Her jaw snapped closed with an audible click of her teeth. I felt, more than saw, her look past me. Oh, I stepped into her line of sight. She didn't need to see the body.
"I just want to make sure you get home safe," I promised her again. "I'm not a creeper or some kind of deviant."
Yes, I had absolutely pummeled a man to death but he'd been hurting her. He shouldn't have done that. Maybe the fact I'd killed him should register more, but honestly, all I felt was grateful she was okay.
"I'm Merrick, by the way," I added when she continued to study me. If she was concerned about stranger danger, then introductions should help eliminate that, right?
"Nice to meet you, Merrick." Instead of disdain or caution, amusement filtered her tone. "While I appreciate the effort, I can get home on my own." She started to take a step away then paused before I could even reach out to stop her. "And you really should get out of here—especially covered in blood like you are. It's a red flag to law enforcement."
I glanced down at myself.
"I have a change of clothes in my bag. Just give me one sec." I set the bag down on a broken wooden pallet and stripped off the shirt. With care, I wiped my face and then my arms. I couldn't really see them, but there was some hand sanitizer in the bag—I'd borrowed it from my room since they had bottles everywhere. I rubbed down with that, nose wrinkling at the smell in combination with the coppery scent of my clothes.
"Fold it inside out," she said and I blinked at her a moment before doing what she said.
I got out of my shoes, a little loath to stand in the alley without being able to see the ground, but a pin light flashed against the ground. No glass or trash.
"Thank you," I told her before hurriedly shucking out of the pants. They stuck uncomfortably to my skin, but I refused to focus on the why of that too closely. The night air raised goosebumps across my skin and I repeated the inside out with the pants, but they were pretty wet and I had a feeling that wouldn't help.
She moved away in the dark before I could stop her, then returned with a crinkle of plastic. "In the bag."
"You shouldn't have to help me."
"You're right," she agreed with me. "Now let's go, quickly."
The words spurred me into motion. I retrieved the hand sanitizer from my bag. Probably not the intended use, but it would work, right? Using it on my legs, I tried to not think about standing there in white briefs before I dragged on fresh sweatpants and a sweatshirt. They were from a local store, I'd picked them up on my way into the sanitarium. I was pretty sure they had the town name on them and some pithy slogan, but it wasn't coming to mind.
Finally, I stuffed my feet back into my shoes and snatched up my bag. "Better?"
2
Vienna
I looked him over with a cautious eye, searching for any splatters of blood on his skin or shoes, since he hadn’t changed those out. He cleaned up pretty good. There wasn’t a hair out of place that screamed ‘murderer,’ but the worst of the monsters were never so easy to spot.
My father had taught me that.
But no, this Merrick wasn’t a monster. Odd maybe, but not a monster.
“Much,” I said, tying up the bag then motioning for him to open his duffle. I would have disposed of them myself, only there wasn’t a need to carry around evidence for a crime I hadn’t committed.
He held it open and I was about to drop it in, then paused. This bag had my fingerprints on it. Dispose of the evidence myself it was. “Never mind, I can get rid of these for you.”
A slow, smitten smile spread over his face. “You don’t have to do that, but I’m glad you want to help. I can do it, it will just put you in danger.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I opened my own oversized purse and stuffed the bag in. Now that my plans were shot to shit, I was heading straight home anyway.
Laughing under my breath, I still couldn’t believe what happened. This man thought he had been saving me.
Me. Someone well versed in disposing of evil men all on my own. Instead, he’d taken my evening’s entertainment from me.
Flicking my gaze over his now squeaky clean and eager form, I started walking toward the mouth of the alley. How had I let this, clearly amateur, man take my kill? And see my face. Father taught me better than that.
What I needed to do was scare him away. Every second he stayed with me opened me up to more liability than I should be comfortable with.
I should throw a bit of attitude at him, or threaten to call the cops—laughable really—to get him to scat, and quickly. Then I found I couldn’t be mean to this man. He was like a puppy following on my heels, and he’d done something pretty fucking epic in my book.
He restored a smidge of my faith in humanity. Not that I thought all was lost, but I had more experience with the horrors of the world than with the saints. And I’d just witnessed firsthand why Dad had started this mission in the first place.
Nostalgia, and a bit of pride, swelled inside my chest, giving me a motivational kick in the pants. He would have saved Merrick for his good—even if misguided—deed.
We hit the corner and I took a left, away from where I was parked. I’d circle the block to make sure he didn’t have a chance to see any distinguishing marks on my SUV.
His footsteps pounded the pavement behind me even when I took two more zig zags through the industrial side of town. I needed to be driving away from here, no matter what Merrick decided to do. The cops would find the body sooner or later and I needed to ghost the scene.
And he still followed me.
It was as adorable as it was annoying. When his steps continued to shadow mine, I blew out a breath. Save him, Vienna. He really thinks he saved you. Do the right thing and save him.
Pivoting sharply on one heel, I wheeled around to face him. Only my own awareness of how close to me he'd been when I decided on this maneuver kept me from flinching when he grasped my arms. He narrowly missed plowing into me.
Surprise lost the battle to concern as he frowned. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to run into you."
The harsh words to dissuade him from following me faded on my tongue at the swiftness of his reaction. When was the last time anyone asked me how I was? Much less if I was alright.
I pressed my tongue against the back of my teeth. "I'm fine," I assured him after a moment. He hadn't continued to hold me. Some men would have definitely used getting their hands on me to their advantage. But not Merrick, once he was sure I was stable, he released me.
"Who are you?" I had to know.
"Merrick," he repeated, "I'm Merrick Wright."
"Merrick Wright," I tested the name slowly. If we were anywhere else, I'd look for cameras or something. This reminded me of one of those practical joke shows I'd watched for a while. Dad had been correct though, too much would rot the brain.
He chuckled. "That's my name. I told you earlier, I was Merrick. I just want to make sure you got home but since you said you could. I’ll make sure you get back to your car safely. I don't know if you've noticed, but this isn't the best neighborhood."
It was my turn to laugh. Because my well planned, flawless evening, had taken such a turn and it kept going on around the corner. "Well, Mr. Wright." I couldn't even say that with a straight face. "Merrick, I'm sure you have other places to be."