Ken was still crying over what had just happened to Drake. Shane was on his knees next to Drake's headless body and Max was standing at the front desk staring in shock. Ava, I saw, was hiding behind Maxwell.
"Ava, I know that you are aware of that rule. So I have to ask you why you broke it. Please come here and talk to me about it," he said finally dropping Drake's head to the floor.
"How could you?" Ken screamed at me, "How could you bring him here? Drake was your friend! And now he's dead and it's all your fault! How could you?!"
"It wasn't her fault," Kaeden said standing in front of me. "She's only here because she tried to stop me. I ran into her in the alley when I caught Ava's scent, she saw me and immediately identified me for what I am."
Why was he lying for me?
"I don't care!" Ken screamed and then he flew at me. I pulled back ready to hit him as hard as I could when Kaeden leaned forward and put his weight into his stance. He looked like a Greek warrior in a phalanx.
Ken hit Kaeden's body hard and ricocheted back as if he was thrown. But the amazing thing was that Kaeden never moved. Not once. I heard the crash of the wall as Kendrick flew through it and I heard the thud of his body as he crashed against the floor two rooms away.
I looked at Kaeden who straightened himself up and smiled down at me. Almost as if to say don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you.
Ava stepped forward with clear fear gripping her. "Kaeden, these are my friends. Please don't hurt anymore of them. I take full responsibilities for my actions."
"Tell me why you did it," he said resting an arm around my shoulders.
"Because I was lonely," she said balling her fists at her sides. I saw tears starting to gleam in her eyes. "You left me without as much as a goodbye. With no cause, you just left."
"There was a reason and you know very well what it was," he said his voice giving way to his anger. "You turned into a monster. I couldn't keep up with disposing all the bodies you gorged yourself on. I didn't teach you that."
"No. You're right," she said giggling nervously, "You taught me to feed and that's what I did. But I don't want to fight with you Kae, and I don't want you to kill or hurt anymore of my friends. Tell me what you want me to do."
"Hmm," he stood there for a moment in mock thought then looked back at her. "I want you to watch," he said softly dropping his arm from around me.
In a flash he was in the other room on top of Kendrick. He had him pinned to the ground with one arm, and with the other hand around his neck.
He's going to kill him, I thought frantically to myself.
"Kaeden, wait!" I called as I ran into the room.
He turned to look at me and crushed his knee into Ken's chest so that he couldn't move. I heard Ken gurgle as the pain of his chest being compressed was starting to wear on him.
"Yes, Finnegan. What is it?" he asked patiently.
"Can't we talk about this?" I asked wringing my hands. I mean even though Ken almost tried to kill me I knew it was out of grief.
"Sure," he said digging his hands into his jacket pockets. "What would you like to say?"
"You just don't strike me as a violent kind of person, and I'm sure that what you did to Drake bothered you a lot because you almost immediately looked for reassurance by putting an arm around me. Of course I'm probably not making any sense, but I just don't think you're like that. I don't believe it."
I was rambling by that point but I could tell that I was getting to him. His expression was softening. He sighed and removed his knee from Ken's chest.
"You're right. I don't like having to do things like this, but I don't see what else I can do. The law was broken and there has to be some kind of punishment for it."
"Give them to me," came the voice on the other side of the room.
I had to squint to see in the darkness. I wasn't sure who had said that and I was curious as to who knew where Ken's shop was.
"But what would you do with them," Kaeden said into the darkness.
"Make them work off their existence. I wouldn't kill them or let them be killed. Give them to me Kaeden, don't forget the deal."
"Deal? What deal?" I asked into the darkness.
The only reply was silence.
Kaeden removed his glasses and wiped them clean using his jacket. I could tell he was contemplating the request. My curiosity was starting to get the better of me. I was dying to know who was in the dark.
"Fine. You can have them all. Except for Ava, she's mine to deal with."
With that he stood up and grabbed Ken taking him into the darkness. I heard what I swore were some kind of handcuffs snap shut. Kaeden then walked Maxwell and Shane into the darkness where I heard that metal clink sound again.
"Kaeden," the voice said as we turned to head out of the room.
"Yes?" he asked looking over his shoulder.
"Watch out for that girl."
Kaeden laughed and put an arm around my shoulder again, "She's safe with me. I promise."
"Who is that?" I whispered to him.
"Don't worry about it," he said guiding me back into the shop. When we entered we saw that Ava was sitting on the floor next to Drake's body rocking back and forth.
"This isn't an illusion," he said softly as he walked over to her, "That's how I knew you were here. You weren't careful."
"Where are they?" she asked frantically.
"That's not your concern Ava, you know that. Now I'm going to tell you what I want from you so that we can get on with our existences. You know what you did was wrong and then you let him do the same. So I've thought about it and what I want is for you to leave. I want you to go somewhere far away Ava and I don't want you to come back until I send someone for you. And I want you to do it right now. Get out of Devils Lake."
"But Kae—"
"LEAVE!" His shout seemed to split the air and in an instant Ava was gone.
In a way I felt sad. I mean this all seemed to be happening because I came to this town.
No. It wasn't my fault. It was Skiles'.
"I need you to go have a seat for a moment."
