by Lana Melyan
With the stake in his hand, he got out of the car and ran past the garbage cans to the backyard. Kimberly’s bedroom window was open and the light was on. He heard a weak cry. It was Kimberly.
“I don’t know,” she said, sobbing, “I don’t know.”
Ruben froze for a moment, thinking maybe she was having an unpleasant conversation with her mother. But then a husky voice said, “You’re lying,” and Kimberly screamed.
Ruben jumped. Once in the room, he saw blond hair and a fancy gray suit bend down to Kimberly where she lay on the bed. He grabbed the vampire and hurled him across the room. Another one in a black jacket stood on the other side of the bed.
Ruben threw one quick glance at Kimberly, at her pale, terrified face as she sobbed, her shirt stained with blood, and his chest heaved with fury. He felt irresistible desire not just to kill the vampires, but to hurt them, make them suffer. Ruben threw away the stake.
He turned to the vampire in the jacket. By the look on his face, Ruben knew he was trying to overcome his fear. The vampire bared his fangs and jumped. Before the vampire could reach him, Ruben struck him in the chest with his open hand. The vampire flew back and hit the dresser, shattering its mirror into pieces. The first vampire was on his feet again, and his fist was next to Ruben’s face when he caught it. Pushing it back with one hand, Ruben punched him in the nose with the other, then twisted his arm. With the edge of his free hand, he hit the vampire’s elbow. It bent backwards. Screaming in pain, the vampire fell on his knees.
The second vampire jumped forward and was about to kick Ruben in the chest, but Ruben bounced back, grabbed his foot, and rolled it.
There was the sound of cracking bone. Ruben threw him back. Howling, the vampire crashed to the other side of the bed. Ruben turned to the blond vampire, pulled him up, and pressed him to the wall. Blow after blow, he beat the vampire up until his face was a red mess. Blood rained from it onto his gray suit.
“How dare you touch my girl?” hissed Ruben. He thrust his hand into the vampire’s chest and ripped out his heart. He threw it away, stepped to the other one, and clutched his throat. His teeth clenched, and his glare fixed on the vampire’s horrified face, Ruben ripped open his jacket. His fingers pierced the vampire’s chest, and the next moment another heart fell on the floor. He dropped the body and looked at the blood dripping from his fist as he squeezed it tight. Suddenly, he remembered the suppressed scream he heard a second ago.
He turned to Kimberly. She sat on the bed, her hand over her mouth and staring at him with eyes full of tears. Her whole body shaking, she got up. When Ruben stepped to her, she pushed him aside, yelling “Mom? Mom!” as she rushed downstairs.
Realization hit Ruben as he followed her down the steps.
Kimberly’s mother lay on the kitchen floor. Her eyes were closed, face pale, and there was a small puddle of blood next to her neck. She was dead.
Thinking of Kimberly’s brother and stepfather, Ruben looked around. He didn’t see any traces of blood. He went to the living room, then ran upstairs and checked the other two bedrooms and the bathroom. There was no one else in the house.
For a second, he stopped in the threshold of Kimberly’s room and looked inside. He wouldn’t be able to clean this up. There was too much blood.
Kimberly knelt next to her mother and held her hand, sobbing. Ruben put his hands on her shuddering shoulders.
“Kimberly, we have to go,” he said quietly. She didn’t move or say anything. “Kimberly, we can’t stay here,” he said again. “We need to go before someone sees us. The last thing you need right now is police asking you questions you can’t answer.”
He heard a car outside. Kimberly sobbed harder. He pulled her up, took her in his arms, and ran to her bedroom. When the front door opened, he pressed her to his chest and jumped out of the window.
He put Kimberly down, supporting her as he led her through the neighbor's backyard, then through the next one, before going out into the street. Making sure that there was nobody around, he left Kimberly standing under a tree while he got his car.
They drove in silence. Kimberly wasn’t crying anymore; her red eyes stared into nowhere. When they arrived, Ruben carried her to his room and put her on the bed. He grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom and pressed it to her neck, then quickly washed the blood from his hands and sat next to her.
