Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) (37 page)

J
essie
just about prevented herself slamming into the back of Eden as he stopped abruptly the second he opened the kitchen door.

‘It’s good to see you’re taking your new responsibility seriously, Eden,’ Pummel said as he glanced up from the kitchen table.

They’d checked the lounge and had seen only Chemist and Tatum in there. They’d hoped the coast was clear. Instead, around the kitchen table, mid card game, Pummel was sat opposite Homer, Dice at the far end.

Pummel threw down one of his cards before taking a mouthful from the glass beside him. ‘It’s reassuring that you’re keeping her so close,’ he added as he scanned his cards. ‘And Dice here tells me she’s being very obedient. I’m pleased about that.’ He kicked out the chair next to Homer – an indication for them to join them.

She could feel the tension ricochet from Eden’s body to hers but, from what she could feel from the others, seemingly none of them had picked up on it, thankfully.

Neither the chair Pummel had offered nor the empty chair with its back to the door were preferable options but, strategically closing the door behind them, Jessie opted for the seat next to Homer, Eden taking the seat adjacent to her. Both knew that Eden needed to keep his focus on Pummel, whereas Jessie, with her quicker reactions, would be able to signal Eden soon enough should she detect an ambush from behind.

Eden brushed her leg with his beneath the table, no doubt to let her know he appreciated her move – a reminder they were in it together.

‘So you’re getting along?’ Pummel asked, throwing down another card before sliding Eden the bottle.

Dice took a clean glass from the cupboard and placed it in front of him.

Eden poured himself a drink with impressively steady hands before reclining back in his chair in an equally composed move. ‘If that’s your intention, I’ll try a little harder. Though the conversation so far is a little dry. She’s not much of a talker, is she?’

Pummel smiled, cast his winning card down before piling all the cards back together for a reshuffle. This time he dealt Eden in too.

Eden swept up his hand. As he scanned his cards, not even Jessie could tell if it had been a good deal or not.

‘She’s not much of a talker because I’ve trained her to be that way,’ Pummel declared. ‘She
used
to have a lot to say for herself, but she learns quickly.’

Jessie snatched her glare to Pummel – his look triumphant, mocking, and one that dared her to contradict him. More than ever, she could feel the hatred consume her. Just looking him in the eye again after hearing of his intentions as the young had cowered and shook in the hellhole beneath them made her want to lash out there and then, no matter what pain it caused her. He’d most definitely finally gone one step too far.

But retaliation wasn’t an option.

If he even attempted to hurt Eden though, despite being helpless to turn her anger on him, she’d rip everything else apart – and
then
he’d know what defiance was.

She slid her foot forward beneath the table to feel the reassurance of Eden’s jeans against her shin – a reminder to ignore the provocation.

Eden’s attention didn’t flinch from his cards, but his response was instant as he rested his knee against hers before straightening his leg again.

‘She’s got real issues about being told what to do,’ Pummel added. ‘Which is why I have to challenge her defiance. I can’t have what happened earlier happening again.’

‘It won’t; not for as long as I’m around,’ Eden said, taking a card from the pile in front of him.

‘No,’ Pummel said, his gaze lingering. ‘I believe you. Or I wouldn’t have put you in charge.’

Jessie clenched her hands together beneath the table as she waited to find out the
real
reason Pummel had pulled Eden into the game. She could think only of getting rid of them, of getting through the larder door as she and Eden had planned. Then they could forge a plan – work out what the hell they were going to do from there.

But they still needed the necklace and, to do that, Eden needed to keep playing Pummel.

‘You certainly seem to slot right in here,’ Pummel declared as he threw another card into the pile.

‘I didn’t think you’d give me responsibility for this one if you didn’t,’ Eden said, with a tilt of his head towards Jessie.

‘You’ve not been tempted?’

Eden looked up at him. ‘With what?’

‘She’s not bad-looking. You know she’s got a few extra skills.’

Eden exhaled tersely as he resumed his attention on his cards. ‘A tattoo with “fucking stupid” written on it is one I’ve yet to add to my collection. No offence, but looks and skills aside,’ he let his knee drop against hers again, ‘she’s not worth it. Whereas, in case you’ve failed to notice, my loyalty to you is.’

