by E. J. King
I froze, not quite able to look him in the eye. “You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It needs to be human blood,” Ethan said softly. “Your blood is tainted.”
I gripped the blade in my hand and pushed down hard. The cut was deep and it hurt something fierce. Putting my hand over the flames, I formed a fist and blood dripped into the fire while Hope chanted in Latin. It had been a nice surprise to learn that she had studied the language in high school.
When she finished the incantation, the fire turned a bright blue. I jumped back as the flames leapt higher. The devil appeared in the middle of it, standing unaffected. It was the size of a large human, but with ink black skin, talons, and horns.
It took one look at us and knew something was up. “Hunters?”
“The jig is up,” I said. Rafe and Ethan moved to either side of me while Hope stayed back as we had directed.
“I don’t make deals with Hunters.” It snarled at us, revealing yellow fangs.
“We don’t want to make a deal,” Rafe said. “We want some answers.”
The devil laughed. “Why would I help you?”
“Because we know how to kill you. If you don’t help us, we’ll finish the job. Give us the answers we need, we’ll let you go.” Ethan was talking out of his ass. There was no way we were letting the devil go.
“Nice try. I may be evil, but I’m not stupid.” The devil exaggerated a yawn. “If we aren’t going to make a deal, I’d really like to move onto some human that is desperate and stupid.”
“Sounds like a Friday night for Rafe,” I quipped spontaneously. Old habits died hard.
The devil’s beady red eyes narrowed. “You don’t by any chance know the other Hunter that was in town a few days ago?”
I tensed, my hand gripping the knife so hard that my knuckles turned white. “Did he find you?”
“I thought so. Looks like they were right.”
“They? Who’s they?” Ethan asked.
“I’ve said too much.” The devil grinned, pleased that we were clearly interested in the information it had. “Let’s just say, I didn’t pick this town randomly. I was incentivized.”
It clicked. “By the Souls. They found the victims for you and convinced you to come, baiting my brother.”
“Your brother?” An evil laugh. “I had no idea. Now I can see why you look so serious.”
“We’re wasting our time here,” I said, turning to Hope. “Finish the chant.”
The devil flinched. “Wait!”
“Why should we? You clearly don’t know anything that will help us.” I was already furious that we had wasted so much time.
“I know that your brother isn’t here anymore. He figured out what the Souls had planned and he left.”
I shrugged. “Even more reason for us to finish you and move on.”
“Except I know where he is now. If you kill me, you’ll never get that information.”
It was a last ditch effort. The devil was telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. There was a chance that it might also be the truth, but I doubted it.
“Hope.”
She started chanting again, carefully reading the words from the old book in her hands. As she read, the flames shot higher and burned brighter. I could feel my skin getting hot. The devil began to writhe and howl, its dark form starting to disintegrate.
It continued to scream until it finally exploded in a pile of ash, scattering in the wind. The flames immediately died and all that was left was charred remains.
“Efficient,” Rafe said.
Staring at the emptiness left behind, it finally sank in that we weren’t going to find Lincoln. Even though the odds had been against us from the beginning, a small part of me had truly believed that I would find my brother. Now, that hope had vanished along with the devil.
“Meet us at the car,” Ethan said in a hushed voice, understanding that I needed a moment alone to collect myself.
I was so focused on my internal thoughts that I assumed everyone had left. It wasn’t until Rafe put his hand on my shoulder that I realized I wasn’t alone.
“This wasn’t a complete failure,” he said.
“How do you figure?” I kicked a toe into the ash pile.
“Lincoln made it out of town alive. Whatever the Souls had planned for him, they didn’t get to carry it out.” Rafe tugged at my shoulder until I spun to face him. “This was just a step in the journey to find him.”
“So what do we do now?”
Rafe smiled. “We keep looking. Nobody likes a quitter, Kaylie.”
“But we don’t have any idea where to go next. No leads, no clues. Lincoln could be anywhere.”
