by E. J. King
The male shrugged. “Too late. She’s here. What would you propose we do? Kill her?”
I flinched and patted my sleeve to make sure the pen was still there. It was a pathetic weapon, but it was all I had.
“Of course not,” the woman said, but it did little to make me feel safer. “Do you think she knows about Violet?”
Another flinch. How did they know about my mother?
“I think she must. Why else was she hunting so close?”
They had both lowered their voices and it was getting hard to hear. I took a half-step forward, forgetting that I was wearing the loudest shoes known to man. They squeaked their protest, and both heads in the room snapped in my direction.
“Kaylie!” The man took a step forward, hands out to show that they were empty. “Don’t run. We’re not going to hurt you.”
I took a few steps back, but I didn’t run. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of there, I wanted even more to ask them about Violet.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Slade,” he said. “This is Joy.”
“You shot me.”
He winced. “I did. With a tranquilizer dart. I’m sorry that I had to do that.”
“Where is my friend?” I hadn’t seen a trace of Luke anywhere.
“He’s fine. I had a staff member take him down to get some food.” Slade took another step forward. “I can take you down there, too, if you’d like.”
I wanted to see Luke, but I didn’t trust them to take me to him. “What is this place?”
“That’s a good question.” Slade offered a small smile. “How about I explain it to you while we walk?”
I got the sense that he was anxious for us to leave. Like he didn’t want me to see something. But I didn’t really have much choice but to agree with him. We both knew that he was in charge right now.
Joy set the pace, walking a few feet ahead of us. Slade walked on my right, and I stayed a half-step back so that I could keep my eyes on him at all times.
“I know that you are a Hunter, Kaylie, so I’m going to skip the part of the story where I normally have to convince people that monsters are real.” He gave me a warm smile, doing his best to charm me.
It might’ve worked if he hadn’t shot me earlier. Even I had to admit that he was handsome, though in a much more rugged way than Rafe and the other guys. Not my type, but good-looking nonetheless.
“Are you a Hunter?”
“No.” He chuckled. “I have dated a few Hunters though. Your type is very feisty.”
I just glared at him and he cleared his throat before continuing.
“Hunters fight monsters, and who could blame them? But did you ever come across something that wasn’t quite human, but also wasn’t completely evil?” The way he looked at me said that he already knew the answer.
I instantly thought of Hope. She had been turned into a vampire. There was no denying that. She had an insatiable thirst for blood, a desire to sink her fangs into my neck. But she’d also stopped herself from doing that. She’d had normal conversations with me. Somehow, she had maintained at least part of her humanity. None of us had been able to explain it.
“Is that a common thing?” I asked, avoiding discussing my friend.
“More common than you would think.” He looked at me with guarded eyes. “A lot of the monsters you hunt are pure evil. They must die, or they will kill others. But some of them… some of them are able to fight off the evil. They don’t want to be monsters.”
I nodded. “Let’s say I believe you. If you aren’t a Hunter, how do you know about all of this?”
“Because I’m one of them,” he said simply.
I stopped walking.
He turned to me, but Joy kept walking. She must’ve sensed that this was a conversation we needed to have in private.
“What do you mean?” I searched his eyes, hunting for any trace of evil. No gold sparkle meant that he wasn’t a Soul.
“I’m a Shifter. A Were to be exact.” He said it without a trace of emotion, like he was telling me his favorite color.
“A Were?” I desperately wished that I had a weapon. “Like the things I killed in the woods?”
“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “Not like them.”
“Please, explain.” I needed an explanation. I couldn’t believe that I could be having a conversation with a Were in human form after what I had seen last night.
He took a deep breath. “I was bitten about ten years ago. At first, the shifting was confusing and painful. I didn’t understand what was happening, and no one could explain it to me. I was only thirteen. I couldn’t tell my parents, so I left home. After bouncing around the country, I came across a woman that knew what I was. She explained everything to me. Told me that I could fight the hunger, control the shifting.”
“A woman?” I asked, but somehow I already knew the answer.
“Violet. She was a Hunter.” He looked at me meaningfully. “But she knew that not all monsters deserved to die. She taught me how to live as a human again.”
He started walking again and this time I hurried to keep up.
“I started searching the country for others like me. I took them under my wing, taught them the same things that Violet had taught me. Using herbs to control the cravings, meditation to focus the supernatural energy, we can mostly live normal lives. When I realized just how many of us existed, I decided to find a place where we could all live together.”
Joy had disappeared through a door, but Slade stopped us just outside.
“Those two that you killed- Alex and Lola- used to be like us. They studied under me for three months. But when Lola got pregnant, I knew that they weren’t really like us. Those of us that are committed to this lifestyle have sworn not to procreate. We don’t want to bring more supernatural creatures into the world. They didn’t agree, and one night they left and didn’t come back. When I heard about the killings in the area, I knew it was them. We were going to take care of them ourselves if you hadn’t gotten to them first.”
“You would’ve killed them?” I was surprised. “Why not try to rehabilitate them?”
