by E. J. King
It was timed to catch me off guard and it worked. I froze with my arm in the air. “What do you know about my brother?”
“I know where to find him.” Hulk snarled at me. “And after I kill you, I’m going to find him and drain every drop of his blood.”
“Oooh. Scary.” I swung my arm down before I could second-guess my decision.
Hulk had a chest as strong as steel, but my experience as a Hunter had trained me to find the perfect angle to slip the blade between his ribs, piercing the heart.
Ethan was finishing off the last Soul when I looked up. Rafe had long since dispatched of Vampire Mike, and he was staring at me. I could tell that he had heard what Hulk had said about Lincoln.
I looked back down at the rapidly dissolving body beneath me and sighed. “I need a drink.”
Hope squealed from somewhere behind me. “Strip club?”
“Whatever.”
Ten minutes later, I found myself sitting with my back to the stage, a full beer and two empty shot glasses in front of me.
“I honestly never thought you would come inside,” Rafe said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I would’ve lost that bet.”
He was seated next to me at the table, his back also to the stage. Hope and Ethan had disappeared into the crowd and I was reluctant to turn around to try and find them.
“You’re missing the show,” I said, pointing over our shoulders.
“I’m not missing anything.” He took a sip of his beer, looking unconcerned.
“Your attitude has changed completely.”
“I’m actually not a fan of these joints.” He winked at me. “I was just trying to annoy you.”
“It worked,” I said with a laugh. I held up my beer. “At least they have cold drinks.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
We tapped our glasses together. “We should leave early tomorrow,” I said. “We need to get an early start if we’re going to have enough time in Canton to look for Lincoln.”
“Do we have to talk about work right now?” Rafe bumped my leg with his. “Can’t we just enjoy each other’s company?”
“I have a hard time enjoying anything,” I admitted with a smile.
“I’ve noticed.” Rafe gave me a smile that softened his normally tense face. “We never talked about what happened last night.”
“What’s that?” I asked, playing dumb.
“Just because you don’t talk about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” His leg brushed against mine again, this time harder and more purposefully. “We should be honest with ourselves about it.”
I kept my eyes focused on my drink. “So you’re finally willing to admit that you are crazy about me?”
“Yes, I’m willing to admit that you drive me crazy.”
I smiled and looked at him. “Talk about twisting my words.”
Rafe gave me a hard look without smiling. “You captivate me, Kaylie.”
My mouth dropped open. I wasn’t expecting him to say something serious, let alone something that didn’t seem to be at all an insult.
“I wish that wasn’t the case because it would be a lot easier to be around you if I didn’t feel that way. But if we’re going to be honest, then you should know that I find you annoyingly mesmerizing.”
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
One of the strippers walked by, topless, and Rafe didn’t bat an eye. He hadn’t broken eye contact with me for a second.
“Your turn,” he said.
I had been trying for so long to deny my feelings for Rafe that now I couldn’t seem to find the words to express them.
“Most of the time when you open your mouth, I want to smack you. But then you go and say something like that and it takes all of my self-control not to kiss you.”
“Self-control is overrated.” Rafe put his arm around the back of my chair and leaned closer. “Sometimes it’s better to lose control, give into your impulses.”
“That’s not what you’ve said in the past.” On more than one occasion, Rafe had been the one to keep us from giving into our impulses. “You said that it would be dangerous for us to lose control.”
“What do I know? I’m an idiot.” Rafe leaned close and my lips parted as I anticipated what was about to happen next.
An empty beer glass slammed onto our table, startling us both.
“We need to get out of here,” Ethan announced dramatically. “Hope just got into a fight with a stripper.”
“She asked me which doctor did my boobs.” Hope looked at me expectantly.
“So you fought with her?” I was stumped.
She exhaled sharply and grabbed her chest. “She thinks these are fake.”
“The nerve.” I shook my head mockingly. “Good thing you put her in her place.”
“Mock away, but we really do need to leave. She threatened to call the cops.”
Since three of the four of us were paranoid Hunters that hated dealing with the police, we were outside and in our car in less than a minute.
Back in the motel, we played paper-rock-scissors to see who got to shower first. Hope won, with Ethan taking second place. My paper covered Rafe’s rock and I had to settle for a lukewarm shower.
“The hot water is gone,” I warned Rafe as we passed each other just outside the bathroom.
“That’s alright,” he replied with a wry smile. “I could use a cold shower tonight.”
Hope and Ethan were both asleep, stretched out on opposite sides of one of the beds. I crawled into the other one, trying not to think about the fact that Rafe would be sleeping next to me. Fortunately, I’d had just enough booze to knock me out while he was still in the shower.
My nightmares were waiting for me, this time even stronger than usual. First, I was being chased by Vampire Mike and Hulk. I ran through a never-ending forest before coming to a stop in a large clearing. My family’s house sat in the middle of the clearing, and even though I knew what I would find inside, I couldn’t stop myself from moving forward.
