by J A Campbell
“Kat,” Alex said coming over to my side, “we didn't think about it, but Charity’s father is here. He's a retired Hunter.”
I arched my eyebrows, my uneasy feeling growing. Retired and Hunter didn’t usually occur in the same sentence.
“It’ll be okay, Kat, just keep your shields up.”
“Okay.”
“Come on.”
I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed them to their ranch style house. The door creaked open before we reached it. A man stood in the shadows. I was only able to make him out because of my sharp eyesight. I could also see that he carried a gun. Probably a shotgun and while it wasn’t precisely pointed at us, it wasn’t in a neutral position either.
“Hey, Dad,” Charity said, stopping long enough for her father to flip on the porch light.
“Hey, honey. How’d it go?”
“Fine.”
“Sorry, didn’t recognize the sound of her car.” He gestured at me.
I had to force myself to stand still.
“Sure. Dad this is Kat. I know I’ve mentioned her before. Kat, this is my father, Walter.”
Her mentioning me to Walter didn’t fill me with warm fuzzies, but I tried to hide my unease.
“Nice to finally meet you.” He shifted the shotgun to his left hand and held out his right.
Not able to refuse, I gripped his hand as quickly as I could.
He didn’t seem to sense anything odd about me, which was good, and I took a mental deep breath, relieved.
I followed Alex and Charity into the cozy entryway. They had wood floors with worn, homey looking rugs laid down on top of them. To the right was a living room where I'd seen the light. There was a small fireplace. The room to the left was dark but it looked like a family room, and I caught a faint whiff of food, so it was probably attached to the kitchen in the back.
“Mom!” a small girl's voice yelled.
I jumped. I had just been starting to calm down when the loud clatter of feet pounded down the hallway. Two sets of feet.
“Dad!”
A small girl, ran into the entryway and threw herself into Charity’s arms. She was followed by a boy who looked to be a couple of years older. Both were blond and in their PJ’s. The boy followed a little more sedately, hugging first Alex, then Charity.
I just stared. They had kids?
“Hi!” the little girl said coming over to me and wrapping her arms around my torso.
I saw Alex and Charity exchange an uneasy glance and wondered if they were rethinking the wisdom of bringing me home.
I smiled and hugged the little girl back. “Hi, I'm Kat. What’s your name?”
“Cat? Like a kitty?”
I blinked. “No. With a K. It's short for Ekatarine.”
“Oh. Hi. I’m Jin.”
“It's nice to meet you. Is that your brother?”
“Kevin.”
“Hi, Kevin,” I said.
He was more reserved than Jin, but he flashed a quick smile.
I glanced at Charity and arched my eyebrows.
Sorry, she mouthed.
I shrugged.
“Jin, Kevin why don’t you go back to bed? We will be here in the morning.”
Kevin looked down the hallway and shifted his feet. Obviously, he wasn’t interested in going back to bed.
Jin smiled at me. “Kevin says he has monsters under his bed.” She didn’t seem at all concerned, and though she was trying to whisper, everyone heard.
Kevin blushed and turned away, burying his face in Alex’s shirt.
“Jin,” Charity said sternly.
“He said,” she protested.
“There are no such things as monsters under the bed,” Walter said softly, trying to reassure Kevin.
I snorted. Walter gave me a dirty look.
“Tell you what, Kevin. I know a little magic, and I can make something for you that will chase away the monsters.”
Kevin gave me a dubious look. “You don’t really know magic.”
“I do. Ask your mom.”
He glanced up at Charity. She looked like she half believed me herself. “She does, I’ve seen her do it.”
That was good enough for Kevin. “What are you going to make?”
I smiled. “I need a flashlight that works.”
“One moment.” Alex left the hallway and returned quickly enough to keep the silence from becoming too awkward. He handed me an old, solid metal flashlight. I turned it over in my hand, pretending to study it, and then flicked it on. The beam was solid and strong.
“Okay. This will work. Kevin, do you have a small key chain?”
He nodded, eyes wide, and ran into the dark family room, returning moments later with a small car key chain. I smiled at the American Muscle, approving. “Perfect.” I saw Charity roll her eyes. She thought my obsession with my Firebird was silly, but she never complained when we needed the extra power.
I took a leather cord from my bag and fastened the key chain to the flashlight. Then I shut my eyes and held my hand over it, pretending to concentrate hard. I mumbled some nonsense in Latin and handed it back to Kevin. “Okay, it’ll defeat monsters now.”
“Really?” He looked dubious and glanced at his parents again.
They nodded, smiling.
“Come on, I’ll help you. But, it’s your charm, so you’ll have to carry the flashlight.”
“Okay.”
He led me back to his room, Jin tailing behind us. I helped him shine the flashlight under the bed and in the closets. Once he was satisfied, he got into bed. Jin perched on the bed.
“Are they gone?” she asked.
Kevin glanced at me.
“Yes. They are. If they come back, you just shine that light on them and they’ll go away for the rest of the night, or longer.”
