Sundown & Serena (8 page)

Lastly, I wanted never to see my father
again.

* * * *

A month later, I took a bus back east. I got
a job in another strip club, and a new apartment. This one was near
a park, and I spent a lot of time there that first week, enjoying
the greenness of everything.

In addition, I finally took Lash’s advice.
I’d never cut my hair, though I had darkened it to a light brown.
Now I dyed it a dark brown, and cut it in a many-layered style,
with short bangs. It made me look different enough that I doubted
I’d be recognized. But I kept it long, at least the back of it.
Old habits die hard.

Having successfully accomplished my first
goal, I attempted the second thing on my list. But Terian seemed to
have dropped off the face of the earth. His old cell phone number
was disconnected. The website he’d sold his magical potions on was
no longer valid; it was up for lease.

I went to some of the places we’d visited
together, and asked about him. But no one remembered seeing him for
months. One night though, I did catch sight of Sarelle.

I was on the corner waiting for a bus when I
heard a voice say, “What do you think, Sar?”

I looked over discreetly as a voice
dissimilar to mine said, “I’m okay either way, Danial.”

She was in a car behind the wheel stopped at
the stoplight. There was a dark man beside her, so finely featured
he was almost beautiful. Her face, her build...God, she looked
enough like me to be my twin sister.
Thank God I
cut my hair.

“We don’t have to make a decision now,”
Danial said, looking over at her. “You’ve had no signs. There’s no
rush.”

“Please, let’s not talk about it,” Sar
replied, sounding tired. “I want to get home to Elle. She’s
probably turned cougar, and slipped out her window again by now,
sure something happened to us.”

Who is Elle? Theo’s daughter? Sar and
Theo’s daughter? Why isn’t she with Theo?

“She’s probably giving Cia a hard time,”
Danial said with a laugh. “She wanted to go with us.”

“Macbeth
is too old for her.”

“Theo wouldn’t think so.”

Sarelle didn’t respond. When the light
changed, they drove off.

I sat for a while thinking later that night.
Sarelle was back to spending time with Danial. But Theo and he were
friends, right? That was normal, to escort a friend’s wife to a
play as a favor. Maybe it had been innocent, but maybe not. The
important thing was Danial and Devlin were brothers. How long would
it be before Devlin decided he’d waited long enough for the real
thing?

Didn’t matter to me. As far as I’m concerned,
that bitch has it coming.

Chapter
Eight

Months passed. Christmas came and went. I
sent my father another card, and got one from him in return. Sheryl
still seemed to be going strong, and I said a loud “Good for her!”
as I tossed his card in the garbage.

When it got to be Valentine’s Day, I finally
gave into the feeling that had haunted me for months. I’d been in
Sar’s shoes with Devlin. I felt so angry with her for a long time
over how much Terian had loved her, but that wasn’t her fault.
Devlin was obsessed with her, from what Lash had said. I owed it to
her—one woman to another—to warn her, to let her know that he
hadn’t forgotten her, even if time had gone by.

I tried looking up her number in the phone
book, but it was unlisted.
Fuck.

I tried online at the library, with the same
results.
Motherfuck.

Then I remembered that note of Terian’s I’d
kept, the last one. He’d written her number on the bottom, because
he was going to be out at her house having dinner.
He wanted me to be able to reach him, and his cell was
recharging...

After an hour of sifting through my clutter,
I found it. I dialed the number with shaking hands.

What would I say to her? She didn’t know me
at all. What if she hung up on me? By now, she knew I’d rejected
Terian’s offer of marriage, she had to know why, too
... Shit. I have to do it.
Maybe I’d luck out and get
her machine.

I dialed the number, and no one answered. Not
even a machine. I tried back for the next two days, and got
nothing. Shit, she must have moved.
What else can
I try?

Danial’s company,
Solutions, Inc.
He would know where Sar was, if they were
friendly enough to go see plays together and Theo worked there with
him. I could just talk to Theo, tell him what I knew, and that
would be enough, and I wouldn’t have to talk to Sar at all.

