Page 11 of Drag You Down (Bloody Desires #2)

LEVI

T here’s a note underneath the front door. I wonder which of the kids in the apartment building would send Eve a note like that instead of actually delivering it. I stoop to pick it up, unfolding the card.

“Eve! You’ve got a mess…” I trail off when I see what’s inside.

A simple image of a lamb, drawn in ink. The lamb is wearing a collar with a clock on it.

“I’ve got a what?” Eve calls back from the kitchen.

“Nothing! Never mind!” I say, quickly ripping up the card.

I head to the kitchen and drop the card into the trash with all the compost. Eve gives me a strange look.

“What are you making?” I ask. I notice the vegetable scraps on the cutting board, so I take those and dump them into the trash on top of the card.

Good. There’s no way Eve will want to rummage around now.

“A vegetable soup. Although I’m apparently out of potatoes. Can you run to the bodega?” Eve asks as she starts chopping up a bell pepper.

Is that a ploy to get me out of the apartment so she can check what I threw away? But that would be deceitful. I can’t imagine Eve doing something like that.

But I know I’ve been acting strange ever since I saw Gabriel, and she’s perceptive. I bite my lip, considering refusing, but she’d think that was even odder.

“Sure,” I say, grabbing my wallet and putting it in my back pocket. It’s all I can do not to glance in the direction of the compost again, but I don’t want to draw attention to it.

She continues chopping, and even though I’m acting suspicious, she isn’t.

I have to hope I’m being paranoid.

I leave, heading out of the apartment complex and toward the bodega down the street. Almost immediately, I have the oddest sensation that someone’s watching me, but a quick glance around shows no one suspicious.

It would be easy to hide in the crowds that are everywhere this time in the afternoon, but I would see Gabriel if he was in it.

I know I would.

I think about those dark eyes anyway, eyes that seem to see right into my soul, and I shiver.

I should’ve spoken to Father Zachariah as soon as I’d gotten back from our meeting, but I hadn’t. I’d been too much of a coward, and now the sin festers beneath my skin.

I enter the bodega, and it’s only a little cooler inside than out in the hot summer air. The city always has an oppressive cloud during the heat, one that presses down on me and reminds me of how depraved it is.

I still feel like I’m being watched.

I shake off the feeling and grab the potatoes, hoping to be in and out quickly. Unfortunately, there are multiple people in line ahead of me, and I hear the person at the counter arguing with the clerk about exact change and the price of something.

I shift from side to side, reminding myself that patience is a virtue.

The newspapers and magazines are in a stand next to where I’m waiting, and I reach for the religious magazine. Maybe I can buy this and discuss it with Eve.

Next to it is the New Bristol Chronicle. The front-page article is about some missing businessman and how his company is now looking for an interim CFO. There’s a note that the missing CFO had been embroiled in a trial last year.

It’s more proof of the city’s sins, but?—

But I recognize the man.

He’s clean in this photo, his face shaved bare, and smiling for the corporate world. The suit is snug on him.

When I’d seen him, his eyes had been wide with pain, and the dirt and blood caked his face and torso.

This is the man I’d seen die in front of me.

My heart starts to beat faster, and I stare at it for so long that the clerk calls out, “Are you buying it or not?”

I nearly drop the paper. Half out of guilt and half out of dreadful curiosity, I nod quickly and grab one of the religious magazines, too. I pay and step out of line.

Eve will wonder why I bought a paper, but hopefully the magazine will distract her from that.

I wonder if she’s looked in the compost.

I wonder if she’s seen the lamb.

I wonder if she knows something.

It’s paranoia, all of it. At least, I need it to be, because the idea that she might know anything at all has me even more on edge.

I tuck everything into my shopping bag and turn, hurrying back into the crowd.

The feeling of being watched returns, and I stop short. A man bumps into me from behind, snarling out a curse, but he steps around me with a dark look before continuing down the street. I can’t bring myself to care about his irritation.

I look around me, trying to find where Gabriel could be hiding.

The Devil could be everywhere. His presence is ubiquitous, and no matter what I do, I can’t escape it.

I can’t escape him.

I clutch my bag tighter and jog the rest of the way to the apartment building. I try the door, relieved that it’s unlocked.

Had I locked it on the way out? I must have forgotten to do that.

I lock it now, sighing in relief when the door is firmly shut.

I look out through the door’s dusty glass pane.

Gabriel is standing on the other side of the street. He waves to me with a sinister smile, and I freeze in my tracks.

I have the sudden, bizarre urge to go back outside and confront him, to find out why he’s here — to find out what I need to do to get him to leave me alone even though I know it’s a terrible idea.

He’s dangerous.

He’s stalking me .

I need him to stop.

I square my shoulders and unlock the door, crossing the street before I can stop my feet from moving. Once I’m directly in front of him, I say with only a small tremble in my voice, “You need to leave. You need to stop .”

“What have I done?” Gabriel asks. He raises his hand. I need to back away, but I do nothing as he gently strokes my cheek. “You’re all flustered, pretty lamb.”

I should pull away, but instead, I find myself leaning into his touch. “The businessman,” I blurt out. “You killed him. Why?”

“What businessman?” Gabriel asks. “What’s your last name, Levi? You never told me.”

“You know who I’m talking about,” I say, ignoring his question. “ Why ?”

Thou shalt not kill .

Despite what scripture he’d quoted at me, it doesn’t erase the fact that that’s the most important. Murder, adultery, taking the Lord’s name in vain… It’s all there . It’s all indisputable.

