Dark Souls: Box Set: Books 1-5

by E. J. King

  I fixed Rafe with my sternest stare. “I’ll be right behind you. Just go. Have the car running for me.”

  He frowned hard and shifted Hope’s weight. “If it takes you longer than two minutes to catch up to us, I’m coming back for you.”

  “I’ll see you at the car.”

  I hurried into the staircase without giving him a chance to change his mind. We both knew that it wouldn’t be wise to leave vials of my blood behind. It was hard enough to kill Weres. My blood made them nearly immortal.

  It only took a minute to race down the hall and grab the vials from the cooler. I shoved them into the bag that was slung across my back. It held what few items I’d brought into Haven and now six vials of my blood, plus a couple that I found with Ethan’s name on them.

  Another thirty seconds and I was down the stairs and through the door. It wasn’t until I was halfway through the square that I realized the guards weren’t knocked out anymore. They were right behind me.

  “Stop!” one of them growled.

  I decided to ignore him and instead ran even faster. When I reached the exit, I yanked hard on the metal door, but it was stuck. I pulled harder and it yielded less than a foot. Not enough room for me to escape.

  “Well, I guess I’m staying to make friends,” I muttered. I was glad I still had a tranquilizer gun in hand. The Weres were only a few yards away when I turned around. “What are the chances we can work this out without somebody getting hurt?”

  Two lunging Weres answered that question. I took them both out with perfectly placed darts.

  “I am good,” I declared, this time opening the door enough to squeeze through.

  The second I stepped outside the walls of Haven, I was hit squarely in the chest by something large and solid, knocking me to the ground. My head cracked hard against concrete and my vision went hazy just as a snarling snout aimed for my neck.

  I raised my arms to shove it away and my vision went black. The snarling noise sounded like it was getting farther away as the pressure lifted from my chest. After blinking hard several times, my vision cleared enough that I could just make out a face hovering over mine. It was a familiar face, and also the face of a stranger.

  “Kaylie. Listen very carefully.” Violet leaned closer and I could see that she had the same heart-shaped face as me, the same button nose. “You mustn’t allow yourself to be diverted. Benton is not going to stop his evil ways. Haven, the First Evil, Ethan’s compulsion- all of those are distractions that will get you killed. Find Benton. Kill him. Do the thing that I haven’t been able to do.”

  “How?” I wasn’t sure if the word actually came out or if I only said it in my head, but Violet nodded.

  “Stop running. Fight.” She added, “Don’t forget your friends in the Hunter world. They will help you.”

  “Fight?”

  “Be brave, my daughter.” Her hand stroked my cheek softly, just once, and then she was gone.

  I had to wait a couple of minutes before the world stopped spinning and I was able to climb to my feet. I found my bag a couple of feet away and tossed it over my shoulder.

  “Kaylie!” Rafe’s hushed yell carried across the parking lot. “What are you doing? Hurry.”

  I knew that he wouldn’t be reacting that way if he had seen Violet. He must not have seen anything that had just happened.

  “Just start the car!” I yelled back, jogging in his direction.

  Ethan was in the backseat, holding Hope in his lap. Her eyes fluttered open when I opened the car door.

  “Did you see her?” I asked breathlessly, slamming the door shut as Rafe floored the gas pedal. “Did you see Violet?”

  “Violet?” He unwisely shot a look at me as he pulled onto the main road. “Where did you see her?”

  “Just by the gate. She stopped a Were from biting me.” I looked in the rearview mirror but there was nothing and no one behind us.

  Rafe’s hand shot over, touching the back of my head. “You’re bleeding pretty badly. Did you hit your head?”

  “On the ground.” Now that he mentioned it, my head was throbbing and my vision was still a little blurry.

  “We need to get some distance between us and Haven. Once it’s safe, I’ll pull over and check out the wound.” Rafe turned back to focusing on the road, both hands on the wheel.

  Ethan asked. “Are you sure you saw Violet?”

  “She spoke to me.”