I dialed the Solutions, Inc. number listed in
the phone book on one of my breaks that next night, and a man
answered. Well, I assumed it was a man, though from what Terian had
told me of Danial, it was probably really one of those werefoxes
that were his guardian army.

“Hello, this is Solutions, Inc. Can I help
you?”

“Hi. I need to speak to Theo, please.”

“He no longer works here,” the man said a
little sadly.

What the hell? Has he been
killed?
I couldn’t make myself ask. “Is Sarelle McGarran
there?”

“Sure, but she’s outside with her
daughter.”

I felt shocked.
Sar had a
baby? When? Is it Theo’s? Does he mean Elle?

“I am to notify Danial, or the chief of
security before anyone talks to her, on their orders.”

I didn’t want to talk to Danial. Terian had
always painted him as little better than Devlin, and I’d heard of
what he’d done to Sar when he’d found out about her and Theo, and
later, with his brother.

“Is this Kat?”

Who was Kat?
Shit, I am in
over my head. Maybe I should hang up.

“Hello?”

No, I have to tell someone.
What if Devlin hurts her because I said nothing, because I was too
afraid?
That wasn’t happening, not if I could stop it.

“Give me the chief of security,” I said with
a sigh. “Whoever replaced Theo, I can speak to him.”

“Sure, let me get him. He’s out there with
Sar and her daughter.”

I felt an inkling of something unsettling as
I waited. Then I got the shock of my life.

“This is Terian. Who is this?”

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t form any words.
Because Terian was there. He had somehow replaced Theo as Danial’s
head of security. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. I hung up,
and began to cry.

He’d been outside with Sarelle. Theo was
dead. There was only one reason Terian would have gone back to work
for Danial.

The phone rang. I picked it up before I
thought.

“Who is this?” Terian said in a menacing
tone. “Answer me, or I’ll put a bolt of lightning through this
phone to kill you where you stand.”

“It’s Sun,” I said softly.

There was silence.

“What is it?” he asked tenderly. “Are you
okay?”

I’d expected him to be angry, or standoffish.
It hurt me worse to know he still cared about me. My bitterness
rose up in me, making my tone cold and hard as steel. “Where is
Theo?”

“Dead,” he said with a sigh, “at least
presumed. It’s been more than a year.”

“And you’re working for Danial.”

“Sar and Elle needed me. They need
protection. Danial offered me Theo’s position—”

I felt a wave of relief. Elle was Theo’s
daughter, I remembered.

“—
Sar’s pregnant now, and it’s been a
difficult pregnancy—”

I almost threw up. Danial couldn’t have
children being a vampire like Devlin. He had to be sterile, too. If
Theo had been gone for a year, the baby had to be Terian’s. Hate
welled up in me for Sar, who had the love of Theo and Danial
already. She didn’t need Terian’s love. I doubted she loved him at
all, and here she was having his baby! I’d been hurt by Devlin
because of her!
It should be me there having
Terian’s baby, not her! I’m the one who deserved that! She has
enough!

“Sun?”

Bitch!
I was tired
of her taking everything that was mine.
Sick and
tired.

“Sun, why did you call?”

“It was nothing,” I whispered. “I just wanted
to...”
Shit, think of something.
Anything.

“Wanted to what?”

I had to say something. The truth would do,
though I’d be damned if I’d admit to Terian what Devlin had done to
me. “I just wanted to make sure that Sar was okay,” I said lamely.
“I had this dream—”

“What dream?” Terian said, alert.

I remembered he was a big believer in the
power of dreams for some reason. “Nothing. She was in danger, and
there was a blond man hurting her with gold eyes. It was bad. I
woke up screaming. So I tried her at her house, but no one
answered.”

“Don’t worry,” Terian assured. “Sar lives
here now. Elle does, too. Devlin hasn’t come around here for a good
while, since the big fight with me that night. He and Danial talk,
but Danial’s forbidden him from coming to even see Sar, though
after the baby’s born, Danial said that might change.”

I felt a wave of sickness, and fought it
down.

“But he’s done nothing in close to a year,
Sun. I don’t trust Devlin either, but he’s been nothing but polite
when I’ve seen him. He knows Danial’s more powerful, and so he
stays in line.”

