Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella (5 page)

A sob burst out from the
pit of her chest. “You’re lying.”

“
I’m not,”
Brennus promised. “I never lie.”

“
And if I
don’t come with you for a week, you’ll come for her
quicker?”

He nodded
sharply.

“
But I don’t
have to stay with you for any longer?”

“
Not if you
think you don’t love me.”

Avery choked on her
tears, glancing back to the doorway where her aunt slept. “What
will happen to her? She needs someone to take care of
her.”

“
I’ll take
care of it. We leave now, and she’ll wake up with a carer. When you
get back she’ll never remember you’ve been gone.”

She stared at him
dubiously.

“
She’ll
believe whatever I want her to believe, Avery.” His eyes had grown
soft again. But she wasn’t fooled. There was darkness in him. He
was ruthless, alien and strange, and she wanted nothing to do with
him. Her mind knew that, even if her body didn’t.

But she wanted her aunt
for a little while longer; she wasn’t ready to let go just
yet.

“
Fine. I’ll
come with you.”

Brennus smiled in relief
and, bizarrely, placed a hand out to her, his other arm reaching
around her waist and drawing her close. “Will you dance with me,
Avery?”

“
W-what?” she
stammered, completely dazed.

“
I know how
you love to dance.”

Tentatively Avery placed
her hand in his and he drew her close, a rush of tingles exploding
over her body at his close proximity. She hated herself and him for
it. Slowly he began to dance with her, until he was moving them
towards the fire escape. He bent down at the window and gracefully
stepped out of it onto the escape, reaching a gentlemanly hand back
in for her. Avery shuddered, throwing one last look over her
shoulder, praying she could trust this dark being’s honour. With a
deep breath she put a foot out of the window and suddenly the world
whirl pooled around her, her skin feeling as if it were being
sucked into a vacuum. She fell into Brennus’ arms just as the
sensation began to disappear. She felt sick. She pushed against him
and he steadied her, and when Avery glanced up her eyes widened.
Pulling away from him, she took in the room, felt the soft carpet
beneath her feet.

“
Uhh… where
are we?”

I’m Gonna
Choose you ‘Cause

You Have No
Choice

The room was huge. High
ceilings, oversized fireplace, sofas, and armchairs. Everything was
the height of luxury, expense and style; from the fabrics to the
vases, to the flat screen television attached to one of the walls.
Most breath-taking of all was the glass wall that looked out on to
a wide balcony. Light flickered outside and Avery could just make
out the dark sea of greenery for miles around the house. Jeez, it
was an estate.

“
Upstate,”
Brennus finally answered her, seeming reluctant to let go of her
arm. “My home.”

Avery turned in a slow
circle, drinking it all in. “You guys must make good
money.”

“
I was
considered wealthy in my mortal life. We’re allowed to keep our
mortal state of being.”

She nodded carefully,
afraid to look at him. Standing in these modern, beautiful
surroundings he seemed almost human. And she didn’t want to forget
that he wasn’t.

“
I have
questions,” she told him quietly, refusing to meet his
eyes.

“
Of course.
That’s why you’re here. So we can get to know one another
better.”

A morbid thought crossed
her mind and she grimaced. “Who’s taking care of the dead while
you’re here trying to schmooze me?”

Instead of answering
Brennus gestured to one of the sofas near the fireplace. The flames
flickered invitingly and Avery suddenly realised how cold she was
in her pj bottoms and camisole. Tentatively she sat down near the
edge of the sofa, the heat from the fire licking her skin
deliciously, little goosebumps rising all over her skin. She
watched curiously as Brennus walked over to a device on the wall
near double doors. He pressed his finger to a touch screen and it
made a buzzing sound.

“
Sir?” a
cultured accent asked softly.

Avery raised her eyebrow
and Brennus smirked at her before speaking into the device. “Could
we have a tea tray and some snacks sent up please,
Ames?”

“
Of course,
sir.”

“
Thank you.”
Brennus pressed the touch screen again and then turned back to
her.

Avery
exhaled. “So how huge
is
this place?”

The annoying creature
smirked at her again as he took a place across from her on the
opposite sofa. “Which question shall I answer first?”

Trying to
remember what the hell she’d asked first, Avery took a
minute.
Oh yeah
,
she slapped a hand to her head inwardly,
the first, definitely the first.
“Who’s taking care of the dead?”

At first she thought he
wasn’t going to answer her. He just stared at her and she shifted
uncomfortably. The longer he stared, the hotter she felt, a strange
fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach making her squirm. He
was doing it deliberately.

Avery narrowed her eyes
on him. “Well?”

“
Apologies,”
he replied in a low voice that made her tingle. “You’re just so
beautiful.”

No one had ever told her
she was beautiful before. And not like that. Josh had told her she
was hot and a couple of guys had told her she was really cute. But
not beautiful. And somehow she believed (or maybe she just wanted
to believe) that this alien, damaged man in front of her actually
meant it. Along with the warm fluffies she was getting, she was
suddenly pissed off. “Yeah right,” she snapped. “You really gave me
to time to dress for the occasion when you abducted me.”

Brennus threw her a look.
“You came willingly.”

“
I was
blackmailed!”

“
Same
difference. You made a choice.”

The door cracked behind
him and a small, older man with the best posture Avery had ever
seen came into the room carrying a large tray that should have been
too heavy for him.

“
Ah, Ames,
thank you.” Brennus stood up and reached for the tray.

Ames nodded respectfully.
“I hope everything is satisfactory, sir.” He didn’t even glance at
Avery.

