“Sounds like some great parenting skills.”
“She was an awful, hateful person,” Kaya admitted, no varnish on that truth. “From all I know of her, she was making bad choices from the time she was a teen. Apparently, things didn’t get any better after she became a mother. Some of my first memories of her were watching her either passed out or sticking a needle in her arm. We were homeless more often than not. That is, when she wasn’t shacking up with some gangbanger or john she’d just met.”
Aric’s eyes were solemn, but not pitying. Thank God for that. “I’m sorry. No kid deserves that kind of childhood.”
She shrugged. “I survived. More than I can say for her. She was dead by the time I was sixteen.”
“Overdose?”
Kaya shook her head. “One of her boyfriends beat her to death over twenty dollars she stole from his wallet. Even though I hated her, she was still my mother. I tried to defend her. I’m only lucky he didn’t decide to kill me too. But he did . . . other things.”
“Ah, Kaya. Christ.” Anger blazed in Aric’s eyes. “Who is this son of a bitch? Tell me and you know I’ll deal with him.”
“There’s no need,” she admitted tonelessly.
Still, his rise to her defense melted a lot of the cold that lingered inside her whenever she reflected on her past. But she wasn’t looking for a hero. She’d learned a long time ago that she was the only person she could ever count on.
“Mom’s boyfriend had a fetish for weapons. And because I lived in fear of monsters attacking in the middle of the night, I made sure I knew where he kept the key to the gun cabinets.” She glanced at Aric. “He’ll never hurt anyone ever again.”
He stared at her, a look of grim understanding in his eyes. “Do you have any idea how much courage that took, doing what you did?”
“Courage?” She scoffed lightly. “I was scared to death.”
“Yes. And you acted anyway.” He reached out, cradling her cheek in his palm. “What about now? Are you still afraid of the monsters that live on this hill?”
“No.” She turned her face into the warmth of his hand. “After that day, I wasn’t afraid of anything. I lived on the street for a while, bounced around with people I knew . . . people I thought I knew. Eventually, I ended up on this hill. I slept up here for two nights, waiting for the monsters inside the mansion down below to come out and kill me while I slept. Maybe I was daring them to. They never did.”
Aric cocked his head, silently considering. “Nothing gets past Niko, so I’m sure he knew you were up here.”
Kaya nodded. “When I woke up that first morning, someone had covered me with a blanket and left a backpack with food in it. The second day, I found a business card for a private youth shelter in town, run by an old man named Jack.”
“Anna’s Place?”
“That’s right.” Kaya stared at him, astonished. “How did you know?”
“I’ve heard Renata mention it once or twice. She spent some time at Anna’s Place when she was a kid too. Jack means a lot to her.”
“I didn’t know that,” Kaya murmured. “And, yeah, Jack was a good man. One of the kindest I’ve ever known. I heard he passed a few years ago, but the shelter is still up and running.”
Aric grunted. “Got a feeling I know who might have a hand in that.”
Kaya looked at him in question. “You don’t think Renata and Niko--”
“Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I don’t know the details, but to hear them talk, they credit Jack for saving both their lives back when they first met.” Aric stroked her cheek as he spoke. “What about you? How long did you stay with Jack at the shelter?”
“Not long.” Kaya shrugged and drew out of his touch, uncomfortable with the return to her own past. “I had to leave after a couple of months.”
“Had to leave?”
“Decided to leave,” she amended, trying her best not to squirm beneath the careful weight of his stare. “I didn’t belong there. I didn’t want to bring any trouble to Jack’s doorstep.”
“Trouble from the people your mom had been involved with?”
“I guess so.” She’d already said too much about her past and the people who inhabited it. If she kept talking, eventually she would have to start lying to him and that was a line she refused to cross. “I’d rather not think about that time in my life. It’s behind me now. That’s where I want it to stay.”
“All right.” His deep voice was quiet, but his eyes hadn’t yet released her. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy being alone at such a young age. I’m glad you had someone like Jack to look out for you, even for a couple of months. And I’m glad you had Nikolai and Renata looking out for you here on this hill too.”
“So am I.” Kaya stared out at the endless night sky and the glowing city lights in the valley below. “That first night I sat up here by myself, terrified of what I’d done, I realized it didn’t matter whether you were born human or Breed. The only real monsters were the ones who live to hate and hurt other people. I decided then and there if I was going to die for something, it was going to be fighting against those things. I suppose it’s ironic