This time, the house wasn’t empty. In addition to the bodies and the blood, Rafe stood in the center of the massacre. Blood soaked his shirt and ran from his mouth. When he saw me, he smiled a bloody grin and pounced.
My eyes flew open in the dark motel room, my heart racing. It took several seconds to get my bearing and remember that I wasn’t alone.
“It’s okay, Kaylie. You’re safe.” Rafe was whispering in my ear.
Then I realized that he was holding me, brushing hair from my face as he repeated that I was safe. Instinctively, I curled into his embrace, burying myself in his arms. He held me tight and stroked my hair.
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Rafe’s heartbeat was steady and its rhythm was my lullaby. As I began to drift back into unconsciousness, I decided that I would do whatever it took to keep that heartbeat going.
CHAPTER SIX
On my second attempt at sleep, I dreamt without seeing a single monster. Rafe was still in my second round of dreams, but he played a much different, more enticing role. I woke up in a panic, hoping that I hadn’t been talking in my sleep. The bed next to me was empty and I sat up slowly as I tried to shake away the fog of sleep.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”
Rafe was sitting in the desk chair, his feet propped on the edge of the bed. He was wearing an inviting smile and holding something even more appealing- a large coffee.
“Were you watching me sleep?” I said, feeling nervous.
“I needed something to watch and I couldn’t exactly turn on the television.” He held out the coffee and waved it slowly in front of him. “How much do you love me right now?”
I crawled to the edge of the bed and took the cup. “I’ll let you know once I’ve tried the coffee.”
“You should drink it fast. Ethan and Hope are already loading up the car.”
I hadn’t even noticed that they weren’t still sleeping in the oth
er bed. “What time is it?”
“Six.” Rafe stood and tossed my bag at me. “You said you wanted to get an early start.”
“You’ve never listened to me previously. Why start now?”
“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of heart recently.” He pointed to a pile of my stuff scattered on the floor. “Get moving, Red. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
Rafe’s chipper attitude continued all the way to Canton. He didn’t even complain when Ethan started blasting country music. Several times, I caught him watching me in the rearview mirror. Every time, I caught myself smiling back.
When we saw the sign welcoming us to Canton, my mood changed. We had one day to find Lincoln, and I had no idea where we should start.
“I did some research,” Ethan announced proudly. “This town has seen some freaky shit lately. I think that could be a good place of us to start.”
“Like what?” I had done some research myself, but I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Ethan pulled up something on his phone. “This guy here won the lottery two weeks ago. Six figure payout.”
“So? That’s improbable but not impossible.”
“He died two weeks later.”
Okay, that was some bad luck. Even I had to admit that. But that didn’t mean it was supernatural. “What else did you find?”
“This other guy started dating Ella Marks a few weeks ago.”
“The actress?” I wasn’t always up to speed on pop culture references, but everyone knew Ella Marks. She was the biggest celebrity around.
“The one and only.” Ethan held up his phone so I could see the screen.
I winced. “Hit by lightning?”
“There’s more. About three other weird coincidences in the last two months. I have a theory about how these things are connected.” He smiled proudly. “Do you want to hear my theory?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.” Rafe pulled the car off the main road. “Anyone up for breakfast?”
Ethan shot his brother an annoyed look. “Really, man?”
“Actually, I am kind of hungry,” I said, quickly adding, “Ethan, you can finish telling us your theory inside.”
Ethan sighed. “Fine.”
Once we were seated at the table, he continued. “I think Souls are making deals with people.”
“Making deals?” I had never heard of Souls making deals with humans.
“Kind of like selling your Soul to the devil,” Ethan clarified.
“But Souls can’t do that. I mean, they can’t make wishes come true. Are you sure we aren’t dealing with a genie?”
My parents had come across a genie one time in Montana. After people got their three wishes granted, a loved one died a brutal death. I remembered that genies took lives in exchange for wishes, which could explain the body count in Canton.
Ethan said, “That’s exactly what they want you to think. But it’s all a little too obvious.”
“You’re making zero sense, little brother.” Rafe put away his menu. “Why in the world would Souls come to town and make genie-type deals with a bunch of people?”
“To draw the attention of Hunters. Or, to be exact, one Hunter.” Ethan turned to me. “Lincoln.”
“I don’t know, Ethan. That seems like a stretch to me.”
“Did your family ever hunt a genie?”
I nodded. “One time.”
“So Lincoln would’ve recognized the pattern and known that something supernatural was happening in Canton?”
Ethan did have a point. My brother had always been good at sniffing out potential supernatural situations.
“It would’ve raised a flag with him, yeah. But he was also really good at spotting a trap from miles away.”
“Maybe he was, but don’t forget you haven’t seen him in a long time. A lot can change in two years, Kaylie.” Ethan stopped talking when the waiter approached and resumed again once he was gone. “Maybe you are right. This could be exactly what it looks like it is. But my gut tells me we’re dealing with something else.”
