Page 12 of Brush with Death (Not Quite Dead #3)
LEFT TO HIS OWN ACCORDS, Cyril wouldn’t have known what to do. He’d done his job. He’d talked to Sam and had gotten answers from him, but he was clueless as to what to do now. He didn’t know what to do with the information Sam had given them.
Luckily, he didn’t have to know.
“Okay, so the Master was only the tip of the iceberg,”
Rachel said.
Her voice was coming out of Vale’s phone, which was on the kitchen table. Cyril, Vale, and Russell were sitting around it, all of them staring at the screen, even though they couldn’t see Rachel. Cyril had a notepad with a pen, just in case. He wasn’t sure what Rachel was going to tell them, but he might need to take notes.
“That doesn’t sound like I’m going to like whatever you’re about to say,”
Vale grumbled.
“You probably won’t. We know there were three men at the lake with Sam. One of them was the Master, but he didn’t know the other two.”
“Do we know the other two?”
Cyril asked.
“We know one of them. I’m still looking into the Master. The man is smarter than I expected but not smarter than me. I’ll find his real name. In the meantime, I dug through social media, and I found someone you’ll probably be interested in. His name is Albert, and he’s been freaking out over private messages.”
Cyril knew that none of what Rachel did was legal, and he worried. He doubted anyone would find out that she was doing this, and she’d been doing it for years, but what was happening had hit close to home. He’d already lost Sam. He didn’t want to lose more people he cared about.
“Apparently, killing people wasn’t part of the plan for that night,”
Rachel continued.
“I found Albert’s messages with the Master, and it was clear they were planning something. There’s a list of supplies they needed to bring to the lake, and the Master mentioned that he’d bring the most important thing. Albert didn’t seem to think anything of it. The day after, Albert texted the Master. He was worried that someone would find out they were involved with Sam’s death.”
Cyril sucked in a breath and loosened his hold on his pen. He was angry, but he couldn’t go out there and find this Albert guy on his own. Luckily for him, he was dating a professional assassin. Vale was retired, but Cyril doubted he’d say no if he asked him to kill Albert.
Cyril wasn’t sure it was something he could do. He believed that Albert deserved to pay after what he and his friends had done to Sam, but he’d never be able to kill him. Vale could, though. It had been his job for a long time. He adhered to a code of ethics, but Albert wasn’t innocent. He’d killed a man or had helped the person who’d killed Sam. Either way, he needed to pay, and Cyril found that he didn’t care if it was with his life.
“Someone did find out,”
Russell said. He sounded serious, which wasn’t how Cyril usually saw him. There had been no teasing when he’d arrived today. He was focused on what they were doing.
“We did,”
Rachel confirmed.
“Just like I found out that Sam isn’t the only person they killed.”
Cyril dropped his pen. He wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t thought that there would be more victims. He’d been na?ve enough to think that Sam had been the only victim.
He’d been wrong.
“This is the first time Albert has been involved in a death, but the Master mentions that no one has ever found out before,”
Rachel continued.
“I started digging into it, and I found a few names that could belong to the people the Master has killed. I’ll dig deeper into it, but I thought you’d want to know what I’d already found.”
What were they supposed to do now? The Master wasn’t only responsible for one death but for several. Cyril was completely out of his depth. Should they call the police? But the police didn’t think that Sam had been killed. They thought it had been an accident, and while Cyril could tell them he’d reanimated Sam, he wasn’t sure they’d believe him. They never hesitated to use him when they needed him, but they wanted nothing to do with him outside of that. They thought he was a freak, and maybe he was, but he didn’t care about their opinion.
He just wanted to help people, and after what Rachel had said, it was clear there were more of them to help than he’d realized.
“Thank you,”
Vale said.
As if he knew what Cyril was thinking, he slid his hand over the table to grab Cyril’s. He linked her fingers together and squeezed. When Cyril looked up, Vale was still focused on the phone, but Cyril couldn’t ignore their hands touching.
“We have to take care of this,”
Russell said.
“We don’t have to do anything,”
Vale said.
“We’re not police officers or detectives.”
“We can’t just stand by and let this guy continue killing people,”
Cyril argued.
