Redemption (16 page)

“It can’t be helped. Go before she sends up the Sisters,” Diane ordered while pushing me gently down the hall.

 I complied automatically. If my dinner was with Mr. James, I wasn’t sure I could manage to sit through it. Unconsciously, I smoothed down my hair and straightened my hoodie before moving toward the dining room, my whole body tense and cold. I pushed open the door and paused. It was empty.

“Aunt Ky?” I called out uncertainly before glancing down at my watch. 5:30. I was more than an hour late.

“She won’t be joining us tonight,” a deep, male voice said suddenly, and I jumped before scanning the room hesitantly.

A chair scooted back, and I found myself watching a dark figure stand up slowly at the end of the table. I took a small step forward. It wasn’t Mr. James.

“Are you the recruiter?” I asked timidly as I skirted along the wall, moving just close enough to make out the man’s appearance.

The sight shocked me. Monroe had certainly pegged our mystery man. Only his attire differed. He was dark-haired and built, but his frame was covered in a black suit jacket over a black tee. No tie. His pants were dark blue denim, and he wore a black belt fastened securely at the waist. His eyes were as dark as his hair, his face pale. And though he was very attractive, his gaze was not. It was hard and cold, making him look much older than the age I would have pegged him at.

“Are you the recruiter?” I repeated more loudly this time. He smiled then, but it seemed forced.

“Something like that,” he answered as he moved to the side and held out a chair.

 I looked from him to the chair with an uncertainty I knew he could read.

“Have a seat, Dayton,” he said, his tone commanding.

A strange feeling settled over me, and it seemed foolish to argue. I stepped forward and sat. He moved back to his own chair, and I got my first close look at him. He was definitely younger than I first perceived. His cheekbones were high, his mouth and eyes full. A scar ran from the corner of one eye to just along one cheek. It made me feel cold. Silence stretched and I shifted uncomfortably. He seemed content to watch me as he ate. He waved a hand at my plate but I shook my head. I wasn’t hungry. Today was moving too fast for me, one strange thing after another. And it had me feeling motion sick.

“What are you recruiting for?” I asked, my gaze scanning the length of the table.

The emptiness was disconcerting. Why was no one else present? The table was normally full of women, novices, and occasional employees. I shifted slightly away from the man’s chair.

“For a special event I have coming up,” he answered vaguely.

I looked over at him and furrowed my brow. He noticed the confusion.

“I’ve heard you may be perfect for the job. You seem suited. Your aunt has told me a lot about you. It seems we have a lot in common."

The furrow in my brow deepened.

“What do you mean?” I asked as I reached for a glass of water in front of me.

My hand shook, and I dropped it. He followed the movement with his eyes. What was wrong with me? I felt incredibly funny.

“Nervous?” he asked as he reached over to help right my glass.

I dropped my hand and moved away. Something didn’t seem right about his eyes.

“Why don’t I introduce myself?”

He brought his right hand across the table.

“I’m Damon Craig."

 I stared at his hand a moment, maybe too long before taking it in mine. It was hot and his grip was firm. He held it for an unsuitable amount of time, and I snatched my hand away. Something about him seemed familiar but not in a good way.

“I’m assuming you know who I am,” I said shakily.

Damon laughed softly to himself.

“And so I do."

 I busied myself with cleaning the mess I’d made with the water. It was a shame too. I really was thirsty. I was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like this guy was some kind of mass murderer. I took a deep breath and tried to smile, but the room closed in. For some reason, the air felt thick.

“Your aunt tells me you have a fascination with decadence,” he remarked out of nowhere, and I looked up sharply. What?

“I’m sorry?” I asked him stupidly.

Who the hell said words like decadence?

“I’m going to get right to the point, Day. You don’t know me and have no reason to trust me, but your aunt and I go a long way back. She’s aware of my reasons for being here. Simply put, I want you,” Damon said casually, reclining back in his chair until his elbows rested on his arm rests. He steepled his fingers. 

 I watched him uneasily. Wanted me? For what? A long way back? He didn’t look a day over twenty at the most.

“I have a special assignment I need done and you are most definitely qualified for the job,” he continued, interrupting my jumbled barrage of thoughts.

“I don’t think I’m following, Mr. Craig,” I said.

I was still reeling over his decadence comment.

“What did you mean by decadence? What has my aunt told you about me?”

I was not looking forward to the answer. Damon seemed to move closer without having left his chair. I knew my eyes were round.

“Sweets, satin sheets, foul language, a disdain for authority . . . most anything the Abbess doesn’t approve of. Does that sound like anyone you know?” Damon asked.

My whole body had frozen in shock. I had gone cold as soon as he mentioned satin sheets. It filtered through me so numbingly fast, I barely noticed that I had dropped my silverware and shoved away from the table. What was this?

“Who the hell are you?” I asked him.

I couldn’t help but be affronted. He had no right! What the hell was this? 

“Whatever you’re selling I don’t want it,” I said as I stood up and began to move away.

A hand clamped down on my wrist. It wasn’t a soft grip. Fear slid up my spine. I fought not to let it show.

“You’re aunt seems to believe you are well qualified for the position I am looking to fill. She believes the work may change you,” he said in a low tone. It sent shivers all the way down to my toes. I attempted to move away. His grip tightened.

“I’m really
not
interested,” I repeated forcibly.

He moved closer. His eyes almost seemed to shine.

“You are stubborn aren’t you?”

It wasn’t a question. I tensed.

“Is this some kind of reform school? Is that what my aunt is after?” I asked.

His grip finally loosened slightly. Blood flowed down into my hand and caused it to tingle painfully. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out. It opened the wound from earlier. Damon gasped.

