Was something out here?
Was I not alone?
Though the inclination to return to the guest house and the safety it offered burned through me, something compelled me to venture further.
Stepping forward, I balled my hand into a fist and took only a moment to consider that I was completely unarmed before rounding the far end of Scarlet’s home.
If I happened across anything more than your average opossum, I was fucked.
I stole a breath through my teeth as dry earth crunched under my feet.
Everything was fine.
Nothing was out here.
I was alone.
If anyone had even tried to approach the house, surely Scarlet would’ve already—
I paused at the corner when the scent of smoke filled my nostrils.
It took only a few more steps to come out into the opening and see a fire brewing above the pit.
“Scarlet?” I asked.
The figure—whose attention had been set on the flames—lifted their head. “Yeah?” Scarlet asked.
“Thank God,” I said. “I thought someone was out here.”
“You think I’d let anyone get within ten feet of my house without me knowing?”
“Point taken,” I laughed, though when she didn’t respond, I shut my mouth and directed my gaze to the fire. Her setup was simple—a downed log for sitting and a manageably-sized pit. What reason she’d have to be out here I wasn’t sure. She wasn’t cooking, and so far as I could tell, she was alone.
Though I cleared my throat to try and initiate conversation, it wasn’t until I approached that she paid me any mind. “Can I sit here?” I asked.
“Suit yourself,” she said, though barely moved when I settled down beside her. She twisted a piece of brittle kindling until it snapped and tossed half into the fire. “Why’re you out here anyway?”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Who can?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. I watched her toss the other piece of kindling away and frowned when she picked up another. “So... is this what you do most nights?”
She turned her head and glared at me.
“Sorry,” I said.
“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t like you very much.”
“I can tell.”
“So why risk coming out here and pissing me off?”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“I’d love nothing more, Jason. But considering Guy’s weaseled his way into Shadow’s good graces, I guess I’m stuck with you for a while.” She snapped a twig as if to prove her disdain.
“Do you really hate me that much?”
“In a word: yes.”
“Why?”
“You’re a flight hazard. A dangerous one. Something goes wrong, I might not be able to stop you. And if I can’t stop you, well... ” She snorted. “Good luck trying to find anyone else who can.”
“Shadow said there was still time.”
“Shadow says a lot of things, Jason. Doesn’t mean they’re true.”
I bit my lip, anxiety fluttering across my heartstrings. “But we’re here,” I said. “He wouldn’t have let us stay if he thought we posed a danger.”
Scarlet cocked her head, a simple golden pendant swaying against her neck. “You know what scares me the most about you being here, Jason? It’s the fact that, if you change, I won’t know how to stop you. Silver bullets, crosses, blessed stakes, holy water—I don’t know what’ll work. If I had it my way, you’d be dead already.”
“You’ve said.”
“Don’t take it personal. I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but a good heart won’t keep you from turning into a monster.”
“I know.”
Scarlet leaned back. I waited for her to say something further, but when she didn’t, I swallowed the lump in my throat and decided to take my chances. “About Guy,” I said. “What’d he do to make you hate him?”
“That’s not something I’d care to discuss,” she said.
I nodded.
I could take a hint. I knew when I’d overstayed my welcome.
Rising, I turned and started toward the guest house, but took one last look back at Scarlet before she disappeared from view.
I couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through.
To lose her ignorance, her safety, her life—
I turned and started into the darkness.
It wasn’t long after I left the radius of firelight that I realized how similar we were.
“Jason?” Guy asked when he opened Scarlet’s front door. “You look like—”
“Shit?” Scarlet offered, raising her head from the book she had splayed across a coffee table.
“Yeah,” I said, trying not to make a face as I stepped through the door. “I figured as much.” Between tossing and turning most of the night, it felt like I’d hardly slept at all.
Guy shut the door and brushed a hand along my back “You came in at just the right time,” he said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, for one, breakfast is ready. And for two—”
“I’ve just contacted the Agency,” Shadow said.
I jumped at the man’s sudden appearance beside me. “Shit,” I laughed, taking a step back and bumping into Guy. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I get that a lot.”
“Fucker nearly gave me a heart attack the first year we were together,” Scarlet said, only momentarily lifting her head to drink from a glass at her side. “Don’t know how I survived.”
“Persistence,” Shadow smiled, “can get you anywhere.”
Guy laughed and set a hand on my hip. “Sit down, Jason,” he said. “I’ll get you breakfast.”
“We have a lot to discuss,” Shadow agreed.
Nodding, I waited a moment to allow Guy to maneuver around me, then watched as he disappeared around the corner. I paused, at first, to consider the seating arrangements, before ultimately deciding on a chair opposite Scarlet. After what had transpired last night, I didn’t want to risk getting on the woman’s bad side, regardless of how good her intentions were.
She raised her head to look at me. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” I replied.
“I’ve got something that can help you sleep, if you need it.”
“I don’t take pills.”
“Pills?” She laughed. “I’m talking about weed, dumbass.”
