Eternal Hearts (34 page)

Of course, everything would have been unclaimed…

There was no one left to claim it.

For five full minutes Toni waited on the porch, but no one ever came to the door. She figured she deserved it; nothing about her life had gone right since the day she’d moved out. It was only fair the streak remain unbroken.

“Nobody lives there anymore. I don’t know what happened to the nice lady who used to, but I ain’t seen her in a long time.”

Toni turned around to see a little African American girl, who couldn’t have been more than seven years old, standing on the sidewalk. Bundled up in a pink coat with a matching hat, scarf and mittens, the rainbow of colored beads lining the bottom of her braids jutted out in all directions.

“Ya kinda look like her. Did ya know her?” the girl asked.

Toni pressed her lips together in a smile, the salty taste of tears wet on her lips. “Yeah, I did. I used to live here a long time ago. And you’re right…she was a really nice lady. What’s your name?”

“You tell me yours first.” She cocked her head and pushed her hat up a little bit. “You ain’t gonna kidnap me, are ya?”

“My name’s Toni, and no, I’m not gonna kidnap you.”

She broke into the wide grin of a child. “Okay. You don’t look like a kidnapper, but I thought I’d ask ya just in case. I’m Tonya. Are you a friend of the big blond guy?”

“The big blond guy?”

“Yeah, there’s a big blond guy that comes here every now ‘n then.
He usually
gots
an old guy with him.
I asked ‘
em
if they lived there but they said they was jus’
keepin
’ an eye on it. I don’t know what that means, but my Mama said
they’s
from the Mob.”

Toni couldn’t help but to laugh. “Why does she think that?”

“Because
they’s
always
drivin
’ nice cars. We don’t see cars like that down here. Mama said that’s what the Mob drives.”

“I don’t know the blond guy. How often do you see him?”

She shrugged, which
was quite a feat
considering the thickness of her coat. “I saw ‘
em
last summer, n’ then once around Christmas.” She broke into another huge grin.
“At Christmas, they
gamme
a present.
A new bike! They said it was for
watchin
’ the house.”

Toni smiled at the innocent, almost infectious light in her eyes. “So do you live in this neighborhood?”

“I live down the street. All the kids are
comin
’ out to have a snowball fight. I’m
cheatin
’, but don’t tell nobody,” she said, raising a pointed index finger to her mouth.

Toni drew a cross over her chest. “I promise I won’t.” She looked down the street when she heard a chorus of little voices fill the air, and saw more kids coming out of houses. “You’d better hurry. I think everyone else is trying to cheat, too.”

Tonya looked down the street and squealed. “I gotta go. You said ya used to live here, so I guess it’d be okay to tell ya the back door ain’t locked. But if the blond guy asks, I’m gonna have to tell him I let Toni go in. So don’t do
anythin
’ bad, okay?”

Toni nodded. “Okay.”

She narrowed her eyes again. “You promise?”

Toni smiled at her. “I promise.”

“Okay, I gotta go.” She turned and ran off down the street.

Toni watched as the kids started pelting each other with snowballs. Tonya held her own and took out three boys, who looked to be a lot older, before she finally got hit.

She smiled at the scene. Tonya reminded her of herself when she was little. Not a day went by when she didn’t do everything she could to beat the boys.

After watching for a few more minutes, Toni walked around the house to the back door. It hadn’t been the way she’d hoped to go in. The back door led straight to the kitchen, and that was the last room she planned to visit…if at all.

She sucked in a deep breath, but when she tried to walk up the stairs her legs refused to cooperate. Shaking and terrified, once again she found herself frozen to the ground. All she could do was cry as memories of what had happened to her family washed over her. Oktober had done so much more than just kill her family…

He’d killed a part of her, too.

Before they died, even as a vampire, she’d still felt connected to the world.
They
were her connection. Every time she saw her mother, she fussed over her. She asked if she’d been eating right, if she was making her bills on time, and if she’d found a nice boy yet.

Toni’s thoughts immediately turned to Drake. She’d finally found the nice boy, but he was best friends with the man who’d put a permanent end to the fussing. Ended the questions, the comfort, the only sense of belonging she’d ever known.

She wrapped her arms around herself as the tears streamed faster, her breathing came harder. How could everything go so wrong? No matter what she did, she lost everyone she cared about. And even though right now she hated Drake, she still cared about him. She cared more than she was willing to admit to anyone, even herself, and it made her feel like a traitor.

What would her family say if they knew she loved the best friend of the man who’d killed them?

Loving them was the only thing that helped her through being what she was. Through the painful change of becoming a vampire, she’d thought of them. During the times when the darkness within her screamed for blood, she’d clung to their faces in her memories. In the moments where self loathing ruled her, when she felt as though she’d never even been human, knowing they were there…pulled her back.

