Anya
Earlier that evening…
Arkady kept his distance tonight. But, something was definitely off with him. He usually kept a casual banter going with the other werebears who worked for him. There was Stefan, who Cullen told me was another polar bear underneath his skin. Mikhail was a grizzly like Cullen, that I seemed to sense on my own. At first, it was nothing I could put my finger on, but Mikhail’s eyes were more like Cullen’s. When he didn’t think I noticed, I saw them flash dark brown the same way Cullen’s did. Stefan and Arkady’s went an odd color, black but with a ruby tinge near the corners. Plus, Arkady’s hair was almost completely white. Stefan’s was black but with that same shade of white, almost translucent along both of his temples.
Tracy called in sick. Arkady called in someone new to fill in for her. Well, she wasn’t new to the bar, but new to me. Her name was Gloria. In her mid-thirties, she’d worked for the Bluelight for years I later found out. The moment she saw me, everything shifted. Gloria had bright green eyes that widened in shock as she looked me up and down. Arkady stood between us and made the introductions. I kept a neutral smile on my face. All color drained from Gloria’s.
“Arkady?” she said, looking from me to him and back again.
“You’ll get along fine,” he said, waving a dismissive hand at us. “Anya can show you the new computer system. Come see me at the end of the night. Depending on how long Tracy plans to be out, I might have more work for you if you want it.” He pounded his fist against the bar and disappeared back into his office, leaving Gloria gaping at me.
I held out my hand to shake hers, but Gloria’s was already trembling.
“Anya.” She bent her head low and narrowed her eyes.
I nodded. “That’s right. Anya Parker. I just started here a few weeks ago.”
She recognized me. At least, she thought she did. My heart raced as I wanted to take Gloria aside and ask her if Avery had been here the last time she worked. I knew she’d tell me yes. It was the only thing that could explain how unsettled she was by seeing me. A cold pit formed in my stomach as I realized she must think she saw a ghost.
I didn’t get the chance to corner Gloria then. A rowdy group streamed in through the front door. Even with Gloria substituting for Tracy, we were still short staffed. Mercifully, none of Arkady’s friends took up space at the back tables. Mikhail worked behind the bar and Stefan straight up prowled the floor, hovering over me most of the night.
While Gloria relearned the computer system, I got the big group. They pushed three tables together near the back entrance and kept me hopping all night racking up a four-figure tab. Every time I thought I’d get a break, one of them snapped their fingers and asked for another pitcher or bottle of something. They were friendly, for the most part. Two dozen businessmen who’d attended some seminar near Wickliffe. How they found their way to Blackfoot was up for some debate. But, one of them knew of the Bluelight by reputation and they thought it was worth the trip. I only hoped they tipped as well as they drank. If not, my entire evening would be a bust. Arkady didn’t believe in adding the gratuity automatically. He said it was un-American. I supposed he should know.
Stefan’s watchful eye rattled me. He stood against one of the far walls in shadow with his hands crossed in front of him. His eyes glinted with unnatural light. Bear light. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. As often as I could, I stole a glance out of the front window of the bar. Just past the streetlamps, I could see the tall grass surrounding the riverbank swaying in the breeze. Cullen was out there somewhere watching and waiting. If Stefan or Arkady made a move, would he be fast enough to do anything about it?
Later in the night, when I came back to refill the draft pitchers for about the third time, a hand shot out, grabbing me on the ass. One of the businessmen got bold. I think I’d heard one of the others call him Gabe. Gabe suffered from male pattern baldness and the top of his head flaked and peeled. I jumped, spilling a tray of empty glasses.
“Come on, sweetie,” Gabe said, “You’ve been looking my way all night. I’m too drunk to drive. How about you give me a ride home?” He snickered. To their credit, most of his friends looked embarrassed for him. When I tried to pull away, Gabe gripped my leg harder.
What happened next was hard to describe. It was though a wind kicked up inside the building. I looked toward the front door expecting to see Cullen barreling through it. Instead, it was Arkady. He appeared out of nowhere. His eyes flashed so fast, I doubt anyone but me noticed. He had two strong hands on Gabe’s shoulders, pressing down so hard Gabe’s spine buckled. He let go of me and a cold sweat broke out across my back. I didn’t like being this close to Arkady. I moved away and motioned for one of the busboys to come and pick up the glass.
Arkady put his lips against Gabe’s ear and whispered something that made the man’s eyes bulge practically out of their sockets. He nodded, making him look like a businessman bobble head. Arkady shot his companions a wicked smile and straightened. Then, Arkady turned to me and snapped his fingers.
“Give these gentleman one more round on me, then cash them out. They’re done for the night.”
