoot arrows into a large tree at the end of the yard. They were all clustered tightly on a knot just off-center of the trunk. She tried very hard to think things other than ‘hott, double t, hott.’

“How’d they do?” Tessa asked when he was between shots. He looked back at her.

“They have a lot of enthusiasm,” he said, a bit grimly. Tessa chuckled and walked over to a wooden picnic table that had a handful of weapons laid out, both hers and Robin’s.

“That bad?”

He shook his head no. “Just new. They’ll get better. Micah has some promise in hand to hand, some martial arts training from when she was young, she said. It’ll come back to her. She’s not so fond of the weapons though. I think they frighten her.”

“Rightly so,” Tessa said, fingering the point of a dagger that lay on the table. “And Brand?”

Robin winced a bit. “He’s fast, which is good, but he’s still going through a slightly awkward phase. It’s getting in his way. He’s got a lot of heart though, very ‘never give up.’ H
e’ll get better,” he nodded to himself as he nocked another arrow. Tessa rolled up on him as he drew the string back.

“Teach
me
,” she said, standing very close to him, eyeing his target. Robin looked at her and accidentally let the arrow go. It flew over the fence and into the woods. Tessa giggled. “I thought you were supposed to be freaking Robin Hood,” she teased, and then turned to look at him only to find his eyes trained intensely on her. Tessa thought that if you could bottle the kind of intensity he had in just his eyes, you could sell it and retire a millionaire. It was bewitching. Irresistible.

He handed her the bow and a single arrow from his quiver without saying a word. Tessa set her feet and raised the bow.

“I thought you were right-handed,” he said.

“I’m ambidextrous,” she said, shrugging as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Robin laughed loudly at the sky. “Of course you are.”

“What’s funny?”

“Nothing. Just,
of course
The Last Scion is ambidextrous, you come with all the advantages.”

Tessa bristled slightly, “Maybe because it’s all of you against just one of me.”

Robin softened. “Not all of us.” He stood behind her and adjusted her form, touching her arms and then legs, little bits of electricity shooting through her when he did. Tessa nocked the arrow.

“Like this?” she asked. He nodded. She raised the bow again and aimed. “Like this?” He was so close to her that she felt him nod his head.

“Yes.”

Tessa drew back on the string. She liked the feeling of it, this power, just primed and ready to be released. “What am I aiming for
specifically
?” she asked.

“Let’s just start with the tree in general,” he said. Tessa smiled and felt his hand move to her hip as he slid to the side to check her aim. “It looks good,” he said, his voice quiet.

“Yes,” she said, and narrowed her eyes, concentrating. She released the arrow, and the surge of it leaving her was almost as awesome as the sound of it striking the tree with a powerful thwack. Her arrow landed dead center of his already tight cluster.

“Tova lo,” he breathed. “You’re a natural.”

Tessa smiled. “What’s ‘Tova’?” she asked.

Robin smiled. “It’s a swear word.”

“One of the big ones?”

“The biggest.” He moved to take the bow from her. She didn’t let it go. Their hands met and she felt the same surge of electricity. It wasn’t lessening with time, if anything it was getting more intense. Tessa looked down at their hands and wondered if it felt the same for him. He was so close she imagined she could feel the heat of him through her clothing
.

“Tessa…I…” Robin started, and Tessa could sense there was some speech coming her way, some speech she didn’t want to hear just now. Instead, she moved even closer to him.

“Don’t say it,” she said, her lips inches from his.

Brand and Micah coughed dramatically from the patio stairs and then giggled like schoolgirls as Tessa and Robin separated.

“Yeah, okay, back to it.” Robin said, and she could swear he was blushing. She went back inside just as the doorbell rang, several times. It couldn’t be Fenris with his inability to use doorbells, but she thought it might be Snow, so she wasn’t prepared when she opened the door to find Detectives Wade and Ripley standing there.

“Um. Hi,” Tessa said.

“Miss Battle,” Wade said. “May we come in?”