“He reached out to you once. He’ll reach out again. You just have to be patient.”
“I never thought you would be the one to give me a lecture on patience.” In spite of myself, I laughed faintly.
His smiled faded as he looked at me. “Ethan and Hope are waiting for us,” he said, sounding disappointed by that fact. “We should probably go soon.”
“It sounds like you don’t want to go back to Jackson.”
“It’s not that.” His eyes drilled into mine. “I just really liked spending time with you these past few days. I have a feeling that’s going to change when we get back.”
My mouth felt very dry when I said, “It doesn’t have to.”
Rafe’s hand was still on my shoulder and he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Be careful. I might hold you to that.”
Smiling, I said, “Let’s go home.”
It was already starting to get dark as we took the exit back to Jackson. The ride had been relatively quiet, except for Hope’s incessant gloating about her Latin skills.
“I took down that devil all by myself,” she bragged as Rafe turned onto our street. “I’m kind of a superhero.”
“The kind of superhero that never shuts up,” Rafe muttered, just loud enough for all of us to hear.
The car rolled to a stop in the driveway and we all got out, stretching cramped limbs. Ethan volunteered to help Hope carry her luggage inside while Rafe and I stalled in the driveway.
“Home sweet home,” Rafe said for no reason in particular.
“Thanks for trying to help me find Lincoln.” I adjusted the bag on my shoulder, fidgeting nervously with the strap.
Rafe reached over and took the bag from me. “I’ll walk you home,” he said with a smirk.
We walked the few feet to the porch, stopping again.
“Thanks for walking me home,” I said, one of my worst-ever attempts at humor.
I reached for my bag and Rafe caught my arm, pulling me in close. He leaned down, eyes burning with desire and his lips pressed against mine. I started to respond, but a chill shot down my spine.
“Rafe.” I pushed away, alarmed. Before I could warn him that we were about to be attacked, the Soul appeared.
It raced forward at full speed and Rafe turned his body just in time to shield me and absorb the impact. It was a hard hit, but I was surprised to see Rafe get tossed aside like a leaf in a wind storm. He hit the ground with a sickening thud.
From the second I had sensed the Soul’s presence, I prepared myself for its attack. I had the knife ready, my stance locked. When it came for me, I was able to sidestep it easily and take it out with one swing of the knife.
It was already disintegrating before it hit the ground.
“Rafe.” I hurried to him, kneeling next to his body. “Are you okay?”
He looked up at me in confusion. “I don’t know what happened.”
“He caught you by surprise,” I said, even though I knew the explanation wasn’t that simple. Rafe never got caught by surprise.
I stood and offered him my hand.
“No, Kaylie.” He stood slowly without taking my hand. Looking away, he said, “It’s starting.”
“What? What’s starting, Rafe?”
“I’m starting to fade,” he said. Even though his words weren
’t entirely clear, I knew what he meant.
Rafe had always said that eventually he would start to feel the effects of refusing to transition. He would grow weak, and eventually he would die. His slow death was beginning now, and unless I found a cure, he would continue to fade until he ceased to exist.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, but my words fell flat.
For as long as I had known him, Rafe had been blasé about his situation. Matter-of-factly, he’d announced that he was dying. He never batted an eye or shed a tear. But now Rafe turned to me, and in a voice heavy with emotion he said, “I don’t want to die, Kaylie.”
I took his hand, gripping it with both of mine. “You won’t,” I said.
It was a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep, but I knew that I would die trying. Rafe had saved my life on more than one occasion, and I owed it to him to try to return the favor. Not only that, but now that I had found Rafe, I couldn’t imagine losing him.
Rafe and I parted ways, him climbing the stairs to the second floor while I made my way to my bedroom on the first. I dropped my bag on the floor and crossed over to the bed, preparing to throw myself on it. I stopped short when I noticed the folded paper sitting on my pillow. With a shaking hand, I opened it.
