Chapter 17: Closer - The Night Market

Pepper flung open the flat door like she’d been holding her breath the entire way home and could only now exhale. The moment it slammed behind her, she kicked off her heels with a graceless little hop, one landing under the shoe cupboard, the other rolling down the hall – and let out a bubbling, breathless laugh. Her security badge dangled from her fingertips before she hung it neatly on the brass hook by the door, right next to Laik’s. The contrast in their photographs was sharp: his straight-and-focused kind of impression that suggested military instinct, hers, off-centre looking like she had somewhere better to be.

‘Laik!’ she called, already halfway down the hall, her voice bright and breathless. ‘Laik! Oh my God, you won’t believe it, you won’t actually – I mean, it’s incredible. I got it, I worked it out—’

She was practically spinning as she moved, tugging open the buttons of her waistcoat, loosening it from her shoulders. Her hair now hung wild and half unravelled from hours of tension finally allowed to go slack.

‘I mean, I didn’t think she’d actually say yes. I thought she might, but then she did and it just – bam – yes, I’m still in shock, it doesn’t feel real!’

Laik was in the living room. Or, at least, a version of him was. Slouched low on the sofa, bathed in the pale lamplight that slanted across the room from the kitchen. He was quiet, still, holding a mug between his hands with the kind of reverence usually reserved for communion.

‘How’s about you breathe and try that again?’

He didn’t look at her right away. Just took a long, deliberate sip, then winced as a pair of painkillers chased a mouthful of hot chocolate.

Pepper had already moved to the kitchen, swinging open cupboard doors and clattering cutlery. Hot water kissed a cup. Her laugh was half-sheepish, half still-fizzing. She called out from the kitchen. ‘The Vault, Laik. The fucking Vault!’

He raised one brow, tired. ‘What about it?’

‘I got in.’

Laik’s head lifted.

‘You what?’

‘I got in,’ she said again, emerging with a steaming mug, circling around the sofa now, like a satellite finding its orbit. ‘I was with Quinn – she took me down. Gave me a tour. The size of it, the things inside, it’s unreal. I – Laik, I saw it. I saw the Rose. I stood right in front of it. This close! And I just have to work out how we can nab it.’

Then she stopped mid-pace, catching her breath as she finally looked at him properly.

Her eyes travelled down the state of him: dried blood on his shoulder, gauze peeling at one side, a fresh purple bruise flowering across his bare chest, its companion on the back seeping red. His knuckles were raw, and the mug trembled faintly in his grip from residual shakes. She noticed the faint sheen of sweat across his temple, the way he winced, even shifting in place.

Pepper’s smile faltered.

‘What the hell happened to you?’

Laik gave a grunt. ‘That trouble tonight? There was a brawl down in the street. I was in the middle of it.’

Her eyes widened. ‘The cause?’

His tone soured, a touch offended. ‘No. The solution.’

‘You’re hurt,’ she said, frowning now. ‘You look hurt.’

‘Caught a bullet, that’s all.’

‘That’s all? That’s all? What in the . . . people don’t catch bullets, Laik, that’s not a normal thing. You get shot, and then you maybe die from being—’

‘You’re living with a vampire,’ he interrupted, deadpan.

She stopped. Blinked. Sipped her tea. ‘Okay . . . sure, but it’s still, like . . . bad for you, right?’

Laik gave the faintest shrug, and winced again.

‘Is it painful?’ she asked, softer now.

‘Pretty much.’

‘Okay, you’re bleeding through your thing there. Like, a lot.’

‘Thought I was,’ he muttered, fruitlessly trying to look behind. ‘I can’t reach it. Any chance of you changing that for me?’

Pepper hesitated, then nodded. ‘Uh . . . sure.’

She crossed the room and gently lowered herself beside him on the sofa, slipping her mug down next to some clean dressings and tape on the coffee table. Her fingers hovered before she touched him, noticing how the skin ran warm under her hands. Odd. She imagined he would have been stone cold, what with being undead and all. Another thing that seemingly defied convention.

She peeled the gauze back, grimacing at the wound beneath.

‘Tell me about this plan of yours then,’ he said, attempting to distract her from the gory spectacle.

‘I was talking with Quinn,’ Pepper said, focusing on cutting the tape, ‘and the talk . . . kinda turned to you.’

‘Ran out of conversation that quickly?’

‘Oh shush. We started to discuss you. Or, more specifically . . . the thing in you. Your, uh . . . friend.’

‘Right.’

She pressed the new patch over the wound gently and set fresh tape on each side. Then she continued. ‘There’s more knowledge in that Vault than anywhere I’ve seen. Diaries, experiments, notes on blood and bones and . . . weird stuff. It’s a museum or something, a laboratory, a library, there’s so much. I asked Quinn for access. And she gave it to me.’

