Freakshow

Chapter Thirty One

We made it back to my trailer and I helped Cairo out of his clothes and covered him in blankets on my bed. He seemed weak, and that terrified me. I hadn't realized he'd been so close to death from the head wound, but Brigid had known and had saved him.

For this, I would eternally be hers.

And for this, I wondered if that had been her plan somehow. Why hadn't she come to me earlier, when I'd needed her to give me information? Or years ago, when I'd been so disconnected from my family?

I called the name of the detective on a card I'd been given during the investigation into Cara's disappearance. Detective Andrew Smythe. It was late, he was in Seattle, so I left him a message.

I'm sure he would think me insane, but I had to let somebody know that Carl and Alexi were apparently behind the disappearances. I didn't mention Orion because I felt like Cairo should be the one to implicate his father.

I didn't yet know why, but I had that gut instinct that there was more to After Dark than I'd ever imagined. I remembered that stain I'd seen a few days ago, and wondered if it was blood after all.

And more importantly, whose had it been?

I stripped off my corset and tights and climbed into bed next to Cai. I closed my eyes and let my senses expand, drew my hand over his body, over the back of his head, searching for any hurt that needed healing.

"We need to get out of here," I told him when I found nothing alarming. His body was knitting back together with amazing speed, spurred on by Brigid and aided by his supernatural abilities I was sure. "We need to get to Seattle and talk to them in person. There's no way he'll believe that message I just left."

I wanted us to leave in the morning, somewhere we'd be safe, until they were caught. I wouldn't feel safe until then.

We both knew our mission to meet Detective Smythe was just a flimsy excuse to get the hell away from the danger that was building around us. I wasn't safe here, even with Orion being chased away by Brigid, and I needed to be safe.

I heard Cairo take a deep breath and his breathing slowed. He wrapped his arms around me, and deep inside, I felt Brigid smiling.

She loved this as much as I did.

* * *

"Pack light," Cairo told me first thing in the morning after listening to my plan, "I agree that we need to see Detective Smythe in person. Besides, we can't stay here if they're going to come after you. I can't go through that again, Liv. Fuck, seeing you out there like that, the look in my dad's eyes. I tried to come to you, I really did."

"I know," I replied and soothed him. The beast inside was threatening to emerge, but I wanted this to be taken care of legally. I didn't want their blood on our hands, I wanted them brought to justice.

I knew I couldn't really do much about Orion's assault on my body, I'd signed up for his show after all, but the deaths of the girls needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

And hopefully we'd be far away as it all went down.

I threw a couple outfits into a duffel bag, left a note for Rose telling her we'd be gone for a few days. I would texted her too, to let her know who to stay away from...all the men we suspected.

She texted back, grateful for the information and said she'd spread the news among the Cirque's female staff. At least we could keep some of them safe too, even though we were fleeing.

We stopped off at Cairo's RV for him to pack and to explain some things to his sisters. Milan was in rehearsal, and Paris informed us that Orion hadn't come back that night, so we sat her down to talk to her about what we knew.