Part 8 (2/2)
Gavino gave her a caustic-looking grin. ”Aw, what kind of thing is that to say? I ain't going that that far.” far.”
Brynna glared at him. ”You might consider it.” Still, she backed up a couple of inches and Gavino slid around her with the quickness of a snake.
”Later.” He looked at Redmond, then touched a finger mockingly to his forehead. ”Have a nice day, Detective Redmond.”
Redmond growled and started to follow him, but Brynna snagged his sleeve and held him back. In another moment the dark young man was gone, leaving nothing behind but a faint whiff of matches. Brynna barely noticed it, but she saw Redmond sniff the air distastefully before dismissing the scent and turning to her. ”What the h.e.l.l was that all about? I distinctly remember you telling me you weren't from around here. And how did he know my name?”
”It's a big world, Detective. I've been to a lot of it.” She could think of no way to explain the name thing, so she purposely ignored it.
”Is that how you learned all these languages?”
Brynna had to snicker at that. ”No. Call it a ... natural ability.”
”So what's his his story?” story?”
”Gavino is ...” She hesitated. How much should she tell him? He already knew a lot. The question wasn't Did he believe? Did he believe? It was It was Should he believe? Should he believe? ”He's like me,” she finally said. ”Sort of.” ”He's like me,” she finally said. ”Sort of.”
Redmond stared at her. ”You mean he speaks a lot of languages?”
”Yes. But in other ways too.”
”What other ways?”
Brynna shrugged. ”I don't know how to describe it. Strong, maybe. I don't know.”
Redmond frowned and she could tell he was trying to understand. She wanted to help him with it, but she didn't know how. His expression changed, like he'd made a sudden decision. ”Maybe I ought to go talk to this guy.”
”Not a good idea,” Brynna said.
”And why is that?”
”For all the reasons I just said,” Brynna told him. ”You really don't want to mess with him.”
”Look,” Redmond said. ”I'm a cop, okay? That means-”
”I know what that means,” Brynna retorted. ”I've been learning a lot from you.”
”Then you should know that no one is exempt from my curiosity.”
Brynna couldn't help chuckling. ”Curiosity,” she repeated. ”Now there's a trait that gets a lot of species in trouble.”
Despite everything she'd said, Redmond still pulled away and darted outside. She let him go, but only because she knew it was too late. ”Hey,” she heard him exclaim. ”Where the h.e.l.l h.e.l.l did he go?” She watched through the open door as he squinted first one way down the street, then the other. ”Son of a b.i.t.c.h!” did he go?” She watched through the open door as he squinted first one way down the street, then the other. ”Son of a b.i.t.c.h!”
”I'm going in,” Brynna said. ”Do you want something to drink before you head home? I have water.”
”I don't believe it,” Redmond said, as if he hadn't heard her. ”No one can move that fast.”
”He can, and he does,” Brynna said. She made sure the door didn't quite close and had gone a dozen feet down the hall before she heard him finally come after her. can, and he does,” Brynna said. She made sure the door didn't quite close and had gone a dozen feet down the hall before she heard him finally come after her.
”So you know him,” the detective said as he followed her into her apartment. He leaned against the wall behind the small table.
”Not really.”
”Come on, Brynna. You two were talking like old friends out there.”
She had to laugh at that. ”Never friends, in h.e.l.l or on Earth,” she said wryly.
”But you do do know him,” Redmond pushed. know him,” Redmond pushed.
”It's hard to explain.”
”So try. And while you're at it, start with why you stopped me from going after him until you knew he'd be gone.”
Brynna pressed her lips together and went into the tiny kitchen. Cocinero's grandmother, a wrinkled old woman who mumbled to herself constantly, had stopped by after church the day before and brought Brynna a box of things: a couple of towels, cheap sheets and a pillow, a mismatched, well-used handful of dishes. That made Brynna able to throw out the Styrofoam fast-food cup she'd been reusing. She pulled a couple of scratched plastic gla.s.ses from a cabinet and filled them with water from the faucet, stalling and trying to think of a way to answer.
