Page 51 of Unleash Hades
He was a talisman, a north star, a small object that tied me to this world, and kept me from opening my wrists. Him. My boys. My sister.
The names I was too scared to say in my prayers, in case the jealous devil heard it and took his revenge.
But Bellamy was right. I had never investigated Hugo. I couldn’t. Richard might look into my computers - or one of his men might. My curiosity about a single Legionnaire might lead him to suspect something. It might bring attention to Hugo, and I didn't want that. So I had tempered my journalistic instincts.
“Then answer me truthfully,” Bellamy’s voice was so… off-putting.
I had hated it before. It was like he was trying to be the caricature of an old world fop - flippant, and colorful. Too bright, too airy. But this voice? The one without the frills? It sounded… dangerous.
“Are you ready to take down Richard Davenport?”
My nostrils flared, my fists clenched. I did what I always had - I froze. I stopped every bit of movement in my body, and waited until I could know exactly what I needed to do. How to keep myself alive.
Bellamy leaned forward just a little. Just a touch. “You know that he’s involved.”
I did. But I couldn’t say anything. I wouldn’t. My secrets were mine, and no one would use them against me.
“You know that he’s a bad man.”
He was looking for something in my reaction. I could tell by the way his pupils ping-ponged around my face.
“Youknowwhat he can do.”
The question wasn’t thatIknew… but how did Bellamy? How had he figured it out? How was he involved?
I parted my lips to speak, needing to ask a question. But no words left mine. So he filled the silence once more.
He snorted, then smiled.
“You want to take him down, don’t you?”
Something in my face, in my breath, in the air around me must have given me away because he smiled as if I had confirmedit. As if I had agreed to be his conspirator. But I was sure that couldn’t be it. Because I was a statue.
“Well… that’s certainly… useful.” He was acting like I had spoken.
He looked away from me, pursing his lips. He quietly touched a small pin in his ascot, stroking it lovingly.
He nodded, as if he had come to a decision, then looked back at me. He smiled. Not a real one. The one he gave everyone at any time. The bright, incandescent, toothy-smile. Then his voice changed back to the same odd foppish cadence, and I wondered if I had hallucinated the last few moments.
“The next Underground fight is in Scotland. I have the address, and was granted a plus one.” His eyes lifted towards me. They were dark, it was unsettling. “Be my companion.” He bit his lower lip, regarding me for a tense and silent moment. “Maybe we can help one another.”
“How on earth could you possibly help me?” I felt like I stood in quicksand, ready to tumble to my doom. How did he know so much? Where had I slipped up? I wanted to ask, but couldn’t, because asking the question would be as good as confirming its validity. “In all the time I have known you, you have never helped me.”
“Not that you know of.”
“Never.” I said with certainty. “So why should I trust you now?”
He sucked his lips into his mouth by the teeth, and tilted his head, observing me like he was a dog, curious about a helpless looking human.
I didn’t like it.
Because Iwashelpless. I had been ever since I walked down the aisle to meet the devil at the altar. And I had done it all for the wrong reasons.
“You mayknowofme, Cali,” he said, pouring another drink. How many shots was that now? Four? Five? “But you have never seen me.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Really?” He turned his eyes downward, until his lashes covered his irises. “What color are my eyes? Tell me quickly.”
