William and I spent hours roaming through the tunnels, looking for the creature until we finally decided to climb back up. I was exhausted after such a long night. My hair was sticking to my sweaty face, and my feet were wet to the bone and probably covered in blisters judging by the pain that was coming from them. I felt gross, and most likely looked the part too. One does not hang out in sewers looking and smelling glamourous. One except William. Contrary to me, he looked as fresh and energetic as ever, despite spending all night roaming the sewers with me. His hair was still perfectly silky and tamed, his lush curls framing his face. His skin didn't look dull like mine probably did, and he didn't seem tired at all. He said he was going back home from the hospital when he saw Dee and came looking for me. How was he not tired after a full day of work followed by a sleepless night? Were doctors on some magical drugs I didn't know about?
"I'll take care of the body," William said when we arrived at the ladder where I had climbed down hours ago. Dee was barking, fully aware of our close arrival.
I turned my head to William, a frown on my face.
"Jeez, what have I done to make you distrust me so much?"
The way he was looking at me combined with his words made me think he was genuinely curious to know. He really seemed surprised that I wasn't trusting him.
"Why should I trust you? All you've been doing is lie to me."
"I could say the same thing to you."
I let out a frustrated sigh. The more time I spent with him, the less I seemed to know about him. There was so much he was hiding that I simply couldn't trust him.
"By taking care of the body, I didn't mean getting rid of it," he clarified and relief suddenly spread through me. I didn't know why that was actually what I thought he had meant. Probably because of his tendency to hide evidence and lie about it. "I meant it quite literally actually."
My eyebrows furrowed again. He couldn't possibly mean it literally. There was no way he could lift the body back up to the street by himself. And I was in no shape to help.
"What do you—" I started to ask before he cut me off.
"Go home," he said, his eyes back to their regular shade of hazel now that we were standing at the bottom of the manhole, morning light coming down on us. "You're in desperate need of some sleep— and of a shower." That was the second time he told me to take a shower in the few days I had been in Bath, and I started to wonder if my body smell was really that bad. "And Diana's worried about you."
How could he possibly know that—
Just as the thought popped through my mind, Dee barked, making me wonder if she could understand our conversation.
"How are you going to—"
He cut me off again. "Go home, Charlotte," he insisted. "I promise you I'm not the villain here. I'll bring the body back to the morgue for identification. Her family deserves to know."
I was taken aback by his words. There was so much raw emotion in his voice I forgot for a second why I didn't trust him.
With a sigh, I placed my blade back in the waistband of my leggings and my phone in the front pocket before I turned around and started climbing back up the ladder. I was too tired to fight over it. How he thought he'd manage to get the body out was his problem, as long as the body was at the morgue when I'd wake up after a much deserved nap. For some reason, a part of me trusted him, despite my denial of it. While 90% of me was screaming at me that there was something off about him, something that couldn't be trusted, I couldn't ignore the 10% that made me feel attracted to him on another level. It wasn't just physical, there was something else. But again, I was too tired to think about it. Or I simply didn't want to.
When I reached the ground, Dee jumped at me, covering me with kisses between two barks.
"Hi, baby," I chuckled at her demonstration of love as I sat on the grass on my knees. "I missed you too." I wrapped my arms around her neck and passed my hands in her thick white fur, hugging her while trying to contain her enthusiasm. When she noticed the blood on my arm she barked again and started snarling, her lips curling against her canines. "It's okay, Deedee, I'm not hurt." I scratched my forearm with my hand to show her that the skin underneath the dried blood wasn't cut. Dee looked at my arm and whined before licking it clean as if she wanted to make sure I really wasn't. "I told you so," I mocked when she finally stopped and nestled her head against my chest. I held her close to me for a moment, happy to be reunited with my partner in crime, before I kissed her head and rose to my feet.
I wondered how my brain was still functioning after so many sleepless nights. Because between the stress of the case, following William around and meeting with him when he confronted me about it, I hadn't had one full night of sleep, and I was feeling it.
When I woke up from my deep slumber, the sun was setting down. I slept a lot longer than I had anticipated, but I probably needed it. Dee was lying next to me, fully alert as if she, unlike me, had a full night of sleep the day before.
