Page 14 of Envious Of Fire
Cade shrugs. “Actually, yes, it’s called science.”
Kyle squeezes her hand. She must see the sincerity in his eyes, because all humor flees her face. “Please don’t give up on looking for answers. Keep reading those books. Keep being the private eye on your own life. Cade … I believe in you.”
She is visibly struck.
Her emotions become a musical instrument, a harp, and a perfectly pleasant chord has just been expertly strummed, the notes ringing out with clean, perfect harmony.
“Keep dreaming,” says Kyle. “I may never understand the full reality of what I am … or what I can do with my own gifts. But every day, they get better, they become more focused. You will, too, Cade.”
“Just stop, you’re gonna make me cry.” She lifts a hand toshield her eyes, then lets out a sudden laugh. “Oh, Kyle. Your heart is so full. There is a reason … a reason I have always felt such a connection with you.” She drops her hand and takes his, her eyes watery and happy. “Never doubt your own humanity, Kyle. No matter what anyone in this world calls you, no matter what you call yourself. Remember this moment when you made me cry.”
Kyle smiles as appreciation fills the cozy office. Is it just his own emotions, or both of theirs, that his Reach is sensing?
In moments like these, he wonders how he could possibly have thought he had no one in this world. This dusty, dry town of Nowhere has proven over and over how good life can be.
Then the office door flies open. Kyle turns to find the stiff, uniformed Juan Rojas standing there—Jeremy’s dad, the police chief. He is a man of few smiles whose presence in any room is noticed immediately, with his keen, ruthless eyes, harsh facial features, and permanently creased forehead. He shuts the door, then zeroes upon Kyle. “We’re talking about it. Now.”
Cade sighs. “Juan, really? At your son’s birthday party?”
He eyes her. “We’re doing this so we can continue having birthdays at all.” Then he turns onto Kyle. “I’ve been generous, haven’t I? To let you be your happy carefree self for a few days? Kick back here at the bar with your big criminal boyfriend? To pretend like nothing’s wrong?”
“Juan …” sighs Cade, annoyed.
“Problems don’t magically go away because no one wants to talk about them. A man named Patrick still sitting in my jail twiddling his thumbs is proof of that, and he sure isn’t happyorcarefree. I cannot sit on this man’s paperwork forever. Actions need to be taken. I’ll be questioned.” He comes up to the front of the desk, standing over Kyle’s chair. “Time to talk.”
The chief’s impatience is prickly and hot, but Kyle can feel an undercurrent of genuine worry wriggling beneath like somekind of tortured earthworm.
Cade still isn’t having it. “Can’t we all enjoy a slice of pizza at least before we do all this? Leland put in a delivery for ten larges from that place you like … five supreme, five pepperoni, should be here any minute. Even got one with Canadian bacon all over it just for you, Juan.”
The chief doesn’t even hear it. “Tell me what happened in Las Vegas, Kyle.”
Kyle faces the chief. “I went on a mission to find Elias—”
“At the Scarlet Sands in Las Vegas, I know, with your old loudmouth friend who saw you in the viral video and came running to find you. I do not need a play-by-play, Kyle, don’t test my patience. Get to the point. What’d you find instead?”
Kyle takes a breath. “For your own safety, I think it’s best I don’t tell you what I found, and instead, tell you what the result of my trip was.” He puts on a pleasant smile. “We will be left alone. All of us.”
“Left alone by whom?Them?”
“Yes. They forgave the video. All traces of it were removed from the internet somehow—don’t ask, don’t know—and I was allowed to come back here with Elias. We won’t be touched or harmed. We’re safe and sound, left to live in peace and quiet.”
“Peace and quiet?” The chief sneers. “That’s it? All happy ever after? Peace and fucking quiet?”
Like bugs crawling up his neck, Kyle feels Juan’s distrust. “Yes,” he states with confidence anyway, driving in the half-truth as best as he can.
“Bullshit,” barks the chief.
And rightfully so.
“Sir …” starts Kyle.
“So you found a ton of other bloodsuckers in Vegas? Is that what I’m to understand? Bloodsuckers in power? Who did you speak to? Their king? You spoke to fucking Dracula?”
If only he knew how close to the truth that joke lands. “His name isn’t important, and yes, he …isin a position of power,” Kyle decides to say, “but isn’t that even better? Others listen to him. He wants us to be left alone. Forgotten. We’re okay.”
“Think I was born yesterday, Kyle? A deal like that from goddamned Dracula doesn’t come without conditions.”
Cade sighs. “Juan, please …”
