The Syndicate (8 page)

“I also said my family put a hit out on you. Weren’t you listening?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know where else to go.”

I look at her and sympathy overtakes my stiff bones.

“Just give me something from your purse,” I say.

Her eyebrows raise above the almond-shaped olives which are staring at me like a lost puppy. “Give me something from your purse, quickly,” I demand.

She shuffles through her bag, with shaking hands, and gives me something, which I put in my pocket without looking. “Now, go back to your apartment. Lock your door and wait for me.”

She sighs, nods, and backs away. I close the door without watching her leave. As casually as possible, I walk back to my room, heavily hoping that Henri and Stefan are exactly where I left them.

I shut my door and immediately begin pacing.

You cannot be serious.

She did not just show up at my house.

This is insane.

Rosie is right.

We didn’t sign up for this.

My nerves are going haywire, the walls closing in on me. I don’t want to think anymore about what’s going on, or to have to care when, or if, this girl walks right into the lion’s den.
It’s not my problem.

About forty paces later, I calm down and start thinking logically. That means I block out the images of her perfect face and, instead, concentrate on her words. She mentioned Hybrids, and, although I’m lying to myself by saying I don’t want to see her, I easily focus on my duty.

If there
are
Hybrids around her apartment, then that’s a language I’m prepared to speak, and it also gives me a logical reason for seeing her. Finally focused on something familiar, I take out the object she gave me.

It unfolds easily to reveal a receipt. Curiosity sparks me to scan the items: mandarins, milk, bagels, grapes, and tampons.
Not needed information
. Yet, I can’t help but laugh. Somehow it puts the real back into this surreal situation. I fold it up and put it in my pocket, vowing to give it back to her.

After dark, I make my way back down to the supply room. There have only been a handful of times when a Guard has run into a Hybrid without being on an assignment, and there is an absolute seek and kill motto if we do. Not having seen the situation for myself, the proper thing to do would be to put Rosie on it to confirm and gather intel.

Given that Riley says they’re in her apartment complex, and Rosie knows where Riley lives, I can’t ask Rosie to scout first. She’d see the connection, and it would only open doors I worked hard to close earlier. I need to do this by myself, and anyone with a brain would probably say it’s unwise, but it is what it is. If Riley wanted me dead or hurt, she’d have pulled the trigger last night. And if she had ulterior motives, I don’t think she’d be so bold as to walk right up to our door.

When I’m done hashing out where I’m going and why, I grab two knives, strap them around my ankles, and then put on a gun harness and tuck one at my side. By 9 p.m., I pick up a couple of disposing bags, just in case, and hop into my truck, heading to the very same apartment as the night before.

I don’t know what I’m doing. Or why I care, or why I can’t seem to put my trust in our Readers. I’m supposed to be the smartest, the most efficient. The one with the most promise. That’s what my father believed.

When I was fourteen, I trained in direct-contact fighting with Dani. My father and Henri were supervising and guiding us. I was winning the entire fight, and Dani was getting frustrated, so I eased up.

Once it was over, I realized that it wasn’t Dani’s frustration that made me fold, but the desperation in Dani’s eyes to impress his father. That’s the only time I’ve ever let one of my brothers beat me in training,
and
the only time I’ve seen Henri praise his son.

Afterward, my father commended me on my unselfish showmanship, and then he told me to never do it again, saying he didn’t want me to compromise myself and what I’m capable of just to please someone else. He also warned me to never compromise my integrity, because it could be the difference between life and death. As I drive, I don’t feel like I’m compromising. It feels right.

When I arrive at Riley’s this time, she’s wearing a pink robe and slippers. Her hair is dangling around her shoulders in messy ringlets. I don’t see much makeup. Not something I paid attention to before. Now that I think about it, she’s just naturally pretty. I blink away thoughts of the kind of nice things I want to do for her, and not just for her, but with her.

Get a grip, Vasi.

She steps aside, and my eyes drop to the floor in an awkward attempt to avoid further eye contact. There I notice her feet, covered in pink, fuzzy slipper-boot things that an Eskimo might wear trekking through the snow. Again I smile, having no clue why this girl makes me feel soft on the inside.

