by E. J. King
I felt a bit like cattle being handed over in a transaction, but it was nice that they both cared enough about me to reach a sort of peace.
Rafe drove my car and Ethan followed us in theirs. The tentative plan was to find another temporary house where we could store our possessions and rest our heads before deciding our next move.
“You alright?” Rafe asked, shooting me a glance.
I looked over my shoulder at the house, at my friends, one last time. I saved that mental image and then turned back to Rafe. “I will be.”
“Not to obsess over the details, but where are we going?” He stopped at the intersection that led to the highway.
“East.” I checked the directions I had written down.
We pulled onto the highway with Ethan following close behind.
“What’s in this direction?” Rafe wanted to know.
“Someone that might be able to help us. Olivia knows some people in Rockford that know about compulsion. I figure that’s a good place for us to start.”
“Sure.”
Rafe didn’t say what I knew we were both thinking- what next? Now that I had left my home and my normal life behind, was I ready to fully embrace the Hunter life again? I had sworn that I would never do that. Up until a few hours ago, I thought that we would eventually take care of Benton and then everything would go back to the way it was before my life had gotten disrupted. But that had been a girlish dream. This was reality.
Even if we somehow managed to kill Benton, everything else in my life had been irrevocably changed. Lincoln was back from the dead. Hope was a vampire. And I had Rafe now, someone that had the potential to be everything to me and also to ruin me. Love was a complicated game and I wasn’t sure I knew how to play by the rules.
CHAPTER NINE
Rockford was over eight hours from Jackson. Even driving all day without stopping, we weren’t able to get there before dark. Olivia’s friends lived on the outskirts of town, in an old farm house.
They were Hunters like us, which meant they would be suspicious when we showed up on their doorstep uninvited. As we stood in front of the door, I wished that I’d had Olivia call ahead and let them know we were coming.
“What?”
The man that answered the door was not pleased to have company. He looked to be close to my father’s age, or at least how old my father would’ve been if he had lived.
“Karl Little?” Just saying his name was hard because he was the exact opposite of little.
“What of it?”
“We are friends of Olivia Silver,” I said, hoping he had a better opinion of Olivia than I did.
Based on Karl’s reaction, he didn’t. “Hunters, huh?”
His eyes narrowed as he looked us up and down. First me, then Ethan, and lastly Rafe. He froze at Rafe.
“Do I know you?”
“I don’t think so, sir.” Rafe shifted uncomfortably. “James Rafferty.”
“Rafferty?” Karl’s eyes widened. “Tom’s boy?”
I was surprised to hear him mention Rafe’s real father. That man had died before Rafe was born and he had been raised by Ken Night, Ethan’s father.
“Yes, Thomas Rafferty was my father.”
“He was a good man.” Karl stepped aside. “Come in.”
The old farm house was even more rundown inside. Every floorboard creaked as we made our way to the living room. Old furniture covered in old pillows and blankets waited for us. I sat gingerly, nervous that the couch might collapse beneath me. Rafe sat next to me, Ethan in a chair next to our couch. Karl sat on the couch across from us.
“What can I do for you?” Karl asked, his formerly icy gaze turned kind.
Since he had responded positively to Rafe, Ethan and I sat back and let him run the show.
“We need to know everything you can tell us about compulsion.” Rafe couldn’t stop himself from quickly glancing at Ethan. “More specifically, how to break a compulsion.”
“That’s a complicated request,” Karl said with a long sigh. “I’m going to need more details about the circumstances surrounding the compulsion.”
Rafe gave him as many details as possible without implicating Ethan as the compelled Hunter. Karl listened attentively, nodding and sympathizing at the appropriate parts.
“You were right to try holy water to break the compulsion,” Karl said when the story was over. “But I think you are also right that it probably didn’t work in this case. When a powerful Soul does the compulsion, sometimes holy water is just a treatment of the symptom and not an actual cure.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, perplexed.
“This individual is probably still compelled. And they will still act on that compulsion when the timing is right. When that happens, you can break them from the moment by forcing holy water into them, but it won’t break the compulsion completely.”
“It’s just a distraction,” Rafe said, nodding his understanding. “Then how do we break it for good?”
Karl let out a hard breath. “You have to kill the Soul that did the compulsion.”
That was not good news. Benton was becoming more and more entwined in our lives.
“Karl! You left the door wide op-” The woman that entered the room could only be described as homely. She was short and thick around the waist, but her smile was warm. “Oh, I didn’t realize we have guests. I’m Martha.”
She took the time to go around the room and shake each of our hands as we told her our names.
“I’m Kaylie,” I said, pumping her plump hand. “Kaylie Hart.”
At this, Karl gasped. “Hart?”
“Yeah. That’s me.”
“Your family… you poor girl.” Karl looked like he wanted to cry, or give me a hug. I wasn’t sure which one would be worse.
Rafe’s leg brushed against mine purposefully.
“We should probably leave soon,” I said. “We don’t want to take up your evening.”
“Don’t be silly!” Martha’s face lit up. “I love meeting Karl’s Hunter friends.”
