Page 21 of Rule the Night (Blackwell Butchers #1)

MAEVE

I backtracked to the center of town, past the Mill and back into Southside. The Orpheum looked different in the light of day, just a seedy abandoned theater instead of the epicenter of Blackwell’s biggest secrets.

“Turn right up here,” Poe said when we’d crossed into the industrial side of town.

I’d been to this part of Blackwell twice in my life, both times when I’d first started to drive and had gotten lost.

There were no open businesses here, not even biker bars or liquor stores, just rows of abandoned factory buildings, their brick facades crumbling, factory windows broken or boarded up.

Some of the properties were surrounded by chain-link fencing with security warnings (This property is monitored by Blackwell Security), while others were completely forgotten, long past even the pretense of concern.

I assumed we were passing through this part of town on our way to somewhere else, somewhere… better.

Then Poe pointed to a towering brick building at the end of the street.

“That one.”

I slowed down as I approached the building. “This one?”

It looked like all the other old factory buildings: empty, abandoned.

“Yep.” A fresh flurry of nerves erupted in my stomach. Were the men known as the Butchers going to hold me prisoner in an abandoned building? “You can park next to the curb.”

“This is my sister’s car.” He couldn’t understand the significance, but no way was I leaving June’s car out in the open in this part of town.

“No one’s going to mess with your car here.”

There was certainty in his words — a vow — so I pulled next to the curb and turned off the car. Looking around, I thought he might be right about the car, if only because there didn’t seem to be anyone around at all.

“You’re not going to lock me up here for three months are you?” I asked, only half joking.

“Hardly,” he said. “We live here.”

He got out of the car.

“You live here?” I asked, stepping out of the driver’s seat.

“Yep. Pop the trunk.”

I walked around to the back of the car and used June’s key to open the trunk because her car was too old to have a key fob.

“I can get it,” I said when Poe reached for my bags.

“I know you can,” he said, picking up my suitcase and tote bag.

I shut the trunk and followed him across the cracked sidewalk to the brick building. Up close, I could see that it was in better shape than many of the buildings we’d passed on our way through the neighborhood: no crumbling brick, no broken or missing windows.

There was no entrance at the front of the building, and I followed him around to the side where a chain-link gate separated the sidewalk from a stretch of asphalt next to the building.

On the other side of the gate, a sleek red motorcycle was parked next to a matte black Humvee and an orange sports car that looked like it belonged on an F1 track.

“If the neighborhood’s so safe, why are those cars behind a security fence?”

“Just a precaution. I’ll give you a remote so you can park here too.” Poe set down my suitcase, reached for his phone, and tapped out a text. “Mine’s with my bike.”

I relaxed a little bit. A remote for the secure parking area meant I’d be able to leave.

The gate shuddered to life, rolling back with a creak and rattle. I followed him through and looked back as it started to close behind us.

We walked up a ramp and approached a green door. Next to it, two metal roll-up doors stood closed, the kind trucks pulled up to when they needed to load and unload cargo.

Poe pushed a series of buttons on the keypad, then opened the door.

We stepped into a vestibule with soaring ceilings and a concrete floor. A spiral staircase stood directly in front of us, a black metal snake coiling its way into the shadows above.

“After you,” Poe said.

I took a deep breath and started up the stairs, my stomach in knots. I felt like I was on a death march, being led to some unknown but almost certainly painful future.

The building was quiet, either because of the brick facade or because the neighborhood was so deserted.

Maybe both.

The staircase stood in shadow, but the light got brighter as I approached the top of the stairs. Poe was surprisingly quiet behind me for such a big man, the metal treads barely making a sound as he ascended with my suitcase and tote bag.

Finally, I emerged into a brightly lit, wide open space. I blinked against the light, Poe at my heels.

He set down my suitcase and I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I’d started last night outside the Orpheum, had ended up being hunted through the tunnels under Blackwell Falls, and had emerged into the bright light of day twelve hours earlier.

Now I stood in a massive sun-drenched space with soaring ceilings and concrete floors layered with an assortment of beautiful rugs. Late afternoon light poured in through the original factory windows, which extended from the floors to the ceiling where the metal beams and ductwork were exposed.

“This is the main living area,” Poe said behind me. “You’re welcome to make yourself at home.”

“This is your place?” I asked, walking deeper into the room.

“Our place. There’s another staircase at the back that leads to the bedrooms on the third floor.”

A sectional sat at one end of the room in front of the biggest flat-screen TV I’d ever seen.

At the other end of the room, an open kitchen gleamed dark and utilitarian, with poured concrete countertops, dark wood cabinets, two glass-doored refrigerators, and appliances that looked like they’d been copped from a fancy restaurant kitchen.

A sleek retro dining table separated the living area from the kitchen.

The whole space was immaculately designed, if a little cold, and I walked to the big windows and took in the view of Blackwell Falls.

It was a vantage point I’d never seen before: we were at the very edge of town, the windows situated well above the surrounding buildings, the dense forest of Blackwell Preserve beckoning from beyond the brick and concrete of the industrial part of town.

It was like being in a tree house with a view for miles.

There was an outdoor space too, a balcony with a black metal railing that looked like an extra-large fire escape.

“You can go outside.” Poe walked to one side of the room and opened a door I hadn’t noticed.

Curious, I walked cautiously toward him and through the open door. I found myself standing high above the street below, the waning summer sun warm on my face, the scent of concrete and gasoline mixing with the faint scent of spruce and pine from the preserve.

“It’s nice out here,” I said, taking in the chairs and small tables situated on the balcony.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

I turned to find Poe leaning against the exterior of the building next to the open door.

And I had to say, he made the lean look good.

He was a man who was comfortable in his own skin, a man who owned the space around his body, and I had to force myself not to stare.

“Sorry. It’s just… not what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

I thought about it. They’d hardly seemed human in the tunnels. “A cave?”

He threw his head back and laughed, and my god, if he was beautiful before, his whole face transformed in laughter. Now he seemed less like a brooding demon and more like a benevolent sun god, a realization that only made me more nervous.

I was here to do my time and move on to the next Hunt. That was all.

“At least you’re honest,” he said when his laughter had died down.

“I am.” They would have to get used to it. I’d agreed to live here for three months, to follow their orders. I hadn’t agreed to lie, to be something I wasn’t.

He studied me and I forced myself not to shrink from the heat of his gaze.

“You know, Maeve, I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

“It doesn’t really matter either way, does it?”

“Sure would be more fun.” I didn’t want to think about the hidden meaning in his words. He pushed off the wall. “Come on, little bird. I’ll show you to your room.”