by E. J. King
“Hold on,” Benton said to the Soul. “Looks like we may have a deal.”
“You think you know me so well. You think torturing my brother and my boyfriend is all it will take for me to sacrifice myself.” I looked him directly in the eye, no longer afraid of the monster disguised as my father. “You aren’t wrong. But there’s a way I can sacrifice myself that doesn’t give you what you want.”
Benton froze, completely surprised. I could see him frantically trying to predict my next move.
With a steady hand, I lifted my knife. “You lose.”
I drove the knife hard into my side. Rafe let out an animalistic yell that was matched only by Benton’s screech.
Ethan caught me before I hit the ground. “Kaylie, no. What did you do?”
“I had to. Don’t you see? He can’t drain my blood now.” With a great effort, I pulled out the knife and blood flowed from the wound.
Benton took a step forward and froze again. He couldn’t seem to make his feet move forward. I knew that Violet’s spell was working.
“Now, Ethan. Finish it,” I said, pushing him away.
He and Alex raced to take care of the Souls in the room. Just as they finished taking them out, more Souls flooded through the door. They were followed closely by the other Hunters. We still had a chance.
I grew cold as my heartrate slowed. It became hard to breathe and my vision grew hazy. I lay my head back and closed my eyes. If this was death, it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. It was a lot like going to sleep.
Just as I accepted the inevitable, everything changed. My heart started beating more regularly and my body started to warm. In fact, it grew hot again, just like it did when Violet was performing her spell. Whatever she had done, it hadn’t just been about connecting to Benton. She was connected to me, too. Somehow, she was healing me.
My eyes fluttered open in time to see Benton charging in my direction. I closed my fingers around the knife that was still clutched in my hand. Benton assumed that I was on the verge of death. He probably wanted to drink the last of whatever blood was in my system. He wasn’t expecting a fight.
Just as he leaned over me, fangs ready to drink, I swung my arm straight up. The knife went cleanly into his chest, right into his heart.
His eyes widened and he gasped. “No!”
“Yes,” I said, pushing myself to my knees.
He crumpled next to me, convulsing. When he finally rolled onto his back, I noticed that his eyes were no longer gold. Benton looked at me and he was no longer a monster. He was a man, my father.
“Kaylie,” he said, nearly choking on the word. He reached up with a shaking hand and touched my face. “My daughter.”
I caught his hand in mine and squeezed it. No words came to me in that moment. I was watching my father die, and there was nothing left to say.
After he breathed one last, shaky breath, his eyes fluttered closed.
I dropped his hand and stood, looking to see where I could help. The rest of the Hunters had done some serious damage. Only a few Souls remained.
Rafe, Ethan, and Mark were all okay. Lincoln was a bloody mess, but he was standing. We had made it.
We had won.
EPILOGUE
“We have to leave this room eventually,” I said, rolling over to face Rafe.
Nearly 24 hours had passed since our victory over Benton. After finishing off the last of the Souls, the Hunters set the building on fire. That took care of any remaining rotting Soul corpses and blood.
We had then stumbled home to treat the wounded. Most of the Hunters had taken off, headed back to their normal lives. But some had stayed to revel in the victory. We had all shared drinks and stories downstairs until exhaustion set in.
Rafe had suffered a couple of broken ribs during the fighting and I was still recovering from my almost death. Despite our grand promises, we both collapsed into his bed and fell asleep immediately.
It was the best sleep I’d had in months.
“What’s the rush, Red?” Rafe asked, lazily yawning. “We just finished saving the world. I think we deserve a little break.”
“We need to get back to our lives.” I tapped a hand on his chest, just over his heart. “We’re free, James.”
“We are,” he agreed. “So what’s next for Kaylie Hart?”
“Classes are restarting on Monday,” I said. “I think I might try to get a late enrollment.”
Rafe groaned. “School? You died yesterday and you still want to go back to school?”
“Do you have a better idea?” I taunted. “Besides staying in this bed for the rest of our lives, I mean.”
“I don’t care where we spend our lives,” he said, pulling me close. “As long as we’re together.”
“Always,” I replied, staring deeply into his familiar blue eyes.
With the same smile that had first taken my breath away, he said, “And forever.”
That sounded just fine to me.
Kaylie’s story will be continued in Shattered Souls.
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About the Author
E.J. King is a dreamer and a storyteller. She combines these two loves to spin engaging, wild stories. She's an avid reader of all types of genres and writes what she loves to read. E.J. writes contemporary romance, urban fantasy, romantic thrillers, and paranormal stories.
Her urban fantasy/ paranormal romance series "Dark Souls,” has twelve books and three short stories to date and more on the way. The first fourteen books have been re-released in multi-part volumes. She also recently launched the first book in the Dark Hart series, another series from the Soul Hunters’ world.