I jumped. I forgot already that Kaeden was still standing next to me. I nodded numbly and went over to the couch that sat in the front of the parlor and laid myself down on it. I closed my eyes and heard him sigh behind the counter. Then I heard him grunt as he picked up what I assumed to be Drake's body.
Pulling the hood over my eyes I laid there wishing that this was all a bad dream. I had no idea who had taken Ken, Max, and Shane and I had no idea where Ava was going. Kendall was still missing and so was Paige. This town was starting to screw with my emotions and I didn't like it. It was starting to make me feel regret and pity.
Hell I've never cried as much as I did here.
"Come on. We can go now," Kae said gently shaking me.
I pushed the hood out of my eyes and looked up at him. His face softened when he saw the look on my face. Reaching down he picked me up and carried me out of the building. I closed my eyes and let me carry him through the town. I had no idea where he was taking me but I didn't care.
We wandered around Devils Lake for at least an hour through the woods. The reason I knew that we were in the woods was because I smelled the nature. That was one thing I did enjoy; was the smell of nature.
I noticed the silence. Animals don't care for monsters. They always watch us in silence and from secret hiding places.
"I'm going to set you down now, okay?" he said his voice breaking into my thoughts.
"Yeah that's fine."
When he set me down, I straightened myself out. Then I looked around us and was glad to know that I was right about something. We were in the woods and they were beautiful. Droves of sycamore and hawthorne trees lined the forest.
"Where are we going?" I asked looking around us.
"Over there," he said pointing to a clearing just beyond the woods. Grinning at me he broke into a run and instinctively I ran to keep up.
I gasped when I saw w
hat was in the center of the clearing. It was a beautiful French Chateau home. Three stories high and solid grey, with amazing bay windows and an opulent front porch that stretched the length of the front of the house.
There was a beautiful white porch swing and white wicker chairs spread out all over it. Kaeden raced up the steps then turned to look at me.
"Like it?" he called.
"It's beautiful," I called back sincerely.
"Good because this is your new home."
My jaw dropped. Why would I possibly want to leave my own home? I watched him disappear into the house.
I stood there for a moment and contemplated leaving. Not just leaving his home but leaving Devils Lake. At this point I could care less what happens to Kendall or Paige or Ava or Ken's friends.
I ran my hand over my face. It would be so easy just to leave.
"You coming?"
I let out an involuntary scream. Kaeden was suddenly standing right in front of me. Guess leaving wouldn't be as easy as I thought it would be.
"Sorry," he said with a laugh. "I was just wondering if you were going to come inside."
"No. I'm not."
"Um. Yes you are," he said tugging on my arm.
"No, I'm really not," I said pulling back. Turning my back to him, I realized that I had made up my mind to leave the town, possibly the state.
I thrust my hands into my pockets and started walking back toward the woods. I cast a look over my shoulder to see if he was following me, but he was nowhere to be seen. Whatever. I looked back in front of me and stopped dead in my tracks.
There standing in front of me grinning like a little boy stood Kaeden. He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the side again.
"You're not going to be able to outrun me."
"Is that a challenge," I asked him.
"No. Not unless you want it to be," he said with a chuckle.
Grinning, I took a couple of steps back while unzipping my jacket. So he thinks I can't outrun him? He's in for a surprise. I dropped it to the floor and looked at him straight in the eyes to let him know that I had accepted his challenge.
He raised his eyebrows. Then he shook his head and nodded.
I took a deep breath. This was going to be easy. I was one of the fastest beings on Earth and he was about to find that out. "One condition," I said.
"What's that?"
"You finish telling me what you're proposition was. Once you asked about Ava you got so consumed you didn't finish."
"Deal," he said smiling.
That's all I needed to hear. I was off like a shot. Pumping my arms and legs so hard and fast that I had already cleared half the forest. I could hear him faintly behind me bouncing off of trees and boulders trying to catch me. I laughed to myself. There was no way he was going to catch me and I damn sure wasn't planning on making it easy for him.
Taking a deep breath mid run, I pushed myself harder and picked up speed. I heard him laughing behind me, the sound of his feet hitting the trees starting to get fainter. One thing I learned when I came to terms with my fate; how to survive. And running was the best survival instinct there was.
Grunting I willed myself to go faster. I had never run this fast in my life and I knew that my bones were going to be aching soon. I cleared the woods and ran into another clearing.
I hadn't seen this when Kaeden was carrying me to his home, but then again, I had my eyes closed. I shot through the clearing and clear over a barbed wire fence into another set of trees.
"Wait Finnegan! Don't go in there," came his faint cry behind me.
Yeah. Like I was going to stop now.
I ran harder, pounding the ground relentlessly when I cleared that small patch of trees. Suddenly I heard the sound of mandolin's playing in the near distance. By this point my running was so out of control that I wouldn't be able to stop now if I wanted to. So I started to slow myself down as I neared the music playing. I smelled burning wood and heard the sound of voices.
Is there a party going on?
The wind that had been whipping at me as I ran, started to ease up as I ran at a fast paced jog. Soon I was speed walking to slow myself down when I saw a child look up at me from a hole she had been digging at the edge of the tree line. She stared at me for a moment, then ran off to what looked like a caravan.