She lay on her side, eyes open. Ruben didn’t know what to say. How could he let this happen? It was his fault, all his fault. If Fray hadn’t seen her with him, this would never have happened. Hanna was right; he had to stay away from Kimberly. He wanted to hug her, to comfort her, but he couldn’t even do that. After how Kimberly saw him act today, he doubted he’d ever be able to hold her again, that she’d ever let him.
“I’ll go make some tea,” he said quietly, and went to the kitchen.
While waiting for the water to boil, Ruben thought about what happened in Kimberly’s room. It wasn’t his first time to rip out a vampire’s heart; the Hunters did it often if there was no stake at hand. But the fact that Kimberly saw him do it made him hate himself.
He heard a car in the driveway.
“Ruben.” Hanna’s voice came from the hallway. The next moment, she was standing in the kitchen. “What happened? Where is Kimberly?”
“She’s in my bedroom.” He barely heard his own voice.
“Is she okay?” Hanna moved closer, looking alarmed. Riley and Ned were now behind her, and the three of them stared at him in anticipation.
“No, she isn’t. She was bitten.” He swallowed. “And her mother is dead.”
“Oh, God,” Hanna gasped, pressing both hands to her mouth.
“Dammit,” said Riley through gritted teeth.
“Do we have any bandages?” Ruben asked.
“Yes,” said Hanna, opening one of the drawers. “I kept them just in case, for Eleanor. I mean, for Amanda.”
“Hanna, David might call her any minute, and he can’t know she was there when it happened.”
“I’m on it,” said Hanna, and dashed upstairs.
“Did the vampires get there before you?” asked Riley.
Ruben nodded. “They were there, and they still are, with their hearts next to them. There was no time to clean up the mess.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Riley. “Not after what happened today.”
“It matters to her.” Ruben took a cup from the shelf. “What about Eleanor’s father? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. He was still at the meeting.”
“What about the others? The kids at the parties?”
“We killed most of the vampires,” said Ned. “But when we got there, there were already two bodies in the house.”
“Yeah, I saw one dead guy, too,” said Ruben with a sigh. He added honey into the tea, then took the cup and went upstairs.
Hanna’s bedroom door was open. Ruben looked inside and saw her rummaging in her closet.
“I need to find something to cover her neck,” she said, pulling shirts and sweaters out of the drawer.
“Did they call?” asked Ruben.
“Yes. I did the talking. It wasn’t David. It was the police. They thought that they were speaking to Kimberly.”
Ruben went to his room. Kimberly sat with her eyes closed, leaning against the headboard. Hanna had already cleaned her wound and put the bandage on it.
Ruben sat on the bed. Choking from guilt, he whispered, “Kimberly.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she looked at the cup in his hand.
“You need to drink this,” he said. She closed her eyes again, and tears ran down her pale face. The pain shot through Ruben’s heart, tightening his throat. Suspecting that his presence was increasing her suffering, he stood up.
“This will do,” said Hanna, walking in. She held a dark-blue cashmere sweater with a turtleneck.
Ruben put the cup on the nightstand. “Make her drink this,” he said, and left the room.
Rile
y and Ned were now in the living room. Ruben poured himself a glass of whiskey and gulped it. “How did Fray know we’d go there?” he asked, looking from Riley to Ned. “If Mike hadn't called—”
“We would have gone anyway,” said Riley. “Right after you called me, Eleanor got a message from Alec. It was an invitation to a graduation party at that same address. There was a postscript—‘You don’t want to be late.’”
“I wonder what the police will tell people,” said Ned, “How are they going to explain what happened?”
“This isn’t the first time they’ve encountered the supernatural,” said Riley. “These sorts of things happen from time to time. Never this big and obvious, of course, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something.”
Ruben heard Hanna and Kimberly coming down the stairs. Without looking at either of them, Kimberly went to the front door. Ruben followed her, but Hanna grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen.
