by Ruby Raine
Regardless of that answer, he was not another brother. Not by a long shot. But for Riley’s sake, she’d pretend. She didn’t need yet another reason for anyone to be mad at her. She was already dreading going home. Getting cornered by her brothers. The inevitable angry lecture. Their disappointed gazes wondering when she’d ever learn. And once they found out she’d done a lot more than date a Deane?
It might just be bad enough that this time, they’d be the ones to lock her in her bedroom and never let her back out again. They’d finally understand it was the only safe place for her. Because every time she came out bad things happened and people got hurt.
She let out a low groan and looked to see Riley staring at her. She could at least still smooth this whole William thing over.
“Whatever you might be thinking, Riley, William helps us with our job. After we lost our parents, he kept us from falling to pieces. Without him, I can’t imagine how we would have gotten through it. Without William, everything would have been ten times harder. He’s a very important part of our lives and he would be whether he was a vampire or not.”
“He means a lot to you,” Lucas said, slowing the truck, following Mack, pulling into their destination.
“He means the world to me, and my family, and he can be trusted,” Melinda emphasized, needing them to accept this.
“You clearly mean the world to him, too,” Riley mumbled, keeping his gaze out of his window, pretending to be looking at their surroundings.
Lucas pulled the truck to a stop and gazed down at Melinda. “A vampire as a family friend. I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about this place.”
“You can trust William,” she told Lucas. “He can be a little quirky,” she aimed toward Riley. “But he always does the right thing.” She turned back toward Lucas as she finished, feeling that it was more important that he understand this.
His dark eyes glimmered in the dim light of the truck’s interior illumination. His mouth broke into a dry smile. He leaned forward and tapped on his brother’s arm. “Okay, I get why you like her. She’s kind of adorable.” He winked at Melinda and proceeded to get out of the truck.
Adorable.
He did not just call me adorable.
Ugh, I hate that word!
“Your brother is kind of...”
“A pain in the ass,” suggested Riley.
Melinda grimaced but didn’t argue. She could see that Riley wasn’t at all thrilled about how things were going.
She turned to see Mack blocking the road from any wandering tourists.
“It’s gotten quite dark outside,” noted Melinda.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark?” Riley opened his door to get out. He held out his hand to offer help. She thought about ignoring his offer but quickly took hold and scooted outside.
“I’m not afraid of the dark,” she insisted, straightening her jean jacket. It was still damp from her dip in the ocean. “Just prefer the lighter parts of the day over the dark ones.”
“I dunno, I think there’s a few things good about the dark.” There was a bit of the Riley she knew in his comment.
“Yes, it’s called sleeping,” she wittingly retorted.
Riley’s eyes shouted silent tumultuous messages in her direction, at one moment saying he was sorry, and the next that he was confused, and the next that he just despised the entire situation they were in.
Melinda reached out and touched his hand. “Can we not argue, Riley? I have no idea what’s going to happen after all this is finished, but let’s call a truce for tonight? Please.”
“Fine. Just, how am I supposed to compete with a vampire?” he whispered miserably, clearly the opposite of fine.
“Compete? What on earth are you talking about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m a Deane, for one, the enemy. And whether you see it or not, not all of that vampire’s reaction to me was because of my dirty Deane blood. He is clearly in love with you.”
“Are you insane? William is protective, always. In love with me?” She pushed out a forced laugh. “No. You’re wrong.” She said the words, but they sounded empty. She wasn’t so sure that Riley wasn’t right. And he seemed so certain about it. More sure than she did, and he’d only just met William.
Maybe it was a guy thing. Some natural ability to sort out the competition.
Melinda sighed, recalling that she’d promised to be honest with Riley. But that was before we found out who we were. But maybe if she just told him the truth, that she did have feelings for William, but it didn’t matter because Riley would win in the end. But that’s not true either. After today, we’re over, too. None of us wins. Still, maybe if she told him he would win. That if they were possible she’d choose him, and perhaps this would alleviate his fears.
You’d only be saying this to make him feel better.
I’m so sick of my brain right now.
If you could have William or Riley and had to choose right now, who would you choose?
That’s not a fair question because it’s not one I’ll ever have to answer!
And more importantly, she did not know. She wouldn’t be able to choose.
I’d hurt them both.
You’ve already done that.
Melinda looked up to see Riley pinching his eyes together as if trying to read the thoughts swirling in her mind. She opened her mouth to try to explain but Lucas called out for his brother.
He turned away from her, heading to the back of the truck where Lucas was just jumping down off the truck bed.
“Lizzy said we might need to cut our way inside,” reminded Lucas. “I’m imagining this place is hard to get to and overgrown.” He handed Riley a machete while grabbing onto an ax.
“Couldn’t we just magic the overgrowth out of the way?” Melinda pulled her jacket tightly around her.
Riley glanced at his brother, allowing him to answer.
“We don’t use magic unless it’s completely necessary. We,” Riley cleared his throat... “We,” reiterated Lucas, “don’t take any chances. We prefer to do things the old fashioned way.”
