Dominion 4 - Ascendance (5 page)

Chapter 6

C
ALEB
arrived early the next morning, but late enough for me to have been up and gotten him a key to the gate, which was undamaged. There was no sign of Gabe or Sam, for which I was grateful. Maybe coming here without telling anyone was a bad decision, but if Gabe thought he had to work so hard just to be with me, why did he bother? Why had he spent years trying to get me to love him, only to resent me for finally taking that step?

My eyes must still have been red and puffy, ’cause the first thing Caleb said with a slow southern drawl when I handed him the key to the gate was, “You all right?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Do you need anything? Coffee?”

He held up a thermos. “Already prepared.” He pointed to the garden he’d revealed yesterday. “It looks like it was a vegetable garden, goes all the way around the house from what I can tell. You want it kept that way, or I can get sod to go over it?”

“Keep it, please.”
He gave me a salute and walked off to do his thing.

After about an hour of cleaning, I decided to venture outside into the bright warmth and see where the path took me. The uneven cobblestones led around the house and through the back. Caleb must have followed it because the back was still an oversized jungle of grass that was almost as tall as I was. The path led to a house, smaller than the mansion but still two-story. A carriage house? Did they have those in California? The lower level appeared to be some sort of garage now, only there were no roads or paths for a car to get to it, but the windows in the second level meant there were probably living quarters there. The caretaker’s place, maybe?

The stairs looked secure enough, but obviously needed some work. I hiked up to the top and tried to peer in the dirty windows before searching through my key ring for something that would open the door. Finally finding it, I pushed the door open and was greeted by the musty smell of mold. The heat inside felt like an oven, and as I opened the door wider a worse smell hit me. Something I wished I didn’t recognize. Unfortunately, I knew death when I smelled it. Was the caretaker still here?

I shook my head. Not possible. He wouldn’t still stink like that. Even boxed up with no open windows, the smell would fade in four years. The heat probably would have cremated him. This had to be fresh.

The call to the police took only a few seconds, but I stumbled out, leaving the door open, and sat down on the top step to wait for the parade that would come. Having been through finding a dead body before, I knew better than to go stomping through leaving traces of my DNA or spouting off things to anyone that could be misconstrued later. I had plenty of time to think though. No one had lived here for years. So how had someone gotten in? This looked like a nice neighborhood, but maybe all the overgrown weeds made someone think they could hide out for a while and not get caught. That didn’t explain the locked door, though.

The sound of Caleb’s machines turning off let me know the cops had arrived. He walked them around the house and spotted me on the steps, questions on his face. I stood and waited for the police to come. Thankfully they didn’t recognize me; maybe the Californians didn’t care about the first male Pillar as much as the Midwest, because they only asked a few things before dismissing Caleb and me.

I returned to the house and continued my cleaning, only stopping to look out the back windows a time or two. The police carried out a body in a black bag but didn’t mark the place off with police tape. When one of the lead detectives moved toward the house, I knew he was coming to talk to me. Hopefully not to arrest me. That was an experience I hoped to never have again.

He tipped his hat lightly when I opened the door for him.
“Everything okay? Do you know who it was and how he got there?” I asked, more than a little anxious.
“No identification. But he appeared the homeless sort. Probably picked the lock to get in. We’ll know more after the coroner’s report comes in. The gardener says you just arrived two days ago?”

“Yes. My dad left me the house in his will, but my uncle was taking care of it until he passed away recently.” I gave him Mr. Odagiri’s number, just in case he wanted to check my story.

“Did anyone warn you about the house?” He eyed the tree behind me.

 

“Warn me about what?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just rumors. Lights on when no one’s home and stuff like that. Could be the squatter. You didn’t see anyone in the house when you arrived, did you?”

“In here? No. The house was such a mess it looked like no one had lived here for years. And I didn’t know about the place in back until today. Caleb is trying to clear some of the overgrowth for me.”

“He your boyfriend?”

I sighed internally. Was it that obvious I was gay? I didn’t have a lisp and my clothes were just jeans and a Tshirt, neither sparkly nor pink. “No. Just someone I hired to do the yard work.”

