by E. J. King
Lincoln got much closer to finding him and he learned things that made me sick to my stomach. Benton wasn’t just another Soul- he was a breeder. It was rare in the Soul world. Some of them turned one or two humans, but usually not more than that.
Benton, on the other hand, had turned several dozen humans into Souls. He also left another hundred or so bodies in his wake. With the amount of Souls in his clan, they required near constant feeding. The incessant blood fueling had also made them stronger than other Souls. As I read, I had to continue to remind myself that the horrible monster responsible for so much death was actually my father.
“Hey.”
I was so focused on the words in front of me that I hadn’t noticed Rafe joining me on the porch.
“Hey.” Despite everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, I was still happy to see him. “Don’t look so scared. I won’t bite. I don’t even have fangs.”
It was a lame joke, and somewhat inappropriate given the circumstances, but Rafe gave me a relieved smile. “It’s cold out here so I thought you might like a blanket.”
“Surely you can think of a more constructive way to keep me warm.” I patted the bench next to me. “Get over here.”
Once he was seated, I snuggled in close as he wrapped the blanket around me. I handed him Lincoln’s journal.
“You should probably read that. Link was right- this isn’t going to be easy.”
“Give me a quick book report.” His hand stroked through my hair, making me shiver even with his body warmth surrounding me.
“Turns out Daddy Dearest is a total sociopath in addition to being a bloodsucker. He’s leaving more bodies behind than the plague, and he’s creating baby vamps on the daily.”
“I think I understood about half of that.” Rafe flipped open the journal and skimmed a few random pages. “He’s still just a Soul, right? A quick jab to the heart is all it will take to end this.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Not exactly. He’s a Soul, sure. But before that, he was a Hunter. A Hart Hunter, to be exact. We’ve had Hunter blood in our family for decades. Turns out that actually means something.”
“What does it mean?”
“That he’s basically a super-vamp. Killing him isn’t going to be easy.” I sat up straight. “And you thought that you have daddy issues.”
“I like my women a little damaged. Especially when they have daddy issues.” He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason you’re able to tolerate me.”
My brow furrowed as I tried to determine if he was being serious. “You don’t really think that?”
“I’m not exactly Prince Charming, love. I’m basically a monster wrapped in a human shell. I drink too much, swear too much, and I have a dirty mind.” Rafe shrugged helplessly. “Whatever the reason that you’re able to look past all of that, I’ll take it.”
“You’re a better man than you’ll admit. You do drink and swear a lot, but I kind of like that.” I leaned close, lips pressed to his ear, and said, “And I really like your dirty mind.”
Rafe’s breathing halted. “Good to know.”
“Lincoln and Ethan are busy doing research. They probably wouldn’t even notice if we disappeared upstairs for a little while.” My hands traveled over his chest and down his rippled abs.
“We’ll probably need more than a little while,” he said, slightly out of breath.
I nodded seriously. “You’re probably right. I’m sure that mind of yours has a lot planned for us.”
Then, just as my lips were closing over his, the front door flew open.
I jerked away, falling back in my seat. Rafe coughed and cleared his throat, strategically covering his lap with the blanket.
“What’s wrong, Ethan?”
“Have you talked to Hope today, Kaylie?” If he noticed our flustered appearances, he didn’t say anything.
“Um, I texted her this morning but she didn’t reply. She has a test tomorrow, so I just assumed she is locked away in the library.” As the words left my mouth, I knew that something was wrong. Hope was a decent student, but she would never just not respond to a text because she was too busy studying. Her fear of missing out made that an impossibility.
“I tried calling her a few times today and she never answered.” Ethan looked more than a little worried. Briefly, I wondered why he had been so anxious to get ahold of her. I hadn’t even known that they ever talked outside of our group activities.
I dug my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll try.”
By now, I wasn’t expecting to get an answer, but I was surprised to hear another phone ringing.
“Where is that coming from?” I asked, jumping to my feet. “That’s Hope’s phone.”
My own phone continued to ring unanswered as I jumped off the porch and circled around to the driveway.
“There,” Ethan said, pointing into the bushes that lined the house.
I dropped to my knees and began digging through the overgrown weeds. I cut my hand on a piece of glass and winced.
“Damn it.” But then my hand closed over the phone.
It was definitely Hope’s phone. I would recognize the pink sparkly case anywhere. I held it up for the others to see.
“Is that blood?” Ethan asked, squinting at the splashed screen.
“I think it’s mine. I cut my hand.”
Rafe took a step back. “It’s not your blood.”
“What? How could you possibly-” I stopped talking. The tightness of Rafe’s face said that he could smell that small amount of blood, even from ten feet away. No doubt he could also detect that it was different from the blood trickling out of the wound on my palm.
“That’s a helpful skill,” Ethan said, trying to make the moment feel less creepy. “How did Hope’s phone end up in the bushes?”
“With her blood on it.” My stomach twisted into a knot. “I think there’s a message.”
Ethan took the phone from me. “You said that you texted her.”
“That could be it.” He was probably right. But I was hoping that the phone would hold some kind of clue about where we could find her.
