by E. J. King
“I know the feeling,” I muttered.
Ethan’s eyes darted to me. “Yeah, I guess you do.”
I stood up, stretching out stiff muscles. I’d been so busy reading that I hadn’t moved in hours. “He’s getting sicker,” I said.
“I know.” Ethan stared hard at the journal in his hand. “He tries to deny it, but I can tell. I’d guess that he has about three months left.”
I’d been thinking the same thing, but it hurt to hear Ethan confirm my fears.
“Read,” I ordered as I left the room. “We’re not going to fail him.”
I was surprised to find Rafe sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on shoes. He looked up at me with a sparkle in his eyes. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“No, I haven’t.” I rolled my eyes like he was being ridiculous, but he wasn’t entirely wrong. I didn’t like seeing him so weak and helpless. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I need some fresh air. Let’s take a walk.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.” I crossed my arms, preparing for a fight. “You can barely sit up.”
Rafe scoffed. “It’s not that bad. You’re exaggerating.”
He stood and nearly lost his balance.
“Oh, yeah. I’m exaggerating.” I hurried to catch him.
“I just wanted you to put your arms around me,” he said, standing up straight and giving me a squeeze.
“Jerk,” I replied, poking him in the ribs.
He kept his arm around me was we walked to the front door, under the guise of needing help. The truth was that he had actually recovered quite well.
“Where are you going?” Ethan called in alarm.
“Relax, little brother. We’re just taking a little walk.” Rafe pulled me toward the door. “Have dinner ready when we get back.”
“Yes, dear!” Ethan yelled just before the door slammed shut.
Rafe waited until we were at the sidewalk before he told me his real motive. “I wanted us to be able to talk without worrying about Ethan overhearing.”
“Let me guess, you want to tell me how amazing you think I am?”
“Wow. You couldn’t be more wrong.”
His arm dropped from around my shoulders and he took my hand.
“I’m worried about Ethan,” he said suddenly.
“What? Why?”
“He’s not handling my… situation very well.” Rafe wasn’t just talking about his most recent attack and recovery. He was talking about his terminal situation. “I think he’s going to do something stupid.”
“Like what? He doesn’t have a lot of options.” I tugged Rafe’s arm. “Unless you think he’s going to kill me?”
“You’re not funny,” he said, but he couldn’t suppress a small smile. “Ethan would never hurt you. Not to mention that I would kill him if he tried.”
I still didn’t understand Rafe’s concern. “What else could he possibly do? As far as we know, my blood is the only cure. So if he’s not coming after that…”
“I don’t know what he’s going to try, I just know he’s going to try something. Ethan isn’t going to sit back and do nothing while I slowly fade away.”
We had reached the end of the block, but neither of us was concerned about our walk. I stopped at the curb and turned to him. “Even if that’s true, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to stop him.”
“You’ll find a way.” Rafe bumped me gently. “Let’s head back.”
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked, alarmed.
He laughed. “I’m fine. Stop worrying. I’m just hungry.”
“I’m sure Ethan will have a feast waiting for us when we get back.”
“I don’t think that’s the only thing waiting for us.”
Rafe was staring hard down the street, eyes narrowed. His hybrid blood had given him supernatural vision, so I knew he was seeing something my human eyes couldn’t see.
“What is it?”
“We should hurry.” Rafe grabbed my hand and started toward the house. “You’re gonna want to see this.”
As we got closer, I could see a car in the driveway that didn’t belong to any of my housemates. Our front door was open and I could hear Ethan and Hope chatting excitedly. I paused before stepping inside, taking a deep breath.
“Go on,” Rafe said, giving me a nudge. “He’s waiting for you.”
“Who?” I glanced at him and my breath caught in my throat. One look at his face was the only answer I needed. Another voice drifted out to us, one that I had heard every day for the first sixteen years of my life.
I was done waiting. With Rafe right behind me, I stepped over the threshold. “Link?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The day my family was killed, I had seen my brother’s dead body with my own eyes. He’d been there with all the others- bloody and unbreathing. But despite seeing it first-hand, I’d recently begun to believe that my eyes had deceived me. I started to sense that I wasn’t the only Hart still fighting the supernatural. It didn’t help matters that I had been getting messages from someone claiming to be Lincoln.
But even with all that had happened in the last few weeks, it still didn’t seem possible that I would see him again. In the Hunter world, it wasn’t unusual for people to come back from the dead. Dark Souls were basically a version of the walking dead. But when I stepped into the house and found my brother sitting on my couch, he didn’t look anything like a Dark Soul, but he did look very much alive.
“Lincoln?” His name crossed my lips in a whisper that echoed through the room.
He stood and turned in one fluid motion. When his eyes landed on mine, my breath caught in my throat. He looked strong and healthy- something I hadn’t thought was possible.
“Link.”
This time when he heard his name, he nodded and smiled reassuringly.
I raced across the room and crashed into his solid frame, throwing my arms around him. He was refreshingly warm and he laughed as he held onto me.
“It’s good to see you, too, Kaylie.”
