Til Darkness Falls, page 24
“You were lovers?”
Brian nodded, smiling sadly at the slight hint of jealousy in Alrick’s tone. “Yeah. We came out to each other in middle school. There was only the two of us, so we got together mostly by default. But I did love him, even though it was more as a brother than anything else. We were happy in our insolated little world, hiding from everyone else.”
Alrick took hold of his other hand, holding both of them securely as he caressed the backs with his thumbs. A comfortable tingle radiated out from the light touch. “Where is he now?”
It was inevitable that Alrick would ask the one question he didn’t want to answer. But if he was going to trust the other man, he couldn’t be half-assed about it. “He’s dead.”
The German man hissed in surprised, rocking back slightly on his heels at the unexpected answer. “What happened to him? No, forget I asked,” he rushed when Brian’s skin took on a chalky tinge beneath his brown complexion.
Brian shook his head. “It’s okay.” He took a deep breath. “Some thugs from the neighborhood followed him home one afternoon after school. We’d been there late because of basketball practice. I was the junior captain of the team, so I stayed to help plan the roster for that weekend’s game. It was almost Thanksgiving break, and it was already getting dark out, so Dennis went on home without me.” Brian paused, his throat tightening at the terrible memory of that day. “He was half dead by the time I found him not even an hour later.”
“What do you mean, you found him?” Alrick’s pale complexion was ghostly, his eyes narrowed in horror.
“We lived only a few houses from each other, so of course we took the same route home. He was lying on the ground not too far from his house, moaning, his face covered with blood. There was so much blood, it was even coming out of his mouth. I found out later that it was because of his internal injuries. The guys who’d jumped him had broken a couple of his ribs, and his right arm was fractured in several places, probably from when he’d fallen to the ground.”
“Mein Gott,” Alrick whispered, squeezing his hand tighter. The sensation barely registered, Brian’s ability to feel consumed by the ache in his chest.
“You know the first thing I thought when I found him? I was pissed that he wasn’t going to make Saturday’s game.” Brian laughed harshly. “How’s that for being selfish, huh?” The wind felt cool on his face, but Brian realized he was crying only when Alrick took his face in his hands and gently wiped away his tears with his thumbs.
He spoke faster, the words tumbling from his mouth as though they needed to be heard. “Someone called for an ambulance, but by the time it came, he was already dead. The police found the kids who were responsible. They were seniors at our school. They confessed to beating Dennis because they’d seen him kissing some guy behind the school gym and ‘wanted to teach the little faggot a lesson.’ They swore they hadn’t meant to kill him.” Brian’s laugh was utterly devoid of humor. “Isn’t that crazy? My best friend died because he was cheating on me.”
He tried to hold back his sobs, but when the first one escaped, the next one followed swiftly, then the next, until he couldn’t stop them. Alrick pulled Brian against his chest, holding him so tightly he could barely breathe.
“That is why you became a policeman, ja? Because of your friend?”
Brian nodded against Alrick’s shoulder, unable to answer with words.
“What you have done with your life, helping others, is very noble. Such a wonderful way to honor your friend.”
The feel of the taller man’s arms around him seemed to absorb his hurt, and Brian clung to him, desperately wanting him to take it away. Alrick tilted his head back gently, his tender gaze replacing Brian’s chill with a warmth he felt down to his toes.
“I wish my own life had such purpose.”
The soft breeze blew quietly, swirling the fallen leaves around their feet as they kissed on the brightly lit path.
Chapter 10
HEBENY did not even bother to watch the boy go as he fled from the room. She calmly seated herself at the prince’s dressing table, smoothing her hands along the polished wood and mentally planning the placement of her things. If Set held to his promise, the boy would be killed in his attempt to save his brother. She smiled at the delicious thought of Rahotep’s grief at his lover’s death. The prince would be hers to torment as she saw fit, and no one would ever know that it was she who had set things in motion.
Unable to bear the sight of the girl she had helped raise, Trella slunk away and slipped from the room. The corridor was littered with the bodies of slaves and soldiers alike: some torn by sword and knife, others lying with their flesh ruined by Hebeny’s foul craft. This was all on her head. She was the one who had planted the false report that the slaves were planning a rebellion. Trella’s heart ached with guilt, but it was what had become of the woman who sat celebrating her vanity even while this travesty of betrayal swirled about her that the aging slave truly regretted.
Trella had raised Hebeny from the time she was an infant, and she blamed herself for the girl's wickedness. She'd wanted to speak against the general's plans to have his daughter trained in the black arts, fearing what harm such knowledge might do to her charge. But Sheshonq I was not a pleasant man, and she'd held her peace for fear of her life. It had been so hard watching the girl’s descent into darkness, witnessing her malicious pride grow year after year. Trella had prayed every day that her mistress might be saved, that the general's wicked plans might be thwarted. But such hopes had been in vain. Now, Hebeny's iniquities put even the general's plots to shame, and Trella cursed herself for her despicable cravenness.
