I clenched my teeth and forced myself to be quiet. I shouldn’t have been laughing, because what ever I was feeling at the moment, it wasn’t happiness. Hammer Bay was full of people doing terrible things for the best reasons. It made me furious. I made me feel dark and low to the ground and ready to kill. This town was making me into something ugly and dangerous. I had to get away, but I knew I couldn’t. Not without setting things right.
Of course, Annalise and I were here to kill whoever we had to kill to stop the magic and save the kids in Hammer Bay. I was here to do terrible things for the best of reasons, too. I hated this town, but I knew it was a mirror image of myself.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t have to like it. I was here to be vicious, to beat, kill, or humiliate anyone I had to, and I wasn’t going to stop until all the magic had been expunged from this place and things were set right. And God help me, I was finally ready to do it. I was ready to go as far as I had to go to get the job done.
Cynthia told me to take off my shirt. I did. She dabbed at my shoulder blade with a wad of tissues. “This isn’t bad at all. It’s barely a scratch.” I didn’t answer. “They were terrible shots, weren’t they?”
“Most people are.”
“No one has ever… do you think they knew it was me? Do you think they were trying to shoot me?”
I understood. She probably had the only Escalade in town, and most people would recognize it.
“No,” I told her. “If they had realized it was you, I don’t think they would have shot at us. Henstrick is still loyal to your family. I think they were just all worked up and not thinking straight. In fact, I think you should expect a call and an apology from Henstrick.”
I could feel her rubbing something onto my shoulder blade. It stung. Her hair brushed my shoulder, and goose bumps ran across my back.
“Do you go there often?” I had a hard time keeping the suspicion out of my voice.
“No. After I dropped you off at Uncle Cabot’s office, I didn’t go for a cup of coffee like you said. I didn’t realize how I would feel when I saw you go into that building alone-for me-and I couldn’t just go off and eat a banana muffin or something while you risked your life. So I stayed close just in case. I don’t know what I was going to do, exactly, but I hated feeling like a coward.
“So, I was parked down the street when you came out. I saw those men grab you outside the office, and I recognized Bobby, of course. I followed you to the casino and lost two grand at the blackjack table waiting for you to turn up.”
That made sense, and I was grateful that she’d come for me. “The gun is Cabot’s,” I told her. “He was planning to shoot himself, but I convinced him to get out of town.”
“Thank you,” she said in a quiet voice.
“You saved my life to night.”
“We’re even, then.” She taped a gauze pad onto my shoulder blade. It felt like a big pad, but the scratch didn’t hurt much. I wondered again if her brother was in the house somewhere. She patted my shoulder with a dismissive finality. “All done.”
I stood. She was very close to me, and she seemed so small. Her hands were still trembling. I took her hand and held it in mine. I still felt a sickening rage inside. It took all the self-control I had to touch her gently. “Thank you.”
We held hands for a moment. She felt warm and soft and impossibly fragile. I could have squeezed that hand and broken it to mash. The thought terrified me. I was as gentle as I could be.
She let my hand go, and it fell to my side. She stared up at me. Her brown eyes seemed to have turned black. “What next?” she asked.
“What’s in that round room at the top of the house?”
“That’s my bedroom.”
“Take me there.”
She hesitated for a moment. It was just a moment. She looked up into my eyes, then took my hand and led me to the stairs. I carried my shirt and jacket.
We entered the round room. It was tastefully decorated, I guess, with a lot of muted green pastels. Every surface had at least one candle and, for some reason, a stuffed rabbit.
Charles Hammer wasn’t here. As far as I could tell, he had never been in this room. I was vaguely disappointed as I laid my jacket and shirt on a chair. I was absolutely ready to shoot him dead. I didn’t know if I’d ever find myself feeling so ready to kill someone again.
Cynthia stood a few feet from me. “This is it,” she said, as if waiting to see if I approved of her inner sanctum.
I wasn’t going to kill Charles Hammer today. “Take off your clothes,” I said.
She did. I took mine off at the same time.
I saw what I knew I’d see. She had a tattoo on her shoulder blade right where Cabot had his. She had an iron gate, too.
She knew what had happened to all those kids. What was still happening.
She lunged at me and we kissed. We were wild and desperate. I was still filled with rage, but I tried as hard as I could to keep it from her. I liked her.
Even though she had known all along. She had known. She had known. She had known. She had known…
We made our way to the bed. It was good to feel alive. It was good to touch someone. It was good to feel like a human animal, to smell and taste and hear and see someone close.
