Page 2 of The Fairy Hunter
TWO
Luna
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Olivia tells me over the phone as I’m dressing. And she sounds nervous.
I release a slow breath, knowing right now Olivia needs me to be confident. “The fairy might look like our friend, but she’s not. She’s just like any other supernatural we’ve hunted. We can do this.”
“We’ve been out of the game for too long.” Her voice comes out sad and worried.
“And we’ve transitioned out of retirement with ease. Right? We’ve handled everything since that fool took my powers with flying colors. We’ve saved people. We’ve protected this town. We aren’t out of practice. We’ve had a lifetime of experience that has prepared us for this very moment.”
Olivia doesn’t speak for so long that I sit down on the edge of my bed, staring at myself in the mirror. I have my leather hunting jacket on, black leggings, and a dark purple top. My short blonde hair has been slicked back a bit. And even though I haven’t felt old since I started hunting again, I do now. There are lines beside my eyes and lips… lines that I don’t remember seeing before, lines I don’t like one bit.
But then, losing someone you love has a way of aging you.
“You’re right,” Olivia finally manages. “But I’m going to hate every second of looking at that fairy’s damn face and pretending that I don’t know it murdered our friend. And when we kill it, I want it to die slowly. The way it made Tamara die. Maybe somewhere dark and terrible too.”
“Agreed.” I’m not usually so sadistic, but some situations call for dark justice. Like this one.
“And when this is done, I think I’m going back into retirement.”
“Alright,” I say, maybe too quickly.
“I mean it. I know you’ve been feeling… more like yourself, less sad about Will being so distant since retirement, but I remember why it was nice to retire from all of this in the first place. We’ve risked our lives enough and seen more than enough death.”
She’s not wrong. “Okay.”
“And you should think about it too… We’re partners. We’ve never hunted alone. It doesn’t seem right that you’d do it now.”
“I will think about it,” I say, and I mean it. Hunting was kind of fun, but this definitely isn’t.
“I’ll be over in twenty,” she says. “Be ready.”
“Got it.” I hang up, then lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“You okay?”
I startle, then turn my head slightly to see Will standing in the doorway. His dark hair is messy, but then, the old bear shifter tended to have a just-got-out-of-bed look all the time since retiring. I’m not upset about that. He’d worked really hard as an engineer for more years than I could count. If he wants to spend his time in basketball shorts and t-shirts with food stains, staring at a computer screen, watching stocks, in his old age… well, who am I to tell him any differently?
“Luna?” His pale blue eyes gentle, and I see worry in his face.
“I’m okay,” I tell him, but the words break a little.
“Luna!” He rushes to the bed and sits down beside me.
I don’t know what happens, but I start to cry. And not just a little. It’s a full-blown breakdown. My husband pulls me into his arms and says nothing as I blabber out everything that’s been happening. Not just Tamara dying, but the hunting, the deaths, how it felt when I’d lost my magic.
All of it.
I’d told myself to leave him alone. He’d never enjoyed the fact that I was a hunter. He’d loved me despite it, and had been happy when I retired. He’s a sensitive type that didn’t like to hear about things like this, but it feels like I can’t hold it back. Like there’s a poison inside of me that I have to get out.
When I’m done, when I have nothing else to say, I just cling to him until the tears finally slow, and then I’m wiping my face, feeling stupid. Wishing I’d been strong enough to hold it all in.
But then William surprises me, his voice filled with unshed tears. “I’m such an idiot. Here I’ve been feeling useless and lost since retirement, just focusing on my own stuff, while you’ve been having all these crises to deal with on your own.”
“It’s okay,” I say, wiping more tears away.
“No, it’s not.” His voice is serious. “We’re partners, and I haven’t been acting like one.”
