---

CHAPTER NINETEEN 
RIVER
I feel a weird sense of nostalgia as I sit on the chair at Dr. Watson’s house while he goes over the results. Bentley is hooked on to every word the doctor says as he points at parts on the image. Usually, my mom is to my side, holding my hand as she silently sobs into a tissue. My father is on my left, stoic but he’ll break down later when he thinks no one is listening. My brother is generally there as well, but he pulls out the brave face as he tries to keep us all from breaking into a million pieces.
The moment Dr. Watson started was the moment I knew I didn’t even need to bother listening. He wasn’t a miracle worker like Bentley had hoped. I knew he wouldn’t be.
“But I’d be willing to try.”
“Wait… what?” I ask as my attention snaps back. “Willing to try what?”
Watson watches me carefully. “Removing the tumor. Probably a twenty percent success rate, but your tumor is progressing to the point that it’s already pressing against vital arteries that supply the brain. The moment it cuts that off, you’re going to crash quickly and there is no recovery. As the tumor grows, it’ll decrease the space in the brain, crowding vital tissue and causing pressure against the skull and arteries.”
“How long would he have without the surgery?” Bentley asks.
Watson shrugs. “I can’t tell you for sure. I don’t have his previous records to compare to, so I can’t tell you how quickly or slowly it’s growing. At a slow rate, two months. Faster, two weeks. Think about it. But if you’re wanting to try surgery, I would suggest it sooner than later. Call me within a couple of days with your decision,” he says before turning to Bentley. “Has Finn been behaving? He should have a nice quiet desk job, and instead, he’s running with vampires.”
“He’s being good, I promise,” Bentley says.
Watson snorts. “That young man doesn’t know the definition. You keep an eye on him, you hear?”
“I am. We all are.”
I thank Watson before following Bentley to the door. “Why is he trying so much? He’s very kind for someone who doesn’t even know me,” I say.
“He just wants to help.”
“What do you think I should do?” I ask curiously.
Bentley is quiet as he heads toward the car, clearly thinking, but before he can say anything, I notice the aura of a vampire. I turn to see the broody one heading across the street.
“I thought that was your car,” Marcus says to Bentley.
“Oh, hey,” Bentley says. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Picking up something for Finn. You?”
Bentley looks over at me before turning back to Marcus. “He hurt his arm, so Watson was checking on it.”
Marcus’s eyes run over me before looking back at Bentley. “Wren’s looking for him. He saw him in the surveillance cameras when watching the playback of Tabitha Herald’s attack, and I think it’d save a lot of hassle if you just took him in to talk with Wren. Then, maybe Wren will fucking shut up, and he’ll leave and you can come back to work.”
I feel Bentley stiffen and realize that something more was going on with why he was home early. “Yeah… I can go if it means you can go back to work,” I say as I look to Bentley for guidance.
He sighs. “Okay, we’ll talk in the car,” he says as he waves me to it.
Once in the car, Bentley turns to me. “You don’t need to do this.”
“If I just lie about my name, they can’t do anything about it, right? They have no right to hold me. I did nothing wrong.”
“Unless they try to pin the murder of Huang on you.”
“I don’t want you to get fired because of me. All of this won’t even matter in a month. Let’s go,” I say.
“Don’t say that. There’s still a chance,” Bentley insists.
“We’re a fucking mess, you know that? Just… I’m sorry I’ve dragged you into so much shit. I’m sorry all this happened. I feel like I pulled you into my life and I just dropped all this shit on you when you’re already dealing with your great-niece.”
Bentley leans over and grabs my hand. “Stop. It was my choice too. Now let’s go see if we can sate Wren and go back to your place where your cat can show me how much she hates me.”
I smile at him. “I know you don’t believe me, but she actually really likes you.”
“She stepped on my eyeball this morning. On my eyeball.”
I try not to be too amused by this. “Accident, I promise.”
He seems very suspicious as he goes, “Uh-huh…”
By the time we reach the department, Bentley’s run through everything about what they’ll ask and how to respond and how to get out of saying what I don’t want to say. I follow him as I curiously look around the place he works.
“I see you felt like doing something right,” an evil-looking vampire says.
Bentley’s body language immediately changes when he’s faced with him, telling me this is someone Bentley really doesn’t like. “Church mentioned you were looking to talk to him. How was I supposed to know?” he asks.
The man’s face twitches. “Because I called and emailed you. Take him in a room.”