Trella froze as she spotted two figures stealing quietly down the hall toward the prince’s chamber. The slaves were armed with large blades covered in the blood of those they had slain. Their intent was apparent in their hard gazes: they sought the prince’s death. A desperate, horrible plan formed in Trella’s mind. The slaves would find their prey, only not the exact prey they had been seeking. The time had come for her to repent, and perhaps she could also save her lady’s soul, in the girl’s next life if not in this one. Maybe when Hebeny was reborn she would at last find peace.
The slave slipped back into the prince’s chamber before the men spotted her but left the door ajar just a sliver. Glancing around for somewhere to hide, she spied a door to one side of the room that led to a small storage area. Trella glanced toward Hebeny, but the young woman ignored her, seemingly content to gaze at herself in the mirror as she pondered whatever new treacheries she was plotting. The old woman’s eyes stung with tears as she firmed her resolve and abandoned the girl to Shai’s will.
Secreting herself in the closet, Trella barely had time to close the door behind her before the men burst into the room, their murderous gazes instantly falling on the startled girl dressed in the finery of royalty. Caught off guard, Hebeny was powerless to save herself. Spitting epithets of hatred, they fell upon her.
IT WASN’T the smoothest surveillance she’d ever done, but so far, her quarry hadn’t realized they were being followed. Standing within the meager shelter the bare trees provided, Hayley watched as the two men continued their walk. They weren’t holding hands, but they walked closely to each other, arms and shoulders brushing together.
Gods, these two never changed. They still made her sick to her stomach. The recent exchange between them had been charged with emotion, but they were still acting like a couple of newlyweds, which was a good sign. Hayley swore that she spent as much time playing matchmaker as anything else.
She’d learned of Macon’s plans for the weekend through a series of cleverly placed listening devices. After taking over his Homicide unit, she’d put bugs anywhere and everywhere that might prove advantageous. His cell phone, in particular, hadn’t been difficult to get her hands on. He had a bad habit of putting it on his desk in the morning when he arrived at the station and leaving it there as long as he was in the building.
Sensing a choice opportunity to see where the men stood with each other, Hayley followed Macon and his blond lover out of the city. She’d made sure that the German didn’t spot her, following them at a safe distance all the way out to this godforsaken wilderness. When they’d finally exited off of the highway, she went one exit further before doubling back. She’d spotted their car in the parking lot, realizing that they’d already headed toward the inn. Rather than risk being spotted, she stayed where she was. Not that she hadn’t spent many nights in far less comfortable situations, but she hated sleeping in her car. It was just one more tick mark in the long list of grudges she held against them.
At first light, Hayley had scoped out the inn, hoping to catch sight of them. When they’d headed off down one of the hiking trails, she’d moved into the woods, a powerful pair of binoculars allowing her to keep them in sight. A rueful smile quirked her uncharacteristically bare lips as she saw them give into temptation and lace their fingers together.
Once again, Shai had spoken. The wheel of destiny turned for all souls, and for hers most of all. That treacherous bitch Trella may have hastened her demise all those centuries ago, thus thwarting all of her delicious plans for Rahotep, but she would have died eventually anyway. In the end, she’d chosen this endless, accursed existence for herself, and now she had to live with the consequences. The alternative, to suffer the burning madness of the desert goddess Sekhmet’s cruel judgment for all eternity, was simply unthinkable. It didn’t matter the depths to which she had to sink; she would do everything in her power to avoid that fate. Now, the time had come once more to fulfill her bargain with Set, to turn the prince and his upstart slave against each other and ruin them in this life.
Fortunately, they had made things laughably easy for her. She couldn’t have planned this better if she’d tried. Hayley moved to a better vantage point to keep the men in sight as they walked around a bend in the path. They looked so blissful on their merry little woodland tour, but their happiness wouldn’t last. Not once they discovered the truth about each other.
A cop and a hit man? It was like the punch line to some gloriously bad joke. Fate had practically done her work for her. Even without her self-serving interference, she didn’t see how they could possibly overcome such a tragic situation. She was thoroughly tempted just to let things take their inevitable course, but with her own eternal soul at stake, she couldn’t afford to leave anything to chance. As always, it was up to her to sow the seeds of their destruction, thus ensuring her own survival.
It galled her to no end that she was so often the instrument of what little joy they experienced together, and this incarnation was no different. She’d worked hard to bring Macon and the German together, wanting to get her onerous task over with so she could get on with the rest of her life. Once, long ago, she’d been content to let them find each other before playing her part, and her negligence had nearly ended in disaster.
Born to the barbaric peoples of Britannia, she’d spent much of her life living in fear of the mighty Roman army. Never before had she so hated an incarnation, but she did her best to survive it. As always, she’d found the bastard prince and his slave in due time. The prince had been reborn as a centurion and his slave as a druid priest. She hadn’t believed that even Shai could bring them together, but somehow they ended up in the same small town. The Britons had kept their priests safely hidden from the invading army in an attempt to preserve their endangered religion, and it was only after the soldier’s brigade had been scheduled to sail back to Rome that she realized they hadn’t even seen each other. While she would have been more than content to let them remain apart, her curse wasn’t so forgiving.