  “Spoke to you? What did she say?” Rafe asked.

  “Just… things.” I wasn’t sure why, but I wasn’t ready to share it with them. “She told me where we need to go next.”

  Rafe glanced at me curiously. “Where?”

  I turned to the window, rolling it down so that the fresh air could help clear my brain. “To see an old friend.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Rafe waited until we were over an hour away from Haven before finding a place where we could stop. He booked a motel room for an hour, just long enough for him to make sure my head wound wasn’t life-threating and for Ethan to tend to Hope. She was finally lucid again, but not strong enough to answer any questions.

  “She needs blood,” Ethan said.

  I remembered the vials of blood I had taken from Haven. My blood wouldn’t work- it would have the nasty side-effect of killing Hope. But I’d also grabbed the vials with Ethan’s name on them. I didn’t trust the Haven Weres with any of our blood. But when I checked my bag, I only found the two vials with Ethan’s blood. The six that had my name on them were missing.

  “That’s not possible,” I muttered, digging all the way to the bottom of the bag. They were definitely gone. The bag had only been out of my sight when I was borderline unconscious. Only Violet could have taken them. “Damn it.”

  “What?” Rafe finished drying his hands on a towel and tossed it on the bed. He eyed the vials of blood in my hand. “Did the rest of the blood spill?”

  “Worse. It’s gone.” I handed Ethan one of the vials. “This is probably better than having her drink from your vein. Start with one and see if that works before we give her another one.”

  He took it from me, his jaw clenching when he saw his own name scrawled across it in black ink. “I was wondering what happened to the blood they took.”

  “Don’t feel so special. They took mine, too.”

  “That’s because your blood is delicious,” Rafe surmised, then immediately feigned chagrin. “Too soon?”

  “Too soon for a joke about how you drained my blood? Nah.” I booted up my laptop.

  “You two have a twisted relationship,” Ethan said. He was busy pouring blood into Hope’s mouth.

  Rafe didn’t miss the irony. “How is that any different than you giving Hope your blood right now?”

  “Because I’m not making jokes about it.” Ethan helped Hope sit up.

  “Does that mean I shouldn’t make a joke about how delicious your blood is?” she asked quietly.

  We all laughed out of relief that she seemed to be feeling more human than vampire. Apparently her abnormal ability to control her bloodsucking urges was still intact.

  “You should feel free to make any jokes you want at Ethan’s expense,” Rafe said.

  I was able to connect to the free internet at the diner next door and opened a web browser. It had been years since I’d thought of my parents’ old friend, Mark Grimm. He was a civilian, but he’d been pulled into the Hunter world a long time ago, helping my dad by researching the paranormal creatures he hunted. If anyone could answer some questions for us, it would be him. If I could find him.

  “Hope, what happened to Lincoln and Olivia?” I had been worrying about my brother since finding Hope in that cell. The last time we had seen any of them, they had been together. Now they clearly weren’t.

  “I don’t remember.” Her eyes were wide when she looked at me. “My memory is so hazy.”

  “Did you try calling him?” Ethan asked.

  “Several times.” I glanced at my phone, willing it to ring
. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll call when he can.”

  “Did you find where we are going?” Rafe pulled back the corner of the curtain and checked outside. “We need to leave soon. We haven’t put enough distance behind us yet.”

  I made a note on the motel stationary of the address I had discovered using Hunter back channels. Uncle Mark lived off the grid in all respects except for his stealthy internet presence. He had left enough of a trail that I had been able to estimate his location.

  “I’ve got it. We can go.” I closed the laptop and put it away. “It’s going to take us a couple days to drive there.”

  “Great. Trapped in a car with you people again. I can’t wait.” Rafe pointed at Hope. “We will not be listening to pop radio. Understood?”

  “Be nice, Rafferty. I can rip your throat out now, remember?” Hope bared her fangs just for fun.

  “Great. This should be a fun road trip.” I smiled, thinking about how hard it had been to say goodbye to Hope weeks ago. The circumstances of her rejoining us were less than ideal, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t glad to have her. “Hope, how are the cravings? Do we need to think about tying you up?”