“You’re not going.”
“I won’t talk to her. I’ll keep my distance.”
“That isn’t the point. Whatever happened in that house, you’re a part of it. Someone could have seen you sneaking in today, or yesterday. The house is full of police. You can’t show up there right now.”
“I need to know she’s safe.”
“I’ll take care of her,” said Hanna softly. “Don’t worry.”
“Hanna, the house is all messed up.” I’m the one who made that mess, Ruben added in his head. “They won’t be able to stay there. I don’t know where her stepfather is planning to go, but I need you to bring her back.”
“I will. Call Eleanor. Tell her what happened.”
Through the kitchen window, Ruben watched Hanna and Kimberly drive away. Then he called Eleanor and told her everything.
“Oh my God. That’s horrible,” said Eleanor. “Poor Kimberly. And I can’t even go to her.”
“No. You need to take care of your father. You can see her tomorrow and maybe you’ll be able to talk to her then. She hasn’t said a word since . . .”
“I think I’m the last person she would want to talk to, after she saw me—you know.”
“After what happened today,” said Ruben bitterly, “I think she has a right to hate us all, starting with me.”
“You’re right. We did this to her.”
“I did this,” said Ruben, pacing up and down the kitchen. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t . . . it doesn’t matter now. It’s already done, and I can’t change it.” He stopped. “What I can do is keep her safe.”
“Why didn’t you go with her and Hanna?” Eleanor asked.
There was a moment of silence, then Ruben asked, “Eleanor, when you met Craig . . .” He paused, thinking how to phrase the question. “When you saw him killing demons, did it scare you?”
“I fell in love with Craig the moment I saw him. As you know, the day we met, he killed a werewolf right in front of me. Did it scare me? Yes. I was terrified. But I wasn’t scared of him. He saved my life. He became my hero.”
“Did he rip out the werewolf’s heart?” asked Ruben in a much lower voice.
“So that’s what this is about.” Eleanor sighed.
“When I saw her like that—Eleanor, he was hurting her.” Ruben ran his hand through his hair. “I lost it.”
“Ruben, you killed monsters. You saved her life. I’m sure she’ll understand. She loves you.”
“I know. I mean she did, and she was about to say it to me this morning. But I didn’t let her, because I knew that she doesn’t know me yet, that she doesn’t know what being a Hunter really means.”
“Knowing it never stopped me, or Gabriella. Give her some time. She has a lot to deal with. She lost her mother tonight.”
“That’s what bothers me. She was already in so much pain, and I made it even worse.”
“All you can do right now is be there for her and be patient,” said Eleanor softly.
“Thanks, Eleanor. See you tomorrow.”
Ruben returned to the living room just in time to hear Riley say, “. . . and his plan works every time.”
“Yeah, he’s the winner. Again,” said Ned with frustration.
“He didn’t win a damn thing,” said Ruben, swallowing his anger. “People died because of him, that’s true, but it doesn’t make him a winner. When he stole the Book, we found him. Eleanor closed the Book and he never enjoyed his victory. He stole the Book a second time and he’s still nothing. What he did today only proves that he’s a killer, that he’s ready to do anything to get what he wants. The vampire didn’t just want to kill Kimberly; they were trying to get information.”
“They went after Kimberly for information?” asked Riley, looking perplexed.
“I don’t know what Fray wanted, but I know whatever it was, he didn’t get it. So, no, he didn’t win a damn thing. And he’s not going to. We need to find the transitioning bodies.”
“We still don’t know where to look,” said Riley.
“To start, someone needs to go to Virginia and look at that house, ask around about the new owners. Maybe they’re fake, like the Maysons. I can’t leave Kimberly right now, Eleanor needs to look after her father.”
“I’ll go,” said Ned. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
Ruben spent the rest of the evening pacing in the living room. It seemed to him like he had been waiting forever when around midnight, he heard Hanna’s car. He walked into the dark kitchen and looked through the window. As Kimberly opened the passenger door, Ruben breathed a sigh of relief.