Finally my speed subsided and I walked over to the hole she was working on, when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I grabbed the wrist of the hand and bent the arm backwards finding myself staring at Kaeden. He looked very serious as he wriggled out of my grip. He put a finger to his lips and jerked his head motioning for me to follow him back through the woods.
“What's going on in there?” I whispered to him.
“Nothing. You shouldn't be here. Come on, we're leaving.”
I pulled out of his grip and took a step closer.
“Are those gypsies?”
Sighing, he grabbed my arm again, “Yes they are. Now let's go.”
I pulled away again and stepped even closer. I saw a huge bonfire and for some reason felt myself becoming hypnotized by it. As I took another step I saw the little girl who had seen me dragging someone in our direction pointing at the tree line.
“Ryker?”
I didn't know I had actually yelled his name until he looked up. Shaking his head he laughed and came to the trees. When he saw Kaeden his smile disappeared.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I know. Look I was just coming to get her. No harm done.”
“Are you a gypsy? Is that what Ava was trying to tell me?” I asked him.
He looked down at me with a friendly smile and nodded. So that's how he knew so damn much. Things were starting to make sense now!
“Kaeden, I don't mean any ill when I say this, but Finnegan can come to the bonfire if she wants, you cannot.”
“Well I'm not going in without him,” I said cutting off whatever Kae was going to say.
“That's fine,” Ryker replied still smiling. “Feel free to come back and see me whenever you'd like though. Now that you know where we live.”
I watched him walk away shaking his head and laughing. Then I turned to Kaeden.
“Let's get out of here.”
“Yeah, let's,” he said putting an arm around my shoulders.
We walked through the woods in silence for the most part, but I had a question that was nagging at my brain so I decided to ask.
“What's with you and the gypsies?”
“I was afraid you were going to ask that,” he said with a chuckle.
“I'm sorry. I'm just curious.”
“It's okay. I'll tell you if you really want to know.”
“Um. Yes please,” I said looking up at him.
“Alright let's get home first. Race you,” he said with a smile then he was gone.
Laughing I took off again at break neck speed and ran all the way back to the chateau where Kaeden was already laying in a hammock. When I climbed the stairs he pointed to the chair that was by him and turned on his side to look at me.
“Do you know who the Petulengro are?”
I just shook my head. I wasn't going to ask because I knew this would interrupt his story.
“They're the ancestors of Ryker. They're a very old tribe. Very well respected too. Anyway they banded together, oh, about five hundred years ago. Something about a war in the 'Old Country' and their people being persecuted. Man it was outright slavery with those people. Horrible from what I hear. It almost makes me feel bad for them. Almost. So they decided to leave making a vow that no one would ever enslave them again. Of course they never did stay in one place long enough to have to face that, which I'll admit was a very smart move on their end.
Skip a few generations and we have Pitivo, Ryker's grandfather.”
He paused for a second, looking like he was trying to remember. Then he continued.
“Pitivo was a great man. That I mean wholeheartedly. I remember the first time I saw him. He was
a young man with dark skin. His hair was silver and long, even in his young age. Actually Ryker looks a lot like him. Same build, a little taller, but the same face. Pitivio's eyes were a shade or two darker than his grandson's. One evening I decided to go for a stroll through the woods in just on the outskirts of Acadia National Park. It was odd to me to see a band of gypsies there, so out of curiosity, I hid behind the trees and watched them. Have you ever heard a gypsy mandolin? It's a beautiful sound. Forgetting that I might be seen, I got a little closer and crouched down to listen. I'll never forget that song, I'll have to play it on the piano for you sometime.”
Clearing his throat, I noticed that he looked a little embarrassed as he said the next part. “So here I was completely taken in by this beautiful melody, when suddenly I felt cold steel at my neck. I turned my head slowly because I mean, when you have a bowie knife at your neck, the last thing you want to do is make a sudden movement and cut yourself open. Backing up a little bit, but still holding the tip of the knife to my throat, I saw myself staring into the eyes of Pitivo. Even though he was unsure of who I was, he still looked very fierce. I put my hands up to let him know that I wasn't there to harm anyone. Lowering the knife, he took a step closer. 'Shilmulo?' he asked me. Since I didn't speak Romani, I had no idea what that meant. Then in broken English, he asked again. 'Vampire?'”
Kae chuckled at the memory. Then he moved over on the hammock and patted a spot next to him. Since I really was fascinated by the story I got up and went to lay next to him. He smiled down at me, then looked back the sky.
“By the look of doubt on his face when I nodded, I knew I was the first one he'd ever came across. To tell you the truth after I confirmed his suspicions, he wasn't afraid of me anymore. Just awed, I guess. Then he extended a hand to me. No one I'd ever come across had done that. No one. Usually people or animals run from me in terror. I kinda like that though. The chase makes me hungry, and I work for my food that way. Back to the story though. I took his hand and shook it. He smiled at me, and beckoned me to follow him. Leading me out of the woods he took me to his camp. I saw a little boy, Ryker, run past me. He turned when he saw me with his grandfather and gave me a steely stare. He's never liked me.”
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