“I thought you were dead.” My eyes squeezed shut and my grip on him tightened. I was still afraid that this was all a dream and that when I opened my eyes, he would be gone.
“I’m so sorry, Kay.” Lincoln’s chest heaved as he sighed. “I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Lincoln pulled back, holding me at arm’s length. “We have plenty of time to talk about that, Kaylie. Let’s just enjoy our reunion for a while, okay?”
He looked so much like the funny, strong brother I remembered that I suddenly didn’t want to talk about anything at all. I just wanted to be near him.
“Okay.”
“Drinks?” Ethan suggested.
It wasn’t until that moment that I remembered we weren’t alone. I turned to find Ethan, Hope, and Rafe all watching us.
“Do you know everyone?” I pointed to each of them. “Hope. Ethan. And this is Rafe.”
He nodded at each one, holding a stare with Rafe. It was almost like he knew that Rafe wasn’t just a friend like the others.
“Beers,” Rafe said, hurrying from the room like a scared puppy. Ethan gave me a curious look, then followed his brother.
Hope, nearly as excited to see Lincoln as I was, pointed to the couch. “Sit. Let’s talk. I have so many questions about Kaylie’s childhood.”
“Great,” Lincoln said with a laugh.
We sat next to each other and I couldn’t take my eyes away from him.
“Stop staring at me like I grew a second head, Kay.” Lincoln gave me an uncomfortable look.
“I can’t help it.” I wasn’t sure I was ever going to get used to actually being able to see and talk to him again.
The guys returned with beers and settled into chairs across from us.
“What did we miss?” Ethan asked.
“Lincoln was just getting ready to share embarrassing stories about Kaylie,” Hope responded helpfully.
Rafe s
mirked. “This should be good.”
“It’s quite boring actually,” Lincoln said after taking a sip of his beer. “Kaylie was a pretty normal kid.”
“It wasn’t hard to look normal compared to you,” I teased.
“Watch it. I’ll tell them about Ferdinand.”
My eyes narrowed threateningly. “You wouldn’t.”
“Who’s Ferdinand?” Hope bounced on the edge of her seat. “First boyfriend?”
Lincoln and I laughed in perfect synchronization. “You could say that,” Lincoln said. “Kaylie was pretty obsessed with Ferdy.”
“Ferdy?” Rafe’s tone was slightly more hostile than usual. “That’s a stupid name.”
“It should be, considering I made it up.” I couldn’t help but enjoy seeing Rafe jealous, even if it was misplaced jealousy. “Ferdy was my imaginary friend.”
“Ah.” He gave me a relieved smile. “How adorable.”
“It was quite adorable,” Lincoln agreed. “Whatever happened to Ferdy?”
I was staring at my brother, but I didn’t hear a word he said.
“Kaylie? Earth to Kaylie.” He waved a hand in front of my face.
“Sorry.” I blinked rapidly. “It’s just a little surreal to be sitting next to you right now, talking like you didn’t fake your death and disappear for two years.”
Lincoln flinched. “Kaylie, I said I was sorry.”
“Oh, well, if that’s the case. All is forgiven. Welcome back from the dead.” Now that the shock of seeing Lincoln had worn off, the anger had begun to build.
“Maybe we should let the two of you have some time alone,” Ethan suggested.
“Why bother? It’s not like Lincoln is likely to tell the truth anyway.”
Lincoln sighed. “Can you at least let me try to explain?”
“I’m still sitting here, aren’t I?”
“With a lovely smile on your face, no less.” Lincoln grimaced. “It’s kind of a long story.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared hard at him. Sixteen years together growing up had taught me that Lincoln would attempt to avoid facing the truth at all costs. But I wasn’t about to let him off the hook.
“Then you better start talking.”
He started reluctantly, carefully thinking about each word. But it wasn’t long before the words began to flow faster.
“Our parents had been acting strange for weeks. I’m sure you remember that they were extra paranoid. We were hardly ever even allowed outside the house after dark in those days. Dad was training us harder than ever and Mom wouldn’t let us out of her sight.”
He told the story so certainly that everything came rushing back to me. I could remember the looks our parents had exchanged over the dinner table. Saw clearly how they had abruptly stopped talking whenever one of us kids entered the room. Back then, I’d just assumed they were fighting over normal adult stuff like mortgages and Jack’s schooling. But now it was clear that something else had been torturing them.
“One night, I went downstairs to get a glass of water and I caught them talking in the kitchen. They didn’t know I was there, so naturally I kept quiet and eavesdropped. I wasn’t expecting to hear much, maybe Mom telling Dad to stop leaving his wet towels on the floor. But they were discussing something much more serious.”
Our parents were paranoid. They had been facing a lot more Souls than usual, and based on the increased body count around our location, more than a few Souls were in the area. Dad was convinced that the Souls were hunting our family.
“He was sure they had discovered our family secret,” Lincoln said, giving me a meaningful look. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now.”
“You mean how my blood is magical and highly coveted by Lost Souls? Yeah, I know about that.”
His jaw clenched. “There’s more to the truth than just that, Kaylie.”
“Please, enlighten us.” I hated the way he was talking to me like I was his naïve little sister. I’d spent the last two years on my own and did just fine taking care of myself.
