"I do prefer the Immortal Plane to the Leftovers. There's a logic to the Immortal Plane, just like our world," I explained. "The first time I went, though, I ended up having hallucinations. Human minds take a long time to adjust to the Immortal Plane. It was in the old vampire city." I shivered, recalling the strange memories well. "I wouldn't recommend touching anything if you go there."
Evans shot me an actual smile of amusement. "I'll keep that in mind." She sighed heavily and looked out at the trees again. "You know, I didn't think I'd ever want to leave redbill work, but the redbill populations essentially all vanished after the meld business, and they’d been on the decline since before that. Jones and I found ourselves pushed out of our niche almost overnight. The Bureau told us there was more supernatural work for us, but I never imagined anything like this."
I paused. This was the first time she’d opened up to me, about her or Jones. I’d failed to consider that their old area of expertise essentially didn't exist anymore. As I understood it from the vampires, the wild redbill population had started to shift when we had our first trial with the vampires. Dorian and the other vampires were able to communicate with the redbills and instruct them to return to the Immortal Plane through the tear.
“That must’ve been hard,” I admitted.
She waved her hand. “It’s fine. We learned a lot of great stuff.” She pulled up her sleeve to show me a scar I hadn’t noticed before. “Jones may be a bit pig-headed sometimes, but he really had my back during some of those missions. I narrowly missed being a redbill’s dinner, thanks to him, on one of our hairier adventures.”
I nodded, wondering if I should say something. She obviously knew about the tension between us; it would have been hard to miss it. I didn’t want to confide in her about my struggles because I wasn’t sure Evans truly trusted me yet, and it would be unprofessional to speak my mind as freely as I had when I was just a soldier. It seemed premature to say anything like that.
I wish you were here, Kane. I'd really like to talk to you. It was hard not having him there, even as just a running monologue in my head. As I considered my response, the twins waved me over to the lake. Thank goodness. My heart beat fast in my chest. Had they found something?
"We rescued you," Jessie told me under her breath, so Evans couldn't hear. My sister flashed a grin at me, but there was something off about it. "How are you?"
"How am I?" I asked with a raised brow of interest. "Nice of you to care enough to ask."
Jordan rolled his eyes. "You know what we mean." The twins stared at me seriously. They were truly a force of nature when they came together like this.
"We're worried about you," Jessie said softly. "We've been noticing that your attention span is, like, all over the place. You’re short-circuiting out here. That isn't you, Ro—Captain. You're usually laser-focused when it comes to work. What's up?"
"Spacey and jumpy is how I'd describe it," Jordan added.
I debated telling them.
This was my chance. I could tell them about Kane's voice and confess all my worries. But a tiny concern grabbed at me. Was that really what a captain should do? It could give me so much relief to finally talk about it, and they would probably believe me, but… this confession would make our team politics even messier. If I kept a secret with just them, then the group would subconsciously know something was off, and the twins would try too hard to defend me if I ever spaced out.
"I appreciate it," I said finally, my tongue as heavy as lead from the guilt in my mouth. "But I'm fine. It's just being in a leadership position without being able to be the full Roxy… I'm having to grow up." It was a reasonable excuse, and one I hoped they would identify with. They knew I’d struggled with my attitude and added responsibilities. Hell, they were going through the same journey, on some level.
The twins were part of the Hellraisers, but I couldn’t drag them into my personal problems. The connection—real or psychic or a product of the Leftovers—was my burden to deal with at this point. I didn’t want them to worry.
Jessie sighed. "Fine. Well, tell us if you do need anything."
"Seriously. We're here for you," Jordan added, and opened his arms wide to illustrate this. "We can take the patrol closer to the woods, if you want."
"It's fine, I'll be up there with Evans. We'll start our rounds," I said. As I went back up to Evans, the interaction haunted me with every step.
This was what leaders did. They took on weight.
I’d said I was fine.
Was I?
22
Dorian
The itch started in my body alongside a low heat. The creature’s aura was the same sensation as before, but the intensity was five times stronger. I felt the beast in my bones. It hit me out of the blue, as fast as Sike saw the beast on the scanner, but it was undeniable that he was right. The creature was on its way, and the scanners were working perfectly.
Immediately, we all huddled together. Bryce stayed on the ground, but he pulled himself up to see what was happening. Urgency radiated through our huddle. Jennifer and Johnny hovered on the outside, looking skittish.
“We have a much bigger group this time,” Lyra said, jumping into planning mode. “That means we have a better chance of beating this thing. It’s invisible and incredibly tough.” We had more vampires, like Arlonne and Chandry, which helped our odds… but I wouldn’t mention that to Jennifer. We had to be careful fighting this thing, while also limiting