  “Only on special occasions,” she joked. “I’m doing okay. That hit of blood helped. I’m feeling stronger.”

  When we stepped outside, the sun was starting to rise. Contrary to the myths about vampires, sunlight alone didn’t kill them. But it did drain them of energy. Hope was already weaker than normal so it wasn’t surprising that she fell asleep immediately after getting in the backseat of the car. My head was still killing me so I decided to join her.

  I only expected to close my eyes for a few minutes, but it ended up being much longer. When I opened my eyes again, the sun was directly overhead and we were hours away from the motel. Ethan was at the wheel and Rafe was in the passenger’s seat eating a candy bar.

  “Thanks for sharing,” I said, stretching my body as much as possible in the confined backseat.

  “You were drooling away in the backseat.” Rafe grabbed something from the dashboard and held it up. “But yes, I did get you one, too. I know- I’m amazing.”

  “Gimme!” I caught the candy bar happily when he tossed it over his shoulder. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten anything. The minute the chocolate hit my mouth, I groaned. “Amazing.”

  “Easy with the sex noises back there,” Ethan said. “Do you plan on telling us anything about this friend of your family that we are visiting? Is there any chance he’s going to try to kill us if we show up unannounced?”

  “A small to medium sized chance.” Uncle Mark was borderline crazy. “But he’ll also feed us a lot of fried food”

  “I like this guy already.” Rafe checked something on his phone. “We’re still hours away from the coordinates you gave us. I’ll find us a place to stay tonight.”

  It sounded innocent enough. I assumed he would look for a town where we could stop, grab a meal, and get a full night’s sleep. But Rafe never stopped being a Hunter.

  “This town has seen some crazy stuff lately. According to the local newspaper and some posts I found on social media, Silver Lake has seen an abnormal streak of good luck.”

  “Good luck like how?” Ethan asked skeptically. “Like multiple lottery winners?”

  “More like teeny-bopper good luck. Their high school basketball team didn’t have a single win last year, and now this year they have an undefeated streak. State champions in tennis and wrestling. Tons of early acceptances to Ivy League schools.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s something supernatural,” I protested. “Just because you were a lame nerd in high school…”

  “Quiet back there.” Rafe waved a dismissive hand at me. “Night, take the next exit if you know what’s good for you.”

  Riding in a car for hours wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, so I was okay with us stopping for a while. If nothing else, it would feel good to stretch my legs.

  “We should find a place for Hope to rest until dark,” I said.

  “I’ll drop the two of you off at the high school to start the investigation. I’m sure there’s a motel where I can take Hope for a few hours.” Ethan checked the directions on Rafe’s phone.

  “You dirty dog.” Rafe couldn’t resist making a joke. “Leaving us to do all the work while you shack up in a motel room.”

  “Not to bring up a sensitive subject,” I said hesitantly, “but is it a good idea for us to leave you alone with Hope? You’re technically still under compulsion.”

  Ethan’s hands tensed on the steering wheel. “It will be okay. Benton’s compulsion is triggered by things. Like seeing Violet.”

  “How do we know there isn’t a dormant trigger about Hope?” As far as we knew, anything could trigger Ethan’s compulsion.

  “Benton was the one that turned Hope. Why would he now have me kill her?”

  That was a fair question. It didn’t make sense. But nothing made sense anymore.

  Eventually we decided that Hope was probably just as safe with Ethan as she was anywhere else. Plus he was looking pretty worn himself, still recovering from his captivity.

  Five minutes later, Rafe and I stood just inside the entrance of Silver Lake High.

  “I didn’t know how to act in high school when I was actually a student. What the heck do we do now?” I watched in wonder as a group of girls walked by in tight sweaters and furry boots, giggling like, well, school girls.

  One of the girls noticed us and she stopped, her mouth dropping open. It took me a second to realize that nothing was wrong. She was staring at Rafe.