“You’re not a Hunter, then?” Ethan asked, as if that wasn’t already obvious.
Martha giggled. “Dear boy, aren’t you sweet? As if a woman like me could hunt vampires! No, I just married a Hunter.”
That was rare. Hunters hardly ever married a civilian. It was actually frowned upon in the Hunter world. Karl had guts.
I liked him.
“Hunters can be hard to resist,” I said, sharing a smile with Martha.
“You kids aren’t from around here, are you?” she asked. We all shook our heads. “You should stay with us tonight. We have plenty of empty rooms and we could use the company.”
“We couldn’t,” Rafe objected. I could see the horror on his face at the idea of spending the evening with this strange older couple.
“We insist.” Karl clapped his hands, ending the debate. “Tom helped me a lot back in the day, and it’s the least I can do to return the favor for his son.”
Martha started buzzing around the room. “Get your things and bring them inside. I’ll set you up in the bedrooms upstairs.”
We followed a reluctant Rafe outside to retrieve our bags.
“What’s with the doom and gloom?” I asked him as he stared back at the house with a pouty face.
“I wasn’t good with parental types when I was a kid. I can’t imagine I’ve gotten any better at it.”
I laughed. “They aren’t your parents. It will be fine.”
“Easy for you to say.” He gave me a helpless look. “I hope you’re okay with sleeping alone tonight in this house because I doubt Grandma Martha is going to be okay with us shacking up together under her roof.”
“It’s one night, Rafe,” I said with an eye roll.
But I also understood what he meant. I was used to coming and going as I pleased, not answering to anyone. We’d all have to be on our best behavior tonight.
“Karl and I have a room downstairs,” Martha huffed as she led u
s to the second floor. “We can’t do the stairs very well any more. But we have three bedrooms up here. One for each of you.”
I was surprised when she turned at the top of the stairs and looked directly at me. “Or not. Make whatever arrangements you will. I’ll just go get you some extra blankets from the linen closet.”
The guys took our bags down the hall to the rooms, but I followed Martha. There was something about this woman that was intriguing.
“What did you mean back there?” I asked shyly.
She gave me a knowing look. “A pretty girl like you doesn’t live on the road with two attractive boys unless she’s involved with one of them. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yes.” I blushed hard.
“No need to fret, dear. We can’t help who we love.” Her eyes flitted to the stairs. “And Hunters are certainly hard to resist.”
“They are,” I agreed.
She looked down the hall. “Tell me, it’s the dark, serious one, isn’t it?”
“How did you know?” I was genuinely surprised. Rafe and I weren’t big with public displays of affection.
“If you could see the way that boy looks at you, then you would understand.” She patted my arm in a motherly way. “Go make yourself comfortable, dear. Then come downstairs and I’ll fix you some tea and supper.”
I stood in the doorway of the last bedroom and watched Rafe. He had placed our bags on the bed and was staring at a wall full of framed photos. Whatever was in the frames was intriguing him, but I was much more interested in Rafe. Even now, after months of having him in my life, I still felt like there was so much I didn’t know about him. And I still tingled with warmth and excitement every time he looked at me.
“Hey, creeper,” he said, catching me. “What’s with the staring?”
“I can’t appreciate a good view?” I teased.
“Sure, but I think we can give you a better view than this,” he said with a leer.
I held up a halting hand. “Not so fast. Not in this house.”
“What?” he asked dubiously. “Grandma Martha said she was fine with us living in sin.”
“Keep it in your pants, Rafferty,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “I’ve been promised tea and supper.”
“Sounds kinky,” he leered again and I laughed.
“That doesn’t even make sense.” I swatted at him as he reached for me, tickling and poking me in the sides. We tumbled onto the bed in a wave of laughter and squirming.
I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed like that. Almost like when I was a kid and my brother would tickle me until I couldn’t breathe. It felt good to lose control, even if it was only for a minute.
Tea and supper was worth our awkward sleeping arrangements. Martha was a good cook, probably because everything was fried and dipped in butter. I wasn’t complaining. We took our tea in the living room after we ate, and I decided to see what Karl knew about my father.
“Karl, you seem pretty familiar with our families,” I started carefully. “Did you happen to know my parents?”
“John and Holly?” It wasn’t just a rhetorical question. Karl knew.
“Benton and Violet.”
He frowned, sensing a trap. “I knew them both. Benton more than Violet.”
“Kaylie,” Rafe whispered. “Maybe you shouldn’t…”
It was too late. I had to know.
“How did she die?” I asked breathlessly.
All this time, I had assumed that Benton had killed her. He’d come close, once, while she was still pregnant with me. Then I was born and she left me with my aunt and uncle, the people I had grown up calling Mom and Dad. But Violet disappeared and I never learned her fate.
Karl’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting that question.
“I’m not the person to answer that question, dear,” he said cryptically.
“Then who?”
He turned to Ethan. “Kenneth Night is the man who can answer your question.”
