Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
19
Earth
This was notin the plan.
The plan was to stop by, snoop around, get a feel for the energy around here, and see if anyone was watching the place—watching V.
Then I heard her crying.
Great deep sobs that lunged into the venomous heart beating haphazardly inside my chest. Even muffled in her blankets, they still resonated with an ache not many people could know.
But she did.
This small sprite that was like the sun.
This small sprite that knew darkness.
We both knew darkness, but the difference between us was that she lit hers up. And me? I embraced mine.
So when I heard those muted but loud-to-me cries, the worry and anger driving me here grew tenfold. Red spots swam before my eyes, demanding I exact revenge for whoever dimmed her natural light.
The temperature in my already cold bones dropped to negative numbers, and the amount of self-deprecation I felt for not severing that shadow’s head last night could have brought me down. It was only countered by her need, the need to make right whatever it was she deemed wrong.
The frigid temps within me heated to just above freezing when she told me it was just Neo. The urge to seek justice for those tears became hardly a demand, but I found I still hated them.
The sound echoed off the inside of my head, bouncing around all the hollow places in my body like a symphony of moans haunting an ancient castle.
I could live with pain. Ghosts. Blood spill and even hate. I could live with anything. But in that moment, I learned of one exception. Her tears.
Virginia’s misery was something I could not stand. Its very presence caused a reaction within me strong enough to war with chaos. Strong enough to make a man who lacked compassion overwhelmed with empathy.
So here we were, the rubber tires eating up the road as I whisked her out of the city on what she probably thought of as an adventure but something I was beginning to think of as a necessity. I needed to see her smile again. I needed to see her light shine as brightly as before.
As noted, I didn’t mind the dark, but V didn’t belong there, and I refused to let her wallow in it because it made me comfortable. In fact, it seemed Virginia being lost in shadows did not make me comfortable at all but instead urged me to wail against the very thing I loved to be enveloped by.
“Where are we going?” she asked, breaking what I thought was probably a record of quietness for her.
Those ten minutes must have been so hard for her.
Sliding a glance in her direction, I noted how the long, wheat-colored strands of her hair twirled around her hands until they weren’t even visible. She had so much hair. It probably was half her weight.
It looks like sunlight you can touch. Suddenly, I was jealous of her swallowed-up hands, wanting to bury mine too.
“Why? You nervous?”
“Of course not. You’d never take Snort somewhere unsavory.”
“Unsavory,” I mocked. “You’ve been hanging out with Ivory and Ethan too much.”
“Well, they come to visit. Unlike some people.”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I had my reasons.”
“Yeah, reasons no one will tell me.”
“I thought you wanted to know where we were going.” My voice was gruff, this conversation irritating me.
“I’ve never been in this part of the city before,” she commented, gazing out the window. “It’s less crowded.”
“We’re outside the city limits, but I still consider it the city, just less busy.” And just because it was outside the city limits didn’t mean it was nicer. It was still basically an abandoned ghetto.
“You’ve been out here before, then?”
I nodded once, keeping my eyes trained ahead. “A few times a week.”
“Something else no one tells me about,” she commented, still looking out the window curiously.
“No one else knows about it either.”
Head whipping around, her eyes glowed with curiosity. “Why?” She leaned closer, widening her eyes. “Is this where you hide the bodies?”
“You don’t hide bodies. You let them be found so it’s less suspicious.” The very second the words were out, I regretted them. What the hell was I doing telling her that? Not only that, but the way she was, she would want to know how I knew that.
Oddly, she was nonplussed, going right along. “True. And if you really needed to get rid of it, why hide it? Just, like, dissolve it in acid or something.”
My neck craned in her direction, dazed. And frankly impressed. “What did you just say?”
She shrugged. “I watch a lot of crime shows.”
“Well, you shouldn’t.” She didn’t need to be filling her head with that kind of crap.
“The show I’m watching now has this crazy serial killer in it. He’s hoarding brides.”
“Brides,” I echoed. What the fuck?
She made a noise, which I assumed was a confirmation, and then chattered on. “Yeah, he’s obsessed with some play. Anyway, he’s kidnapping these women and putting them in cages and making them all his brides. Dude is totally whack. And he wears this mask.” She motioned to her face and shuddered. “It’s like totally creepy and—”
“What in the hell kinda crap are you watching?” I demanded.
