by Lana Melyan
“He thinks the transitioning bodies are where he hid them after he turned them, that he hasn’t moved them since. That night, when you—” Riley cleared his throat. “After what happened in the church, we left. To be sure that we were nowhere around, Fray’s vampires followed us all the way to the castle. The next day, when Samson returned to that place, they were gone and the barn was empty. He still had a little of Fray’s blood, but after the Book was closed, the Map lost its power. When he finally found Fray with the help of witches, he was already in New York. Even without powers, his well-prepared plan worked, because he had strong and fast vampires on his side, ready to do his bidding.
“During those years, Samson checked dozens of places where he supposed Fray could’ve hidden the bodies; the places he thought were significant to him. But Fray had secrets. You all remember that, when he lived with us, he could disappear for months, and nobody knew where he was.” Riley walked to the armchair and sat down. “We have to dig deeper, try to remember some details, find some clues. So, Eleanor, instead of trying to cut Alec into pieces, maybe you could use his feelings for you and fish out some information.”
Eleanor gazed at him, bubbling with anger.
Riley leaned forward, arms on his knees. “Eleanor, this isn’t the right moment for a vendetta. When the time comes, you can do the honors.” He sighed. “Listen, Fray doesn’t care how many of his vampires we kill. But you said yourself that he and Alec are close. If you harm his, he’ll harm yours, and we have enough problems already. You’ve let your steam out. Now you have to calm down and look at the big picture. When you see Alec next time, use him wisely.”
“I already tried,” said Eleanor. Everybody looked at her, waiting. “When he said he was sorry,” she rolled her eyes, “for what he did, I said he can prove it by telling me where Fray hides the daggers before he kills somebody else. But Alec said Fray wouldn’t tell anyone, not even him.”
“He’s lying,” said Hanna.
“No.” Eleanor shook her head. “He also said he wouldn’t tell even if he knew, that he would never do that to Fray.”
“Unbelievable,” said Hanna. “After what Fray did to his parents.”
“They weren’t his parents.”
“Wait. What?” Hanna stared at her.
“Really?” said Ned. “You mean he was adopted?”
“Nope. Fray hired them.”
“I can’t believe this.” Hanna shook her head.
“So Alec is an orphan,” said Ned.
“Apparently, ‘Uncle’ isn’t some conspiracy name,” said Kimberly. “That means Fray took care of him. The house Alec lived in in Williamsburg wasn’t Matilda’s and Clark’s. It probably belonged to Fray.”
“As I said before.” Eleanor tilted her head and raised her eyebrows as she looked at Riley.
“The coffins can’t be there,” said Riley. “Virginia is too far. Samson said the one thing he’s sure about is they’re somewhere around here. But the house is a start. It can help us untangle the knot.”
“We should find out what happened to the house after Alec moved out,” said Ruben. “I’ll go see Mike. He said he’ll be at the station.” Ruben kissed Kimberly on the temple and got up. “Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”
Kimberly’s eyes followed Ruben as he walked away.
“I need to drink something cold and refreshing,” said Hanna. “Who’s with me?” She headed to the kitchen.
“Me. I’ll always be with you,” said Ned in a jocular way. “Even if you’d jump from a plane, fall from a cliff, run into fire…”
“What would that be?” chuckled Hanna. “Some kind of immortality test?”
“What?” said Ned, spreading his hands. “It’ll still hurt.”
“I’m with you, too, little sis,” Riley said with a smile. “But no tests. I just want a beer.”
When the three of them disappeared to the kitchen, Eleanor looked at Kimberly. The moment their eyes met, Kimberly smiled unnaturally, then got up and followed the others.
Eleanor’s heart sank. Kimberly had already looked at her like she was some kind of alien. Now it was much worse. Kimberly was afraid of her.