“I know. We won’t, but I wanted Russell to realize what he was saying. We’re not vigilantes. We’re professional assassins, and no one is paying us to do this.”
“I’ll pay you if that’s what you need.”
“Of course not.”
Vale raised Cyril’s hand and kissed its back.
“Russell and I will take care of this.”
“I want to be involved.”
Cyril might not be of any use in a fight, but he wouldn’t have to fight. Vale wouldn’t allow anyone anywhere near him.
“Of course you do. But how am I supposed to kill this guy if I’m focused on keeping you safe?”
“Russell can keep an eye on Albert while you keep an eye on me. I’ll be fine. I just need to see this through.”
“Are you sure? Because thinking about killing someone and actually doing it is very different. I don’t want you to do or see something you’ll regret.”
“The Master needs to pay. Maybe I won’t watch while you do what you have to do, but I want to be there anyway. I want to watch him when he realizes why it’s happening.”
Death didn’t scare Cyril, but it scared most people, and he couldn’t wait to see the Master meet it.
VALE UNDERSTOOD WHY Cyril wanted to be part of this, but he was worried. Cyril was used to death, but he’d never been involved in killing someone. Vale didn’t want him to freak out. He also didn’t want his boyfriend to think less of him.
Cyril knew what Vale was ready to do when it came to keeping them safe. He wouldn’t be surprised to see Vale kill someone. Hell, he already had. Vale had killed some of the professional assassins who’d come after him recently. Cyril also knew about the guards Vale had killed to rescue him. Still, Vale kept waiting for Cyril to decide that it was too much and that he couldn’t be with him anymore.
But Cyril was right. They couldn’t allow the Master to continue doing this. Normally, Vale wouldn’t care because no one was paying him to intervene, but Cyril’s friend had been killed. Besides, he was pretty sure that Russell would do it without getting paid just so he could stop the man who sounded like a serial killer. He’d probably find it fun.
He sighed. They might as well do it.
“Send me Albert’s address,”
he told Rachel.
“Already done. Punch him for me, will you?”
“I will.”
They moved as soon as she hung up. Vale already knew that trying to convince Cyril to stay home wouldn’t work, so he didn’t try a second time. He was worried, but he was pretty sure that, between him and Russell, they had things in hand. As Cyril had said earlier, Russell could focus on Albert while Vale kept an eye on him. It would be useless to force Cyril to stay back because he’d find his way to them, anyway.
Cyril stayed in the living room while Russell and Vale got ready. The silence was tense, but it made something settle in Vale. This had been his job for many years, and the familiar gestures felt like coming home. Vale didn’t regret retiring, but he really needed to find something else to do.
“You’ll let Russell and I take the lead,”
he told Cyril as they left the apartment to get into Russell’s car.
“I’m not coming with you to kick Albert’s ass or whatever you’re thinking. I just want to be there when you do.”
Russell chuckled, and Vale whipped his head around to glare at him. Russell didn’t seem to care. He’d never found Vale intimidating.
“It won’t be pretty,”
Vale continued.
“You might see things you wish you hadn’t seen.”
“Stop trying to get me to change my mind. I’m used to death. I’ve never killed anyone, but I’ve seen enough to know what I’m getting into.”
“I really hope you do.”
“Sam was my friend. I need the people who killed him to pay for what they did. I need the Master to pay for hurting people.”
“You don’t have to see it happen.”
“And maybe I won’t. I just need to be there.”
Vale wasn’t going to win this.
“You’ll stop when I tell you to stop and walk when I tell you to walk. You’ll stay away from anyone who isn’t me or Russell. If I tell you to run, you run, and you don’t look back. Russell and I can defend ourselves.”
“Yeah, I know.”
It was a small miracle that Cyril wasn’t grumbling about Vale treating him like a child. Vale wouldn’t have had the patience for it today. He needed Cyril to know how serious he was about this.
Russell drove them through the city. Vale didn’t know where they were going, but Russell clearly did. When they stopped, it was in a residential neighborhood.
It wasn’t a surprise. Monsters often lived where people wouldn’t think to look for them.
