Chapter Sixteen

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Walking out of her bedroom, Rose wandered sleepily down the hall toward the laundry room to get out some clean clothes. It was Cat's turn to fold laundry, but apparently, she was far too busy to do menial chores. Rose knew if she folded it herself, she would permanently lose the laundry battle and be stuck with it forever. Cat wanted to hire a maid, but Rose was almost embarrassed by the idea. It was bad enough Cat paid two-thirds of the bills to live in the fanciest apartment complex in town, but having a maid was far too snooty for Rose's taste.

Rose picked out a pair of blue skinny jeans and an old band t-shirt. She walked past the living room but froze, hearing a groan from inside. She breathed a sigh of relief, spotting Bane sprawled out on the couch, completely unconscious in only his boxers. Rose couldn't help but blush slightly, realizing how fit he was.
Cat was nowhere to be seen, so Rose grabbed a light throw blanket and tossed it over the older man. He shifted slightly before curling up into the blanket. It certainly wasn't unusual for Bane to sleep over, but he normally stayed in Cat's room or they were both snuggled on the couch. She shrugged it off, figuring if Cat wanted her to know what was going on, she would bring it up herself.

Rose entered the bathroom and started warming up the shower. Looking in the mirror, she could see the bags starting to form under her eyes. Nightmares had taken over her dreams, and she could not seem to get a full night's rest without waking up in a cold sweat. She had brought it up to Cat, who suggested it might be time to see the town psychologist about the dreams.

Every dream started the same, with her at the Kaliwse mansion before the fire. Bloodcurdling screams were coming from the basement, but the family sat at the table eating dinner as if nothing was wrong. The only family member missing was the daughter, Catherine.

Bo Gibbs would show up, insist that he didn't feel right about something, and get into a fight with the father. Then Bo would try to go into the basement, where a trail of blood led to a cage hanging from the ceiling.

Whenever Rose walked downstairs to see what was inside the cage, she would wake up. But before she was fully awake, she would hear the voice of a young boy telling her she had to leave before she got caught.

Rose let the warm water from her shower wash over her, breathing deeply. She would kill to finally get a good night's sleep. She had taken every sleeping aid she could find, with no luck. It had been almost a month since the dreams started. She must have been completely lost in thought because out of nowhere, she heard footsteps in the bathroom. She slid the curtains open to reveal a shocked Maltipoo who had gotten stuck under Rose's shirt. She began wagging her tail happily when she saw Rose.
Rose shut off the water and grabbed a clean towel from the rack, wrapping it around herself before she stepped out of the shower. She knelt down and freed Chelsea from the confines of her shirt. "I guess you'll be going home today, huh?" She scratched behind Chelsea's ear, and the puppy licked her hand.

Truth be told, Rose had grown a little attached to the Maltipoo. It was actually pretty fun having two dogs in the house; Cat had talked about getting another border collie puppy a while back. Rose quickly got dressed and towel-dried her hair, then worked a comb through the tangled strands. Chelsea followed her into the hall and joyfully attacked a squeaky toy.

Rose flipped on the kitchen lights, poured both dogs a bowl of food, and started her coffee. She was supposed to work the day shift this week, but Parker had called yesterday and told her he was sick. She didn't buy it, because Parker was never sick. He was most likely hungover. While she was fucking annoyed that he'd dumped this on her at the last minute, it gave her plenty of time to get some errands done in town.

Late Friday night, Komazzi had shown up at her door and asked her to keep an eye on Legolas, Parker, and Danny while they moved Matt and Rory's stuff into the penthouse across the hall. The apartment had sat vacant ever since she and Cat moved into the building years ago. Rose agreed, and throughout the weekend, she supervised as they brought furniture and boxes upstairs in the elevator. It wasn't long before she wanted to strangle them.

The three boys were loud, sloppy, and reeked of alcohol. Parker kept trying to flirt with her. They dropped boxes wherever, and Rose unpacked and organized the best she could. When Komazzi returned yesterday evening to thank her, Rose had considered telling him that they were drunk, but didn't want to start problems.

