Page 24 of Cursed by Death

Had they even bothered to look for me at all during the many years we had been apart?

Loyalty meant everything to me. The thought of them not returning it broke something inside of me I didn’t think I’d ever be able to repair. Likely because only they would be able to fix it and they’d been gone from my life for a very long time now.

It would probably be best for me if they stayed that way.

I didn’t need any more disappointment in my life.

And I really did not need any hunters in my life at all either.

Hunters were born into it. Almost like with a family business. They were trained how to fight and kill the supernatural and they started learning at birth.

Rally was absolutely right about thinking it was weird for them to have spent any time in foster care. Even if both of theirparents were dead they wouldn’t have gone into the system like that. They would have gone to live with other family members and if they didn’t have any other family of hunters would have gladly taken them in and adopted them as their own.

So, what had they been doing at the Harmond House? And with me, of all people?

My mind began to fill with very unpleasant thoughts.

What if they had been placed there specifically for me? Was something like that even possible? Given who my father was I thought the obvious answer to that question was yes.

Hunters didn’t kill people indiscriminately or without reason. If you followed the rules and didn’t harm other people then they left you be.

They policed the supernatural community and attempted to keep everyone in line because otherwise they were the boogeyman that showed up to get you.

It would probably make sense for them to be sent in to check out and make sure I wasn’t evil.

I just wished I hadn’t fallen for it and let them into my heart.

I wouldn’t make that mistake a second time. Not ever.

Chapter 13

Rally, bless his ass, must have been able to sense the extreme shift in my mood because he stayed quiet and left me alone for the rest of the ride to his home.

He left his hand on my thigh though. And, what was worse, I didn’t even mind.

The house we pulled up to was a small two-story farmhouse. It was painted yellow and seriously faded in places from the weather. The wrap around porch was missing boards in places and looked dangerous to actually have to walk on. There was an outbuilding that was missing part of the roof and looked in danger of collapsing.

The one thing it had going for it that I liked was that it was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by woods. Much like my own home.

“It’s nice,” I lied as I followed him up the front steps, being careful not to step in a hole and have my foot get stuck.

Rally laughed at me. “I thought I told you not to lie to me. It’s better than being homeless and it’s got plenty of space for my wolves to roam. And it’s off the grid enough to be relatively safe for them.”

I nodded my head like I understood everything he was talking about. I mean, I got the gist of it but I didn’t think I should ask if they change into wolves and run through the woods, maybe sniff each other’s assholes?

Did they live here with him or did he live here by himself and they just stopped by and used this like a home base?

The inside was well loved and cared for. And it was decorated like someone’s elderly grandmother lived in it. Not my grandmother, of course. I had a feeling afghans and Knick knacks had been very beneath her.

The Detective was tied to a chair at the head of the table in the kitchen. He had a bruise on his forehead but otherwise appeared to be thankfully unharmed.

If the Detective was surprised to see me here he didn’t show it. He kept his face carefully blank but his eyes never left me from the moment I stepped into the kitchen. They were so intense it felt like a physical touch upon my skin.

I went to walk around the table to go to him but Rally’s hand on my bicep stopped me. I glanced at him over my shoulder, sure that my question was clear to read on my face. No words were needed on my part.

“You need to be back here Friday night when the sun goes down,” he told me in a deadly serious voice. “For your payment for this. I want you here for my challenge. I want my people to see you and I want you to watch me win. You need to come alone because my people won’t want outsiders here to witness something like that.”

I was an outsider, but I didn’t tell him this.

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