“It’s Korean.”
I barked a laugh. Then I laughed again. “Is that supposed to make me think it’s okay?”
“It’s a comedy romance story anyway,” she explained.
“With a serial killer who is hoarding brides.”
“Well, all romantic dramas need a plot.”
“This conversation is ridiculous,” I announced.
She was silent for maybe thirty seconds.
“You’re Korean, right?” she asked, curious.
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with you watching Korean serial killer shows.”
But it’s okay for her to sit in the car with one? Minus the serial part.
“So does that mean you can speak Korean?”
“Mmm.” I agreed, feeling a prickle of unease. That prickle kinda pissed me off. Why the hell would I be uneasy about being Korean? I mean, it was what it was. And the memories of it… Well, that’s all they were. Memories.
Memories I don’t want her around.
“You probably wouldn’t even need subtitles to watch that drama!” she exclaimed, completely awed.
“Why the hell would I want to watch it? It sounds horrible.”
“It’s my favorite,” she said, her voice kind of pouty as if the fact I insulted her weird show hurt her feelings.
“A show you have to read to watch,” I muttered, this time with less heat.
“Well, you wouldn’t have to read it,” she retorted.
I pursed my lips. “If I’m ever really bored, maybe I’ll give it a try,” I muttered.
V brightened, her full lips pulling into a big smile. “Really? Thanks, Earth!”
Why was she acting like I’d just given her some fancy present? Why do I like it?
“We’re here,” I announced, turning toward a rundown building that had been abandoned years ago. When I found the place, it was in shitty condition, and honestly, the outside still reflected that.
The old warehouse wasn’t as big as the title suggested, which was probably why it was abandoned long ago. Weeds grew around it, poking through cracks in the sidewalk and pavement on the side of the building. Some places were worn so thin they were permanent puddles, and when bone dry, they looked like the parking lot had just caved in on itself.
The brick was faded from what was probably once a bright red to a dirty rust color, some of it slightly crumbling. A lot of the windows had been busted and broken. All of them, I replaced. The doors were all replaced with steel because, like I said, this was basically an abandoned ghetto.
“Are you in a gang?” she questioned as though the very thought excited her.
I scoffed. “Hell no. I work alone.”
“So what are we doing here?”
I tapped my chest, and she frowned. In the back seat, Snort gave a bark, ready to go baptize all the weeds he could. Probably why those stubborn things kept growing ‘cause he was watering them.
I got out, and he rushed out behind me, hurrying toward a big dandelion. By the time I had V’s chair out of the back, he’d already pissed on three plants.
“The ground is uneven out here,” I told her as I reached in to pick her up. The long silky strands waterfalling down her back whispered against my fingers. “So be careful.”
“Okay.” Her voice seemed slightly breathless, and when I glanced down, our eyes collided. Both of us had what most might consider standard “brown” irises, but though it was the same color, they couldn’t be more different.
The very light she radiated was there, giving a warm hue to her stare. Gilded flecks shone like undiscovered gold. But it wasn’t the contrast of how her eyes looked alive and mine looked dead that made me fall into their depths.
It was the way she held my stare. Not once did her eyes shift away. Not once did she pull back or shutter her gaze. Virginia looked at me—into me—like she was searching for all the things most people were intimidated by, as if the dark, flat depths were not scary but something to be curious of.
I was a villain in most stories. Hell, even my own.
But the way this woman was looking at me whispered I wasn’t a villain in hers.
How I want to be her hero.
The thought slapped me across the face, bringing with it harsh reality and making my entire body jolt.
She made a sound, her arms tightening around my neck.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I spat, pissed off with my head and pissed off I’d scared her.
“Like what?” She wondered as I gingerly sat her in the chair.
I grunted, quickly pulling away. But the damnable woman caught the collar of my jacket, curling her small hands into the leather to tug, stopping me from going any farther.
Truth was I could have wrenched back, loosened her grip.
I didn’t.
Instead, our eyes clashed again, and I let my stare go cold, hoping to make her see what she clearly hadn’t before.
“Like what?” she repeated, hands not even trembling where they clutched.
