Doc had made sure he was seated front and center in the shop’s window— to get the most benefit from the sunshine and the fresh breeze from the open door she said— but he felt more like he was a display to attract more customers. He didn’t mind. It was the least he could do to repay her for the help. The cold ache in his back had retreated as he sat here, working on the spreadsheet, and for that he was deeply grateful. The constant chill made it difficult to focus on the paperwork he needed to get through today.
He and Sebastian had renovations they wanted to make to the Village buildings, and a few repairs that they needed to make, and his job for the day was to look over everything and figure out how to pay for it all. They could do a lot of the work themselves, which helped, but they couldn’t reroof the buildings, and they needed to make sure everything was up to code or the city of Los Gatos would send in the big guns, and Jennifer was the only lawyer he ever wanted to deal with. If they wanted to get the work done this year, they had to get moving on it now, and he was the one holding them up. He had to get himself together, he had responsibilities to face and his duty to uphold. He had to live up to them.
Sebastian had made him swear that he’d do the work here at the Apothecary where Doc could keep an eye on him. Kai knew that his brother was just being extra careful but couldn’t blame him. It had been a horrible battle with the wights, and the fact that the wound on his back was still bothering him worried everyone that knew. Kai himself wasn’t worried; he was terrified. Not that he would ever say as much out loud, but the wound should have been long healed. Doc had treated it within minutes, and the physical scars were already fading. They were all stumped as to why the poison was still affecting him at all, let alone so persistently. Kai sighed and squeezed his eyes shut to try to shake the train of thought.
Instead, the images behind his eyelids flickered into the dark and the chatter of the tea shop around him faded. His ears filled with the menacingly quiet battle in the cave full of wights.
When people thought of battles, they always thought of noise, but what stuck with him beyond the chill in his back was the near silence of the fight. The wights themselves made not a sound: they didn’t grunt or groan or scream, even their movements were silent. The only sounds in the battle came from the Village’s warriors. His friends and neighbors had fought alongside him, destroying the nest of monsters that had been plaguing them, deliberately unleashed on the Village by a warlock for some still unknown reason.
The battle had been long and cold. The cold of a wight wasn’t merely physical, it was a chill that crept over the parts of a person that kept them tethered, made them who they are. Wights carried the cold of despair and hopelessness. That was the effect a wight had on a living creature. One was bad enough to frost the ground it passed by and freeze a person’s courage away, and that cave had been a seething mass of them. When they had first gone down into that hole in the earth and seen it Kai had thought of an anthill boiling over with the insects. There were so many it was hard to pick out individuals, and the chill almost immediately washed over them when they stepped out of the late afternoon sunshine and entered the cavern. It had been such a deep, all-consuming ice that had gripped his spirit that after a few hours in that hellhole he’d thought he’d never know warmth again, even if they won.
Kai remembered clearly when Sarah had arrived with Doc and they set up the small camp outside the cave, even though he couldn’t see them. Their timing couldn’t have been more perfect, either: the fighters had been close to being overwhelmed. The seemingly infinite numbers of wights and the weight of the despair they exuded had nearly taken them all down, but Sarah’s concern for them, her hope and her friendship and her warmth had penetrated even into the cave and the Village’s defenders had renewed the attack. Still, Kai felt the despair whisper over his skin like a lover’s caress, urging him to simply lie down and give up. He could still feel it.
“Kai.”
Blazing hot fire landed on his arm and his whole body reared back.
“Kai, come on back now.” Sarah crouched by the arm of the chair wearing an expression of wary concern, her hand resting lightly on his arm where his skin burned.
“Sorry. I was just lost in thought.” He sighed and swiped at the hair that slid over his eyes.
“The fight?” She tipped her head to the side slightly and peered up at him. He just nodded. “I could tell. Your aura was dimming and you were starting to send out some pretty bad vibes. How’s your back?”
Kai frowned. His back was fine. Wasn’t it? A shiver rattled his frame.
“I hadn’t even noticed,” he said.
“I thought so.” She frowned. “Your skin is pretty cold too. I may be barely trained, but even I can tell that wound is festering. Doc just stepped out for lunch. If I could, I’d tell you to take off your shirt here, get the sunshine directly onto it. Here, I’ll be right back.” She jumped up and scurried off behind the counter.
A festering wight wound. That was… Damn. If Doc couldn’t find a solution quickly… Kai really did not want to turn into a wight.
“Did you hear about the attack the other night?” said a hushed voice behind him. There was a hint of shock in the voice, but mostly Kai heard the glee of juicy gossip.
“What attack?”
“Over by those apartments, you know, near the creek, with the brick wall around? A couple of women got jumped by a guy in a monster mask the other night!”
“What? Oh my god, what happened?”
“I just said! It was a couple of girls from San Jose State, I heard. The guy jumped them and was going to drag them off or something, and he was super strong, but one of the girls had a Taser and they took off running.”
That was absurd. Nobody from the Village would risk everyone like that. Kai frowned, shivering again, and made a note to himself to remind everyone to take care not to expose their secrets to the neighborhood. It was another thing on the endless list of things he had to do to take care of his people. Sometimes he wished—
“Okay, Kai.” Sarah’s voice at his elbow made him jump again. “Pull your shirt up and turn your back to the sunshine.”