“Oh.” I paused. “That.”
“Yeah. This shit’ll knock your ass right out. Few hits and you won’t be worrying about a thing.”
“Where do you get it? I mean, if you don’t go into the city, then how do you—”
“Shadow likes to play moral crusader every once in a while. That’s why the Agency considers him a ‘bad Wiper,’” she said, stressing this with air quotes. “I mean, you ask me, it’s not a big deal. It’s not like he’s hurting anyone. Besides—these kids don’t need to be selling this shit anyway. Shadow takes it off their hands, he wipes them, leaves a little money in their pockets. I’d say it’s a good deal.”
“Is that how you get all your stuff?”
“I don’t like leaving the cabin if I don’t have to,” she said, nodding as Guy appeared from the kitchen carrying a plate of food. She leaned forward and plucked a hash brown from its surface before leaning back in her seat. “So yeah. I stay here, listen for the Agency, try not to eat fattening as hell Southern food if I can help it, and stay in the best shape I can. Of course, it doesn’t help when you have company cooking.”
“Gee, thanks,” Guy laughed, passing me the plate.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love it when a man cooks. Not like I can get Shadow to do it.”
“I don’t eat,” the Wiper mumbled.
“Eh, whatever. Saves on the grocery bill.”
Guy offered me a fork and butter knife and settled down in the chair next to me as I dug into the assembly of eggs, steak and hash brown patties. Ravenous, I ate like a monster—shoveling food in
my mouth and chasing it down with orange juice as if I hadn’t seen food in days. I hadn’t realized how truly hungry I was until the first piece of marinated steak hit my mouth, until the salt from the hash browns coated my lips and set my tongue ablaze with sensation.
Heavenly as Southern-styled cooking was, it was over almost as soon as it begun.
I had just swallowed the last bit of orange juice and was wiping barbecue sauce from my fingers when Shadow settled down next to Scarlet. “So,” he said. “About the events of the past few weeks.”
“Boy,” I chuckled, brushing juice from my lip. “You sure don’t beat around the bush.”
“It’s imperative we know what’s happened, especially if there are other factors we may have to consider.”
“Well,” I said, glancing at Guy, who merely nodded before directing his attention at Scarlet and the Wiper. “It all started when I got a message online…”
And my life changed forever, I wanted to add, though refrained from doing so.
In all, it took about twenty minutes to tell the story—from meeting Guy at Thunder up until his departure at the Winters’ family ranch. By the time I broached Guy’s kidnapping and my rescue attempt, sweat had started to bead along my brow and was running along the side of my face.
“So,” Scarlet said. “You got bit.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“And when that bastard Pierre dragged you into that lab, you started to... change.”
“I didn’t know what to expect,” I said. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I never imagined how painful it’d be. So when it started taking hold, I just... let it.”
“So you used the beast to your advantage,” Shadow said.
I nodded. “Yeah. I blacked out not long after they shattered the glass containing Guy. Then when I came to... he turned me into a Wendigo, thinking I’d be able to control myself.”
“And making this more complicated in the process,” Scarlet growled. “Goddammit Guy. How you could be so stupid?”
“I thought—” Guy started.
“Your thoughts,” Scarlet interrupted, “are what got us into this mess in the first place. Killing the man in Austin, running away from the Kaldr, getting Jason bit. If I had to guess, he didn’t even have any choice in coming with you.”
“That’s not true,” Guy said, turning to look at me. “Jason?”
The desperation in his voice was clear—the haunting realization that I’d had little say in the matter becoming clear. It was true. Scarlet was right. I’d had no choice in the matter, because each way I turned, Guy was pulling me in the opposite direction. And I’d let him. For that reason, he wasn’t completely at fault, but could my part in this really be considered consensual, considering all I’d gone through?
I swallowed a lump in my throat—instantly wanting to face him, but refusing to leave Scarlet’s gaze.
“Jason,” Scarlet asked, leaning forward. “Were you a willing participant to everything that’s taken place?”
The breath caught in my throat, the heat expanded in my chest. The pressure in my ribs was so great I thought for a minute they’d burst, but then I heard Guy’s shallow breathing beside me and thought: Was I willing? Had I been forced?
I tightened my hand into a fist until my knuckles popped.
“Jason?” Shadow asked.
“Truth is,” I said, “I wouldn’t have chosen this if I had something better to fall back on. But considering I didn’t... ” I looked Guy in the eyes for the first time since the serious conversation had begun. “I’m better knowing I’m here with him.”
Shadow nodded.
Scarlet—whose hard gaze had refused to shift away from me—sighed and rolled her eyes to look at Shadow. “Well,” she said. “I guess that answers that.”
“We won’t know anymore until the Agency contacts us,” Shadow agreed.
Guy threw himself from his seat and stormed out the front door, the screen exterior slamming shut behind him.
“Guy!” I said, starting to rise.
“Let him go,” Scarlet said. “He needs to learn that his actions affect more than just himself.”
I sighed.
She was right.
There was no way I could argue with her.
