by E. J. King
Rafe grinned and slid me a wink. “It’s not your back I’m watching, Red.”
As I followed him from the room, my smile began to fade. Whatever was waiting for us, I could feel deep down that it was about to change everything.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Homey,” Ethan said, observing the dark, dilapidated building.
The five of us were lined up in front of it, appraising its shaky framework. It had once been a hospital, a refuge for the sick and dying. Now it was an ominous invitation to our own possible deaths.
“We can’t stand out here all day,” I said.
While the others continued to stare doubtfully at the building, I marched forward. The others were just a few steps behind me as I stepped through the yawning doorway. The door itself had long since disappeared.
“Let’s follow the plan,” I said in a loud whisper. “Nobody go rogue, no matter what we find.”
That comment was mostly intended for Kate, our wild card for the evening. If we found a dead or transitioned Ken, she was the one that might do something risky.
Rafe and Kate went to the stairs while Ethan, Hope, and I all spread out on the first floor. Our plan wasn’t very complex. Search every room for Ken and kill any Souls we found along the way.
I would like to say that I knew the entire time that we had walked into a trap. But it wasn’t until I had killed my sixth Soul that I realized we weren’t dealing with a normal Soul nest.
“This isn’t right,” I said when I found Ethan in an old storage room surrounded by mops and disintegrating Soul corpses. “There are too many of them.”
“It’s a nest,” Ethan said without much conviction. “Having a lot of Souls is kind of the whole point.”
“Are you telling me you don’t feel it? Something is off.” I was so certain that I had just assumed the others would agree. “We need to find Rafe.”
Ethan objected. “We haven’t finished clearing the first floor. Remember our plan? No going rogue.”
“I’m not going rogue, Ethan,” I snapped. “I think Ken lured us here.”
“What?” Ethan’s mouth dropped open. “Why would he do that?”
“To get to me.” I couldn’t believe it had taken so long for me to figure it out. It was so obvious. “Ken knew there was a nest in the area and he already suspected it was tied to Benton. When we showed up a few weeks ago, he was already in danger. The Souls were hunting him. He must’ve made a deal with Benton. He goes missing and Kate calls us to help find him. Daniel’s house was a convenient way to direct us to this location.”
Ethan’s eyes widened as he processed the information. “You think Ken is still alive and he brought us here to kill you?”
“Maybe not just me.” My chest thudded painfully as I thought about Rafe. A second later, I was running for the stairs.
The only piece of Ken’s twisted plan that I hadn’t figured out was whether Kate was involved. If she was, it might already be too late to save Rafe.
The hospital had only been two stories thankfully. That helped narrow down the ground I needed to cover. But the second floor was in even worse shape than the first. Rotting floorboards and missing exterior walls had turned it into an obstacle course. The only good news was that because of those hazards, the Soul infestation had been contained to the first floor.
Something loud crashed to the ground in the far corner. As quickly as I could, I jumped over gaping holes and dodged fallen beams. Rounding a corner, I pulled up abruptly.
This entire corner of the building was missing exterior walls. Rafe stood just a few feet inside the room with Kate right behind him. Across from them, his back to the cold darkness, Ken held a gun aimed directly at Rafe’s chest.
“Kaylie,” he said when he spotted me. “Glad you could join us.”
“Get out of here,” Rafe ordered without turning around.
I ignored him and stepped into the room, making myself completely exposed. “I’m here. It’s me you want, let them go.”
Rafe instinctively started to move in front of me, but Ken waved the gun. “Stay put, son.”
“I’m not your son,” Rafe growled. He stopped moving though.
“Benton got to you, didn’t he?” I asked, for some reason feeling the need to have my theory proven right.
“My life in exchange for yours. It was a no-brainer.” He smirked. “Sorry.”
“Lucky me.” I nodded toward my friends. “I’ll make this easy for you if you let them go.”
Ken took a step forward, his expression puzzled. “You would really sacrifice yourself for them? For him?” He glared hard at Rafe.
“I would,” I said confidently. “Please. Let him go.”
I could see that Ken considered it for just a moment before his face turned cold again. “Do you really think that I could kill my son?”
“You killed his father,” I said bluntly.
It was a test. If Ken had nothing to do with Tom’s death, he would instinctively deny it. If he had played a part, I expected him to at least lie. But Ken was full of adrenaline and tense nerves and he made a mistake. “That man deserved to die. He was arrogant and cocky and he never loved Kate the way that I did.”
Rafe flinched and Kate gasped.
“You really did kill him?” Rafe asked through tight lips. His hands were clenched into fists.
“The Souls killed him. I just arranged their meal.” His grin grew until Kate stepped out from behind Rafe.
“You monster!” She appeared ready to throw herself at him.
“You did this! You bitch.” Ken’s attention returned to me, aiming the shaking gun right at me. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
His hand steadied and just as his finger wrapped around the trigger, Kate shoved Rafe away and lunged in front of me. The bullet hit her squarely in the chest. Ken watched in horror as she crumpled to the ground and Rafe crashed into him a second later, sending the gun to the ground where it disappeared between rotting floorboards.