Brennus put the tray down
and then turned back to Ames (the butler?!). “Ames, I’d like to
introduce you to Avery.”

Avery fluttered her hand
at him. “Hey.”

“
Miss.” Ames
gave her a little bow.

“
Avery.”
Brennus gestured to Ames. “Ames is my butler and the head of the
household staff. If you have any problems or need anything, Ames
will be more than happy to assist you.”

“
More than
happy, miss,” Ames added congenially.

“
Thank you,”
she somehow managed to be polite. It wasn’t the butler’s fault that
his employer was a twisted, blackmailing, kidnapping immortal son
of the dead.

“
Thank you,
Ames.” Brennus dismissed him and the butler left the room without
making so much as a peep.

It became clear, as
Brennus fiddled with the tea, making up her cup (a splash of milk,
one sugar – she didn’t even want to know how he knew how she took
her tea!) and a little plate with sandwiches and biscuits, that he
wasn’t going to answer her question unless she asked it again. He
was really going to make her work for it, which was so unfair
considering she was the one who apparently held the key to his
future happiness (freedom).

“
Well?” she
snapped, jerking the cup out of his hand as he passed it to her. He
threw her another one of those irritatingly wicked hot smiles. “Are
you going to answer the damn question or not?”

Settling back into his
seat he watched her through narrowed eyes. “I’m going to assume
your lack of manners this evening is due to the shock of
discovering you have a soul mate.”

Avery choked on her tea,
a dribble of hot liquid rolling down her chin. She wiped at it
furiously and nailed him to his chair with the deadly look. “Soul
mate! Manners?! Are you frickin’ kidding me?”

Brennus snorted. “You
make my point brilliantly.”

“
You
arrogant, pain in the ass. You kidnapping, evil,
twisted-”

“
Yes, yes I
get the point,” he sighed wearily. “I’ll refrain from teasing
you.”

She reminded herself that
her Aunt Caroline brought her up to be polite and in control of her
emotions. Avery closed her eyes, drawing in a deep, calming breath.
She shook a little as she reached for her tea again.

“
I have
servants who help me with the dead,” Brennus answered suddenly and
her eyes popped wide, staring at him, immediately intrigued despite
herself. “We’re allowed a handful to help carry the
burden.”

“
Who are
they?”

“
Men and
women who died. Spirits.”

“
And they
take care of the dead you can’t get to?”

Brennus nodded. “They’re
tied to me. They feel what I feel; they do what I would
do.”

“
How many
spirits are tied to you?”

“
Five.”

Avery gulped. This night
just kept getting weirder and weirder. “Did they have a
choice?”

Brennus sighed, seeming
somewhat annoyed by the question. “Contrary to what my scar
portrays I’m not some kind of ogre, Avery, forcing people to do
things.”

She snorted.

Refusing to take the
bait, Brennus sighed again. “Most people, nearly everyone, believe
in some kind of afterlife, even if they don’t think they do. It can
be buried deep down, a precious piece of hope in something akin to
paradise awaiting us after our lives here in this plane of
existence end. But there are those few who never even
subconsciously dream to hope. They become spirits, shades,
wandering the infinitesimal line between this plane and all the
others.”

“
Purgatory?”

He shook his head. “If
you believe in purgatory then yes if you’ve not repented for your
sins, but these people haven’t believed in anything. Not even the
idea that we simply cease to exist when we die-”

“
So people
who believe we just cease to exist…”

“
They just
cease to exist.”

“
Huh.”

“
Anyway, I’ve
given the choice to a few of the spirits and they’ve chosen to do
something with their strange existence and help me ferry the dead
into their afterlife.”

Avery was engrossed
despite herself. What Brennus was telling her was unbelievable. As
a person of no religious affiliations it was astonishing to be told
that our beliefs in life were strong enough to determine our
afterlife. For a moment her busy brain forgot she hated him. “OK,
so say I believe in heaven, hell and purgatory. Where do I go when
I die?”

“
If you
believe in them then you believe in the rules. It all depends on
how you lived your life.”

Avery huffed, a small
smile playing on her lips. “Wow, Sarah would be so smug right now.
She’s always going on and on about the power of belief.”

Brennus nodded, a smirk
playing on his lips. “She’s very loyal, your Sarah.”

That statement jolted her
back into reality. Jaw clenched tight with restrained emotion,
Avery shook her head at him. “Please don’t tell me you’ve actually
been watching over me… as in stalking?”

He raised an eyebrow.
“OK, I won’t tell you.”

“
How can you
be so blasé about this? Don’t you know what you’re doing is
wrong?”

At the sudden stillness
of his body, Avery knew she had angered him. She hated to think how
quickly she was learning the nuances of him.

Those dark eyes settled
on her and she felt an icy chill holding her stuck in place. “You
made the choice to come with me and give me a chance to prove to
you that we belong together. Baiting me and continually throwing
the choice I gave you in my face is not upholding your end of the
bargain.”

Her blood sizzled under
her skin but she nodded jerkily. “Fine.”

Warmth enveloped the room
again and Avery shuddered, her heart beating rapidly against her
ribcage. She was scared. And she hated being scared.

“
So can I
still ask questions?” she queried indignantly, determined he wasn't
going to see how much he unsettled her.

Brennus appeared happy
with her interest and smiled softly. “Of course. And then it’s my
turn.”

It was on the tip of her
tongue to snap ‘I thought you already knew everything about me?’
but she curbed the instinct and saw by the mischievous flicker in
his eyes that he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“OK.”

“
Fire
away.”

The question she most
wanted to ask was the one she was scared to ask.