“Jaysus. One more word and I’ll drain you. Stay here and I’ll bring him down.”
Christian jogged up the stairs and followed the sound of Crush’s shouts on the second floor. Wyatt came out of his office, a green beanie on his head and a bag of pretzels in his hand. “What the immortal hell is going on around here?”
“Where’s Raven?” Crush sounded like a motorcycle getting fired up.
When Wyatt noticed him heading toward his office, he backed up, dropped the snacks, and blocked the door with his arms. “You can’t come in here. I mean it.”
Christian jogged toward them and grabbed the back of Crush’s shirt before he plowed right over Wyatt and got an eyeful of sensitive data that was surely on the computer.
Crush turned and threw a hard right, socking Christian in the eye.
Christian didn’t flinch. “That’ll hurt you more than it does me.”
“I’ve got personal stuff pulled up on the computer,” Wyatt said. “If you come in here, Christian will have to scrub you.”
Crush’s lips peeled back, and he reluctantly turned away.
“Walk with me,” Christian said, moving past Crush. He didn’t need to look back to know the old man was following.
After ascending a flight of stairs in the back of the mansion, he led Crush to Raven’s room and opened the door.
Crush wandered in and drank in his first glimpse of his daughter’s room: the red armoire by the door, the scenic painting over the quaint bed, the rustic fireplace to the left, and the arched windows tucked away in an alcove.
Christian leaned against the doorjamb. “This is where she sleeps, but she’s not here right now.”
Crush rounded the bed and stood before the desk. Christian couldn’t see what he was doing but guessed he was wondering about Raven’s peculiar keepsakes. After a minute, the sound of “Für Elise” played from the jewelry box. Crush lifted his arm as if wiping his face.
“She has a grand view,” Christian pointed out.
The music stopped.
“Does she climb on the roof?”
“Aye. How did you know?”
Crush turned around and sighed. “Because I know my little girl. She used to climb trees and sit on top of the trailer. I had to keep an eye on her when she got older because sometimes we’d go out and she’d wind up on a roof somewhere.” His gaze lingered on the fake roses on a nightstand. “It’s immaculate. Nothing like how she kept her room as a kid. You set her up real nice here.”
“It’s everything she desires, which isn’t much.”
“Does that include you?”
“Perhaps. You want to tell me what’s on your mind?”
Crush rubbed his weathered face and then looked at the knuckles on his right hand. “I had a nightmare about her. Can’t get it out of my head.”
“Dreams aren’t real.”
Not that Christian had any. He never slept.
Crush drifted toward the windows and looked out. “The week Bonnie died in the fire, I had a nightmare that she was falling into a black pit and screaming for Raven. Then years ago, before they told me Raven was dead, I had the same nightmare. Only Raven was calling out my name.”
“And last night?”
Crush faced the room. “I had another dream. Raven was falling down a dark hole, but she was calling your name. I’m not ignoring this shit anymore. It cost me the woman I loved, and if I’d listened the second time, maybe Raven wouldn’t have wound up in the hands of a sadistic Mage.”
Christian noticed Crush’s heart beating faster. His breathing also changed as the chemicals in his body reacted to fear. That was an emotion Christian had seen many times in his victims, and the fear in Crush’s eyes belied his stoic expression.
“Can we expect your company each time you have a nightmare? What we do is dangerous, and I suspect you’ll have nightmares thinking about it. But this is the life your daughter’s chosen. You can’t save her anymore.”
“Can you?”
Christian gestured to the door and invited Crush into the hall. They walked for a spell until they reached the staircase. “I can’t ease your fears, but I’ll always look after Raven. However, what I can do comes with limitations.”
“That’s where you and I part. A father’s love has no limitations. I’d give up everything if she needed me to. Can you say the same?”
“What if it meant her losing this job?”
“I don’t give two shits about this job. There’s always another job, and a job after that, but you only get one life.”