“Might I suggest that tonight is one of those nights where magic might be the better option,” said Melinda. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“Magic over Might. You just might be surprised, Melinda Howard, what two men can do when they put their minds to it.” He winked at her and headed across an open field, with the ax over his shoulder.
“Am I a child?” she turned and asked Riley.
“What? No,” he stumbled through his answer.
“Then he needs to stop talking to me like I am,” she huffed, following him into the field.
Riley caught up easily.
“I have enough older brothers already,” she grumbled.
“And a vamp...” he caught his tongue when he saw the stinging look on her face. “I told you Lucas could be a little overbearing,” he said instead.
“C’mon you two,” he shouted back at them. “We got a lot of work to do before everyone shows up.”
Melinda and Riley just eyed each other.
This night was dragging on for far too long.
As they approached the edge of the field, Lucas pulled out a flashlight. The crescent moon lit up the field, but the woods looked curtained by darkness.
“She said to look for a path,” muttered Lucas, shining the light.
“Wait,” said Riley, “go back to the left.”
“There it is,” pointed Melinda. “It’s not far in. Supposed to be a mounding hillside with a tree growing out of it.”
They stepped cautiously onto the path keeping an eye out for the hill with the tree growing out of it. It did not take long. The only problem was none of them saw where the opening to the cave was. Brush-covered tree limbs entangled the entire hillside.
“Maybe this isn’t the right tree?” thought Riley.
“No, this has to be it,” said Melinda with a sigh. “And like you thought, Lucas, it’s completely overgro
wn. This could take all night with or without magic.”
Suddenly a ghostly light appeared, slithering through the limbs towards them, just to the right side of the tree trunk. It formed a bubble, hovering for a moment until a familiar face formed.
“Lizzy!” cried out Melinda.
“It sounded like you needed help.” She acted as if this were no surprise. “Now you know where to start hacking. Chop chop!” Her body retreated through the limbs.
“Wishing you’d just stayed with your brothers?” Riley nudged Melinda.
“Ask me that again later,” she mumbled, adding more loudly, “Physical labor, not really my thing. But I could try magic if you prefer.”
“Why don’t we try it our way first, and if we need to use magic then we will,” granted Lucas.
“I guess I can go along with that,” she answered.
“Good.” Clearly, it was the only answer he would have accepted. She huffed, annoyed by his indignant tone.
This whole Deane thing was getting much too complicated. As confused as Melinda felt about the situation, she wanted to keep her guard up. They were still Deanes. But if she was completely truthful, she believed them. She did not sense any deceit on their part. And as for Lucas and his irritating manner, he was just being the big brother. She’d seen it a thousand times before.
But even standing here working with them she could not get William out of her thoughts. What Riley had said about him being in love with her... no one else had ever noticed or made such a claim.
The more she thought about it though, Riley was just acting like a jealous boyfriend, and might have said it to make her insist it wasn’t true. Which she’d done, she thought believably. I’m not a good actor. I thought we’d already figured this one out.
William had been around for such a long time. And she’d be alive for a mere blip of the vampire’s long life. He’d admitted having been in love a few times, once with a human woman. She wondered how many women William had been with. Being over four hundred years old, she imagined quite a few.
A terrible realization hit her, one she’d thought of before, but the savage truth of it sliced into her the full reality of what it meant to be William Wakefield.
He never aged.
He would never grow old.
He watched people be born, grow, and die.
Friends coming into his life and then leaving.
A repetitive circle of life and death.
Except for him.
He had no one around him that remembered his previous lives. The lives he lived before she and her siblings were born into the world. Or her parent’s generations. Or their grandparents or great grandparents. William had known them all. Loved them all. Cared for them all.
All he got in return was to suffer through age after age, watching his loved ones be born, live, and inevitably be stripped from his life. And then he’d go through the process all over again.
This realization saddened her. Sickened her.
Melinda understood loneliness. She’d experienced it these last few years.
But William was beyond simple loneliness. There wasn’t a word strong enough to describe the hell he lived.
Her heart skipped a few beats, stuttering.
One day, she and her brothers would leave him too.
How was it she was just understanding this reality?
Death would find her. And Michael. And Charlie.
But not William. Never William.
Someone shouted her name.
Her eyes popped wide and she looked up, remembering she was with Lucas and Riley.
“You going to help us out at some point?” asked Lucas. He nodded toward the debris piling up behind them as he and Riley hacked away, clearing out the entrance to the cave.
She let out an uneven breath, her eyes moist.
Riley noticed and stepped over. “What’s going on in that head of yours? You look a little... lost.”
She just closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m fine,” she lied, irritation and sadness heavy on her tongue.
“Yeah, see, everyone loves how perceptive I am, until they give me that look you just gave me.” Riley frowned and went back to work.
Great. Now he’s pissed at me again. God, this day needs to end!