Fortunately, Hope was a trusting girl and she hadn’t bothered to password protect her phone. Ethan was able to pull up her unread messages. A couple from her mother, one from me, and another from a girl in one of her classes.
“Nothing,” Ethan confirmed.
“Wait.” I snatched the phone and pulled up her recently read messages. She had one from an unknown number. They claimed to be one of her friends from school and they needed a ride home from a bar in the wee morning hours.
Now I knew for sure that something was terribly wrong. “Hope’s car is right there. She got this text at 3 o’clock this morning, came outside to get in her car, and something jumped her, making her drop her phone.”
“That’s just speculation, Kaylie. You don’t know that for sure. Maybe she dropped it when she got back, and maybe she really has been locked in the library all day.” Rafe took another step backward.
“Haven’t you learned by now that I’m always right?” I studied him more carefully. “What’s wrong with you? It looks like you’re about to be sick.”
Rafe’s eyes flitted to my hand. They were an even deeper shade of gold than usual. “The blood is getting to me.”
“Oh.” I don’t know why that hadn’t occurred to me. “I’ll go clean up. Ethan, take Hope’s phone and see if I missed anything.”
I was in the bathroom, wrapping gauze around my cleaned wound, when Rafe stuck his head in the door.
“Just one lick?” he asked with a wicked smile.
“It’s a good thing I know you’re joking.” I held up my hand. “You’re too late anyway.”
“That’s not what I was thinking about licking.”
“Perv.” I threw a roll of gauze at him.
He caught it easily. “You said you like my dirty mind.”
“And now you’re making me
regret that.” I asked, “Are you feeling better now?”
“Are you asking if I’m going to lunge at you and rip out your throat? Probably not.” He grimaced. “Sorry I went all monstery on you.”
I took two steps to cross the room, kissing him firmly on the lips. “Sorry I’m so irresistible.”
He laughed and gave me a quick hug. “Let’s go find Hope.”
Finding Hope was easier said than done. She had essentially vanished without a trace and her phone didn’t hold any more clues.
“You’re sure she didn’t take off?” Lincoln asked. He and I had been having the same disagreement for ten minutes.
“She wouldn’t do that. Not without telling me.” Hope called to tell me when she was running five minutes late getting home from class. She would never take off for an extended period of time without letting me know.
“Those campers that were found...” Rafe had been watching our discussion quietly from the doorway.
Lincoln gave him an annoyed look. “What about them?”
“I would be willing to bet they are related to Hope’s disappearance.” He returned Lincoln’s glare. “If you’d prefer to wait around here in case she returns, Kaylie and I can go check out the campsite ourselves.”
“Your bad boy vibe might work with my sister, but I’m not an eighteen-year-old girl,” Lincoln said, taking a threatening step toward Rafe. “I know what you are, and I’m not letting you take Kaylie anywhere alone.”
“Link.” I tried to get his attention, but he wouldn’t look in my direction.
Rafe was calm, as always. “I’m not looking to fight with you, but I’m not scared of you either.”
“You should be.” Lincoln took another step forward.
I tried to move in front of him. “Stop.”
Lincoln grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “Stay out of this, Kaylie. I’m not going to stand by while you make stupid decisions.”
“Don’t talk to her like that.” Now Rafe wasn’t calm, he was livid.
“Rafe, it’s fine.” I waited until he looked at me and said, “Wait outside. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Rafe didn’t go right away. He stared down Lincoln for a long moment, but then he finally went outside.
“I don’t like that guy, Kay.” Lincoln barely waited for the door to shut before he unleashed.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you starting a fight with Rafe?”
After our talk this morning, it had felt like Lincoln was going to accept Rafe, even if he didn’t approve of our relationship. But that no longer seemed to be the case.
“He’s not good for you. I thought I could get over it, but I owe it to you to be honest. He’s going to hurt you and I’m not going to sit idly by while that happens.”
I felt a fire burn in my chest as my hands clenched into fists. “It’s none of your business. Why can’t you understand that?”
“I’m your brother!” Lincoln was yelling loud enough that I was certain Rafe and Ethan could hear. “I’m protecting you.”
It was hard not to yell back, to match the power of his voice with my own. But yelling wasn’t going to get us anywhere.
“I love him, Link.” It was that simple. “I gave up on life two years ago and I never thought I would be happy again. But Rafe makes me happy and I love being with him. I know that it’s not going to last and there’s a good chance I’m going to get hurt, but he’s worth the risk. Just let me be happy. Please.”
Lincoln froze. He had been expecting an angry tirade. Maybe even some tears. He had not been expecting a reasonable plea. “I think you’re making a mistake.”
“I know.”
“Alright, fine. But he better keep his damn hands off of you when I’m in the room,” Lincoln said, very seriously.
I rolled my eyes. “Point taken.”
“Okay, then. That’s settled. Now, let’s go find your friend.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The thought of riding in a car with my brother, lover, and male friend was not enticing. I managed to convince the guys that it would be wise to take two cars. If we did manage to find Hope, it would be a cramped ride home with all five of us in one car. They knew that I was making up an excuse, but they all seemed to share my sentiment when they hurried to climb into two cars.