Less than two weeks ago, they were just three girls having fun at the lake, thinking about what they’d wear to an upcoming party, talking about boys. Sure, Hanna knew that everything might change at any moment, but she enjoyed their time together as much as Amanda and Kimberly did. If what happened to Amanda meant awakening, finding her true self, to Kimberly it was the opposite. Everything she liked about her life—her friends, their plans for the future, her new love—everything was slipping away. Seeing Riley snap vampires’ necks, seeing Alec kill Melinda, dead bodies lying all around Eleanor’s old house—it wasn’t how she expected to spend her last days of high school, and watching her best friend stab her classmate wasn’t how she planned to celebrate her graduation. Kimberly deserved better than that.
Eleanor bit her lip. She felt guilty, angry, and embarrassed at the same time. She wouldn’t be able to fix it today, and who knew what would happen tomorrow—the real fight hadn’t even begun. But staying away from Kimberly would only expand the distance between them.
She got up and went to the kitchen. “I want something, too,” she said opening the fridge. “Something cold, yellowish with bubbles.” She pulled out a bottle of champagne. Eleanor glanced at Kimberly. Expecting to have an exciting day, she wore a new, gorgeous blue dress. And now she stood there, her hands crossed over her chest, her eyes sad. Eleanor put three glasses on the table and uncorked the bottle. “You guys may have your beer,” she said to Riley and Ned, filling up the glasses. “But we,” she handed the glasses to Kimberly and Hanna, “we’ll celebrate our big day, no matter what. Happy graduation!”
“Happy graduation!” said Hanna, putting down the glass of soda she held in her other hand.
Kimberly pressed her lips together, then with a weak but this time real smile, said, “Happy graduation.”
“Happy graduation!” Riley and Ned chimed together, raising their beers.
Riley and Ned each grabbed another beer and went to the backyard.
“I’m going to frame my diploma and put it next to the other two,” smirked Hanna.
“When I received mine, Mr. Hancock actually blinked at me with his small round eyes,” grinned Eleanor.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” said Kimberly. Eleanor heard the sad note in her voice. “A week ago I couldn’t wait for it to happen, but now . . .” She took a sip from her champagne.
“You think you’ll miss it?” asked Hanna.
“I’ll miss us,” said Kimberly, looking into her glass.
“Hey, you know where we live now.” Hanna beamed. “The address is Eternity Road, Invisible Wall number 1.”
“Besides,” said Eleanor, “weren’t we planning to go to the same college?”
Kimberly stared at her. “You mean you still want to go to college?”
“Why not? I’ve never been to one. Hunters need education, too. Look how the world has changed after my first li—after I die–– You know. We have to keep up, to fit in.”
Kimberly’s eyes glittered. She looked at Hanna for approval.
“I would like that. I finished one, but it was decades ago. I went to Columbia. We didn’t have much time for colleges. Me, Ned, and Ruben went to high school a couple of times each. We had to. Riley and Craig went to wars to keep Eleanor’s posterity safe.” She looked at Eleanor, grinning. “Sorry, your ancestors.” She turned to Kimberly again. “Now, one mission is accomplished. Eleanor is back. And after we put down Fray, we can do whatever we want.”
They talked more about colleges, what they would like to study, and Kimberly’s mood seemed to be much better, but every time her and Eleanor’s eyes were about to meet, she turned away.
When the front door slammed, Kimberly rushed to the hallway. Eleanor and Hanna waited a minute. When Kimberly didn’t come back, they went after her.
Still standing in
front of the door, Kimberly and Ruben were kissing. Hanna beamed, and took a step forward, but Eleanor turned her around and pushed her back to the kitchen.
The news Ruben brought from the police station didn’t untangle anything; instead it brought them to a deadlock.
“Mike contacted the Williamsburg police,” said Ruben. “It took them a few minutes to find out that after the Maysons moved out, the house was empty for about two months. Then it was sold to a middle-aged couple with two kids.”
“So, maybe it wasn’t Fray’s, maybe it belonged to the Maysons?” asked Ned.
“I don’t know. It isn’t just some house. They said it’s a big mansion from the nineteenth century.”
“Even if it’s his,” Riley said, “he wouldn’t sell the house with the bodies in it.”
Hanna sighed. “Now we are back where we started.”
“It’s getting dark. I gotta go,” said Eleanor. “I don’t want to leave my father alone.”