They are coming for you, Kaylie.
Protect yourself.
~Link
CHAPTER SEVEN
When I was four, I used to have nightmares about monsters under my bed. I would tell my parents and they would launch into a play-by-play instruction of how to kill every possible type of monster. Needless to say, that didn’t help chase away the bad dreams.
Lincoln, just seven at the time, came to my rescue. One night, he caught me stumbling through the dark on my way to our parents’ bedroom.
“Let them sleep,” he said, taking my hand. “You can sleep in my room.”
For six months, I waited until our parents were asleep and then snuck into Lincoln’s room. He was always waiting, pulling back the covers and holding my favorite teddy bear.
Later, when I learned that real monsters didn’t waste time hiding under beds, I stopped having scary dreams. But I never stopped believing that Lincoln would always be there for me when I needed him.
So it wasn’t surprising that even now, two years after his supposed death, I still kept looking for him over my shoulder. I knew that one day when I turned around, he would be there, watching my back like always.
These days, on the nights when I wasn’t busy dreaming about monsters, I dreamt about Rafe. It was wrong to have those feelings for him. I knew that, but I didn’t care. I had been a good girl long enough. Besides, Rafe was already fading. He’d said so himself. That meant our time was limited and I was determined make it count.
The morning after we got back from our road trip, I awoke with a start. Someone was pounding on the front door.
Yawning, I padded down the hall. Hope’s bedroom door remained firmly closed. Either she was deep asleep and hadn’t heard the knocking, or she had decided to let me deal with it.
I ignored the peephole and yanked open the door.
“Good morning.” Rafe grinned and held up a tantalizing Styrofoam cup.
“What do you want?” I said, eyeing it suspiciously. Rafe was shameless about stealing coffee from my kitchen every day rather than buying it himself.
“A simple thank you would suffice.” He passed it slowly under my nose and my skepticism faded.
Taking the warm cup, I smiled. “Thank you.”
“That’s better.” He nodded to the porch chairs. “Come sit with me.”
I could hardly resist Rafe under normal circumstances, but especially not when he was being so charming.
“What’s with the sunny disposition?” I asked as I took a seat across from him.
“I’m always delightful.” He was trying to sound cool, but I detected some tension in his voice. I also noticed that his leg hadn’t stopped shaking. “So, I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“How did it go? The first time can hurt a little.” Immediately when the joke passed over my lips, I wished I could take it back. My cheeks burned hot.
Fortunately, Rafe was too lost in his own thoughts to notice my slip.
“I think I like you, Kaylie.”
His directness caught me completely off-guard. So much so, that I began to choke on my coffee.
“I’ve gotta say, that’s not the reaction I was hoping for.” He laughed nervously and added, “I suppose I should just be glad you didn’t vomit.”
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t a commentary on your statement as much as it was a manifestation of my surprise.”
“Those were a lot of really big words.” He laughed again. “Look Kaylie, I’m not very good at understanding women. Especially smart, tough women like you. But I’m pretty sure that you like me.”
I tried not to look like a slob as I wiped coffee from my chin with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “I do. Of course I do.”
“Okay. Good.” He nodded. “I think maybe we should do something about that.”
“Something?”
“I don’t know. Explore our feelings.”
My eyes widened. “Explore? In what way?”
“We should probably just have sex right here on this porch.” Rafe said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he exaggerated an eye roll. “Or we could go on a date instead.”
“A date? You and me?” I laughed and then felt bad when I saw the annoyance on his face. “I’m sorry, you just don’t strike me as the kind of guy that likes to go on dates.”
“Isn’t that the reason we need to date? You don’t know the real James Rafferty.” He reached a hand into his shirt pocket and pulled out two tickets. “Thursday night. You, me, and about two hundred drunk co-eds. What do you say?”
I took the tickets from him and read them carefully. “The Jackson College Centennial Ball?”
