Vacant (Empathy #3) (12 page)

“Son of a bitch!” I hiss. The pain was shocking at first but now I indulge the burn.

“Why are there scissors sticking out of his neck?”

Argh, it’s a damn shame I missed that. The scissors must have severed his artery; the surging blood from that vein would have been a sight to behold.

Blake exhales and pushes off me, rushing over to the bed, dropping down to sit. His shoulders shake.

“Blake?”

Hands rake through his hair, tugging, and a shaky voice pushes past his lips. “My baby killed him. Oh God. How could I not see her breaking?”

“You weren’t looking. What did you think would happen after all she witnessed? You must have sensed the difference in her, Blake.” I want to laugh. How can he be so blind after learning what I am?

“She was her normal self apart from grieving for you. We wanted to get her therapy but the last one this family was involved with was the cause for all this chaos.” He stands. “I’ll get her help.”

She doesn’t need the help he wants her to have.

“How? By putting her away like you did me? Look how that worked out. You can cage the monster all you like, Blake, but the rage still lives inside us, waiting for the door to be left open. She isn’t broken or breaking, she’s growing into who she’s always been.”

He pokes me in the chest. “She’s not like you.” He twists the blade still in my shoulder and I growl through the pain and ignore the euphoria the agony gives me.

“I know she’s not. She’s like us both.”

He backs away again and this time I pull the knife out. The cunt has damaged nerves there and I can’t go to hospital so I’ll have to use my stitching skills on it later. The red oozes, leaking down my arm and creating a puddle at my feet.

“I’m nothing like you and you know it.”

I look to my injury and back at him. “Just because you regained a conscience, it doesn’t extinguish the fact you’ve taken many lives, Blake.”

“She has remorse. She was a mess, she didn’t mean to do it, and it was self-defense. I’ll get her help, she’ll be fine.

“She’s coming with me, Blake. She doesn’t need to be fixed.”

He shoves at my shoulders, making me wince, and then latches one of his hands around my throat. “You’re crazy if you think I will allow you to take her anywhere.”

I bring the knife up and slice at his arm, splitting the skin in a nice long gash. He whips his hand away and punches me in the mouth with his other hand and then cradles his sliced up arm.

“My sanity was always in question, brother, but Cereus needs me and I need her. We belong together.”

He balks, his face screwing up. “What the hell? She’s your niece, Ryan! What is this between you?”

Before I can answer he doubles over and vomits into a waste paper bin next to Cereus’ desk.

“Granted, Blake, it’s unconventional and we’ll never be picture perfect but it’s our imperfections that make us worth the brush strokes.”

“You motherfucker. Have you touched her?”

He lunges for me again. He drops me to the floor and smothers my body with his, raining down some heavy blows. I’m going to pass out if I don’t stop him so I bring the knife still in my hand up and plunge it into his ass cheek. He leaps off me, cussing incoherently. I spit out the blood filling my mouth and struggle to make it to my feet.

“You stabbed me in the ass.” There’s shock in his voice, making it higher pitched.

Swiping my hand across my lips to collect the blood, I reply, “That could have been your heart. Think yourself lucky. I don’t want to explain to Cereus that I killed you.”

“I’m going to kill you for touching her, Ryan, brother or not.”

“Why do you take it down to that? I haven’t touched her sexually if that’s what you’re accusing. Our connection isn’t down to some fucked up perversion of me wanting her body. I’ve never felt anything other than empty until her. I’ve never cared if someone lived or died until her and it grows and manifests into something akin to emotion. What if I love her?”

“You can’t love. You’re incapable of it.”

“I agree but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s different from everyone else in the world and I’d do anything for her, and kill myself before ever harming her.”

He laughs but there is no humor there. “You have harmed her. Where do you think all this shit started? She was happy and normal before you were released.”

“If you believe that then you don’t deserve her, Blake. She has never been truly happy and she is exceptional, not normal. The only time she will be content and happy is with me, living her true nature in her element.”

“Do you honestly think I’m going to let you go off with my baby and do what? Kill people for fun? Teach her to be a monster like you?”

“You can’t teach someone to be something they already are, Blake. I’m going to let her live as who she is so she’s not lost in her mind. We could both lose her if she shuts us out and fights with her own demons. She will always lose.”

“You’re wrong.”

“And you’re a stubborn asshole. What about what she wants?”

“She’s not in the right frame of mind to make any decisions for herself. She loves you, Ryan, but that’s toxic. Trust me, I know.”

There is no getting through to him so instead I grab a lamp from the table and before he can react I hit him over the head with it, knocking him unconscious.

I’m a mess from Blake’s attacks so getting out of here unseen is essential. The last thing I need is to be stopped by a police officer. I use Cereus’ bedding to clean up the blood on me as much as possible and then take my chances. The corridors are empty and when I push through the exit and the fresh air blasts me in the face I feel a little woozy from the blood loss. All attention appears to be on something happening in the distance which gives me a clear path towards the car park where I see Cereus standing against Blake’s car, mumbling. She says goodbye and waves as I arrive, confusing the shit out of me. “Who you talking to?”

She points in the opposite direction and says, “Randal. He just told me they found Hannah. She’d gone on a trip but she’s fine. I didn’t kill her,” she whispers.

Her eyes appraise me, her mouth popping open. It’s like she’s done a full one-eighty from the timid, shaking girl I found in the shower. “What happened to your face?”

“Me and your Dad got into it. I need you to come get in my car, Cereus.”

“Is Dad okay?” She’s as still as a statue.

“Yes but I had to knock him out otherwise he wouldn’t let you leave with me, and that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she answers without hesitation. I don’t understand the unraveling knot in my stomach and the race of my heartbeat with her answer. “Okay good. Let’s go.”

IT’S HARD TO DRIVE WITH
this hole in my shoulder, but getting out of this state is my priority. Hannah might be okay but Cereus still killed someone; I need to rectify that for the reports. I pull my free pay cell from my pocket and dial Blake’s number.

“Braxton,” he answers harshly, clearly in pain and out of breath.

“It’s me.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“I have Cereus and we’re leaving.”

“I’ll find you. Mel and I will never rest until I do.”

I hear a commotion down the line and Blake is talking to someone.

“What’s going on?”
he asks someone
.

“They’re dragging the lake. They found something.”

Crying and more voices disrupt the call, then movement makes wind whistle down the line.
“Move, move! Let me over, I’m a detective. What’s going on?”

“You are?”

More movement and I can picture Blake in my mind, flashing his badge with a sneer.
“Oh sorry, Detective. They’ve recovered what’s believed to be Hannah Laurence’s body.
”

I look over at a sleeping Cereus. She looks so peaceful. She told me her friend Randal said Hannah was fine.

“Randal who?” Blake barks down the line, and I realize I spoke that thought aloud. “Ryan, ask her his last name.”

“She’s sleeping”

“Where are you?”

“Nice try, brother. Listen, tell the police I killed that kid, and tell Melody that too if you think that will be easier for her to accept.”

“Because you kidnapping our daughter is going to go down so well?”

“I didn’t kidnap her. I’m freeing her and she came willingly.”