Dead Ink(Karma Series Book 4)(5)

"Now that you've figured out sleepovers and daycare, what about the fact  that Malokin might be tapped into her? Like he was with Karma?" Fated  asked. "We don't know what kind of tracking he's got going on with  Faith. He had Karma's every move-every word-mapped out, and let me tell  you, not only is that a head trip but we can't risk having a walking,  talking bug around us, knowing every step we take."

"She either agrees to be completely cut off or she's got to go," Bic said.

Lars took a step toward him. "Nobody's killing her."

"Back off." Bic took a step away, regaining his personal space. "I  didn't mean kill her. I meant go, as in a-galaxy-far-far-away kind of  go."

"I agree," Cutty said. "She needs to get the tattoo or she gets a one way ticket to Antarctica."





Chapter Four





Faith watched the guys discussing her across the room and forced herself  to stay calm, or at least look like she was. There was Lars, who kept  looking back over toward her, making her wonder for the hundredth time  if she'd made the right choice coming here. The guy they'd called Fate  was almost as dark in coloring as Lars was. Two of them had nearly  shaved heads but the one who had kneeled beside her looked like his  sandy-colored hair was growing back in. The other one-she'd heard them  call him Angus-had a mop of curls. But that didn't distract any from the  impression of violence he threw off. No, he blended quite well with the  group.

There they stood, talking about her and deciding her fate. What if they were deciding whether to kill her?

Even though Lars had intervened, she wasn't expecting any additional  help. The way she had instinctively kept looking at him while the others  had questioned her was embarrassing. She hadn't meant to, but she'd  just kept seeking him out with her eyes. Then he'd turned his back on  her, which made it all the more surprising when he'd called them off. It  was obvious he wanted nothing to do with her situation, and she  couldn't count on a second save.

As if they'd come to some sort of agreement, they all turned to look at  her in unison. They broke apart and, one by one, walked back toward her,  Lars leading the way. At least he was meeting her gaze now. If he was  going to kill her, would he be able to look her in the eyes? She didn't  think she'd be able to look at someone who she was going to kill but  she'd never murdered anyone either. She didn't really have a good frame  of reference. In court cases though, didn't they say jurors didn't look  at the people they were going to convict? Either way, it gave her  something to cling to, unless they were all mentally unbalanced and that  would shoot that theory to hell.                       
       
           



       

Lars crouched down on his haunches in front of her instead of towering.  She took that as another good sign, and it was a lot better than what  that other guy, Fate, had done, getting all in her space.

"You can stay here with us."

Of all the things that could've made her composure slip, she didn't  think good news would be the thing that did it. She pulled in a ragged  breath, trying to hold it together. She didn't realize how scared she'd  been, of getting kicked out with nowhere else to turn, until she heard  that. Or maybe part of what she was feeling was relief because it meant  they weren't going to kill her.

"But there are conditions," he continued.

Conditions. Not surprising. There was always a catch. Sometimes the  devil hides in the details. Her eyes shot to the guys standing behind  him and then back to Lars. Her fingers clenched in her lap, her nails  biting into her palms.

She had no other good options, which was probably why she felt like the acid in her stomach was churning. "What are they?"

"Listen to me, no one is going to hurt you." He laid his fingers over  where hers were clasped on her lap, the heat of his hand drawing her  attention to where he touched her. "Do you hear me?"

She nodded, looking back up to his face and not the reassuring hand.

"There are things you are going to have to accept if you do stay. You  are no longer human. You do understand that? The life you had is gone.  We can't have you jeopardizing our situation by trying to reach out to  people in your past. They're gone. That whole life is gone."

It shouldn't have been a shock. She'd known it. But still, when had the  slim chance of a psychotic break become the outcome she had secretly  hoped for? She swiped a dirty sleeve across her cheek, not sure if she  was making more of a mess but trying to keep herself from falling apart  any more than she already was.

"That man, Malokin, how much do you know of him?" he asked and she could see the distrust still there.

Forcing her eyes to stay on his, she said, "Only what I've told you."  There was no way she was going to mention the other things he'd said to  her in the short time frame she'd talked to him. And she couldn't think  of a single reason why it would be a good idea to mention the other man.  Even thinking of him made her skin crawl. Her situation was precarious  at best.

"But you do know he isn't human?"

"Yes, I guessed that might be the case."

"We've been searching for him for a long time. He's slippery and he's  resourceful. He can also do things, track people, and we haven't been  able to figure out how. He might be tracking you even as you sit here.  He might be hearing every word we say."

Her hands felt like ice as she thought of Malokin and the other one knowing everything, and her eyes shot to the door.

"He can't touch you here," Lars said, unaware there was another one she was worried about. "And he won't come anywhere near us."

His words weren't a bluff. She thought back to how eager he'd been to  know where Malokin had been. He was definitely the predator in this  situation, not the prey. She was safe with them.

Lars watched her intently for a reaction. He didn't trust her, and she  didn't care. She'd take help in any form she could get it. She'd take  her chances on an untrusting Lars.

She didn't have anything to track, though. It wasn't like she had a cell  phone or anything that could be traced. All she possessed were the  filthy clothes on her back. "How could he possibly do that?"

"We don't know how he does it but we do know how to stop it. You have a  choice to make. You can either let us do this or we'll help you find  somewhere else to go."

She leaned and rested an elbow on the back of the chair and rested her forehead in it. "Go where?"

She was half talking to herself but Lars answered. "Somewhere far away from here."

"But if he can track me?" she asked, looking for confirmation of where  that would end for her. She might be unsettled mentally but it didn't  rob her of all logic. Leaving here would be a one-way ticket to nowhere  with Malokin and the other one following on her tail. They'd get her  eventually.

Lars nodded then stood to his full height, and she sensed the shift in  him as well. Her choices sucked. He knew it and wanted to make sure she  knew it as well.

Faith sat there, realizing just how horrible her situation was. She'd  been a businesswoman; she'd built herself a life from the ground up with  no one helping her and now here she was, afraid and indecisive. She was  terrified to stay and even more horrified to go back out there alone.                       
       
           



       

She could sit there all day but she didn't think that would magically  create a third option. She either accepted their help, however they  wanted to give it, or she'd be on her own in a situation that made  Alice's rabbit hole look normal. It wasn't a choice in her mind, as long  as it met one condition. "And this thing you can do, will it stop any  of them from tracking me? What about the men with him? He had some guys,  too."

"None of his people will be able to track you. I'll have to give you a  special type of tattoo. It's the only thing I know of that works. There  are other less intrusive ways, a little more work intensive too, but  they won't work for you now. If you want our help, it's all or nothing.  You need to understand something before we go forward. You know you're  not mortal anymore."

She nodded, even though he knew she understood that. "What am I exactly?"

"Most creatures that exist have two forms. There is the core of who you  are, which stays with you throughout eternity, and then there is the  form that you take in each human life. When you died, you shed that  outer form. That form is what protects your core while you're on this  Earth. You no longer have that. You're still you but in your most true  self."

"But I feel like I'm human." Her fingers ran over the skin of her leg, revealed by a tear in her pants.