Chapter Twenty-Two
Honestly a Liar
Raquel frowned at me over the top of her black coffee. "Just looking at your drink is giving me a cavity. "
"Good thing IPCA has excellent dental. " I smiled and used a candy cane to stir my double whipped cream hot chocolate. The coffee shop was small, with warm yellow walls and poofy chairs in dimly lit corners, the scattered patrons hunched over laptops typing out caffeine-fueled works of dubious genius. I had picked this place because they stocked Christmas flavors ridiculously early (in spite of the various spiders and bats hung in honor of Halloween), and because it was thirty minutes by bus outside my town, so there was little chance of running into someone I knew. I doubted any of my werewolf or vampire buddies would recognize Raquel, but I preferred to avoid finding out.
"This is nice. " She wiped at a spot on the table, again, and glared at a couple making out in the corner opposite us. At least she'd agreed to meet me here. Mostly because I'd flat-out refused to go back to the Center to debrief about the mission.
Well, to lie about nearly everything, if you want to be technical.
We'd already gone over my story about the trolls passing through. I resisted the urge to ask if the vampire had said anything about them. If he had and I was caught, I'd know. I hated keeping secrets from Raquel, but some things called for it. Jack had mentioned the near drowning, so I fed her some nonsense about how the fossegrim hadn't killed me because a stray current separated us and let me get out of the water. No reason to give her more to worry about. The uber-vamp was information overload enough for one visit.
I shivered at the memory of his grip on my wrist and what I had wanted to do to him. "You're not letting him out of Containment, right?"
"Of course not. He's far too unstable for even the most basic assignment. But you were right not to tell anyone else why he's so strong. It's a disturbing development. I've never come across a vampire who targeted paranormals, and the fact that it helps him overcome natural vampire weaknesses-well, it's best kept strictly under wraps. " She heaved a things are never simple, are they? sigh.
"Good. Guy's a psychopath, even by vampire standards. And that's saying something. " I leaned back, trying to find a position that didn't hurt my bruised tailbone. I'd have to figure out how to hide it from Lend when he came tonight.
No. No more hiding.
"Hey, what about the elementals? Do you think maybe the vampire-" I felt slightly ill, worrying about a repeat of Viv's spree. I didn't think I could handle more paranormal deaths that I had to figure out.
Raquel shook her head. "No, I don't think it's related. There haven't been any deaths or bodies. Nearly every elemental we've identified and have contact with has disappeared, but elementals are unusual-you understand. We've only been keeping track of them for a couple of decades now, so for all we know, this is common behavior. "
I nodded, relieved. No more violence. I'd have to tell Lend, make sure he knew that it wasn't just his mom who had disappeared. Of course, I wasn't sure if that made it sound better or worse.
Raquel took a sip of her drink. "It's too bad about the trolls, though. "
I gulped my hot chocolate, scalding my throat. "Yup. Too bad. Still, I brought in a dangerous paranormal, which was always the goal, right?"
"Of course, and you did well. I'm sorry it wasn't as easy an assignment as I promised. "
"Yeah, well, get Jack a GPS or something. He's a step above faeries, but only just. At least they never dropped me straight into a river. Don't give me any assignments near cliffs, okay? I shudder to think where Jack might toss me out. "
"Next time let him step out first. "
I laughed, shaking my head. "Good idea. "
To my surprise, she asked me about school, and it felt both surreal and perfectly natural talking with Raquel about my big Dracula essay, the English test I'd fallen asleep during that morning because of the troll adventure, and my complaints about Miss Lynn. I flashed back to all the times I used to pretend Raquel was my mom, daydreaming about doing something like this with her.
It was nice.
"And how is Lend?"
I looked down into my dwindling hot chocolate. "Not so great. I, uh, kind of didn't tell him I was working with you again. "
She raised her eyebrows. "And he found out. "
"Yup. You can imagine it didn't go over very well. "
She nodded sympathetically and took my hand in hers. "Lend and I certainly didn't start off on the right foot"-only Raquel would refer to Lend punching her and then us imprisoning him in an IPCA cell and interrogating him as being the "wrong foot"-"but he's always been good to you, and I have no doubt you two will be able to work this out. "
"Thanks. I-"
But her communicator beeping shoved us out of our little snippet of normalcy. She read the message and gave her there aren't enough hours in the day sigh, then looked up at me to apologize. I waved my hand.
