Shadow's Grace, page 9
“Shit,” she said, startled. “You know, you’re really good at sneaking up on people,” she said to him.
“Sorry,” Vio said. Ariel’s eyes snapped up to the doorway, where Vio stood, dressed in a thick black robe, his hair still wet from the shower. Her jaw dropped as a bead of water ran down the gap in his robe that exposed his chest. How messed up was it that she wanted to lick it off him?
She shook her head, remembering how he had treated her. “I wasn’t talking to you,” she said.
“My ghost?” he asked.
Ariel nodded. “He’s not yours, though. We left yours in Craco.”
“I’m sorry I was an asshole,” he said, leaning against the doorway. “But you shouldn’t have come back for me.”
“Yea, well, I did. And you were. Are.”
“I know,” he said. He looked down at his hands in desperation. “It was just . . . such a waste. We got nothing out of the trip there.”
“That’s not true,” she said.
He frowned. “Right, we now know that I have some insane relation who is also hunting for Klassen, along with Dennis’ brother, and who knows who else. And Ivan appears to be just as big a threat as Klassen. Oh, and he can control the dead.”
“Not just that,” Ariel said. She reached into her pack and pulled out the half skull. She unwrapped it slowly. Vio’s eyes narrowed.
“What is that?” he asked.
“I was hoping you would know. If you don’t, maybe Dennis will. The ghosts took me to it. I was thinking, doesn’t it seem weird that Ivan wanted to be in Craco? That he brought crates of bodies there, clearly meaning to do something with them, but in a space that is structurally unsound and has no electricity. What would bring him there? And Klassen? That’s a German name, not Italian or Greek. I asked the ghosts if there was something about Craco that,” she bit her lip, thinking of the best way to say it, “that gave life to the dead.”
“Death magic,” he said, his eyes rapt to the half skull.
“Yes. They took me far down into the mountain and showed me this. When I was there, the ghosts were no longer Italian. They were Greek.”
“Jesus,” Vio swore.
“You have no idea what it is?” she asked. He shook his head. Ariel sighed.
“But,” he started, “the reason I’m here, in this city, is because this is the last place my lead took me when I was searching for Klassen. I was looking for a library of the dead. But I could never find it.”
“Why couldn’t you?”
Vio shrugged. “The trail always went cold. No one I spoke to knew about it, or they didn’t want to tell me.”
“A library of the dead,” Ariel mused. “Sounds like you should let me do the asking.” He gave a faint smile.
“Would you be up for questioning the local ghosts?”
“Sure,” she said. “I can start tomorrow. But we should also check with Dennis in the morning about what he thinks this is.”
Vio clenched his teeth, but nodded. She didn’t know what he had against Death, but she didn’t want to waste whatever guilt-ridden compliance she had over him with that line of questioning.
“Vio, the woman you were speaking with in Craco . . .” she started, hoping he would take up the thread.
Vio sighed and moved into the room. He surprised her by sitting on the bed. The small frame creaked under their combined weight. “Maria,” he said, looking down at his hands. “Her name was – is – Maria. She was my first love.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry you couldn’t see her,” Ariel said. She had been around people when the ghosts of their deceased loved ones hovered nearby. It was heartbreakingly unfair to know that she could see them, and they couldn’t.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for translating what you could in the time we had. I’m glad to know she is at peace there. Especially since she was like me.”
“You mean that Klassen created her?”
“She was mortal at the start, and then like me. I was working for Klassen, gathering water one day a few years before I escaped from him. I was still shy of my scars and what I was. I was at the well filling the bucket and she saw me. I don’t know what she saw in me that drew her over, but we started talking. And laughing. It was the first time I think I felt almost human in my skin. Klassen was our creator, but he never wanted us to feel completely human. He wanted us to feel like we were his inventions, that we needed him and should serve him.
“Maria and I would meet at the well regularly. It didn’t take long before Klassen discovered our affection. Craco was never a large city, and even those of us who lived hidden in the bowels of the university eventually became threaded into the tapestry of the townspeople. Though we were never more than frayed edges.
“When he discovered I cared for her, he killed her.” Ariel gasped. She regretted interrupting, but Klassen’s heartlessness surprised her. “He showed no remorse, of course. He actually wanted me to be happy about it. Because he brought her back like us. But he didn’t like her toes,” he said, his face darkening. “He changed all of them. The work was delicate, intricate and challenging. It was that work that inspired him towards the atrocities he hadn’t even thought of until Maria was on his table.”
“Atrocities?” Ariel asked quietly. She was starting to regret asking him about Maria.
Vio’s throat bobbed as he continued. “Maria was the first woman he had turned that I know of. He wanted to know if she could . . .”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“No, I want you to know. Because if you ever have the chance to kill him,” he said, meeting her eyes, “I don’t want you to hesitate. He wanted to know if she could become pregnant.”
“Oh fuck,” Ariel said.
Vio nodded in agreement. “First, he let it be me who tried, since he knew I cared for her. But when she didn’t become pregnant from me . . . well, I’m sure you can figure out the rest.”