I remembered Devlin’s treatment of me, and
what Lash had said.
Devlin’s only biding his
time. He hasn’t forgotten Sar at all
. But I was angry and
hurt.
I did my part. It’s not my job to save
Sar.
“That makes me feel a lot better,” I agreed. “I’m glad
to know I was wrong.”

“Is there anything else you wanted?” Terian
persisted.

“Like what?” I retorted sharply. “What else
would I want? You seem to be getting along just fine.”

“I thought you might miss me,” Terian shot
back angrily. “But forget it. You clearly don’t.” He hung up.

I replaced the pay phone in its cradle, and
walked back to my car. Screw work, I couldn’t pretend to feel or
act sexy, not after that. I needed a drink, and to not be alone. So
I drove to the nearest bar and had a few shots, trying to convince
myself that I’d done the right thing.

There’s no way to make him see Sar is
still in danger without admitting what had happened to me. And I’m
never going to admit that to anyone, ever.

It was midnight when I got up to leave, but
before I turned around, I heard a familiar voice ask for some
scotch. I turned to see Lash sitting down at the end of the
bar.

I looked in fear to see if Devlin was with
him, but there was no one else in the bar at all. Unnerved, I drank
down my shot, and headed for the door.
Devlin
might be just outside.
I didn’t want a repeat performance.
I’d finally stopped having those wet dreams that drug he’d dosed me
with had inspired, those dreams that made me long to be under his
hands again, sickening me with my own twisted desires.

Lash saw me as I tried to slip by him to the
exit. He nodded to me, then looked away.

Well, if he was going to acknowledge me, I’d
just ask him. “Is he here?” I whispered. “Is it safe to go out this
door?”

“No, and yes, respectively,” Lash answered,
sipping his scotch. “I’m meeting someone here in a few minutes for
business. I wanted a drink first, so I came early.”

I sat beside him on a stool. “Thank you, for
what you did,” I whispered, my eyes cast down.

“You’re welcome,” he said, then sipped his
drink, draining the glass.

“Give him another one on me,” I said, handing
the bartender some money. “I owe him one.”

“Thanks, but you don’t,” Lash commented with
a faint grin. “Now get out of here, Sun. You don’t want to be here
when the shooting starts, and it’s going to start in about five
minutes. I’m not meeting a client, I’m meeting a mark, though it’s
going to be a surprise to him, I’m sure.”

I went to leave, then turned to him with
determination. “If I need to find you sometime, where do you go?” I
asked bluntly. “And I mean not with Devlin.”

Lash looked at me curiously out of the corner
of his eyes, obviously wondering why I might want to find him. But
he didn’t ask that question. “I prefer no crowds, Sun, but Devlin’s
often with me if I’m out. I usually only go alone to The Tavern,”
he hissed at me. “Most Thursdays. It’s my one night off, and no one
else is usually there. But you don’t want to be around me when I’m
drinking. No one does. I get mean.”

“So do I,” I said, getting up. “We’ll make a
good pair.”

Lash said nothing; he just turned back to his
drink as I left.

* * * *

Months passed. I showed up most Thursdays at
The Tavern, where Lash and I would have a drink or two. For the
first month, we didn’t talk. But over time, we began to. He never
talked about himself, but he liked to talk sometimes about the
weather, or TV shows, sometimes different current issues, depending
on his mood. I found myself beginning to like him, and to look
forward to our weekly talks. It was nice to be with someone who
didn’t expect anything from me, and who wanted nothing from me, not
my body, not my attention, not even for me to fill the silence we
were sharing with words. I didn’t have to be sexy, or entertaining,
or anything but what I was. It was a little freeing, because I’d
never had that before from a man, not ever.

Lash was something like my first real friend,
sad as that sounds. I’d never had someone to talk to, other than
the other strippers in passing, and I’d never been close to any of
them. I’d spent most of my childhood alone in the company of an
ever-changing list of adults who never stayed for long and traded
that for a list of lovers that had basically done the same thing.
Terian had changed all that for me, made me see there was another
world out there, a better one. Maybe I couldn’t have that, but that
didn’t mean I had to live an utterly solitary existence,
either.