“Thanks,” he said softly.
“No problem. Now you two get to bed okay?”
“Yes, it’s time for bed,” Charity said from the door. She shot me another apologetic look as she led Jin back to her room.
I followed Alex back to the living room. I sat down in one of the armchairs and tried not to watch every move Walter made. He regarded me with a high amount of amusement though and I couldn’t completely ignore him.
“That was something else. None of us have been able to convince Kevin there were no monsters,” Walter finally said.
I shrugged.
“Are you sure you don’t have kids?” Charity said joining us.
“No. I don’t have kids. And what the hell do you two think you are doing,” I snarled at them, keeping my voice quiet, but I didn’t hide my anger.
Charity took a step back, looking shocked.
“What do you mean?” Alex finally asked, sounding slightly afraid.
“You have kids! You should not be Hunting, too.”
They both blinked.
Walter actually smiled. “Will you listen to her if you won’t listen to me?”
Charity shook her head, shoulders slumping, and joined Alex on the couch. “We have a gift. We have to use it.”
“You have two gifts who aren’t going to understand if you two don’t come home,” I growled.
Charity put her face into her hands, and I had the feeling that Alex would have been glaring daggers at me if I were human. He avoided my gaze.
“We’ve always been fine before.”
I shot a quick glance at Walter. He sat back and watched the fireworks.
“Do I need to remind you how we met? About the bullet that almost went through your husband?”
Walter sat up a little. Obviously, they hadn’t mentioned that to him. Alex did give me a dirty look then.
“I can’t always be there to watch your back, Charity, and even I’m not perfect. Do you have any idea what it is like to grow up without a mother? Your kids deserve a family.” I’d said more than I intended to. My mother died when I was young of the plague. They didn’t really need to know that.
Charity sighed. “Alex a
nd I will talk about it.”
I knew that was the best I was going to get right then, so I leaned back and stopped glaring at them.
“So, how’d the hunt go?” Walter asked, probably trying to distract everyone.
“Fine,” I said softly.
Charity and Alex filled him in on some of the details while I listened, not having much more to say. Finally, I excused myself and went outside. I needed some fresh air and being around Walter was making me nervous.
Unfortunately, shortly after I left the house, he followed me outside.
I wanted to melt into the shadows and flee, but he wasn’t armed, so I stood my ground, staring out into the night.
“Anything out there?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Couple of deer, probably. Not much else.”
He nodded. “I wanted to thank you.”
I frowned. “For what?”
“For trying to knock some sense into my daughter’s thick skull. I know they respect you; they talk about you all the time. Maybe she’ll finally listen.”
“I didn’t know they had kids.”
“I didn’t know you saved Alex’s life.”
I’d saved both their lives several times, though not quite as dramatically as the first time. And there was a fair chance that they would have been fine without me, except for the first time.
“Once. They’ve gotten me out of a jam or two, also.”
“I’m glad they have you as a friend.”
I smiled, not so sure that he would have felt that way if he knew I was a vampire. At least he couldn’t tell.
Walter stood with me for a short time longer before saying he needed to get to bed. I hopped Alex and Charity weren’t too mad at me, but they really shouldn’t continue Hunting since they had kids.
By Full Moon’s Light
Mid-1990s Pennsylvania
Something snapped me out of a deep sleep. I sat up quickly, a surge of something I’d call adrenalin if I were human rushing through my body.
The phone rang.
I flopped back down on my bed and sighed. The clock told me it was 10 a.m.; my body told me to go back to sleep. I listened to my body.
The phone rang again.
“Damn it!”
I reached for the cell (horrible invention) and managed to accept the call without damaging the phone.
“Hello?”
“Kat! Want to go camping?”
“Uh…” My brain wasn’t quite up to speed. It took me a moment for the voice to register. “Cade!” I paused. “What?”
“Do-you-want-to-go-camping?”
Huh? Cade wasn’t making sense.
“Did I wake you up?”
“Yes.” I managed to get that out coherently, anyway.
“Great, meet me at my place as soon as you can.”
“What? No! I don’t want to go camping.” Well, actually I did, but I couldn’t.
“Oh come on, Kat. It’ll be fun.”
His cheerfulness sounded forced. That and it being the middle of winter caught my attention, more so than his random call. What can I say: I’m not my best in the middle of the day.
“So, what do you need my help killing?”
“Ah, come on. Maybe I just want to take you camping.”
I’d hit the mark. Cade had an easy voice to read, at least with those he trusted. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I didn’t trust him; I knew what he’d do if he found out I was a vampire. I liked him a lot, though, and wished I could trust him. Oh well.
“Cade, you never call me unless you have a difficult target.”
He sighed. “Fine, but I still want to take you camping sometime.” He sounded sincere.
“Right…”
“This is an entertaining one. I think you’ll see why I need backup.”
“Okay.” I struggled against drooping eyelids. This was an unnatural time to be awake.