“I help people under one condition- no killings. If you kill a human, any human, it’s over. I couldn’t risk them hurting anyone else while I tried to reconvert them.” His eyes were cold and unfeeling.
“What makes you the authority?” I found it hard to believe that a group of monsters would so willingly cede control to one man.
He seemed surprised that I didn’t already know. “I’m the pack’s Alpha.”
“Oh.” I had to admit, I didn’t know that much about Alphas. In the Soul world, an Alpha was just a vampire that sired another vampire. They typically didn’t retain any kind of authoritative control over their offspring, though.
“The pack has sworn its allegiance to me in exchange for my leadership and a safe place to live.” He finally pushed open the door in front of us and stepped over the threshold.
What I found on the other side of the door was breathtaking. We were outside, standing on a balcony that overlooked a beautiful landscape. A snowy forest in the distance, a pond trickling through the middle of a large square surrounded by rustic buildings. People milled about below us, all ages and races. They laughed and talked, oblivious to our watchful eyes.
“This is my family,” Slade said, and with a grand sweep of his arms, added, “and this is our
home. Welcome to Haven.”
SAVED Souls
CHAPTER ONE
It took several seconds to understand what I was seeing. The people wandering the grounds below us looked normal- not at all like the monsters I was used to hunting. Could they really have found a way to control the animal within?
It didn’t seem possible, but I couldn’t think of another possible explanation.
“You should make yourself at home,” Slade said. I had almost forgotten he was standing next to me. “Haven is a safe place, not just for them, but for you as well.”
/>
“I need to see Luke.” Somehow it felt like everything would be clearer if I could just speak with my friend. He would know what to make of the situation.
“Sure. Follow me.” Slade walked with his broad shoulders pulled back, his steps quick and confident. He looked very much like the Alpha he claimed to be. “We may still be in time for you to grab some breakfast.”
In a den full of Weres, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I didn’t even realize that Weres ate normal people food.
“Don’t worry,” Slade said, as if reading my mind. “We don’t just eat wild animals. In fact, our cook is actually pretty good.”
“How long have you lived here?” As I followed him down the winding stairs, I got a better look at Haven. From what I could tell, it had once been a school.
“We moved into these facilities about a year ago. Before that, we moved around a lot. It’s hard to find a home for a few dozen Weres.” Slade gestured to the open square. “We prefer places that give us easy access to nature. During the day, we have this square. At night, we have the surrounding woods.”
“You still change?” I asked, surprised. “I thought this place was all about controlling the change?”
“It is.” Slade stopped in front of a bubbling fountain and studied it thoughtfully. “Think of the change like running water. You can’t stop it, but you can change its direction and the strength of its flow.”
Sure. That cleared everything right up. “A key difference is that water doesn’t rip your throat out if you misdirect it.”
“Fair enough.” Slade didn’t smile, didn’t blink. He had an unnerving way of staring at me as I spoke, listening to every single word.
I noticed that the residents of Haven stopped talking as we approached. They stood respectfully, heads slightly bowed. I assumed it was some sort of weird pack and Alpha dynamic. That kind of stuff never happened in the Soul world.
“How many do you have here?”
“Forty three now.” We had made it across the square and with a big tug, he pulled open a metal door. “The kitchen is through here.”
Feeling a bit like I was walking into an underground bunker, I took a tentative step inside. Instantly, the smell of cooking food greeted my nose.
“Do I smell bacon?” My stomach rumbled happily.
“You certainly do. We are big fans of meat around here.” Slade led the way around a corner and then there was no denying that we were in fact in a kitchen.
‘Kaylie!”
Luke’s voice rose above the laughter and chatter in the room. It was easy to find him among the sitting masses because he jumped to his feet and rushed forward.
Despite all of the weirdness of our past, I happily jumped into his arms. Haven was creepy, and it was nice to see a friendly face, even if it did belong to an ex-boyfriend.
“I was worried they’d slaughtered you and turned you into our breakfast,” he said with a laugh, enjoying his own morbid joke.
“I bet that didn’t stop you from eating it.” I laughed at the guilty look on his face. “Hopefully you at least saved some for me.”
“If it’s alright with you, I’m going to let you and your boyfriend get reacquainted.” Slade started to back away. “I have a council meeting in five minutes.”
I was so hung up on his casual use of the word “boyfriend” that I didn’t realize what he had said next until after he was gone.
“What’s the council?” I asked Luke as we got in line for food. Most people were done eating by now and many of them were watching us curiously.
“As far as I can tell, it’s a group of Weres that run the pack, headed by the Alpha, of course.”
“Slade,” I said, reaching for a plate.
“Yeah. He’s definitely the man in charge.” Luke didn’t sound pleased. “In fact, a lot of the people around here seem scared. Maybe not of Slade directly, but definitely of the council.”
Today was just full of surprises. The idea that Weres might be scared of anything was bizarre. I pushed that thought from my head as I loaded my plate with waffles and bacon. Luke filled a plate for himself as well and we found an empty table near the window.
