Mortal Obligation (13 page)

He nodded solemnly, and Ree rolled her eyes. She walked past them and headed toward the front of the house. Yep, he took his role as protector a little too seriously.

“Ree! Before you leave, grab my cell phone. I won't need it while I'm with your father. There’s a baking convention at the same hotel as his meetings.” She smiled. “That’s how he got me to agree to go, you know. That and he promised me a spa day.”

Ree grabbed the phone and charger off of the counter and gave her mother another hug. “I’ll see you next weekend, Mom.”

Paden grabbed the cake and followed her out of the house. After making sure the cake was safe on the floorboard, they headed toward the O'Reilly residence, downtown.

Ree loved the O'Reilly house. The family owned a pub downtown, and they lived in a row house not far away. She had often stayed there with Paden and Tristan during St. Patrick’s Day. They could see the parade from the living room, so they didn't have to camp out in the cold or rain to get the good spots like everyone else.

Paden slid the car into a spot across from his house and they climbed up the stairs. His key always stuck, but they never fixed the lock.

“You know, now that we know what’s running around at night, you might want to get your key fixed,” Ree said.

“Good point. After you.” He swung the door open and motioned for her to go in. She would have laughed if she hadn't noticed him checking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching them. She shivered instead and stood just inside of the door, not going any further. Paden locked the door behind them and went through every room, turning on every light as he did. When he got to the office, he stopped and sniffed the air.

Ree stood behind him, motionless. It was an incredibly inhuman thing to do, and she wondered if his sense of smell had been affected by his transformation to immortal. The way he suddenly changed direction and headed upstairs, still sniffing the air, she figured it must have. He motioned for her to stay close and she trailed right behind him. He went straight to his room and stood in the doorway, his anger obvious as he looked around. Once he moved and Ree could see into the room, she understood why he looked so upset. His room had been ransacked. She gasped and walked in, looking around.

“What happened in here?” She picked up some of his clothes off the ground and went to the laundry hamper that had been turned upside down. “Should we call the cops?” With that thought she stopped picking things up, worried she might contaminate the evidence.

“I don't think the cops can help with this, Ree.”

“What? That’s what they do! But why would someone break in to tear up just your room? You don't have any enemies.” She stopped and turned to look at him. Her mouth formed an O and then she grimaced. “Oh. Oh, no. The Dark Ones did this?”

He started going around the room and picking things up. “It wasn't very clean to begin with, so I'm not sure if they took anything. What would they have been looking for?” Ree didn't answer, because she had no idea.

Instead she helped him straighten his room by righting the desk chair and organizing the stuff on the desk. She picked up his cork board and hung it back on the wall. She noticed the calendar was circled for the concert, and there was something sticking out from the tack next to it. Without thinking she slipped it out and looked. It was the receipt for the concert tickets. He had spent two hundred dollars on those tickets. But he had said his friend had bought the ticket and couldn't go. Why would he do that? She stood there pondering the receipt and didn't notice when Paden walked up behind her.

“What are you looking at?” he peered over her shoulder. She took the receipt down and turned around so they were facing each other, which left very little space between them. She held it up for him to see.

“I thought you said your friend bought the other ticket?”

He gulped and looked from her to the receipt. “I knew you would like the band, but that you couldn't afford to go.”

“Paden! These tickets were almost a hundred dollars each.” She glared at him. “And you lied to me!” She stepped a little closer to him and waved the receipt in his face. She didn't think he had ever lied to her before.

He grabbed the hand holding the receipt and moved it down to their side. She had the sudden thought that this was the first time he had ever grabbed her hand, and her heart gave a little thud when his fingers didn't let go.

“Don't be mad, Ree. I had money left over from my summer job, and I wanted to do something nice for you.”

“Why?” Her voice was a little shaky, and she swallowed to try and wet her suddenly dry throat.

He moved a little closer but didn't say anything. She unconsciously leaned forward in response, her heart beating in her ears. Could he hear that? She almost didn't care. His eyes dipped down to her mouth and he finally responded.

“Because I really care about you, Ree.” His head leaned down and she closed her eyes. He was going to kiss her, and her stomach was doing all sorts of flips and rolls. The receipt in the hand he was holding fell to the floor, and their fingers entwined. Her hand felt small, pressed against his palm. Her heart was pounding so hard it almost hurt. She had wanted to kiss him for so very long, and here he was touching her in a way she had only dreamt of.