The cop scanned the interior behind me again. “You might want to invite some friends to stay with you. You never know what might happen. Let us know if you see or hear anything unusual, okay?”

“Sure.” What wasn’t he telling me?

He left, heading off through the gate. All the flashing lights vanished. I wondered about the house in back. It would need major cleaning and airing out. I didn’t know if I was ready for that yet. The idea that someone died in there made me more than a little nervous. The police’s lack of interest worried me. Was it a normal occurrence to find dead people in your garage apartment? I shuddered at the thought and returned to my cleaning. That, at least, was something I could control.

I finished two more rooms before the doorbell rang again. I hurried downstairs, thinking maybe it was Caleb, but when I opened the door it was Jamie, suitcase at his feet.

“Wow, Sei. This is an amazing house.” Jamie stared at the tree in the foyer. “I heard rumors about that tree, but never thought I’d see it.”

“Want to come in?” I stepped aside to let him in. “What are you doing here?” More people thinking I couldn’t take care of myself. Sigh. “Where’s Kelly?”

“He had some school stuff, so it’s just me.” Jamie stood just two feet away, eyes looking over me as if for injury. “I was worried,” he admitted. “I can’t help worrying. You should have said you wanted to come.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

He nodded like he agreed. “No. But you do need your family. I know how awful the winter makes me feel. I can only imagine what it was doing to you.”

Kelly must have been working on him more than I thought for him to admit I didn’t need the protection. I wanted to hug my best friend, but figured I’d give in to the urge later when he showed up too. “It was awful feeling so detached from the earth. I figured since the opportunity had presented itself, I’d check it out and see what I could learn about Dad.”

Jamie looked curious. “Anything so far?” I’d forgotten he had been pretty young when Dad died.

“I’ve spent more time cleaning than looking for history so far. I’m in his room, though. It’s at the back of the house, but it’s comfortable.”

“I can help clean and look for stuff.” Jamie’s eyes glowed with unshed tears while he stared at the tree. He was probably remembering Dad. Maybe he’d share some of those memories with me. The good ones, at least. “I expected to see Gabe with you. Where is he?”

I shrugged and turned away. “Not here. I wouldn’t invite him in.”

Jamie wrapped his arms around me. I cursed myself as I let his warmth take the control from me. He just held me while I sobbed in his arms. “He was worried,” Jamie said after a bit. “Probably said things he didn’t mean. We all do stupid things when we’re afraid.”

I wiped my nose and eyes and grabbed one of his bags. “Let me show you to a room. I’ve got a few clean. Probably another half dozen to go.” I gave him a weak smile.

With his help the cleaning was finished just after 8:00 p.m. Even though no one was in most of the rooms, we made all the beds. The mention of window coverings brought up a discussion about blinds and curtains. Curtains fit the house better, but blinds were more practical. Either way, if sleeping in were to be possible, something was needed.

“We should probably trim the tree back a bit. Before it breaks a window or something,” Jamie remarked, still in awe over the tree in the foyer. “I think your mom was trying to duplicate this. She never really succeeded, though.”

The earth vibrating through me from that tree gave me a better sense of peace than I’d had back home. I knew my mom and Jamie didn’t get along well, but I never knew he’d actually been inside her mansion.

“I’m going to go unpack,” Jamie said.

I waved him off and went to the kitchen to find food. Spearing an apple slice from the two I’d cut up, I played a game on my phone.

The doorbell rang.

I sighed again and glared at the darkness. It was probably Gabe, back to yell at me or bully me into inviting him inside. Jamie said he hadn’t heard from him. Maybe Gabe really was tired of me. Maybe he finally realized I was too much work.

I opened the door, but the man who stood on my step wasn’t Gabe. He was taller, dark hair, chiseled face, broad in the shoulder, and had chocolate-colored eyes that could stare right through a person. He didn’t wear a suit, just dress pants and a button-up, but he stood like he should have been wearing one. He was also a vampire. The earth that rolled through me told me he was a powerful one too. He smiled, hiding his fangs perfectly like so many of the older ones did.

“Mr. Rou?” He sounded foreign, like Italian.