“Thanks for coming,” she says. “I mean, I think, anyway.”

Toughening my mojo, I turn, more abruptly than intended. Whatever this is needs to stop, so business is business.

“You said you saw Hybrids. Where?”

Shutting the door, she nods and walks past me into her living room. It’s pretty sparse. There’s not much here, but it looks homey. Warm colors, blues and browns and lots of fluffy pillows. It’s a girl’s apartment, for sure, but with a hint of maturity.

She sits down Indian style and pulls one of the throw pillows onto her lap. Her arms wrap around it like it’s providing her comfort. In a way, I feel for her. It seems like she’s a lonely girl with no one to turn to. No wonder she came to me, even at the worst possible time and to the worst possible place.

Finally, I’m inclined to sit. With the awkwardness from my last visit still hovering, I find a chair in the corner, farthest away from her.

“Um,” she begins, her gaze locked on the pattern of her rug. “I had a dream of being in some forest, and I fell down. Then, the sound of what seemed like bears began to home in on me. I was terrified and alone, but knew to lie there and play dead, so I did. But then, one started sniffing at my legs, and, no matter how hard I tried to be still, I couldn’t. I had to open my eyes, and that’s when I saw them. They were
not
bears, but men. Salivating and sniffing and finally growling. I screamed my head off and woke up.”

“That’s interesting,” I say, still taking it all in. “But I’m not surprised.”

She looks up at me. “No?”

“No. You’ve been through a lot. I attacked you last night and told you that monsters exist. You’re probably freaked out. Anyone would be. A nightmare wouldn’t be unheard of after…after what I did.”

I’m not looking for her forgiveness, and she doesn’t give it to me. Her mind is too focused on her nightmare.

“No,” she says shaking her head. “That’s what I thought too. But when I got home this afternoon, there were a couple of guys hanging out on the front steps of my building. They were laughing and drinking. My gut told me to keep one hand on my pepper spray, but my keys fell in the process of reaching for it, and then one of them lunged at me. I nearly had a heart attack until I saw it was the guy who lives upstairs.

“Anyway, he bent down to pick them up, and I swear, his spine was like…protruding under his shirt—”

I put up my hand, feeling an intense interest to know specifics.

“What did he do after that?”

“He handed me the keys and smiled. With big, yellow teeth.”

“What about his friends?”

“I don’t know. I said thanks and bolted past them. But they were all looking at me with these strange smirks. So, I waited until I heard them go upstairs, and then I went to your house.”

“What makes you think I’d be able to help you?”

“I just remembered you saying you guys fight them. It just seemed right.”

“How do you know I’m not one of them? What makes you think I’m the good guy?”

I want to know what’s going on inside her brain. She’s studying me with a look of hesitation. Like she wants to say something, but doesn’t.

I don’t let up. “Well?”

She sighs, looks directly at me, and, after studying me closely, says, “Because you have nice teeth.”

I laugh. No one’s ever said that to me, but then I’ve never been compared to a Hybrid, either.

“What?” she says, finally cracking a smile.

“Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then she offers to get me something to drink. Oddly, she reminds me of my mom.

The way my mom invited people in with her smile made even me believe our house was the warmest on the block. Little did our guests know that Dad was the leader of the Syndicate. A beast killer. Protector of the town.

Warm. That describes my mom and her natural ability to accommodate guests, but we all knew there was a deeper layer than what any of our “friends” or neighbors saw.

Looking at Riley’s eyes, there’s definitely something soft and inviting about her, but I get that same sense of layers.

“So let’s talk about your neighbor,” I say, refocusing.

She clears her throat. “Oh. Okay. Um…” She grabs her long curls with both hands and, with one sweeping twist, it’s in some sort of ponytail-knot thing, only I didn’t see her use anything to pin it up. I’m mesmerized, wondering why I’m staring at this girl’s hair. It’s pulled away from the soft skin of her neck, and I blink away thoughts of moving closer to her—just in time to hear what she’s saying.

“He lives right upstairs. He’s in my Econ class, and that’s pretty much it.”