I rode passenger in Lincoln’s car, giving us a chance to talk more. He seemed to be in a slightly better mood now that we’d hashed out the whole Rafe thing.
“How did you meet Hope?”
“She attacked a guy that groped me,” I said, remembering with a laugh. “I knew that we would be good friends after that.”
“She sounds like a good friend to have,” he said.
“Yeah.” I glance at him. “What about you? Did you make any new friends while you were roaming the country alone?”
He smirked. “I met some people.”
“Any ladies?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows.
“Nice try.” He flipped on the radio. “Maybe we should just sit quietly for the rest of the drive.”
“Not a chance, bro.” I turned up the music and started singly loudly. “This is my jam.”
“I should’ve made you ride in the other car.” He fought unsuccessfully against a smile.
Even when we were kids, Lincoln and I would be at each other’s throat one minute and joking around the next. We could never stay mad at each other for long. I was glad that hadn’t changed.
“Do you remember that annoying song Jack used to sing in the car?” Lincoln asked.
“The one about penguins and snowmen?” It came back so clearly that I could almost picture Jack sitting in the backseat, singing at the top of his lungs. “I completely forgot about that song.”
“That’s probably for the best. It was a terrible song.” Lincoln laughed. “But Jack didn’t seem to care.”
I hadn’t talked about Jack with anyone since his death. “He was a good kid.”
“Yeah, he was.”
“It’s getting harder to remember them,” I said quietly, staring out the window at the passing landscape. It had always been so hard to talk about them, but with Lincoln it just felt natural.
“Sometimes I think that I’m starting to forget. Little things like Mom’s smile or Dad’s laugh,” he said, eyes rapidly scanning the road. “But then I’ll have a dream about them, and it will be so real that I’ll actually believe it never happened.”
I nodded. “Those are the worst dreams. I wake up thinking that my life is still normal and then slowly I start to remember.”
“At least we have each other now,” Lincoln said.
“Yeah, finally.” My tone was just a little harsh.
Lincoln put his foot on the brake too hard. “We’re here.”
After we parked the cars, we still had two miles to walk until we got to the campsite. It was an awkward walk, to say the least. Lincoln and Rafe were purposefully avoiding interacting with one another while Ethan couldn’t seem to stop talking.
“We used to camp all the time. Remember that, Rafe?” Ethan’s voice was abnormally pitchy.
“I remember Dad left me at a campground one time when he didn’t like the way I put the tent together. And then I walked ten miles in the rain to get home.”
Ethan coughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, I guess I forgot that part of the family fun.”
“You know, if any of the Souls are still lurking around, all your talking is giving away our location.” Lincoln didn’t put as much annoyance into his scolding as he usually did.
“This location is a little strange for a Soul attack,” I said, kicking a rock out of the path. It was getting quite dark and I used the light from my cell phone to see.
Rafe stepped next to me, brushing against my arm almost imperceptibly. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s two miles off the main road. Why are the Souls going to so much work when they could easily grab drunk college students stumbling around campus? It’s clear they aren’t worried about getting caught
or they wouldn’t have left so many bodies behind.” I had never seen Souls be quite this reckless with their kills.
“That’s a good point.” Lincoln stopped. “We should probably assume we are walking into a trap.”
“What else is new?” I said, shrugging matter-of-factly. “We might as well get it over with.”
But there weren’t any monsters waiting for us at the campground.
“This is a bit anti-climactic,” I said, looking around for a sign that anything evil might be lurking.
“I agree.” Rafe pouted like a little boy. “I wanted to kill some Souls.”
A loud rustling hurried in our direction.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Ethan said as we all reached for our blades, forming a defensive circle.
The Souls that rushed at us from the trees were unlike any I had ever fought. They were quicker, stronger, and hungrier. Not only that, but we were facing a dozen of them. It was intimidating facing off against them, but for some reason I didn’t feel afraid.
Rather than wait for their attack, I took three steps forward and met the first Soul with a lowered shoulder. He flipped into the air, landing on his back with a sickening crack. The next five minutes blurred together, a series of kicks, punches, ducks, and stabs. It was a grueling battle, but I was pleased that I was able to hold my own.
One of the Souls had been more patient than others. It paced slowly, waiting until it had my full attention.
“Daddy sends his love,” it said, fangs sparkling in the moonlight.
The words made my heart jump, but I hid my feelings. “Well, he must really love me to send all these personal Soul-grams for me to kill.”
“He’s coming for you,” it sang in a high voice. “You can kill all of us, but it won’t stop tonight. The Master wants your blood.”
“The Master? Is this a BDSM thing? Kinky.”
“Will you still be joking like that when Daddy rips out your throat?”
I was tired of being threatened. If Benton wanted me dead, he needed to come for me himself instead of sending his lackeys. Fortunately, my annoyance made it much easier for me to finish off the obnoxious Soul, only after letting loose some pent-up anger.