Scarlet leaned forward, a blunt in her hand.
I pressed it to my lips and let her light it.
As the smoke danced before my eyes, it all began to make sense.
I’d had little choice in everything.
Knowing that made things seem so much worse.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t go look for him?” I asked, glancing over at the window as the clouds shifted and obscured the sun. “He’s been gone a long time.”
Scarlet exhaled a chest full of smoke and sighed as it danced about her vision. “Let him be,” she said. “He’s probably stewing in a pit of self-pity by now. Besides—we didn’t hear the truck start, so he can’t be that far.”
As true as that happened to be, I didn’t like not knowing where he was. The last time it happened, he ended up getting himself kidnapped and nearly killed.
“And me bitten,” I mumbled.
Scarlet stared with inquisitive big eyes and shook her head as she extinguished her blunt. “Look,” she said, standing. “You wanna go after him, that’s your choice. Nobody here’s stopping you.”
“I’m just not sure if I should.”
“Not sure it’d do any good. I think he acts like this because of how he was raised. I’d go crazy too if I were locked up on that ranch my whole life.”
“Is that why he has a bad relationship with his father?”
“Kaldr live in clans. Easier to find sex, protection, security. If they had it their way, they’d probably still be living in huts in Norway.”
“So you’re saying it’s uncommon to leave.”
“Uncommon?” she smirked. “That’s like asking if a cat likes getting in water.”
“Some do.”
“Exactly,” Scarlet said. “Some do, some don’t. Fact of the matter is: there’s so few Kaldr that losing members means potential extinction. Not like you can just get bit or drink a little blood, you know? You actually have to be close to the person.”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, standing. “Guess you’re right.”
“Where you going?” she asked.
“To find him.”
“Suit yourself.”
I pulled the door open and then pushed the screen away before stepping onto the porch, breathing in the smell of damp air and a likely, impending storm. Scarlet—who’d made no move to stop me or continue the conversation—disappeared down a hall as I closed the door, freeing me of any judgment she may wish to impart. I couldn’t blame her. Half of me just wanted to let Guy be. The other wanted to make sure he was ok.
Stepping off the porch, I scoured the area to see if he was in sight. When I didn’t find him near the truck, I turned the corner and started toward the guest house—knowing, for certain, that if he wasn’t there, he was beyond my realm of reach.
“Guy?” I called as I approached. “Are you there?”
A flicker of movement appeared behind the gap in the curtain.
“Guy?” I asked when no response came. “Are you—”
I froze.
No.
We couldn’t have been followed. We’d gone too far, too fast. Pierre couldn’t have tracked us down. And even if he was a werewolf, that didn’t mean—
I trembled, realizing just how wrong I was.
Missy Sue had tracked me down without reason. If she could do it by whim, then—
I fought the urge to turn—to run to Scarlet and tell her to get her guns and bullets and silver and blow the shit out of whatever had entered the guest house—but stopped myself before I could.
I didn’t need her help. I was Kaldr—a man, now, of frigid contempt. If anything even tried to fuck with me, I’d—
I shook my head.
After taking a deep breath, I star
ted forward.
Within moments I burst through the door.
I turned.
I gasped.
Shadow stood before me, eyes set and lips pursed. “Jason,” he said, seemingly unphased by my abrupt and sudden appearance.
“Shadow,” I sighed, leaning against the door. “Thank God. I thought you were someone else.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“That’s all right. There’s not really much to see anyway.”
Nodding, Shadow turned, extending his hand out, then over the bed. “Please don’t think I’m intruding,” he said. “I was... drawn here.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned.
“I’m not an empath. I can’t gauge people’s moods, and I am no seer of any kind. But sometimes, I can sense the residual energy that remains upon a person. It helps me determine whether or not they are a threat.”
“So you can wipe them,” I said. Shadow nodded. “So... what do you sense here?
“Grief, fear, agony, pain. Unsureness. Mostly, I feel frustration.”
“Over what?”
Shadow shook his head. “I do not know. Again: I am not a seer.”
“Do know where Guy went?”
“He isn’t far from the property. If you walk beyond the bushes in a straight line—” he turned and pointed at the wall that faced the woods “—you will come to a stream. He is there.”
“Thank you, Shadow,” I said, starting toward the door. “For everything.”
The man made no move to follow.
The path beyond the bushes was arduous, snarled with roots and covered in rock. Shaped by nature and made accessible by wildlife, it offered no remorse as I stumbled beyond the property and into the southern wilds. Bushes scraped at my skin. Bugs attempted to make homes within the hollow pockets of my collar and underarms. And the humidity—that was beyond the scope of luxury. It forced sweat from my scalp and wept down my hairline until it ran across my neck—where, finally, it dripped down my chest and plastered my shirt to my skin. I would’ve taken it off were I not convinced I’d be eaten by bugs. So, instead, I did the next best thing: I raised my hands to my mouth, called, “Guy!” and listened to birds take flight from the branches above.
His Kiss of Darkness Page 4