"Good mor— evening Deedee," I said as I scratched her behind her ears. "Crap, that's not gonna help me get back on track with a normal sleep schedule."
Dee barked and I smiled. Sometimes I truly felt like she could understand me. After I made myself a cup of coffee using the old and questionable french press provided with the motel room, I went straight in the shower. The faint stains of blood on the white towel hanging behind the bathroom door brought back the memories from the night before. I had showered the moment I'd come back to the room, but blood is a lot harder to clean than one thinks. My thoughts drifted to William, to the heat and strange tingling sensation I felt whenever he was close to me, to the jolts of electricity that erupted every time we touched. Did he feel that too? Was it just in my head? I had never felt that before. Of course I had been attracted to guys in the past, but never to that level. It just didn't feel physical, it felt— I couldn't put words to it.
A loud knock on the door echoed in the room, followed by a string of barks. My heart sped up in my chest. No one knew where I was staying in town. And I didn't know anyone in town either except for Chief Turner and William. It wasn't hard to figure out who was at the door, although I wondered how he found out where I was staying. I quickly got out of the shower and wrapped the dirty towel around me, securing it tightly above my breasts before going back to the room. Dee had stopped barking and was back on the bed, lying comfortably. I gave her an odd look as I walked to the door. She was never that relaxed when I had visitors. Quite the opposite, she was always barking the intruders away, showing her teeth, ready to jump at their throat the moment I opened the door. Something was off with her. I should probably take her to the vet soon.
I looked through the peephole to see a smiling William looking dashing in a white shirt tucked inside a pair of navy blue chino pants, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. My heart skipped a beat, my body temperature rising through the roof. He smiled and I jumped back from the door. Could he tell how my body was reacting to him from behind a closed door? Certainly not. His smile had to be coincidental.
"I come in peace," he said from the hallway and I turned to Dee. She was still lying on the bed, her head resting on her paws. She didn't seem the least concerned. I drew a deep breath before opening the door.
"William," I greeted him as I stood in front of the entrance, not yet sure whether or not I should let him in.
His intense gaze scrutinized me from head to toes in an agonizingly long and awkward silence, lingering on the pale red stain on the towel just above my right breast before he met my eyes again, and he smiled.
"Charlotte," he answered, now looking at me the way he had been since the first day I met him, intrigued and amused. "I wanted to make sure you reached home in one piece this morning. How's your arm?"
My eyebrows furrowed. I told him several times I hadn't been hurt. Why didn't he believe me? I was certain the wound had healed by the time he had reached me just as the creature escaped, and it was too dark for him to see anything anyways.
"My arm's just fine," I answered as I stretched my arm towards him to prove it. "I told you I wasn't hurt."
He stared at my arm curiously, as if he was looking for some traces of wound, or a scar. He really didn't believe me. When he moved his eyes back up to mine again, he smiled.
"I'm relieved to hear that."
The intensity of his stare was making the tingling feeling ten times worse. It felt like a colony of ants was crawling underneath my skin, but yet it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. It was the sudden heat slowly making its way down my stomach that was starting to make me uncomfortable. If only I could control how my body was reacting to him. The way his biceps were stretching the fabric of his shirt to new limits was not helping me stay focused on our conversation or control the growing dampness between my legs. I swallowed hard when I realized where my thoughts had drifted, feeling heat make its way back up to my cheeks.
He smiled again.
"Are you sure everything's alright? You seem— flustered."
An amused grin now sat on his lips. Was I that easy to read? I needed to do a better job at hiding my emotions.
"I am just fine," I answered. "Were you looking for something?" His grin grew larger, putting both dimples on display. Gosh, could he hear my heart pounding in my chest? "What happened to the body?" I quickly added. "Did you—"
"May I come in? We need to talk," he cut me off again.
I hesitated for a second. Did I trust him enough to let him in? I wasn't sure. He was still hiding so much from me that I wondered if I really ever could trust him completely. But he was right, we needed to talk about last night. Plus, Dee was here in case he tried anything stupid. Not that I couldn't handle his ass just fine, but Dee was an added level of security.
I opened the door a little more and moved from the way to let him in. He nodded with gratitude as he walked past me and stopped next to Dee on the bed.
