Page 64 of Little Wing
“Ma’am, are you still there? Where did you last see him?”
“My home.”
The vampire unit of the Fairhaven police department arrived within the hour and moved quickly to restrain Luca before bringing him down to the van that would take him in for questioning. Being that he was a wanted criminal who crossed many state lines, I hoped that his punishment would be excruciatingly painful.
When he was removed from the apartment, I eyed the group of vampires working to collect evidence around the living room and bedroom. While they worked, two detectives stayed beside Lotus, asking her questions I didn’t know the answers to. For the duration of her questioning, she responded without hesitation, though the fatigue in her eyes was evident. Soon they closed their notebooks and handed Lotus a business card before they allowed her to return to cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.
I stayed nearby in case she needed me, flexing my still bruised hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as one of the detectives approached me. His hair was shaved down to a buzz cut that revealed a few tattoos that crept up from underneath the collar of his shirt.
“Hello, I’m Detective Morello,” he said, shaking my hand after I had extended it. “I just spoke to Ms. Everett, but I was hoping toget your account of this as well.” The broad-shouldered man spoke, motioning for me to take a seat on the couch behind us.
“Sure.”
Detective Morello flipped his notebook to a new page and began jotting down notes without looking up at me. “Could you confirm that the man we have detained is indeed Luca Everett?”
“Yes.”
“And is that in fact his sister? Lotus Everett?”
“Well….”
The detective looked up, rolling up his sleeve halfway up his forearm, revealing more intricate ink. “Has she gone by any other name?”
I nodded. “Evans. She only recently told me everything, so I am aware of who her brother is and what he’s done.”
“And has she known the whereabouts of her sibling prior to today’s events?”
“No,” I quickly responded, glancing over at Lotus in the kitchen. She held a few forks in her hand, but only stared at them. The detective continued to ask question after question while I fought the urge to get up and scoop her into my arms. The adrenaline of the evening was receding, and I had no doubt that Lotus was feeling the same way, if not worse. Who was I kidding? Of course, she felt worse. She just turned in her brother who threatened to bring her down with him.
After watching her confront Luca, I felt a new wave of wrath raise inside me. As the detective flipped to another page and prepared his next question, I cut him off and growled. “Promise me that he’ll get the worst fucking punishment for what he did to her.”
Detective Morello’s brows narrowed before rubbing his shaved head. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out another business card. “You can trust us to use what evidence we have against him to deliver a suitable punishment.”
“Then I hope you fucking starve him just as he did her,” I snarled and snatched the business card from his hand before I got up and walked to the kitchen where Lotus still looked dazed. I didn’t move to touch her, just leaned against the counter, quietly letting her know I was there for her.
“Ms. Everett, we’ll be in touch if we need anything else from you. If you think of anything else you’d like to add for your brother’s case, please call me on the number provided.” The detective got up from the couch and walked out the door, leaving only a few vampires who were working to collect samples of Lotus’s blood off the floor while others packed away the sheets from her bed—anything that Luca could have touched before we arrived at the apartment. I didn’t want to think about what they could find.
Once they were all finished and no longer cluttering Lotus’s home, I reached to gently rest my hand on hers. As if knocked out of a trance, her shoulders sagged and her chest heaved. Panic came in waves and crashed into her once again. When I didn’t say anything, she inclined her chin to look at me. Her pupils darted back and forth, seeking an anchor to the shock that rattled her.
“I-I…” Lotus stuttered before collapsing in my arms. The front she wore finally crumbled, and she allowed herself to truly weep. “D-did I… did I do the right thing?” She asked through heavy sobs, desperation laced in her fractured tone.
“I’m here,” I whispered into her hair as I allowed her body to fit against mine. I listened to her breathing begin to slow even as she clutched my shirt in her small fists. I evaded her question, because I really didn’t know. I wanted to assure her that everything would finally be okay, that she could finally feel safe with her brother nowhere near her. But I couldn’t offer her that comfort, not when I didn’t know what could happen next.
In the quiet of her apartment, I just held her.
She sniffled loudly against my chest and turned her head up to look at me. Her eyes were a portal; in them I could see years of pain and torment depicted so vividly. What I wouldn’t do to replace those memories with ones of warmth and the sound of her laughter. “I cannot believe,” she paused, reaching to wipe the tears from her eyes, "that really happened.”
I nodded. “That was a lot.”
Even while the wound on her neck healed, Lotus blinked quickly and reached up to gently touch my face. I held back a wince at the feel of her damp hand against my cheek where Luca’s bony-ass fists struck a lucky blow.
“You’re hurt, Silas.”
“I’m okay, I promise,” I assured her, taking her hand in mine. “How’s your neck feeling?”
She forced a stiff smile. “Sore.”
“Yeah, how about we pack some of your things and go back to my place for a bit. We’ll come back to clean this up soon, but—”
