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PERKINS was surprised when he heard a knock at his hotel door. “Just a minute,” he yelled.
For two months, he did everything possible to cover his tracks. He didn’t tell anyone other than Tristan that he was going to investigate on his own. He had no contact with the Coesen Guard and he left them no way to locate him. Yet, when he looked through the peep hole he knew it was Cassius who stood on the other side of the door.
Perkins pivoted around and did a few hand signals, telling Evie who it was on the other side of the door. “I’m putting something on,” he told Cassius through the closed door.
When Perkins glanced back at the sofa, Evie was no longer there. He quickly made his way to one of the back rooms. She stood next to one of the large windows.
“You can’t jump,” he joked.
“We can’t let him find me here either,” Evie said with a shrug. She opened the window as quietly as she could to put her bag strap over her head and shoulder before stepping onto the fire escape. “Ask yourself this, Ryan, why is he here?”
“Cassius would have never betrayed Sovereign Harper.” Perkins whispered as he walked over to the window and crouched down.
Evie looked down onto the street below, he assumed to make sure it was clear, then she squatted so they were eye to eye. “All I know is that the informant who told me that your mystery girl Alicia Reynolds was involved with Zuri, also gave me the heads up that someone has taken notice of our snooping. Now, my informant is dead and Cassius is here. It’s all a little too convenient for me.” She frowned when he didn’t respond. “Fine,” Evie said, “it’s your ass. If you survive the next hour, call me.” Evie quickly descended the metal steps.
Perkins had no time to think it over. He hurried to the bathroom and took off his shirt. He put a dab of shampoo on a washcloth and rubbed until it was full of suds. Then he rinsed the cloth until the suds were almost gone and rubbed the dripping cloth over his face and hair. He wiped it over his upper body then put the shirt back on and buttoned it up making sure to skip a button so that his shirt was buttoned up wrong. He pulled off his shoes and socks and wet his feet. Perkins then grabbed a towel, placed it around his neck then went to the hotel door.
When Perkins opened the door, Cassius was leaning against the far wall. Perkins stepped back and extended his hand, motioning for Cassius to come inside.
“I apologize for not calling first,” Cassius said as he walked into the hotel room. He looked around the mid-sized accommodations then turned back to Perkins with a look that suggested the room wasn’t fit for an animal, let alone a Coesen. “How about we take a walk.”
Perkins rubbed the towel over his damp head for effect. “Alright,” Perkins agreed. “Let me finish getting dressed. You can have a seat.” Perkins didn’t look back to see if Cassius would sit. Instead he started toward the bathroom, leaving his wet footprints to mark his path.
“So, what can I do for you Cassius?” Perkins asked as he and Cassius walked down the busy street ten minutes later. He kept watch of all the people around him as they strolled. Evelyn’s words of warning still rang in his head.
“I wanted to see if you found what you were looking for,” Cassius said. “You’ve been at this for a while now.”
The two men held each other’s gaze for a moment as they continued to walk.
“No,” Perkins said with a smirk, “nothing yet.”
***
CASSIUS stopped and faced Perkins who casually reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum. He watched Perkins inspect the pack then turn in place. When Perkin’s saw a convenience store to the side of him, he crumbled the pack in his hand and threw it at a trash can that sat on the sidewalk near the street.
“Can I get you something?” Perkins asked as he motioned to the store.
“I’m good,” Cassius said. He tried to hide his contempt for the area and all it encompassed as he responded. He didn’t follow Perkins inside the little convenience store. As an alternative, he turned around and watched traffic move on the street. After a few minutes, he cursed. He didn’t want to be here, in this place a minute more. “How long does it take to buy gum?” he said under his breath.
Cassius sighed as his gaze found the pack Perkins tossed at the garbage can. The gum pack lay amongst the litter on the sidewalk. He leaned forward, taking a closer look at the pack. There were still a few pieces left inside.