“Haven’t made any new friends yet?” I teased.
Luke shrugged. “People here are nice enough, but they keep looking at me like I’m going to stab them with my butter knife, and I keep expecting them to chow down on my body. It’s easier just to keep my distance.”
“What have you learned about this place so far?” I asked around a mouthful of waffle.
“Not much. I’ve only been walking around a couple of hours. Those tranquilizers they hit us with were strong.” He slowly rotated his shoulder and winced painfully. “So far I’ve seen a couple dozen Were people roaming around, no kids. So I don’t think they are nesters.”
“Slade says their number one rule is no procreation. Those two Weres we hunted last night used to be residents, but they broke the rules.” I could tell that Luke was impressed by the amount of information I’d managed to gather in such a short amount of time. I just wished I could take credit for it. “This place is weird, yes, but so far they aren’t acting like they have anything to hide. They’ve been letting you roam freely?”
“As far as I can tell.” He looked around quickly to make sure no one else could overhear. “I did see one building that looked like it was being guarded. Couldn’t tell what was inside though.”
“You had to go and say that, didn’t you?” I pushed away my empty plate. “Why must you tempt me so?”
Luke grinned. “I can’t help it that you have no self-control.”
His tease was nothing out of the ordinary, but it made me pause. It was the type of thing Rafe would’ve said, with a cocky smile that I could never resist. I hadn’t spoken to him since sneaking off in the middle of the night.
“You alright?” Luke asked, noticing my change of demeanor.
“I was just thinking about the guys,” I said vaguely.
Luke read between the lines. “Rafe? You call him yet?”
“No.” I didn’t bother explaining that I couldn’t call him. If I dialed his number, that would be it. I would hear his voice and be desperate to see him again. “I’m sure he’s still fuming. I’ll give him a little more time to cool off.”
“He’s probably already on his way here,” Luke said.
“What?” I hadn’t even hinted where I was going; how could Rafe possibly know where to find me?
Luke said, “He’s a Hunter, Kaylie. He found you before, and it’s only a matter of time before he finds you again.”
“Let’s take a walk,” I said, pushing back my chair.
We were the last people to leave the kitchen, aside from the two women that were clearing away dirty dishes. When we stepped back outside, I was surprised to find the square empty. The Were people had disappeared.
“That’s strange,” I said, slowly looking around.
“I heard one of them talking about being late for their job.” Luke looked up at the main building where I had woken up just a couple hours earlier. “Is it possible they all work during the day?”
There was no way we could be that lucky. But if it was true, we needed to act now. “Where is the mystery building you saw earlier?”
“That corner,” Luke said, pointing across the square.
We went the long way, circling around the fountain. Then we stopped and I pretended to be having a serious conversation with Luke while surveying the grounds. At first, it looked unattended. But then I noticed a man partially hidden behind a pillar.
“Everyone is gone except that guy?” My Hunter-senses were tingling. “What’s so important that he’s sticking around?”
“Gold doubloons?” Luke gave me a hopeful look.
“Yeah right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “When have we ever been that lucky?”
“I was that lucky the day I met you. Luckier, even.” He smiled, but his eyes were serious. Too serious for my liking.
I turne
d away from him, studying the building again. “We shouldn’t try breaking in until we have a better idea of the daily routine around here. I say we stake it out for a couple of days before we make a move.”
“Whatever you want,” Luke said with a resigned sigh. “At least we’ll have some good meals while we wait.”
I looked around and asked, “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
As if we were being monitored, a door nearby flew open. The woman that stepped through it was Slade’s assistant, Joy. Just like earlier, she was not happy to see me.
“I see you’ve found your friend,” she said, eyeing us both suspiciously. “Slade asked that I give you both the tour. You’ve been assigned rooms and chores.”
“Chores?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Everyone that stays at Haven takes on work,” Joy explained calmly. “Even our guests. It’s the only way to keep this place running efficiently. It also keeps us out of trouble during the day.”
At least now I understood where all of the residents had gone.
“Alright. What are our assignments?” I just hoped they weren’t dumb enough to put me on cooking duty.
Joy took off walking, waving for us to follow. “Kaylie, I have you pegged for cleaning services and Luke is slotted for the maintenance crew. Both of those teams don’t require much of a learning curve.”
I exchanged a look with Luke behind her back and we both smiled. She had already managed to insult us, implying that we weren’t smart enough to handle anything but manual labor.
“What’s your role?” Luke asked pointedly.
She pulled open a door to a building I hadn’t been in yet and said, “I’m the council’s executive assistant.”
“Sounds important,” I grumbled, annoyed by her superior tone.
“Someone has to babysit the new people.” She glared at both of us. “Please, after you.”
The inside was surprisingly normal. We entered into a large room that had a number of sofas and plush chairs with a large television mounted on one wall over a fireplace.
“This is the lounge,” she explained in her bored, monotone voice. “It is available for your use except for when we are holding a town meeting.”