“That’s horrific,” she said.
“Klassen is a monster. But he thinks he’s a saint. Truly believes everything he does is to make the world a better place. He is a fanatic and nothing will change this. A few years after this started with Maria, he began talking about creating more women. He only made so many of us at a time. I suppose he didn’t want to draw the wrong attention. I don’t know if that was from the townspeople, or from Death.
“When me and the others learned what he was planning, Maria started to lead a rebellion. She was a natural leader; we all followed her. She could have been something so wonderful if Klassen hadn’t destroyed her.
“We planned for a fire that would destroy the lab. We would do it while he was in the middle of working on his latest creation, as that is when he would be most distracted. It was both easier and harder than we imagined. The fuel, the fire, everything caught quickly. We weren’t prepared for what it would do to the structure. All of a sudden, my friends and those I considered family were lost in a storm of fire and stone. I managed to escape before it was too bad, mostly by luck. I was the closest to the stairs. I escaped and ran all night until sunrise the next day, when I collapsed in a farmer’s barn from exhaustion.
“We had made plans to travel to the coast if we were separated. I followed the road to the nearest town, but they never arrived. I waited for a week, but then I became worried that Klassen may have survived and would come after me.
“I left, not knowing what happened to any of them. Over the years, I slowly learned that Klassen was still alive, still making others like me, and that Craco had fallen to landslides and drought. For a hundred years I lived in fear that he would come for me. Then I met someone. A child that he had created. The child had died from smallpox. Klassen believed he had done the child a favour by bringing him to life, but we both knew it was because Klassen wanted to see if something he created could age. He knew adults he created maintained their same age, but we were fully grown. He wanted to know what would happen to a child.
“Henry will remain twelve forever. Just on the cusp of manhood.” Vio shook his head in disgust. Ariel’s stomach churned at the evidence of Klassen’s evil. “It was then that I decided I needed to stop being afraid of Klassen. While I saw no point to my life, Klassen’s was only to bring evil into the world. I would face my creator and destroy him, or die trying. But, as you now know, he is not an easy monster to find. Even Dennis can’t be bothered to find him.”
“He wants to,” Ariel said. “I’m glad he does. Klassen shouldn’t be permitted to live.”
“And yet he is. As are many evil men. Yet Dennis could take them,” Vio said, pushing up from the bed and walking to the door. He paused at the doorway. Ariel moved from the bed and followed, unsure why. She reached out, wanting to comfort him. He spun and took her wrist in his hand.
“Do not offer me your comfort because it will make you feel better,” he said, tightening his grip. Ariel’s mouth went dry as he held her, his eyes blazing into hers.
“I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“Turn your pity to anger. Use that anger to help me stop this monster.”
“It’s not pity, Vio.”
“Whatever it is, it won’t help us achieve our goal. Bring me your rage and determination.”
Ariel lowered her gaze from his. Once again, she felt that he wanted a sassy badass bitch by his side. “That’s not what I am,” she said. “Dennis chose me for a reason, and I’m sure it’s not just because I can talk to the dead. Trust why he put us together, and don’t expect me to be someone I’m not.”
Vio inhaled sharply. His grip on her tightened slightly. She knew he could snap her bone if he wanted. She forced herself to look up and meet his gaze. His thumb made the faintest caress of her skin before he released her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He turned from her and moved into the hallway. Without looking at her, he said, “Talking about this brings out the worst in me. By the way, this isn’t your room.”
Ariel frowned. “What?” she asked. She grabbed her bag and the skull and followed hi along the hallway. He paused by the open double doors at the end of the hall that clearly led into his room. Through the gap, she saw the greys and greens, the masculine space that he had claimed as his own. He opened the door next to his.
“This is your room,” he said. “I prepared it while you were home.”
“Oh my,” Ariel said. It was almost enough to make her forget about the horrors of Klassen. The room was decorated in muted violet and silver. A four poster bed with a violet quilt took up the centre, and a white marble fireplace rested on the other side. Silver damask wallpaper covered the walls, and Victorian style furniture was upholstered in velvet.
“Through there is your bathroom and closet,” he said, pointing to a door by the bed. “And there is still plenty of hot water. I’ll see you in the morning for our check in with the boss. Good night, little witch,” he said, and closed the door. Ariel half expected to hear a key turn in the lock, but all she heard was his door open and close.
Her mind reeled. The room was gorgeous; the bedroom of her dreams, really. And she was covered in dust, sweat, and a little dried blood. She wanted nothing more than to find the tub. And yet, as she moved through the bathroom and turned on the water, slowly peeling off her clothes, a heaviness settled over her. Selfishly, she hated that Vio had dumped such horrors on her and expected her to process it on her own. She knew she had no right to be annoyed; she wasn’t even a witness to the horrors he had lived. And yet, as she sank into the steaming claw footed tub, she couldn’t help but feel a residue of evil that wouldn’t wash off.