"Hi, Princess," he said as he extended his arm towards her nose.
I froze. Was she going to behave? She seemed at ease with him, but I wasn't used to her behaving so well with strangers and I couldn't help but expect the worst. She had bitten Richard so hard one time that he'd needed over twenty stitches on his arm. That happened when I was a kid, and she didn't know him yet. She behaved a lot better with him now, even though she still snarled at him when he raised his voice.
She sniffed William's hand with interest, her head up from the bed, and as I held my breath, she licked his hand. I was stunned. Something was definitely wrong with her. William petted her as if they were best friends while I watched, my mouth hanging open in awe.
"She's never done that before," I said, and he turned his head towards me, his eyebrows raised. "Let someone pet her— or let someone come near me for that matter."
His lips curled into a soft smile as his eyes moved back to Dee.
"Good job, beautiful," he complimented Dee as he scratched her head. "Don't let anything happen to your mom."
My heart skipped a beat at his words. The softness of his voice made me want to think he meant it, but I couldn't help but think there was a threat hidden in his words. Why was he so hard to read?
"Did you come here to spend time with Dee or did you actually have something to discuss?"
He chuckled, still looking at Dee with tender eyes.
"I think your mom's jealous that you have my attention," he said to her, to which she barked enthusiastically.
"Dee!", I shouted to her, not believing my ears. "Who's side are you on?"
William laughed and I shook my head. Who even was she? That wasn't my Dee. My Dee would never favour the enemy. As soon as the thought popped in my mind, Dee jumped from the bed and came to me, nesting herself in between my naked legs. My head dropped to where she was now lying on the floor between my legs, and I realized I was still only wearing the dirty towel.
"I should go put some clothes on," I said before walking over to my suitcase, laying open on the floor.
"Don't feel like you have to because of me," William answered as he sat on the edge of the bed with a mischievous smile. I rolled my eyes and ignored his comment as I made my way to the bathroom with clean clothes in my arms. I quickly changed into a loose black dress, not bothered to put on pants in that heat, and went back to the room where William was still sitting on the bed, Dee next to him.
"You still haven't told me what happened to the body," I said as I sat on the wobbly wooden chair next to a small round table. William's eyes scanned me all over again, bringing the tingling sensation back to life, and my body heat to boiling. Then his face hardened, and his hazel eyes darkened. He didn't look amused anymore— he looked angry.
"Why are you in Bath?"
It wasn't the first time he asked me that, and I wondered why it mattered to him.
"I'm working a case," I answered, and judging by the intensity of his stare, that wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"There are cases all over the world, why did you choose to come here?"
A frown sat on my face. Why was he insisting so much? It was clear to me that he didn't like Hunters, even though I was certain he was one himself. But this wasn't a competition, why did my presence in the city bother him so much?
"Why does it matt—" I went to say but didn't get a chance to finish my sentence.
"You shouldn't be here."
I couldn't hide the surprise on my face at his words. What was that supposed to mean?
"In Bath?" I asked, stunned, my thoughts all over the place. I truly didn't understand him, or the reasons he could have to see me as such a threat.
His eyes had not moved from mine since I came back from the bathroom, and I wondered if I'd seen him blink even once.
"In England-— In Europe for that matter. But especially not in Bath."
I was too stunned to answer. His words made absolutely no sense. Why shouldn't I be in England? Or in Europe? And why especially not in Bath? He knew nothing about me, and yet the way he was talking to me made it sound like he did. But whatever reason he had to try to keep me away from the city and the case was certainly not good enough for me to leave. I held his strong gaze as I tried to come up with a comeback. But it only left me feeling hotter and angrier.
"What does that even mean? What do you have to hide for wanting me gone so bad?"
His thick eyebrows flinched with surprise. He stayed quiet for a moment while he stared at me and I wondered again if he could read my thoughts.
"What made you come here?" He asked again, his tone flat and calm.
I sighed in frustration, my nails digging into my palms. Contrary to him, I couldn't stay calm.
"Why is that important?" I shouted at him. "Why do you even wanna know that?"
"Answer me," he ordered, suddenly on his feet. He walked to me with such determination, my entire body quivered. He grabbed the second chair and turned it around before straddling it, resting his forearms on the back of it. "Why did you come here?"