At impact, Ken lost his balance and stumbled backward. His left foot stepped back, finding nothing but air and his arms flailed wildly. Rafe reached out to catch him, but he was too late. Ken tumbled out into the night with a loud scream.
“Mom!” Ethan raced into the room and slid to the ground. He cradled Kate’s head in his arms. I knelt next across from him and put my hand over the gaping wound in her ribs, futilely attempting to stop the bleeding.
Rafe appeared dazed as he dropped to the ground next to me. Kate reached out a hand and he took it.
“Boys.” Kate coughed and blood sprayed from her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Ethan said, brushing a hand over her forehead. “It’s okay.”
“No. I didn’t love you well enough.” She coughed again and sucked in a ragged breath. “I made mistakes. I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail us.” Rafe squeezed her hand between his. “You saved Kaylie. I’ll never forget that.”
“I love you,” she whispered. Her eyelids fluttered like they were too heavy to keep open. Then she caught my eye. “Take care of my boys. Love them.”
Then she took one last rasping breath and her eyes closed for the last time.
Hunters weren’t given funerals like normal people. Because their deaths are usually gory and unusual, it wasn’t wise to call a coroner. Instead, they were typically buried in old family cemeteries or cremated. When Rafe suggested that we move Ken’s body inside and set the whole place on fire, it seemed logical.
Hope and I drove a few miles out to get several gallons of gasoline. By the time we got back, the guys had laid Ken’s body next to Kate’s. With only a one-story fall, Ken could’ve survived if he hadn’t unluckily fallen directly on his head on the concrete sidewalk.
“You should say your goodbyes,” I told Rafe and Ethan. I noticed that one of them had folded Kate’s hands neatly on her chest and wiped the blood away from her face. She looked almost peaceful. “Hope and I will spread the g
asoline.”
We worked slower than necessary to give them some time with their grief. I couldn’t imagine now either of them were feeling in that moment. Their relationship with their parents had been so complex over the years and now they had the new revelations about Ken to process. It was a lot for anyone to handle.
“Okay. It’s time.” Rafe was the one to break the silence. He reached out his hand for the book of matches I held.
“Are you sure?” I asked tentatively. “I can do it.”
“No. It should be me.” His hand was steady as he struck the match.
We all back through the doorway and he tossed the tiny flame into a pile of rags we had soaked with fluid. They ignited in a huge rush of flames and the fire quickly began to spread. As quickly as we could, we hurried back to the stairs.
Outside, we watched as the hospital became engulfed in smoke and flames. Both Rafe and Ethan stared as if transfixed. Hope stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Ethan. He leaned into her embrace and sighed heavily.
I wanted to do the same for Rafe. I wanted to let him lean on me, be his rock. But I felt so guilty that his mom had died saving me and I wasn’t sure he would find my presence comforting. With a shaking hand, I touched his arm.
His eyes flew in my direction. They weren’t cold like I had expected. They were filled with sadness and unshed tears.
I opened my arms and he stepped into them, holding me tighter that I had ever been held. I knew that I would stay that way for as long as he needed, even with the blustering cold and the embers from the fire falling around us.
* * *
We left for Jackson the next morning. Rafe hadn’t said a single word throughout the night. His silence continued throughout the long drive. Ethan was faring slightly better. He was covering for his own grief by talking about anything but what had happened. It was going to be a long time before either of them returned to normal.
As we got closer to Jackson, memories started rushing back to me. I remembered arriving there for the first time, almost two years earlier, and feeling like I had finally found my home. I had walked around the school campus and decided that I would become one of the carefree students walking around with books in their arms and smiles on their faces.
Now as we drove into town, my heart was filled with dread. When we passed those same smiling students, I feared for their safety and I knew that no matter how hard I had tried, I had never truly become one of them. Once a Hunter, always a Hunter. It was my destiny.
Rafe pulled the car onto our old street and a rush of nostalgia washed over me. I could see the old porch where we’d had so many morning coffees together. Despite the bad things we had faced in Jackson, this house was familiar. It held so many important memories. It was where I had built a new life after my family’s massacre. It was where I had formed friendships with Hope and Ethan. It was where I had fallen in love with Rafe. When I thought of all those things, I couldn’t help but smile.
As if he could read my mind, Rafe turned to me wearing his own wistful smile.
“We’re home,” he said, reaching for my hand.
As my hand slipped into his, I was filled with conflicting emotions. In just a short amount of time, I was going to face off against Benton. It was very likely that I wouldn’t survive. But I wouldn’t face him alone. I had my friends. We were on my home turf. My hunting skills had never been sharper, I had never been more focused. And, most importantly, I was determined to win.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The old porch steps creaked as each foot climbed upward. It was a familiar, welcoming greeting. My key turned easily in the lock and I shook the doorknob in just the way that I knew was required to open the door.
When we had left town abruptly weeks earlier, my lease wasn’t due to expire for months. This place was still technically my home. Maybe that was why I was actually a little happy to be back.
The others were busy unloading the car and I was glad to have a few seconds alone in the house. I took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of cleaning supplies and a stale air freshener. I was glad that I had taken the time to empty the fridge before leaving.
