by E. J. King
“I can kill you with my bare hands,” I said loudly into the dark shadows of the parking lot. “You might as well show yourself.”
“What exactly would you like me to show?” Rafe asked, stepping out from behind a dark van.
I could see his gold eyes flickering when they caught the dull light of a street lamp. It was still sometimes strange to see him without his shades firmly in place.
“We’re neighbors now. Allies. Almost friends. You can stop lurking in the shadows.”
Rafe shrugged lazily. “And miss the chance to see you all frazzled and jumpy? Pass.” He smirked. “Plus you know I love it when you threaten me. Oh, baby.”
“I am not frazzled or jumpy,” I protested. As someone who prided myself on maintaining calm in extremely tense situations, his tease was a bit of an insult. “You know, most guys don’t go out of their way to be creepy and stalk women.”
“I’m not most guys.”
“This has been a riveting conversation,” I said, shifting the strap of my book bag. “But I really do need to get this report finished so…”
Rafe waved away my comment. “It can wait.”
“Actually, it can’t.”
“Not even if I offer to buy you a coffee?” he asked, eyes sparkling.
I sighed; Rafe knew my kryptonite. “Fine, but I’m going to order a large.”
True to his word, he forked over the cash for my large cup of java. The school café was mostly empty, but that didn’t stop Rafe from finding a trio of co-eds to ogle.
“I’m beginning to see why you spend so much time on campus,” he said.
“What do you want, Rafe?” I could normally tolerate his pervy comments, but I had a paper to write.
“How did your field trip with Ethan go?”
“It went fine.” I frowned, remembering our stolen kiss. “You didn’t really come all the way here to ask me that, did you?”
Rafe glanced up from his coffee. “Was it a blood sucker?”
“Not unless there is a breed with just one, large fang.”
“What?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Where was the wound?”
“On her back.” I took out my phone and showed him the picture Ethan had taken and sent to me. “Ever seen anything like this?”
Rafe studied it carefully, his eyes narrowing. “This is too neat to have been a Soul attack.”
“No shit.” Even an amateur Hunter knew that Souls were ruthless killers. They shredded their victims as they fed, typically around the neck.
“Shouldn’t you be Nancy Drewing this instead of hiding in the library?” he asked, shaking his head in disappointment. “It’s like you don’t even care about helpless college kids being terrorized by monsters.”
“Ethan is looking into it,” I said, glaring at him. “You could help him.”
Rafe ran an absent hand through his dark hair. “Nah. That doesn’t really sound like something I would do.”
“You’re awfully proud of being an asshole.”
“You’re awfully proud of being a nerd,” he countered.
Rafe never missed an opportunity to share his feelings about my pursuit of higher education. He was a firm believer that my status as a Soul Hunter was a full-time job and therefore I should focus all of my time and energy on my inherited birthright.
“Is this really all you wanted to talk about? This could’ve waited until I got home.” I was annoyed that I had trusted him. Rafe regularly made it his mission to distract me from my studies, and this time I’d given in without much of a protest.
“Don’t you want to know about my day?” As always, he avoided my question with an annoying one of his own.
“Not even a little bit.” When Rafe had said he was visiting a “friend” out of town, I just assumed that was code for a booty call. I definitely didn’t need to know those details.
Rafe looked at me with unblinking eyes and said, “I went looking for Lincoln.”
My jaw clenched upon hearing my brother’s name.
“Lincoln is dead, Rafe.”
“You’re wrong.” The words were certain, but not smug. He believed that Lincoln was alive as much as I believed that he was dead. “I know that you think you saw his dead body, but he wasn’t dead. He isn’t dead.”
“Then where is he? You know that he’s alive and you went to get him, so where is he?” I made a big deal about searching the near-empty room. “Is he hiding in the bathroom?”
Rafe was undeterred. “I was too late. He left town.”
“Left town? Sure...” I frowned skeptically. “I can’t believe you’re wasting my time with this stupid theory.”
I was halfway to my feet when Rafe grabbed my wrist. My eyes widened as he squeezed hard and said, “I’m not wrong about this, Kaylie. Your brother is alive and we need to find him and find out what happened to your family that day.”
“Stop. Just stop!” I had raised my voice to the point where the few people in the café had started to stare at us.
“The monsters that killed your family were looking for you,” he said in a deep, hushed voice. “They aren’t going to stop looking until they find you.”
“Why won’t you let this go?” I snapped.
Rafe’s eyes burned a fiery gold. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.” With a firm yank, I freed my arm. “Just stay out of my life, Rafe.”
Fuming, I stormed away from the table.
An hour later, I stared at my laptop screen blankly. My thoughts were a million miles away from term papers and school. Rafe’s theory about my brother wasn’t something I could easily brush away. Besides being completely ridiculous and impossible, it was also cruel. To think that my brother might still be alive after two years, unbeknownst to me, meant that I would also have to accept that he had chosen to live his life without me in it. I wasn’t willing to accept that.
By the time I arrived home, my head ached from troubling thoughts. Part of me wanted to storm upstairs and confront Rafe. I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, to let him know that my brother would never cut me out of his life like that. But a small part of me also really wanted him to be right because that would mean that Lincoln was still alive. Oh, how I wanted that to be true.