What had been a lovely night just ended. Ethan’s father, the same man that had beaten Rafe as a child, knew about my mother’s death. It didn’t make any sense.
Martha tried to change the subject, asking us questions about our lives. But our lives revolved around being Hunters and we didn’t have much to discuss that didn’t involve vampires and death. We all agreed that it was wise to go to bed early.
Rafe and I didn’t talk as we climbed into bed. I knew that he was lost in his own thoughts and I needed to give him space to mull them over. I rolled on my side, facing away from him and stared at the wall.
I needed to talk to Ken. He held the answers to the questions that had been haunting me for months. But I couldn’t ask the guys to go back there, especially not Rafe. I would never do that to him.
“I’m not sure I can face him,” Rafe said into the dark, reading my mind.
“I would never ask you to do that.” I flipped over, studied his profile.
He was on his back, staring at the ceiling. “I hate that man.”
“I know.” He had every right. I wasn’t going to make him feel guilty about that.
Rafe was quiet for a long time, his breathing steady, but strained. I reached out a hand, fingertips slowly tracing one of the many scars on his body that had been left by Ken. As I followed them along, my own hatred for that man built into a fiery ball in the center of my chest.
“We can go tomorrow,” Rafe said at last, definitively.
I lifted my head and looked him in the eye. I wanted to tell him that we didn’t have to go, that he didn’t have to do that for me. But I could tell that his mind was made up.
“I’ll be right by your side,” I said, now pressing my hand over his heart.
“And I’ll be right by yours,” he replied. “Always.”
CHAPTER TEN
We left early the next morning. Ethan had also decided that it was time to face his father, and he was eager to get on the road.
“Might as well get it over with,” he said, frowning.
Martha sent us off with bellies full of eggs and bacon and stood in the dirt road waving until we couldn’t see her anymore. I had to admit that I was going to miss her.
Ethan was able to make a couple of quick calls to family friends and found out that their parents only lived a few towns away these days. We could be there in less than three hours. It was good news, but I didn’t know if that was enough time for Rafe to brace himself.
“You haven’t talked to either of them since Ethan left?” I asked, trying to get a feel for exactly what I might be walking into at the Night house.
“Nope.” Rafe shrugged. “I didn’t talk to them much before that anyway, though.”
“What finally convinced you to leave? The first time, I mean.” I hesitated. “Was it the beatings?”
Rafe flinched and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “No. Those stopped when I was about fourteen.”
“Why?”
“Because I was finally big enough to fight back.” He shot me a quick look. “I cracked Ken one time, hard enough to break his nose, and he just stopped hitting me.”
“So it was something else?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t take it anymore. He was always saying terrible things about me and about my real father. He wasn’t hitting me, but that doesn’t mean he stopped abusing me. And when I finally turned eighteen, I didn’t have to put up with it. So I left.”
“Did your mom ever reach out to you? Ever try to repair the relationship?” My own mother would’ve been a wreck if one of her kids had moved out and stopped speaking to the family.
“Mom is complicated,” Rafe said. I could tell that even now, even after everything that had happened, he didn’t want to speak poorly of her. He loved her. “She was a mess about my biological dad. Even years after he died, she couldn’t even look at a picture of him without crying. People used to tell me that I look like him and I think it was hard for her to be around me, especially
as I got older.”
“But still…to let Ken do those things to you…” I shuddered. “I don’t know how you can forgive her so easily.”
“Because I want to, Kaylie. I want to forgive her. I don’t want to hate my mother.”
He sounded so sad, like a little boy. I wanted to hug him. Instead, I said, “Is it okay if I hate her for you?”
He laughed, reached over and took my hand. Pressing his lips to the back of it, he said, “Sure. Just remember, though, that if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here…”
“Ugh. True.” Now I was conflicted. “Family is confusing.”
“And also, no matter how bad my parents might be, neither of them has tried to kill me.” He gave me a pointed look.
“Hey, I’ve never defended Benton. Feel free to hate away.”
Rafe’s hand tightened over mine and the playful smile disappeared from his face. “I know you read his journal, Kaylie.”
“I did.” No sense in denying it.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Another furtive glance.
“Not really.” I stared stubbornly out the window, refusing to think about the horrible feelings I’d had while reading his words. “Benton never wanted me to be born, now he wants to kill me. Not much to discuss.”
Rafe shook his head. “I think there is plenty to discuss in that statement.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about it so let it go.” I pulled my hand back.
Awkward silence settled in the car. I thought about turning on the radio, but that would just acknowledge that I was uncomfortable.
“Kaylie, I don’t want to upset you. Really. But I want you to be sure that you are ready to face whatever Ken might say about your mother. I know you thought that Benton was a different man before he became a Soul and that you are disappointed by the truth. The same thing could happen with Violet.”
Everything he said was true. About Benton, about Violet, and about my feelings regarding both of them. When I had learned that I was adopted, I had assumed that my parents had been good people forced to make a difficult choice. Learning that Benton had never wanted me had nearly broke my heart. If I learned something similar about Violet, it would be devastating.