The Sight Seer (22 page)

Chapter Forty

I stared at him in shock. You have
got
to be kidding me.

Evan smiled humorlessly.
“You wanted to know how the elders screwed up a thousand years ago, didn’t you, Gabi? Well, this is it. They realized hunter and demon blood could be mixed, turning the hunter into a faster, stronger, and smarter being. Unfortunately, what they didn’t realize is it also turns the hunter into something evil. Something deadly. The human part dies away as the demon takes over.”

“Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?” I asked.
              “For the usual reasons,” