Only an Ancient Deamhan can declare a Decretum.
Wood. It’s a pain to deal with. I still don’t understand how easily it can incapacitate a Deamhan. A mere sliver of it has us running for the hills. So the longer it remained inside me, the more I wanted to scratch my eyes out and holler my anguish.
After Carol managed to stake me, she dragged me toward the back alley where she met Nash. They exchanged words after which she returned to the bar to close up. Nash hid Jack’s body somewhere and later returned. He picked me up, and carried me away from his establishment.
He didn’t speak a word the entire way. The parade was over and the crowds had dispersed, relegating Forsan to the ghost town I remembered it being. I felt my body trying to heal itself, but with each step Nash took, the hole reopened and the wood impaled itself deeper. I mentally swore that once I took it out, I’d find Carol and kill her.
Located across a set of railroad tracks, down a rude, gravel dirt pathway, Nash’s property had its own makeshift bridge constructed from worn wooden beams. He even had a small, dried-up pond in the backyard. As soon as I saw his home, I covered my mouth to conceal my laughter.
His house was small and made entirely from weathered bricks. It leaned slightly to the right with one large, paned window that he covered with what looked like a red bed sheet. The steps leading up to the porch creaked. For a moment, I believed the rickety hovel could collapse on us at any second.
He dropped me to the floor.
“You promised you wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Pausing briefly at the door, he waited as I struggled to stand on my feet. As he opened the screen door, he spoke again. “Before you do anything, just remember. I could’ve left you there or finished you off, but I didn’t.”
“You should have.”
“It’s not Carol’s fault. I told her to do anything to stop you from harming or killing someone,” he said. “She wasn’t trying to kill you.”
I placed my hand on the house for support. “How long has she known about you? About what we are?”
A gush of warm air combined with the scent of mustiness brushed my face when he opened the door. Almost immediately, Carol’s lingering scent infiltrated my nostrils. I then realized she wasn’t just a bartender who worked for him; they lived together, which meant they were involved.
“Since she was a little girl,” Nash said as he walked in.
“I thought you said no one in this town knew about you.” I followed him and leaned against the wall, next to a small table with a glass vase sitting on top.
“Just her.”
“She’s your girlfriend?”
He didn’t answer.
“I’m going to kill her.”
He exhaled. “Still making threats, even with that piece of wood sticking out of your gut?” He turned to his right, flipping on a light switch that illuminated a hallway on our left. The interior looked just as bad as the exterior. Pictures of animals and Native Americans lined the wall. Above the entryway to the dining room hung a large dream catcher. Mounted on a plaque near the back wall were two ancient rifles and an old portrait of a much younger looking Nash.
“She’s not afraid of you,” he replied. “I told her everything about you and me, about how Deamhan live and how we can die.”
“Since she knows about me, then she knows that I’ll kill anyone who harms me,” I warned.
His eyes scanned me from head to toe. “I’ll find you some clean clothes to wear.”
“I don’t want clean clothes. I want someone to eat.”
“You ate Jack.”
“Correction. I killed Jack. I would’ve eaten him, but your girlfriend staked me.” I looked down at my wound. “Pull it out.”
He pointed to a small couch covered with a brown fleece. “Sit there and I’ll find you something to eat.”
I refused to sit. “I don’t want something. I want someone to feed from, idiot.” It disgusted me that he would stoop this low to retain a tiny relic of his humanity. I wondered what other “human things” he also did with her.
“That’s all you get for now.” He walked over to the dining room, flipping on another light switch. “If you can’t obey my rules, then you can sit there in pain through the next night. Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Getting it straight from the source tastes best,” I replied while glaring at him. “I think you know more than you’re leading on. Carol lets you feed from her, doesn’t she?”
“She trusts me, unlike you,” he replied. “Like I told you before, Lugat don’t have to kill to eat. You kill primarily for the fun of it. I take what I need after she touches it. I’m not affecting her life, or putting her in any danger.” He walked down the hallway, disappearing from my view. Moments later, I heard the sound of a car approaching the house, followed by Carol’s scent.
With each passing second, my belly ached. I attempted to pull the wood out, but could feel the small splinters creating smaller wounds in my hands. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Carol walked through the door, wiping her soiled hands on her pants. When she saw me, she stood still, shooting me a look of someone who wanted to kill me right then and there. And oh, how I wished she would try.
Nash reappeared, with a black shirt and blue jeans. He set them on a table nearby and turned to Carol. “Did you bury Jack’s body where I told you to?”
She nodded, still peering at me. “Next to Bobbi’s.”
He approached her. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry too.” She kissed him on his cheek. “I just can’t wait until he’s out of Forsan.”
I cringed at the sight of Nash placing his arms around her. It reminded me too much of Lucius and his female researcher.
“You’re just like my sire,” I said. “Falling in love with a human. How pathetic.”
“Your sire? Yeah, well maybe I am,” he replied. “Maybe we both understand that to survive in this world, we can’t go around acting like wild animals. Maybe we both understand the concept of love, unlike you. We’ve evolved, Kei. You haven’t, and I see now that you never will. You’ll always be the same Deamhan without any friends if you continue down the same route.”
“I don’t care about friends. You should know that by now.”
“Maybe you should start,” Carol spoke up.
“And maybe you should mind your own business, before I go over there and snap your neck.”
“Stop it,” Nash interrupted us.
Carol breathed heavily. “I’m going to take a shower.” She walked down the hall, disappearing from our view.
Nash scrunched his lips. “I’ll take the piece of wood out, you’ll get dressed, and we’ll leave tonight.”
“I need to eat first to travel fast,” I replied. “Or did you forget that too?”
“No, I didn’t,” he said. “I’ll only take it out after you get dressed and we’re far away from here. I don’t want you coming back and harming Carol.”
“Oh, so you’re still going to help me?” I said, indifferent to his stance.
“Unlike you, I keep my word. I’ll go with you and help you, but only into Texas. After that, you’re on your own.”
He grabbed the clothing and threw it at me.
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