The Fall Of The Fellowship: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Immortal Huntress Book 3)

by Kelly Hall

  “Dad?”

  Brock spun around and saw Jarreth standing in the kitchen. “Hey, son. I didn’t know you were still up.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.” His tone was harsh. “Rebekah?”

  “I was just walking your father back to his cabin.”

  Jarreth’s eyes moved back and forth from one to the other. His dad was unapologetic, but Rebekah looked like she’d seen a ghost.

  “I should get going.” She turned to go, hoping to leave as quickly as possible, but Brock tugged her arm and stopped her.

  “Thank you for a lovely evening, Huntress.” He smiled at her and pulled her close, kissing her deeply.

  Jarreth was overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions as the kiss went on way too long.

  Rebekah broke the kiss and hurried out.

  “Dad. What the hell?”

  “She’s quite a woman, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, I do think. I tried to hook up with her months ago.”

  “Not hard enough, it would seem.” He laughed, staggering to the kitchen.

  Part of Jarreth wanted to ask what had happened after he left, but then another part of him didn’t want to know. All he knew was his father was still a married man. “You know, if you want to fuck around, I can’t blame you. But I think it’s time that you give Mom the divorce she’s been wanting.” With that, he stormed off to his room.

  Rebekah walked back to the guest cabin where she’d spent the past two hours talking to Brock, while Ignis gambled with some of the hunters. When she opened the door, he sat at the small round table, taking off his shoes.

  “Hey, did you manage to piss off the hunters or make new friends?” she asked.

  “The bigger question is, did you? Please tell me you didn’t do anything to make our trip to Ireland awkward.” Ignis had been worried all night that she was going to fall for Brock, the Ethan clone.

  “I had a chance to stay the night at his cabin, but I have a feeling there’s enough sex going on in there.”

  “Probably not now that daddy’s home,” said Ignis. “You made the right decision.”

  “I know. And now I get to go to my bed all alone and sexually frustrated.”

  Ignis covered his ears. “La, la, la. Not listening. La, la, la.”

  She gave him a pointed look. “Come on. You know I try not to make drama.”

  “Making out with Brock Barnes is going to create drama.”

  He was right. What was she thinking? “Jarreth saw us. He was in the kitchen when I walked him home.”

  Ignis got to his feet. “Well then, you definitely made the right decision. Besides, we both know your heart wasn’t in it.”

  As he walked to the door of the nearest bedroom, Rebekah wished he wasn’t right.

  Chapter 25

  When dawn broke, Rebekah got up and got dressed. She knew better than to lie around looking lazy when the other hunters woke up. While this wasn’t her Fellowship, she knew she still had to be worthy of their respect.

  She left Ignis in his room and walked out into the yard, looking around at Brock’s camp. The man had really gotten to her, but she had kept her sense about her. Bedding down with Jarreth’s married father wasn’t going to win her any more points with her friends, even though most would be happy if she were with a hunter. Just any other hunter.

  She was about to walk back inside when she saw Brock’s cabin door open, and Canter stepped outside. She wasn’t surprised that he was up too. He had always been more eager than most, and when he saw her standing in the middle of the yard, he waved and headed her way.

  “Hey,” said Canter as he approached. She walked to meet him halfway. “Are we leaving today?”

  “Yeah, I thought we’d give the others a little more time, and I’ll have Ignis confirm our flight plan.”

  “Cool. I wanted to talk to you about that. Katie wants to come along if you’re still willing to let her.” He hoped that she hadn’t changed her mind.

  “Yeah, of course. That’s great news, Canter. You need to be happy, you know? I know you’re devoted and a damned fine hunter, but you have to get the most out of your life while you can. Trust me, even I know how short it can be.” She gave him a half-hearted smile, knowing she needed to heed her own advice now and then. “You’re making a move in the right direction.” She took a deep breath, wondering about Delilah. “Any word on our other huntress?”