 

“How can I help you?” Apprehension slid down my spine like something wet and slimy.

“I’m Maxwell Hart. You can call me Max. I work in real estate and property management. I heard you might need help with managing the house.” He pulled a card from his pocket. “I am also interested in buying the house if you are willing to sell. Otherwise I can make sure it is taken care of while you’re away.” His eyes locked on the tree behind us. “Maybe hire a permanent gardener.”

I took the card from him, mostly just to be polite. “Thank you, Mr. Hart, but I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with the house yet.”

He nodded and bowed slightly to me, taking a step back. “Let me know if you wish to sell. I can offer a very fair price.” “I will.”

“Have a good evening,” he said and headed down the path back through the gate. Caleb waved good-bye and locked the gate behind him. I closed the door and stared at the giant tree. My blood stained the trunk where I’d landed and pushed myself up. The smear was oddly comforting as something that should be there, a connection to the earth. So I left it alone. Once again that odd-colored ladybug crawled around, this time near the blood. I barely resisted the urge to smash the annoying thing. Trees had bugs. That was a fact of life. Even this inside tree probably needed bugs. As long as it didn’t bite me again, I would let it live.

Chapter 7

T
HE
night was young yet, and the ache in my bones from the ever-pulsing earth made me want to have a bit of time away from the human world. How much of the yard had Caleb finished? Hopefully not all of it.

Jamie came down the stairs. He looked pretty dressed up for the evening. Usually he wore just sweats and a tank, but he was wearing pants and a button-up. “Going out?” he asked me.

“I’m going to shift,” I told him. Normally I only changed into a lynx on the new moon, when the magnetic waves were farthest from the earth, but something about this land magnified the need. I stared at him, wondering at his clothes, since Jamie rarely wore anything other than work out pants and T-shirts. He was the one who appeared to be going out. “I won’t leave the yard, but please leave the door open a little for me.”

“You okay?”
“Yep. Just want to play in the earth a little bit.”

“I feel it too. The power here is a lot like the new moon. I could probably put in a cat-sized door. So that way you can come and go without the door being unlocked.”

“I don’t think I’m staying.” No need to make changes like that yet. And just because I was an earth witch didn’t mean I wanted raccoons and other creatures in the house. Those things weren’t that clean.

“Everything okay?”

I nodded to him, headed up to my room, and stripped out of my clothes to shift. Unlike most other non-new-moon shifts, this one went fast and almost painlessly. On four paws I stretched, letting my brain and body reacquaint themselves to the lynx I became. The house smelled of cleaner, which made me sneeze a few times before I headed downstairs. I could have gone out the back door in the kitchen, but didn’t know how far Caleb had gotten in his manicuring of the lawn, so I played it safe by going out the front.

The freshly clipped grass gave off the aroma of home. I jumped around the yard, enjoying the soft grass and heavenly perfume of earth. Following the path around the house, which led me to the still mostly untouched back, allowed me to revel in life, and I jumped into the overgrowth. I picked up a trail halfway back of something familiar, yet unfamiliar, and followed it to a slew of trees, through the thick brush, and up to the top of a willow tree. Nestled in the crook of the branches above, a black-and-white ringtail twitched.

The dark-purple eyes of the creature glanced at me, wary but unmoving. I could have chased him away, claimed the tree as my own, or even swiped at him with one of my large paws, but he looked so lonely and lost, I let him be. Leaping free of the tree, I bounced in the grass, chased a few mice, and batted at the couple of large spiders who weren’t smart enough to seek cover.

The ringtail came down and briefly played with me, pouncing my way before bounding back and climbing a tree. I kept my claws in each time I landed on his tail. His little clicks and grunts made me laugh, which sounded like snorting in my lynx form. We ran in circles for a bit, probably looking, for all intents and purposes, like new puppies chasing their tails.

He raced around the yard at a speed I couldn’t match, mostly because of his smaller size. When he popped out of the grass and nipped at my belly, I jumped, landing next to the black fence. On the other side of the fence a brown wall stood like it could keep the overgrown earth out. I wondered briefly where the walls went, and why humans did such things to keep the earth penned in or out.