The Company of Darkness (15 page)

“Am I going to have to call the manager?” the same guy complained.  He didn’t seem like the confrontational sort, but then again, she wouldn’t have pegged Ethan for the type either.

“Go ahead and call him, see if I care,” Ethan shrugged.  “Maybe he can wipe your ass in the bathroom too.” 

“Your boyfriend’s a dick,” the man delivered a last scowl in her direction and turned back around again.

“Hey,” Cady whispered, tugging on Ethan’s arm when he looked like he might get up from his seat.  “I know you don’t have much in the way of social skills, but you used to be polite, remember?  What happened to the
no, thank you
bit?” 

“That guy’s being a tool.”

“He’s just trying to watch the movie.”

“Well, the movie sucks.”

“Sir?”  A teenaged kid in a red vest approached them, clutching a flashlight with both hands.  “I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you don’t settle down.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Ethan snorted, turning his eyes back to the screen.

“Sir, if you’ll just…”

“Fuck off, I’m trying to watch the movie with my girl.”

“Maybe we should go,” Cady suggested, looping the strap of her purse onto her arm. 

“Yeah, listen to your girl and let the rest of us watch the fucking movie.  And maybe leave the ‘roids at home next time,” the guy in front of them chimed in and Cady suppressed a groan as Ethan leapt to his feet. 

“What did you say to me?” he demanded. 

“I said leave the steroids at home.”  The other guy got to his feet as well and Cady noticed he was at least six inches taller than Ethan, but lankier, bordering on skinny.

“Sir, if you’ll just…”

Ignoring the employee, Ethan vaulted over a row of seats, grabbing the tall guy by the shirt with one hand, the other flashing out in a single strike to the throat that had the guy gasping and choking, doubled over in shock and pain. 

“Ethan!” Cady yelled as his arm cocked back to deliver another blow, bending over the back of the seats to grab at his jacket.  He let go of the tall guy who crumpled to the ground, still making a horrible, wheezing sound.  “Come on, let’s go.”  She yanked at his arm, hard enough to pull Ethan off balance, but all he did was stare down at the man stupidly.  “I said let’s go!” 

“Shit… I’m sorry,” Ethan murmured.  Only then did he move, grabbing hold of her hand as they reached the aisle, pulling her toward the emergency exit at the front of the theater. 

The movie forgotten, a small crowd of people gathered around the tall guy and she could tell the kid in the uniform was calling for some kind of help, but that was the last thing she saw as she let him pull her out into the rear parking lot. 

Working hard to run in her heels, it was all Cady could do to keep up with Ethan as he led her out of the lot to a white coupe parked on the street.  Only then did he let go of her, the car speeding off down the street the second the passenger’s side door closed. 

“What’s going on?” she demanded, desperately reaching for the seatbelt as he careened around a corner.   Ethan didn’t reply, his concentration fixed on the road ahead, a sheen of sweat across his brow and the backs of his hands despite the cooler night air.  “Ethan, answer me.  Why did you flip out like that back there?”

His lips quirked, but he made no answer, looking like he changed his mind at the last moment.  “I’m sorry,” he said finally, clearing his throat. 

“Don’t say you’re sorry to me, apologize to the guy you attacked in the theater.”

They drove along in silence, his speed slowing the farther away they got from the theater.  He took her in the opposite direction of her building but Cady didn’t care; she wanted to get to the bottom of things, not be dropped off at home.  Ethan didn’t stop until he reached a small strip of parking down by the water, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.  Turning off the car, they sat in silence and Cady waited, but he didn’t tear his gaze from the water. 

Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through the feeds, stopping when she found the first reports of the incident.  “This is bad,” she frowned as she skimmed over the details.  “This is really bad.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You crushed that guy’s windpipe.  He’s in the hospital right now breathing through a hole in his neck.”  The details were bare beyond that, with no mention of either of them specifically, only that both a man and a woman were sought for questioning about the event.

“I don’t know how it happened.”  Ethan tugged at the neckline of his t-shirt, rubbing the back of his neck before turning the engine back on and cranking up the air conditioning at full blast. 

“I do.  You lost control.  Seriously lost it.”  And he was still lost, judging from the agitated movements.  He looked like he was about ready to jump out of his own skin.  “What’s going on with you right now, Ethan?” she asked, making her voice softer.

“I don’t know.  I was fine and then you pushed me away and…”

“Oh, so this is my fault now?”

“No, of course not.”  He gripped the steering wheel tight, the plastic creaking.  “Shit. I just… I felt so… like I couldn’t stand it unless I was touching you, and then when he started talking smack I…”  Ethan shook his head.  “I don’t know what happened.”