I stepped through my front door and was greeted by the delicious smell of Mexican food and tequila.
“Ethan?” I gasped at the sight of him wearing my pink oven mitt and holding a pitcher of frozen drink that I was certain would taste amazing.
“It’s taco night,” he explained. “All-you-can-eat tacos and all-you-can-drink blended margaritas.”
“That sounds both delicious and dangerous.”
He nodded. “You are right on both accounts.”
“What’s the occasion?”
“Family tradition.” He turned back to the tomatoes he had been chopping. “Rafe and I ate tacos every week when we were kids. Our mom was big on ritual.”
“Speaking of your arrogant, jerky brother… where is he?”
I half expected to see him come out of my bedroom holding a pair of my underwear.
“He’ll be down when he’s done showering.”
Despite all of the annoyance I felt toward Rafe, I couldn’t help but imagine his perfect body dripping wet, drops of water tracing through his chiseled muscles.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ethan asked, worried. “You look kind of flushed.”
At that, I blushed harder. A knock at the door saved me from further embarrassment.
“Hope!” I was surprised to find my only female friend standing on my front porch holding an overnight bag.
“Sleepover!” she sang out, then noticed the confusion on my face. “You didn’t forget, did you?”
“No, I-”
“Who’s at the door?” Ethan appeared over my shoulder, still wearing the pink oven mitt and a gorgeous smile.
Hope’s mouth dropped open.
“This is my friend, Hope,” I explained. “Hope,
this is my neighbor, Ethan.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, his dimple flashing. “Will you be joining us for dinner?”
Hope’s eyes shot to my face and she appeared to be struggling to find words. I could tell that she was wondering how I had kept Ethan a secret for so long.
“Of course she will be joining us.”
We followed Ethan toward the kitchen and Hope grabbed my arm.
“Is this a date?” she hissed in my ear. “I can leave and let you two have some alone time.”
“Don’t be silly.” I hooked my arm through hers and pulled her forward. “We’re just friends. This isn’t a date.”
Hope grinned. “Then you won’t mind if I try seducing Mr. Hot Neighbor?”
“Flirt away.”
I pulled up a chair at the kitchen table and poured margarita into two glasses, handing one to Hope.
“Are you a freshman?” she asked, eyes firmly locked on Ethan’s backside as he continued chopping vegetables. “I haven’t seen you around campus.”
“I’m not exactly enrolled in classes,” he said smoothly. “More like auditing.”
“Interesting.” Hope was literally sitting on the edge of her seat as she hung on every word he said. “Are you originally from Jackson?”
“I grew up all over.” He started shredding a head of lettuce. “Just got to the area a little while ago.”
“Fascinating.”
I rolled my eyes and took a hesitant sip from my drink. It was both delicious and strong- a deadly combination. “He’s really quite boring.”
“I doubt that.” She shot me a skeptical look. “Do you have a girlfriend, Ethan?”
“I’m not what most girls consider to be dating material.” He turned from the stove to wink at us.
“Why’s that?”
His eyes darkened slightly, no doubt thinking about his secret life as a Soul Hunter. It would be almost impossible for him to date a girl that wasn’t already part of our world. Our lifestyle was too dangerous for outsiders.
“He’s a terrible cook,” I joked.
The front door flew open with a bang. Seconds later, Rafe entered the kitchen looking annoyingly attractive in his faded jeans and worn t-shirt. His hair was still damp from his shower.
“Food, Night. Now.”
Hope actually gasped out loud at the sight of him. It was annoying, but I couldn’t blame her. If I didn’t know his personality, I would have been smitten, too.
“Nice to see you, Rafe. Why don’t you come in and have some dinner with us?” I exaggerated an eye roll for his benefit.
Rafe ignored me, focusing instead on Hope. “Who’s the pretty girl in our kitchen?”
“Our kitchen? You mean, my kitchen.” I glared at him. “This is my friend, Hope.”
She smiled widely and batted her eyes.
“This is Ethan’s brother. Rafe.” I groaned internally when Hope’s eyes lit up.
“A brother?” she hissed at me. “This is too good to be true.”
“If I knew we had company, I would’ve come down sooner.” He dropped into the chair next to me.
Hope rested her elbows on the table and placed her chin in her hands. “Let me guess- you were working out?”
“Actually, his doctor recommended showering frequently to help get rid of the rash.” I made a disgusted face.
Rafe stomped on my foot under the table. “She’s kidding.”
I shrugged, but Hope had already moved on.
“Kaylie neglected to mention that she had two charming gentlemen living right upstairs.” At this, she glowered at me.
“She’s really good at keeping secrets.” Rafe stared hard at me.
“How are those tacos coming along?” I called out.
Ethan waved a spatula at me. “You can’t rush perfection, Kaylie. Trust me- I would know.”
It turned out that Ethan wasn’t just blowing smoke- he was an excellent cook. I took down a total of five tacos before I was too full to stuff another one in my mouth.
