Dark Seeker (9 page)

“She needs her inhaler. She lost it last night.” Kai anchored his arm around her back. “You’re going to be okay.” He looked up at Albania. “Can you do anything?”

“Sorry, Kai, I can handle demon poison, but asthma is out of my area of expertise. She needs a medical doctor.”

“See that Matt gets home,” he instructed Albania.

Kai flipped Janie into his arms. Her head slipped back onto his bicep, her dark hair spilling over his arm. “I’m taking her home. During the car ride here she said she had another inhaler.”

Matt stood. “Towson is at least fifteen minutes away without traffic.” His anger switched to genuine concern. “You need to get her to a hospital. There are plenty of well-respected hospitals in the city. Why risk taking her all the way home? Hopkins is right down the road.”

“No one asked you,” Kai growled. He scowled at Matt, stifling an unexplainable hunger. Fortunately, he seemed to find the will not to drain the human of his blood. Janie whimpered in his arms. “It
won’t
take me fifteen minutes.”

CHAPTER 6

Kai felt Janie’s chest rise and fall in erratic jerks against his back. Her shallow exhales resembled the sound of a honking goose. Still conscious enough to put her arms around him, he held her wrists together to keep her secure on the seat behind him.

He slid off the bike, careful not let her fall on to the driveway.
And she said I wasn’t gentle
. He swung her into a cradle hold and crossed the front walk. He regarded her weak state, limp and breathless in his arms. She was always so tough, never wanting to accept his help, but she was human. A sudden fear he couldn’t understand gripped him. It shouldn’t matter to him if she died. They only shared one commonality; they both killed his kind. It sounded demented,
killing his kind.
He wondered what she must really think of him. He shook his head. She didn’t ever have to know what had happened to make him this way. He’d sworn to never talk about it again, the memory too painful to expose.

Kai glanced up at the single second-floor window—Janie’s bedroom. The night she tried to run him over with her car, he had followed her home, pathetically concerned that she’d been injured in the accident. He shouldn’t have cared, yet now he found himself in the very same spot, looking up at her window.
 

Kai placed his foot on the porch step, formulating alternatives to going in through the front door. Janie sucked in a shallow breath and erupted into a coughing fit. The honking became deeper, more intense. She didn’t have much longer. He could use his ability, but he had no idea where to find her inhaler. With no other option, he had to confront her mother. A former Seeker, she’d know what he was immediately. With all the commotion of Matt’s injury and Janie’s asthma attack, he hadn’t thought about the ramifications of bringing her home. Only part vampire, he didn’t need permission to enter, and he could walk through sunlight without bursting into a pile of ashes. He hoped Janie’s mother would be more focused on helping Janie than killing him.

His hand shook as he reached for the doorbell.
 
Janie’s home reminded him of his childhood home, only greener—he grew up in the Southwestern desert before losing so many years of his life. He often thought about his parents. He knew he could never return home, even if they still lived there. As Janie had said when she first met him, he was a “monster.” He let out a deep sigh. At least when he really was a monster, he couldn’t feel. He didn’t have a conscience that weighed on him every day, threatening to rip the beating heart from his chest. Being a part of three worlds was the greatest curse a man could be given, and at eighteen he was just barely a man.

The knob clicked and the door swung open. The woman who answered could have been Janie, only twenty years older. Her tanned skin had aged well, revealing barely any wrinkles on her flawless face. Her near-black hair framed her angular face. She gasped and her beautiful brown eyes squinted in horror.

“What happened!” Isabelle said.

“She’s having an asthma attack. She needs her inhaler.” Kai stepped through the doorway into the foyer.

Her eyes appraised him. She hesitated.
She knows what I am
.

Her voice shook. “I’ll get it. Stay here.” He wondered if she’d also retrieve a silver blade. A feeling of panic washed over him, and he never panicked. He’d been through too much to panic over anything. Then he realized why he had the overwhelming urge to drop Janie and run.

A man emerged from the living room. “Is everything okay, Isabelle? Is Janie home?”

Their eyes locked. The man’s blue eyes had aged fifteen years, now fully edged by crow’s feet, the markings of a stressful life. Kai knew all too well how stressful the man’s life had been. A fulminate rage swirled within his irises, deepening the light blue to indigo. His black hair was now sprinkled with flecks of white, and lines creased his once-smooth forehead. Kai’s scars started to burn; a searing pain sliced down his forearm and fire burst through his chest. He gripped Janie tighter, afraid he might drop her. The man’s eyes were as hate-filled as he remembered. It was
him
; Kai had no doubt. He’d remember that face for eternity—Abram.

Isabelle appeared at the base of the steps, clutching Janie’s inhaler. “Give her to me,” Janie heard a familiar man speak.

“Abram,” Janie wheezed. He removed her from Kai’s arms and rushed her into the living room. He placed her on the sofa, propping her up with pillows on the couch.

“You’re going to be okay,” Abram said, stroking her hair.

“She needs her inhaler.” Isabelle hurried to Janie’s side. “Here, use this.”

Janie pressed the plastic tube to her lips, breathed out a small puff of air, and sucked the medication into her lungs. Within seconds, she felt better. Her lungs reopened. A flood of air expanded into her chest like a balloon. Only something else weighed on her now. The atmosphere was even heavier than the feeling of not being able to breathe.

“Where’s Kai?” Janie tried to sit up, but she was still slightly dizzy and fell back on the couch.

“I’m right here,” Kai said with forced calmness. He stood across the room, looking sick. Abram glared at him.

