The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 19

Ethan put his phone down and looked at Delilah with a somber expression. She clenched her jaw and nodded, knowing what Ethan wanted to tell her but didn't need to say. Gabriel was coming, and he was a lot closer than they had thought. The reality of that fact could only mean one thing, he had anticipated Ethan's call. She had always known Gabriel had an uncanny ability to know certain things. He could always sense if Ethan, or anyone else in the order, was close to finding anyone or anything he had interest in. The fact that Ethan had only called him only hours prior proved just how right Ethan was about Gabriel's instincts.

"How long?" she asked Ethan.

"He used an out of cell, but that doesn't mean much." Ethan said, "He's only an hour or two away, wouldn't call otherwise."

"Does he know how to find us? You didn't give him directions." Wes asked.

"Oh, he knows," Ethan said, "I don't know how he knows, but trust, me he does."

"So how long are we going to sit here waiting for her to come out of there?" Dillon asked, nodding to the bathroom door.

After getting Nadia to accept the fact that he and Delilah were vampires, and that Wes and Dillon were werewolves, Ethan had done his best to explain his involvement in her life. After briefly explaining how her family had been stalked and often murdered by some dark entity for centuries, Ethan told her how he had pretended to be her boyfriend so he could keep a close eye on her, how he had been involved with her family to at least some degree for decades, but had never been able to save any of the girls before they had been killed. Ethan explained he chose her because he believed the entity had come back time and again, always to kill a very specific girl, and always once a generation. The murdered girls were always first born, and always stood out from the rest of the family. Unlike the rest of the family, they always had red hair, and always looked identical to the last girl killed. It was as if the same girl was born over and over again, only to have the dark fate of being murdered young and in the same manner. Ever girl was found with a broken neck.

Ethan had kept a close eye on her throughout her life, either directly or with help from other vampires he knew in the area, always hoping the entity would reappear. When Nadia passed the age of her murdered ancestors, Ethan had been afraid that he would never find the monster he was looking for, that the opportunity had somehow passed. Why had Nadia survived? What had been different?

Those questions burned in his mind for years, tormenting him until he realized what he hoped was the key difference. Maybe it had been his involvement with the families while the girls were alive that had attracted their killer. Maybe his presence acted like some sort of beacon.

It was at that point Ethan had decided to take a more direct approach. He returned to town, and on the day he saw her hiking up that mountain trial he ran ahead and waited for her in the cabin, hoping the temptation to go in and sit by the wood stove would be too much for her to pass up on such a cold day. From then on out he had done everything he could to both stay close, and keep other people away from her, to isolate her until the monster made its appearance.

That was where Alex came in.

Alex was the only one who wouldn't stay away. He was annoyingly close to Nadia, refusing to allow her be isolated. Wes and Dillon had stepped in to try to help scare him off, but it was no use. Now Ethan thought he knew why...

"I think Alex is the one that's been killing your family." Ethan told her.

At that point Nadia had stood up without a word, by then her face a mask of anger. Refusing to look at Ethan, she walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. Ethan had tried to ask where she was going, but she had simply held her hand up and walked past. She had now been in there over an hour.

"I think you pissed her off buddy." Wes said, yawning.

Ethan shrugged, "Well, I knew that was going to happen." He said. "What's she doing in there? She alright?" He asked Delilah.

"Yea, she's in the bath. She's ok, I can hear the water draining now."

"Taking this a little hard isn't she?" Dillon asked.

Delilah shot him a look. "And just how would you take it if you were human? She didn't exactly grow up with all this you know." She leaned close to Dillon and looked him in the eyes sternly, "Not to mention we haven't told her about her mother either, so let's keep the smart remarks down, ok?"

Dillon held his hands up. "Ok, I got ya, I just think we're kinda running out of time here."

The door opened and Nadia walked back into the room, her clothes damp and a towel wrapped around her hair. "So let me get this straight," she said angrily, "you say some boogeyman has been killing the girls in my family off, and because of that you decide it'll be nice to drag me kicking and screaming into a real life Grimm's fairy tale. Then you string me along for a year, all the while being married, scare off all my friends, letting me think everybody hated me, including my best friend who I had grown up with. Oh, but he wouldn't let you isolate me, so you and your friends torment and beat him! But it's OK, right? He's the freaking boogeyman who's been murdering my family for centuries? You really expect me to buy into that you bastard?! He's just a boy! A human boy! "

"He's more than that now, Nadia."

Enraged, she slapped Ethan across the face again. "The hell he is! Just who the hell do you think you are? Where did you come from and why are you so obsessed with this boogeyman that you would risk ruining lives?"

Ethan took the slap without blinking, surprising even Delilah with how calm he remained. "It's a lot to tell, Nadia, and its dangerous information. You sure you want to hear it all?"

Nadia sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms, looking Ethan in the eyes. Next to her Delilah smiled and patted her knee.

"Fine," Ethan said, looking at the clock on his phone. "We have a little time before Gabriel gets here. Until then I guess I can tell you where I came from, and why I'm after your, boogeyman."