Chapter 11
Vio
Vio swallowed thickly when he closed his door. He clenched the doorknob until he heard it grind under his pressure and forced himself to release it. He ran his hand through his hair. Through the walls, he heard the water pouring through the taps, filling her tub. The image of Ariel, naked in the tub, flashed through his mind. He ground his teeth. He didn’t need to think about that. Especially with her.
He wanted her, had from the moment he first saw her, but that was a moot point. You’ll be dead soon, he told himself, checking the countdown wifi on the phone. And yet, maybe if she agreed, knowing it wouldn’t last forever, they could find some mutual relief after days like today. The adrenaline, the fall, the closeness in his kitchen, all of it had left him wound up with no outlet but his hand.
Vio leaned against the wall, listening as she turned off the water. A faint splash told him she had sunk into the tub. He pictured her breasts floating and nearly groaned. No, he told himself. Absolutely not. Nothing could drag him to her room now. He was about to push away from the wall when he heard it. It was faint, and he suspected she had only released her emotions because she didn’t know he could hear her. But like his strength, his senses were heightened beyond that of an average mortal, and he heard her crying.
Shit, he thought. His arousal faded under the sound of her soft cries. He cursed again and tore off his robe, finding a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and left his room. He opened her door, surprised she hadn’t locked it, and walked through her room. The bathroom door was ajar, with steam curling out.
“Ariel?” he asked. He heard her gasp.
“Vio?”
“May I come in?”
“Um,” he heard some splashing, some adjustments in the water, and then she agreed. “Sure.”
He walked into the steamy bathroom to see her in the tub, with bubbles covering the top layer and her knees pulled up to her chest. Steam coated everything, from the tub to the white pedestal sink, the mirrors, and the black and white checkered tiles. Vio sat on the closed toilet across from the tub.
“What, ah . . . what can I do for you?” she asked.
“I heard you crying,” he said. She gaped. “Your bathroom wall lines my bedroom, and I have stronger senses. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping at the moisture on her face that was a mix of sweat and tears. He took the hand towel and offered it to her.
“What are you sorry for? You have no reason to be,” he said.
She shrugged. “It was a lot. I didn’t handle it well. I wish I was stronger,” she said, looking down.
Vio struggled to keep his eyes on her face, and not follow the line of her wet, dark hair that ran down her shoulders and into the water. “You need to stop thinking you’re weak,” he said.
She gave a small smile. “I don’t know how. And after almost dying today, and then learning about Klassen’s evil, and your lost friends . . . busy day with the dead.”
“Every day will be busy with the dead. Things are only beginning. But you are not weak, Ariel. It was smart and brave of you to use your talent to learn what the ghosts could tell you. Smart to find the artefact. And to take down the floor. . . that was badass,” he said, and won a faint smile. “You’re a force.”
“Thank you, it was hard to see that side of things.”
“It always is,” he said. “For years after I escaped Klassen, I saw no value in myself. When I was with him, I was just a living experiment. That mentality will leave a man with a low opinion of himself. I was never made to feel like a person.
“It wasn’t until I started to meet others like me, which inspired my mission to stop him, that I felt like I had a purpose. Something to offer the world. Men like Klassen need to be stopped. What you’ve learned about him is just a sample. Dennis should have stopped him years ago,” he said, the familiar anger returning.
“I don’t think he’s supposed to interfere like that.”
“Klassen already interfered with the natural order. Now there is Ivan. And possibly others who want to follow in his footsteps. They are far more dangerous because they don’t see what they are doing – and what they have done – as evil. But they are. And they won’t stop.”
“How will you kill Klassen?”
“I’ve pictured it thousands of times. But honestly, I don’t know if he can be truly destroyed. I keep coming back to dismemberment, destroying his heart and brain, and fire. Lots of fire,” he said, a wolfish grin on his lips as he thought of killing his creator. “But it will be dangerous,” he said, sobering and thinking of her. “I wouldn’t want you there.”
“I will be,” she said. His eyes snapped to hers. “Don’t expect me to leave again,” she said, holding his gaze. “I won’t leave you. Not unless I’m mortally wounded and need to leave or die.”
“I don’t want you in that kind of danger.”
“I don’t care. We’re working together on this. Just like I need to learn to control and use my gift, you need to accept that I’ll be there. You need to find a way to do what you need to do with me close by.”
Vio shook his head in resignation. “Fine,” he said. He reached out and took one of the blades Dennis had given her, which were stacked by the tub. “But don’t hesitate. Your enemy won’t.” Vio returned the knife to the sheath.
“I tried to find out about your past,” she said. Vio started at that. When could she have had time for that?
“When you were in the lab with Ivan,” she said, as though reading his mind. “I tried, but none of the ghosts there recognized you. But they did know Klassen. They said he always named his creations. So your name – Ottavio – was given by him. Which means any records of you before him will be even harder to find.”
Without warning, his throat tightened. “Thank you,” he said. He didn’t know why learning that Klassen had named him cut so deep. He had always thought that his name was his own, but it was just another part of being an experiment.