“Shit,” he cursed then immediately ran into the small liquor store. He looked up and down the two aisles. “Is there a back door in this establishment?”
The clerk looked up from his magazine as if annoyed and pointed to the rear of the store. “Yeah, but it’s locked. I got the only key.” The young man said holding up a chain that was around his neck with a single key on it.
“Sure,” Cassius said sarcastically. He swiftly walked to the rear of the store where he found the door ajar. The store clerk came up beside Cassius with a surprised look on his face.
***
PERKINS went to the other hotel room he procured for a situation just like this. Inside, he gathered some clothing, money, and his spare guns before calling Evie. The instructions in the message he left were clear. Don’t go home, just go somewhere and lay low until ten pm then meet him at the park.
They met in the same spot a few days before and he knew she would know the location.
Perkins looked at his watch again. It was ten after ten. “Shit,” he said, then stood up. He paced and grabbed his head. “Shit,” he said again.
Twenty minutes later, Perkins anxiously stood in front of Evelyn’s house. He didn’t need his Protector abilities to sense that something was seriously wrong. A large shadowed form that wasn’t Evie moved behind the window, causing him to drop behind a car parked near the curb.
Is she seeing someone or...
After watching the front of the house for a minute or so, Perkins decided he needed to enter through the back. Perkins took a deep breath as he slowly pushed Evie’s back door open and slid inside. There was nothing immediately screaming out at him but he trusted his instincts. If all was fine, Evie will just be upset about him stalking around her house. So, he crept through the rancher style home, quietly making his way to Evie’s bedroom where the door sat open.
Perkins’ heart sank when he peeked inside and saw Evie on the floor, face down beside her bed. Her hair was knotted and disheveled. Her shirt was raised, leaving her lower back uncovered. The stretch jeans she wore were ripped but thankfully still on. One of her shoes was on her foot, the other was gone.
She fought her assailant.
Kneeling beside her, Perkins rolled Evie over. Her face was swollen and bruised, and blood ran from her nose. He placed his hand behind her neck to lift her head but his hands grazed over something hard. She moaned.
“Damn it Evie,” Perkins whispered in her ear. He raised her head up more and placed his forehead to hers. He closed his eyes, willing her to wake up, to heal, to come back to him. He wanted to tell her so many things. Tell her he was sorry that he let her and Lilith down. To tell her that he wanted to be more to her and always had.
“Why did you come back here? I told you not to come back here.”
Evelyn raised her clenched hand slowly and brushed his cheek. Her eyes were still closed but hope washed over him. She was alive. He felt her fist press against his cheek so he took hold of her wrist. When she opened her hand, Perkins took the paper she revealed.
Evelyn slowly opened her eyes. “Find Zuri,” she breathed.
“That’s going to be a bit difficult if he’s dead.”
Perkins turned his head and stared at the average sized man standing in Evie’s doorway. He only had time to log the man’s mature face to memory before he felt a devastating blow to his chest that knocked Evie out of his arms and pushed him back into a shoe stand across the room.
The assailant’s eyes burned with wickedness as he stood by the bedroom door again with a menacing smile on his face.
Perkins grunted in pain as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He slowly got to his feet. “Get out Evie!” he shouted, as he pulled his gun out and aimed. But she didn’t move. She lay on the floor, staring at him with hollowed eyes.
“Let me introduce myself, Guardian Perkins,” the man said. “My name is Bernard but you may know me by my last name, Givens.” He walked slowly now, as opposed to the lightning speed at which he moved when he hit Perkins.
Seemingly amused, Givens moved toward Perkins with no fear of the gun pointed at his head. “Assuming you’ve forgotten who I am or what a Protector can do,” he continued toward Perkins, “that piece of shit gun isn’t going to save you.”
Closer, Perkins said to himself. Come a little closer.
Perkins remembered Givens and all the victims he’d killed to gain an order of death from the Royal Guardians.
Closer. Closer.