  “No, she and Jarreth did spend the night together, so who knows?” Canter looked over at Rebekah, whose pale gray eyes looked as white as diamonds in the morning sunlight. She seemed to have the weight of the world in her eyes. “Are you okay? Thinking about Kayne?”

  The words took her off guard, and then she realized he wasn’t asking if she had been thinking of him in any romantic way, but if she had been thinking of her upcoming mission. In fact, she had as she’d lain down the night before. “I’ve been thinking that it’s an impossible task.”

  “Nothing is impossible.”

  “The way the Church wants me to carry it out? Yes, Canter. It’s impossible. I’d have more luck getting him to turn himself in.”

  “Now that’s an impossible task,” he said with a laugh. “You know that can’t ever happen.”

  “I know that Kayne’s impossible to hold.” Of that, she was nearly certain.

  “There has to be some way he can be bound.” Canter thought back to all the books he’d read, all of the independent studies he’d done as a child. There hadn’t been much on Kayne himself. He felt a little hopeless being unable to help.

  “If there is, I’ve never heard of it, and neither has Ignis. We’ve been around a hell of a lot longer than anyone else, so if anyone knows, it’s us. I’m not sure where to even go for that kind of information.”

  “I think it’s our first step, though. Don’t you?”

  Canter had a point. Rebekah nodded. “I think I’ll just put you in charge and follow your lead.”

  “You’re not giving up on the task, are you? You know it won’t do any good with the Church. They’ve already started pushing you out of the academies, Rebekah. They’re not going to let you back in, and honestly, why would you want that?”

  “I don’t give a shit about the Church, Canter. I care about my Fellowship, and I need to find a way to show them that I’m still worthy of their respect.”

  “You’re the mother of our kind, and that’s more than enough. You’re not only a symbol to us, you’re blood. That’s why these men here can’t so easily disrespect you or forget about you. They honor you, even though they don’t agree with you. That says a lot if you ask me.”

  “How would you catch him?” She needed to know what someone else thought, and Canter was pretty smart with strategies.

  “Do you think Ignis could help? I’d have him look for a way to bind him. Once you have him, let him be the Church’s problem.”

  “And when he escapes, he’d come after us all. He’d slaughter us.”

  “And you’re the Immortal Huntress for a reason, am I right?”

  “If anyone knows how to end me, it’s Kayne.”

  Canter narrowed his eyes. “Can I ask you something while we’re alone?”

  Rebekah sighed. “If it’s ‘do I love him’, I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”

  “Could it be like me with Katie?” he asked hesitantly.

  She gave him a pointed look. “Seriously?”

  “I just mean that maybe you don’t know how you feel, that you might love him and just not want to admit it.”

  Rebekah remembered how Ethan would kill men for suggesting things about his feelings, but lucky for Canter, she didn’t have the same instincts. She thought of how she should answer. “He saved me once.” She blurted the words before she even knew it, and it wasn’t exactly how she wanted to explain things.

  Canter’s expression changed to confusion. “But you’re his enemy. Why would he do that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Canter’s voice steep
ed with suspicion. “What was in it for him?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t have to promise him a thing.”

  He wasn’t buying it. “Come on, Rebekah. I don’t think that’s true. I mean, I can see why you might feel grateful to him in some odd way, like you owe him that much, but men—vampires like him—they don’t do shit like that without an agenda. I think if you’re going to defeat him, I’d find out just what that is.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know.” She was quite certain she didn’t, but he made a lot of sense.

  “Can I ask what he saved you from?”

  Rebekah led him over to a bench around the campfire that was nothing but burning embers. “I’ll tell you the short version if you promise it goes no further.”

  Canter was willing to keep her secrets. “Consider me your confidant, Huntress. On my honor, I’ll give my vow that I will keep our conversations private.” He put his hand over his heart.

