A sob burst out from the pit of her chest. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” Brennus promised. “I never lie.”
“And if I don’t come with you for a week, you’ll come for her quicker?”
He nodded sharply.
“But I don’t have to stay with you for any longer?”
“Not if you think you don’t love me.”
Avery choked on her tears, glancing back to the doorway where her aunt slept. “What will happen to her? She needs someone to take care of her.”
“I’ll take care of it. We leave now, and she’ll wake up with a carer. When you get back she’ll never remember you’ve been gone.”
She stared at him dubiously.
“She’ll believe whatever I want her to believe, Avery.” His eyes had grown soft again. But she wasn’t fooled. There was darkness in him. He was ruthless, alien and strange, and she wanted nothing to do with him. Her mind knew that, even if her body didn’t.
But she wanted her aunt for a little while longer; she wasn’t ready to let go just yet.
“Fine. I’ll come with you.”
Brennus smiled in relief and, bizarrely, placed a hand out to her, his other arm reaching around her waist and drawing her close. “Will you dance with me, Avery?”
“W-what?” she stammered, completely dazed.
“I know how you love to dance.”
Tentatively Avery placed her hand in his and he drew her close, a rush of tingles exploding over her body at his close proximity. She hated herself and him for it. Slowly he began to dance with her, until he was moving them towards the fire escape. He bent down at the window and gracefully stepped out of it onto the escape, reaching a gentlemanly hand back in for her. Avery shuddered, throwing one last look over her shoulder, praying she could trust this dark being’s honour. With a deep breath she put a foot out of the window and suddenly the world whirl pooled around her, her skin feeling as if it were being sucked into a vacuum. She fell into Brennus’ arms just as the sensation began to disappear. She felt sick. She pushed against him and he steadied her, and when Avery glanced up her eyes widened. Pulling away from him, she took in the room, felt the soft carpet beneath her feet.
“Uhh… where are we?”
I’m Gonna Choose you ‘Cause
You Have No Choice
The room was huge. High ceilings, oversized fireplace, sofas, and armchairs. Everything was the height of luxury, expense and style; from the fabrics to the vases, to the flat screen television attached to one of the walls. Most breath-taking of all was the glass wall that looked out on to a wide balcony. Light flickered outside and Avery could just make out the dark sea of greenery for miles around the house. Jeez, it was an estate.
“Upstate,” Brennus finally answered her, seeming reluctant to let go of her arm. “My home.”
Avery turned in a slow circle, drinking it all in. “You guys must make good money.”
“I was considered wealthy in my mortal life. We’re allowed to keep our mortal state of being.”
She nodded carefully, afraid to look at him. Standing in these modern, beautiful surroundings he seemed almost human. And she didn’t want to forget that he wasn’t.
“I have questions,” she told him quietly, refusing to meet his eyes.
“Of course. That’s why you’re here. So we can get to know one another better.”
A morbid thought crossed her mind and she grimaced. “Who’s taking care of the dead while you’re here trying to schmooze me?”
Instead of answering Brennus gestured to one of the sofas near the fireplace. The flames flickered invitingly and Avery suddenly realised how cold she was in her pj bottoms and camisole. Tentatively she sat down near the edge of the sofa, the heat from the fire licking her skin deliciously, little goosebumps rising all over her skin. She watched curiously as Brennus walked over to a device on the wall near double doors. He pressed his finger to a touch screen and it made a buzzing sound.
“Sir?” a cultured accent asked softly.
Avery raised her eyebrow and Brennus smirked at her before speaking into the device. “Could we have a tea tray and some snacks sent up please, Ames?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Thank you.” Brennus pressed the touch screen again and then turned back to her.
Avery exhaled. “So how huge is this place?”
The annoying creature smirked at her again as he took a place across from her on the opposite sofa. “Which question shall I answer first?”
Trying to remember what the hell she’d asked first, Avery took a minute. Oh yeah, she slapped a hand to her head inwardly, the first, definitely the first. “Who’s taking care of the dead?”
At first she thought he wasn’t going to answer her. He just stared at her and she shifted uncomfortably. The longer he stared, the hotter she felt, a strange fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach making her squirm. He was doing it deliberately.
Avery narrowed her eyes on him. “Well?”
“Apologies,” he replied in a low voice that made her tingle. “You’re just so beautiful.”
No one had ever told her she was beautiful before. And not like that. Josh had told her she was hot and a couple of guys had told her she was really cute. But not beautiful. And somehow she believed (or maybe she just wanted to believe) that this alien, damaged man in front of her actually meant it. Along with the warm fluffies she was getting, she was suddenly pissed off. “Yeah right,” she snapped. “You really gave me to time to dress for the occasion when you abducted me.”
Brennus threw her a look. “You came willingly.”
“I was blackmailed!”
“Same difference. You made a choice.”
The door cracked behind him and a small, older man with the best posture Avery had ever seen came into the room carrying a large tray that should have been too heavy for him.
“Ah, Ames, thank you.” Brennus stood up and reached for the tray.