Perkins fired but Givens moved at the last minute, avoiding the bullet with speed and grace that only a skilled Protector could. “No, this piece of shit gun won’t save me,” Perkins said with a satisfied grin, “but she can.” He held out a small oval silicone device with two little wires coming out of each end. Perkins rotated his hand and the device dropped to the floor.
Givens’ carefree expression turned to panic as he watched the Inhibitor he must have placed over Evelyn’s spine fall to the floor. His gaze trailed from the Inhibitor to his feet where one of Evelyn hands was wrapped around his right ankle. Givens’ eyes widened when they met Evelyn’s.
Perkins saw Evie’s eyes narrow with hate a second before Givens’ entire body burst into flames. He hurried to Evie’s side and dragged her from Givens’ flaming body that bumped around the room setting everything it touched a flame.
Once they were clear of the flames, Perkins lifted her to his chest and carried her out of room, down the hall and through the front door. When he reached the curb, Perkins sat with her cradled in his arms. He inspected her scorched arm and hand. It was charred, with red lines glowing under the burns.
“Evie...Evelyn,” he whispered. Perkins peered into her unresponsive but still beautiful face. After a few seconds passed, he reluctantly felt for a pulse. A debilitating pressure built in his chest, almost knocking him back. His body swayed but he remained seated upright with her still cradled to him.
Perkins let a faint gasp slip out as he sucked in a breath. He clumsily climbed to his feet with Evie still in his arms. Perkins walked the three blocks to his car with a new resolve. He opened the rear door and gently placed Evie’s body in the back seat, tearing his eyes from hers only when the locket around her neck reflected the light of the moon. Perkins’ hands slipped around her neck and unfastened it. He knew at once that it was Lilith’s necklace, he saw it around his ward’s neck every day when they were younger.
Opening the locket, his heart sank. On one side, a picture showed Evelyn, Lilith and him hugging each other and smiling. He remembered that day because it was the day he told Evelyn he loved her. The day after, Evelyn gave herself to him completely. It was that day he treasured above all.
On the other side of the locket was a picture of him, the day he completed the Maatii and became a Royal Guardian. He waited until they graduated college and for Lilith to move in with her boyfriend before he told her and Evie he was planning to complete the Maatii so he could serve his four-year rotation protecting the Royals.
Lilith was excited and supported him. Evelyn, who gave him the brush off after his declaration of love and after making love to him a year earlier, told him he was a fool and she couldn’t believe he would leave Lilith unprotected when he could just join the local Guard to serve his rotation.
Perkins’ heart broke as he held the locket tightly before placing it around his neck. He chose the Royal Guard versus the Coesen Guard to get away from her. To heal the broken heart Evelyn had so easily dismissed. But he never stopped loving her. Evelyn still owned his heart all these years.
Perkins kissed Evelyn’s cold lips. All the heat had left her body now. Pyros like Evie usually held onto their core heat and some curious electricity, allowing them to hold on to life longer than other Coesens when their bodies experienced trauma. But Evelyn was beaten so badly that she didn’t have enough heat to sustain her life and kill Givens too.
She sacrificed herself, choosing to kill Givens to save him.
“Why?” he whispered, “why save me?”
Realization hit him so hard he fell back through the open car door on his ass. He rested his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands.
Evelyn befriended him instantly when the Source chose him as Lilith’s Protector. The three were inseparable but he always thought she hung around to keep an eye on her sister. Evelyn took his first kiss and he took hers but it had been on a dare at a party so he thought she didn’t treasure it the way he had.
He remembered she dated some throughout high school and college but never really latched on to one person. Lilith often joked that Evie always kept men at a distance, except for him. Only, she never gave him a hint of interest, never said she wanted more even though he did. She led him to believe she only wanted to remain best friends. They were the three musketeers until she came to his dorm room one night, giving him her virginity that he’d been so certain she gave away years ago.
All those years...
“Damn it Evie, why didn’t you tell me that you loved me too?”