The youngest daughter of a minor clan chieftain, she’d been powerless to intervene. For once, she feared that she might be unable to fulfill her ancient debt. Gripped with terror at the prospect of failure, she’d fretted mightily about what to do. Fortunately, the night before he was scheduled to sail, the centurion had fallen ill, and she’d begged her father to call on the priest to tend to him. Hoping to ingratiate himself with the invaders, her father had eagerly acted on her suggestion. Once they’d been put into such close quarters, the result had been inevitable. They fell madly in love, and with a few well-placed whispers, she’d sealed their doom.
The Romans attacked a nearby village to quell a rumored uprising, killing everyone down to the smallest babe and razing it to the ground. In a fury of grief, the priest turned on the centurion, attacking him with the dagger that was to be used only for religious ceremonies. When the centurion was found dead by the druid’s hand, the Romans were quick to put the priest to death. It had all worked out as it should, but she’d sworn from that moment on to always take an active role in her own fate.
Taking that lesson to heart, after she’d found Macon, Hayley had been impatient to locate his accursed soul mate. The sooner they met and fell in love, the sooner she could go about turning them against each other. While waiting for the promotion to captain that would allow her to infiltrate Macon’s life, she’d taken a vacation to the south of France. She’d been lying on the beach, enjoying the plentiful sunshine, when a stunning blond man had walked past her reclining chair. Her first instinct had been to let him know that she was available. Her second was to stare in shock as she’d recognized him for who he truly was.
It took months of careful searching using every resource at her disposal, but eventually, she’d found out everything about him, including his less than savory profession. Filing the information away for future use, Hayley had returned to the States to accept her promotion and her new assignment to Homicide. After several years spent patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity, the developing mob conflict in the city provided the opening she’d been looking for. The nephew of the Milanos’ boss had been an easy target, and it hadn’t taken her long to ingratiate herself with the muscle-headed idiot. She’d quickly realized that putting out for Gio was the easiest way to pump him for information. After a few disgusting weeks, he’d told her about his plans to take over the criminal underworld, and it had been almost laughably simple to put the German hit man on his radar.
Having gotten them in the same city, she’d turned to figuring out how to get them to meet under innocuous circumstances, but they’d been ahead of her. She didn’t know how they’d found each other, but found each other they had, and now, Macon and the German were clearly in love. All that was left for her to do was to bring them crashing painfully—and fatally—back down to earth.
The two men disappeared from sight around the curving path. Hayley watched until she couldn’t see them any longer, but she didn’t follow. Her loathing toward them was just as strong as ever, even after the passage of so many centuries. Such was the curse Set had placed on her heart. Apparently he had been unwilling to leave her continued hatred of them to chance, so her ire was never allowed to cool. To see them was to wish for their destruction. Even so, this was the part she dreaded. It would be far less complicated if all she had to do was kill one of them, but Set’s commandment was much more insidious, for she had to find a way to turn their love to deadly hatred.
Hayley went back toward her car and forced herself to think about what was to come.
BY THE time they returned to the inn, Brian was exhausted. Opening his past to Alrick had been cathartic but emotionally draining. He tried to hide his sluggishness, but the blond man was a perceptive as always.
“Let’s relax here for the rest of the day,” Alrick suggested.
“No.” Brian shook his head in protest. “I don’t want you to waste your weekend because of me.”
Brian was standing beside the bed, and a light push against his shoulders sent him tumbling back onto the mattress. Alrick followed him down, landing on top as he pressed a kiss against the shorter man’s parted lips. Brian blinked up at him in shock. Adorable, Alrick thought as he bestowed another, deeper kiss on his lover. He hummed in pleasure as Brian’s arms came around him and held him tightly. It was a few minutes before he raised his head, and by then, Brian’s confusion had turned into something far more agreeable.
“I don’t consider this a waste.” Alrick murmured softly in Brian’s ear, the pitch of his voice dropping until only the vibration of it was audible. Brian shivered beneath him as his warm hands toyed with the hem of Alrick’s shirt before delving beneath to spread out demandingly against his back. Taking it as a sign of agreement, Alrick captured Brian’s lips, thrusting his tongue deep into the smaller man’s mouth. The curtains were still pulled against the bright sun, and in the cozy dimness of their room, Alrick reminded Brian of what was really important.
THE room was dark when Brian opened his eyes. He squinted over at the clock sitting on the nightstand, staring it at it until the glowing numbers resolved themselves into something readable. It was after seven. They’d spent the entire afternoon in bed making love before finally falling into a restful sleep. He felt guilty for wasting Alrick’s gift, but he felt a lot less worn out after his nap.
Brian rubbed his face against the firm warmth lying beneath him, Alrick’s impressive chest once again acting as his pillow. It was becoming quite the habit. He smiled wryly and snuggled further into the unyielding muscle, amazed at how unconcerned he was that they had crossed so irrevocably into couple territory. A loud gurgle rumbled against the hand he’d rested on Alrick’s stomach. Brian snickered, his hand moving up and down as the other man laughed with him. He looked upward to see soft blue eyes gazing down at him.
“Now who’s hungry?” he teased. “It sounds like we’d better find some food before you decide to eat me.”
