She settled into the bed, still rattled but proud of herself for not screaming bloody murder.
She tossed and turned for a while before she finally fell asleep. She woke to a dream of rain and made up for the screaming she hadn’t done earlier.
Chapter 10
It was four in the morning and Lars had only had about two hours of sleep when his phone rang. He rolled over, intending to hit the mute button, figuring it was a booty call. Sadly, he found himself only interested in one piece of ass lately and that was one call he wouldn’t make.
His finger changed direction to answer as he saw Cutty’s name flash across the screen. Cutty didn’t call this late unless there was a problem.
“Yeah,” Lars said as he answered.
“We had an incident.”
Lars shot up out of bed, all the drowsiness of sleep immediately wiped from his system. “What happened?”
“Obviously something shitty or I wouldn’t be calling you right now.” There was a dragged out sigh afterward that warned Lars he wouldn’t like what Cutty was going to say next.
“Are you going to tell me what?” His hand clenched the phone and he had to force his grip to relax before the screen cracked. The local phone shops were closed up and he didn’t have a spare.
“Faith received a message,” Cutty said, after a few very long seconds.
“What was it?” Lars hit the speaker button and dropped the phone on the bed. He grabbed the jeans he’d just taken off, which hadn’t made it to the hamper yet, before Cutty had the time to reply.
“What are you doing? What’s all that shuffling?” Cutty asked.
“I’m getting dressed.”
“Why?”
“Why? You need to ask that?” He threw a fresh t-shirt on over his head.
“Okay, probably for the best anyway.”
“What was it? You still haven’t told me.”
“If you’re coming, best you wait. You really need to see it in person to get the full context.”
“I’ll be there in ten.” Lars hit the end button and slipped the phone in his back pocket. He grabbed his keys, left his apartment and floored it the whole way over to Cutty’s.
He got there in under five minutes, less than half the time it normally took him. The door was locked, which was understandable considering what just happened. He leaned on the doorbell for the second time, his body tensing with the delay. What if Malokin had returned? He was considering how long was an appropriate amount of time to wait before he busted the door down. He’d just come to the opinion that he didn’t care what was appropriate when Cutty opened it.
“Were you going to kick my door down?” Cutty said, seeing Lars’ position.
“If you took another second, yes.”
Cutty shook his head and walked back inside, Lars at his heels.
Angus and Bic were already there. They played poker on Tuesday nights and it could run pretty late. He was usually there as well, along with some of the locals from town who had no idea who they were really playing cards with.
He’d bailed out on tonight. After watching Faith walking around the shop all day, he’d thought it was best to keep some distance between them.
Angus and Bic were both standing by the couch, hovering. Sitting there was Faith, her hair wet and in a makeshift bun on top of her head. She looked rattled but okay. Maybe it hadn’t been that bad.
“She took a shower after the message?” Lars asked, finding it peculiar.
“Yes. Let me tell you, that chick is a lot tougher than she looks,” Cutty said, clearly impressed with her, although Lars wasn’t sure where this new esteem had come from.
“Where’s this message?” Lars asked while his eyes had a hard time moving from where Faith sat.
“Follow me,” Cutty said, and Lars realized he’d taken a step toward Faith without even thinking about it.
He stopped in his tracks and then nodded to her. She returned the silent greeting with a smile. She might be putting up a good front for the guys but he was the only one who could hear her heart rate.
It was a leftover gift from his previous career as the Grim Reaper, when he used the sound to confirm the correct course of action. When a human was fated to die soon, there was a certain pattern to their heartbeat, a certain smell to their skin.
All the guys had their strong points but he was the only one who knew how upset she truly was, whether she let on or not.
Lars followed Cutty down the hall, thinking that they were heading to either his office or some other place for privacy.
“We were playing cards, but Faith didn’t want to join in,” Cutty explained as he walked. “Said she was too tired, but I think she just needed some alone time. When she went to her room, we all gave her space.”
Cutty stopped in front of his guest room, one Lars had crashed in many times himself.
“It got delivered to her room? And you left the message in there?” Lars asked, thinking it was a strange action and so unlike Cutty.
Cutty took a deep breath before he answered, “I didn’t have a choice.”
Lars moved to open the door but Cutty put his hand up quickly to block him. “Try to keep it down when you see it,” Cutty said.
Lars nodded. He was still buzzing at Cutty’s need to give him a warning like that when he swung open the door.
On the ceiling, the words “You’re Mine,” were written in blood, blood that was still dripping down and forming puddles on the floor and bed.
Cutty’s words made sense now, because he might have yelled in outrage if he hadn’t been forewarned. The idea of some sick bastard doing this, right above her head while she lay there sleeping, made his muscles tense and his jaw clench. He crossed his arms in front of his chest to keep them from ripping into the ceiling and tearing the sheet rock down just to get rid of the sight of it.
“She woke up to this?” Lars eyed up the top pillow at the head of the bed. There was more blood on the edges than the center, where her head must have been. Her wet hair suddenly made sense. She’d been covered in blood.
“Yes.”
Cutty and Lars both stepped into the room but stayed to the perimeter to avoid where the blood was still dripping.
Cutty stopped moving, his hands shoved in his pockets. “We were downstairs and there was this inhuman howl that made us all jump from our seats. We didn’t know where to turn first, because it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Shattered the glasses we had on the table and busted my TV. And then we heard Faith’s scream.” Cutty waved his hand toward the ceiling. “You can figure that part out. We were lucky that the locals went home early, their wives nervous about them being out too late considering how ugly things are getting.”
“Did she see anyone?” Lars asked, looking around the room.
“She said she woke up and it was there.”
“How did they get in here? Don’t you have this place protected?”
“They didn’t get in. I don’t know how that was managed.” Cutty shook his head, clearly as befuddled as he was.
“You’ve always been sloppy with your wards.” Lars shook his head, aggravated. “If you weren’t, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Not all of us have the same flair for the dark arts you do.” Cutty moved back, closer to the door where he was less likely to get dripped upon, and leaned a palm against the wall. “Nor do I have the desire to learn.”
“And Angus couldn’t have? You’re telling me all the time he spends here, he couldn’t have done something to secure this place better?”
Cutty straightened and waved the hand he’d just had on the wall. “I thought it was secure. Do you think I wanted this?”
Cutty let out another long sigh, and Lars shook his head but dropped the issue.
“Can you tell anything about the blood?” Cutty asked.