They kept her human even though she wasn’t.

But now they were gone. She’d never get them back, and the only other person who made her feel that way was Drake.

Toni wiped the tears from her cheeks and backed away from the house. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t go in knowing she might not be able to stay in the city. If she did, and she had to leave again, it would be even worse than before.
Because not only would she lose her home again, but she’d lose Drake, too.

And right now…she didn’t know which would be worse.

Toni ran back to the street and climbed into her car. She picked up the folder Christian had given her and stared down at the notch where her name had been written. She had to focus on the investigation. She had to find the answers Locke was looking for, and then she would make time to talk to Drake.

No matter how things did or didn’t work out with him, she had to make sure she had a home to go back to.

Pulling away from the curb, Toni headed back towards the west side of the city where Stryker lived. Three wolves running around Chicago wasn’t normal. Someone had to have seen something. After all, werewolves couldn’t just appear and disappear without anyone knowing.

Could they?

Chapter 16

Drake sat quietly at the bar missing Toni a little more with every breath he drew. He still felt her faintly inside
him,
and worse yet, he knew she was hurting. He didn’t know exactly where she was or what she was doing, but he wished he could make her feel better.

He also wished the alcohol he was attempting to drown himself in would work. He didn’t want to feel the dull ache in his chest anymore, didn’t want to suffer the crushing, suffocating sense of emptiness that had only grown heavier over the last half hour.

Even the betrayal by
Klesa
hadn’t hurt this much. It had taken years for him to forget her face, even longer for the pain to finally recede. He didn’t want to guess how long it would take this time. But this time, he didn’t want Toni’s face to leave his memory. He wanted to remember her, wanted to remember every smile, each laugh. She’d treated him like a person, not a killer.

She’d treated him like a man…not a means to an end.

She didn’t treat you like a killer because you didn’t tell her the truth.
Drake stared down into the darkness of his nearly empty beer bottle. He should’ve told her what he was before he’d even considered sleeping with her, but he couldn’t. To deny her went against everything he felt, everything he knew.

Drake finished his beer and waved to get the bartender’s attention. When he had it, he pushed the bottle back in line with the dozen or so others. “I’ll take another.”

The older man looked skeptical. “Are you sure you want another? You’ve already had twenty, young man.”

Drake chuckled. He’d have to drink well over a thousand beers to get drunk. He was immune to poisons and chemicals, which made getting even a good buzz damn near impossible. Mainly because his stomach just couldn’t hold that much liquid.

He nodded then pointed at the line. “I’m sure.”

“You’re not driving are you?”

“No, Sir. I’ll either be walking or taking a cab.”

“All right.”
The man’s words were begrudging at best, but he slid another beer down the counter. “Just making sure your brain is still working.”

“I’ll have one too, Teddy,” a voice called from behind Drake.

Drake turned to see the source of the voice then shook his head. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.
“What’s going on, Brick?”

“I’d ask you the same thing.” He sat down on the empty stool next to Drake. “What are you
doin
’ here? And why do you look so bummed?”

“I’m drinking beer. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at a bar?”

Brick gave a nod. “I reckon that’s what most people do. But most people also smile when they drink. You look like someone just ran over your puppy.”

Drake sighed. “I lost something important. What’s your excuse?”

“I’m here because a friend of mine owns the bar.” He motioned to the bartender. “Teddy called me about thirty minutes ago and said a rather large and scary man was down here drinking him out of house and home. So I asked what the lummox looked like. Turns out – it’s you.”

Drake slowly nodded. This was one of the reasons why Brick was so good at his job. He knew people all over the city, and they always called him whenever something strange happened.

Brick took a swig of beer then set the bottle down on the bar and turned it a few times, filling the air with a dull scratching sound. “So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on. Did a contract go bad?”

Drake almost glared, but then remembered Brick knew about his profession, and The Organization. He’d been approached to join about five years ago, but eventually turned the offer down. And to this day, he was the only one who’d been allowed to live afterward. Usually if someone declined, they were executed where they stood.

Drake pushed the death thoughts aside in favor of considering the question at hand. “Yes, a contract went bad.”

“Who’s still alive?”

“Toni—”

“What?” Brick snapped as he slammed his fist against the bar. “Is that why you interrupted us the other night? I shoulda known better when you said you’d stay with her. This is some bullshit, Drake. That girl hasn’t hurt anyone.”

“I’m not supposed to end her,” he said in a hushed tone while he looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. “It was a protection contract.”

“Oh…well…that’s different,” Brick said, his voice thick with relief. “Well if she’s still alive, then that’s good, right?”

Drake nodded. “It’s very good.”