The Collector (22 page)

Chapter Forty-four

Fire

I grab Charlie’s arm and yank her up. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Her blue eyes widen, like she’s surprised I’m still here. “Dante,” she says.

It’s all she can get out, because before she can add anything else, I’m scooping her into my arms and carrying her ass out of the barn. She screams and kicks and yells just like I thought she would. Behind me, I wait for a blow from Blue. But it never comes—whether it’s because Annabelle’s telling him to stay put or he doesn’t know how to react, I’m not sure. And I don’t care.

I carry Charlie into the forest, far away from the barn and the path and the people who might interrupt. Ensuring we’re alone, I set her down. Once her feet hit the ground, she stops yelling and limps a few steps away from me.

“You have no right,” she says, and I can tell she means it.

“The hell I don’t,” I retort.

She spins around and steps toward me. “What did you just say?”

I think about it, because even though I said it two seconds ago, I can’t remember.

“Who do you think you are?” Charlie’s lips push out, and her head falls to the side like she’s inspecting me, like I’m an exhibit at some dusty museum. “You wanted me to sign that contract. I did. You wanted to convince me I wasn’t beautiful. It worked. Then…then you pretended you cared. And I bought it.” She covers her mouth like she wants to stop what’s coming. Her words slide out quiet and muffled, but they slice through me like blades. “Everything I did, I did because of you.”

I concentrate on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. It seems like the only thing I can do, because my body is trying to absorb what she just said. This is my fault, and she knows it. I was sure she did, but to hear her say it, to hear it out there—it kills.

I turn my back to her and take a few steps away. There are things I need to say, and I can’t watch her face as I’m saying it. “Charlie, I know you’re angry with me.”

I pause, waiting for her to tell me just how angry. She doesn’t.

“But you need to know the truth. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” I stop, considering what I just said. “Actually, I guess I did mean for this to happen. At first. But then I got to know you, Charlie. I got to see how you are, the things you do for other people. The way you smile when there’s nothing left to smile about, and the way you laugh…it hurts to even hear it. Because it reminds me what it’s like to live. To be happy.” I take a deep breath. “You are beautiful, Charlie. You’re so beautiful, and I can’t believe I let you think you weren’t.”

I turn around but focus on the ground. I can’t see her face. It’ll end me. But my eyes are deceitful, and before I can gouge them from my face, they slide up and land on her. On Charlie. And she’s crying. Tears rolling down her cheeks, sliding into a wide, happy smile.

“You’re smiling,” I say.

She nods, her grin stretching further.

The way she’s looking at me, like she never really stopped believing in me, it shatters my heart, reveals something I buried long ago. And it’s suddenly too much. I can’t take it anymore, can’t deny what I’m feeling. My breath catches, and before I can stop myself, the words tumble out.

“I love you, Charlie,” I say. “I fucking love you so much.”

A gasp escapes her throat as I race toward her. I tug her against me and smash my mouth over hers. I feel everything—her hair between my fingers, her skin pressing against mine. And her lips. I feel those soft pink lips freeze for a moment beneath my kiss. And then I feel her relax, opening her mouth and mirroring my movements. She leans into me, twining her arms around my neck, pulling me so that there’s nothing between us.

I grab her thighs and hoist her up, and she wraps her legs around me. Fumbling toward a tree, I press her back against it and push toward her, my hips locking against hers. An animalistic groan escapes my throat as I kiss her harder, deeper. I trail my lips down her neck and along her collarbone, and Charlie softly moans. Then I bury my head against her chest and take her in—her smell, her chest rising and falling. The wild thumping of her heart.

Slowly, I let her down, easing her legs from around my waist and back to the ground. I pull her head against me and hold it there, never wanting to let her go. Not for anyone or anything. My arms pull her closer and closer until I’m afraid I may crush her. But I can’t let up. I’m afraid if I do, she’ll realize I’m not worthy of her. Afraid to hear her say she doesn’t feel the same way. That she thinks I’m great, but she’s completely toasted, and we shouldn’t mention this tomorrow.

Even though I’ve got her in a death grip, she manages to pull her head back and gaze up at me. Her pink lips are bright and swollen, and I can’t help rubbing my thumb over them.

She kisses the tip of my finger, and I squeeze my eyes shut as tightly as I can. So I don’t see when she opens her lips. I don’t see when she pulls in a breath and swallows and whispers to me, “I love you, Dante. I’ve loved you from the start.”

But I
hear
her say it, and that’s all I need to crumble. Almost choking on my words, I manage to ask, “Why?”

I open my eyes and find Charlie smiling. She runs her hand over my cheek, then leans back against my chest. “Because I see you. Even though you try so hard to hide, I see you, anyway.”

