Finding Insight

by Katherine Kim

  “So what has you heaving great groans of unhappiness, then?” Marcus asked. He put down his empty and replaced it with one of the new bottles, nodding his thanks before twisting the cap off.

  “It’s Gabe,” Sebastian said. “I’m worried about that kid. It’s not safe for him to be sleeping out in the open like that. I don’t like it.”

  “Why don’t you offer him a crash space here then?” Kai asked. He had his bad leg propped up on the table and was slouched back in the chair looking very relaxed. Sebastian raised an eyebrow and wondered for a moment how long the pair had been drinking.

  “I don’t think he’d appreciate it. Hang on, how’d you get over here, Marcus? It’s still daylight.” Sebastian automatically checked the window and realized that there were heavy blankets over both of them, blocking out the sunshine. Had he really not been home all day? Actually, it’d been two days now that he thought about it.

  “I got caught by dawn this morning.” Marcus had the good grace to look sheepish. “Kai let me stay here today.”

  “You guys have got to stop with the all night chat sessions. Sheesh.” Sebastian smirked at his brother, but it made him feel better to know that Kai had such a good friend in Marcus. It was good to see Kai really making a connection to someone. It hadn’t been until after the whole debacle with Eric luring Kai into a trap that Sebastian had noticed that while Kai had friends and family that cared about him, he hadn’t let himself ever lean on them. The idiot had been taking on the whole burden of watching over the Village entirely by himself, whether help was offered or not. He also took all the blame on himself when the wights were sent against them, and that was ridiculous. Somehow Marcus had managed to break through that shell.

  “I called Cassie so she wouldn’t worry when she got up for school this morning. It’s fine.” Marcus waved his hand to dismiss Sebastian’s concern. Kai wasn’t the only one that needed a friend desperately. Being a single dad was bad enough, but Marcus was also a lidérc— a type of Hungarian vampire— and had watched his human wife get murdered by a hunter bent on destroying every paranormal being in existence along with those the spirit considered family.

  The same hunters that had teamed up with their brother Eric and the warlock that had unleashed the wights on the Village.

  “You’ve gone quiet and look suddenly very tense, Seb. What’s going on in that head of yours?” Kai’s gaze had sharpened, and some of the relaxation had left his posture. Sebastian drew a deep breath.

  “I don’t know, really,” he said. “I guess I’m mostly worried about Gabe, but the fact that he’s up there by the cave has me thinking about a lot of stuff, you know?”

  “Yeah, I get that.” Kai nodded. “I went by there this morning before I came back in from my last patrol. I think he spotted me, but I’m not the only coyote out there and I didn’t get too close, so I’m not worried. Not like some people I know that go and hang out with him at the campsite incognito.” He gave Sebastian a hard glare before cracking into a laugh. Sebastian threw a pillow at him and growled when Kai caught it easily and stuffed it behind his back.

  “Besides his sleeping arrangements, something happened today at the shop. It was… It was weird.” Sebastian admitted. He took a long pull of his beer to give himself chance to get his thoughts straight.

  “Something with Gabe? What happened?” Marcus asked. Sebastian grimaced and then told them about the woman and her gossipy problem, and Gabe’s answer and the strange reaction he had to his own response. Then he told them about Gabe’s revelation of escaping his mother and her church and being homeless since he was a young teen.

  “Shit,” Kai muttered. “Seb, you have to get that kid off the street. I don’t like it.”

  “I know, but he’s skittish and I can’t blame him at all. I keep thinking in the back of my head that he’s like a prey animal, you know? Cautious and a little timid but will fight back when he’s cornered, like with that David guy the other day. I don’t want to do anything to scare him off. He told me today that he actually trusts me and feels safe in this area, and I don’t want to screw that up.” Sebastian finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the table.

  “Anyone who can survive on their own at that age is impressive, but it seems he’s not only survived but come though it fairly intact, emotionally speaking,” Marcus said. “Being over-cautious and unwilling to give up his perceived safety is pretty understandable.”