“This isn’t normal,” she said softly, her thoughts running to another man who had uncontrollable violent urges.  Not a man – a demon.

“I know, I fucked up.”

“Did you?  Or is it something else?”

Ethan didn’t even look at her, too lost in his own self recrimination.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if it’s not you that’s making you act so crazy.  What if it’s Ash?”

“Ash is bound, I’ve told you that time and again.  He’s gone, we never have to worry about him ever again.”  His hands shook in obvious anxiety and Cady reached out to hold one, testing something out. 

“Hey, come here.”  She laid her other hand against his cheek and pulled him close, kissing him softly.  Under her touch his tension eased, and his breathing evened out, but before it became too intimate, she broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his.  “Do you feel better now?”

“I do.  I always feel better when I’m with you.”

The words should’ve been sweet and romantic, but they curdled her stomach like acid.  “I think it’s because Ash is influencing your behavior.  I’ve been noticing small things, ever since you bound him.  At first I wasn’t sure, because, well… we don’t know each other all that well yet, but now, now I think that’s what this is.”

“I told you, that’s ridiculous.”

“No, please listen to what I have to say.  Ever since we first had sex you’ve changed.  Not in that way normal boyfriends change when you finally give it up, but you’re more reckless, more… not needy exactly, but you act like you can’t stand it when we’re apart.”

“Are you saying you don’t feel that way too?”

“Of course I feel like that, but I’m a girl.”  A roll of the eyes was given.  “You’re supposed to be this tightly controlled Company man who shunts all of his emotions away when there’s a job to be done.  At least, you used to be.  And don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy you embracing your feminine side and all, that’s probably why I didn’t think too deeply on it at first, but it doesn’t seem like it’s you.  Then there was your blowing off your assignment to invite me to your stakeout.  I didn’t really think you’d let me come over when I suggested it.”

“So you’d rather I kept you at arm’s length?”  Ethan looked utterly baffled and she took pity on him, holding his hand in her lap.

“No.  What I’m saying is… tell me you don’t feel different lately?  Look back at your behavior and tell me you’ve seriously never doubted your own actions before tonight’s craziness.”  It was easy to see he couldn’t from the way he hung his head.  “And there’s something else.  Something I should’ve told you right away, but I didn’t want to believe it’s true.”

“Tell me,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. 

“Ash came to me the night we spent in the hotel.”  She said it fast, like ripping off a Band-Aid.  “At first I thought it was just a dream, but now… Now I think he was reaching out to me.  He said he could feel me whenever you and I are close.  And with the two of us sleeping in the same bed after we’d just…”

“It’s not possible.  Demons are trapped, they have no influence on the host, no power.”

“But didn’t you say Ash was different?  He was much stronger than you’d seen before, and before you bound him, you invited him in.  What if that somehow changed things?”

“It’s not possible,” he insisted stubbornly.  “Because if I let him touch you… if I let him near…”  Ethan looked positively sick. 

“It’s still you touching me.  I mean, you haven’t lost any time, right?  It’s not like he’s taking you over, he’s just sort of hitching along for the ride.”  She kept her voice light despite the way it made her flesh crawl to think Ash might be getting his jollies every time she touched Ethan.

“No, I’m not losing time, but this is almost as bad.  Christ, why didn’t I see it before?  I’ve been letting him screw with me this whole time and now people are getting hurt.”  Tearing his hand from her grasp, he got out of the car, his steps brisk but without focus, stopping and turning when he got to the water’s edge, like he didn’t know which way to go. 

Cady climbed out after him, waiting for him to slow down before she approached.  “Hey, it’s not your fault.  At least, I hope it’s not.”  It was tempting to believe it was Ash bringing out the worst of his mood swings, because at least that way, Ethan wasn’t to blame for losing it and attacking the guy in the theater.  If he was… if he was capable of that kind of casual violence, then she had to seriously rethink where they stood, whether she wanted to or not. 

“My fault or not, I’ve put you in danger, exposed you to that, that, that…”

“I’m not in any danger, not anymore.  Now that I know what to look for I can take steps.  I can keep myself safe.”

“That’s supposed to be
my
job.”

“We just have to hang on until you get him offloaded, right?  Then things will go back to normal.”

“Normal?” He made a sound, like a snort but it ended on a choked sob.  “I don’t know what normal is, not after doing this for so many years, but I for damn sure know it’s not my life.” 

“Normal for us then,” she said with a gentle smile, laying her hands on his arms.  The touch worked, the tension draining from his body again and his head leaned forward to touch hers. 

“I don’t deserve you.”

“I know, but I don’t mind you trying to make it up to me.  I accept all forms of chocolate, by the way.”