What she says feels so good that when my breath rushes out, it’s mixed with laughter. Two days ago, I couldn’t imagine chancing my life for hers. And now I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I will protect this girl with everything I have, because if something happens to her, I will lose myself. I will cease to exist. And I will take everyone with me.

With unfathomable effort, I pull away from her and take her face in my hands. “Charlie, I need to tell you something.”

Her eyes lock on mine, and she smiles wider, assuming I have more good things to tell her. Things that will bring us closer together. I imagine the way her face will change when I tell her everything, and the weight of it drags me down. I need to protect her. I need to tell her the truth about me and the contract. But I can’t lose her. Not after what just happened between us.

“I want you to stop asking for beauty. I love the way you look, okay?” I gently squeeze her face between my hands. “Can you promise me you won’t ask for anything else? It’s important to me.”

Charlie’s eyes fall to my chest. I sense it instantly, that there’s something she’s not admitting.

“What is it?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll try not to,” she says. “I really will.”

“What do you mean, you’ll ‘try not to’? Can’t you just promise me?”

She pulls her face from my hands and steps away. “It’s getting harder…to not ask for things. It’s like the longer I go without asking for something, the more anxious I get. It started after the first time, but I figured I was just excited to add new things.” She pauses, wrapping her arms around herself. “But flying back from Vegas after I, you know, changed my skin…I felt physically sick. Like my body was screaming for me to do something else, something new. It scared me, so I waited as long as I could. Decided I should take a break to get some perspective.”

Charlie turns and faces me, and I find I can’t move. I don’t want to hear what she’s saying, but she opens her mouth and continues anyway.

“But the more I resisted, the sicker I felt. When you came by last night, I was feeling the worst of it. I was shaking and sweating. I knew what it was, and in the middle of the night, I couldn’t take it anymore. So I asked for something. Something small. Just a little wish to better my smile. The second I made the request, it’s like the sickness was vacuumed from my body. It was just…gone.” Fear flashes behind her eyes.

“Why is this happening, Dante? I thought I could go at my own pace.”

I fight to control my anger—anger with Boss Man for putting a target on her, and anger with myself for following orders. I take Charlie’s hands. “Because they know how perfect your soul is, and they want it. But listen to me, you have to fight it. You have to fight it for as long as you possibly can, understand? Do you feel okay right now?”

She nods, but she still looks terrified.

“Good. If it hits again, the sickness, call me and I’ll be there. We’ll work through it.”

Charlie presses her lips together like she’s thinking about something. “It’s okay, though, right? I mean, my soul will go to heaven.” She shakes her head like she’s being silly. “I’m being stupid over nothing.”

“You’re not being stupid. The truth is…” I grab Charlie by the shoulders and swallow hard. “The truth is, your soul may be in danger.”

“Danger?” Her eyes widen, and even that tears me apart. I don’t want her to be afraid, but she has to know.

“Charlie. There are collectors for heaven, like I told you.” So far, I’m not lying. I just have to get through this. Get it over with. “But there are other collectors, too. Different ones.”

“Different how?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper.

“They…they don’t work for…” I point upward.

“Oh, my gosh,” Charlie says, pulling away from me. “There are collectors from hell, too?”

I nod, because I can’t get any words out.

She covers her mouth, and tears spring to her eyes. When she speaks again, I can barely hear her. She starts crying, because she already knows. She knows something feels off, and here’s the explanation. “Do they want my soul, too?”

Again, I nod.

“But I signed the contract,” she blurts, dropping the hand from her mouth. “Everything’s okay. I’ll just fulfill the contract, and then they can’t get it. Right? Right, Dante?”

Charlie steps toward me, lays her hands on my chest, begs me to tell her she’s right. That they can’t take her soul.

I realize then that I’m not strong enough to tell her. I’ve spent nineteen years being selfish, taking whatever I wanted without question. And there’s nothing—
nothing
—I want more than Charlie. I can’t tell her. I can’t have the fear on her face be because of me.

“The paper you signed,” I say softly. “It’s a general contract. I didn’t know it was going to work out like this.”

It’s the truth. I imagine if Big Guy had a contract, it’d include the same verbiage. The only thing that matters is who it’s presented by. Which side they work for. And it’s true that I didn’t know it’d work out like this. I never could have predicted that I’d fall in love with my assignment.

I’m about to try and explain why we can’t be certain her soul will go to heaven—without exposing myself—when I sense him.

The collector.

He’s here.

Chapter Forty-five

Trust

I step in front of Charlie, ready to protect her with my life if needed.

“What is it?” Charlie asks, noticing the way my face changes.

I step toward where I feel the pull, keeping Charlie close behind me. Then I see it. A flash of red. When I realize it’s Valery and not the collector sent to tail me, I relax. Still, I can’t talk to her with Charlie here.

I face Charlie and wrap my hands around her jaw. “Can you do something for me? Can you wait for me up at the house?”

