The Light of the World (20 page)

We stole a car downtown Boston and drove here,
New Hampshire.

If I ever speak to Wyatt again I will have to
get him to give the owners of the car some money. Just like I did
with the last people I stole from. I had him mail the old people
from Newport one thousand dollars. He owed me that, at the
least.

I probably owed them more. The ham sandwich and
the shower had to have been worth a million dollars. Not to mention
the three hundred dollars I found taped to the lid of the cookie
jar.

Mona comes out of the bathroom looking
remarkably better. Her outfit has been cleaned up and her hair is
straight and smooth. The dirt is gone.

"You made good use of the bathroom."

She smiles, "I can't stand looking like that.
It's a good thing you don’t mind. I have feeling this is all about
to get more interesting."

I raise an eyebrow at her, "Why?"

Her eyes dart to the window. A tall man with
dark hair and a charming smile is looking at us through the glass.
I jump when I see him.

"Who is that?"

She shrugs, "Not sure. He came into the bathroom
when I was there and asked if I had somewhere to stay for the
night. I told him to fuck off, obviously. He smiled, that exact
smile, and then said if the Van Helsings catch you I bet they'll
clean that mouth of yours up. Then he was gone. I actually thought
I might have daydreamed it but there he is." She sighs and covers
her eyes for a minute.

I get up from the table and feel my palms
instantly sweat, "He came in the bathroom? Who is he? Why are you
so calm? That’s creepy." He looks familiar.

She gives me an incredulous look, "How should I
know? He told me that I should stay really calm. So I did."

"That doesn’t even make any sense. Great. He
could be my dad."

She nods. "I thought that too."

"Well doesn’t that make you want to freak
out?"

She smiles at me with glossy lips, "Yup."

I turn and watch him, just as he watches us. No
one makes a move. My stomach tingle starts. I groan, "Great."

"Wyatt?"

"Yup."

"Take a chance with the stranger?"

I look around, "There is probably a back
entrance. We could run."

The man outside the window laughs.

She shakes her head, "He vanished in the
bathroom. Vanished. I don’t think running is a good option."

I am weak and exhausted. I need to eat but I
want the devils to come for me. If I get hungry enough they will
sense me and then we can kill them.

I look into the dark eyes of the stranger
outside the window. His eyes meet mine and he nods, "Trust me."

The air sparkles and I feel the dead agree. They
want me to go with him.

I take the first step but it feels forced. I
push myself to take another and another until I am at the door. I
push on it and shiver when the cold air hits my face.

"The Sin Eater at Subway, imagine." His voice is
deep and sexy. His movements are confident and relaxed. I know him.
It's stuck in my brain.

"Are you my father?"

He looks lost, "What? Lucifer? No. That's an odd
question."

My movements feel jerky and tense.

His eyes dart to Mona, "Do you always bring food
with you?"

Horror crosses my face. I gasp and take a step
back and bump into her.

His eyes widen and his hands lift, "I'm sorry. I
never meant to offend you. Is she your lover?"

I look back at her and laugh.

He smiles along, but is clearly confused.

"She is my friend."

He tries to swallow it down but he can't, "You
have friends, friends who are human? Without, well you know."

"Yeah. I'm a human too. Well I was like two
months ago."

He looks completely lost, "I don’t
understand."

I laugh, "Welcome to my world. Who are you? Or
should I ask what are you?"

He chuckles and points to a long black car that
resembles a hearse "I'm a friend of your mother's. At least I was
once."

The feeling in my stomach is getting worse but
I'm terrified, "Are you my father? Tell me the truth."

His face grows cold, "No. No, your father is a
bad man. I am indifferent to humans as they are fodder for most of
us, but I am not like your father. His intentions have always been
focused on revenge and suffering." He sniffs the air. "I suggest we
move this conversation to a safer place."

He walks to the car and opens the door to the
backseat. Mona is gripping my shirt. I look across the parking lot
to the car speeding toward us. My heart nearly stops. I run to the
backseat of the car and jump in.