"No worries. You go save the world. I'm gonna finish getting a cavity. "
She paused. "I really am sorry, Evie. Sometimes I worry that pulling you back in was the wrong thing to do. Perhaps it was selfish on my part. But I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. " She smiled, patting my hand. "I'll be in touch. "
"I know. "
"Let me know if you need any help on that essay. And if I can help with the Lend situation. "
When she left, I felt warmer inside from more than the cocoa. In spite of what a mess the last mission had been, things worked out. And having Raquel back in my life meant more to me than I'd ever imagined it would. That was worth a few near-death experiences in Sweden, right? Lend would understand. I'd make him understand.
One bus ride and three hours later I was exhausted from trying to figure out how to do just that. Lend hadn't given me a specific time when he'd be there, so I lay on the couch with my phone, shifting positions until I found one that didn't hurt my tailbone.
The previous night's adventures caught up to me, and I dozed into fitful sleep. A gentle hand brushing the hair away from my face woke me up. Lend crouched on the floor, eye level with me. "Hey," he said, his voice soft.
"Hey!" I sat up quickly-too quickly, and squeaked from the shock of pain.
"What's wrong?"
"Noth-" I stopped myself. "I bruised my tailbone pretty bad last night. "
"How?"
"I fell down on a step. "
"Where?"
"In Sweden. "
Some of the concern dropped off his face and he sat back on his heels. "Oh. And what were you doing in Sweden that made you fall down on a step?"
"Fighting with a vampire?"
His face went stony. "So you're totally safe working for IPCA again. Great. Are you going to come back with broken bones next time? See, this is exactly what I was talking about! IPCA gets you in its clutches again; and you're lying to me, hiding things, and you've already been trapped in the Center and hurt! Why were you fighting with a vampire?"
I shook my head. "It wasn't supposed to be about a vampire, I was just supposed to-"
"No! It's never what it's supposed to be. I can't believe Raquel sucked you back into doing their dirty work for them. "
And suddenly I went from desperate to explain to full-on pissed. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You think because the vampires around here play nice that they do everywhere else? What good does David's little experiment do to protect people from the paranormals that don't want to discover their own better nature? Some of them are monsters, Lend. You know that! Yeah, IPCA sucks sometimes, but at least they're doing something! I'd love nothing more than to sit around this town serving pancakes, but guess what? You aren't the only one who wants to help paranormals! I might not do it the same way you do, but don't you dare accuse me of doing IPCA's dirty work. Your precious vampire? He was stalking and murdering troll kids! And if it weren't for me, who knows how many more he would have killed?"
"Troll kids?"
I scowled. "Yeah, I went to Sweden to track down a troll colony. "
"You found them?"
"Of course I found them. Because that's what I do, and I'm good at it. The trolls asked for my help, and because they weren't bothering anyone, I protected them from the thing hurting them. And, before you ask, no, I didn't turn the trolls over to IPCA, but, yes, I did turn over the psychotic vampire. So maybe they are using me, but I'm using them, too, and I'd appreciate you not acting like I'm an idiot who does whatever anyone tells me to. "
He was quiet for a minute, and I braced myself for his next argument. "I'm sorry. "
"I- Wait, what?"
"I'm sorry. You're right. I don't get why you feel like IPCA's the best way to go, but I've never been able to be impartial about them. I don't like it, and I'm not going to like it; there are too many ways you can get hurt. But if you feel like it's important, then I can deal with it. You're not an idiot-I know that-you're the brightest, best person I've ever known. "
"So . . . we're okay?" Hope fluttered in my chest, releasing some of the anxiety that had been tearing me apart this whole week.
"Just promise me you're done lying. I hate that IPCA is still a part of your life, but I can accept it if you stop hiding things from me. That bothers me more than anything else, that you feel like you can't be honest with me. You see me like no one else does-the real me-all the time. I want the same thing with you. "
I nodded, tears in my eyes. He was right. He couldn't hide from me. It wasn't fair for me to hide things from him.
"So no more lies?"
I swallowed hard. You're immortal, Lend. "No more lies," I lied.
He sighed, relieved, and sat next to me, cautiously putting his arm around me and resting his head against the back of the couch. "So, umm, what do you want to do now?"
I wished I knew.