Kassern (Archangels Creed) (6 page)

And yet she couldn't help wondering if she'd be with a man just like him if her parents hadn't been killed when she was twelve. Not that anything
ever
worked out that way
. I
n her current life, instinct  screamed at the stupidity of letting a strange man—in his own freaky little goody way—know where the hell she lived.

Devyn tried to stretch her legs in the cramped back seat of Troy The Preacher's absolutely spotless little car. She could appreciate the new car smell, even though it was a couple of years old, but damn! The back seat wasn't big enough for a Barbie Stripper, let alone a real live one. Hopefully, that vouched for Troy not being a serial killer. He certainly couldn
'
t use that car to haul dead bodies around before dumping them by the interstate.

"Take the next left, and our building is on the right." Karly's directions seemed too normal to have come from the giggling, slightly flaky whore who'd been trying her best to get in Troy's pants from the moment she laid eyes on him.

Devyn quelled her annoyance at Karly's behavior reminding
herself
she'd kind of put her up to it. After his offer to drive them home, she couldn't help being wary. He might not murder 'exploited' women, but that didn't mean h
e
w
as
a
saint
.
Karly was a natural at bringing out a man
'
s true nature
but she sure as hell seemed to be enjoying herself
– maybe
a little too much
.
And so
far he hadn
'
t cracked. Not even a little.
The man
was clearly
just
tolerating
Karly's presence
, rather than jumping on her not-so-subtle offer
.

Troy successfully avoided the worst of the potholes and swung his car into the parking lot. Watching him, Devyn noted his interest in their surroundings. He stayed away from the overgrown shrub that surrounded the parking lot, and pulled into a space not far from the main entrance. Not entirely stupid, at least.

As soon as he put the car in Park, Karly opened her door and hopped out. Devyn pushed the front seat forward and started to claw her way through the crack. Halfway through, Troy was there, offering a helpful hand. She wanted to ignore it, but
getting
into that car was entirely different from
climbing
out.
Devyn
placed her hand in his, swallowing some pride.

Troy wrapped strong, warm fingers around her hand and steadied her ascent from his car.

Finally on her feet, Devyn thanked him and drew her hand back, resisting the urge to rub his warm strength from her tingling palm. "We appreciate the ride home, Troy." The least she could do was thank the man. "Maybe we'll see you again sometime." She gave a little wave and pried a protesting Karly from the
Good Samaritan
'
s arm and led her toward the building. Karly was definitely
having too much fun
trying the man.

Just short of the stairwell doors, a slender form staggered out from the shadows on the unlit side of the entryway. Ratty hair that might have been blonde straggled over bony shoulders. An odd angle of the security light gave the illusion of grinning death approaching them.

Running footsteps drew Devyn
'
s attention behind her. Troy. Jogging up, he stopped beside them.
Somehow, his presence made her feel just a little safer.

The skeletal crystal meth face teetered before them, thin lips marred by sores pulled back to show teeth gone dark and barely hanging in place. "Hey,
d'ere
,
Karly
." The raspy voice and slurred speech
grated on Devyn's nerves
. "
Ya
ole man sent
ya
a message."

Devyn didn
'
t miss the flinch in Karly
'
s frame before she pulled on the bravado act. "Yeah, bitch? What he say?" She sidled up to the smaller woman, crowding into her face.

"He say tell
ya
'
you
ain't
goin
'
nowhere, bitch,
'
cepta
hell." With a hacking sound that might have been laughter, or coughing, the
skeletal
whore limped away.

Devyn grabbed Karly's arm and pulled her around. "Karly, what the hell was that? How did he find out?" She resisted the panic riding her spine.

"What was that? Is everything okay?" Troy watched the meth whore round the corner of the building.

"Is it, Karly?" Devyn waited, impatient.

"I'm sorry, Devyn, I had to call him. I couldn't just walk away like that.
I love him.
"

Devyn let go of Karly's arm. The chill spread from her spine to her internal organs. "Shit, Karly!" She turned her back, putting one knuckle to her teeth to keep from knocking the piss out of her best friend. What the fuck were they going to do? A deep breath gave her enough distance to think. She turned to Troy. "Can you give us a ride?"

"
Absolutely.
"
He seemed relieved.
"
Where do you need to go?"

"A motel, I guess. We'll be right back down. I need to grab a couple things." Snatching Karly's arm again, she pulled her toward the door.

"I'm going up with you." Troy came after them, right on her heels.

Devyn started to argue, but thought better of it. When it came to that Jake fucker, there was no place for pride. Only survival. By whomever or whatever, it didn
'
t matter and Preacher
Boy would have to do. Devyn nodded and let him through the so-called security door into the stairwell. Damn, she wished she had a gun.

Heading up the last level before their apartment, Devyn had to admit, Troy must be fit. He wasn't even breathing hard, and they'd moved pretty fast. 

He waited, silent, while she unlocked their door. Shit, she didn't want him to see the little rat-hole she lived in, or their meager, ragged possessions. A guy like him, he'd be used to far better. Oh well, nothing she could do about that. She gave the door a hard shove with her shoulder to get it unstuck from the frame.
T
he screaming of hinges accompanying the door's slow swing open
set Devyn's teeth on edge
.