"It's him."

The man climbs in the backseat and the car
starts. I can't see into the front to see the driver. The dark
glass all around the car prevented us from seeing him outside and
in. He drives like a pro. He backs up and spins the car in a half
circle. When the white car pulls into the parking lot, our black
car speeds past it. Through the tinted glass I can see Wyatt and
the woman and man from the church.

Our driver speeds away, skidding and peeling out
at every possible moment.

We are flung about and smashed into the
windows.

The man on the seat across from us, sits
perfectly still. The movements of the car don’t move him.

We drive this way until the car hits a bumpy
area. Then we drive slowly. I look out into the night at the forest
around us.

"Where are we going?"

He smiles, "My home. The Van Helsings will not
come there."

I frown. "You don’t know Wyatt very well do
you?"

He shakes his head, "The youngest of the sons?
No I do not. They fear my lands. Have since we left the old
country. They lost a lot of family at my hands. I don’t believe
they will want to run the chance of that happening again."

His dark eyes flicker to Mona constantly.

He shakes his head, "I'm sorry. It's just
remarkable how much you look like the girl from that show."

I snort. "You watch Gossip Girl?"

He shrugs, "I like TV. That show in particular
offers some very tantalizing young flesh."

Mona leans into me, "Gross."

My stomach turns.

He laughs, "I mean you know harm. I wish for you
to succeed this time Sin Eater." His dark eyes glimmer.

"Rayne."

His face breaks into a smile, "Willow has spoken
of you."

"You know my mo…Willow?"

"Of course. I know all there is to know. I am
Constantine Basarab, fourth count of the House of Basarab."

He is charming and when he says his name he has
an accent. It's thick and sexy and Mona leans forward slightly.

"What are you Constantine?"

He flashes a smile like I have never seen. Two
large fangs hang where his canines should be.

I scream. Mona Screams.

He laughs and the car comes to a stop.

Mona is gripping me.

He closes his mouth and muffles the rich
chuckles, he let burst from him.

The door is opened by a small man. He moves
quickly. Every movement comes across as a twitch or jerk. But it's
because he moves so quickly.

Constantine points to the door, "Ladies first."
We grip each other and scramble from the car.

He climbs out and stretches his long legs. He
seems bigger, taller. Or I'm just so terrified I have made him
larger in my mind's eye.

He takes my hand in his and kisses the top, "It
is my pleasure to make your acquaintance madam Sin Eater." His eyes
sparkle. He takes Mona's hand and kisses it, "Madam."

We are charmed. We can't fight the charms he
has. Mona is worse than I am. His touch has calmed us both. She
takes a step toward him, "It's my pleasure to meet you. Not
yours."

I've never seen her be forward before. I pull
her back and scowl, "Stop what you're doing." I sigh and roll my
eyes, "Can we just go inside before Wyatt shows up and shit goes
downhill, like it tends to when he's around?"

He watches her for a moment and then breaks his
stare. He glances at the driver, "Put the car away Tom. We won't be
needing it."

The driver moves quickly.

Mona doesn’t notice the driver. She is blushing
and tempting Constantine. He is fighting the urge to eat her. I
know that feeling.

"Can you go out in the daytime?"

He looks at me and smirks, "Of course? Thinking
about fleeing already? Am I such a poor host, I'm already driving
you to that?"

I shake my head, "No, just curious. You know
like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and shit."

He rolls his eyes, "I will say that show was
better than some." He holds a hand out. Instantly both of us are
even more mesmerized. His house is like a villa on the sea, but
shaped like a German castle. It has peaked roofs and a smooth
finish, like stone.

My mouth hangs open, "This is where you
live?"

He smiles and nods, he seems humble suddenly,
"It's just a house Rayne."

Mona walks forward like she is in a dream, "It’s
beautiful. So beautiful. Like a magical castle."

We are at a circular driveway in front of a huge
front entryway. His house makes Wyatt's seem plain and tiny. The
huge square pillars out front are two feet in diameter. Windows are
lit, giving it a warm look. The house is amazing. Amazing.

