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I put the knife next to me and slowly reached in, unsure what I expected. A new cell phone would be too much to expect right now. I would have thought Cas would have already brought it back by now. How many times could I yell at the camera?
I pulled out a small pile of photos, the top one making me gag.
“What the hell?”
My aunt’s body lay spread out on the couch with a vacant look in her eyes. The hole in her head was most likely why.
I swallowed down the vomit as I took it and placed the first one behind the others. It was more of the same, but what caught my attention was a masked man that had a tattoo that I recognized. The neck tattoo was clear, but the mask? Those were similar to what they’d warn at the art gallery. Cas had killed my aunt?
A small letter fell from the pile.
If you want answers, meet me tomorrow at the White Building.
White Building? That was clear across town in the financial district of the city. There wasn’t a number I could call and decline, but I wanted answers.
I put the pictures down and tried to muster up sadness. My aunt was gone. I hadn’t even known she’d existed until the day Cas and the boys let me go in that CPS car to dump me at her house outside the city. She was a small town stripper turning tricks on the side. The last time I’d talked to her had been the night she told me it was my turn to earn my way, or she was kicking me out.
I remembered packing up and walking miles that night until I found a small motel. I’d waited tables at the only diner in townand somehow had hidden my tips when I couldn’t hide my sad little paychecks. Still, it was the only thing that got me out of her house. That, and the letter I held for some scholarship I hadn’t even remembered applying for. It was all I needed. A ticket out of this life and away from my past. I only needed enough money to get to college a few months away.
What did it say about me? I couldn’t seem to even find a tear that not only was she dead, but that I’d left on shit terms? But had Cas killed her? Why?
I hopped off the counter and paced around the small apartment. What was I supposed to do with this? What was the point? Who had sent these?
I glared at the clock. It was three in the morning. I plucked the paper from the pile of photos and looked at it again. Was there more information that I’d missed? I reread it and that’s when I noticed the time request at five a.m. That was only two hours from now.
Fine, I wasn’t sleeping anyway.
I paused. I saw enough dead bodies to know maybe this wasn’t the smartest move ever. Hell, I didn’t even know what answers I would want that Cas couldn’t give to me, if I could get him to talk to me.
Cas was right. I hadn’t asked him what he was doing in the Spectors. I hadn’t wanted to really know the answers. My fantasy didn’t ever involve reality. I just wanted Cas. But the reality was clashing with everything I didn’t know I hadn’t known.
I crumpled the paper and threw it at the door. How dare he take away what I thought I knew? And how dare someone try to answer questions I should have been able to get for myself? Of course, Cas hadn’t told me my aunt was dead.
My blood ran cold as ice.
Everyone knew something about me that I didn’t. Everyone had secrets. Mom. Dad. My aunt. The worst was Cas though.
I think this was the moment I realized I was just done. Done with everything. I was done hiding behind a mask that made me look normal. I was tired of trying to be everything someone else needed or wanted. It hadn’t ever actually made my life any better.
I was still in the massive hoodie of Cas’s and that sent the wrong message to whatever I was going to be next. I glared to my side as the Tamagotchi yelled at me.
“Fuck off, little dude. Momma needs to go to do something with her life.”
The strappy shoes wrapped up my calves were staying, but the sweatshirt was going. Cas could just fuck off. I licked my lips. Alright, perhaps I could keep him for the sex, but otherwise, he could just fuck off. I hadn’t pledged any loyalties to anyone but the dead.
Now I just needed to pick up a burner phone so I could at least keep my job. Because the dead died even if I didn’t have a phone.
TWENTY-SIX
cas
“Who do you work for?”
We had him stripped, and although he had some tats, there was nothing affiliated with any of the big three that ran the city.
He spit blood at me, like that would deter me.
“I have ways to make you talk. It’s strange that you’re not affiliated with any of the gangs, and yet you march into my territory like no one was going to notice? Who pays you that makes you feel confident enough to step foot over here?”