Rose had noticed several other things in the last few days that bothered her. Bane was asleep on her couch, and Cat wasn't home. Also, now seemed like a strange time for Matt and Rory to move. How could they possibly afford to live here? And why had Rory been at Crimson Inc. with Cat and Bane if Matt was supposedly sick? Wasn't Matt in the hospital? Everyone was acting so secretive. She wondered what they were all hiding.

"Hey, Rose," Bane's voice mumbled, and she turned around to see him shuffling into the kitchen, dressed in a black bathrobe. He opened the refrigerator and took out a metal thermos. Rose saw the exhaustion in his face and guiltily shoved her thoughts aside. Unlike Allie, she wasn't going to let herself fall into a pattern of accusing everyone of lies and deceit.

"Rough night?" Rose inquired, only half-joking. She hadn't seen Bane ever look this worn out. Bane glanced at her almost as though she were speaking a different language. His eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"Something like that. Have you seen Cat this morning?" Bane asked, running a hand through his messy black hair. His robe fell open slightly, and Rose saw what looked to be an enormous bruise on his side. She must have been staring longer than she thought because he quickly pulled his robe tighter. He winked at her when their eyes met. "I don't usually sleep with Cat's friends, but if you're interested, I could probably get Cat on board."

"You're a pig," Rose growled, busying herself looking in the dishwasher for a clean coffee mug. Bane always made her uncomfortable with his explicit jokes, but he had never actually tried to do anything. She had to remind herself that he genuinely seemed to love her friend, even if his actions didn't always show it. "I figured you would know where Cat was, considering you were the one passed out on our couch."

"Yeah, except she wasn't here last night when I got here. I must have fallen asleep waiting for her." Bane sighed, popping the mug in the microwave. "I feel like I haven't seen her in a week. Lots of long nights at the office working on a new project. Not to mention, I'm fairly certain we have one of our employees selling company secrets, in a manner of speaking."

"Oh?" Rose questioned, trying not to sound too eager about Bane sharing information with her. Bane never spoke about work, especially to her, so whatever was going on there must really be upsetting him.

"That's without even getting into the whole Matt situation," Bane continued, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "I'm really sick of that kid and his—"

"Hey, I picked up some groceries." Cat's voice rang into the apartment, cutting Bane off. His facial expression changed immediately, as though it suddenly struck him that he was talking to Rose and not Cat. Cerberus jumped up, licking her face as she set the groceries on the counter. "Bane, I had no idea you were here. I spent the night at Crimson researching that project with Komazzi."

"I'm just glad you're back now." Bane grinned, grabbing the blonde and pulling her into his lap for a kiss. The microwave beeped loudly, signaling the timer ending. Bane didn't seem to notice and continued making out with Cat.

"Seriously, get a room." Rose groaned, pulling the mug out of the microwave and setting it in front of the oblivious couple. She wished Cat could have waited another five minutes to show up. She actually had Bane talking for a change. "Guys, I eat in here, could you not?"

"So do we." Cat smiled widely before hopping off Bane's lap. "Drink up now, I have plans for you later."

Rose faked a gagging noise childishly.

"I'm going to clean the apartment today. Hopefully, I don't find any surprises," Rose said, eyeing them both. "What time are Matt and Rory expected to be home? Chelsea is probably missing her owners." Hearing her name, Chelsea ran up to Rose, jumping up and down and barking. Rose picked her up, ignoring Bane's look of disgust.

"This afternoon. It can't happen soon enough for me. That dog is a pest," Bane grumbled, earning himself a punch in the shoulder from Cat.

"She grows on you." Rose laughed awkwardly. Bane didn't sound very happy about their new neighbors. Maybe it was the loss of privacy after years of having the entire floor all to themselves. The only other people who ever came up here were the maintenance crew hired by their landlord. Or was it that Bane didn't like Matt and Rory? Komazzi and Matt were always together, but she couldn't think of an instance where Matt and Bane casually hung out. Bane was a puzzling man.

* * *
Rose worked in a frenzy. All morning she scrubbed, dusted, and vacuumed the apartment fromb top to bottom. She saved Cat's bedroom for last. Rose took a deep breath and swung Cat's door open. She groaned at the chaotic mess. "This puts tornados to shame."

