The Keepers (The Alchemy Series) (6 page)

His pale blue eyes looked back at me. I’d never seen eyes of such a pale blue. I
also saw hardness, or perhaps cynicism, in them.

“You see things in black and white because you’re young.”

“Don’t you even try to lecture me. You just had someone try to kill me for doing nothing. If not understanding that is a fault of youth, then you can keep the wisdom you gained in that extra ten years, Mr. Older and Wiser. You’re a joke.”

Any softness I thought I had glimpsed quickly disappeared. He stood and looked at me now with harshness. “I wish I had the option of making choices only for myself. I can’t be that selfish. Maybe when you grow up you’ll understand that.”

“Yes, when I hit thirty and I know it all, I’m sure I’ll understand, then.”

“Don’t you even want to know what you are? Or are you too stubborn to even admit that you
’re clueless?” he asked. He was staring at me intently and it was making every cell of my being feel more alive and intense than I’d ever felt in my life. That made me hate him even more.

“I know exactly what I am.” I looked across the room, staring at the expanse of Vegas in its fully lit glory.

“You have no idea. And what’s worse, you’ll sit here in ignorance rather than temper your pride,” he said scornfully, still watching me. “Your records before age eighteen are nonexistent. What’s your real name?”

I started to fidget and stopped myself, but I couldn’t stop my palms from sweating or from breathing erratically. I’d always had nerves of steel, but I had just reached my maximum. “I’m not staying here all night with you. Either shoot me
, again, or let me go. Since you people can’t even seem to kill a person correctly, it might be easier just to let me go. Unless of course you want to try bungling it a few more times?” I could feel my control slipping. I needed to get away from here before I lost it completely.

The jerk had the nerve to laugh at my last comment.

“I can’t just let you walk out of here. I can’t have you repeat what you saw.”

“I won’t.” I jumped at the sliver of hope and was instantly annoyed with myself. He was probably just toying with me. I stood
uneasily, and slowly made my way over to the window on shaky legs. I stared at the lights of Vegas that always called to me. I needed to get my nerves under control. My head was pounding so hard, it was difficult to think straight.

“Perhaps you won’t.
I have a feeling you don’t say much to anyone. I’m having your blood run now to confirm what I think you are. When that comes back, we’ll discuss what is going to happen.” He turned back to Buzz and Dodd who were still standing next to the computer on the other side of the large room. I didn’t know if they’d been listening, but I suspected they had.

“Dodd, get the sample taken care of. Buzz, go make sure that the other issue is handled and make our apologies,” Hawking told them.

I watched them leave, and I knew I was alone in the place with Hawking. I wasn’t sure if this improved my odds, or worsened them, because of all the people I’d ever met in my life, he rattled me worse than anyone. That said a lot. I’d met some pretty bad people.

“Do you want to take a shower?” he asked now that we were alone.

My knee jerk reaction was that he had just sexually propositioned me. Then I caught a glimpse of a bloodstain in the reflection of the window, and I realized what I looked like. I lifted my hand to my hair and felt clumps matted together. I looked down and saw that my blood had caked on the skin of my chest, and for the first time, I realized that they had really shot me. How was I even alive? I felt for a gash in my head, but there was nothing. I clearly remembered the shooting pain right before I blacked out. My hands started to tremble uncontrollably, and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Josephine, come, sit down.” He started toward me with his palms up and outspread, trying to keep me calm as he approached.

I moved farther away from him, and whirled around, panicked. Then I saw the couch I had just been sitting on, it was covered in blood, my blood. I heard screaming and realized quickly it was coming from me, but I couldn’t stop.

Hawking’s arms wrapped around me from behind as he pulled me back into a hard embrace. I tried to pull away, but he didn’t budge. He just held me tight against his chest and turned me away from the bloodied couch, the final trigger of what appeared to be my emotional breakdown.

“It’s okay,” he whispered in my ear, over and over again.

I don’t know how long we stood like that, but as I started to get a grip on myself, I realized the absurdity of being comforted by my executioner. His embrace loosened as my breathing became control
led, and I pulled out of his arms.

“Don’t touch me.” I wrapped my arms around myself and stood with my back to him, wiping my nose and eyes, as I tried to rid myself of any trace of a breakdown.

“You’ll feel better if you shower. I’ll get you a change of clothes.” He sounded like he was a few feet behind me, but I didn’t want to look.

“I don’t need anything from you, and stop tellin
g me what you think I should do.” I turned back to him now and put as much weight behind my next words as I could, “Because I don’t care what you think or who you are.” My situation was a disaster, but at least I sounded calm and in control again. “You ordered my death. I don’t even want to hear your voice. I don’t care why you made your choice. You did, that’s all that matters. You say your world is complicated, that’s an excuse. You are a monster.”

He slowly stalked me across the room, and I found myself taking several steps backward until I felt the wall at my back. He stopped just short of touching me, but close enough that his shirt grazed my chest, his hands braced on either side of my head
.

“My choices are larger than you,” his voice was deadly soft as he spoke and a chill spread across my skin. “If by killing you, I protect thousands of others,
then that’s the choice I’d make. Every. Single. Time. And I won’t apologize for it. You’d better wise up real quick, because you don’t want to go toe to toe with me. You won’t stand a chance.”

“We’ll see about that.” It came out before I even knew what I was saying, but my pride had taken enough of a beating. I was done backing down.

His whole body tensed as it hovered around me. I could feel the energy pouring off him and I sucked in a breath, afraid to move an inch. Afraid of what I would unleash if I so much as grazed him. It took every ounce of nerve I had to hold my ground and not back down. We stood frozen, the tension thick. He lifted his hand, slammed it against the wall, and then he left. I stayed exactly where I was, afraid if I left the support of the wall at my back, I’d fall to the floor.