Hope had been abnormally quiet, but now she looked at me curiously. “Why would your brother play dead for so long? Why wouldn’t he have reached out to you? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know, Hope,” I snapped. I was tired of everyone else speculating about Lincoln’s actions when they didn’t even know him. “When we find him, you can ask him.”
“We will find him, Kaylie.” Rafe took my hand under the table, squeezing it gently. “We’ll find him and he’ll be able to explain everything.”
I was grateful that Rafe understood my desperate need to believe in Lincoln. I needed to believe that he was alive, that he hadn’t been baited into some deadly trap in Canton, and I needed to believe that there was a good reason why he had faked his own death. If I couldn’t believe in my own brother, I wasn’t sure I could believe in anything or anyone.
We ate our food in silence, but I couldn’t stop hearing Ethan’s voice in my head. As much as I didn’t want to agree with him, I had to admit that he had a good argument. Genies were known to be good at matriculating with society. It was hard to pick one out of the crowd and this one had been a little too easy.
“What’s our plan?” Ethan asked when we were done eating.
“We should split up and talk to the families of the victims. We might be able to find something that links them together.” I was fairly confident in my plan. If Lincoln had come to town on a hunt, that’s where he would’ve started, too. So by following the leads, we should be right on his tail.
Ethan and I walked to the house of the lottery winner. His wife, Ruby, was home, and she let us inside when we mentioned that we were from a local paper and wanted to do a human interest piece on her husband.
“Scott was just the sweetest guy,” Ruby said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “I miss him so much.”
“We’re very sorry.” Ethan and I were on the couch across from her and he leaned forward so that he could pat her hand. “We understand that Scott won the lottery recently. Did he play often?”
Ruby’s head tilted. “You know, it’s very strange because Scott always said the lottery was a sham. I never once saw him buy a ticket. But one day he left to put gas in the car, and he came back a millionaire.”
“Had he been acting strange before that? Was there anything different about his behavior?” I was already starting to suspect that I knew what we were dealing with, but I needed to know how to track down the monster.
“He’d been quiet. Withdrawn. He was let go at work and I know that was stressing him out.”
Ethan was a better actor than me and he asked all of the questions that would make our cover story believable. I was ready to leave after five minutes and a quick survey of the home. Eventually, I made a big deal about checking the time on my phone and mentioned to Ethan that we were running late.
Ruby thanked us for our time and for taking an interest in her husband which made me feel like a giant jerk.
On a whim, just before I turned my back, I pulled Lincoln’s picture out of my pocket. “I’m sorry, but by any chance have you ever seen this man?”
She studied the picture and then slowly nodded. “He’s an old college friend of Scott’s. He came by a few days ago to pay his respects.”
“Thank you.” I had a hard time getting out the words and I hurried away from Ruby’s questioning eyes.
“What’s the hurry? We barely got any information from her.” Ethan hurried to keep up with me as I marched away from the house.
“I got all of the information I need.”
“Okay…” he said, confused. “Care to share?”
I waved a hand over my shoulder at the house. “Their home is falling apart. The roof is missing shingles, their carpet is worn, and Ruby drives an ancient vehicle.”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t think it’s strange that a guy who just won the lottery didn’t bother to at least patch up his house?
”
Ethan shrugged. “Maybe he preferred to save his money.”
“Scott was a gambler. He didn’t buy lottery tickets because he preferred to gamble away their life savings. That’s why he was stressed. He was losing his job, probably because he was gambling with company money, and he needed a quick way out.”
“So he called up a genie?” Ethan sounded more than a little skeptical.
“Not a genie. A devil.”
“Wait. Are you saying Scotty made a deal with the devil?”
“Not the devil. A devil. There are hundreds of devils.” I could speak with authority because I had done a lot of research on devil lore when I was younger. They were one of the more fascinating supernatural creatures.
Ethan was not up to speed. “The devil is Lucifer, right? I mean, that’s just one guy.”
“Lucifer, Satan, whatever you want to call him, is actually a demon. Devils are just a type of demon, and there are a whole lot of them running around.”
“Hold up, please. Let’s just assume you are right about all of that. How do you know this devil is responsible for Scott’s death? Shouldn’t his deal have lasted longer than a few weeks?”
I stopped at the corner and got out my phone to contact Rafe. “The tricky part about making deals with a devil is that they stack the deal in their favor. When Scott asked for the lucky ticket he probably didn’t think to include a clause about getting to live for another sixty years.”
“Man, that’s upsetting. If you can’t trust a devil, who can you trust?” Ethan shook his head in mock disappointment.
I quickly sent off a text letting Rafe know that he could stop the investigation. Since we knew it was a devil, all we had to do was summon it and it would come right to us.
The ceremony for summoning a devil was complex. It required fire, blood, and chanting. None of us had actually done it ourselves, but it was detailed pretty clearly in the Monsterary. We managed to find a secluded area in some woods outside of town and Ethan got the fire going quickly.
I took out my knife to complete the blood sacrifice, but Rafe stopped me.
“I’ll do it.” He held out his hand for the knife.