Page 19 of Pretty Monsters

"We know you aren't a child, but you don't know father the way I do," Lucien speaks to her as if he does think of her as a child. "He won't give up. If he thinks using you will get him ahead, he will keep looking for you."

Lucien looks at me, and I can tell he's conflicted. "If I'm working at night, I'm not going to be any use as a body guard during the day. We're going to need money, so I'll work. Can I trust you to take care of my sister?"

"Still. Right. Here," Raven asserts.

Again, Lucien gentles his expression and tone. "You said yourself you don't have any experience. You don't need to learn about life at the hands of a killer."

That settles it. I'm definitely heading out alone after we settle in someplace. Luce and I have fought before. We grew up together, and the training we were given was intense and encouraged our more violent tendencies. Even then he never treated me like I didn't belong. I didn't though.

He was lord of the manor, prince in waiting for the empire his father created. I was a child without parents. I had a name, but barely. It was given to me by whoever sold me to Damien Blackthorne.

Sold.

Blackthorne built his empire on the backs of the most vulnerable. He bought and sold children. Some were lucky enough to go to parents who couldn't have children and found the adoption process difficult. I was not one of the lucky ones.

He filled my life with violence and blood. One day I'd return the favor. Until then, I'd bide my time and try and protect what innocence was left in this world.

Lucien wanted to know how he could trust me with his sister? Her remaining innocence wouldn't be taken by me. As we become adults, we are all forced to shed the lingering notions of goodness that makes children different, but I wouldn't be the one to teach her the ways of the world.

Raven, watches me with those observant blue eyes. Her fingers twitch, likely wanting to offer me comfort. I won't let her. I'm beyond helping, and she should learn that right away. He was right; he took her away from one killer and put her in the hands of another one. He shouldn't leave me alone with his sister.

Taking lives isn't something I ever had a choice in. My life has been kill or be killed. I excel at the tasks I was given, which likely doesn't say anything good about what kind of person I am. There's a power in holding someone's life in your hand, and while I perform the act, someone else pulls my strings.

Leaving wasn't just to save Raven. This is my first shot at freedom in all of my twenty-one years of life. He doesn't need to worry about Raven, because I understand how important this chance is.

* * *

The landscape changesfrom the flat plains of the Midwest to the rolling hills and steep mountain peaks as we move further west. After I drive for twelve hours, we pull off in the national forest, far from the designated camping grounds.

This isn't the first time Luce and I have camped off the grid, and we immediately get out and search for tire tracks and other signs of the forest service routinely patrolling the area. When not so much as a twig indicates anyone has been through this area recently, we pull off into a copse of trees to hide the truck.

Raven starts squirming in between the two of us. Despite her small size, there's still not much room for her between us on the bench seat.

"I hope you two don't plan for us to sleep inside of the truck. My legs are going numb trying to straddle the shifter for the last dozen or so hours."

"When you were sleeping at the last stop, I went into the store and bought a few sleeping bags and some mats. It's not a great idea to sleep directly on the metal. You never know how slow sleeping on the ridges can make your reflexes," Lucien tells her.

We have at least another day of driving before we arrive in one of the largest cities on the West Coast, and neither Lucien nor I can keep driving without more sleep than we can get sitting up inside the truck.

She hops out of the cab and stands looking at the bed of the truck with her hands planted on her hips. "There's no way the three of us are going to fit back here together. I'm tired of being squished between both of you."

Her brother joins her in assessing the dimensions. "She's probably right. One of us can sleep on the ground."

She rolls her eyes and stomps off muttering something about ignorant neanderthals.

Chasing after her I grab her arm and spin her around to face me. "You can't go storming off into the woods. There are bears and cougars out here."

"No shit," she deadpans. "Look, I'm the smallest. The fact of which you have both used as an excuse to not let me drive."

"You are the only one that fits between both of us, and if you were to drive, we'd have to scoot the bench seat up so far neither your brother nor I would be able to fit inside."

She rolls her eyes. "Right, well, I'm also the only one who can sleep somewhat comfortably inside the truck."

"Okay, but why are you heading for the trees, if your plan is to sleep inside the truck?"

She waves a roll of toilet paper we swiped from the hotel as we left. "Neither of you geniuses thought to wake me up at the last stop," she reminds me.

Scratching my head I take a few steps back. "I'll give you some privacy."

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