hand of hate 01 - destiny blues (29 page)

“You don’t know what it’s like,” he grunted. A sea of blood pooled across the floor and spatter dripped down the walls. I couldn’t believe he still had the strength to move. He inched closer to the machete.  “My father is crazy. Richer than Midas.” Garr grabbed for the weapon, which skittered just out of his reach.
 

Blix finally gnawed through the silver tape wrapped around my ankle. I yelled and kicked my foot free. Sirens sounded in the distance and my emotions soared, but I couldn’t be sure they were heading this way.  I twisted myself around and landed on my feet, my  right wrist still taped to the table. I began to bite at it.
 

Garr reached the machete. He held it with his good hand as he struggled to his knees.  
 

“When I turned thirteen, my old man gave me a deadline. If I made a million on my own by my thirtieth birthday, I’d inherit everything.” He grunted as he got one foot beneath him, and rested, panting.  “Otherwise, he would give everything to charity. Can you believe that,” he panted. “That’s my money.” He put the point of the machete on the floor and steadied himself as he attempted to stand.  
 

“He told me his father had made him the same deal. But my crazy old man used his demon to help him.” He coughed, and fell to his knees.
 

I couldn’t make any progress biting through the tape. I scratched at the edge in desperation until I got a corner unstuck. My hands shook as I feverishly began to unwind my constraint.  
 

Garr was just babbling now. “Rex and I started in Germantown. It was so easy. We took jewelry, coins, and cash, anything I could sell. There’s a lot of money in Germantown, you know.”  Garr slumped over, and was quiet.  
 

I wrenched myself free from the last of the tape and tried to run but slipped in the blood and sprawled flat on the slick tile floor. I struggled to my feet and looked around for my cell phone, but couldn’t find it.  I slipped over to check the walk-in, but Rhys wasn’t inside. I slammed the door shut and frantically looked for a way out, but Garr lay between me and the doorway.  
 

I edged my way around Garr. He reached out with surprising quickness and grabbed me by my ankle.   I slipped and fell. I fought and bit and squirmed, but somehow, he managed to pull himself on top of me and use his bloody weight to hold me down. My right arm was trapped beneath him, but my other hand was free. I fought to get him off me.  
 

The pounding of footsteps rumbled above us. Lots of footsteps.  
 

“Down here!” I pounded at Garr’s mangled shoulder, but he didn’t seem to feel a thing.  It was like pounding clay. He wrapped his powerful hand around my throat and tightened his grip.  
 

I froze, not daring to move a muscle. My heart pounded in a panic.    
 

“My own father lied to me. He lied to me. Every time I did what he asked. Every time, he told me I had to do more. To prove myself.” Garr gazed into my eyes as if noticing me for the first time. His expression changed.  
 

“I would never lie to my kids. I would never lie to you.” He was strong and heavy as granite. With each word, his grip on my throat squeezed tighter.  
 

“You have to understand. Building the new marina was my father’s idea. A couple of key property owners didn’t share my father’s vision. They didn’t want to sell. I used Rex to persuade them differently.  I thought my father would respect me. Thank me. My father is crazy. I got nothing.”
 

My hand fluttered uselessly at his face, my strength nearly gone.  
 

“Rex liked the killing part. I never told him to kill. I made him bring the bodies here, but after a while he wouldn’t listen to me anymore. He started killing on his own. What could I do? I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t go to the cops. When I ran out of freezer space, he started leaving them for the police to find.”  Garr coughed and closed his eyes. “No respect.” His voice only a whisper now, as his life ebbed away.
 

“No.” His eyes opened. His sweat and drool dripped on my face. “Listen.” I heard bangs overhead, as if someone was battering down a door. Garr squeezed my neck tighter.  Everything sounded so far away.    
 

“Rex has his own reasons for killing now. I can’t stop him, it’s not my fault. I have nothing to do with it.”
 

I scrabbled to peel his fingers off my throat, but he was unyielding as stone.  The floor felt cool and comforting. “They’re coming,” I gasped.
 

“Listen to me, you little freak, nobody’s going to believe a word you say. My father owns this town. You are nothing. Less than nothing. Your mother was nothing but a psycho whore.”
 

In the fading distance, I heard a door shatter. Shouting.
 

“Here.” My voice would not rise above a whisper. Black spots swirled before me. I felt myself slipping away.
I’m going to die.
 

“Oh yeah, I knew her. She was my first. I bet you didn’t know that.” He grunted, shifting his position.  “You look a lot like her.”  
 

To my horror, his erection grew rigid between us. He grunted and paused to shift his grip on my throat.  
 

“You know, you’re about the right age. You could even be my daughter.” He began to squeeze in earnest.  
 

I floated. The darkness threatened to overwhelm me, as my range of vision narrowed to a glowing pinpoint. Something broke open inside me and flooded my veins with cool soothing blackness. Death. Chilled fingers caressed my inner eye and called my name. Madame Coumlie was right. A thrill rushed through me, as I accepted the truth of her words.
I am death incarnate
.
 

I shivered and smiled as I opened my eyes and focused on the glowing thread before me. With my free hand, I slipped my index finger around Garr’s lifeline. His pulse skittered, an irregular thrum across the strand.
 

“What are you doing,” he said. “Stop it.” The pressure on my neck increased. There was no choice.  
 

“Time to die,” I whispered, and snapped the brittle thread between my fingers.   
 

CHAPTER 34
 

Garr’s eyes closed and he collapsed on top of me. I gasped and sobbed as I inhaled my first ragged breath of air. I fought to shove his bloody corpse off of me.  
 