“Dante, you’re scaring me.”

“No. Don’t be scared, baby.” I kiss her lightly on the tip of her nose, then again on her forehead. “I’ll be right behind you. Go now, okay?”

She glances into the forest where she knows I was just looking and nods. Over her shoulder, she watches me as she makes her way toward the path. When I can no longer see her, I head toward Valery.

“Come out, Red,” I say. “I know you’re here.”

Valery steps out from behind a tree like a mass murderer and struts forward. Her face scrunches in disgust as her heels dig into soil and dried leaves.

“What are you doing out here?” she asks.

“Talking.”

“Liar.”

“You know what we’re doing out here; you’ve been hanging around like a stage-five clinger,” I say. “So what’s going on? What do you have to say?”

Valery smooths her hair back, then perches her claws on her hips. “I’ve come to warn you. We believe you’re being tracked by one of your own. And that he may try to harm you, or maybe even Charlie.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” I lean against a tree and kick my foot up on the bark. “What else you got?”

“You know?”

“Of course I know.”

“Then you’re going to tell her.”

My eyes pull to the right. “I’m trying.”

Valery laughs. It’s quick and sharp and says this is anything but funny. “Well allow me to give you some motivation. You have until tomorrow to tell her who you really are, or I will.”

I push away from the tree and step toward her. “Thought you weren’t going to interfere?”

“Plans have changed,” Valery says, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. “Tell her. Soon. Let her choose for herself who she wants to side with.”

My mind races. I have to tell Charlie, and chances are that after I do, she’ll want to get as far away from me as possible. Maybe she’ll run right into Valery’s waiting arms. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Valery would try and protect her. But she couldn’t do what I would, wouldn’t go to the same extremes to keep her safe.

She doesn’t love her like I do.

But if Charlie won’t come near me after I tell her the truth, Valery may be my only option to ensure Charlie stays safe. Though in order for Valery to do that, I have to tell her everything.

“Charlie signed a soul contract,” I confess.

Valery’s cigarette drops to the ground. Her eyes dart around like a crazy person’s. “I knew it. I freaking knew it. It’s why she looks so different. Isn’t it?”

I nod.

She paces past me and back again, muttering to herself. When she walks by me for the third time, I grab her arm.

“Valery.” I can’t believe what I’m about to say, what I’m about to do. “Work with me. Together we can keep her safe.”

She rips her arm from my grasp. “Work with you?” she snarls. “You’re crazy. I mean, freaking
loco
.” She rolls a finger near her temple to mimic just how crazy I am. “We would never work with one of you. We have standards. Morals. Things you demons don’t give a second thought to. You think I buy that you care about her? That you wouldn’t say or do anything to ensure you get a promotion? You said it yourself, didn’t you?” Valery huffs. “
I
can protect Charlie, and I certainly don’t need your help to do it.”

I storm away from her, flipping her off over my shoulder.

“Dante,” she yells from behind me, “don’t you walk away from me.”

I spin around and walk backwards. “Forget I said anything. I won’t let anything happen to her. I’d die first. I’d die
again
.”

Valery’s face changes. It softens, like she sees something she missed before. “Tell her, or I will.”

It’s the last thing I hear her say before landing on the path and finding my way back to Charlie. I spot her waiting near the front door and quickly pull her into my arms.

Kissing the top of her head, I mumble, “Ready to go?”

Charlie glances around like she wants to tell Blue and Annabelle good night. When she doesn’t spot them, she looks back at me and gives a halfhearted nod.

I pull one arm around her and open the door. I’m about to step out onto the patio when I remember I’m barefoot. Stepping back inside, I flip through the pile of shoes, searching for my sneakers. I’ve spent all of ten seconds on the task when the realization hits me.

They’re gone.

I dash around the house, looking for anyone who may have them. No one does, and it doesn’t surprise me. Those puppies were autographed by Dwyane Wade. And now they’re gone. Stolen. Jacked. I want to scream and throw things and possibly find that mace Natalie was talking about and hose every third person I see. Instead, I walk back to Charlie and sling my arm over her shoulder.

As we walk toward Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie asks, “Where are your shoes?”

I bite the inside of my lip and take a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter,” I say. Then I kiss the top of her head and open the car door.

It’s quiet in the car as I drive toward Charlie’s house. I feel like she’s waiting for me to say something, but I’m just not sure how to tell her what I am. That this was all my fault.

Eventually, she breaks the silence. “What was out there? In the woods?”

I glance at her, then back at the road. “You know.”

“One of them?” she gasps. “One of the bad ones?”

I nod, and my heart tugs at hearing her call my fellow collectors…me…
bad ones
.

“How many are there?” she breathes.

“Six.”

“That doesn’t seem like too many,” she says, sounding relieved. “How many good ones are there? The ones like you?”

