Page 38 of Killer of the Bells
When the elevator doors opened, Gareth stood in front of them imposingly, and Echo fell to his hands and knees, shaking hard enough for his teeth to chatter.
“He’s not coming with us,” Gareth said flatly, giving Echo the once-over and seeming unimpressed with what he found.
“He’s coming,” I returned.
“Let him come, Gareth. Vale never brings friends home,” Vix shouted. He was perched on top of our smaller Humvee, tinkering with the retractable laser gun he’d affixed recently.
I was there when he’d told Paris it was so people could see us better. Paris said that he imagined it would be difficult for people to see us at all if they’d been disintegrated, thus showing that Paris was smarter than I’d ever given him credit for.
“He can’t come if he can’t even look at me,” Gareth called to Vix, but he was glaring at me when he said it. “He’ll get himself killed if he’s so scared of me that he’s incapacitated.”
Echo seemed to perk up at hearing that, and I changed my tune in an instant. “Maybe you shouldn’t come.”
“You’re not that scary, Gareth,” Vix shouted. “Don’t worry about him, Echo. Gareth is a big ole sweety when you get to know him.”
Echo tried to look at saidbig ole sweetieand went pale. I watched as he fought the primal fear Gareth inspired in most humans. It was admirable, but from his body language, I knew it was doing him more harm than good, so I stepped between Echo and Gareth.
Everyone in the collective was an anomaly when it came to Gareth. Baz was too stupid to be afraid of Gareth, and Vix was too single-minded to notice anything he wasn’t hyper-fixated on.
Adam didn’t seem to be fazed by anything due to the absolute shit-show his life had been before meeting his husband, Apple. Apple was scared of Gareth, but whatever the hell quirk of fate made him impossibly lucky mitigated Gareth’s fear aura enough for Apple to deal with it.
Paris was… I wasn’t sure what Paris was, to be honest. His aura had a faint touch of the fae, but it had a different flavor than I was used to. He was originally from Norway, so it was possible his family had dealings with European fae I was unaware of.
If I ever managed to stop disliking Paris, maybe I’d ask. I’d already transitioned from abject hatred to vague dislike, so progress was being made.
I pulled Echo from the ground and said, “Look at me. Don’t worry about him. Gareth isn’t going to hurt you, I promise.”
“Of course I’m not,” Gareth grumbled. He really hated being around civilians. They made it impossible for him to ignore what had been done to him.
Echo took several deep breaths and said to me, “Let me try again.”
I realized Echo was speaking to me, even with others around, and I was so proud of him that my heart ached. “Are you sure? You don’t need to prove yourself to anyone here.” I leveled a glare at Gareth, and he returned it to me threefold.
Echo nodded and motioned me to move aside.
I was doubtful but wanted to be supportive. That was what all the disgustingly sweet lovers in the house were like. Each pair was supportive to a fault, so I figured it was a good place to start.
Echo braced himself, looked Gareth directly in the eye, choked, and vomited all over the man’s boots.
It was possible I needed to experiment more with what being supportive should look like.
Instead of getting angry, Gareth said, “He’s not coming.” Then he stepped out of his boots and walked to a locker to grab another pair.
Vix hopped down from the Humvee and ran over to us. “It’s okay, Echo. A lot of people have that reaction to Gareth. It’s no one’s fault. Oh, and don’t worry about the mess. Love? Can you take care of it?”
“On it, boss,” Love said cheerfully.
“Great! I’m going to go talk to Gareth now. He probably needs a hug.” Vix gave Echo a reassuring pat and skipped away to Gareth, who was stoically lacing up his new boots. When he reached him, Vix threw his small body around Gareth’s back, saying. “Paris said you’re allowed one emergency Vix hug as needed, and I think this qualifies.”
Gareth didn’t reply, but his shoulders relaxed minutely, which was enthusiastic consent for him.
“Gareth is right. I don’t think I should go,” Echo said.
I nodded because he was clearly correct. I kicked myself mentally because I’d just done the opposite of giving Echo a new reason to live. Where had I gone wrong? Short of scientific discovery, or fucking Echo, what was more fun than getting a free pass on killing a large number of people?
“Don’t worry about me,” Echo said. “If you can get me outside, I can find my own way home. I doubt I’d be able to find my way out of this labyrinth of a house you’ve got going on here.”
“I can get him there, Vale,” Love said. “Gareth said he wanted boots and butts in the Humvee ten minutes ago.