“Rachel says that the man is married with two kids, but his wife and children are away to visit his mother-in-law,”
Russell explained.
“He’s alone in the house and will be alone for a few more days.”
Russell hadn’t parked at the house where they needed to be. They had to walk, but Cyril kept up with them easily. It was dark, yet he didn’t get lost or stumble once.
The house their target lived in looked like any other house on the street. They were at the back of it, and Vale could see children’s toys and a bicycle in the yard. The lights were on downstairs, and a man was moving around the kitchen.
Albert looked like any other guy. His brown hair was cut short, and he had glasses. His white shirt was tight on his stomach and his belt was undone, but that was the least of his problems at the moment.
He just didn’t know it yet.
Getting inside the house was easy. The alarm wasn’t even armed. Vale and Russell had worked together often enough that they had a familiar routine. They separated, each of them choosing a different entrance to the kitchen. Vale chose a window and helped Cyril through it after making sure that the room it opened into was empty.
Albert squeaked when he first noticed Russell. He dropped his can of beer to the floor and took a step back.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
He lunged for his phone on the counter, but Vale was there. He snatched the phone before Albert could reach it, sliding it into his pocket because he knew that Rachel would be able to use it. He smiled pleasantly, enjoying the fear in Albert’s expression.
“Hello, Albert.”
Albert snatched a knife from the block. He held it in front of him, but his hand was shaking. Vale was surprised he hadn’t dropped the knife yet. He was ready to bet it would happen within the next five minutes.
“How do you know my name?”
Albert asked.
“What do you want from me?”
“We want to talk about the Master,”
Cyril said.
Vale was a bit surprised because he expected his boyfriend to stay silent through all of this, but clearly, Cyril needed this.
Albert paled so much that Vale had expected him to faint. The man had to reach for the counter to hold himself up, and the knife clattered on the floor.
“Did he send you?”
Albert asked.
“Sam sent me,”
Cyril spat out.
“You know, the man you drowned in the lake.”
Albert shook his head.
“It wasn’t me. It was the Master.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Why don’t you tell us what happened and let us decide?”
Russell and Vale exchanged a glance. Vale was stunned by the way his boyfriend was behaving. He hoped Cyril wouldn’t regret any of this later. He was pretty sure that Cyril was allowing his anger and pain to drive him, but what would happen once they vanished?
“He said that if we summoned a demon, we’d be able to tie it to us and make it do our bidding. We could use the demon to kill people and become rich.”
Cyril cocked his head.
“Who did you want to kill?”
Albert shook his head.
“No one. I never really believed it was possible.”
“I don’t believe you. Who was it? Your wife?”
Albert looked like he wanted to run. Cyril was probably right.
Russell bumped his shoulder against Vale’s.
“He’s good,”
he murmured.
“Shut up and listen,”
Vale snapped.
Russell mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key. Vale rolled his eyes.
“It wasn’t like that,”
Albert said.
“Please. I didn’t kill Sam. I didn’t even know him before that day. I didn’t realize that he was the thing the Master would be bringing along to summon the demon. I didn’t know we’d have to kill someone for it to work.”
“Did it?”
Albert looked confused. “What?”
“Did it work? Did you summon a demon?”
“No. Nothing happened, not even after Sam died. The Master told us to leave before someone came by and saw what we did.”
Cyril slowly nodded. “I see.”
“I had nothing to do with any of it, I swear.”
“You’re going to tell me everything that happened in detail, including the names of the other people involved. And don’t give me that crap about the Master. I want his name.”
The scent of urine hit Vale. He wrinkled his nose, wishing he could be anywhere but here.
“He’s very good,”
Russell whispered.
He was right.
CYRIL HAD NO IDEA WHAT had taken over him, but he wanted answers, and he had them.
Albert told them everything they needed to know, including the name of the Master. He gave them details about what the Master had done to Sam that Cyril was pretty sure he’d never forget. He forced himself to listen to all of it, feeling sick to his stomach. He didn’t throw up in Albert’s nice kitchen sink, but it was a close thing.