Ruben watched through the kitchen doorway as Kimberly passed by and climbed to the second floor.
When he saw Hanna, he came forward. “How is she?” he asked.
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Hanna gazed at him. “Ruben, what’s going on?”
“I don’t think she wants to talk to me right now.”
“Why? What happened?” Hanna asked, looking confused.
“She saw me kill those vampires and . . . Can we talk about it later? What took you so long?” Ruben switched the subject. “Did the police question her this whole time?”
“No. The police seemed really lost. They didn’t even know what to ask. It was David who bombarded them with questions. They told him there was an attack on two other houses and it was probably some new gang in town. When the policeman said Kimberly’s family couldn’t stay in the house, David wanted to know why. He wanted to go upstairs, but they wouldn’t let him.” Hanna sighed heavily. “I didn’t think he’d . . . he was so shocked.”
“Hanna, she was his wife, the mother of his son,” said Ruben.
“Yeah, but . . .” Hanna’s expression froze, and it seemed her thoughts drifted away.
“But?” asked Ruben, pulling her out from her stupor.
Hanna blinked. “We went to a hotel. David was about to book two rooms, but I said it’d be better if Kimberly stayed with me. She went with him to the room, staying until Luke fell asleep. I didn’t want to intrude, so I stayed in the lobby.”
“Did you talk to her? Did she say anything at all?”
“Just a few things. When she got home, her mom said she didn’t send her any messages, that she lost her phone the previous evening. Kimberly knew then that something was wrong. She was about to call you when she heard unfamiliar voices. She went to the hallway and saw two well-dressed men standing in the threshold. They must have been asking for David, because her mother said that he’d be back soon and they could wait for him inside. Kimberly screamed, ‘Don’t invite them in,’ but it was two seconds too late. One of them grabbed her mother, the other one grabbed her.”
Ruben looked away as Hanna’s sad eyes met his. “When I drove her home, I waited, I looked around, I listened. There was no one there,” he said through his clenched teeth. “Where the hell did they come from so quickly?”
“Ruben, they sent the message. They knew you'd come, and they were careful. You need to stop torturing yourself. We can’t prevent every da
ngerous situation.”
“Right.” Ruben nodded, then went to the living room and poured himself a whiskey.
“I’ll check on her and then go to bed,” said Hanna, heading upstairs.
About half an hour later, the house fell into total silence. Ruben sat on the couch, fighting the temptation to go to his room. The thought that Kimberly was there alone after everything she’d been through this long, agonizing day tormented him. But would his appearance make it better? What if being alone was exactly what she needed right now? To think everything through, to cry out her pain without witnesses. Even if she needed someone, it wouldn’t be him, not the one who brought this adversity upon her.
Ruben realized he was standing at the bottom of the stairs. He went back to the couch and lay down. In his long life, he had never experienced anything like this. He, Ruben—who always knew what to say to women, how to act around them, what to do when they were in trouble—was absolutely lost. And he knew why. Because he never cared about any of them the way he cared about Kimberly, he wasn’t afraid to lose them. He had been in love once, very long ago, but it wasn’t the same. They were never that close, and when after many doubts, he finally told her the truth about who he really was, it turned out to be a big mistake.
With Kimberly, everything was different. After seeing her only a couple of times, he wanted to tell her everything. He felt connected to her. Every time she looked into his eyes, it was like she was turning on the light in the darkest places of his heart. Even now, when she knew who he was, she was interested in his life, trying to adjust, even help. And today he had ruined that.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, staring at the ceiling when he heard weak footsteps. He looked at the stairs and saw Kimberly coming down them, barefoot, still in her jeans and the dark-blue cashmere sweater.
Ruben sat up. She’s probably thirsty, he thought. Or maybe she’s hungry? Has she eaten anything tonight? His palms pressed into the edge of the couch, he watched her until she stopped in the middle of the room, facing him.