Page 66 of Destined for Shadows
Chapter 19
Cori
Cori stepped onto her front porch. The cool, crisp air of early October hit her skin, invigorating her. Coming out when it was dark was risky, but she honestly didn’t care at this point. She stared down at her pack of emergency cigarettes she’d kept stashed in her closet and pulled one out, lighting it. The burn of nicotine felt even better than the night air. Sure, it choked her a little after not smoking for seven weeks, but she wouldn’t make it another day without one. She was far too close to losing it.
She’d finally returned to work the day before, but only after Bartol assigned Tormod to ride with her in the truck and stay with her all day. He wasn’t that bad. The nerou enjoyed riding in human transportation, and it turned out he had an artistic side as well. While sitting at her tattoo shop, he’d come up with a few clever designs her customers might like. She’d told him if anyone asked for them, she’d give him a cut of the profits. He’d been so excited at the prospect he’d promised to work at night to come up with more. Maybe that would keep him busy while at the compound, and he wouldn’t get into more trouble there.
For the most part, he wasn’t a problem except when he found a customer suspicious. Then he became scary protective to the point he’d run two potential clients off. Most likely, it had been his glowing violet eyes and the way his voice dropped to pure demonic that got to them. Even the toughest guys wanted no part of that. Cori was afraid people would stop coming to her shop if he kept it up, and Asher had voiced similar concerns about having him around. She was going to have a long talk with Tormod about that when he arrived tomorrow.
He wasn’t her biggest distraction, though.
Near the end of the day, Bartol would show up to relieve the nerou and send him home. He didn’t bother the customers at all. In fact, he sat so quietly and still that most people didn’t even notice him. What irritated Cori about him was that he completely ignored her—even if she called him a few choice names—and his eyes were ice cold. Ever since she accused him of being overprotective, he’d kept his distance. She was surprised he still insisted on being around at all, but he must have felt duty bound, and that bothered her, too. Everyone was going through a great deal of trouble to look after her when she wasn’t even sure she deserved it.
Cori took a long drag on her cigarette, noting she’d nearly finished it already. How many would she need before she felt calm enough to get some sleep tonight? Except for when Bartol had compelled her to rest after the last attack, she’d hardly been able to shut her eyes for more than an hour or two. It didn’t matter that she was exhausted. She was too afraid to let herself sleep.
“What are you doing out here?” Bartol asked, appearing before her. He hadn’t flashed, which meant he’d been moving around invisibly.
She scowled at him. “How long have you been watching me?”
“I was patrolling the woods when I caught the scent of your cigarette smoke.” His face was a granite mask, and his voice held no emotion. “I revealed myself as soon as I came upon you.”
“Wasn’t that nice of you.” She stubbed her cigarette out.
He was silent for a moment, then gestured at the pack in her hand. “Those are not good for your health.”
“Neither is being stalked by a crazy vampire. Which one do you think will kill me first?”
“You should go inside,” he said.
Cori sat down on the porch steps instead. “Go fuck yourself.”
Bartol’s jaw hardened—the first sign of emotion he’d shown. “I’m trying to protect you, but I can’t do that if you flaunt yourself to your stalker.”
“Then stop protecting me—all of you!” She couldn’t take it anymore. She just couldn’t. Everyone was going out of their way and rearranging their schedules so that she could be safe. It wasn’t right, and it needed to stop.
“You want Griff to capture you? Kill you?” Bartol asked, taking a step forward. Now his face was turning red, and he looked like he might lose control.
Cori was done with being afraid—of him or anyone else.
She tilted her head back and stared up at the sky. “It’s not what I want, but it’s what I deserve. I can’t live like this anymore.”
“We will find him.”
“It’s been over three weeks since I got that note, and we are no closer to figuring out where he’s hiding since then.” She let out a loud sigh and met his gaze. “I’m exhausted from it all and want it to be over, even if that means coming out where my ex can get to me.”
“I was tortured for a century,” Bartol said, coming to stand before her. The good side of his face was bathed in the soft moonlight and the scarred part in shadows. “But it took a lot longer than three weeks to break me.”
“Easy to say when you’re immortal and can’t die. You knew you’d be free someday.”
He stared at her. “Do you have any idea what it is like to have someone slowly peel your skin off one narrow strip at a time?”
“No,” she said quietly. This was the first time he’d ever described the torture he’d suffered to her. It made her gut clench just imagining it.
“Do you know what it’s like to be put in a room with no light and have all the oxygen sucked out until your lungs collapse, and you’re left for weeks with nothing other than your own thoughts and the desperate need for oxygen?”
Cori gulped. “You know I couldn’t.”
“Exactly,” he said in a bitter tone, “because you have the blessing of mortality to give you release. Your body can only endure a certain amount of torture before it will shut itself down. Imagine what it would be like if you could suffer every conceivable atrocity and survive all of it.”
