What the hell was he driving at?
The cab slowed to a stop, breaking us away from our intense conversation.
“Forty-three bucks,” said the driver.
I dug fifty from my purse. “Keep the change.” Jack and I unloaded our things.
While the cab made a U-turn to head back the way we came, I swiveled on my heel. We’d been dropped off on a lonely street lined with warehouses near the water. A thick fog hovered low in the air, casting a dull orange hue on everything except Jack. He seemed to absorb the light. Or repel it?
“Where are we?” What I really meant was, Why am I here?
He reached for my arm and pressed his fingertips into my skin. “Your abilities will help me uncover the truth. That is why we are here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It was you, Jeni. You killed Randall.”
I shook my head, horrified at the thought of hurting anyone. “Stop, Jack, or I’m outta here.” He needed to tell me what he really wanted, or this game was through.
“No games. No lies. I watched while you tore Randall’s face apart, and he begged for mercy.”
I jerked my arm free and stepped back. “You’re the one who chased after him. Not me.”
“There was no need for me to raise a finger, Jeni. That is why I laughed. I saw what he wanted to do to you, and I knew he was about to get the shock of a lifetime.”
I took another step back.
“I have no reason to lie,” he added, “but you have every reason to lie to yourself.”
My head started to pound. I pressed my palms to my temples. Stop it.
“You come from a long line of Seers—women with powerful gifts, each one unique. Death is your power. Its darkness wraps itself around you, and when you wish to, you have the ability to channel it.”
He was out of his fucking mind.
“Your path,” he grabbed hold of me again, “was meant to cross with mine. It is no coincidence that my body washed up at your feet. It is no coincidence that Randall couldn’t stop thinking of you. He was evil, a killer, and drawn to you, too. He wanted deliverance from his darkness.”
I hate you. I’m not bad. I’m not.
Jack placed his warm hand on my cheek, producing an instant calming effect. “No, you are not bad; however, that does not change what you are. You may either learn to deal with it or ignore it. But every choice comes with a price. Denying your gift could mean that death will punish you. Perhaps it already has.”
Words of a madman. It wasn’t true.
Jack’s gaze grew more intense, wild even. “That is why you seek to keep others away. You know, deep down inside, what could happen if you allow them into your life. A cursed life. But if you help me, I will ensure things are different.”
I slapped his hand away. “I am not some grim reaper!”
“You are much more powerful than that, and I can teach you how to take control of your gift—benefit from it even.”
“You’re insane. You’re trying to pull me into this imaginary world you’ve built around your crap lies.”
“How much more do you need to see, Jeni?” His impatience turned up a notch. “You cannot have a single thought without me knowing, including your opinion of my cock.”
I looked away, feeling like the foundations of my world were starting to crumble. He was chipping away at me one piece at a time.
“Very well. If you wish to play hardball…”
I felt him claw at my skull, digging his way in. I didn’t know how to fight him off.
Suddenly, I was there. That night with Randall. I saw myself in the mud, trying to fend off the attack. I watched Randall tearing at my clothes while he choked the life from my body.
I laughed, noting a dark shadow surrounding me while I struggled.
Fuck. I was inside Jack’s head. I was reliving his memory of that night, including his thoughts: Of all the places in the world, of all the women, I come here. To her shore. A fucking Seer.
He’d thought about how he’d never seen one like me—a thing only heard of in ancient stories. A Seer with a shadow all around her instead of green, blue, white, or yellow. Each color had meaning. Some Seers traveled across the planes of time. Some could make others do their bidding. Some saw the future. But he’d never met one who could bend death to her will.
Jack’s memories continued bombarding my mind, allowing me to watch as Randall was dragged away by thin air. I stood in awe as his eyes were torn from his skull, and his face was crushed to a pulp. Me, I mean Jack, loved every sick piece of it because he knew from the moment he woke inside that steel coffin that he’d been fucked over. He believed that this dark angel—me—was sent to help him. She will be my fury. She will make things right.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” I didn’t know where the surge came from, but I pushed Jack out of my head.
He stood motionless in the middle of the street, unaffected by my reaction.
“This isn’t happening.” I pressed the heels of my palms to my pounding temples.
“Or is the truth that we are connected by death? I am, after all, a man who has managed to defy it thousands of times.”
Who gave a shit? Not me. “What do you want, Jack?”
“As I said, I want you to help me find out what was taken from me. I want to know why. And then I want them to suffer for it.”
If he didn’t know what was done to him, how could he want someone to suffer for it? I understood there was an emptiness inside him, but—
“It is more than that,” he said in a firm tone. “I know someone I cared for was hurt. I know they were taken. And I know the only reason I am here with you today is because death wants its pound of flesh. It does not appreciate it when others meddle with its plans.”
He spoke about death like it was a person. And if what he said was true, then why wasn’t death upset with him? According to Jack, he’d meddled with death’s plans by staying alive.
“I hope to find out. Now,” he gestured toward the warehouse to our left, “if you do not mind, I would very much like to go inside and find out why the address for this place is tattooed on the inside of my mouth.” He pressed his index finger to his lower lip.
“No. Fuck no. This is as far as I go.”
Before I could react, Jack had me by one of my braids and dragged me through the warehouse door.
“Jack! You piece a shit! Let go!” I clawed and pushed, but his hand was like a vise. I couldn’t pry him off.
Suddenly, the lights in the warehouse came on, and he let go. I stopped fighting, too.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The warehouse was huge, filled with empty heavy-duty steel racks that reached the ceiling. Like most things I’d come to associate with Jack, this too made no fucking sense.
“Sonofa…” He marched off toward a set of stairs at the back of the football-field-length room.
Despite my need to punch him in the face, I stayed by the door. Something wicked occupied this building besides Jack. It was time to run. There was no other choice.
Stay, Jeni… a voice whispered in my head.
I jumped and did a three-sixty. “Who’s there?”
No one replied, of course.
I bolted for the door and didn’t stop until I was outside in the middle of the empty street. And lucky me, my mind thought that would be the ideal moment to rehash what Jack had just said about my special relationship with death.