That’s it?
“Have you noticed him missing at all over the last few weeks?”

“Not really. We had break, and he could’ve gone away then, but I really didn’t notice. Why?”

“Because when they’re infected, they can’t maintain the same demeanor and focus. Once they’re too far gone to blend in, they’ll start to hide more.”

She shudders, and something in me mimics the flutter. Concentration is hard, and I’m almost wondering if this girl is the devil, because I don’t want to talk about anything right now. I’m wondering if the skin on her exposed neck is as soft as it looks.

“Are you okay?” she asks, brows raised.

I shake my head. I’ve never been entranced this way, and the wisdom lurking underneath the hormones is telling me to leave. Honesty finally kicks in as I admit to myself that thoughts of Hybrids didn’t bring me here.

I’m not ready to take out a Hybrid with stitches in my side and my mind clouded by a pretty face.

“Hello?” She’s waving a hand that gets my attention.

“I have to go.”

“What?” I can hear the panic in her voice, but I don’t take back my words.

“Look, I believe you about the Hybrids, but I’m not in the right mindset to do anything tonight. I need to go home, get one of my brothers, and look into it tomorrow or something.”

“I don’t want to stay here alone. How am I supposed to sleep?” She stands and makes a beeline toward me as I fight the urge to jump over the back of the chair. She
is
the devil, luring me into something I’m not supposed to be doing.

My feet step to the side. “Seriously, Riley, this is dangerous. There may be more than one. I won’t go into this blind. Now you just stay in your apartment with your gun and lock the doors. I’ll take care of it tomorrow with one of my brothers.”

She argues. “Those guys really freaked me out. Can you just take me with you?” She grabs my arm, but I pull it back, needing to stay firm.

“Listen to me. I
cannot
stay here, and you
cannot
go anywhere with me. Just—”

A knock at the door stops me short.

“Who’s that?” I ask, instinctively whispering.

“I have no idea.”

A second knock. A near pound on her door, so I put my finger over my mouth.

Leaning closer, I whisper for her to see who it is. Nodding hesitantly, she slides past me, takes a look through the peephole, and then quickly jumps away from the door.

“It’s him,” she mouths.

Just…fantastic.

My head drops, and my feet find themselves gliding over to look myself.
What does this guy want?
Through the hole, I can see he’s nervous. No, not nervous, but losing composure. He’s tapping his foot and looking around, biting his lip impatiently. He wants in here, and this whole damn experience is only getting more irritating by the second.

“What does he want?” she whispers.

“How the hell do I know?”

Her forehead creases. “What do I do?”

“Nothing,” I answer, making my way back into the living room.

She follows. “Okay.” She’s nervously wiping her hands on the side of her pajamas.

“Hey, Riley. Yo!”

We both turn toward the door, but ignore the beckon to answer.

He bangs some more. “Riley. Hey. I need to borrow some sugar!”

“Should I give it to him?”

“Are you serious? It’s eleven o’clock. He can find some sugar somewhere else.”

He pounds again, and it takes everything I have not to open it with a pound on his face. But I hold tight and tell her to turn out the light. He’ll get the message eventually.

She flips the switch, and it’s dark, except for the light from the street lamp peeking through the tiny cracks of her vertical blinds on the sliding glass door. My eyes scan the room, adjusting, and within seconds she moves close enough that she’s touching me. Mangos and strawberries. My eyes take a quick roll toward the back of my head, because I can’t seem to get away from this temptation. I can sense her fear, and it makes me want to calm her.

A few moments of silence go by, and I say, “See, he got the point. He’s gone.”

She sighs, but then the streaks of light on her wall are disrupted by a shadow. Both of our heads turn quickly. There’s no doubt that a person is trying to sneak a peek through her blinds. This idiot has gone stalker.

I make my way over to the blinds with every intention of yanking them open. Hybrid or no Hybrid, this guy’s pissing me off. I’m almost there when the knob on her front door jiggles, stopping me dead in my tracks. A quick look back at the blinds tells me there are two people, or Hybrids, trying to get into this apartment.