Melinda looked at the brush pile, wishing she could magic herself some work gloves. Why did I offer to come with these two? Annoyed, she started clearing out the brush, removing it from the cave and piling it just outside.
They were creating a sizeable stack, and she was surprised that the brothers cut through the overgrowth so rapidly.
“There,” said Lucas after another thirty minutes. “I think that should about do it.” He put his hands on his hips, catching his breath as Riley brought out the last pile of brush.
“What?” Riley smirked at Melinda, upon seeing her crack a smile.
She couldn’t help it. “You should see yourselves.”
“All this hard physical labor makes me too much man for you, doesn’t it?” Riley flexed his muscles in an attempt to win her over. His thin tee shirt fitted him to perfection.
“Yes, Riley, your man muscles are totally hot,” she jested. They really were. She really didn’t want them to be. Not right now at least.
He shrugged. It was so much more than a shrug.
How was it every time he looked at her, shook his head or just shrugged, such simple acts normally, that these movements spoke too many things to her.
He didn’t need to say it in words.
This sucks. I’m sorry. I wish things were different. That we weren’t living in our own Romeo and Juliet nightmare.
Melinda bent over and picked up the flashlight. “There’s a stream just over here,” she motioned. “If you want to clean up. I know I do.” She splayed her dirty fingers, with an ick ready to roll off her tongue.
Melinda sat on her knees and rinsed her hands off in the cool stream.
She heard Riley and Lucas doing the same, except they were making much larger splashes as they washed their hands, arms, and faces.
They sat at the edge for a moment, letting the cool night air dry them. Waiting for the others to arrive and for the ceremony to begin.
“Melinda,” said Lucas curiously. “If you don’t mind. What exactly is the deal with this Soul Hunter?”
She could tell by his tone that he was genuinely interested.
“All I really know, is it’s the thing that caused my mother’s death, and that it’s responsible for my father’s disappearance, and... he might be dead, or alive, but we have no way to find out.”
“What happened exactly? To your parents?” Riley questioned softly.
She wondered how much she should tell but decided, why lie. She supposed they deserved the truth, as much as she knew anyway. And it wasn’t like they weren’t already aware of the existence of magic, or the Isle’s power source.
“My parents were on the job, here on the Isle. My dad was the witch in the family, the Howard. My mom was aware of what he was, what the Howard’s were, before they married. Anyway, they were out one night together working when they crossed paths with the Soul Hunter. They gave chase but they couldn’t catch it. My mother fell, broke a potion bottle she’d been carrying. It was a potion not fit for human consumption and since she didn’t have any witch blood in her veins, when it broke she swallowed some of it.” It was the first time telling this story to anyone. She didn’t think about it too deeply, she didn’t want to have a breakdown. Not here. Not right now.
“She swallowed it and she died,” guessed Lucas.
“Yes. Our father was then captured by the Soul Hunter. Until earlier today we had no idea where the Hunter had gone. We assumed it was long gone from the Isle.”
“So you really know nothing about this Hunter?” asked Riley.
“No. We’ve never dealt with one before. All we’ve been able to piece together is that it literally engulfed our father’s body and took him away.”
“At lea
st when our parents died we had closure,” said Riley. “Not that it was any easier dealing with it,” he added for his brother’s benefit.
“It’s never easy to lose someone,” said Lucas. “Especially when it’s not expected and hits you out of the blue. But even more so when you don’t get closure. Whatever the outcome, I hope you and your family get yours. And I hope you get your father back.”
“Thank you,” Melinda muttered.
She picked up the flashlight no longer in the mood to talk about her parents, and got up, heading back to the cave entrance. She heard the Deane brothers following.
“Shall we see what awaits us inside?” she suggested.
Headlights crossing the bumpy field stopped them from entering.
“I think that’s Emily’s car,” said Melinda. It was, and the car came to a stop just at the edge of the field. “She’s probably going to need some help.”
“Just so happens we know a couple of strapping young lads,” touted Riley, tossing her a wink as he headed towards Emily. Lucas and Melinda followed.
“Hi guys,” Emily called out. She opened the back door of her car.
The foursome gawked silently at Lizzy’s perfectly preserved body.
“Really?” a voice barraged from behind them. “You’re going to stand there and stare?” They turned around to see Lizzy, the ghast, in her long black veils floating overhead.
“Sorry,” apologized Melinda. “It’s just kind of weird.”
“Compared to what? You see weird all the time.”
“Yes, but this is a new level of weird.”
“That’s your opinion,” sneered Lizzy. “Okay, boys! Body, into the cave. Chop, chop! And gently, please,” she bid them, her ghastly frame leading the way. “I’d like to have zero bruises on my body once I’m back in it.”
They followed and obeyed Lizzy’s instructions. Melinda turned to follow them and stopped when Emily blocked her way. She said nothing at first but then came forward, giving Melinda a hug. All it did was make her want to cry.
Emily let go and they started after the brothers.
Lizzy barked orders not too far ahead.
“Are you okay?” Emily asked Melinda as they walked.