Everything about the house was nice. Vale had once said that monsters hid in plain sight, but Cyril had a hard time believing it then. He didn’t anymore. He never would’ve thought that someone like Albert could live in this nice house, decorated in warm browns and greens, with pictures of children and family all over the walls. There was a doll sitting on one of the stools at the counter, and children’s drawings were on the fridge.
It was a family home, but Albert wasn’t a family man. He was a monster.
He was a monster who was about to pay for what he’d done.
“You should go outside,”
Vale told Cyril.
Cyril was still staring at Albert.
“Are you sure we got everything we could from him?”
“I swear I told you everything I knew,”
Albert quickly said.
“Angelo is nuts. He actually thinks that he can summon demons. He’s not going to stop until he does it.”
Which would never happen. Cyril had looked into it after Rachel had mentioned it the first time. He’d been curious because, after all, necromancers and magic users existed. He’d wanted to know if demons really could be summoned.
They couldn’t. No one even knew if they actually existed. They were stories told to children and people to scare them, but as far as Cyril knew, no one had ever seen a demon. No one had certainly summoned one, and Angelo wasn’t about to start.
“I’ll take you outside,”
Vale said.
“Russell needs you.”
Russell snorted loudly.
“Please. I don’t need anyone to do this.”
“To do what?”
Albert asked.
“What are you going to do?”
Cyril didn’t need Russell to answer. Since he wasn’t about to climb through the window to leave the way he’d come in, he turned toward the back door and allowed Vale to open it for him.
Vale guided Cyril outside. If Cyril turned back, he could still see Russell and Albert, but he didn’t want to see them. He wanted nothing else to do with Albert anymore.
“You should go back inside,”
he told Vale.
“You heard Russell. He doesn’t need my help. Besides, I’d rather stay with you.”
“I can go if you want,”
a new voice said, startling Cyril.
He stumbled, but Vale caught his arm and kept him upright. Cyril blinked at the sight of John standing under a tree, his arms crossed over his chest. He grinned, and Cyril found himself smiling back.
“I’m going to kill you,”
Vale said with a growl.
John raised his hands.
“Please. I just want to help.”
“With what, digging your own grave?”
“I hadn’t thought of that, but it would be kind of fun, wouldn’t it?”
Cyril cocked his head. The man wasn’t normal. Who would think that digging your own grave was fun? Didn’t John realize that Vale was threatening him?
“It would be even more fun to kill you,”
Vale said as he stepped forward.
Cyril caught Vale’s arm.
“Stay with me?” he asked.
Vale hesitated. When he glanced back toward the kitchen, Cyril knew why. Russell was more than capable of doing this himself, but Vale wanted to have his back anyway.
“John can go inside and help Russell,”
Cyril added.
“I don’t trust him.”
“I don’t think Russell will care about that. He won’t let John best him. John couldn’t even if he tried.”
“Rude,”
John grumbled.
“There’s a reason I’m trying to find a teacher, you know? I want to better myself.”
“You can start by going in there and helping Russell,”
Cyril told him.
John grinned and gave Cyril a thumbs-up. Cyril watched him disappear into the kitchen, still wondering what the fuck had just happened. John couldn’t be real.
“We’re never going to get rid of him if you continue smiling at him like that,”
Vale grumbled.
“I don’t think him sticking around has anything to do with my smile.”
“It does because it makes him feel like we accepted him. He tried to kill me, Cyril.”
“And you kicked his ass so badly that he wants you to teach him how to do it. You should feel proud of that.”
“There’s nothing to feel proud of. He sucks.”
Cyril smiled but was quickly interrupted when someone screamed. It only lasted a few seconds, but it made Cyril shudder. He really hoped the neighbors hadn’t heard that.
Vale opened his arms.
“Come here.”
He didn’t have to say it twice. Cyril stepped into his embrace and allowed Vale’s presence to muffle the horrors of what was happening just a few feet away. Albert was done, but they weren’t.
“We’ll find Angelo, won’t we?” he asked.
Vale kissed Cyril’s hair.
“Yeah, we will.”
“And you’ll let John help us?”
“Do I really have to?”
“I think it would be fun. And if Russell is distracted by John, he won’t annoy you too badly.”
“I don’t like it, but maybe it’s worth it to get Russell off my back.”