“I don’t know. Or rather, I’m not sure what happened. As far as the blood goes, not mine either. I’ll tell you in a minute, but do you have anything I could change into? I need to get out of these clothes or I’m going to throw up.” The metallic tang of the blood was starting to make me queasy. Even though I was used to taking down sub-Fae, this was a whole ‘nother matter. I had killed two men in cold blood, and even though I had done so to protect both DJ and myself, it hit me hard and I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Of course. Go take a shower and then go through my closet. I have a couple of loose gowns that should fit you. I’m going to wash DJ in the kitchen, and check him over for any injuries.” As she hustled him into the kitchen, he was slowly wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
I stumbled into the bathroom, not wanting to take too long. I stripped off my clothes and climbed in the shower, scrubbing all over with a vanilla bath wash. I washed my hair and the blood poured down off my body in a stream of red water. Finally, the water was clear and I finally felt clean.
After I toweled off, I glanced through Angel’s closet. She was five-ten, and thin. I was five-six and one hundred and fifty pounds of muscle and boobs. I found a loose tank dress that would fit me, but I knew her bras wouldn’t begin to work for me, so I went without. My own was so saturated with rain and mud and blood that I couldn’t bear to put it back on.
I gathered my clothes in a pile and dropped them in her bathtub. I would put them in a plastic bag before I went home.
As I returned to the living room, DJ was sitting on the sofa, eating a sandwich. I hurried over to the window and glanced outside again. Still nobody driving by, which I took as a good sign. I motioned for Angel to join me and we sat next to DJ.
“I’ll tell you all about it, but first I want to talk to DJ.” I turned to him. “DJ, we need to know what happened. Tell us everything you can. Don’t worry—we won’t be angry. Tell us everything you remember.” I grabbed a notebook that was sitting on the coffee table and opened it to an empty page. “Angel, I need a pen.”
She handed me a gel pen, and I prepared to take notes.
DJ swallowed a bite of his sandwich and set it back on the plate. He took a deep breath.
“I was headed home from Jason’s, and Mrs. Harris was out in her yard.”
“Who’s Mrs. Harris?” I asked.
“She’s one of Jason’s neighbors. She’s an old lady but she’s really nice. She asked if I could help her out for a moment and she would pay me for the help. I know how hard you work,” he said to Angel. “I thought if I could help out…”
“Oh honey, I wish you wouldn’t worry so much.” Angel winced. “You don’t ever worry about money, all right? I’ll always take care of you. What did she want you to do?”
“She had some weeding that needed done, and she wanted me to help her plant some flowers. She said she’d pay me twenty dollars if I’d help her out for a few hours. So I decided it would be okay. I was going to call you, but then we got busy and I forgot. I worked there until about two o’clock, and then I realized that I had forgotten to feed Barney last night.” Barney was a tortoise that hung out in their backyard. “I didn’t want him to be hungry, and I knew that Angel would be worried if she called and I wasn’t home. So I decided to take the shortcut.”
Angel started to say something but I motioned for her to be quiet.
“Go on.”
“I was part of the way through—almost to where your car was—when I heard something in the woods. In the ravine. It sounded like somebody calling for help. I thought somebody was in trouble, so I ran over and started down the slope.” He was staring down at his hands in his lap. “I know you always tell me not to go through the park if I can help it, but I thought somebody was in trouble.”
“I know,” Angel said. “And you always want to help people when you can.” She glanced over at me.
I nodded. DJ was one of the most helpful children I had ever met, and he had a keen sense of responsibility.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m not mad. Please go on.”
DJ bit his lip, then continued. “I heard them call out again and it was louder this time. It sounded like somebody was hurt. I followed the voices until I saw three men down below in the undergrowth. That’s when I realized nobody was calling for help. They were yelling and screaming at each other, and at first I thought one of them—the blond man—was hurt. I slowed down because I didn’t want to interrupt if they were okay. And that’s when they quit yelling so loud and started to talk.”
“What did they say? Was it the same men who had you tied up when I found you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was them, and a friend of theirs. I’m not sure what they were saying, but I heard them making plans about bows and arrows and poison.”
I let out a long sigh. The Light Fae were probably looking to ambush their icy cousins. Par for the course, given the two factions hated each other. “Lovely. What happened then?”
“I got really scared and I tried to sneak back up the hill but I stepped on a branch and it broke. They heard me and started chasing me. I knew I could run faster if I wasn’t running uphill, so I took off to the side and then ran down toward the stream. I got tangled up in the bush, and lost my handkerchief. By the time I got free they almost had me. I tried to get away, but they knocked me down. They tied me up and started arguing about what to do with me. And then they dragged me over to where you found me and talked about stuffing me in the culvert after they killed me. The dark-haired man told the other one—he had dark hair too—to go see if anybody else was sneaking around.”
Angel let out a cry. Her hand fluttered to her mouth. “This is worse than I thought.”
I had to agree. “Did you see any others there? Besides the three of them? Anyone at all?”
DJ shrugged, scrunching up his face as he tried to remember. “I don’t know. All I know is that the blond one didn’t want to kill me and the one with dark hair did.”
“Is there anything else that you can remember? Anything else that you heard?”
DJ was fretting now, looking frantic. “I don’t know. I don’t know!”
I had the feeling we had gotten everything we could out of him, at least for now. He might remember more later, but right now he just needed to finish his sandwich and get some rest.
“Eat your sandwich and then take a hot bath.” I turned to Angel. “My clothes are in your bathtub. Do you have a plastic bag that I can put them in?”
“They’re in the kitchen, on the microwave,” she said.
While DJ finished his sandwich, I hurried to wring out my clothes and scoop them into the garbage bag, tying it shut. Then I washed up the tub and drew a hot bath, pouring in a few bubbles. As I returned to the living room, carrying my bag of bloody clothes, I nodded over my shoulder.
“The bathtub’s ready.”
“Thanks,” Angel said. She patted DJ’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go take a bath, kiddo?”
He had finished his sandwich, and I saw a cupcake wrapper sitting next to it. “I see you had dessert,” I said, forcing a smile to my face.
“Do you want one?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’d love one. Thank you.” I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of me now, considering he had watched me kill the two men. But he brought me back a cupcake, a smile cracking the solemnity of his face.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, handing me the treat.
I took the cupcake and peeled away the paper. The fragrant smell of chocolate wafted up to set my stomach to growling. “What did I do?”
“You saved my life. I know they were going to kill me. I’m just sorry you had to hurt them instead, but thank you.”
And then, he threw his arms around my neck. I juggled both DJ and the cupcake as he gave me a quick hug before running off into the bathroom. Watching him go, I bit into the cupcake and closed my eyes as the frosting melted in my mouth.
Angel was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. She waited until we heard the click of the bathroom door before letting out a long sigh and turning to me. “What the hell do we do? There was somebody else there, he said? Do you know if they found out who DJ was?”