“You don’t have to do this, I’ll be fine,” he protested. Sarah just sighed and raised her eyebrow at him.
“It’s okay to accept some help from your friends, Kai. Now the shirt. Hold it up at your shoulders so I can get to your back without getting oil everywhere.” She pushed his shoulder gently until he turned in the chair and pulled up the back of his t-shirt.
“What are you smearing around back there?”
“It’s just calendula oil. So, it’s not fancy, but it’s the best idea I have right now. I left Doc a voicemail and I’ll brew you some fresh tea too,” Sarah said, spreading the oil over the healing scars.
Kai felt the magic in the oil and the heat from her hand both sinking into his skin, fighting the effects of the wound. The sense of her concern for him washed over him in a wave and returned his awareness to the comfort of his surroundings that he had been enjoying until the poison stole his attention.
“You know, if I couldn’t guess what was going on here, I’d be a little upset to find you oiling up my brother.” Sebastian laughed as he walked up. He wasn’t alone. The newcomer was thin, his dark hair buzzed short and eyes so dark they could have been black. Kai felt Sarah shudder slightly and didn’t blame her. Eric often unnerved people who didn’t know him. A wide grin spread over Kai’s face.
“Hey honey,” Sarah said glancing up at Sebastian. “Let me finish up here, then I’ll wash my hands off and get you all something to drink.” Seb leaned over to brush a kiss to her cheek and muttered something in her ear while the newcomer leered at the couple.
“Eric!” Kai said while a smile spread over his face to replace the distracted frown from a few minutes ago. “What are you doing here, man? I didn’t know you were coming to town!”
“Well, Dad said you guys were having some trouble down here, and I had some time coming anyway, so
I just went ahead and took a vacation. Three weeks just to hang out with my brothers and lend a hand.”
“That’s awesome!” Kai said, pulling his shirt back down when Sarah patted his shoulder and stood. After the hugs and greetings were over, the three settled back down in the seats by the window, each with their own pot of tea and a huge plate of snacks on the low table between them.
“Thanks, Sarah. I feel much better already,” Kai said. “Eric, this is our friend Sarah. She lives just a few blocks over from the Village and puts up with us for some reason.”
“Oh, there are compensations.” Sarah grinned and offered Eric her hand.
“Eric Russell, nice to meet you. My dad married Kai’s mom, and then we all got stuck with Sebastian. Sorry they’re inflicting themselves on you.” Eric winked and Sarah laughed.
“Oh, they’re not so bad. I’m actually almost fond of them. Now then. Drink your tea and I’ll have Doc come over when she’s back,” Sarah said. She cocked an eyebrow at Kai. “Don’t argue with us about it, either. I bet the family reunion helped at least as much as the back rub.” She smiled and went back behind the counter to help another customer.
“So, you’re here for three weeks? That’s great, man.” Kai turned to his brother.
“Give or take. What’s up with your back?” Eric said. He poured his tea and raised his brows suggestively. “And what do I have to do to get a girl like that to oil me up?”
“Sarah’s Seb’s girlfriend, man. She’s practically our sister at this point. Dude’s been gooey about her for years, just from Rosie’s stories and now that she lives here?” Kai said. He’d forgotten how Eric could be around women.
“Well done, bro,” Eric said, winking at Sebastian. “She have a sister?”
“God,” Sebastian said. “Seriously, man? She saved my life. Twice. The goddamn least you can do is behave like someone taught you the meaning of the word manners.” The three laughed and caught up, and the rest of the afternoon slipped away until finally the sun was fading in the sky.
5
Hey, that new shower head’s awesome!” Eric sauntered into the living room to flop down carelessly onto the sofa. Kai grinned at him and nudged a beer bottle across the coffee table.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sebastian redid the whole shower last fall. You should have heard the creative swearing when he was trying to get the tiles in right. We lived with that old leaky shower for what, seven years?”
Eric shook his head and tipped back his beer.
“Hot shower and a cold beer. Perfect. Seb did that? By himself?” His brows rose when Kai nodded.
“Pretty much. He let me help some. He did a great job of it, too.” Kai was proud of Sebastian. They might only be half-brothers by blood, but that didn’t matter at all to Kai. Hell, he wasn’t even technically related to Eric— they became brothers when Kai’s mom married Eric’s dad when they were both young children. None of them had ever made a distinction about it, though, and Kai was just thrilled to have a brother. Then a few years later when Sebastian was born, the three of them caused nearly more trouble than they could be gotten out of.
“He did,” Eric nodded. “I still don’t see why you guys don’t just hire people to do that stuff. I mean, it’s not like you can’t afford it.”
“Nah, we plow as much back into the complex as we can, and we’re trying to get some repairs done soon, so we need to keep as much available for that as we could. Besides, we’re not just the managers here, we’re also the handymen.” Kai said.
“You could hire those, too, you know.” Eric rolled his eyes and sat back on the sofa, sprawling over it.