  “Your target audience,” I said with a groan.

  “Jealous?” he teased.

  “Please. I could totally kick their asses.” I took a step forward. “Ladies! Do you have a minute to chat?”

  At first, they looked annoyed. Then Rafe smiled at them and they all grinned back and fluttered their eyelashes.

  “How can we help you?” one of them asked him.

  “I’m Rafe. This is my colleague, Kaylie. We are reporters for the Daily News. I was hoping you might be able to answer some questions for a story.” He actually pulled a small notepad and pen from the pocket of his leather coat. I had no idea how he was magically prepared for our cover story. “Are you willing to help us out?”

  “Sure!” The girl at the front of the pack appeared to be just seconds away from actually throwing herself at Rafe. “I would be happy to help you with whatever you need. I’m Macy.”

  I mentally punched Macy in the nose. “We heard about the recent successes at your school. What do you think has been the cause?” I asked instead. I was a professional, after all. It was going to take more than a fifteen-year-old flirting with my boyfriend to make me lose my cool.

  “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Macy twirled a strand of silky blond hair around her finger. “Our squad just got first place at Nationals.”

  “Squad?” Rafe gave her the smile that he knew always worked. “Are you a cheerleader?”

  “Duh.” She slapped his arm. “We all are. We’ve always been good, ya know? But this year we’ve been amazing. And now we actually get to cheer for winning sports teams, too.”

  “Why are the teams so much better this year?” I asked, realizing that I was going to have to be the killjoy in this conversation. “Did they have a bunch of new players join?”

  Macy wrinkled her perfect button nose. “Nope. We don’t exactly get a lot of new people in Silver Lake.”

  “So what do you think it is then?” Rafe asked.

  “It’s a secret,” Macy whispered. “I can’t talk about it here.”

  “So you do know what’s causing the run of good luck?” Rafe asked, lowering his voice to match hers.

  “Meet me at Gorman’s in an hour.” She smiled as the bell rang. “I’ll be there after chemistry class.”

  I didn’t enjoy the way she said “chemistry” like she was thinking about more than the periodic table. “Where’s Gorman’
s?” I asked.

  “Just head downtown. You’ll find it.” She dismissed me with a toss of her hair as she marched away, her minions following close behind.

  “Really glad I made that decision to drop out of high school,” I said. “So. Gorman’s?”

  “Gorman’s it is.” Rafe was already pulling up the location on his phone. “Downtown is only a few blocks away. We should be able to walk it.”

  His estimate was correct. We made it to the center of downtown in less than ten minutes. Gorman’s was prominently located on the main street, a giant red sign that was as effective as a bullseye. Once we were inside, it was obvious why Macy had chosen it as a meeting place. The cheap food, casual atmosphere, and arcade games made it a perfect hangout for teenagers in a town that didn’t have a lot of options.

  It was fairly empty when we arrived, but I was sure that would change once school let out for the day.

  “Order me a burger and fries, Red.” Rafe left me at a table, his eyes fixed on back wall where all of the games were lined up, waiting to be played. “Duty calls.”

  “I’m not your mother!” I called after him to no avail.

  While Rafe reverted to his youth through a vigorous game of Streetfighter, I made a quick call to Ethan. He had found a motel and Hope was still sleeping. The waitress brought our order quickly and I ate half of Rafe’s fries before he joined me.

  “Someone with the initials JLB has managed to place astronomically high scores on every single game,” he informed me. “There is no way that isn’t supernatural in nature.”

  “Just because you are terrible at Streetfighter doesn’t mean dark magic is at work.” I ignored his angry glare. “High school kids have a lot of free time on their hands. It’s possible this JLB character spends every waking hour here, racking up scores.”

  “You know nothing about arcade games,” he said with a sigh. “There’s no way one kid is that good at all of those games. It’s just not possible.”

  “Whatever. We have more important things to focus on.” I pointed to the clock. “Macy and her legion of Stepford cheerleaders will be here soon.”

  He smirked. “Did you remember to sharpen your claws?”