The thunder of boots sounded on stairs, accompanied by shouts and another crash. I sent Blix and Larry to hide as Frank Porter called out my name and the cavalry crossed the outer basement. They couldn’t hear my hoarsely whispered answers. I finally managed to roll Garr off me, just as they boiled into the room, in full SWAT regalia. Frank pulled me free and helped me up. I got blood all over his suit.
 

“Mattie!” He motioned the paramedic over. “Where are you hurt?” I stared at the body on the floor. The guy checking Garr’s pulse shook his head.  
 

“Where is Rhys?” Porter pointed me back toward the stairs. I tottered over to where the paramedics hovered over Rhys and collapsed beside him.
 

“Here Mattie, I’m here.” Rhys reached out to me. I grabbed his icy cold hand and held on tight. “Okay, we’re fine, I’m fine, and you’re fine.”
 

I slobbered and blubbered over him and made a big fuss, not giving a lick what anyone thought. By the time the paramedics finished checking us, both of us had recovered enough to convince everyone we did not need or want medical assistance. Thanks to my new recuperative powers, my arm had already stopped bleeding, and neither Rhys nor I would agree to go with the paramedics, so Frank let us sit in the back of his car until they got the mess in the Sand Castle straightened out.  
 

The night air was balmy, but Rhys and I lay huddled in blankets with the heater running full blast. We wrapped ourselves around each other, taking comfort in the gradual build up of heat between us.  
 

I felt safe, but I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t want to close my eyes and relive finding the pool of blood on the floor of Mystic Properties, or the sensation of Garr’s sweat dripping into my eyes, or the bite of the machete into my bones. Or worst of all, the memory of those cool fingers of joy and death as they called my name and the eager voice in my blood as I answered the call.  
 

Rhys had a nasty bruise to his temple, but the bloody cut over his eyebrow had already closed.  
 

“Tell me what happened, Rhys. I thought you were dead.”    
 

“I waited upstairs for the translator, and thought I heard him at the back door. I went down to let him in, and a huge demon attacked me. I woke up to see Garlan Russ stomping the hell out of someone. I didn’t know it was you.”
 

“Why did Rex come for you? Is he dead now?”
 

“You’re tensing up again.” Rhys pulled me closer and shifted himself on the cramped bench seat so that I sprawled on top of him. “Relax.” His strong hands massaged my back, kneading away knots of tension.  
 

“That’s not an answer. And you’re not exactly relaxed either.” I said. Some parts of Rhys were much less relaxed than others, I noticed.
 

“Sure I am. I am completely present and in the moment. Quiet your mind. Focus on your breath, and you won’t have room to think of anything else.”
 

“Is this some kind of Zen thing or a mage thing?” I cracked an eye and he smiled. Outside, car doors slammed and engines started up, and vehicles departed the lot. Things were wrapping up.
 

A few minutes later, a grim Agent Porter returned to the car.
 

“Hey you two sure you’re all right?”
 

“No worries, Frank. We’re fine.”
 

“How did you find us,” I asked.  
 

“When you guys ran out on me, I tried to track you through your cell phone, but you didn’t have it turned on. When I got your message, I realized you’d probably gone to the caves. We found Rhys’ truck at the trailhead, and had a couple guys ready to go in and bring you out, but then I got your call. This time we were able to triangulate a signal on the Sand Castle. Without that signal, we never would have found you, or the Night Shark either, for that matter. I owe you one, Mattie.”
 

“You saved our lives.” I wondered if it was true. “Does this mean my brother is off the hook?”
 

“I don’t make the decisions, but yeah, probably. The bodies we found in his freezer showed the same injuries as the known victims. The crime scene guys will be processing the place for days, but we found more than enough evidence to show Russ was the Night Shark and a demon master to boot. He used that room we found you in to butcher meat. We’re guessing he ground up the bodies into meal and rinsed them directly into the lake. The problem was, he hadn’t kept up with the backlog. We found at least a dozen victims in that walk-in, including some who hadn’t even been reported missing yet. This will take weeks to sort out.”  
 

I shuddered as I thought how close Rhys had come to being another victim.   
 

“Do you need us to make a formal statement tonight? I’m sorry about ditching you the last time.”
 

Porter smirked, but he wasn’t mad. “Yeah, you’ll both need to make a statement, but not tonight. You kids want a ride somewhere?”
 

I didn’t think I could face seeing the bloody office at Mystic Properties, so we had Porter drop us off at Madame Coumlie’s house. All I could think of was sleep. Rhys held my hand as he led me up the driveway to the back door.  
 

CHAPTER 35
 

Holding Rhys’s hand all night seemed like a wonderful idea until the porch light came on and the translator came out brandishing a broom. Rhys called out to him, and he appeared both relieved and embarrassed. He noticed our bloody clothes and blanched.   
 

“What happened to you?” He ushered us into the kitchen.
 

“What are you doing here?” I asked.  
 

He shrugged. “I had no place to go, so I came here.”
 

So much for my plan for quiet time with Rhys. Rats. We should have gone to my place. I heard Rhys sigh, and wondered if he shared the same thought.
 

“No problem. Have you two met?” He turned to me.  
 

“Briefly.” I nodded. “How did you get in? I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name?”
 

“Henri at your service, Madame.”  
 

It wasn’t until he said Madame that I realized why he seemed so familiar. “Oh my god. You’re him; aren’t you? You’re Oneiri.”