Clothes were strewn across every surface. A high-heeled shoe lay on the windowsill, and Rose saw a skirt draped over the bedside lamp. The king-sized bed was unmade, silk sheets rumpled and blankets heaped on the floor. Empty lipstick tubes and makeup compacts littered Cat's desk. A hint of jasmine wafted in the air from an overturned perfume bottle.
Rose sighed, gathered up the clothes, and tossed them into a laundry basket. She stripped the bed and opened the wardrobe to look for clean sheets. A box tumbled off the shelf and landed at her feet. Rose hesitated before picking up one of the pictures that had slid across the floor.

A man and woman stood in front of a small farmhouse. The woman looked identical to Cat, but Rose didn't recognize the man. The picture was easily from the 1930s. She flipped the box right side up and spotted a stack of thirty or more old pictures, the edges of them tattered and yellowing. Most of them were of the Cat look-alike with various people. Perhaps she was Cat's grandmother. The final picture in the stack caught Rose's attention.

The image appeared to have been taken without the subject's knowledge. The woman resembling Cat was holding something that looked like the head of Giovanni Kaliwse. Her head was turned toward the photographer and a glitch in the picture made her eyes look bright, glowing white, only adding to the horrible image. A small man resembling Bo Gibbs was in the background, hugging what appeared to be a body. A dark figure loomed in the background behind them.

Rose shoved the pictures back into the box, not knowing what to make of the photo. She leaned against the wardrobe, her mind suddenly overwhelmed with questions. She recalled the photos Allie had shown her a month ago, that she found in Bo Gibbs' house. The same young girl was in those photographs. A chill ran down Rose's spine. The stories of the Hellborne House were just fiction...weren't they?

The sound of Chelsea barking yanked Rose back to reality. She walked into the living room and could faintly hear voices outside in the hallway. She locked Chelsea in her kennel with a treat and opened the door to see Bane, Rory, and Matt arguing in front of the other apartment. Well, Bane was doing most of the yelling. He clearly wasn't in a good mood today, and they must have done something to push him over the edge. Rose hung back, but it was hard not to listen.

Her gaze shifted from Bane to Matt. There was a noticeable size difference between the two men. Bane stood over six feet tall and was muscular and broad-shouldered, his skin decorated with various tattoos. Matt, on the other hand, looked small and frail next to the monster of a man in front of him. He had huge bags under his eyes, his expression worn and tired.

"I'm only letting you stay here as a favor to Komazzi," Bane growled, slamming his fist against the wall above Matt's head. Cat grabbed Bane's arm and somehow seemed to overpower him a step back from the couple. "I swear if you are anything other than quiet, polite neighbors you will be living in a box behind Evermart!"

"What the fuck did I ever do to you?" Matt snapped back, glaring at Bane dangerously. Bane again tried to move toward Matt, but Cat just gripped his arm tighter; droplets of blood streaked his skin where her nails dug in. "Are you worried I might interrupt all your hallway 'escapades' again, or just mad you didn't get to finish?"

"Escapades? What are you, twelve or something? Who calls sex escapades?" Bane snickered, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I just don't want you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, or you might really see the dark side of the devil."

"Is that a threat? I'm not sure Komazzi would like to hear you're threatening his son," Rory interrupted.

Bane erupted in laughter.

"Do you really think Komazzi would choose Matt over the security of the company?" Bane demanded before Matt attempted in vain to shove past him to get inside his house. "I know you're the reason those feathered dipshits found us. I just haven't figured out how, or whether or not you were intentionally involved."

"You think I planned this? Trust me, the last thing I wanted was to end up in the hospital and find out I'm going to be your new neighbor," Matt snapped.

Bane seemed to loom over Matt as he said something Rose couldn't quite make out. Cat quickly stepped between the two men, shoving Bane back against the wall and letting Rory and Matt enter their apartment. Cat stayed back for a moment, just staring at Bane, almost as though they were having a telepathic conversation. Bane finally visibly backed down, holding his hands up in mock surrender, and followed Cat into the apartment.

"What was that all about?" Rose demanded.

"Nothing, just a work-related dispute," Bane insisted. He stormed into the bedroom, and Cat offered Rose a quick smile before joining him. They shut the door, leaving Rose standing in the hallway, looking very confused. "That fucking kid. How dare he disrespect me!" Bane paced the room, his hands clenched into fists.