Gabriel sighs softly. “I actually don’t know. When’s your birthday? So I can get you a nice gift.”

I remember the watch, and despite how much I wish I’d kept it, I know taking gifts from this man would lead to nothing good. “I don’t want your presents. And I mean this businessman!”

I pull the newspaper out of my bag and shove it against his chest.

He takes several steps back, leading me out of the flow of foot traffic that has been going around us. We’re up against the building by the time Gabriel takes the paper and glances at the front page. I notice his lip curl in distaste.

“Oh. Him. Well, whatever happened to him, he deserved it.”

Impatience courses through me, and I want to reach out and shake him. It’s so unlike me that it makes me take a step back, afraid of the sudden whim. I know why he’s lying. I know he will never admit to what he’s done.

But I still want to know why.

“If you don’t tell me why, I will walk away, right now.” I should walk away anyway. I already know he committed murder.

Gabriel opens the newspaper and folds it over to a later page. “He wasn’t exactly a nice man,” he says. “But this world isn’t kind to women who stand up to powerful men, and it loves to prop up those who already have power.”

I don’t understand what he means until I read the passage where he’s pointing.

Mr. Lansbury is a controversial figure after his public trial last year, following several allegations of rape by former female employees.

Though found not guilty, the allegations dog his steps.

Before joining Paladin Industries as CFO, he worked at tech giant Asteroid, who parted ways with him once the trial began.

Spokespeople for both companies have declined to comment.

My mouth goes dry.

“How do you know that he did it?” I ask, my voice hoarse. “How do you know he was guilty? The courts judged him already.”

I still want to shove him.

“Who gave you the right to do… to do this? You aren’t an angel in disguise,” I say emphatically. My voice has risen in volume, and a few passersby glance in my direction. I close my mouth in a hurry.

“Did you watch the trial?” Gabriel asks. “I know these men. I’m certain that whatever happened to Lansbury, it was a reckoning his soul deserved.” Gabriel strokes my hair. “You understand that, don’t you, lamb? ‘For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.’”

I stare at him, briefly uncomprehending. “How do you know all of these?” I demand. “You’re no holy man. You keep quoting scripture, but you don’t believe it. I know you don’t.”

Or does he? Am I wrong? What if he does?

What would that mean for what he’s doing?

Gabriel gives me a strange smile. “Any person can quote scripture, Levi. Belief isn’t necessary. And even belief doesn’t stop the priests from forcing themselves onto children, or the pastors from stealing from their flock.”

I swallow hard. I’ve heard those allegations, but Father Zachariah insists that the Devil only seeks to malign the holy with these smear campaigns.

Gabriel suddenly pulls me closer, and I’m pressed up against his body. I tense and open my mouth to complain, but a group of kids on skateboards suddenly rides past us.

Oh. He pulled me out of the way.

“Th-thanks,” I say automatically.

I glance up into his golden-brown eyes, not dark at all with the soft afternoon sun reflected in them.

Gabriel smiles at me. “I’m always watching over you, my lamb.”

That’s what I’m scared of.

“I need to go,” I say, my voice thick. “And you need to stop.”

“I’ll never stop,” Gabriel says. “And you don’t need to go. Come with me. You don’t need to go back to that dingy apartment.”

I glare at him. “I don’t need a fancy place to live. I don’t need worldly possessions. I only need my faith.”

My faith, which has been increasingly shaken lately.

“I don’t need you. I don’t want you.” I turn away, but I’m almost disappointed when he doesn’t try to stop me from rushing across the street and returning to the apartment complex.

Inside, I’ll be safe.

I go upstairs, skirting around the door to the basement, and return to my dingy apartment. I don’t know why I’m suddenly ashamed of it. I really don’t need worldly possessions to be happy.

Eve is standing at the window, her hip pressed against the wall. She turns to face me as I walk inside, and my cheeks drain of color as I realize she’s been staring out of the window that overlooks exactly where I’d been standing with Gabriel.

“I was getting worried,” she says, sounding defensive. “I was afraid something happened to you at the bodega.”

“No,” I say. “The line was long.”

Her eyes search my face. “Is that all, Levi? You know you can talk to me about anything, don’t you?”

Not about this. Not about this at all. “I know,” I say, forcing a smile. “But there’s nothing. Just a long line, and I bumped into someone and had to apologize.” I hold up my bag. “I have those potatoes you asked for.”

Eve doesn’t say anything. The silence stretches long enough for it to get uncomfortable. I itch to confess to her, but I know she wouldn’t understand.

I don’t want to put her in danger either. My soul might already be tainted, but I can’t risk bringing the Devil’s attention to Eve.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” I say awkwardly, like that’s really going to help the situation. “I’ll chop them up for you. Okay?”

It’s not going to help. She was already concerned, and now that she potentially saw me with Gabriel — now that she potentially saw him pull me out of the way and closer to him — I don’t know what she’s thinking.

I will her to believe me, or at the very least, to let it go.

“Okay,” Eve finally says. “If you’re sure nothing happened.”

“I’m sure,” I reassure her, but my heart is tight in my chest. I hate lying to her. I can’t tell her the truth.

I can’t.

She nods, returning to the couch to work on her latest crocheting project.

I watch her, half expecting her to press the issue, but she doesn’t. I go to the kitchen, trying to focus on potatoes.

All I can think about is Gabriel.

I have to hope he stays out of my life.

But I don’t think he will.