Page 15 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

T he next morning Detective Rowans showed up at my front door with coffee and donuts for the both of us. I might have appreciated this gesture if he’d have called ahead to let me know he was coming and if he hadn’t shown up at the ass crack of dawn.

At least this time when the police came a knocking I wasn’t hungover and rocking some scary bed head.

“What are you doing?” I grumbled as I let him in, closing the door behind him.

He looked around my house curiously. “Did you just move in here or something?”

I shook my head as I scowled at him. “No. I’ve lived here since I was eighteen. Why?”

“Your house is kind of… bare. It looks like you moved in but haven’t unpacked yet. What gives with that?”

This man was quickly becoming one of the most frustrating people I had ever met. “Did you come over at dawn to ask me about my decorating skills, or lack thereof? I didn’t have much in the way of personal items when I moved in here. I like clothes and I like weapons. I don’t need much else. Now, please, tell me what you’re doing here, Detective.”

“I take it you’re not a morning person?” he asked and the laughter in his voice made me want to throw something at him.

“You know you’re annoying, yes?”

Without him telling me the reasons behind him being here I knew why. I had a hard decision to make here and I wanted to stall for time so that I didn’t have to make it.

I didn’t invite people down into the basement. It was supposed to be my safe space and if everyone knew about it then that safety level went down with each person.

I knew with the Detective that he’d keep my secrets, that wasn’t the problem. It was opening up and sharing in the first place that I struggled with.

I was a loner and I liked it like that.

If you let people in and gave them the chance, in my experiences, all they did was disappoint you.

Did I want to give the Detective that chance? I thought I might be past the point of having an option.

I snatched one of the coffees out of his hand and took a sip. Surprisingly, it was very sweet and not how I usually drink my coffee. I wondered if that’s how he usually drank it or if he’d added extra creamer and sugar for my benefit.

“Follow me,” I told him as I made my way to the door that led to the basement. I shifted my body, hiding the keypad from his view as I punched in the code.

“Are you taking me to your secret lair?” he asked. “Or does this lead to your sex dungeon?”

I laughed. He had it right the first time. I didn’t have a sex dungeon in my house. Call me old fashioned but I did my dirty deeds in the bedroom.

Maybe I’d be too boring for a man like him.

And why did my mind always go straight to the gutter whenever he was around?

He followed me down the stairs and when we got to the bottom all of the lights had come to life and the wall of screens had begun flickering on.

“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath.

“There are no cameras inside,” I shared with him as we both sat down on the couch. “I respect my privacy too much for that. Obviously, I don’t give a shit about the privacy of other people but mine is very important to me.”

“That’s understandable. It’s also understandable that you have cameras outside your home. I assumed you had them, which is why I initially asked in the first place. It’s the lying to me that pisses me off. You’ve gotta work on that, but I figure it’ll take time for you to trust me enough to know you don’t ever have to lie to me. About anything.”

It sounded a little crazy to me but I was beginning to believe him. And the down side to that was me now feeling badly for not trusting him and lying to him in the first place.

I really was my own worst enemy at times.

I clicked around on the laptop until what I had saved started playing on several of the screens.

“Stop,” he commanded and I pressed pause on the man with the glowing red eyes staring up at the camera that he shouldn’t have known was even there. “Demon or a vampire? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.”

That was a problem here. Vampires, when they were first turned, couldn’t always control certain things, and their eyes glowed red until they could get their murderous urges under control. And demons always had eyes that glowed a little red. I didn’t factually know why, but I figured it had something to do with them belonging to hell and, as such, the devil had left his mark on them so that everyone knew just what they were and to whom they belonged to.

Was the devil possessive like that? I didn’t know, I had never met the man, but I imagined he absolutely would be both possessive and jealous.

I didn’t tell the Detective any of this because I didn’t want him to think I was even more batshit crazy than he likely already thought I was.

“There’s more,” I told him as I clicked on another screen. The twins showed up and that idiot organ in my chest skipped a beat.

I’d cut it out and throw it in the garbage if it wouldn’t kill me.

“I’ve seen these men before. Chances are, they’re going to find our killer before we do. I just want you to be prepared for that outcome because it’s the most likely one. They’re like—”

I cut him off, not knowing how to feel about him knowing all of these facts about the twins when I had been left in the dark. “Their names are Roan and Bane and they’re hunters. Yes, I’m very aware of this.”

I could actually feel him staring at me but I refused to look away from the screens on the wall.

“How do you know them? Or, better question, do I even want to know?”

“They lived at Harmond House with me.”

I heard him suck in a sharp breath and I should have known better than to mention that house to a police detective.

“Christ, Ruby Jane. Fucking Christ. You know she’s dead now, right? She was killed in prison.”

“Yes. When Thomas was murdered I was at the open house. Her home is for sale and I thought being there, knowing she was dead, might… I don’t know, help me heal or forget. Or something. But I couldn’t bring myself to actually go inside. I’m probably going to go back next week. I don’t like being afraid of anything so I always force myself to face things head on.”

“I’ll go with you if you don’t want to go alone. I know a thing or two about facing your fears.”

I couldn’t keep it in any longer. Secrets didn’t make very good friends. “I know about your sister. I’m sorry.”

“I know you’re not her,” he said quietly and I nodded that I heard him. “You don’t have to believe me but this isn’t about her or my savior complex for me. It’s important that you know that.”

I had to bite my tongue, hard, to keep myself from asking him just what it was about then. If he wanted me to know I was sure he’d tell me. Besides, I had learned that there were some things a person was simply better off not knowing.

We ate our donuts while he watched the video footage repeatedly and then made me send it to him.

After that he had to leave to get to the station. I walked him up to the door and before leaving he told me he’d talk to the morgue for me. I could make arrangements for Thomas’s funeral that day if I wanted to.

Then he made me promise to text him on my way to Rally’s for his challenge and again when I made it home safely afterwards.

I knew if I didn’t text him he’d more than likely just show up there and neither of us needed a repeat of something like that again I promised him I’d text.

He also told me to let him know what I had set up for Thomas’s funeral services and that one I readily agreed to.

He kissed me on the forehead and then left.

Kissed me on the motherfucking forehead.

I had no idea what to do with that but I was taking it as some type of small victory.

I just wasn’t sure what it meant.