  “And he has a fair amount of pride. He wouldn’t let us just give him a meal after I intervened in that argument with David. He insisted on working it off,” Sebastian added. He stretched his legs out and lay his head back on the cushion, sliding into the well worn sofa. “I just don’t like him being out there alone at night. It makes me nervous. He’s only human, and with everything that’s been going on around here lately…”

  Kai tipped his head and frowned. He took a deep breath and Sebastian could tell he wasn’t sure he really wanted to speak this next thought out loud.

  “He is only human, and you’re being very protective of him. Sounds like you’ve sort of adopted him.” Kai sent Sebastian an apologetic look. “It’s not— You’re not trying to replace Eric, are you?”

  “What?” Sebastian sat up again. Marcus’ eyebrows quirked up but he kept silent.

  “I mean, our family dynamic has shifted pretty hard in the last few months. It’s much easier to add to the family than to lose someone, and Eric was… Well it was definitely interesting to have a full human so close to us who knew us, knew our secrets. It was helpful in a way. Kept us grounded a bit,” Kai said. He grimaced, and shifted his bad leg off the table to reach for the last beer.

  Sebastian’s first reaction was to deny it. There was absolutely nothing similar between Gabe and Eric. For one thing, Eric had always been a bit of a greedy jerk. Always wanted to be handed the biggest portion or the best bit of whatever was being distributed. He’d always been the one to complain loudly when he didn’t get his way. Honestly, Sebastian hadn’t really been surprised that Eric thought he deserved to own the Village, but that he’d been willing to kill his own brother for it had shocked him.

  Gabe, on the other hand, insisted on working for anything he got, and seemed content to live with whatever he had. His chats with ‘Red’ never sounded discontent, just lonely. Physical stuff, to Gabe, seemed like something he had to actively aquire or value. Stuff for its own sake, or just to get wealthy didn’t interest him.

  But then, they both needed protection from spirits. Most spirits were like the three here in this room: people who wanted to be left to live their lives. But just like humans there were those who were greedy for money, status, power— all the usual temptations. And spirits were more than capable of going through a human to get whatever they wanted.

  “No. I’m not trying to replace Eric,” Sebastian said at last. “But yeah, I think I do feel maybe big-brotherly. Not that I’d really know how that feels,” he grinned at Kai who threw a pillow back at him.

  “Smartass.”

  “Nah, I’m your little brother. It’s my job to annoy you.” Sebastian shoved the pillow behind himself and got up to head to the fridge.

  “So,” Marcus rejoined the conversation when Sebastian came back with the last four beers. “When do we get to meet this kid? I think I’d like to get to know him a bit.”

  “We’re inviting him to the potluck at Sarah’s this weekend. I’m hoping he’ll come.” Sebastian really hoped that if Gabe could be comfortable around all of them at the party, someone could offer a spare bed to the kid without upsetting him.

  11

  “So, this guy is sick, you think?” Cassie asked. She tipped her head to peer up at Sebastian with a worried expression.

  “It’s hard to say. Something is definitely going on with him,” Sebastian nodded. He looked down at Cassie and was glad that at least one problem had been permanently solved recently. Well, on it’s way to being solved, anyway. Cassie Wells and her father Marcus were safe from the hu
nters that murdered her mother and chased them across the country. Cassie had also been instrumental in kicking Kai out of his self-defeating attitude which saved both their lives, and probably the lives of many of the residents of the Village in the long run.

  Still, it had come at the expense of their own brother, Eric, which still cut so deep that Sebastian was surprised he didn’t start bleeding when he thought about it.

  “Anyway, he’s got us now, so he’ll be fine,” Cassie grinned.

  “You got that right, oh Great Lady.” Sebastian bumped her shoulder with his arm and grinned. Ever since the whole Kai and Cassie kidnapping thing, they’d teased Cass about being Kai’s first High Priestess. Kai always teased back that she was a priestess in training since he was still only a demi-god.

  “Darn skippy,” Cassie grinned back. She had decided that the whole thing was funny and spurred them both on.