“He asked to be interviewed by a human because vampires make him nervous after he was attacked,” Bentley says.
“I’ll do it,” Finn, the overly cheery human, says, just as Bentley told me he would.
“That does sound best, Wren,” a man I don’t know says. He seems to be a superior by the way he’s dressed a little differently.
This Wren guy doesn’t seem to think that is best as he waves his arm at Finn. “But, Brooks, Hayes is not on the case.”
“Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to keep the people you’re talking to safe,” Brooks says as he waves me toward Finn who hurries me off.
I’m taken into a small room where he motions to a seat.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Water, please.”
He fetches a bottle for me before sitting down. The interview goes seamlessly, and he only asks me basic questions before telling me that’s all he has for me.
“Wait right here and I’ll make sure you’re all good and get DeGray to walk you out,” he says with a soft smile. It’s clear he doesn’t like this Wren guy either and is willing to do whatever Bentley asks.
“Okay, thank you,” I say as he passes through the door.
The door opens again, and when it’s not Bentley, my blood runs cold. The vampire shuts the door and walks over to the table before looking around and taking a seat.
“Well, don’t you look like shit?” he asks with a smile.
“Why are you here?” I ask as I swallow hard, fear drumming its own beat inside me.
He seems amused by this, but he’s always loved my fear. “Aw, you act like you’re not happy to see me! I’ve missed you, but my god, you’ve been creating quite the storm. It was absolutely beautiful, so why so quiet lately? Why are you not doing what I asked?”
I tear my eyes away as his brown ones stare right into me. “Why? Because they’re on to me. Bentley caught me… I didn’t know he was with the VRC, and I didn’t know—”
Corbyn leans forward and cups my chin. “I let you go in exchange for what, again? Please, go ahead and explain it to me.”
I hate the feeling of his touch on my chin. The way his fingers feel against my skin makes me ache to jerk away, but I know better than to do it. “I take the people you gave me the names of and I put them in jail or kill them. And I’m supposed to make it clear it’s a human hunting them down.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t get why you don’t do this. Why won’t you do it yourself? You’re so much stronger—”
“Oh, my sweet boy, but I want to watch them be destroyed. I want to ruin all the very assholes who thought they’d destroy my life. And as the vampires around me see their brethren picked off one by one, who will be there for them? Me. And I don’t want them to think a vampire is besting them, I want them to get destroyed by a weak little human. Also, it’s just so much fun! I’m having a blast. And the little videos you’ve been creating have just made my day! Such a cute idea!” It’s a joke hearing the terrifying monster call something cute.
“Please… please, I just want to stop this. I’m dying. You know I’m dying, so please just let me live my last couple weeks with people who care about me. I’ve already put the people you are targeting on edge, and they’re getting suspicious, so just let me stop and you can find someone strong enough to take care of the rest.”
The amusement on his face plummets as his eyes narrow. “Do you want your whole family to die?”
“No, please,” I say, voice quiet.
“Then you do what I say,” he says as he gives me a smile. “Be a good little boy because I can kill DeGray as well since it seems like you two have become a bit close.”
“No, please, I’ll do it. Just give me time. It’s these assholes who are making it harder. That Wren guy.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll help direct them to closing the case and then no more theatrics. They know you’re coming for them. Let’s destroy them.”
I feel so weighed down with everything. Torn between what I want—a life with Bentley and my family—and what I have to do, which is everything Corbyn wants. I’d agreed to do as Corbyn asked because it allowed me to get away from him, and I wasn’t against the idea of helping the people who’d been taken and abused. I thought, naively, that if I took them down with Corbyn’s help, I’d be one step closer to destroying him. Instead, I continually play into what he wants. But he knows that. He knows what he’s done to me and what he’s molded me into. And he just doesn’t care.
“Now you be good, alright?” he asks as he gives my cheek a pat. “You want some extra money? Buy yourself something fun. Aren’t I just so nice to you?”
He holds some money out to me, and I reach out and take it while wondering if he gets his kicks from this.
“How cute, your little pet is coming for you,” he says as he stands up and heads through the door. It isn’t a moment later that Bentley walks in.
I can’t help but question what would happen if I told Bentley who he truly was. Would he attack him? Would Corbyn kill him? Would they believe Bentley or Corbyn? I feel like no one could go against Corbyn. How could they?