He turned slightly, wincing. ‘You convinced Quinn bloody Cavendish to not only get you inside the frigging Vault, but to also give you access – just like that? How the hell did you manage that?’

‘I said I wanted to find out what’s inside you. Find it out, get to know it, so we can remove it.’

Laik blinked. ‘You . . . said what?’

Pepper pulled away. ‘Yeah. You know. To cure you, I guess? Is that the right word?’

‘Huh . . .’ His voice trailed. Something unreadable crossed his face, and a corner of his mouth began to curl. ‘That’s actually—’

She waved a hand. ‘A great cover story, I know, right? It just came to me and she fell for it. It was perfect, I can’t believe I just . . . Anyway, I pretend that, and I can get into the, uh—’ Pepper snapped her fingers in thought.

Laik blinked again. Something behind his eyes sank, though he kept the rest of his face unreadable.

‘The Relic place. Relic Gallery, I think it was? The Eternal Rose was there, I saw it. I was this close. I can spend some time in there, work out the security, the coming and goings, and figure out how to thieve it. Oh my God, we might actually pull this off!’

Pepper energetically struck her mug with his own. Laik lowered his head, just a little. Said nothing. Sat the drink down. Then got to his feet, turned to the windows overlooking the silhouetted city.

Pepper didn’t notice. She was too busy replaying her plan in her head.

‘Just make sure you get it. I have my own needs for the Rose. Don’t forget that.’ He surveyed the blinking lights across the jutting angles touching the sky. The outlines of grey clouds. The ladders of flat windows, both dark and aglow. Anything to not look at the reflection of the women set in the glass. And for one strange, torturous moment, Laik let himself feel the echo of something dangerously close to hope.

Before driving it back down into his being again, where the monster lived.

Pepper got up and made the mistake of approaching, the thrill of her news slowly giving way to the storm settling behind Laik’s eyes.

‘But look,’ she said, trying to catch it again, trying to find footing on the cliff-edge she didn’t realise they’d both walked toward. ‘Do you know how many books there are to go through? I don’t even know where to remotely start to convince people I’m on the level. Laik, you’ve got to give me something to go on about yourself.’

He didn’t turn from the window. His arms were crossed, shoulder stiff, the city lights painting his skin in faint orange smears.

‘Like what?’

‘Where did you live?’

He shifted slightly. ‘What kinda question is that?’

‘A normal one,’ she said, voice gentler than before. ‘It’s simple. Where did you used to live? Where do you come from?’

She watched his reflection go still in the glass. There was a flicker – something that cracked the surface – and vanished just as quick.

‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘What was what?’

‘You gave me a look.’

‘No, I didn’t. Didn’t at all.’

‘Jesus, Laik,’ Pepper muttered, ‘just . . . stop being insufferable for one minute. Time is against us.’

He turned quick, volatile. ‘No, it’s against you. You’ve spent all this time since the moment you arrived banging on about how your sister’s on the hook, how the clock’s ticking. Well, guess what? I’m not. I’ve got all the time in the world. No race. I can just wait it out before I get my hands on the Rose for what I need to do.’

His eyes flared with heat now, his voice catching like a spark on kindling. Something sad on his face was brushed over with resentment.

‘Did it ever occur to you that the world doesn’t revolve around you? That other people have their own shit to deal with – and storming in and turning everything upside down based on what you need doesn’t make you popular with anyone? You know what it makes? Nothing but a goddamn mess.’

Pepper blinked. Her mouth opened before the words came.

‘Are you serious? If you’ve forgotten, you were the one who dragged me into this! You came up with this ridiculous lie that we’re related, which, by the way, I can’t believe everyone’s actually fucking buying. Me showing up here is the most interesting thing that’s happened in your sad life!’

Her voice cracked, sharp with fury, and she threw her arms up. ‘Gee, Laik – did my arrival bring some sunshine to your mopey little existence? Sorry about that! Next time I’ll remember to turn up at the Night Market when you’ve had your fill sitting in a corner like a billy-no-mates.’

‘I had the Rose!’ he shouted, stepping into her space. ‘I had it, alright?!’

She stopped.

‘I was protecting the collection for the auction. I pulled strings for months, got myself cleared, kept close to the damn thing. I was alone with it. And just when I finally had the chance . . . I find you, skulking around in the dark with – with your goddamn paws all over it. You ruined everything.’

There was a flicker of something in her. Regret, maybe, but it twisted too quickly into anger.

‘And how was I supposed to know that?’ she snapped. ‘You haven’t said. What were you gonna do – go on the run with it? I’ve not been here long, but I don’t think the Cavendishes are the kind of people to let something like that lie!’