"I think, given the circumstances, he's entitled to be angry," Cat said, glad that Matt's hearing was still impaired to normal levels, so he couldn't overhear their conversation from the apartment next door. "They've had to deal with a lot of changes in a short time. Matt survived three bullets and went through major surgery only to turn around and relapse from the T.V. We're lucky he's still with us, Bane."

Bane snorted. "Why do you and Komazzi insist on coddling him so much? If he had called for backup like he was taught to do, this wouldn't have happened. At this point, the organization can have him, it would be a burden lifted off my shoulders."

"Bane!" Cat hissed. She seized his arm and jerked him around to face her. "Think about what you're saying. What if they decide to use him as a weapon against us? Or that a complete dissection will provide them with the information they need? Either way, if he's in their custody, we lose. We can't throw him to the wolves like that. Whether you like it or not, Matt is one of us, and we take care of our own."

"Wait a minute." Bane sat down on Cat's bed, an idea forming in his head. "This could work to our advantage. If we let them take Matt, he can find out more information about who these people are and what they're capable of. I want to learn what Michael's role is. The tracking device will alert us to Matt's location the whole time, and if something goes wrong, I'll send a crew in to get him. We can do it after his abilities come back, so he'll be able to defend himself.

"Are you serious?" Cat exclaimed. "Komazzi will never agree to that!"

"I'll talk to him about it before the interview," Bane said. "I still have another week to figure out the details." He wasn't looking forward to spending Friday night having his brain picked by Nellie Hopkins, the nosy newspaper editor, but they needed to get the renovation story up and running. A lot of progress had been made at the ruins in the last few weeks.

"Two weeks ago, you said Matt shouldn't be out in the field. What's different now?" Cat wondered. She held his gaze, waiting for an answer.

"The organization won't kill him. He's worth more to them alive than dead," Bane said, trying to keep his voice low in case Rose was still outside the door. "Maybe James can go with Matt, so he's not there alone. I suspect they have several genetically modified agents in their ranks. The way Frank was behaving that night was pretty unusual."

"I hope you're right about this." Cat sighed. Komazzi was going to flip out when he heard Bane's plan. She left the bedroom and found Rose lounging on the couch, watching a movie and petting Chelsea. "Did you have fun cleaning?"

"Not exactly." Rose switched off the television. She stared at the darkened screen, mustering the courage to bring up the photos. Normally, she never snooped in Cat's bedroom, knowing how much Cat valued her privacy. "I um...when I was in your room, I found a strange picture, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it," she blurted out.

"What picture?" Cat sat down next to her friend on the couch. Bane sat in the armchair beside them, where Cerberus quickly took advantage of it and climbed into his lap for a nap. Rose cautiously pulled the picture out of her pocket and handed it to Cat. The blonde stared at it momentarily with a short-lived smile. "That's my great-grandma Elizabeth. People always thought we looked alike, but I never saw it. I can see how this would be a strange picture out of context. Halloween has always been big around here, but back in the thirties, they went all out. It's hard to tell in this grainy picture, but that head is actually a pumpkin with its insides hanging out the bottom. It was part of the All Hallows' Eve festival costume contest."

"But how could Bo Gibbs be there? He looks exactly the same in this picture as he does now. That's not possible," Rose continued, looking closer at the pictures. She supposed the girl could be Cat's great-grandmother with an amazingly accurate carved pumpkin, but Bo still seemed to be out of place.

Bane leaned over and studied the photo intently. "I think that's a relative of Bo's, his grandfather, Claude Gibbs. The men in their family bore a strong resemblance to one another, from what Bo told me. His grandfather was actually one of the town's Founders; I'm sure you've seen photos of him before." He grinned, his eyes dancing mischievously. "Not everything is a conspiracy, Rosie. You've been hanging out with Allison too much."

"Oh, now I feel stupid," Rose moaned. "I should have read about Shire Bottom's history." Cat's explanation was more logical than the absurd things her wild imagination came up with earlier. She stared down at the photo, suddenly thinking how blessed Cat was to have it.

Rose didn't know much about her own ancestors. Her parents died years ago, and she couldn't remember ever having relatives around when she was growing up. Her father was Russian-American with no siblings, but her mother never spoke about her family, so Rose had nothing to go on.
Her genealogy was a myster

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net