I stare at the space Corbyn had been standing as I feel this weight crushing me. Bentley will hate me when he knows the lies I’ve been telling, but I don’t even know what to say anymore. I just want my family to be okay, and now I’ve pulled Bentley into it? Of course I did. Why would I ever assume Corbyn wouldn’t drag him in?
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Bentley asks as he rushes over to me and kneels before me. “Finn wasn’t too much, right?”
I do my best to force a smile. “No, of course not. He asked very basic questions,” I say as I reach out and wrap my unhurt arm around him. I see Corbyn peek into the room as he walks by. He just smiles at me like he knows what he’s doing to me and is happy to ruin my life.
The moment he bought me was the moment he decided that my life was his to manipulate and destroy, and I’ve played into his ideas. I’ve allowed fear to drive me to it.
“Can we go?” I ask.
“Of course. Let’s go home.”
As I walk with Bentley, I try not to look at the others so my eyes don’t catch Corbyn. I wonder if they realize there’s a monster in the room with them?
Probably not.
The money feels heavy in my pocket, but as soon as we’re outside, I lean against Bentley and find that it gives me strength.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY 
BENTLEY
When I walk into the office on my first day back after getting the call that I’m no longer suspended, Finn sidles up to me.
“Did you hear?”
“What?”
“They connected the attacks between Bo Huang and Tabitha Herald. Tabitha Herald confessed to supplying Huang with the women and Wren’s crew closed the case,” Finn says.
This whirlwind of information takes me by surprise. “What? What about White? What about any of the others I gave you names of?”
Finn shrugs. “I feel like they’re just sweeping it all under a rug. When Marcus tried questioning it, they got really pissy.”
“So… they’re just done?” I ask in disbelief. “Just like that, they’re done?”
He nods. “I guess. But they won’t let us on it so there’s nothing we can do. Makes you wonder who’s pulling the strings to this? Sure seems like a lot of corners were cut.”
“Yeah, that’s my question as well. There’s someone else behind this, isn’t there?”
“What are you two whispering about?” Alexei asks as he walks up with Marcus by his side.
Marcus folds his arms over his chest. “You two look suspiciously guilty of something.”
We’ve now caught the attention of Wren, which is something I never want to do. “Oh, nothing. I was just telling DeGray how nice his shirt fits,” Finn says as he gives my shirt a little pluck.
Marcus turns his attention to me. “It is a rather nice shirt.”
Alexei throws up his arms. “Hold on, wait one minute. If Finn said that about me, you’d toss me into next year.”
“Yes, well, you’re not a stand-up kind of guy like DeGray is,” Marcus says, looking annoyingly smug and evil.
Alexei’s eyes narrow as he stares at the gloating man. It’s like Marcus is asking for a fight or some other nonsense and knows just how to push Alexei’s buttons.
“Can we… talk somewhere?” I ask quietly.
“Meeting room. I’ll get Briar,” Finn says as he heads off.
Wren’s eyes follow us as we hurry off. When we reach the meeting room, we close the door and cram up toward the front so no one can listen in on us. The room is soundproof in an attempt to keep vampires from listening in, but it’s not done well enough to keep all sounds from leaking out unless we’re extremely quiet.
“This isn’t over with,” I say. “I gave them so much information, and they just picked and chose what they wanted and threw the rest away. They act like they’ve forgotten about all of the other parts.”
Marcus’s eyes flicker toward the door. “Wren the Wretched Asshole is listening in on us. So about our work for the day…”
The door swings open and Wren steps inside and immediately crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. “Meeting without me?” he asks.
“It doesn’t pertain to you or your case,” Marcus says, voice quiet as he turns terrifyingly slowly to face Wren. If I were Wren, I’d probably just leave and never return, but he’s defiant and an idiot, so he walks up to us and stops before just standing there.
“Need something?” Finn asks with a ridiculously nice smile for someone who threatened him and shoved him against a wall.
“Someone’s trying to cover up something and I want to know what the fuck’s going on,” Wren says.
“Us?” Alexei asks in surprise.
“No. This case that got closed. Tabitha Herald just… switched all of a sudden from refusing to tell us anything to spilling shit we weren’t even asking her. Someone’s covering something up, but I’m being shipped back in a couple of days and you assholes seem to know something I don’t,” Wren says.
I’m honestly surprised he even cares. Although maybe he is a good detective and we just hate him because he doesn’t like Finn. I mean, who doesn’t like Finn? “We don’t know any more than you do. I was literally suspended for looking into it when I ‘wasn’t supposed to.’ So you expect us to say anything to you?” I ask curiously.
