Page 37 of In the Monster's Wake
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THE PERSON RUNNINGin front of Archibald was weirdly proportionate in a way that reminded him of Kester.It wasn’t Kester—Archibald was sure of that—but they were running, and that was enough for Archibald to know he needed to catch up with them.
It wasn’t hard.The runner was panicking.They rushed down hallways until there was nowhere for them to continue.When they turned into a hallway with no exit at the end, they started opening side doors.While Archibald couldn’t see what was behind those doors, the fact that this person didn’t dart inside any of the rooms told him what he needed to know.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
The person’s back stiffened, and they stopped moving.“Everyone hurts me,” they said.Archibald was pretty sure they were a male.
“Well, I won’t.”
The person didn’t move for a moment.Archibald waited, hoping he wouldn’t have to continue running after them, or worse, that he wouldn’t have to defend himself from them.He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wouldn’t hurt them.He wasn’t planning to.He just wanted answers.If they had nothing to do with Kester, Archibald would let them go or maybe even help them.
The person slowly turned.Like Archibald had suspected, he hadn’t been following a human.The boy’s arms were too long for him to be human, although not as long as Kester’s.Archibald could see a peek of fangs in the boy’s mouth, but not as many as in Kester’s mouth, or at least, Archibald hoped not.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he repeated.“I’m Archibald.”
The boy sniffed.He couldn’t be older than twenty, if even that.“Cullen.”
“Well, Cullen, I’m sorry if we bothered you.My partner and I are here looking for a monster, but not you.”
Cullen stared for a second before nodding.“You’re looking for my father.”
Archibald didn’t know how to answer that.“We’re looking for a monster named Kester.He’s been hurting people, and we were hired to stop him.”Archibald had been, anyway.Cullen didn’t need to know details about Jasper and why he was involved.
“He’s here because he’s looking for me.He’s been killing people because he can’t find me.”
If Cullen really was Kester’s son, Archibald understood why he was hiding.He wouldn’t want to get any kind of attention from Kester, either, and being Kester’s son sounded difficult to say the least.Archibald didn’t think that Cullen was dangerous.He was shaking like a leaf and kept looking around as if searching for an exit that wasn’t there.
“He’s been killing people because he wants to,” Archibald tried to soothe Cullen.“Kester makes his own decisions.The deaths he caused have nothing to do with you.”
“He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.”Cullen swallowed.“He found me.”
Archibald’s stomach dropped.He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that meant.“Is he in the building?”
“I was hiding from him.”
Archibald swore.He lunged forward, ignored Cullen’s squeak as he grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along.He started running, sorry for the way Cullen stumbled, but unwilling to slow down.
He needed to get back to Jasper.
Not only was Kester aware that he was being hunted, but he was also intrigued by Jasper.If he found out that Jasper was alone in the building, he’d probably try to talk to him, if not worse.Jasper was alone right now, and if anything happened to him, Archibald would never forgive himself.
Cullen tried resisting.He dug his heels in, effectively stopping Archibald from running back to Jasper.Archibald didn’t have time to waste, so he pulled harder, but Cullen wasn’t moving.
“I can’t go back.He’s going to hurt me.”
Archibald turned.He didn’t want to scare Cullen or yell at him, but he needed to go, and he wasn’t letting Cullen leave.He might be their one chance at finally stopping Kester.
“He’s going to hurt my partner,” he snapped.“Jasper is human, and you just said that your father’s here.”
Cullen stared at Archibald.“Your partner’s probably already dead.”
Thatwasn’twhat Archibald had wanted to hear.
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JASPER KNEW THAT IFArchie didn’t come back, he would be dead.There was no way he could keep up with Kester, even though he had at the park.The only reason he’d survived that evening was that Kester had left, but what were the odds that he’d leave tonight, too?