‘You don’t know a thing about them. Or me. Because you ain’t us.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I thought I was speaking to – to a vampire, not a child! I guess that’s another mistake o’ mine!’ she snapped. ‘Considering everyone I’ve spoken to thinks you’re a gloomy hard-ass, I thought you would have welcomed someone around. I don’t care about your screw-ups. I’m up against the wall, Laik. Unlike you, I don’t get all this time you’re bragging about, to spend looking all menacing and brooding for pissing effect.’

He slammed a hand above her against the glass, sudden and towering. His body loomed close, radiating heat, a low growl hiding in his chest. When he bared his teeth, his true nature was fully on display.

‘You’ve never been up against it in your life,’ he snarled. ‘You’re too busy taking advantage of everyone else to get what you want. Stealing from their good nature. Taking ’em for a ride. Because that’s what a girl like you always does. You’re nothing but a parasite.’

And then – pain. White-hot and sharp.

Pepper had jabbed her finger straight at the patch on his chest. The wound exploded with agony. He gasped, staggered backward, swearing.

‘God-fucking—!’

‘You don’t know the first thing about me,’ Pepper hissed, advancing now. ‘And if you call me that again, I swear I’ll end you.’

She jabbed her finger at his chest again, between the shield of his arms.

‘If you want to talk about parasites, how about you look in the mirror, huh? Where is it? Do the thing. Have a tantrum, go crazy, smash it all up! C’mon, Laik. Get angry. That’s all you do! Bring the big guy out! Let’s see what you’re made of.’

His mouth opened, furious and feral, but the growl never came. Instead, he blinked, faltered. His breath broke.

‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘Not for you.’

She blinked too, unsure. ‘What?’

‘It doesn’t want to,’ he repeated, baffled. ‘It always wants a fight. Always. First excuse it gets. Half the time I’ll practically invite it to go nuts. God, it’ll burn the world given the chance, but you . . . with you . . .’

‘What? Because I’m a girl?’

‘Oh, for – please,’ he muttered, pulling away and dropping onto the sofa with a grunt. ‘Just stop. My God.’

He leaned back, exhaling through gritted teeth. ‘Why are you the only one who can do that? When I lose control – really lose it – you can just . . . shut it down. Pacify me.’

He paused to correct himself.

‘Pacify it.’

She folded her arms. ‘Maybe I just don’t scare easily.’

‘No,’ he said, glancing up at her. ‘No, it’s not that. You push me. Constantly. You stir the pot and pick away. Run off, then come back like nothing happened. You know what you’re doing. I should’ve gone off the deep end five times over since you got here. But something in you . . . I just don’t have the energy for it.’

He shook his head.

‘I don’t know what kind of things you’ve put up with,’ she said, voice still guarded, ‘but you don’t get to come at me like that.’

‘Same,’ he muttered. ‘All I see is your anger. Always testing, jabbing. I’m not your punching bag, Pepper. Not one of the ones who wronged you.’

‘Says the stand-offish dickhead.’

Laik looked up, really looked at her, and for once there was no venom in his voice.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Guilty. Same to you.’

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.

‘When you’ve been around as long as I have . . . keeping people at arm’s length is sensible. They’ll turn on you. Use you. Sell you out if it benefits them. It’s hard not to—’

‘—be angry,’ she finished for him.

He glanced at her. Sceptical at first. ‘Yeah.’

‘I’ve never known anything but struggle,’ she said. ‘It’s always been me and Claire. Nobody else. Just the two of us, always going place to place. Scraping by. Day after day. The world doesn’t care how hard you fight, or how tired you are. It just keeps coming. And people? They’re the worst. And I don’t think anyone is supposed to live like that. Funniest thing is that the only other person I’ve ever met who gets that isn’t really . . . a person anymore.’

Her voice cracked, and she turned away, wiping at her eyes.

‘All this shit. It’s not fair.’

Laik didn’t move. But a tear rolled down his cheek, unburdened and slow.

‘Buried under it all . . .’ he murmured.

‘Running to the next disaster . . .’ she echoed.

‘The world crushing you.’

‘Not stopping.’

There was silence.

Then Laik said softly, ‘This sister of yours. You have family. And you love her. Don’t let go of that. No matter what happens. No matter how bad it gets. You hold onto it.’

Pepper nodded. Her face was streaked with tears now, but there was no shame in it.

‘Jesus. Just tell me how it happened. I need to know,’ she said.

Terror glinted in his eyes, behind the tears.

‘Please,’ she added gently, stepping closer.

She reached down, and slowly, deliberately, took his hand.

Their fingers laced together.

He didn’t pull away.