Ames nodded respectfully. “I hope everything is satisfactory, sir.” He didn’t even glance at Avery.
Brennus put the tray down and then turned back to Ames (the butler?!). “Ames, I’d like to introduce you to Avery.”
Avery fluttered her hand at him. “Hey.”
“Miss.” Ames gave her a little bow.
“Avery.” Brennus gestured to Ames. “Ames is my butler and the head of the household staff. If you have any problems or need anything, Ames will be more than happy to assist you.”
“More than happy, miss,” Ames added congenially.
“Thank you,” she somehow managed to be polite. It wasn’t the butler’s fault that his employer was a twisted, blackmailing, kidnapping immortal son of the dead.
“Thank you, Ames.” Brennus dismissed him and the butler left the room without making so much as a peep.
It became clear, as Brennus fiddled with the tea, making up her cup (a splash of milk, one sugar – she didn’t even want to know how he knew how she took her tea!) and a little plate with sandwiches and biscuits, that he wasn’t going to answer her question unless she asked it again. He was really going to make her work for it, which was so unfair considering she was the one who apparently held the key to his future happiness (freedom).
“Well?” she snapped, jerking the cup out of his hand as he passed it to her. He threw her another one of those irritatingly wicked hot smiles. “Are you going to answer the damn question or not?”
Settling back into his seat he watched her through narrowed eyes. “I’m going to assume your lack of manners this evening is due to the shock of discovering you have a soul mate.”
Avery choked on her tea, a dribble of hot liquid rolling down her chin. She wiped at it furiously and nailed him to his chair with the deadly look. “Soul mate! Manners?! Are you frickin’ kidding me?”
Brennus snorted. “You make my point brilliantly.”
“You arrogant, pain in the ass. You kidnapping, evil, twisted-”
“Yes, yes I get the point,” he sighed wearily. “I’ll refrain from teasing you.”
She reminded herself that her Aunt Caroline brought her up to be polite and in control of her emotions. Avery closed her eyes, drawing in a deep, calming breath. She shook a little as she reached for her tea again.
“I have servants who help me with the dead,” Brennus answered suddenly and her eyes popped wide, staring at him, immediately intrigued despite herself. “We’re allowed a handful to help carry the burden.”
“Who are they?”
“Men and women who died. Spirits.”
“And they take care of the dead you can’t get to?”
Brennus nodded. “They’re tied to me. They feel what I feel; they do what I would do.”
“How many spirits are tied to you?”
“Five.”
Avery gulped. This night just kept getting weirder and weirder. “Did they have a choice?”
Brennus sighed, seeming somewhat annoyed by the question. “Contrary to what my scar portrays I’m not some kind of ogre, Avery, forcing people to do things.”
She snorted.
Refusing to take the bait, Brennus sighed again. “Most people, nearly everyone, believe in some kind of afterlife, even if they don’t think they do. It can be buried deep down, a precious piece of hope in something akin to paradise awaiting us after our lives here in this plane of existence end. But there are those few who never even subconsciously dream to hope. They become spirits, shades, wandering the infinitesimal line between this plane and all the others.”
“Purgatory?”
He shook his head. “If you believe in purgatory then yes if you’ve not repented for your sins, but these people haven’t believed in anything. Not even the idea that we simply cease to exist when we die-”
“So people who believe we just cease to exist…”
“They just cease to exist.”
“Huh.”
“Anyway, I’ve given the choice to a few of the spirits and they’ve chosen to do something with their strange existence and help me ferry the dead into their afterlife.”
Avery was engrossed despite herself. What Brennus was telling her was unbelievable. As a person of no religious affiliations it was astonishing to be told that our beliefs in life were strong enough to determine our afterlife. For a moment her busy brain forgot she hated him. “OK, so say I believe in heaven, hell and purgatory. Where do I go when I die?”
“If you believe in them then you believe in the rules. It all depends on how you lived your life.”
Avery huffed, a small smile playing on her lips. “Wow, Sarah would be so smug right now. She’s always going on and on about the power of belief.”
Brennus nodded, a smirk playing on his lips. “She’s very loyal, your Sarah.”
That statement jolted her back into reality. Jaw clenched tight with restrained emotion, Avery shook her head at him. “Please don’t tell me you’ve actually been watching over me… as in stalking?”
He raised an eyebrow. “OK, I won’t tell you.”
“How can you be so blasé about this? Don’t you know what you’re doing is wrong?”
At the sudden stillness of his body, Avery knew she had angered him. She hated to think how quickly she was learning the nuances of him.
Those dark eyes settled on her and she felt an icy chill holding her stuck in place. “You made the choice to come with me and give me a chance to prove to you that we belong together. Baiting me and continually throwing the choice I gave you in my face is not upholding your end of the bargain.”
Her blood sizzled under her skin but she nodded jerkily. “Fine.”
Warmth enveloped the room again and Avery shuddered, her heart beating rapidly against her ribcage. She was scared. And she hated being scared.