“I was not the one who suspended you, which is another reason there’s more shit going on than we’re being told. This entire case has been a mixture of lies and ‘what can we do that makes it look like we’re working without working.’”
“My source thought someone in the department was involved and this confirms that, right?” I ask.
“It could, or it could confirm there’s someone with enough money and pull to swing it a different way. Like Governor White,” Finn says.
“But the case is ours yet we’re being shipped back, so unless something big happens again, it’s closed,” Wren says.
I look to Marcus and Finn for guidance, but I’m not sure they have it for me. Finn says, “We’ll continue to look into it, but without the department’s support, there’s only so much we can do. I guess once our masked vigilante shows his face again, we can reopen the case, and maybe we’ll be able to keep ahold of it this time.”
Wren nods. “I’ll see what I can do.”
But I don’t want River to put himself in danger again. I don’t want him to show his face.
When work is over, I grab River’s favorite food, hoping to surprise him and knowing that I need to be honest with him. The issue is that if I tell him the department has stopped searching for any of the people he gave me the names of, he’ll want to go back out there, and he’s been so ill lately that I can’t imagine sending him out. But as I’m walking up to his door, I hear a loud crashing noise.
Panicked, I rush toward the door. When I hit it, I find it locked and hammer on it, just so I don’t break his door open in case there’s nothing wrong.
“River?” I call, but when he doesn’t immediately answer, I slam against the door and rush inside to find him convulsing on the floor. A lamp has been knocked onto the ground. By the time I reach River, he’s lying unresponsive.
Did he have a seizure? What’s going on? Is he getting worse? He has to be getting worse. We have to do something—I can’t lose him like I’m losing everything else.
“River?” I ask, unsure what I should do. I push the lamp away from him so he doesn’t hurt himself if he has another seizure. Quickly, I call Watson.
The moment he answers I interrupt him. “I think River had a seizure. He’s not really responsive, what should I do?”
“Is he currently seizing?” Watson asks.
River hasn’t moved much but I notice he’s a bit more responsive.
“No. I think he might be coming to. What do I do?”
“There’s not much you can do unless we try the surgery. I can’t make it disappear no matter how much I wish I could. Did he hurt himself at all?”
I turn to River who seems groggy and is trying to sit up. “Just lie down for a moment, relax,” I tell him. A moan escapes him as I try to steady him. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m right here.” I turn my attention back to Watson. “Should you see him?”
“If he has another seizure today, I’ll check him over, but remember that as his tumor grows it’ll decrease the space in the brain and cause pressure. The seizures could continue and he might not make it through the next one. We just… we can’t do anything besides try the surgery.”
With those haunting words, he leaves me alone with River who is insistent on sitting up, so I help him. I pull him into my lap so he can rest his back against my chest and I just hold him while trying everything in my power to remain confident even if I’m anything but. This just shows how important this surgery is, but what if he doesn’t make it? What if it just shortens our time together?
      
I’m sitting on the couch when River rushes into the room, determination on his face. “I’ve decided to go through with the surgery,” he says.
“You… you have?” I ask in surprise. I’m not sure if it’s a happy surprise or a sad one. But he’s lost weight since I met him, telling me he’s been having more issues than I’ve seen. How often do the headaches or other symptoms affect him? Has he had more seizures that he’s refusing to tell me about? After the seizure yesterday, I’m not sure how much more I can handle. And it’s not right of me to be upset. I need to be happy for him and his decision, even if it could have a horrible outcome.
So I give him a smile and pray it doesn’t seem forced. “Wonderful. And I’ll be here for you the whole way, okay?”
His smile also seems just as forced. “Okay! Can we do something else off our lists?”
“Of course. What do you want to do?”
River thinks about it for a moment. “I… don’t know. What’s something on your list?”
“Are you sure you can’t think of something you want to do?” I ask, wanting to give him everything he could ever want or ask for.
He shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“Okay. Then go get dressed in your fanciest clothes.” I have no idea what we’re doing, but it looks like a place to start.
“I’m… not sure I have fancy clothes.”
“Then let’s go buy some,” I say as I pluck Banshee out of his arms—with only minor scratches—and rush him toward the door.
“I’ll race you to the car!” he decides.