 
“How did this happen?” Isabelle knelt down next to Janie, concern etched across her forehead.

“I lost my inhaler last night, during a fight.” Janie left her mother’s worried eyes to search for Kai again. She found him, still on the opposite side of the room, stiff and restrained.

“A fight? I thought you went to a bonfire,” Isabelle asked, rising.

Janie finally lifted herself to a seated position. “Abram, did you speak to the Chapter? What’s going on? Last night we ran into a gang of vamps and Daychildren. They were in Towson, at a student’s home.”

The tension hung suspended in the air. No one answered her. Her mother conversed with Abram in hushed tones. Kai appeared to have one foot out the door. With one flinch, she feared he would disappear. It was the most on edge she’d ever seen him. His confident arrogance had disappeared, or more apparently, been taken from him. Then, she realized. How could she have been so stupid? She’d spent so much time with Kai over the last few days that she’d forgotten. The three of them were Seekers, and
he
was a Daychild.

A bouncing fleck of light caught Janie’s attention. She traced it along the ceiling. She searched the immediate area for the object creating the bright fragment. The spectrum of light moved whenever her mother did. Something sparkled at her mother’s waist. Then Janie saw the light source—a silver blade wedged in Isabelle’s pants, slightly hidden under her shirt. Janie’s eyes shot over to Abram. He nodded to Isabelle, signaling her to move forward.

Janie leapt off the couch and sprinted over to Kai, barreling into his chest. He didn’t move. Hitting Kai was like smacking into a brick wall. She spun around and faced her mother and mentor. Both of them had taken fighting stances and were brandishing silver blades.

“Don’t touch him!” Janie yelled.

“Janie, I need you to move away slowly,” Abram instructed, his eyes fixed on Kai. A shiny silver blade glistened in his fist. Janie’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, horrified at the thought of Abram plunging a dagger through Kai’s skull.

“He’s not going to hurt me,” she said. She extended her arms as if her little body could block the dagger from impaling Kai. She flicked her eyes back and forth between Abram and Isabelle, but neither stood down.

“Janie, listen to me.” Isabelle inched forward. “He’s not human.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” She put her hand on her waist, searching for her dagger, but it was gone. She realized she had taken it out at Albania’s apartment and set it on the side table next to the couch. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t going to use it against anyone in the room. Going for her weapon was only a reflex. “Put your blades away. He’s my friend.”

Abram lifted his blade, aiming for Kai’s skull. “If you want any chance of leaving this house, you’ll remove your weapon and slide it over to me.”

Kai removed the scythe from his belt. He bent forward and slid the large curved blade across the hardwood floor to Abram. Janie wondered why Kai wasn’t speaking or defending himself. She hadn’t known him for long, but one thing she did know—he didn’t keep his thoughts to himself. She wanted to tell him to run. He was faster than any vamp or demon she’d ever come across, so she couldn’t figure out why he’d stayed to face death at the hands of a Seeker. Janie studied the lines on Kai’s face—empathy mixed with rage and fear.

“Now explain yourself. What are you doing with Janie?” Abram said. He kicked Kai’s scythe behind him. It hit the wall with a thud.

“It’s like Janie said,” Kai explained. “There were two gangs of them at the bonfire. I helped her friend Matt when he was punctured by a poisonous demon splint. We sat with him all night until he recovered. Then, this morning Janie had an asthma attack, so I brought her home to retrieve her inhaler. She lost the other one last night.” His voice sounded deep, vulnerable. “I don’t want any trouble.” He flashed his palms.

Abram assessed Kai. The wheels in his head visibly spun as he contemplated Kai’s fate.

“But you’re one of them. Why would you help a human?” Isabelle said. Her worry lines had aged her at least ten years. Janie caught a glimpse of what she’d look like when she was
much
older.

“I’m different,” Kai said. “I’m not like the others.” His voice lowered. “At least not anymore.”

“Mom, he’s different. Trust me,” Janie said. “That night in the city, when I came upon a Daychild lair, Kai saved my life. I didn’t have enough weaponry to defeat that many of them. One of them poisoned me with a splint. Kai got me the help I needed.” She willed Isabelle and Abram to believe her. “You should be thanking him, not pointing daggers at him. I am alive right now, standing in front of you, because of him.” Janie’s hands balled into fists. Her teeth locked together. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so angry—maybe when her father died and her mother refused to discuss it.

Janie stared at Abram. He glared at Kai as if he knew him from somewhere. He really wanted to kill him, and not just because he was a Daychild. It was something else entirely. “Abram, is there something you’re not telling me?” Janie said.

Abram didn’t speak. Flashes of pain and fear lit up his face. Janie realized his expression was oddly similar to Kai’s. He hesitated. “N—no. No I don’t.” Janie knew he’d lied, like when she used to ask him the specifics about her father’s death. He’d get anxious and sweaty, and his eyes would fall anywhere but on hers.

Janie pushed her feelings back. “Then can you put away your weapons so we can talk? We have to discuss what is happening with the undead.” Janie rethought her choice in words. “Other than Kai, of course. Like I said, he’s different from them.”

“Abram, lower the dagger,” Isabelle said. Her tan face had paled. After a hesitant second, Abram did as she asked. Isabelle’s eyes met Kai’s. “You should leave.” She let out a sigh of defeat.

“Mom—”

Isabelle cut her off. “Janie, we will discuss this later.”

Janie reached behind her, searching for Kai. The roar of his motorcycle swept through the room. He’d already left. She didn’t even hear the door slam behind him.