“Is it everything you remember?” Rafe asked, dropping my bag at our feet.
“And more.” I eyed the worn furniture and faded yellow walls. “It’s home.”
A loud thud above our heads said that Ethan was busy making himself at home as well.
“Well, it looks like we finally have some space.” Rafe looked around the empty apartment. “Separate apartments…separate bedrooms… Lots of space.”
I laughed. “Yeah, because we hardly spent any time together when we lived here.”
“Don’t forget, for a good portion of that time you were trying to pretend like you hated me.” Rafe threw himself down on the oversized couch.
“First, I wasn’t pretending and second, you were spending your time hooking up with other girls.” I frowned. “That made it pretty easy for me to actually hate you.”
Rafe flinched. “I never wanted you to hate me. I was just being an idiot.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “You were.”
“Let me make it up to you.” His hand shot out at lightning speed and grabbed my arm. He had me in his lap before I knew what was happening. “You hear that? Privacy.”
His lips moved swiftly down my neck while his hands slid under my shirt, eliciting a moan. I closed my eyes and focused on the tingling of my skin beneath his touch. A voice inside my brain was trying to tell me something, but I pushed it away.
“You feel so amazing,” Rafe said, his breath warm on my clavicle. I moaned again as one of his hands gently cupped my breast.
“Whoa! Don’t let me interrupt.”
My eyes flew open. Hope was sneaking past us on the way to her bedroom. She made a big show of covering her eyes.
“Sorry, Hope,” I said, trying to nudge Rafe away. He didn’t seem at all embarrassed by the interruption.
“It’s your place,” she sang out happily. “I just live here.”
“We shouldn’t do this here,” I said when she was gone. “There’s no such thing as privacy unless there is a locked door.”
“I don’t mind.” At this, his lips moved up to mine. His kissing was abnormally hurried. Usually I was the one that needed to be slowed down.
I put a hand firmly on his chest and pushed him away. “Hey. What’s the urgency?”
“I am a horny guy and you are a hot girl. Hence the urgency.” He offered me his irresistible smirk.
“We should be figuring out how we’re going to stop Benton and not die,” I said, my resistance fading.
“Imminent death will still be waiting for us in an hour.” He stroked my cheek with his fingertips. The last of my will-power disappeared.
“Only an hour?” I asked with a teasing smile. “I expected more from you.”
He came for me again with desire burning in his eyes. “You can have as much of me as you want. You can have all of me.”
Though it sounded good in theory, after a couple of hours we couldn’t deny our situation any longer. We needed to come up with a plan.
I sat on my bed reading Benton’s Hunter journal for at least the tenth time, hoping that I would notice something new that would help us defeat my father. Rafe lay on top of me, his head using my chest as a pillow.
“He just doesn’t sound like a monster,” I muttered. It was the same thing I hadn’t been able to shake every time I had read the journal.
“That’s because he wasn’t one yet. He hadn’t finished the transition.” Rafe snuggled in deeper, making it very hard for me to concentrate on the words in front of me. “You should put that down and spoon me.”
“This is important, Rafe. Life and death stuff.” I ran a hand through his dark waves and he let out a contented murmur. One of his hands softly caressed my stomach. “Stop.”
He lifted his head and looked me in the eye. “I understand the situation we are in, Kaylie. I just want to enjoy being with
you for a little while longer, okay?”
“Okay.” I sighed. “We can put the real world off for just a little bit longer.”
“Good.” He quickly burrowed himself back into my body.
“Since we’re ignoring the real world for a while…we should probably talk about what happened.” It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Rafe hadn’t once spoken about his parents’ deaths.
“You mean that part where you screamed my name?” he asked.
I poked him hard in the ribs. “Stop deflecting. You know what I’m talking about.”
He rolled away and sat up, shoulders tense as he moved to the edge of the bed. “We should start working on our plan.”
It was a typical Rafe response, refusing to talk about his feelings.
“James.” I leaned over, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You need to talk about it. You can’t keep your feelings bottled up forever. Trust me.”
“I’m going to take a shower,” he said as he stood up. It was his way of telling me to drop it. Normally, I wouldn’t have been easily deterred, but the sight of his naked body walking across the room was an unfair distraction.
“No fair,” I muttered quietly. Benton’s journal had long since been forgotten. I waited a few minutes, just enough to let Rafe think that I had moved on and then I stepped into the bathroom.
Rafe stood under the streaming showerhead, his chiseled back aimed toward the doorway. Sometimes I forgot just how strong he really was. His hands were planted on the tile wall and he was leaning forward with his head bowed. He wasn’t just enjoying his shower, I realized when I noticed his shoulders shudder.
I hurried out of the only clothes I was wearing, Rafe’s shirt, and slid the glass door open quietly. I could tell from the way his body relaxed that he knew I was there. Stepping behind him, the steaming water pounded against my skin. I barely noticed.
I rubbed my hands over his back and then around his torso. He turned slowly in my arms until we were face-to-face.
“I can’t talk about it,” he said, his blue eyes filled with deep emotion.
“I know.” I pulled him close to me. “You don’t have to say anything.”