Pummel threw down his winning hand. ‘Pleased to hear it. So, for refraining from that perk of the job, maybe it’s time you had a few others. You’ve watched her for long enough. You deserve a break.’ He looked across at Dice. ‘Do you want to take our friend a little deeper into the row? Make sure he
really
relaxes?’

Dice’s smile unnerved her as much as Pummel’s suggestion, their conspiratorial exchange of glances making her stomach clench.

Eden hadn’t been numb to it either, his knee rubbing against hers once more. They both knew he had no choice. They both knew their plan would have to be delayed. ‘You’re not going to join us?’ he asked Pummel.

Pummel smiled. ‘No, no. You go and enjoy yourself. You and Dice can tell me
all
about it when you get back.’

E
den followed
Dice through the succession of arches, deeper into the depths of the row. But more disturbing than the darkness around him, the stench of illicit substances, of sex, the bass from the rooms above overwhelming his senses, was the spring in Dice’s step as he led him onwards like an overenthusiastic tour guide.

They turned left up the stairs, passing the threesome that hadn’t quite made it as far as the rooms above. Dice chuckled as he glanced in their direction, stopped to watch for a moment before adjusting himself in his trousers with a grin.

‘Whatever you want, buddy,’ he said, slapping Eden on the back as he led him down the hallway, ‘this row can provide. And that’s what tonight is all about.’

Dice stopped at a couple more open doorways along the way, taking his time over the sex acts being performed within. To Eden’s repulsion, Dice licked his lips, his eyes focused and glazed hypnotically on the writhing, seemingly absorbing the groans and the gasps as his hand slipped down to readjust himself again.

‘Watching helps me get in the mood,’ he said, glancing across his shoulder at Eden. ‘Does it you?’

Eden placed a mint in his mouth, the dryness nothing to do with arousal. ‘Depends what it is.’

Dice smirked and elbowed him, cocking his head back towards the hallway. ‘From what Tatum was telling me, there’s not a lot you’re
not
into.’

He stopped at the third room along the left, unlocked the door and opened it, indicating for Eden to enter first.

In the dim and musty room, on the double beds directly opposite, two women were sat facing each other under the dull lamplight. They weren’t that dissimilar in appearance – both fair-haired, both medium build, though the one to the left was the skinny side of slim, the frown lines on her forehead and dark circles under her eyes telling him she didn’t sleep much anymore. The way her hands gripped the duvet added to the escalating seediness his and Dice’s entry had created.

But it was the one who kept her eyes downturned that disturbed him more, the fact she didn’t even look up at who had entered.

His stomach curdled and no more so at the cheap lace and faux-leather skimpy attire they were wearing. He looked left at the sex toys on the sideboard, the shabbiness of the thin curtains that shielded the window behind them, the sheets that had probably seen more action than washes.

Dice closed the door behind them before coming to stand alongside him. ‘You get to take your pick,’ he said, wrapping his arm around his back, resting his hand on his shoulder like they’d been buddies for a lifetime.

Eden wanted to shrug him off and shove him away, his skin crawling at any sense of alliance between the two of them, let alone as the wary gaze of the woman to the right darted between the two of them.

‘They’re both as good as each other,’ Dice added with a shrug. ‘That one’s a bit more compliant,’ he said, indicating the woman to the right, ‘but this one has a habit of getting feisty. At least she always does for me.’ He laughed, slapped Eden on the back in a way that made him want to turn around and slam his fist straight into his gaping mouth. ‘It depends which you’d prefer. Just don’t take too long to decide.’

Dice obviously planned on sticking around; planned on having a show as much as being an active participant. Eden looked away and closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep and steady breath.

But when he looked back at the women, back at Dice, he saw the uncertainty in his eyes.

‘You’re not shy, are you?’ Dice said with a semi-laugh, but his eyes echoed suspicion, reminding Eden he wasn’t a buddy at all. Reminding Eden that this wasn’t just chill-out time – this was another task. Yet
another
fucking task.

But the very thought of getting between the sheets with either of them, listening to Dice with either of them, sent ripples of disgust through him – not least after what he’d shared with Jessie. There was a time when he wouldn’t have been shy about an audience, albeit with all concerned consensual. But now even recollections of that felt like yet another in a long list of things that now seemed the cheap, distasteful, self-sating indulgences that they had been at the time.