It took me all of
five minutes to gather my wits once he left the room and to run for the door. The tall lanky man that had let us in was back in place. He was standing firmly in front of the door, and we eyed each other.

“I know what you
’re thinking, and you’re probably right,” he said. “You might make it past me, but there are about twenty other men that look significantly scarier than I do that you’d have to get past, so good luck with that.”

I stared at him, undaunted but what lay before me. Okay, maybe not undaunted exactly, but it was my only shot of busting out of there.

A chirping sound suddenly echoed through the hall and I realized it was his phone ringing. “Could we put this attack on hold for one moment?”

“Oh, yeah, sure, take your time. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your phone call with our fight to the death or anything,” I replied, as I made a show of leaning against the wall and crossing my ankles.

“Thank you,” he said to me as he answered. He must have said yes five times before he ended the phone call, his eyes never leaving mine. “Mr. Hawking has asked me to inform you, that you are not to leave this apartment, and most certainly not covered in blood as you are. That he has five men outside of this door who will drag you back in if you try. He suggests you try to be rational for a moment, and let me show you to the guest suite, where you can shower and change. If you refuse, he will have to force the issue, as he cannot have you walking around his casino as is, and given his current temper, he prefers not to do that at the moment.”

He could be bluffing, maybe there wasn’t anyone outside the door, but I doubted that. I’d seen his men appear out of nowhere more than one time on the casino f
loor. This was his private domain. He had priceless works of art hanging on the walls in the hallway; of course there would be security. I wanted out of there, but I couldn’t be stupid about it either. There was no way I’d make it out right now.

“Show me the way,” I said resignedly.

“If I may say so, I believe you are making the correct choice,” he said as he walked past me and in the opposite direction of the living room. I was happy I’d at least be on the opposite side of the apartment.

“Considering that you are working for a man
who kills innocent people, I don’t care what you think.”

“I can understand that, but no matter how Cormac appears, he is an honorable man”

“I said I’d stay, not that I’d listen to you tell me what a great man he is. If you say another word about him, I’m walking out of here, five big goons or not.”

To his credit, he didn’t mutter another word and didn’t seem to take offense either. I didn’t hear the lock click when he shut the door, but what was the need?

The bedroom suite was stunning, and larger than the trailer I lived in. It was all muted tans like the rest of the apartment. A huge king sized bed sat in the middle of the room, with a tufted suede headboard, incredibly thick carpet underfoot, and an enormous flat screen TV. The far wall was all glass, like it was in the rest of the apartment, with the Vegas Strip on display. It had everything you could want, but I still didn’t want to be there.

I walked into the private bathroom, decorated in polished tan marble. It was beautiful,
with a large vanity, and a Jacuzzi I would have died for on any normal day, unfortunately, today had been anything but normal.

I couldn’t avoid my reflection in the large mirrored wall that sat over the vanity area. I looked worse than I had imagined. There was blood caked so thick it was obvious even against the black satin of my outfit, and my hair
, also, was caked in blood. I had grey smudges of mascara streaked down my face. I guess that’s what you get for buying the cheap makeup. Next breakdown I’d be sure to wear waterproof.

After I checked that the bathroom door locked, I stripped down and I turned the shower on until the heat of the water sent shivers through me. I worked as quickly as I could to get the blood from my hair and body, jumping every time I thought I heard a noise, constantly waiting for someone to barge in trying to shoot me
, again. But when I got out, I dreaded putting on my bloody outfit.

I was still trying to wrap my head around what had happened. Being shot in the head is traumatic, even if you walk away unscathed. Plus, I didn’t feel unscathed. I felt battered. My head had finally stopped pounding, but it didn’t seem to help me think any clearer. I’d
known horrible people, oh hell, I’d lived with horrible people, but I’d never been shot in cold blood like that.

Wrapped in the largest bath towel I’d ever seen, I listened at the bathroom door, making sure no one was in the bedroom before I went in. When I stepped into the room, there was a pair of designer jeans, a cream-colored sweater, undergarments, and even shoes laid out on the bed, everything new with tags.

I didn’t want to take anything from this man, but I didn’t want to put my bloody clothes back on, either, and think of what they represented. I’d also make a much easier target in clothes covered in blood. I mean, really, how loud did I want to scream, “Here I am”, as I was trying to flee.

The clothes were better quality than
anything I’d ever owned. The jeans alone cost more than my rent for a month. The sweater felt like cashmere and the boots were Italian leather.

After I finished dressing, I slowly opened the bedroom door, walking on tiptoes to avoid making a sound; I made my way across the foyer. His doorman, or whatever he was, was gone. This was just too easy I thought, as I pulled the front door open.

“Can we help you?” There were four wrestler looking men all staring down at me.

“I thought there were five of you guys?”

“Jimmy’s down the hall. Would you like us to get him for you?”

“Nope, just wanted to make sure you weren’t sla
cking.”

I shut the door and leaned against it. I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but the headache had just started to subside.

Then I heard a tongue clucking, as Cormac’s doorman came strolling around the corner, shaking his head.

“What?”

“Mr. Hawking is waiting for you in the living room.”

“Let me just run right in there
, then. I wouldn’t want to keep my killer waiting.”

As I walked away, I swear I heard him chuckling.

Cormac stood at the bar, his pale blue eyes met my green as I walked into the room. Dressed in the same black slacks, but a new pewter grey shirt, it made me wonder if some of my blood had gotten onto him. He stood with a sheet of paper in his hand.