“Sure thing, boss,” I said, practically stumbling over my feet wanting to put distance between us. I had one more hour to go before I could leave. I carried out Arkady’s orders, put the bill in front of Gabe, then got the hell away from them. With any luck, I’d be able to corner Gloria before she left for the night. If I’d been trying to avoid Arkady it seemed like she’d been trying to avoid me.
As I ran Gabe’s credit card, I saw Gloria leaning against the breakroom door. An unlit cigarette dangled from her hands. It was fifteen minutes before closing. Arkady, Mikhail, and Stefan had disappeared. The door to Arkady’s office was open, so I guessed they’d gone out to the alley. They often did that when they wanted to discuss business out of earshot. Cullen told me he’d watched them do it nearly every night. I took a steeling breath. This was as good a time as any to try and talk to Gloria.
Gabe’s group rose to their feet nearly in unison and staggered their way to the front door, leaving the carnage of overturned glasses and crumpled napkins in their wake. Three of them still seemed sober, so I didn’t bother to call anyone a cab. They left me nearly a five hundred dollar tip, and I wondered if that was partly Arkady’s doing. As much as I needed the money, I didn’t like feeling like I owed him anything. Still, I pocketed the money and went looking for Gloria.
Luckily, she wasn’t hard to find. She’d tried to slip out the side door, but her lingering cigarette smoke left a trail in her wake. With Arkady and the others probably out back or about to file back into his office, this was likely the best chance I’d get to talk to her without the threat of unwanted ears.
She was walking fast toward the side parking lot across the street. I had to practically run to catch up with her. I called her name but she only hastened her step. When I got close enough, I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her around to face me.
“Stop!” I said. Gloria turned. Her eyes were red-rimmed with tears and she brought her cigarette to her lips with shaking fingers.
“What do you want from me?”
There was no need for pretense. No need to start from the beginning and explain who I was. Whoever Gloria was, my face meant something to her.
“You knew her, didn’t you? Avery?”
Gloria dropped her cigarette and ground it beneath her heel. She looked cautiously around us, but we were alone. I wanted to tell her not to worry. If anyone tried to approach me, I was pretty sure they’d find a keyed up grizzly bear lurking around the corner ready to rip their faces off. Still, I had no desire to draw unwanted attention either. There was only one other bar in downtown Blackfoot that stayed open later than the Bluelight.
“Come on,” I said. “The Bear Trap’s still open. Let me buy you a drink. I think we need to talk, and it’s not safe for us to be seen together I’m guessing.”
Gloria nodded, lit another cigarette, and walked the block and a half with me. I knew Cullen would throw a fit if he saw me walk into the Bear Trap. He told me the place was teeming with shifters of all kinds. But, no one seemed to pay Gloria or me any mind as we walked in and took a corner booth away from the nightly regulars.
“Avery was my sister,” I explained when Gloria sat down. She blinked away tears as she folded her hands in front of her. We each ordered a white wine and sat in silence while the waiter brought them to us. I cashed out immediately so we wouldn’t be disturbed again.
“She was my friend,” Gloria finally answered. “And you shouldn’t have come here.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I pulled my phone out of my purse. I saw three messages from Cullen pop up on the lock screen. But he’d have to take care of himself. The next few minutes might be the whole ballgame if I could get Gloria to tell me what I needed to know.
“She worked here. I mean, she worked at the Bluelight with you?”
Gloria nodded. “I gave her a place to stay. We were roommates. God. When I saw you tonight, I thought I was losing my mind. She said she had a sister, but I had no idea that you looked like her. I mean … you look exactly like her.”
“We’re identical twins. She didn’t tell you that?”
Gloria shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe she did. But, it’s one thing to say it, it’s another thing to see you in the flesh.”
“Do you know what happened to her?”
Gloria took a slow sip of her wine. Her lipstick left a deep red smear around the rim that she wiped away with her thumb. “I think she liked me … I think she trusted me because I didn’t ask her a lot of questions. I don’t know. Avery kind of reminded me of me. And I could ask you the same question you just asked me. Why don’t you tell me what the hell happened to her?”
“What do you mean?”
“That girl was running from something. Something bad. You mean to tell me you don’t know what it was?”
I gripped the stem of my wine glass and then took a slow sip. My instinct was to lie and change the subject the way Avery and I always did. We protected each other and our secrets. But now, I wondered if it still mattered. “I don’t know. That’s the God’s honest truth. We grew up in the system. Avery had a rougher time of it than I did. I never asked her a lot of questions either. I didn’t have to. I just knew, you know? And I don’t know why she ran away. At least, I don’t know why she ran away from me too.”
“I do,” Gloria said. Something shifted in her posture. She put a hand across the table and gripped mine. The tears came back into her eyes.
“Tell me.” My voice came out in a choked whisper.
“Honey. Somebody hurt her wherever you came from. Badly. She was having trouble sorting it out and maybe she was trying to protect you. I don’t know. Whatever it was, she was looking for a fresh start.”