  She put her hand on his and pulled it away. “I was captured. A pack of shifters, wolves, caught me. They locked me up and starved me, beat me, assaulted me.” With each admission, she saw Canter’s eyes widen a little more. “I was caught vulnerable. I was certain I’d never get away, and in such a bad way, I prayed for the mercy of death. I found out from that wolf we had captured that it was the Church who arranged that. So you see, this isn’t their first attempt at taking me out. The Fellowship at the time was so devastated by what happened to me that they swore an oath that the truth would never be shared. Instead of telling them that it had been Kayne who pulled me out of that dungeon, I claimed that I had escaped. There were no witnesses to spread a different story. Kayne saw to that.”

  “Have you ever wondered why? I mean, there has to be more to this story. More to his side of it.” It didn’t make sense in Canter’s world.

  Rebekah already felt as if she’d shared too much. “I have a long and winding past, Canter. I’ve had to face the enemy more times than I can count, and Kayne and I have known each other as enemies all of that time. I have no idea why he did what he did.” She didn’t want to admit that he had been trying to get into her pants for that long or that he had tasted her blood all those centuries ago. “It doesn’t make sense to me either.” It made more sense than she could share.

  Canter had a hard time believing Kayne was the only one who tried to save her. “Ignis couldn’t save you? Did he try? He would have been worried sick, wouldn’t he?”

  “He tried, but he couldn’t find me.” She closed her mouth quickly, hoping he didn’t catch on as to why Kayne might be able to find her.

  “Is he the one who got Kayne involved?” asked Canter. “I mean, I know if I was desperate, I’d pull out every stop for Katie. I think Ignis would move mountains and bargain with the devil for you.”

  Rebekah felt a cold chill in her bones. Ignis hadn’t ever really explained too much about what had happened. Had he made a bargain with the devil Kayne? “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I think once it does, then you’ll have your answer, Rebekah. Go after that truth. If he has a weakness, I’d exploit the hell out of it. Let that be his downfall.”

  He had no idea what he was saying. If, and only if, Kayne was capable of having a weakness, the only one she could think of was her and what he wanted from her, which was what had gotten her into this mess to begin with.

  A noise turned their heads as Jarreth opened the cabin door across the yard.

  Jarreth walked out of the cabin and stood on the porch. He had to get out of the cabin before his dad woke up and he had to face him. When he looked across the yard and saw Canter and Rebekah, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

  He walked down the steps and across the short distance to join them. “Good morning, friends. Are you both as excited as me to still be in this fucking camp?”

  “It could be worse,” said Canter.

  “Oh, I suppose it could. Rebekah could be doing her walk of shame from my dad’s bed about now, but luckily, I intercepted that disaster.”

  “I wasn’t going to sleep with your father, Jarreth.”

  “What?” Canter asked, his voice full of shock.

  “She made out with my old man. Which, might I just point out for the record, means that you must find me attractive too. You know, since I look just like him.” Jarreth picked up a poker and stirred the embers until there was a tiny flame.

  “You like older men?” Canter asked.

  “Technically, that’s not true either. He’s not an older man. I’m super old. And he’s smoking hot, okay? He reminds me of my ex who is your great, great, great grandfather or something.”

  “Well,” said Jarreth. “It explains so much.”

  “We were just talking strategy.”

  “Yeah, well, I think Delilah burned the dress, so you’ll have to come up with a new plan. That one is played out.”

  Rebekah narrowed her eyes but held her tongue. Sometimes, power came with silence, not words.

  “Easy,” said Canter.

  Jarreth dropped the poker and sat up. “Sorry, that was a low blow. I’m just bitter because you sucked face with my dad while I had goodbye sex with Delilah.”

  “Too much information, my friend.” Canter wasn’t about to kiss and tell, and he didn’t want to know Jarreth’s business either. At least, not in the presence of the Immortal Huntress.

  Rebekah tried to remember that he was hurting and ignored him. “You mean you still didn’t get her to change her mind?”

  “No,” said Jarreth. “There is no getting her to change it.”

  “I’d like to try. I know she’s upset with me, but if there’s any way we can—”

  “There’s not. She thinks she needs to stay here with my father and find her way. There isn’t any changing her mind, and frankly, I don’t want to waste any more time. It’s humiliating.”