Eden sent him a fleeting smile back. ‘Shy, no. Picky, yes.’

Dice raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘You’re saying they’re not good enough for you?’

‘I’m saying I have a thing about being provided. I’m more the hunter-gatherer type.’

Dice laughed again and slapped him on the back once more, only this time he veered him off into the corner of the room, out of earshot of the two women. He kept his voice low as he leaned in conspiratorially towards him.

‘Listen, buddy,’ Dice whispered. ‘I’ve got your back here, okay? Pummel’s got a lucrative deal he wants you to be a part of. I mean a really
lucrative
deal. But he’s got to know he can trust you. He’s got to know you’ve got what it takes – that you’re hard enough to do what you’re going to have to do. I said to get you a nice little vampire bitch but Pummel seemed to think you’d find that too easy. I know they’re human, but these two are just a couple of cheap whores, Eden. No one gives a fuck about them. And I’m here to help you out, buddy. I’m here to help you see it through.’

Eden was sure not to flinch, to mask the heat burning his veins. ‘See what through?’

‘During, after, even before – whatever gets you going. But neither of them are getting out of here alive,’ Dice declared, his eyes darkly serious. ‘Do you know what I’m saying?’

Eden’s jaw tensed. His abs tightened as he held Dice’s gaze. ‘Pummel wants me to kill them?’

‘Just the one of them. I’ll do the other. Quick, slow, whichever way you want. They don’t even have to see it coming.’ His grip on Eden’s shoulder tightened. ‘But you’ve got to do this. I’m not kidding around when I say it’s them or you, Eden. I know which I’d opt for.’

P
ummel threw
another card into the mix before giving off a small yawn. He’d more or less fully healed now – just a glimmer of a couple of grazes remaining on his cheek.

Jessie glanced across at the larder door in frustration, remaining watchful and wary of the two cons she was sat with, her hands clenched in her lap.

‘What if he doesn’t do it?’ Homer asked, breaking the oppressive silence.

Her heart skipped a beat.

‘He’ll do it,’ Pummel declared.

‘
If
he doesn’t?’

‘He’s not going to choose letting a couple of sluts like the Grace sisters live over his position here, I can guarantee it.’

Her stomach flipped. She’d heard of the Grace sisters. They were a particular favourite of both Dice and Chemist. They’d been a part of the row for a couple of years. The eldest had been married to a con who had moved there – a con who thought he was something until his disloyalty to Pummel had led to one of his famous public guttings. The women weren’t hard enough to survive on their own. They’d clung together and clung to the familiarity of the row, doing what they needed to in order to survive rather than face siring amongst the third species elsewhere in Blackthorn.

‘
Live
?’ It fell out before she had time to think about it, her need to know what he’d set Eden up for overwhelming.

Pummel’s gaze snapped to hers. Amused by her shock, her transparent horror, a small smile escaped as he scanned his cards again. ‘Eden’s going to do a little cleaning up job for me,’ he said. ‘A bit of flushing out of the disloyal before I have him to freshen the place up with some new blood.’

She’d heard the whispers between Dice, Chemist and Pummel – the rumours that the women had been talking of leaving, maybe getting in with another row. It was a death wish once an allegiance to a row was made and plenty who wouldn’t touch them considering that allegiance had been to Pummel. But it seemed the women had reached the point of trying.

‘You’ve sent him to kill them?’

‘And have a little fun along the way,’ Pummel declared, throwing down his card. ‘
If
he’s the man I think he is. If not, I’ll have to do some flushing out of a different kind. Something I’d rather avoid if possible with him having
such
good contacts. Which is why Dice is there to help him make the right choices.’

She was already rapidly piecing it together, but she asked anyway. ‘What do you need his contacts for?’

Pummel wanted him in on selling the young. He’d probably had him in mind from the outset – from the moment Eden had arrived with the rare stash of herbs. He just needed to know he could trust him, that he was as amoral as he was effective. He wanted to know he was capable of murdering in cold blood – not like the con in the back of the van, but those he would see as vulnerable. He wanted Eden compliant in handing the kids over to a fate that was crueller than death.