“Kimberly, Hanna will stay with you tonight,” said Riley.
“No,” said Ruben. “I’ll do it myself. I’ll stay with her.”
“How’re you going to do that?” asked Eleanor. “David will never allow it.”
“Did your husband Richard allow Craig to spend nights in your bedroom?” asked Ruben, raising an eyebrow.
Riley and Hanna chuckled.
“Times may have changed, but here’s the good news, Eleanor,” said Ruben, index finger in the air. “Bedrooms still have windows.”
“Then if Ruben’s staying with Kimberly,” said Riley, “Hanna can stay with Eleanor. If Fray decides to show up, you’ll need some backup.” He looked at Eleanor’s bracelet. He was wearing his, too. He raised his hand and pointed at it. “Their powers are back, and I think we should all start wearing them. For emergencies. It’s quicker and more reliable than phones.”
Standing in Eleanor’s bedroom, Hanna looked at the back side of a painting leaning against a dresser. She picked it up and flipped it. It was Amanda’s birthday present from Alec. “You took it down,” she said. “I’m surprised it’s still in one piece.”
“I was going to tear it apart, but I couldn’t,” said Eleanor. “It’s Amanda. I’ll never be her again. I know I have plenty of photographs to remember her by, but this is different. The way I look here—”
“You mean the way he saw you?”
“I’ll never be like that again. When he showed it to me, part of me felt so sad, and the other part was glowing, like I already knew.” Eleanor sat on the bed, but then stood up again, took off her dress and slid under the duvet.
“He used a secret ingredient,” said Hanna, putting the painting back on the floor. “It’s called love.”
“About that. I’m worried about our love birds. What do you think is going to happen to them?”
“I don’t know,” said Hanna. She pulled off her pants and lay down on the other side of the bed. “Kimberly loves Ruben, but she’s not ready for any of this. At least not yet. She’s still in shock.”
They turned to each other.
“She’s changed,” said Eleanor. “She’s been so quiet lately, and it’s so not like her.”
“Yeah, I miss her snappy comebacks.” Hanna took a deep breath. “She’ll come around.”
“After what happened today. . . . It’ll never be the same. She hates me, Hanna.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s just a bit scared. It’ll be fine, give her time.”
“Today I was angry, and maybe I went a little overboard, but the thing is—we’re Hunters. We do kill. So does Ruben. How is she going to be with him if she’s scared of everything? She hasn’t even seen him in action. What’ll happen when she sees him ripping vampires heads off, or hearts out?”
“Hey, I warned him, and I was the one who was trying to keep them away from each other, remember? But it’s too late now. I’ve never seen Ruben like this,” said Hanna quietly. “He’s in love. All we can do is wait and see what happens.”
Ruben stopped the car in front of Kimberly’s house. When she got out, he drove a little farther and parked next to the neighbor's trash cans. He waited for Kimberly to walk inside, then got out and, keeping close to the bushes, snuck into the backyard. A few minutes later, without turning on the lights, Kimberly opened her bedroom window.
“Step back,” whispered Ruben before he jumped.
As he got in, Kimberly went back to the door and locked it. “My brother is asleep, and mom and David are watching a movie downstairs,” she said quietly, walking toward him.
“‘Die Hard’ right?” asked Ruben, listening.
“You can hear it? All I hear is noise.”
“I have perfect hearing, remember?”
Before he could say another word, she leaned into him and pressed her lips against his cheekbone. Ruben’s hands slid up her back. He looked at her lips, and as he kissed them, her body trembled and her hands slipped under his shirt. When he pulled her closer, breathing heavily, Kimberly released a short “Ah” and her eyes flew open.
“Oh God, Kimberly,” said Ruben, letting go of her. “Did I hurt you? I’m sorry,”
Kimberly smiled. “Got you.”
“Don’t scare me like that,” he said softly, taking her face in his hands. “What is this, revenge?”
“Revenge is still coming.”