“The alpha female of a local pack called me.”
“What?” I couldn’t help myself. Most weres took care of their own problems.
“Yeah, the alpha called though I’m disturbed that she knew who I was and found my number.” He hesitated.
It wasn’t good when the supernaturals started calling you, especially when you were a Hunter.
“Anyway, apparently her mate freaked out and went postal on the rest of the pack. She’s the only one left.” He paused again.
I sat there, stunned, as my tired brain tried to comprehend what he just said.
“Uh.”
“Yeah. That’s why I need your help.”
“Okay.” I was going to Pennsylvania, then. Damn.
“She offered to pay, but they weren’t a rich pack, and I took it as a charity case.”
In other words, I wasn’t getting paid, either. That didn’t matter to me; I had money, and this was a problem that needed to be fixed.
“That’s fine.”
“Great. When can you get here?”
“In the morning.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.” He hung up.
I shook my head and ran my hand through my sleep-tangled hair. Shit. The more I helped Cade, the sooner he would figure out I was a vampire. I hoped to avoid that unpleasantness, but if this were had managed to kill his whole pack, Cade, talented as he was, would need help. At least winter meant cloudy days in Pennsylvania.
I shut my eyes, but sleep eluded me. After an hour of not sleeping, I finally got out of bed and packed.
As early as I could, I left the house. The deep thrum of the engine soothed me as I made my way through rush hour traffic and out of the city. It was about a ten-hour drive but I wanted to get there with enough time to find a place to stay and wake up Cade. If he could wake me up while I slept, then I would wake him up, too. Petty, but sometimes the little things made life good.
A few hours later, it finally got late enough to drive over the speed limit, and I stepped on the accelerator hard. If I actually got pulled over, it wouldn’t take much to “convince” the officer to let me go.
Ten hours and an extremely large amount of gas later, I arrived in the small town where Cade lived. It was a little place halfway between Pittsburgh and the Ohio border.
I hoped that there would be a hotel open this time of night, but first I wanted to wake Cade.
My hopes at disturbing my friend were crushed as I approached his house. Lights lit the front room, and by the time I made my way down the long driveway, the garage door had opened.
Taking that and the empty state of the garage that normally housed a pickup as an invitation, I drove in. He knew me far too well. I wouldn’t have asked to use his garage for my classic Firebird, but it was a nice gesture.
Cade opened the door to the house and stepped out once I had the car off. “Hey, Kat.” At just over six feet, Cade wasn’t tall by modern standards, but he was a lot taller than my five foot three. He kept his sandy blond hair short and his baby blue eyes glittered in the dim light of the garage. Normally, Cade dressed in khakis and a nice top, or if he was Hunting, t-shirts and military pants. Tonight, he was wearing worn jeans and a tight t-shirt. I let myself admire the view for a moment.
“Hi. I’m surprised you’re awake.”
He shrugged, and when I came over to shake his hand, he gave me a hug instead. Huh.
“How was the drive?”
“Long, but not bad.”
I followed him into his house. The garage led into the kitchen. It was large and open, with an island that had pots hanging from the ceiling. On closer inspection, as I followed Cade, there were things that could be effectively used as weapons scattered all over the place. This continued in the living room where he turned and flopped down on the couch. I sat in an armchair and quietly catalogued the various implements of harm that I could readily identify. Almost anything could be used as a weapon in the right circumstances, but certain items seemed to have been specifically selected for that purpose. It made the décor a bit mismatched, but Cade had reason to be para
noid.
“So, are there any hotels open this time of the morning?” I asked when I grew uncomfortable with the silence.
“Yeah, but you’re welcome to stay here. I have a guest room.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
He snorted, “Like it wasn’t me who dragged you up here on a few hours’ notice?”
“True,” I conceded his point.
“Besides, you drove a sports car, and we’re supposed to get snow tomorrow.” He smiled.
I groaned. “Damn it.” That thing was a bitch to drive in the snow. It didn’t snow often where I lived, and I rarely had to do it.
“So, I’ll tell you what I know so far.”
Apparently, the issue of where I would sleep was settled.
“It seems like the leader of a local pack decided everyone was out to get him and murdered his entire pack. His mate managed to escape.”
“Yeah. You told me that.”
“Well, that’s what I know.” Cade looked concerned.
I didn’t blame him. “Great. So where is he?” Weres could be a serious challenge, even to a vampire, especially wounded.
“We think he’s back in a wooded hilly area that the pack hunted in a lot,” Cade said.
“Did he hunt them down? How did he manage to kill them all?”
“His mate said that he came to a pack meeting, a little late, and killed everyone there. He just tore into them. At first, they were shocked and didn’t react; by the time they did, it was really too late. He’s pack leader for more than one reason.”
“Understood.” Usually it was the strongest who led.
“So, we’re going to need to go find this guy, hence the camping trip,” Cade said.
“All right. We should head out this afternoon, then.” Gods, I hoped it was overcast.