Just as his lips neared hers, the doorbell rang. Paden jumped away from her like he had been shocked. His face looked guilty, and he wouldn't meet her eyes.

“I should get that.” Without another word, he practically sprinted out of the room.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Ree sat down on his bed and muttered profanities under her breath. What had that been about? He was going to kiss her. She hadn’t imagined that, had she?  He did everything a person did when they were going to kiss you. And he really cared for her? What did that even mean? That could mean anything! You really care for your dog or cat. You care for your Great Aunt Gertrude. She groaned in frustration. Maybe she had misread all of the signs. Maybe she had freaked him out by leaning into him. Had she been the one to wrap her fingers through his?

When she heard voices coming back up the stairs, she got up and started picking up trash to put back in the can. Bryce and Juliette were with Paden. They both stopped and Jules sniffed the room the way Paden had.

“It almost smells familiar,” Juliette said. She smiled quickly at Ree and walked into the room, still sniffing.

“I know. I just can't put my finger on it.” Paden said.

Bryce cocked an eyebrow at Ree. He sat down on the bed and whispered, “It’s a little weird that they keep walking around sniffing things. Think I’ll do that eventually?”

Ree smiled. “I have no idea. At least they aren't chewing on the furniture.”

“Hey, dorks! Our hearing is really good now, too.” Jules glared at them over her shoulder. She walked over to the closet and threw open the door. All of his clothes were on the ground, and someone had scratched a message into the back wall.

Better luck next time.

Paden completely wigged out when he saw the message and ran around the house, smelling for the intruder. Apparently, whoever had written the message had lingered in his parents’ rooms and his father’s office. After Paden calmed down and finally packed a bag, they all went downstairs. He left a note for the maid to have a locksmith change the locks on the house and to take the rest of the week off. He didn't want anyone at the house in case the Dark Ones came back. He left voice mails telling his parents he had changed the locks because he lost his keys at the concert and to call him when they got back in town. Then Paden called Weylin to warn him of possible intruders at his house and agreed to meet him at the antique shop in an hour.

Over slices of the cake Ree’s mother sent, Bryce told them about the lecture he had received from his parents. Turns out it was only because he hadn't answered his parents’ phone calls. He had told them he was staying with Paden and Weylin for a movie fest this week, but he had to check in every night.

“Even at eighteen, you aren't really an adult in their eyes.” He sighed and ate a chip. “I mean, they act like I have a curfew.”

“Oh, hush. They just love you,” Jules said. Her story had been the strangest. Apparently her father had torn into her for being out all night with her boyfriend. She had glossed over the facts, but Ree knew her father didn’t like her dating a boy that wasn’t Japanese. Just when her father was about to ground her, though, her mother, who never intervened, came in and told him to stop.

“It was the weirdest thing. In Japanese she told my father the goddess had chosen me to do her work and he should be proud of me. And the best part? He shut up, but not before apologizing. Told me to do what I must, but to be careful.” She looked immensely happy with herself. “Can you believe that? Maybe this immortal gig isn't so bad!”

“So, what? You think your mom knows all about this stuff? I mean, it’s on her side of the family that you’re related to the goddess, right?” Ree asked.

“I guess she knows something. And it makes sense. Our family has always believed that, somewhere down the line, we were related to Amaterasu.” She blushed a little. “I know that sounds odd to people from the West, but it was the way we were brought up. Most of the family treated it like a superstition, but my grandfather was a big believer. Always said he knew it was a fact. I guess it’s possible he had seen something at one time or another. I mean, humans have to notice something around them sometimes. How could they miss it all?”

No one really had anything to say to that. Ree had noticed odd things as she was growing up, but now she knew it had to do with her being the Alastriana. She figured it was possible other people had gifts or noticed things. If the Dark Ones were feeding off of humans, it was possible someone escaped to tell the tale.

They left Paden’s car at his house and rode with Bryce. They could all fit in his SUV if need be, so it made sense to take his car. The antique shop wasn't far; nothing was really far in downtown Savannah. Sophie had been lucky enough to get a shop on Broughton Street that actually had its own small parking lot in the back. Bryce parked the SUV in one of the tiny spots, and they all went in through the back door.