Our Greek system sponsored an annual all-college ball in the gymnasium as a fund-raiser for the school. Hope had been bugging me about it for weeks, insisting that it was the event of the year. Since she had already used that line on me for several other events, I remained doubtful.
Rafe waved away my hesitation. “Look, it seems like an appropriate date opportunity. If it sucks, we can always come back here and do the sex thing instead.”
The bitter woman in me wanted to turn him down. She was jaded, and didn’t believe in fun. But in the past few months, that woman had started to lose her power and the hopeful girl in me had gained strength. She believed in fun with friends, parties, and dates with hot guys. She was also insanely attracted to Rafe and wasn’t completely repulsed by his sex offer. It was her that said, quite emphatically, “Deal.”
“Good.” Rafe slapped his hands on his knees. “Now, put on your running shoes. It’s time to train.”
It was a perfect metaphor for my life- one moment of normalcy amid a sea of strangeness. After an eight mile run, I headed off to class for more normal activities. It was hard to focus on the professor’s lecture about the factors leading to World War I. Externally, I was a studious freshman taking diligent notes. Internally, I was an eighteen-year-old girl planning my dress for the party and freaking out about a first date.
“Shopping trip. Stat,” Hope announced dramatically when I stopped by her room to tell her the news later in the afternoon.
“I can’t. Working tonight.”
Her pink, sparkly bedspread was obnoxious to look at, but it was comfortable to snuggle into. I buried my head in a pillow and wished for the millionth time that my parents had left me a small fortune in their will. Being a working girl was exhausting. Especially considering my second job as a Hunter.
“I don’t understand how you can be so calm right now,” Hope complained. “You are going on a date with Rafe- Mr. Hotty himself.”
“Stop being so dramatic. It’s just Rafe,” I said, lifting my head.
“Have you seen his body? And those lips… you just know he’s going to be a
good kisser.”
I couldn’t keep the blush from my cheeks.
“You’ve already kissed him!” She bounced excitedly on the bed next to me. “When? What else did you do? Did you sleep with him?”
“No, don’t be ridiculous. We just had a moment during the road trip. No big deal.” But when I remembered kissing Rafe, it felt like at least a medium-size deal.
“The two of you will have beautiful babies,” she said with certainty.
I sat up and hit her with the pillow. “I’m not going to have babies with Rafe.”
“Accidents happen,” she said with a wink.
“Well, this has really been stimulating conversation,” I said, standing and stretching my arms above my head. “I need to get ready for work.”
The Lucky Lady was unsurprisingly empty on a Monday night. The upside was that I didn’t have to work very hard; the downside was that I only made about twenty dollars in tips over the course of the shift.
“Red, get me a beer.”
I had just come back from the storage room and hadn’t had a chance to scope out the new arrivals. Needless to say, I was surprised to see Rafe and Ethan sitting at the bar.
“You couldn’t stand to be away from me for a few hours?” I leaned on the counter and batted my eyes playfully. “Adorable.”
“Yeah, yeah. Beer, Red.” Rafe snapped his fingers. “You work for tips, don’t you?”
“Snap those fingers at me again and I’ll snap your neck.” I gave him my most convincing glare and reached for two glasses. “Not that I haven’t loved this exchange of barbs, but why are you guys here?”
“Murder and mayhem,” Ethan said with a dramatic flair. “A lot happened in Jackson while we were gone this weekend.”
I sighed. “We couldn’t take just one night off?”
“A Hunter’s work is never done.” Ethan pulled a folded up newspaper from his pocket and tossed it on the bar.
“Missing men?” I scanned the top story on the front page. “No bodies. Are you sure this is supernatural?”
“Read it closer.” Rafe finished his beer in a long drink and slid the empty glass in my direction. “After you refill this.”
I was too intrigued by the article to be offended by Rafe’s unpleasantness. Plus, I knew he only did that stuff to get a reaction from me. He seemed to like it when I glared at him.