“Uh. Sure?” Tessa said, sounding like she was guessing and looking behind her to see if there was anything horribly incriminating laying around. Things looked reasonably together, she hoped the illusion would hold. Wade stepped across the threshold with Ripley following close behind.

Tessa hoped everyone would stay in the backyard until they were gone, and her hopes were immediately dashed when Brand and Micah walked in, fortunately not carrying any weapons.

“Uh. Hey,” Brand said. Micah ducked her head and cleaned her glasses on the edge of her sweatshirt. Tessa groaned inside, they couldn’t have looked guiltier if they’d tried.

“Miss Chen and Mr. Ellis,” Wade said smiling. “How fortuitous, we were just at your homes.”

“Kay,” Brand said.

Ripley looked at Tessa. “Could I trouble you for some water?”

“Sure,” Tessa said, padding into the kitchen, hoping he wouldn’t follow her. He did and almost crashed into Robin. Tessa got Ripley a glass and mentally thanked the universe that he’d
left his bow outside.

“Hello,” Ripley said to Robin, who nodded and did not speak. As Tessa handed the glass to the Detective, she noticed Robin’s hands were almost white he was clenching them so hard. “Your boyfriend?” Ripley asked, looking at Tessa.

Tessa shook her head. “Just a friend,” she said, smiling politely.

Robin was tense; it was coming off of him in waves, nearly palpable in the room. The word anarchy echoed in Tessa’s mind, and her palms started sweating. She remembered his comment about his dislike for Snow and worried what being around actual Mortal authority figures would do to him. Judging by the set of his jaw, it was freaking him the hell out. Ripley nodded and turned back to the living room. He sat next to Wade, across from Brand and Micah, who already looked like they’d been put under hot lights for an hour. Tessa followed Ripley while Robin hovered in the doorway, conflicted.

“And who are you?” Wade asked as she noticed Robin. Tessa saw Robin through cop eyes and cringed. He had ‘troublesome bad-boy type’ written all over him.

“Robin,” he said flatly.

“Boyfriend?” Wade asked Ripley.

“Friend,” Ripley said, smiling. Tessa liked Ripley more than Wade. Wade got under her skin in a way that made her want to itch like mad. That probably made her a good Detective in some ways, but Tessa felt sure she’d confess something to Ripley before Wade if she had the option. Wade wrote something in her notebook.

“Last name?” she asked, without looking up. Robin just looked at her, his eyes sharp in his face. Wade looked up and met his eyes, unblinking.

“Locke,” he said, his jaw tightening visibly.

Tessa stepped forward, trying to draw their attention away from him. “So, what brings you here, Detectives?” Tessa asked, taking a seat in a chair across from them.

“It appears your two friends here—Mr. Ellis and Miss Chen—were the last people to see Mr. Bishop alive,” Ripley said.

Tessa blinked. “Um…okay?”

“And when did
you
last see him?”

“In his office that day,” Tessa said, stumbling only slightly. It was a lie, she’d never met him before that horrible night at Bluebeard’s, but she now had to cover for the book she’d said she’d loaned him when she got caught in his office. This was how people got caught. Lies. Lies stacked upon lies stacked upon lies, until you tripped over one and fell on your damn face.

“But you didn’t see him after school that day, in front of your house?”

“No,” Tessa said, a bit confused, since she hadn’t. That wasn’t a lie.

“Because the witness that saw Mr. Bishop with your friends here, saw them right in front of your house.”

“Well, I wasn’t there,” Tessa said.

“She wasn’t there. We had been talking to her, but she went in her house and then we were walking home,” Brand said.

“And that’s when you saw Mr. Bishop?” Ripley filled in.

“Yeah but just for, like, a second,” Micah said, and then looked at her feet. Wade’s eyes flicked over to Robin, whose gaze could best be described as restrained hatred.

“So can you tell us anything about the last time you saw Mr. Bishop then, Miss Chen? Mr. Ellis?

“He just like, absentmindedly said hi, like he was looking for something, that was it,” Brand said.

“And in six hours, he was dead, along with a Mr. Rene Severin,” Wade filled in.