‘Too many questions, Jessie,’ Pummel declared, throwing down another card. His gaze snatched back to hers. ‘You know what kind of trouble that can get you into.’ He looked back down at his hand of cards. ‘But don’t worry; if he passes, I’ll make sure he continues to keep a very close eye on you, so there’s no need to be getting jealous. A boy’s got to let off a bit of steam now and again.’

Her heart raced. This time they had cornered him. They had well and truly cornered him – just when she and Eden were on the cusp of making progress.

‘Until then, can I be excused? I’m tired. It’s been a hell of a night.’

Pummel glanced across at her again. ‘You stay in your room. I’ll check on you in a while.’

She pushed back her chair, closed the kitchen door behind her and stared down the empty hallway.

There was no way Eden would do it. There was no way he
could
do it. He was going to fail Pummel’s final test.

But with the pressure of Dice breathing down his neck, so much depending on it, if Eden thought he could get away with making it painless, quick…

She wouldn’t
let
him do it.

It would destroy him.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Pummel had left the kitchen to watch her ascent, to
check
her ascent, his eyes laden with suspicion. She knew he’d have someone mark the bottom of the stairs, just to be sure.

She made her way up to her room, Pummel disappearing from sight as she circled around to the dog-legged staircase, almost needing to crawl up, the weight in her legs too heavy.

She closed her door behind her and locked it.

She yanked off her dress, snatched her capri trousers and T-shirt from the wardrobe and tugged them on, along with her ballet flats, on her way as she crossed to the window.

Opening the window, she removed the concealed wooden chunks from behind the bars – the ones that, from an inside view, were impossible to detect as having been cut out from the windowsill. She carefully removed the bars one by one before easing herself onto the windowsill.

She used the drainpipe to help her get up onto the roof, silently skimming across the tiles with swift and nimble ease before reaching the skylight five houses down. She peered through the filthy glass, checking the room was still vacant, before clambering down to the window. She kicked open the rotten wood frame that swung back on its broken hinges and dropped herself silently to the old carpeted floor inside.

She unlocked the door with her skeleton key and peered outside. As she would expect, there was plenty of movement out there – plenty of room-hopping, noise, the dim light and smoke smog hopefully enough to let her slip around without too much attention. If anyone did try to take her on, she was in the right mood to keep their demise swift and quiet.

Dice would have taken him down at least a couple more houses if they were heading towards where the Grace sisters hung out. She didn’t know the exact room, but she had a rough idea – and that was all she could work with until she got there.

‘If hunter-gathering is your thing, take the reluctant,’ Dice said, the heartless glint in his eyes chilling Eden. ‘When she starts fighting back, those instincts are going to kick in real easy. Just enjoy it,’ he added, with a grin as sickening as his glint.

Dice slapped him on the back once more before sauntering across to the two beds.

Eden remained in the corner of the room, his hands flexing then clenching by his sides.

He should have been down in the cellar with Jessie. They should have been working out how to get the lycan kids out. He should have been one on one with Pummel, trying to get him to reveal where the necklace was hidden, searching for any opportunity to bring it up in conversation. Now that Jessie was in his care, he had more justification to ask seemingly nonchalant questions; questions that would be easier to weave in when Pummel had too much alcohol in his veins or too much substance in his lungs to notice.

But Pummel wasn’t that sloppy. Not once had he yet seen Pummel out of control. Pummel never took his eye off the ball when it came to his domain – and
never
when it came to Jessie.

And she was back there with him now, probably still in the kitchen, her impatience no doubt as rife as his at finding Pummel and Homer there. It expended time they didn’t have, that
he
didn’t have. Dawn was the cut-off. At dawn he was no longer under TSCD jurisdiction. He needed to report back or it was over.

He watched Dice take his seat on the bed furthest away. The way the woman flinched when he placed his hand on her knee instigated bile to gather in the depths of Eden’s throat.

He
could
be quick. Looking back at the one nearest to him, her head still downturned, though she’d now recoiled her feet onto the covers, had turned side-on to what was happening to her companion, he knew, in the long term, it would almost be kinder.

The alternative meant complications he could do without – for him, subsequently for Jessie, ultimately for Honey.

This
was why he had been hired – because logic could dictate to him over emotion. Cold and calculated focus had become innate. No one had trained him to have an assassin’s mind – he had developed it out of necessity. He had developed it to survive.