Ruben looked into her mischievously glittering eyes. He had planned to talk to her about Eleanor, about what happened today, but when he returned from the police station her mood was much better. He didn’t want to ruin it and decided to save the tough talk for some other time. Tonight he’d make her forget everything, banish her thoughts about what had happened, and take away her worries about what might happen tomorrow.
As he bowed his head to kiss her, her lips parted. Her soft hands slid under his shirt and pulled it off.
16
Ruben was awake. His eyes were fixed on Kimberly’s ginger curls covering her naked back. It was Sunday morning, and it was pretty quiet outside, except this single chirping coming from the open window. He lifted his head and looked toward it.
The bird was a magpie. It sat on a long branch a few feet away. Ruben remembered how once, long ago, Craig told him that in Scotland people believed a single magpie seen near the house was a bad sign. It was a sign of—
Kimberly’s hand moved, searching for something. Ruben leaned over her, took her hand, and kissed her shoulder. The chirping became louder. The magpie was much closer now. Craig said that to prevent the bad luck you had to salute the bird by doing something like taking off your hat.
Why would he suddenly remember this? He had never been superstitious. People believed in weird things when they cared and worried about someone. He smiled. It was true then—love made people stupid.
A light breeze filled the room with chilly air. Ruben carefully pulled his hand out of Kimberly’s, but the moment he tried to cover her back, she began searching again. His hand slid under the duvet and lay around her belly. At his touch, she rolled over and buried her face in his chest. The next second her warm lips were gliding up his neck, sending a pleasant shiver down his body.
Kimberly turned on her back and lay on Ruben’s arm.
“Good morning,” he said, kissing her temple.
“Good morning,” she whispered. “I don’t remember the last time I slept so relaxed. Without nightmares, without any dreams at all.”
“Are you sure? You jolted a couple of times.”
“Maybe I just don’t remember them. Why should I? My dream was next to me the whole night,” she said, still whispering. “I don’t need other dreams.”
“You don’t have to whisper.” Ruben turned her to him. “They’re gone.”
“Oh, right, the picnic. Gone?” she asked a little louder. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost ten.”
“Really? How long have you been awake?”
“For a while.”
“Oh, that’s so selfish of me.” She leaned ov
er him. “I left my dream alone and bored.”
The swinging tips of her hair tickled his chest. “I wasn’t bored. I was watching my dream, making sure it was comfy,” said Ruben. He reached for her neck and pulled her face closer. “I also learned a lot,” he said, kissing her lips. “Now I know that your mom’s name is Sharon,” he kissed the corner of her mouth, “your brother’s name is Luke,” his lips moved down to her neck, “and he couldn’t wait to meet his friend.”
“Yeah.” Kimberly’s eyelids slid down, and her breathing became deeper. “That picnic is for him. It’s kind of a breakfast with friends. It won’t take long.”
“We need to go, anyway,” murmured Ruben into her ear. “We’ll continue this pulse-raising conversation tonight.”
“God,” moaned Kimberly. “What the hell is wrong with that bird?”
“It’s alone,” said Ruben quietly. “It’s probably looking for a mate.”
“You think so?”
Ruben nodded.
She leaned back and glanced at the magpie. “Poor bird,” she said with compassion. “I hope it finds someone." Kimberly looked at Ruben. “Someone good, and they’ll always be together.” Stroking his cheekbones, her fingers slid up and sank into his hair. Her soft lips covered his face with gentle kisses. Then she pulled back a few inches, and her hazel eyes looked deep into his with such tenderness, as if searching in them for a way to his soul.
Ruben’s heart hammered. He knew what was coming, what she was going to say, and he couldn’t let her do that, no matter how badly he wanted to hear it. He had lived long enough to know how vital those three little words could be. She wasn’t ready for them, there was so much she didn’t know about him yet.
“Ruben,” she whispered.
Ruben swallowed and, before she could say another word, he said, “I’m here.” He turned her on her back and buried her in kisses.
Her eyes barely opened as Eleanor reached for her phone to check the time. She unlocked it, her eyes lingering on its background picture. It was a photo of her and Craig, which she took at the castle's front yard right before he left. When she looked at the small numbers on the top of the screen, she muttered to herself and jumped out of the bed.