“We could, but then what would we do with our time?” Kai tossed a grin at his step-brother. “Besides. We’d have to be super careful who we hired. After all, what if there’s a stopped-up sink and they go in to some family having the worst day ever and the kids won’t put on their human forms because of temper tantrums? Whoever we hire would see that, have to deal with it, and be trusted to keep our secrets to themselves. Easier all around if Sebastian and I do it all ourselves.”
“And you do all the paperwork for the whole complex. And the accounting. And everything else.” Eric shook his head. “It’s a bit OCD, man. Nothing wrong with farming out some work.”
“Yeah, well.” Kai put his empty bottle on the table and stretched his arms over his head. Eric watched him roll his shoulders and twist until his spine erupted in a series of cracks.
“Jeez, bro.” Eric’s eyebrows were halfway to his hairline. “That’s horrible. Your back is a mess. All this stress from doing it all yourself, I’m telling you. You can afford some employees. Or make Sebastian do more. Dude’s just spending his time fawning over his girl, he can get his butt over here and do some filing.”
“It’s fine,” Kai said. He settled back in his chair and shrugged, but there wasn’t much energy in the movement. “Seb’s earned some downtime. It’s just been a bit tough lately, with the whole wight situation. Now that’s over it’ll ease back.”
“Yeah? So why is everyone so freaked out about your injury? You told Dad that it had healed up.”
Kai frowned. He knew he should have been less obviously dodging the questions when he talked to his stepfather. Paul Russell was sharp as a tack and had probably known the second Kai started talking that he was skirting around the complete truth. That might be why Eric was out here now, actually. He could always rely on his family to support him if he asked. And often when he didn’t ask.
“Well, it has healed,” Kai finally answered. “Physically.”
“And that would be an important distinction… why?” Eric was pretty sharp too.
“Because wight wounds are pretty complex,” Kai sighed. “They don’t just attack a person physically— although it hurt like hell when that claw ripped through me and Doc had to stitch me up— they attack a person’s soul at the same time. It’s…” Kai shook his head, the whisper of the poison’s chill across his shoulders. He’d felt fine— good, even— all afternoon since Sarah used that oil on the scars. They’d all hung out at the Apothecary and then gone out to dinner before Seb walked her home, but now the warmth of family was fading in the memories of the fight and Kai’s fears of the possible future. Eric leaned forward, trying to look casual, but his eyes flashed with intelligence.
“I don’t have anything to compare this to. You’re going to have to explain. Help me understand what the problem is, Kai. I’m your brother. I want to know how to help you.”
Kai ran his mind back over the battle again. The terrible quiet of it, punctuated by the occasional shouts of his neighbors and friends. The cold that seeped into his bones— and his soul— and the despair that almost won the battle for the wights. The spot of warmth from the battle camp outside that appeared like a beacon to rally the Village’s defenders, and still it had almost not been enough. He’d seen Sebastian fall and get dragged out by Asher. Mr. Young had faltered a few times himself, which frankly terrified everyone. It still frightened Kai, and they’d won the battle weeks ago.
The chill in his shoulders sank deeper.
“It was…” Kai’s voice was a quiet rumble. Not quite a whisper, but he saw Eric lean closer, trying to catch his words. “It wasn’t just a battle of strength. We were more powerful, really, even though there were far fewer of us. We have some pretty fierce fighters here. Spirits whose drive to protect and to guard is written into their DNA. Spirits who were made for battle and don’t have much call for their skills. We have a god living here and, well, me. All of us fighting to protect our home and our families.” Kai swallowed, hoping to loosen the tight knot in his throat.
“And you won the fight,” Eric said. “So, what’s wrong? What’s the problem?”
“The fight wasn’t just physical, like I said. It was a battle of spirit. A wight destroys warmth. Courage. Hope. Love. It’s all smothered and extinguished by the ice of the wight’s presence. If they wound you, you have to heal not just your body, but also you
r soul. Strength of body is important in a battle like that, but more important is strength of will, strength of, well… Of spirit is the best way to put it, I guess.” Kai shivered. He thought for a moment about putting on a sweatshirt, but layers wouldn’t help when the cold came from inside you.
“Wow,” Eric leaned back onto the sofa, spreading over it comfortably again. “So, it’s like, what? Super contagious depression?”
“It’s like being cut off from the heat of life,” Kai said. “If that heat is completely smothered, a wight’s victim will join it and become a wight himself.”
Eric whistled softly. “Damn.” His expression was surprised and thoughtful.
“That’s why everyone is so worried,” Kai said, staring into the air in front of him and seeing the truth that he hadn’t wanted to speak out loud, in case just saying it could bring it to being. “They don’t want to have to fight and destroy me.”
6
The grass felt pleasant under his paws and Kai felt a satisfaction in the basic pleasure of the animal form he could inhabit. He was grateful for it, in many ways. In this body he was less bothered by the doubts and stresses of the day, which was one reason he had ended up prowling around the Village walls after Eric went to bed. He couldn’t sleep, and once he had started to shiver in his warm apartment, he knew that he had to do something. He was still cold now, but it seemed less sharp.
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