“I…I’m not sure, Charlie.” It’s the truth, but it’s getting harder to answer her questions without lying. And I really don’t want to lie to her. Not anymore. I anxiously await her next question, wondering how I’ll dodge it. How much longer I can do this.

“I was excited about the dance,” she whispers, staring out the window. “Now it feels so trivial. You know?”

“You found the tickets.” I reach over and grab her hand.

Her eyes stay locked on the passenger window, watching the world speed by way too quickly. “Yeah.”

I can’t stand the defeat in her voice. Eight days ago, Charlie’s only worry was whether to wear purple or pink jeans to school. Now she’s fighting a soul contract I pushed her to sign, terrified the wrong people will claim her soul.

Before I can rationalize how terrible an idea this is, I say, “We’re going.”

She glances over. “Yeah, right.”

“We are.” I squeeze her hand. “We’re going to go. And when it’s over, we’ll face what needs to happen to keep your soul safe.”

“How?” she asks. “How will we be sure my soul isn’t in danger?”

I clench my jaw, because I’m terrified of how she’ll react when I tell her. I pull in a deep breath. “We’ll have to run.” When she doesn’t respond, I keep going. “We’ll have to run for a long time, Charlie. A really long time. And you’ll have to fight fulfilling the contract. It’s going to be really hard. The hardest thing you’ve ever done.” I rub up and down her arm and deliver the final blow. “You won’t be able to call home. You’ll have to tell your grandma and your friends—you’ll have to tell them good-bye.”

For a long time, Charlie stays quiet. She nods several times and squeezes my hand. I pull up to her house and face her.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.” She looks at me and smiles. Then her voice breaks, and tears roll down her cheeks. “I did this to myself.”

I pull her into an embrace, and she sobs into my chest. I know she’s angry with me, that somewhere down deep she blames me instead of herself. And she should. But right now, she needs me to hold her. So I do. I keep my arms wrapped around her for as long as she wants. I let her cry until her blue eyes are red and swollen. Then I lift her chin in my hand and rub the tears from her cheeks and from beneath her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Charlie.”

She nods and chokes on more tears. “I don’t understand,” she says. “If I fulfill the contract, if I can’t resist the sickness, what will happen?”

“I’m not sure,” I say, which is true. I think because I signed the contract, her soul will slide inside of me. Then the collectors will try and steal it from me, or drag me back to hell and kill two birds with one stone. And then there’s Charlie herself. Once her soul leaves her body, I feel sure Boss Man will give the green light for her death, and he may send someone to take her out. I know killing a human could cause war, but it’s clear Boss Man doesn’t want to take any chances with Charlie, with what her life’s work could bring about.

I’m going to tell her this, all of this, but not tonight. I want Charlie to have one more day of happiness. Just one more.

I have two days to bring her in, so I’ll give her tomorrow night. It’ll allow me the time I need to book our flights and pack some things we’ll need along the way. I know I’m pushing my luck, but I need her to have this. One last day with her grandmother and one last night with her friends.

Then we’ll go.

“Listen,” I say, pulling her head against my chest. “I want you to spend time with your grandmother tomorrow. I want you to forget all about this and trust that I’m going to handle everything.” I lift her face and kiss her lips, tasting salt from her tears. “Tomorrow, I’m going to pick you up at seven o’clock and take you to that dance. It’s going to be perfect. I promise. Then after that…”

“We’ll run,” she finishes for me.

“Go upstairs and go to sleep. Imagine me lying next to you. Tomorrow this crap doesn’t exist. None of it, okay? It’s only you and me and the people you care about. Let me take care of everything.”

I wait for her to argue, to ask me questions I can’t—or don’t want to—answer. But she wraps her arms around my neck and pushes her forehead against mine. Then she closes her eyes and whispers, “I trust you.”

Her words trigger a warm current down my spine. I could never trust anyone the way she does me. I’d want every question answered, every rock overturned. But not her. She believes in people.

She believes in me.

I kiss her softly, taking my time, trying to memorize the taste and touch of her tongue. Then I lift my head and nod toward her house. She gets out of the car and limps her way up the sidewalk. As I watch her go, I wonder how I’ll ever protect her. I roll my ankle and silently curse my cuff. Other demons envy our cuffs—wish
they
were chosen to walk the earth. But I’ve always hated it, and now… Now it feels like a prison sentence. As long as I’m wearing it, they’ll always know where I am—and where
she
is, too. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Because without it, I can’t stay with her. Can’t ensure she’s safe.

At the door, Charlie turns and faces me. A tentative smile tugs at the side of her mouth. I give a small wave, and she blows a kiss. It’s such a funny, innocent thing to do. I can’t help but laugh.

The sound startles me, like I never expected to hear myself do that again.