Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

24. A Vacation from Hell

Chance

"My dad's dog tags."

Even though I kept my eyes on the road, I saw in my peripheral vision that Chessie had turned away from her window to stare at me.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You asked what I gave the sheba as collateral. I'm answering you."

She didn't say anything, and I sighed.

"Help me out here, Chessie. It's a five hour drive. I need you to talk to me so I don't fall asleep."

"I can do that, but pull into a rest stop if you need to. So your dad was a soldier?"

"Career Army." I nodded. "When I was fourteen, he was killed in combat."

"Oh! I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It gets worse. Are you sure you want to hear all my drama?"

"I'll listen to anything you want to share."

I glanced over at her, but only saw myself reflected in her dark lenses.

I wish she'd let me see her eyes, I thought wistfully, but knew it would never happen. She was too self-conscious to drop her guard that far. Well, I'm about to share the most painful part of my life. Maybe that will encourage her to open up a little.

And why I so desperately wanted her to was something I wasn't ready to delve into at the moment.

"When he died, Mom left," I began. "She called my warden before she split, and August arrived that morning. Neither of us knew what was going on until the Army officers showed up. After the funeral and everything, August took me to the Sanctuary."

"And your mom? She just left?"

"Yep. The last time I saw her was when I told her I was going to bed the night before."

"I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you."

She laid one hand on my arm, and I glanced at it. It was the first time she'd voluntarily touched me.

Is she starting to trust me? Just a little?

"Didn't the Army officers want to talk to your mom?" she asked. "I would have thought they'd question her absence."

"Mom and Dad weren't married, and he'd listed me as his next of kin and beneficiary. There was no record of her in his military file." I shrugged. "Besides, August pretended to be her father, my grandfather, and told them he was staying with me while Dad was deployed. They didn't dig any further, and why would they?"

"It's quite a coincidence that she left the same day your dad died." She finally took her hand off my forearm, as if noticing it was still there.

I heard the question in her voice and frowned. I didn't want to tell her. Only Rome, Spin, and my warden knew the burden I carried in my heart.

"Same hour, as far as I could discover." Bracing myself, I told her the truth. "She was a Fallen, Chessie."

"What?!"

"It happens."

"Wait a minute." She held up her hand. "Are you saying a demon lived as a human for fourteen years, and no one noticed?"

"Fifteen years. I was born a year after she and Dad met," I clarified. "She acted like a neph. I assumed I was a second. It was only after I was at the Sanctuary that I learned the truth."

"It's strange she stayed so long, but, when you live forever, I suppose a handful of years doesn't matter too much. Do you think your dad knew what she was? Did he know what you were?"