“Did she get it?”
Gloria sat back in her seat and let go of my hand. “Who knows? She tried to play it tough, but she was just a scared kid. Hell, she wasn’t even old enough to serve drinks when she came out here, was she? That was like five years ago now. She had this cheesy fake ID, but Arkady bought it. He put her on the floor the first night.”
My heart sank as Gloria confirmed what I already suspected. “So Arkady knew her too.”
Gloria’s eyes widened. “You mean he hasn’t …” Her hands started to tremble again. She looked around the bar and pulled her purse strap over her shoulder. “Look. I don’t know what the hell game you’re playing.”
“I’m not playing any game. I just want to know what happened to my sister.”
Shattering glass drew my attention toward the bar. Two patrons got into a shoving match. They were big, burly and strong. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as one of their eyes glinted gold. He wasn’t as big as Cullen or the other werebears, but he definitely wasn’t fully human. I could ask Cullen later, but I guessed wolf. Suddenly, sitting here much longer seemed like a bad idea.
“Please.” I reached across the table and grabbed Gloria by the wrist as she tried to get up to leave. “Help me. If Avery was your friend, just tell me what you know. Then you’ll never have to see me or talk to me again if you don’t want. You owe her that much.”
I don’t know why I said that last part, but it seemed to have an impact. Gloria’s nostrils flared and she sat back down. She pulled her purse off her shoulder and opened it.
“I don’t even know why I keep this in here. Who the hell knows? There are so many strange things that go on in this town. It’s eerie. I must need my head examined. I don’t know why the hell I came back here.”
“Because Arkady called you. And you know there’s something different about him. I’m guessing Avery did too.”
Gloria set her jaw. She leaned in close. “And you keep on poking around into things you don’t understand, you’re going to end up regretting it. You want my advice? Go back to wherever you came from. It’s the same thing I told Avery.”
“Gloria, please. Just tell me what you know.”
She reached into her bag and pulled something out. She held it tightly in her fist. “Arkady was very interested in her. He pursued her. I don’t know what came of it. I swear. But, she was afraid of him. She was also getting ready to leave town again.”
“Why didn’t she?”
Gloria closed her other hand around her fist holding whatever she’d taken from her purse. My heartbeat fluttered as I watched her. I was afraid to know what she held.
“She got sick, honey. Really, really sick. I don’t know what it was. She didn’t want to talk about it. She asked me for help and I gave it to her. I knew the name of a doctor that would see her for cash because she didn’t have any insurance. I helped her out with some money. For a little while, it helped and she started to feel better. Then, one night, I found her on the floor of our bathroom in pretty bad shape. I wanted to take her to the hospital, but Avery refused. She told me to take her to Dr. Putnam. That’s who I referred her to. Michelle Putnam. She runs a clinic on the other side of town. So, I drove her there and we waited for the doctor. When she got there, she took Avery inside and told me I should leave and cover for Avery at the bar. I did that. But Avery never came back. I went back to the doctor’s the next night asking questions. Dr. Putnam told me Avery was fine when she left. I never saw her again, honey. Avery never came back for her things. She never came back to the bar. Arkady said he hadn’t heard from her either. That’s it. She just vanished.”
I squeezed my eyes shut tight. My heart pounded with pain and rage. I felt so close to Avery and so far away at the same time. Gloria opened her fist. In it, she held a tarnished gold chain. She grabbed my hand and put the chain into mine.
“She left this. Dr. Putnam gave it to me. She said it fell off while she was examining your sister. She wouldn’t tell me any more than that. Doctor-patient privilege or something. Her clinic is still there though. Maybe you can get more information. I have no idea if the doctor still works there. I haven’t seen or talked to her in years.”
I was frozen. Gloria moved quickly. The commotion at the bar reached a fever pitch and the two shifters came to blows. I closed my fist around the object she gave me and pressed my head to the table. When I had the courage to open my hand again, my heart shattered into a million pieces.
She’d given me Avery’s necklace, the thin gold broken heart that matched the one I wore around my own neck. The one we swore when we were twelve years old that we’d never take off until the day one of us died.
I moved like a zombie, putting my feet in front of me but without real thought. Somehow, I made it to my car. I put it in gear and drove out of the parking lot. My phone buzzed again with Cullen’s unread messages. I gripped the steering wheel and drove home. Whatever he wanted, it could wait until I saw him in person. For now, I just needed to focus on breathing. I knew Avery was dead. I’d sensed that every waking moment since a year after she disappeared. But, to have just the shred of physical proof gutted me.
I pulled into my driveway. The door to Cullen’s unit stood wide open and the lights were on. I should have found that strange. He was careful not to make it look like anyone lived there. I walked through the front door. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, his eye bloodied. I got three steps in then dropped to my knees as Cullen pulled me into his arms.