“You’re going to race a vampire?” I ask as I see him bolting down the hallway while I pull his door shut tightly. I even take the time to make sure it’s locked and slowly walk down the hallway before slipping by him and leaning against the car so when he arrives, looking a little windblown, I’m waiting for him. I glance at my imaginary watch. “I was starting to lose hope you’d arrive.”
He grins at me. “Oh fuck off with your bat fluttering. You cheated.”
“Of course I did,” I tease as I get into the car.
“We should see if you can outrun my car,” he decides.
“That sounds like an accident waiting to happen,” I say as I get into the driver’s seat as he jumps into the passenger seat. I drive to the mall where we hurry inside and head toward a shop that has nicer clothes we could get dressed up in.
“No, in here,” River says as he gives me a tug and pulls me into some store that appears to have odd clothes with lots of buckles and fishnets and strange colors. He grabs some pants that I’d have worn in the seventies and a neon-green mesh shirt with what looks like leather shoulder pads.
“This! I want you to wear this!” He looks so excited that I almost have trouble giving him a look of horror.
“Oh my god, why?” I ask, positive he’s planning on torturing me.
He gives me a very pointed look. “No? I… I can’t have this?”
And that’s how I end up wearing bellbottoms with sequins and a mesh shirt. The moment we step out of the shop donned in our new outfits, he turns to me and grabs me.
“I know what I want to do! I want to see my parents but through the window like a creeper.” He seems very excited about this new idea even though I’m a bit uncertain.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yes! Do you want to go with me? Can you fly me there with your bat wings?”
I grin at him. “No, but I can drive you there. How far is it?”
“Three hours.”
“Then let’s get going,” I say.
He grabs my hand and takes off running through the mall. I scoop him up and rush out to the car as he laughs and grabs onto me tightly. “Are you going to run all the way there?”
“I’m not that energetic. Let’s take the car,” I say.
“But I like the way your muscles look in that fishnet. Wait a minute… is that why you ran? You didn’t want anyone to see how sexy you are in that outfit?” he teases.
“Maybe,” I say as I get into the car. If Marcus or Finn saw me… I’d probably have to quit or retire.
      
There’s something fun about the three-hour drive to his parents’ house. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of car rides, but with River, the entire ride is an experience. We start off singing some ridiculous song that he tries to teach me the lyrics to, then we have to play I Spy while he complains that he can’t see as far away as me and that I’m cheating—which I might be.
About half an hour away from our destination, his energy level seems to be dropping and I can tell he’s anxious, so I take his hand and squeeze it to reassure him.
“Ask me anything,” I say, hoping to distract him.
“Um… uh…Where were you born?”
“England.”
He looks disappointed in this. “What? Where’s your sexy accent?”
“We moved here a long time ago and I lost it.”
“That’s… devastating. Bring it back. Accents make me swoon.”
“Um… uh… ’Ello?” I say in my best attempt at an English accent.
He starts fanning himself. “Ooh god. That just almost pushed me over the edge. Sexy smexy.”
I’m grinning now. “Thanks, I tried hard.”
“Who changed you?”
“Some random woman I’d never met before. She accidentally attacked me as I was walking home from work. She’d been hurt and was too young to control herself, so once she attacked me, she practically killed me. Just before I took my last breath, she pulled herself away only to realize that I was dying. In an attempt to save me, she took me to her maker, who showed her how to change me. She was a kind woman who helped me until I was old enough to safely return to my life with my family. My parents were gone, so I only had my sister who didn’t take as kindly to my new life, but she never fully pushed me away and accepted me.”
“I’m glad you still had your family,” River says.
“You’re clearly very close to your family.”
“I am.” He sounds upset as he says it, and I wonder if I shouldn’t have asked. “My parents were always a huge part of my life and so accepting about everything. They came from poor backgrounds—my father came from Puerto Rico and my mother grew up in poverty with a single mother who never helped her get anywhere. So they were very big on doing everything they could to make sure my brother Clay and I grew up with the best life we could.”
“How old is Clay?” I ask.
“Thirty-one. We all stayed very close.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m a strong boy. I will not cry.”
I squeeze his hand, which I’m not sure helps because he quickly looks away from me. “We can talk about me if you want. I mean, have you seen me in this fishnet shirt?”
He glances over at me and beams, eyes lighting right up. “I have, and my good god, you’re beautiful! I wish there’d have been fishnet tights as well.”
“That would have just been terrifying,” I say, although I probably wouldn’t have complained seeing him in them.