“It’s believed that your blood can cure a Lost Soul, yes. But the legend also says that one drop of your blood can kill any supernatural creature.”
I shivered as a chill shot down my spine. “What?”
“I don’t know if it’s true, but our parents sure believed it. They were convinced that the Souls were hunting our family because they were looking for you. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why they would want you dead.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Link. Why is my blood special? You have the same blood as me. So did Jack.”
“I know. It sounds crazy, but Mom and Dad weren’t stupid. If they believed the legend was true, they had a reason for believing it.”
I had been avoiding looking at anyone but Lincoln as he talked. When I finally did look around the room, only Hope made eye contact with me.
“What happened the day they were killed?”
More than anything else, this was the truth I wanted to hear. I needed to hear it.
“You left earlier in the day after fighting with them about something stupid. Mom was worried about you and wanted me to go after you, but Dad thought it would be good for you to get some space. We had been spending an awful lot of time together as a family, and it was starting to get to all of us.
“Around dusk, Mom couldn’t hide her worry. She asked me to find you. I had no idea where you might have gone. We hadn’t been in town that long, and you weren’t going to school so I knew you didn’t have friends in the area. I walked around the neighborhood for a while, but then I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew something was wrong.
“By the time I got home, it was too late.”
Lincoln didn’t just pause to be dramatic. He was overwhelmed by his memories of that day and what he had seen. I didn’t blame him.
“You weren’t with them when they died?”
That possibility had never crossed my mind. From the way I had found their bodies, and all the blood that had covered the house, it had been a reasonable assumption to make.
“I wasn’t there.”
“But I saw you on the floor with them. You were covered in blood.”
“Their blood.” His eyes grew heavy. “When I saw them, I tried to help them. Jack was still breathing, just barely. I tried to… I thought I was alone in the room, but then something hit me from behind. When I fell forward, I hit my head on the coffee table and it knocked me out.”
I remembered my own panic when I hurried into the room and saw what had happened. First, I’d seen the bodies. Then, I’d realized I wasn’t alone. After that, my memory faded and the next thing I remembered was waking up in Rafe’s arms as he carried me away from the horror.
“But the police found your body at the house…”
“No, they didn’t.” Lincoln’s head dropped. “I woke up and there was a dead Soul on the ground next to me. I couldn’t have been a Dark Soul, or the body would’ve disintegrated. Now, I’m guessing it was a Lost Soul, but I didn’t know about those at the time. Whatever it was, it was dead and it kind of looked like me. I sliced open my arm and covered it with my blood.”
“They would’ve discovered the truth at the morgue.” I refused to believe that it was that easy to fake a death.
“Dad had some Hunter friends in the area. I called them, told them what happened, and they helped carry out my plan. A few switched medical records and blood tests- it wasn’t hard. We had lived off the radar so the police didn’t even have a picture of me to compare against.” He smiled slightly. “It was easier than I thought it would be.”
For me, it didn’t seem like he was just talking about faking his death. It felt like he also thought it was easy to stay dead, to let me believe his lie. That made me angry.
“Why would you do that to me? Do you have any idea how much pain I was in over losing my whole family?” My eyes filled with tears of anger. “Why would you let me go through that alone?”
“I was protecting you, Kaylie.” Lincoln glanced around the room. “I knew you would be okay. It would take some time, but you would move on and I could keep you safe from afar.”
“You’ve been watching me this whole time?” I tried to remember if I had ever suspected that anyone was watching me, following me in the shadows. I couldn’t think of a time, which made me start to question my skills as a Hunter.
Lincoln leaned forward, elbows on knees. “Right after it happened, you got out of the hospital and disappeared. I knew that you were staying with Hunter friends and the Souls didn’t follow you. I figured you would be safe for a while, so I took off for a few months.”
“Took off?” That sounded bizarrely vague. “Where did you go?”
“A few places. Trying to find the thing responsible for the attack.”
I noticed that he hadn’t really answered the question. “Did you find it?”
“I got close.” He hurried to look away. “I lost track of it though. Then I came back for you.”
“And hid in the shadows for weeks, leaving me cryptic notes?” I glared at him.
He shrugged. “I needed to be sure it was safe to approach you. In case you forgot, you were suddenly surrounded by two strange guys.”
“Strange?” Rafe asked, clearing this throat obnoxiously.
Lincoln ignored him. “No one except a few Hunters even knew I was alive. I wasn’t sure I was ready to reveal my cards yet.”
“So you decided you can trust us?” Ethan asked.
“I decided that I have to trust you if I want to be involved in Kaylie’s life.” He gave each of them a long look, glaring harder at Rafe than Ethan. “If she trusts you, then that’s good enough for me.”
An unspoken question hung in the air, unanswered. Did I really trust Ethan and Rafe? And even more importantly, should I trust them?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It took some insistence, but eventually I convinced Lincoln to take my bed and get some sleep. It was clear that he was exhausted, and I knew he wouldn’t sleep well on our cramped couch. Hope offered to let me bunk with her, but I was far too energized to sleep.