be. If you were spotted, you would have
been locked up just on principal.” If his face wasn’t so eff’d up,
I would think he was blushing—always so quick to be
embarrassed.
Kalen stayed silent and I grew impatient. I
could just leave him here, in an area where he would only end up
arrested in a matter of minutes. If only I could. The last place I
needed him to be was in jail. It didn’t help he was appealing to my
nicer instincts. I didn’t even know what to call these
feelings.
Motherly? Sisterly?
Naw.
I didn’t do any kind of relationship like
that. Not since Eithna and looked where that ended.
Empathy?
I smiled, thinking about the word. El would
finally be proud of me if I was empathizing with anyone. He would
probably get a kick out it being with someone who wanted me
dead.
His unfocused eyes turned to mine and
blinked a couple of times.
“Who are you really? You have to be more
than what you appear.”
My heart skipped a beat and I couldn’t
really figure out why. Why did the idea of this man figuring me out
scare me? I could take him. I knew I could. And yet looking at him,
I was…comfortable. I didn’t want to lose that. There weren’t even a
handful of beings I could say I’m ‘comfortable’ being around. Which
brought me to the bigger question.
Who here could possible know the version of
me he was looking for? I haven’t been in that form for nearly two
hundred years and I’ve only been in town for a few months. Lord Kay
was the only one to know my real form and he was a little more
face-to-face when it came down to revenge. Lord Kay would want to
make sure his target was dead. He would want to feel their life
force leave, revel in their blood, laugh at their fate. Not Kalen’s
master. He was a schemer, hiding in the background pulling on
strings.
“I’ll figure you out, it’s only a matter of
time.”
I gave him a wicked smile. “Go for it. I
know beings who have wasted their entire lives trying to figure me
out. So is all this excess pain worth it? Did you find your
child-killer?”
He shook his head. “I’m close, Darkness. I
know I can find him.” His teeth clenched. “I’m close. A being is
behind that girl’s death. I know it. The necromancers I managed to
talk to said there were other children missing too. But just like
you, they are staying out of it. Why is that? I’m so close.”
Why was he repeating that. Yeah, okay, he
was close. I got that.
Wait. Wasn’t that a sign of a concussion?
Shit. He had a concussion, didn’t he?
I sighed and answered at least one of his
questions. “We are in a large city. People go missing all the
time.”
He shook his head. “But it’s the same as at
the park! An older sibling taken, the younger one dead. And my gut
is telling me it’s a being. I know I’m right on this.” His eyes
unfocused once again. “I’m so close.”
“No, you don’t know anything. You just want
it to be one of us because you can’t accept a human killing a
child.” I grabbed onto his arm and tugged him deeper into the
shadows and out of sight of any potential onlookers. “I told you,
stay alive. Just don’t get yourself killed. And look what happens
in the same day. You’re nearly dead.”
He yanked out of my grip. The movement
almost gave him a personal meeting with the ground. He steadied
himself. “I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep, and then I’ll be as
good as new.”
“So you can...what exactly? Charge off into
the unknown again? Go get killed?”
“Why do you care so much?” he asked, staring
right at me again.
“Like I said, you have information I
want.”
“Bullshit, there is something else.”
He was right, but I wasn’t going to admit
it. Kalen wasn’t human anymore, but he held on to his humanity with
a stubborn fist and he wasn’t willing to let go. Being with him
made me want to help him hold on to it.
“It doesn’t matter. We both have our own
agendas, let us just leave it at that. Do you want a place
been locked up just on principal.” If his face wasn’t so eff’d up,
I would think he was blushing—always so quick to be
embarrassed.
Kalen stayed silent and I grew impatient. I
could just leave him here, in an area where he would only end up
arrested in a matter of minutes. If only I could. The last place I
needed him to be was in jail. It didn’t help he was appealing to my
nicer instincts. I didn’t even know what to call these
feelings.
Motherly? Sisterly?
Naw.
I didn’t do any kind of relationship like
that. Not since Eithna and looked where that ended.
Empathy?
I smiled, thinking about the word. El would
finally be proud of me if I was empathizing with anyone. He would
probably get a kick out it being with someone who wanted me
dead.
His unfocused eyes turned to mine and
blinked a couple of times.
“Who are you really? You have to be more
than what you appear.”
My heart skipped a beat and I couldn’t
really figure out why. Why did the idea of this man figuring me out
scare me? I could take him. I knew I could. And yet looking at him,
I was…comfortable. I didn’t want to lose that. There weren’t even a
handful of beings I could say I’m ‘comfortable’ being around. Which
brought me to the bigger question.
Who here could possible know the version of
me he was looking for? I haven’t been in that form for nearly two
hundred years and I’ve only been in town for a few months. Lord Kay
was the only one to know my real form and he was a little more
face-to-face when it came down to revenge. Lord Kay would want to
make sure his target was dead. He would want to feel their life
force leave, revel in their blood, laugh at their fate. Not Kalen’s
master. He was a schemer, hiding in the background pulling on
strings.
“I’ll figure you out, it’s only a matter of
time.”
I gave him a wicked smile. “Go for it. I
know beings who have wasted their entire lives trying to figure me
out. So is all this excess pain worth it? Did you find your
child-killer?”
He shook his head. “I’m close, Darkness. I
know I can find him.” His teeth clenched. “I’m close. A being is
behind that girl’s death. I know it. The necromancers I managed to
talk to said there were other children missing too. But just like
you, they are staying out of it. Why is that? I’m so close.”
Why was he repeating that. Yeah, okay, he
was close. I got that.
Wait. Wasn’t that a sign of a concussion?
Shit. He had a concussion, didn’t he?
I sighed and answered at least one of his
questions. “We are in a large city. People go missing all the
time.”
He shook his head. “But it’s the same as at
the park! An older sibling taken, the younger one dead. And my gut
is telling me it’s a being. I know I’m right on this.” His eyes
unfocused once again. “I’m so close.”
“No, you don’t know anything. You just want
it to be one of us because you can’t accept a human killing a
child.” I grabbed onto his arm and tugged him deeper into the
shadows and out of sight of any potential onlookers. “I told you,
stay alive. Just don’t get yourself killed. And look what happens
in the same day. You’re nearly dead.”
He yanked out of my grip. The movement
almost gave him a personal meeting with the ground. He steadied
himself. “I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep, and then I’ll be as
good as new.”
“So you can...what exactly? Charge off into
the unknown again? Go get killed?”
“Why do you care so much?” he asked, staring
right at me again.
“Like I said, you have information I
want.”
“Bullshit, there is something else.”
He was right, but I wasn’t going to admit
it. Kalen wasn’t human anymore, but he held on to his humanity with
a stubborn fist and he wasn’t willing to let go. Being with him
made me want to help him hold on to it.
“It doesn’t matter. We both have our own
agendas, let us just leave it at that. Do you want a place
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