The doors are the size of a wall in a regular
house. A thin woman in a maid's uniform opens the door and greets
us with a smile, "Good evening." Her face drops when she sees me.
She looks shocked and confused. I know I look terrible. He's
dressed so refined and I look homeless.

We walk in and get lost immediately. The foyer
is marble with statues and a staircase that belongs in a southern
plantation. Plants, a fountain, ceilings high enough to be four
stories, and a pianoforte all fill the room.

"What does the rest look like if this is just
the front door?" Mona spins.

"Who has a piano in their foyer? That’s
weird."

He seems annoyed, "You Americans. All so
impressed by grandeur and size. It's just a house. And I like to
hear the piano all over the house. This is the best spot,
acoustically."

Mona blushes again, but I can't help but look
around more.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks we just had those subs."

"That's not what I was offering Sin Eater."

My head jerks, "What?"

He smiles and holds a hand out, "I keep a
selection of things you might be interested in, in the
basement."

I feel sick and intrigued. "You keep people
hostage?"

He nods, "Come I'll show you."

Mona takes his hand. She is entranced again. I
am frozen in my spot. I want to eat one of the hostages. I can't
deny it, but at the same time I want to be disgusted. It's gross
they are held downstairs, as cattle for the master.

I follow them and tell myself it's to keep Mona
safe. Not to eat a hostage.

The hallway we are in turns a corner and
suddenly an industrial theme becomes noticeable. We enter a doorway
and descend down a wide set of stairs. The floor is rubber and the
walls are steel.

It doesn’t feel luxurious like upstairs.

Mona walks, watching his eyes the entire time.
He has her spellbound.

"You can't hurt her." I whisper it, certain he
can hear me.

He looks back, "I swear on my own grave I would
never. I couldn’t imagine her skin marred. She is pure."

"You have to take the spell off."

He shakes his head, "I can't. I'm not putting
one on her. It's her response to me. She has to be the one to
change it."

He opens a wide metal door. When we enter he
closes it and locks it with a key.

It looks like a horse barn. Stalls with bars
line the huge hallway.

"It looks like a prison."

He pauses and tilts his head looking around,
"It's meant to."

His eyes are dark and dangerous, unpredictable.
His face is handsome and calm. He towers over Mona and I. He puts a
large hand up to the first room and holds the bars, "Come out come
out wherever you are." He almost sings the words.

I peer into the dark. I can't see anything until
my eyes do their thing. Then I see her, it, maybe her. She is my
size but a bit thinner. She has a white nightgown on. Her long
blonde hair is stringy and she is filthy. She stands in the corner
of her cell, watching the moon from a small barred window.

I take a step closer to the bars. As my face
almost makes contact, she turns and screams. I jump back.

Constantine laughs.

She is at the bars raging and screaming.

Mona clutches him, like she did me before.

"Easy girl. Easy." She reaches a white scrawny
hand through the bars at him. He touches her and the trembling
stops.

She closes her dark eyes as tears stream down
her filthy cheeks.

"She drowned her children, on purpose of course.
She didn’t want anyone to know, so she lied to everyone and said
she had moved them to small farmhouse outside of the city. She
collected the child welfare for them but they were dead. No one
knew." He strokes the palm of her hand, tickling it. His voice
becomes a soft whisper, "No one but me."

My skin crawls, "How-how do you know?"

Her eyes dart at me, her edgy behavior is back
when she hears my voice. I watch the homicidal look in her eyes and
decide she is an it, not a she.

"I can read things about people Rayne. That’s
how I found you." I know him and it's driving me insane.

I look back at the woman. Her evil is great. I
can sense it, like Willow told me I would be able to.

He moves away from the bars and walks to the
next stall.

"He was a teacher. He likes young people, more
than most teachers. A girl tried to tell her parents what he had
done to her. They never believed her. She had been promiscuous
before. He knew that. He has a gift for picking them. The ones no
one will believe."