  Sebastian opened the door to the Apothecary where they were going to meet Gabe and walk back to Sarah’s house to get ready for the potluck. Cassie ducked under his arm and into the shop and they made their way back to the counter. Sebastian spotted Gabe right away, and the look of irritation on his face felt out of place in the cheerful room.

  He was talking to a woman who sat at one of the bar tables with a takeout cup held between her hands. She wasn’t especially tall, but her presence seemed to carry more weight than it should. Her dark hair was cut short at her chin and she wore dark, scuffed up jeans and a leather motorcycle jacket and boots. She turned a pleading look up at Gabe who stood there, clutching his tray to his chest like a shield. She reached a hand out to touch his arm and he reeled back to avoid the contact.

  “— really sorry. I swear, Gabe, I didn’t like it any more than you did when I heard about it. I’m glad you’re okay.” The woman was saying when Sebastian turned his hearing to the conversation. Something about the woman was making every hair on his body stand on end in warning. He kept his eyes carefully looking into the pastry case, but his whole attention was on Gabe and the woman in the corner. Beside him Cassie fell silent, warily watching him, then turning to chat with Doc who was behind the counter.

  “I don’t like being touched, and he knows that. So he thinks grabbing me and yanking me around is a good idea instead? I don’t care how sorry you are, Olivia. He’s always been a jerk and he’s been getting worse,” Gabe said. His words were spoken clearly and there was no hesitation, but his voice was full of anxiety.

  “I know. He’s been dealing with some family problems that have been making him really crabby. That’s no excuse, but you know how it can be with family drama, right? I mean, we all have stuff to deal with. He shouldn’t have taken it out on you, though,” Olivia sighed. “We’re just worried about you, that’s all. We haven’t seen you for a couple of weeks, and we know how you can get.”

  “I’m fine,” Gabe’s voice was tight.

  “Is it just because David is being an ass? Is that why you haven’t visited?” Olivia asked.

  Gabe shook his head and Sebastian saw a small shiver run through him.

  “No. Not just that, anyway. I’m doing okay now. I’m feeling just fine, and I don’t like the way I feel after I take your medicine. I always feel awful for days.”

  “It’s like chemo, though. A few days of feeling sick to help get rid of the real illness,” Olivia argued.

  “Look, I know it’s a problem. But I’ll find another way to fix it. Thanks for all your help till now, but I’m done.” Gabe took a step back and Olivia reached for him again, but stopped before she made contact. Her frustration showed on her face and her hand clenched into a fist for a second before she dropped it back to her lap.

  “You’re sick, Gabe. We can help you get better. Is it really responsible to refuse treatment? You told us that you just want a normal life, right? We can help you. We want you to have what everyone else has, so you can be happy, that’s all.” There was an edge to Olivia’s words and Sebastian felt a snarl start forming on his face. He turned to glance openly around the tea shop and let his eyes seem to naturally stop on Gabe.

  “You sound almost like the last person who tried to ‘help’ me, and they did it with their fists and a heavy wooden stick.” Gabe danced around the shop, looking for a good excuse to escape and caught Sebastian’s eye.

  “That’s horrible!” Olivia, to her credit, looked genuinely upset at the thought. “We would never hurt you, Gabe. There’s nothing wrong with needing help. That’s all we want to do, help you get past this. You can beat this thing, Gabe, just come with me and we’ll do whatever you need to recover from this. You can have a normal life. A happy one.”

  Sebastian started to take a step, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. Sarah met his eyes and shook her head slightly before moving that direction herself.

  “I said no, Olivia. I’ll figure something else out,” Gabe answered. He was losing his conviction, though. She was wearing him down.

  “Please. We just want—”

  “Hey Gabe, are you done over here?” Sebastian listened carefully as Sarah interrupted the conversation. He’d heard enough. This Olivia was as bad as her boyfriend if she thought she could bully Gabe into going with her. She may be less physically aggressive than David had been but it didn’t always take blunt force to hurt someone.

  “Oh, um. Yeah.” Gabe turned to look at Sarah, and Sebastian could almost see the relief wafting off him.