”It was for your own good,” she said finally. ”You don't want to tangle with him.” The expression on Redmond's face made it clear her answer wasn't enough, so eventually she added, ”He could-and would-kill you without even trying.”
Redmond's eyebrows rose in surprise. ”Sorry, but I think you're overestimating him.”
Man, she sure didn't have the patience for this. ”I'm not, and you shouldn't, either. If you see him again, stay out of his way and just let me know.”
”Brynna, I'm the cop here. What on earth would make you think I'd be afraid of that guy? He's just a punk Goth kid trying to hook up with someone way too young for him. At best he's an annoyance; at worst he's a perv. Neither one scares me.”
”And neither one applies to him,” Brynna retorted.
”Then what does?” Redmond asked angrily. ”I'm getting a little tired of this verbal dance. If there's something f.u.c.ked-up about him, would you just spit it out and be done with it?”
”Fine.” Brynna slammed the plastic tumbler on the table in front of Redmond. ”First of all, Gavino isn't his real name. Secondly, he's like me, okay? But not in a good way, and for that, you ought to just run in the other direction.”
Redmond stared. ”And so I'll ask you again again-like you in what way?”
”Like me,” she repeated stubbornly. ”Come on-think back over the last week. Don't act like you haven't seen stuff that you never imagined could happen.”
Redmond's mouth stretched into a thin line. ”Overseeing a couple of questionable psychic visions and watching you dig two bullets out of yourself might walk the edge of believability, but there's only so much I can accept, Brynna. I mean, I have my limits.”
”That's just it,” she told him pointedly. ”Your limits exist only because that's what you've been taught to accept. But the world you believe in-it's not the real one. In the real world, the world I'm I'm from and where all this”-she swept her arms in an all-encompa.s.sing gesture-”was created, there from and where all this”-she swept her arms in an all-encompa.s.sing gesture-”was created, there are are no limits. Absolutely none at all.” no limits. Absolutely none at all.”
”Brynna,” he said. He was standing very, very still. ”What are you talking about? Religion?”
”I'm not what you think I am, Detective Redmond. You've listened to me talk about demons and witch doctors, but you don't believe. believe. Modern man has moved beyond the days of spells and shadows, and because you found electricity and airplanes and computers, you think the Dark Ages are gone. But all the technology in the world won't explain or protect you from what's Modern man has moved beyond the days of spells and shadows, and because you found electricity and airplanes and computers, you think the Dark Ages are gone. But all the technology in the world won't explain or protect you from what's really really out there, from the things that existed eons before G.o.d blinked this very planet into actuality.” out there, from the things that existed eons before G.o.d blinked this very planet into actuality.”
After her first few words, Redmond had lowered himself onto the wobbly chair a few feet away. Now he got up again and strode over to stand in front of her. His face was set, as if he'd made up his mind that he'd simply had enough of all this c.r.a.p. She frowned and backstepped, but he was crowding her the way she had crowded Gavino, inching forward until the wall was at her back and she was trapped in the narrow kitchen area-well, as much as she could ever be trapped by a human man. ”Don't you think this mystery-woman act is getting a little old?” he asked harshly.
”Old is a relative thing,” Brynna said. Separated by the distance of a seat in a car or a table in a restaurant was one thing, but here he was way too close to her for his own good, and she could see the effects on him already. All the not-so-subtle body language was there-his pupils had dilated slightly and his nostrils had widened, she could feel the increase in the air temperature around his skin, and he doubtlessly had no idea he was breathing faster. She wasn't immune, either-for thousands of years she had existed solely for just such opportunities, the predator leaping at the prey. Her practice-trained response had been instantaneous, instinctive, desired. desired. Conditioning like that just didn't disappear in a few weeks. Conditioning like that just didn't disappear in a few weeks.
”Knock it off, Brynna.” Redmond's voice had dropped an octave and he blinked, trying to figure out what was going on. ”He's nothing more than a slimy local drug dealer. I-”
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