Ashes(36)

The neighboring door opened, and an elderly human woman peeked out; face worn and haggard. "You'll have to knock hard," the human told them. "Talia tends to sleep through the day."



"I see," said Knox. "Thank you."



The old woman made a huffing sound and disappeared into her apartment.



Knox banged his fist on Talia's door almost hard enough to make it rattle. The sound of stomping and cursing coming from inside was soon followed by the door being yanked open.



"What?" snapped a tall, almost-wafer-thin blonde. Then she got a good look at Knox and paled. "I'm s-so sorry, Mr. Thorne, I-I didn't know it was you."



"That's okay, Talia," said Knox. "We'd like to speak with you."



She blinked and shoved a hand through her loose, dull-blonde curls. "Um, yeah, okay, sure. Come in."



The floorboards beneath the thin carpet creaked as they walked inside. Harper had been looking forward to escaping the stairwell scents. Honestly, it didn't smell much better in here. Dust. Stale food. Cigarette smoke. And a sickly, cloying perfume.



The apartment was small and sparsely furnished with clothes strewn everywhere. The stained wallpaper was peeling from the walls, revealing cracks in the plaster. Harper could see the tiny kitchen from where she stood. Could see the piles of dishes in the rusted sink, the broken cabinet doors, and the cluttered countertop.



Feeling eyes on her, she cut her gaze to Talia. The she-demon was looking at her, taking her measure, as if wanting to assure herself that she was the prettiest in the room. Whatever. Harper just stared at her until Talia finally averted her gaze. She bore a strong resemblance to McCauley with her dark eyes, high cheekbones, dimpled chin, and small ears that protruded slightly.



Her tank top and shorts bordered on indecent, but that could be because it was seriously hot. Even with the sound of voices, T.V.s, and a dog barking, Harper could hear the air conditioning unit clanking on and off. She wondered how the hell the woman managed to cope in the heat.



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Harper knew a lot of people ended up in places like this when they were down on their luck, but she got the feeling that Talia just didn't care enough about her life to respect herself or anything in her possession. Or maybe it was just that she was too fond of drugs to care about much else, because if her sallow skin, bloodshot eyes, and contracted pupils were anything to go by, the whole "Talia's a junkie" rumor was true.



Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment as she glanced around. "The place is a bit of a mess." She shoved aside the threadbare curtain and wrestled open the rusted window. "Sorry I took a while to answer."



"That's fine," said Knox.



She wrapped her arms around herself and lifted her chin. "Um …  so …  what do you need?"



"Did you see the news recently?"



She blinked rapidly. "You mean, like, on T.V.? I don't watch the news. It's always depressing stuff. Murders and assaults and war."



"There was a recent story about a woman who drugged her six-year-old son, shoved him in an oven, and tried to burn him alive."



Talia's brow furrowed. "What?"



"Her effort didn't work so well. Turns out his skin's impervious to fire."



"He's one of us?"



"She seems to believe he's a changeling. That's why she put him in the oven – apparently, it's a surefire way of exposing a changeling child. He's six." Knox watched realization dawn on Talia. Fear flashed across her face. "You didn't ask my permission, Talia."



She licked her lips, shoulders curving inward. "I-I knew you wouldn't give it to me."



"Why did you do it?" asked Tanner.



Talia snorted a laugh. "Are you kidding? Look at this place. Look at me. Kids need love and security and all that jazz, right?"



"You could have tried to improve your situation," said Tanner.



Talia shook her head hard and glared at the floor. "I couldn't have loved him," she mumbled. "I wanted to. I just couldn't."



Something about the way she said it made Harper guess, "You were raped."



Talia flinched.



"You should have told us," Knox said through his teeth. "We would have taken care of the situation."



Talia looked at him, eyes wet. "There wasn't anything you could have done. The son of a bitch was human. I took care of it myself."