“I don’t blame you,” she muttered, picking him up. Jimmy made a small sound and reached for the dog, which started wriggling with joy.
“He tried to squish him,” muttered the boy. “With his boot.”
“I’ll squish him,” said Eddie, and took Lyssa’s hand. “Excuse us for a moment.”
He pulled Lyssa across the living room, backing her against the wall. Over his shoulder, she watched Jimmy lead his mother to a chair, his every movement filled with tenderness. It broke her heart, especially when Tina gave the boy a tremendous hug that made him wriggle like the dog trapped between them.
Lyssa’s mother had hugged her like that, once upon a time.
“She needs a doctor,” she muttered.
“What she needs is to get out of this city,” Eddie replied in a quiet voice. “Right now. For your sake, and theirs.”
Lyssa exhaled slowly, and nodded. “You’re right. But they have no money.”
Eddie’s eyes softened. “My employer will take care of everything. But they can’t come back here. Forget the Cruor Venator. This place, this city, is poison for them. And so is that man.”
She glanced down the hall and found Aaron Roacher on the floor, tied with duct tape. His mouth had been covered — and his eyes, as well. He resembled a pig.
“That man deserves jail,” she whispered. “If they leave town. .”
“Nothing will change. Did Tina ever testify against him? Did she go to the police?”
Lyssa hesitated. “Not that I know. She ran when he started hitting Jimmy, but technically, they’re still married. She may not even have a green card.”
Eddie rubbed his knuckles. “If you’re worried about him getting away with this, he won’t.”
“You’re not going to. .”
“Kill him? No. I don’t need to.”
But you could, whispered the dragon. It would solve so many problems. No one would miss him.
No one. But the idea filled her with revulsion.
Your life or his. The lives of your friends. . or his. Or someone like him. There are so many cruel people in this world to choose from, sister. Kill just one of them. . and you’ll save your friends, and yourself.
Eddie touched her arm. “You went away for a moment. I’m sorry if what I said bothered you.”
“It’s not what you said, but what I was thinking.” Lyssa glanced at Aaron, who was twitching now, trying to pull his arms loose. “It wasn’t good.”
“It doesn’t have to be good if there’s a good reason.”
Lyssa gave him a startled look, and he smiled. “Try to make Tina and Jimmy comfortable. I’m going to make a few calls.”
He turned away, but she grabbed his arm.
“Eddie,” she said, but words failed her. All she could do was kiss his cheek, her lips lingering on his warm skin.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.
Maybe it was her imagination, but he seemed to sway a little.
“I’m your guy,” he said, and before she could respond to that, he pulled away and walked back down the hall to take care of Aaron Roacher.
Chapter Ten
The man reminded him of Matthew Swint.
Eddie dragged him into the kitchen on his belly, ignoring his grunts of pain and fear. Blind, powerless, stinking. Not so strong now. Not strong enough to beat his wife or hit his boy.
“I’ve had a lot of years to think about men like you,” said Eddie quietly, dumping Aaron by the stove. “About the things I’d like to do.”
The big man wore a mustard yellow polo shirt, wrinkled and dotted with blood that was not his.
Eddie pulled out a pocketknife and cut the man’s shirt open. Aaron writhed when the steel nicked his skin and made high-pitched whining sounds that would have been pitiful coming from a puppy — but that only made him sound pathetic. His cheeks bulged red over the duct tape.
“If you’re complaining already,” Eddie said, “you’re really not going to like what happens next.”
He pulled out his cell phone, but before he dialed Roland, he placed his bare hand on Aaron’s chest, above his heart. The man’s skin was clammy with sweat — and he had breasts, which made it especially disgusting.
Eddie’s hand began to heat. Slowly, at first. He wanted it slow.
He called Roland, his palm still pressed flat on Aaron’s heaving chest.
“Fuck,” said his boss, when he answered the phone. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Maybe, just this once, you could turn off the clairvoyance?” Eddie suggested. “I don’t think you want to see this.”
His hand was much warmer now. Aaron squirmed.
Roland said, “It doesn’t work like that, and you know it. Who is that guy, and what the hell did he do to you?”
“Nothing. But he beats his wife and terrorizes his kid.”
“Ah,” said the other man. “Well. Happy trails, man. What do you need?”
Eddie smiled. He had problems with Roland, but the man had always been practical to a fault, and efficiently ruthless.
“One of those expensive private doctors who knows how to keep his mouth shut. Plus garbage bags, bleach, and a good saw.”
Aaron moaned.
Roland chuckled. “Now you’re just fucking with him.”
Eddie smiled. “The doctor comes first. We have a woman here who was beaten, and her son suffered some injuries, too. Cuts and bruises, mostly, but I want to make sure.”
“Okay.” Roland’s voice was soft. “And?”
“I’ll text you the details, but they need to leave this city in the next couple hours.”
When Aaron heard that, he strained against his bonds, making a strangled sound.
Eddie put down the phone and dug his fingers into the man’s throat until he started choking. Just a couple seconds, but it was enough to make him obedient again.
“Jesus,” Roland said, when Eddie picked up the phone. “You’re torturing that man.”
“When did you start caring about things like that?”
He was silent a moment. “Did you find the girl?”
Eddie’s hand was very hot now. Aaron cried out: high, sharp, his chest heaving for air.
“Yes,” he said, above the man’s sounds of pain. “The situation is complicated. The Cruor Venator has been following her and might be targeting acquaintances. That’s the second reason we need to move this boy and his mother. Lyssa is friends with them.”
“Consider it done. But kid. . what you’re doing now—”
Eddie hung up on him.
What you’re doing now isn’t like you, Roland would have said. But he didn’t know everything about Eddie.
He hadn’t seen Jimmy’s eyes when he looked at his mother.
Aaron screamed beneath the duct tape, twisting wildly on the floor. Eddie moved with him, though his hand stayed in the same spot — hot with fire, burning the man as flesh sizzled. Smoke rose from between his fingers, and the scent of cooked meat filled the air.
Finally, Eddie let go.
Leaving behind a brand over Aaron’s heart, shaped like his hand.
The man curled on his side, shaking uncontrollably — his sobs muffled, wracking. His pants were wet. Eddie smelled urine.
He waited until the man quieted just enough to hear him, then straddled his body, grabbing his left ear and wrenching up his head. He leaned close, heart thundering, anger making his words thick and hard in his throat.
“I want you to remember this moment for as long as you live,” he whispered. “You were helpless and blind, and you had no voice. And I laid my hand on your heart, where you would never forget me. Where you would never forget the pain I caused you, and the terror. Because that’s your gift to your son, and your wife. That’s your only legacy. . what you did to them. Only it was a thousand times worse because you were supposed to love them.”