Page 2 of Vows & Violence
It’s the beginning.
Chapter One
Phoenix
The city breathes smoke and shadow this time of night. Not the kind from bourbon-soaked bar windows or gutter steam. No, this is older. Deeper. Like the bones of New Orleans are remembering something they buried too fast. Something that claws at the surface that comes during Halloween.
I let my throttle rise just enough to stay ahead of Ghost. Not out of spite, but out of instinct. Space helps me think. It helps me breathe. I should’ve kicked in that door earlier.
The moment I saw his hands covered in blood, a voice in my head whispered, “Too late.”
He said it wasn’t his. He didn’t say whose it was. And the silence that followed? It’s a rusted knife in my gut.
We weave through empty streets, our engines echoing off crumbling brick and neon. Ghost rides behind me, steady, disciplined. Like a man pretending everything’s fine. Like muscle memory’s all he has left.
I know that kind of lie. I lived it for years.
My comm crackles, and I click it on.
“Where are we going?” Ghost asks.
“Somewhere the dark can’t follow,” I lie.
The truth is, there’s nowhere safe in this city. Not with his past bubbling up like swamp rot. Not when the only thing more dangerous than the things we killed are the ones we didn’t.
I kill the engine when we reach the old ferry docks by the levee. The air smells like rust and riverweed. Good. Familiar. Nothing cursed here except the ghosts we bring with us.
Ghost pulls up beside me, but he doesn’t speak.
I don’t look at him right away. I let the silence stretch like a rubber band that’s tight, tense, and inevitable.
“Have you ever sleepwalked before?” I finally ask.
“Not like that.”
“Have you ever woken up covered in blood?”
A pause. “...No.”
I nod. Not like I expected better. “Something’s wrong with you, Ghost.”
“I know.”
That stops me. I turn and finally face him. The moonlight hits his jaw, cuts him open in silver and shadow. He looks... tired. Hollow.
“Then tell me what it is.”
“I can’t. It’s not a memory. It’s a feeling. A place. I keep seeing Vale and Raven, but it’s not really them. Like something is wearing their skin.” He swallows hard, voice low. “They keep saying I belong to them.”
I step close enough that I can see the tremble in his hands before he clenches them into fists.
“You belong to me,” I say quietly. “Not to the past. Not to them.”
His eyes find mine. Blue-gray storm clouds, shot through with guilt. “Then help me fight whatever this is. Because I don’t think I can outrun it anymore.”
I nod once. “Good. Then we fight it. Together.”
But as the wind kicks up and the levee groans behind us, I swear I hear something whisper my name, but when I turn, no one’s there.