How dare she? How dare she grab on to me and demand an answer? How dare she not be intimidated?
“Like you like me.” The words sounded like they scraped over gravel on their way out of my throat. Gruff, irritated, and hopefully scary.
“I do like you,” she said without any hesitation at all.
This was why Neo locked her up. Because she was too pure and big-hearted for the world. Because she liked people she really shouldn’t. Because there was something about her that could soften even the hardest of hearts.
Unbeknownst to my internal colloquy, she went on as if her life wasn’t altered at all. “So I really hope you didn’t bring me to this gangster pad to off me because then I’d have to change my mind.”
I blinked. A smile cracked my face, probably making it look like this fractured pavement we were standing on. Thank God. Those sardonic words somehow put us back on level playing ground. It righted the world that was oddly starting to tip.
“If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead,” I said, snatching the damn purple backpack out of the car before taking my place behind her chair.
“I can do it.” She fussed, trying to shoo me away.
“I told you this pavement is uneven.” My hands closed around the handles. “I should have it repaved.”
“What for? You’re the only one who comes out here.”
“Snort!” I bellowed. “Get over here!”
“Could you yell any louder?” V complained, covering her ears. “That poor dog.”
Snort came barreling over, his breathing even harder than usual.
I started pushing her toward the large side door a short distance away. It was painted an ugly shade of brown and had some scuff marks along the bottom.
I liked it that way. If I let it look too new and replaced, then people rolling around these parts would know I had something valuable inside.
“Earth?”
Every time she said my name, my heart stuttered just a little. Like an engine that was about to putter out but then suddenly found the energy to run again.
“What?”
“I really want to know why we’re here.”
I laughed. Everything that came out of her mouth was a surprise. “It’s my brewery.”
I enjoyed being the one to surprise her for once.
“A brewery?” she echoed, watching me unlock the door.
I nodded.
“Like to make beer?”
“Do breweries make anything else?”
She glanced at my chest to the Rotten Apple logo. Her eyes widened. “You make your own beer!”
“Poisoning guaranteed,” I quipped, throwing open the door.
“It’s times like this I wish I could run.”
I stilled. Rotated. “If you don’t want to be here, I’ll take you away.”
“Don’t be an idiot! I meant so I could run inside. I’ve never been to a brewery before.” She gasped. “I’ve never even had beer!”
“No,” I deadpanned, knowing where this was going.
“But, Eaarrrth,” she whined, and goddamn it if my heart didn’t pinch with the urge to give in. “I’m twenty-one.”
“I saw all those pills you put in this bag.” I tossed a thumb toward the backpack.
Her eyes rolled so hard I thought they might fall onto the pavement.
“If your eyes fall out and Snort eats them, I won’t be responsible.”
She laughed. The kind of laugh that made her bend in her chair, press her hand to her belly, and a curtain of hair hide her features.
The sound bloomed in my chest, creating an odd sense of peace. It made me uncomfortable. Peace was new to me. I only operated on chaos.
She was wiping the tears from her eyes as I pushed her inside. The open room was too dark to see anything, but I knew this place like the back of my hand and parked her chair before hitting the light switch on the wall.
She gasped when the brick walls, concrete floor, and hanging lights appeared. Her eyes didn’t stop moving, touching on everything: the steel tables, brewing kettles, fermenters, bottles, and all the other items I needed to brew the house label beer I served at my bar.
You’re surprised, right?
Did you think killing was my only hobby?
It ain’t.
“This is amazing!” V exclaimed, rotating to look at me.
A little pride swelled in my chest. My arms crossed as I regarded her. “I’m still not giving you beer.”
Her lower lip jutted out. The bottom of my stomach exited my body. I was afraid if I looked down, I’d see it at my feet.
“Don’t you want your beer to be my first?”
“If I catch you drinking beer anyone else gives you, I’ll kill them.”
She laughed.
She thought I was kidding.
I was not.
“So I can have some?”
I pursed my lips and walked away to check on my latest batch. “Maybe just a sip,” I called to her.
She clapped. “I’m exploring!”
“Don’t touch anything!” I demanded.
“Okay.” She agreed readily, but we both knew she’d be touching everything she could reach. Just like we both knew I wouldn’t yell at her when she did.