“It’s nice to see a girl that isn’t afraid to eat,” Rafe said, eyeing my empty plate with a look that said he didn’t mean those words.
“Did I ask for your opinion?”
“So you’re having a sleepover, huh?” Rafe ignored me yet again and spoke only to Hope. “What’s on tap? Naked pillow fights?”
“Maybe.” She giggled and blushed while I made a loud gagging noise.
Ethan leaned forward. “Kaylie told us about your friend. I’m very sorry.”
Hope’s smile vanished and her eyes instantly filled with unshed tears. “It’s so terrible,” she said.
“Did the police ever figure out what happened to her?” He was trying to sound casual, but his eyes narrowed with intense focus.
“Severe blood loss,” she said with a shiver.
“How? Was she stabbed?” Ethan would’ve sounded like a total creep if he hadn’t also been staring at her with his stunning eyes while sympathetically patting her hand.
Hope sighed dramatically. “They won’t say. The case is still under investigation.”
We all exchanged a meaningful look while she took a long sip of her margarita. The police weren’t opening up about the cause of death because they were even more clueless than us about what could’ve caused the puncture wound on Breanna’s back. It still amazed me that even with all of the Soul attacks that happened every day, police still didn’t believe that supernatural creatures existed. Talk about denial.
“When did you last see Breanna?” Rafe took over the questioning.
“I saw her talking to some guy at the party right before she disappeared. I remember that she looked really drunk and I was worried about her.”
“Did you know the guy?” I racked my own brain for any memory of seeing Breanna that night. So far, I could only remember talking to her right when we arrived, shortly before we all scattered throughout the woods.
“I had never seen him before,” Hope said, eyes narrowing as she tried to remember. “He was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up, so his face was mostly hidden. But I knew almost everyone at the party, and I didn’t know him.”
I tried to think of a polite way to ask my next question. “You knew Breanna well, right?”
She nodded.
“Do you think she would’ve gone off with a guy she just met?”
“Are you asking if she was a slut?”
My head snapped back as if she had slapped me. “No, of course not. I was just wondering if she was the type of person that trusted strangers. If she had been drinking, it wouldn’t be surprising if she let her guard down.”
“Breanna was trusting, sure, but she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t have gone off into the woods with someone she didn’t know. Not willingly anyway.”
“And you’re sure that she was only drunk?” Ethan asked.
“What do you mean?”
He paused as he thought about how to word his next question. “She wasn’t using any drugs that night, was she?”
“No. Now way. Breanna wasn’t like that.”
So that meant that any needle marks in her arms hadn’t been self-inflicted. Which meant we had yet another unanswered question to resolve.
Hope’s phone rang and she excused herself to answer it.
“Hooded creature? Sounds like a Soul to me.” Rafe crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“You saw the wound,” I reminded him. “That wasn’t a Soul attack.”
“Maybe they are changing their M.O.”
Ethan shook his head. “It’s not possible. They act on instinct, and their instinct tells them to feed as quickly as possible. Neat and tidy isn’t an option for them.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked in alarm, seeing Hope’s stricken face when she reentered the room.
“Some of the girls are having a hard time right now. I need to get back to the dorm.”
“I’ll walk you,” I said, jumping to my feet.
Hope waved away my offer.
“It isn’t safe for you to be out at night.”
Ethan stood up. “I’ll walk her back.”
“Are you sure?” She looked at him with adoring eyes. “That’s very nice of you.”
“Not a problem.”
Hope and I said our goodbyes and they left, leaving me to deal with Rafe and a kitchen full of dirty dishes.
“What are you doing tomorrow morning?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Morning run. Breakfast. Class.”
“Change of plans. We’re going back to the woods.” He stood up and stretched, groaning loudly.
He was right. We needed to return to the scene of the crime to get a better handle on what had happened that night. Whatever had attacked Breanna had likely left behind some clues.
“Fine.” I gestured to the mess in front of us. “Would you like to wash or dry?”
“Ha.” He smirked as he headed to the front door. “This is your kitchen, remember? Have fun.”
The door slammed loudly behind him.
CHAPTER TEN
“Hurry up, Red. I’d like to finish sometime today.”
Rafe was in a particularly delightful mood the next morning as we stomped and shuffled our way through the overgrown woods. The sun had only just begun to rise and I hadn’t had nearly enough coffee to be able to deal with his sour mood.
“Yell at me again and see what happens,” I warned, picking my way over a rotting log. “We’re in the perfect location to dump a body.”
“Careful. I might start thinking you had something to do with Breanna’s murder.” Rafe kicked aside some brush, looking for any possible clues.
“I have an alibi,” I reminded him.
Rafe scoffed. “Right. You were off in the woods with my brother. I only need one chance to guess what the two of you were doing.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter.” I paused, listening carefully. We were very close to the spot where Rafe had claimed to hear something that night. “Just because you are a man whore, doesn’t mean your brother suffers from the same case of douchbaggery.”
“Ethan is a disappointment to our entire gender.” Rafe stopped in front of a tree and ran his hand over the trunk. “I think this is the spot.”
“Why?”
He held up his fingers which were covered in a dark substance. “Blood.”