  “Excuse me, we were talking.” Olivia’s voice turned hard and cold as steel. She stood from where she was perched on the barstool that paired with the tall table and everything about her expression and posture was aggressive.

  “Nothing wrong with that, but he’s still on the clock. Doc needs you in the back, Gabe. Think you can head back and check in while I handle things out here?” Sarah asked. “The rush seems to have died down, I’ve got this.”

  “Sure,” Gabe said. He glanced over at Doc and saw that she was indeed watching them with a bit of a frown on her face. Sebastian noticed that Cassie was nowhere to be seen, the little sneak.

  “See you around, maybe,” Gabe said to Olivia. He took a step backward to make sure that he was out of her reach, then spun and walked quickly to where Doc stood.

  “That was an important conversation you interrupted,” Olivia said. It came out almost as a snarl and Sebastian turned to study her. She had green eyes to go with her dark hair, and those eyes were glaring at him. She was probably trying to figure out just how much Sarah heard before she stepped in. “Why would you barge into something that doesn’t concern you?”

  “But it does concern me, because Gabe is our employee, and a good kid, and he looked like he was desperate to get out of that important private conversation. He’s at work, not hanging out at home. You want to harass him, don’t do it here, you got that? Doc is not above calling the police on a customer, but I’d rather help her avoid that if I can.” Sebastian wanted Sarah to add that they were going to work hard to make sure that neither Olivia nor David got near Gabe again. He was going to need to talk to Kai tonight and make some sort of plan.

  “Fine,” Olivia huffed. She snatched up her to-go cup and stomped out of the shop. She would have slammed the door, too, if it hadn’t been propped open to encourage the warm breeze. Sebastian stood there, watching her storm past the front windows and on down the sidewalk until she was out of sight.

  His heart rate didn’t start to drop until she was out of the shop and away from them. There was something about that woman that made him defensive. Like he needed to protect his territory from an invader of some kind. In his fox form he would have been snarling warnings at the woman, but as a human he wasn’t sure what the best strategy would be. As it stood, he could only shake his head and shrug before turning to follow Gabe into the back. As soon as he got into the kitchen he heard Cassie laughing.

  “And then he sat up on the sofa, straight up like a robot, and the popcorn bowl went flying, and he shouted ‘No! The blue box is for the rutabagas!’ and s
lid right onto the floor because his momentum scooted him over too far. We were cleaning up popcorn for days after that!” Cassie dissolved into giggles and then, much to Sebastian’s surprise, Gabe started laughing, too.

  “I remember that. Kai’s hip was bruised for a week cause he landed on a beer bottle. Serves him right for falling asleep drunk like that,” Sebastian added to the story.

  “Yeah, well. He’d had a pretty rough week dealing with the contractors, hadn’t he? The schedules were a mess.” Cassie grinned. “I like Gabe. Can we keep him?”

  “Cassandra Wells. Gabe is a human being, not a puppy. Jeez.” Sebastian laughed. “Your father would be appalled.” Cassie just grinned back at him

  “So what? He’s cool.” She turned back to Gabe, “You’re coming to help get ready for the party, right?” Gabe nodded and grinned back at her, obviously won over completely.

  “That was the plan, yeah,” Sebastian agreed. “You okay, Gabe? That looked a bit tense out there.”

  “Nah, I’m okay. She’s just really pushy. And determined, you know?” Gabe chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “I should thank Sarah for the rescue.”

  “Doc was about to head over herself. Don’t sweat it.” Sebastian shrugged. He hesitated before tipping his head to ask, “You in some kind of trouble with her and that guy from last week? I want to…” Sebastian wasn’t sure how to phrase what he wanted to know. He didn’t like either Olivia or David.

  “No. They’re…” Sebastian chewed his lip again for a minute then shrugged. “They just want to help me with my problem. They mean well, David’s being pushy, that’s all.”

  Sebastian blinked, then the meaning sank in and he started to growl. Gabe stepped back and Cassie’s eyes got huge. Sebastian swallowed the growl but the snarl on his face stayed put.

  “There is nothing wrong with you,” he said. Gabe took another step back at the emphatic tone. Sebastian took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.