“It will reform us both,” he said in a husky voice that made the hair stand up along my arms.

This man scared me. How did my aunt know him? What were they planning? I tried moving away again. Had I really been that bad? What did Aunt Ky want with him? This time when his grip began to tighten, I shoved my elbow into his ribs and moved away. He didn’t even flinch, but he did let go. I suspected he let go on his own.

“That wasn’t very nice, Dayton,” he scolded.

I backed away from him, and moved toward the door.

“Fuck you!” I said loudly, the word echoing along the dining room walls. He grinned then before moving back to his seat.

“Oh yes, Dayton, I think you will do quite nicely,” he said as I moved out of the room.

My heart beat erratically against my ribs and sweat was beginning to gather along my back and hairline.

“Happy birthday, Dayton. It was so good of your aunt to let me meet you first. It’s a shame you never asked what the job was,” he called out as I turned and fled toward the stairs.

I was crying by the time I made it to the top, and I noted it for what it was. Anger not sadness. It made me even angrier and I cried harder.

“What is wrong with you people today!” I cried out loudly through the upstairs living quarters. No one answered me.

“What is going on?”

 The sobs were coming heavily now. I just wanted to curl up on my bed, go to sleep, and start my day all over again. I cried out one more time, but the only answer I received was my own echo.

Chapter 12

The first stone in the war has been thrown. He thinks he has the answers to Redemption. He will discover it comes at a much greater cost.

~Bezalial~

The floor. That’s where Amber found me, curled up against the wall at the top of the stairs. She didn’t say anything, just touched me lightly and inclined her head toward her room. I nodded and let her lead me gently by the elbow. It’s amazing how long you can live at a place and still not feel at home. Amber didn’t seem to share my feelings and her room reflected it. A small desk, books, thick blue comforter, and warm lamp on the bedside table screamed peace. I wasn’t feeling the mojo.

“You okay?” Amber asked quietly.

 I should have been angry at her but I wasn’t. This whole day seemed skewered. Life as I’d always known it seemed distorted. The man from downstairs had been my mad hatter. I suddenly understood how Alice felt in Wonderland. I hadn’t just sleepwalked into her rabbit hole, I’d stolen it. I nodded at Amber, too afraid of the tears if I tried to speak. She read my expression well enough and patted her bed. She didn’t talk, just moved around gathering up books before spreading them out on her bed along with an assignment sheet. It all seemed so normal.

Amber sat down at the head of the bed, and I sprawled at the end. Maybe that had been Amber’s intention all along, to create a sense of normalcy in a sea of chaos. Whatever it was, I was letting it sink into my bones. I needed normal. But the worries still nagged me, and I knew, without a doubt, that Amber was aware of something I wasn’t. It made me feel afraid and alone, adrift and without anchor. I wanted to lay here and fall asleep, pretend this day had never happened. Erase the confusion. Something was happening around me, and I wasn’t included in the secret. I was living a day walking in the middle of something that I obviously had not been prepared for, that I was only catching snippets of as I moved through. It was like trying to piece together a quilt, and I wasn’t getting the pattern right. No, I couldn’t sleep it away. I needed answers.

I lay there at the end of Amber’s bed, quietly watching her for a while as she flipped through one of her textbooks, stopping here and there to scribble a note. The lamp next to her highlighted the gold in her hair, and I tried not to feel envious. She shone like the sun even in the dark. I was muted, a fire that burned low right before it was supposed to go out. I looked away. I had more weighty things on my mind. It was time I work through it all.

“What’s going on, Amber?” I asked suddenly.

I could hear the pages in her textbook become still.

“It’s your birthday tomorrow, Dayton,” Amber answered simply.

It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, and I looked up so quickly my neck popped. I was definitely missing something. If I wasn’t confused before, I was now. The puzzle pieces didn’t fit—the dream, Mr. James, the weird man, Amber’s odd behavior . . . out of it all, only the dream had ever been a part of my normal day. The rest, not so much. And what did my birthday have to do with anything? I stared at Amber a moment, but she remained silent.

“So?” I asked, confused. Amber set her book aside.

“You don’t remember what my birthday was like a year ago?” she asked.

My forehead wrinkled with thought. I had been so caught up in my own problems at the time, I wasn’t sure I could remember. I thought harder. I did remember it being slightly odd. We didn’t celebrate birthdays at the Abbey, but that year, Aunt Ky had taken Amber out. Amber had not been the same since. I just figured it had something to do with hormones.

“Not really,” I admitted finally. Amber sighed.

“There are some things about the Abbey you haven’t let yourself see, Dayton. You’ve always been good at avoiding the obvious,” she said quietly.

I felt affronted but didn’t argue. I think it hurt to hear her say it because I knew it was true. I did prefer fantasy over reality.

“What have I missed?” I asked.

 I knew she was leading up to something, Amber closed her eyes briefly, and I watched as she visibly collected herself. This worried me. 

“When you turn seventeen, things change for you here. It’s like a rite of passage. And for you and me, it’s more than that. It’s life altering,” she said before looking away from me.

Rite of passage? I shook my head wearily, my brain overflowing with confusion and nerves. Something told me Amber felt she had said too much, but I wasn’t letting this go. If this had something to do with me, with her, and our birthdays, I needed to know. I was more than a little unnerved.

“Help me out here, Amber. I’m missing something.”

“It isn’t that easy, Day,” Amber replied. I sat up.

“Then make it that easy. Cause I’m beginning to feel more than a little freaked out. It doesn’t help that my own sister keeps avoiding my questions and some strange man shows up at the Abbey! And not just any man, Amber. A freaking psycho!” I whispered loudly. Amber shrugged.