She froze, fighting the urge to run. Karly gasped a curse and Devyn swallowed more panic. Holy
fuck!
The threadbare little couch was overturned, its upholstery shredded. The afghan Devyn had crocheted from thrift store yarn to hide the worst stains lay in strips with huge clumps of knotted yarn.

Devyn l
ook
ed
over her shoulder
when
Troy tug
ged
on her arm
. "Let's go back downstairs and call the cops."

Fear made her damn near nauseous, but she had to get her stash.
"I need to get some things first." Devyn started through the door, but he caught her arm.

"They could still be here."
The incredulous note in his voice said intelligent people didn't just walk into an apartment that might still hold burglars/vandals.

"No, they're gone. The whore downstairs was to let him know the message was delivered."

Troy frowned but didn't try to stop her again.

Devyn walked slowly into the apartment, taking in the destruction, one piece at a time. Contents of the fridge strewn everywhere...their few dishes reduced to shards on the floor. Karly
'
s old mattress and springs, torn apart.

Devyn didn't notice the tears rolling down her cheeks until Troy offered her a handful of toilet paper
h
e
'
d gotten from the roll on the holder still attached to a chunk of wall. She absently wiped the tears and blew her nose. Something on the
plaster
above where the couch should have been caught her eye, and she blinked, looking more carefully.

Words, or what passed for them, were scrawled
there
in some material she didn't want to look at too closely.
U
aint
gone
nowere
bitch.

Devyn turned to Karly. "Grab what you have to have. We can't come back here.
Bastard'll
end up killing us both." When Karly nodded and headed toward the tiny bedroom, Devyn turned to Troy. "Look, you don't have to wait for us. You don't want to be here if Jake shows up. He's a mean motherfucker. And he's never alone." She crossed to the kitchenette and reached into the back of the top shelf of the single cabinet, already emptied of its contents. Damn it, she wasn't tall enough without something to stand on, and their chairs lay in pieces on the floor. She glanced around.

"I
'
m not leaving." Troy approached her, stepping around the mess.
"
Let me help.
"

The beg
ging
in his deep tone nearly reduced her to tears. Fuck, she didn
'
t need to break down here—now. Especially in front of him. "Think you can reach the very back of the top shelf?"

Troy crossed to the cabinet and easily touched the back of the top shelf. After following a series of instructions to get her stash, he handed her a little rusty square candy tin. Fingers trembling, Devyn pried the squashed-in lid off,
then
sagged against the counter. They hadn
'
t
found her measly hundred bucks – all she and Karly had to start a new life. Devyn clutched the childhood tin to her chest
. T
he four delicious chocolates it held for her tenth birthday
and the loving father who
'
d given it to her were
suddenly
a bitter re
minder
of life
'
s cruelty
.

Devyn threw the tin
that
held
all her broken dreams
onto the floor
with the rest of
her
pathetic
life, shoving the money in her back pocket. "I'm going to grab a couple things before we go." She
cleared the emotion from her throat, and headed
to check on Karly. Her best friend had been too quiet for too long – not a good sign, considering the kind of stress the girl was under and the shit in her head.

In the little bedroom, Karly sat
on
the floor, legs sprawled in front of her, staring at something that lay between her knees.

Devyn moved in for a better look then froze.
Fuck!
She'd thought she go
t rid of all that shit! A worn old leather belt
, a spoon
with the handle bent to an odd
angle
,
and a plastic syringe, stained dark from the residue of whatever poison it had last delivered, all lay neatly side by side in front of Karly.

She looked up at Devyn, pale blue eyes turned into bottomless pits of misery.

"I'm sorry, baby. I thought I got rid of it all while you were in Detox." The seven days Karly spent in the County Hospital's Substance Abuse unit had been rough. Devyn had torn their apartment to shreds to find every single rig, every tooter,
every
cigarette lighter. After trashing all that, she went through again, searching for everything that could be converted easily to drug paraphernalia. Eliminating all the risks was impossible, but God she
'
d damn well tried.

Karly just sat, staring at the rig, her entire body quivering as she battled the demons of her addiction.

"Troy, can you come in here, please?" She hated calling him in there, but she needed help to get Karly moving. He wanted to minister to whores, here was his big chance
.
T
he shit was going down.

He came in, and assessed the situation with one glance. Without asking questions, he went straight to Karly and scooped her up, leaving the rig on the floor. "
Come on, let
'
s get out of here.
"

The casual
boldness
of his
chivalry
left Devyn stunned. The men in her world simply didn't do things like that unless there was something in it for them.

Troy
stood
with Karly cradled in his arms, her head collapsed on his broad shoulder
. The look in his eyes said hurry.

Devyn grabbed her book bag, leftover from when her life had been headed in the right direction, and tossed in the few pieces of clothing that had escaped being ruined. Not that they had much anyway. She found a spare pair of jeans for each of them that weren't too badly damaged. A
couple of
shirts, s
pare
underwear, and the little cosmetic bag full of cheap makeup finished filling the bag.