Heartbeats

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“When I first started this life I spent the first year wandering around a bit, picking up odd jobs and crashing at random places. Like I said, it worked for a while but there was always my dad. I could see him in my dreams chasing me with holy water. My mind would always play tricks on me, making me think he was everywhere I went.

“So the day in the supermarket freaked me out. That would have been when I started wandering. I ended up in Quebec, which was cool. Especially when I ended up finding a pack to run with.

“The guy in charge was a real jerk. When I first walked in he went through a series of trying to beat the human from me, which worked for a bit until I snapped one day and went back after him. I can’t forget how it felt, how it sounded, when I literally snapped his back leg. I was both terrified and excited, and the group finally accepted me.

“It was always her though. She’d been a city girl before the whole thing, and a sweet one at that. She had long blonde hair that rand to the small of her back when she didn’t have it pulled into ta thick braid. Her eyes were brown and her skin pale.

“They told me about massacres that had happened twenty years before and explained that there were rumors that many of the assassins killed for fun nowadays. I didn’t disagree, but I didn’t they were necessarily right. So I was unprepared when they came.

“I had been out on a run, clearing my mind, and when I got back almost everyone was dead. You can’t forget seeing dead bodies, and you can’t forget seeing someone die.”

Malcolm shuddered as built up emotion quaked his body, and he continued the story while skipping the gory details, just as Charles had with the nurse’s death.

“I didn’t see many of the murderers, but from what I can recall they had a tattoo on their hand. They burn their skin so the mark isn’t permanent, because eternity is a long time to wear the mark of a killer. The insignia, two Vs linked together, long like fangs, was a symbol to this parallel community. It screamed killer, almost an unspoken need for respect.

“That must have been what set me off. Caleb had the same marking.” He sighed heavily and let his head fall back to lean against the wall. “I’m so sorry, Jacie. I’m not in control of impulse, never have been.”

We sat in silence before he spoke again.

“Her name was Alexandria, but she hated it. Everyone called her Ally, but I called her Alex.”

The weirdest thing about this entire situation was the fact that I hadn’t lost a single person, and everywhere I looked people were grieving. “Malcolm, I know I can’t say anything to make things better, but I promise you won’t lose any of us here, okay? I don’t know much about Caleb, but I do know that Charles trusts him to keep everyone alive, and I trust Charles.”

Malcolm nodded. “And I trust you. You can go ahead and go back inside Jacie. I think I’ll stay out here. Too much tension, you know?”

I stood slowly, reluctant to leave, but Malcolm made a shooing motion with his hands. When I made my way back into the apartment Adelaide was packing ice on Caleb’s jaw while he lay on the couch nonchalantly slipping through television channels. Addy motioned with her jaw to let me know Charles was back in his room.

The door opened slightly when I softly knocked so I moved right in. Dekland was passed out cold on the bed, and Charles was scrubbing at the blood that had soaked into his white Carpet. The smell of straight bleach stung the upper part of my nostrils, a light pain that made me tense.

He had an I Think I’ll Die Tomorrow song playing through the speakers, scrubbing to the beat and singing along under his breath.

“Try to hold me closer, try to keep me in, but you know you can’t, you know you’ll fail…”