Ethan cracked a smile.  It was brief, but it was there right enough.  Cady hated to chase it away again, but there was something else that needed saying now that they were laying everything out in the open. 

“So, I should probably tell you about a conversation I had with Detective Lucas.”

Sure enough, the smile retreated at her declaration.  “When did you see him?”

“He came to the wedding.”

“Penny invited Lucas?”

“No, he sort of crashed it, but that’s not important.  What he had to say is, though.”  Cady laid out the basics of what he’d found out about Rikard and his theories on the Company, worried when she saw how tightly wound Ethan got at the news. 

“The son of a bitch is going to get himself killed,” he muttered.

“I’m more worried about what it means if he’s right about all of this,” Cady said, watching him carefully when she laid out the theory that’d been simmering in the back of her mind since Lucas raised the questions.  “I think he might be right about the mercenary idea.” 

“What?”  Clearly that wasn’t what he’d been expecting her to say and her hands came up in a supplicating gesture, words tumbling out before he could object.

“Think about it.  You said anyone can have a demon bound to them, and that’s part of what they do when you offload them, right?  They’re put into regular people, not other reapers.”

“So?”

“So why do that?  Why have people with a demon bound to them in the first place?  I get why the need for reapers, but why is there a need to make people tougher?”

“To do the sort of things I did before I became a reaper.  There are other things out there besides demons, remember?”

Cady licked her lips, warming to the subject.  “Sure, but how much of what you did was to stop scary monsters?   What was that surveillance deal about the other day?  How do you know you weren’t working as a mercenary to whoever the Company rented you out to?”

Ethan’s brows drew together tight enough to pinch the skin between them.  “Because they don’t do that.”

“But how do you know that?  People with military training like you have, with a demon bound for added strength, healing, speed… that sounds like the perfect mercenary.  And you’ve said it before, you’ve had to kill people in the past.  Did you ever ask why?”

“No, of course not.”

“Why not?”

“Because they were my orders and I trusted them.”

“You trusted the people who put
demons
inside you?”  She shook her head slowly.

“I trusted that I was working for the right side, that’s good enough for me.”

“And maybe you were.  But maybe, just maybe, Lucas is onto something here.”  It explained why someone like Rikard was needed, and it explained the need for absolute secrecy. 

“Maybe Lucas is poking around where he has no business.  If he doesn’t watch it I might have to take steps,” he scowled and Cady’s throat went dry.

“You mean kill him?”

“I mean I’ll do what it takes to keep the Company’s secrets if they ask me to.”

“Even if that means murdering an innocent man?”

“He’s the one poking around where he shouldn’t be.”

“So for that he deserves to die?”

Ethan turned around and stormed off like he was done with the conversation, and she wasn’t sure whether to go after him, or let him blow off some steam, but he came back after a few paces.  “Whatever happens to him, he’s bringing it upon himself.  It’s not like he hasn’t been warned.”

Something about the way he said it, as if he absolutely believed the righteousness of it in his heart of hearts made her stomach clench with dread.  “You’d do it, wouldn’t you?  You’d actually kill him if they gave the order.”

“Cady…” He started forward, but she stepped back, maintaining the cushion of space between them.

“Would you kill me if they asked you to?”

“No, of course not.”  At least he had the courtesy to look shocked.

“Fine, what about Kelli?” she pressed.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“No, I’m serious.  If the order came down to kill Kelli because she was blabbing about the Company to people, would you kill her?”  Cady swallowed the lump of emotion that rose in her throat.  “Would you kill Ian?”

Ethan’s already deep voice dropped, the timbre pricking at the hairs on the back of her neck.  “This is pointless, I’m not going to answer that.”

“Because it’s true and you know it.  Is that the kind of boss you want to be working for?  One that asks you to kill without question?”

His eyes hardened, lips pressed together before he spoke.  “Look, I do what I’m told and let them sort out the morality of it.  Stop arguing about things you know nothing about,” he glowered.

“Then stop saying stupid stuff!” she yelled back.  Before she could say another word, Ethan grabbed her and kissed her, hard.  As much as Cady liked kissing him, she wasn’t in the mood at all, and she pushed at his shoulders, turning her head to one side.  “Hey, knock it off.  Maybe fighting makes you horny, but I’m not into that.”

“I only want to love you,” he said, lips moving across her cheek and something inside her snapped.  Her arm cocked back, fist pumping out to hit him as hard as she could, landing a punch square on the mouth.  Ethan let go of her, a mixture of anger and shock coloring his features as she shoved him away, her hands shaking with fear.  He swiped at the corner of his mouth, smearing blood across the back of his hand and she saw it the moment he realized what he’d said and what it meant.