  “Fine,” said Rebekah as Ignis walked over to join them. “We’ll talk more about strategy once I get us back home. We’ll meet up with Aziel at the airport and be on our way.”

  Ignis walked over and sat down across from Rebekah. “Is everything okay with you three?”

  “Just fine,” said Rebekah, not wanting him to bring up Brock again. It was bad enough that she still had to face the blond leader when he woke, but she knew it was best not to relive the night before.

  About that time, Jarreth’s stomach growled. “Let’s go see what’s for breakfast. Dad’s fridge is stocked. It must be nice being the leader, and I will say that bachelor pad is pretty cool.”

  Rebekah got to her feet. “I’ll make the toast.”

  Ignis shook his head. “She’ll still manage to screw that up. I better go along.”

  “I have managed to feed myself for the past, oh, I don’t know, thousand-something years.” Rebekah could not only cook any animal on an open flame but knew how to field dress and skin them too. It was the domesticated kitchen she felt uncomfortable in.

  Jarreth and Canter laughed as Ignis got to his feet, and then they all went back to Brock’s cabin.

  As they walked inside, Rebekah was relieved to smell bacon frying and eggs popping in the grease.

  Brock stood shirtless at the stove and spun around to welcome them. “Good morning, gentleman, Huntress.” He had a big smile for them all, and Jarreth walked over to join him.

  “Could you at least put on a shirt?” Jarreth didn’t need Rebekah swooning over his dad, and Delilah and Katie didn’t need to see his bulging muscles either.

  Brock looked down at his bare chest and gave Jarreth a pat on the back. “Sorry. Watch the eggs.”

  He slipped into the other room but not before exchanging a smile with the Huntress. He couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed that she’d turned him down, but he knew it wasn’t for lack of wanting him.

  As Brock went to his room, Delilah walked out of hers, and Katie joined them from the bathroom.

  “Isn’t this cozy,” said Ignis, who walked over to the living room and plopped down on the
couch. “Our plane leaves at noon, Huntress. We still have to make the drive to the airport.”

  It was his way of warning Rebekah not to get too comfortable.

  She glanced his way and gave a nod of agreement. “We really should get going as soon as we eat. We’ll have to walk out of here and meet a ride back to Las Vegas.”

  Brock walked out of his room wearing a wife beater that had Rebekah biting her lip. “I’ll have one of our cars take you to the airport.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” said Rebekah.

  Delilah walked over to Jarreth and crossed her arms. “Are you really going to leave?”

  “Are you really asking me this? Now?” He had a duty to perform. He’d sworn an oath.

  The room got quiet around them, and Delilah looked across the room at Rebekah. “Your place isn’t with her. It is with me and your dad. I don’t see why you don’t see that. How you can follow her on this impossible task. You know she can’t win this.” She looked over at Brock. “Tell him! Tell him that’s what you believe too!”

  Brock gave Rebekah an apologetic look. “I don’t think you can pull it off, Huntress. Not without sacrificing a few good men. But,” he turned to Delilah, “Jarreth took his vows unconditionally, and if he chooses to honor them, then I can respect that.”

  Delilah’s eyes narrowed at the betrayal. “You know he would be better served here, with this fight! You know this is where he belongs.”

  Jarreth realized now why she’d had all those tears the night before, but he also knew it wouldn’t change her feelings. “There’s nothing here for me anymore, Del.”

  Delilah spun around, crossing the short space between her and Rebekah. “I hope you’re happy. Your stupid date has ruined everything.” Delilah struck out, slapping Rebekah across the face.

  Rebekah’s neck snapped to the side hard. She narrowed her eyes and turned to face the young woman with a growl, her hand on Stella’s pommel as everyone in the room surged forward, prepared to get between them.

  “Feel better?” asked Rebekah, stopping short of putting Delilah in her place.

  Delilah blinked rapidly and stepped away. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes met the others in the room, all but Rebekah’s.