I looked into his dark eyes, trying to understand why it was so important, but all I saw was confusion. He looked as lost as I was.
"I-I don't know," I finally admitted with a sigh. The truth was, I wasn't really sure what had made me come here in the first place. "I kept seeing articles about odd attacks in Somerset, and everytime I looked at them I felt this weird feeling, like I had to come here—" I struggled to explain. William was looking at me with strong attention, hanging on to each word, as if trying to determine if I was lying. Why would I be lying about that?
"You have no idea where you are, do you?"
My eyebrows furrowed as his words echoed in my head and my heart started to speed up in my chest. He was trying to scare me off, and there was a small possibility that he was succeeding at it. I swallowed, fighting to keep eye contact despite how bad I wanted to look down at the intensity of his stare.
"Do you really not know what's under the city?" He asked, confusion and astonishment clear in both his eyes and voice. The look on my face must have given him the answer he was looking for because his eyes widened even more.
"What's under the—" I tried to ask.
"You need to leave," he said as he stood up from the chair, the fresh wrinkles on his shirt looking out of place next to his perfect face and hair.
I got to my feet probably not as smoothly as he did, but almost as fast.
"You're in my hotel room," I reminded him. "And you were the one who wanted to-—"
"You need to leave the country— go back home, and don't come back, do you understand me?"
I would have screamed at him for cutting me off yet again if my mouth wasn't hanging open in shock. I felt like I had been struck by lightning. There had been no room for negotiation in his voice, and that only made my anger grow.
"Who do you think you are to tell me how to live my life? What are you so scared of, huh? But I think the real question is, what are you so scared I'm going to find out about you and whatever fucked up things you do in this city, isn't it? I knew since the day I met you that there's something wrong about you, and my guts are never wrong. If you thought threatening me was going to make me leave, you were wrong. I don't give up easily."
I was out of breath when I finished that sentence, my body shaking with fury.
"You—"
"No you listen to me carefully," I continued, standing so close to him now that it felt like I couldn't breathe. I ignored all the weird signals my body was sending me to focus on what I was saying. "I'm not leaving. And whatever you're gonna say isn't gonna change that. I have a case to close. Someone needs to take care of it as apparently Hunters here are too busy to deal with it. Or they're like you, and they don't care that innocent people are getting killed, that children are losing their parents." My voice was shaking, and I had to fight the tears from showing. I couldn't let him think I was weak.
He was looking at me almost as if he understood where all the anger and pain was coming from. As if he knew from experience how that felt like.
"Leave," I added before he had a chance to answer anything. He stayed still, his muscles tensed and his jaw clenched, and yet his eyes were soft. I could tell he was torn, but I didn't care to know why. It was obvious to me that he wanted me gone and whatever reason he'd find to make me leave wouldn't be good enough. I was done with him and his empty threats. "Dee, make him leave," I commanded her when I saw that he wasn't moving. A little help from Dee would help convince him to get his ass out the door. Dee was at my feet in a blink, but contrary to what I expected she didn't bark at him or snarl him away. She looked as torn as he was, moving her head from him to me, as if she didn't know whose side to take. What was happening? "Dee, what's wrong with you? He's a stranger who's threatening me. Where's the good girl who bit off Rick's arm for asking me to finish my math homework?"
She looked at me with her big blue eyes before turning towards William and finally started acting like the protective angel she had always been. Her lips curled against her canines, a low growl escaping her throat.
"That's better," I told her while William shook his head, unaffected.
"I'm not the threat here. And if you're as smart as I think you are, you'll leave without delay."
I felt the urge to slap his arrogant face, but managed to refrain myself. Dee answered his comment with a loud and menacing bark, bringing his attention to her.
"You're gonna have to do a lot better than that to keep her safe when they find out what she is," he told her before glancing back at me with ice cold eyes and he turned around and left. The door shut quietly after him while I stood in the middle of the room, frozen. I replayed his sentence over and over in my head, but it didn't help give it more sense. Was that just another scheme? He clearly wouldn't stop at anything to make me leave, and saying vague threats was most likely part of his strategy. But despite my trying to convince myself of that, I couldn't help but think there was something much bigger going on, and that I was a part of it without my knowledge.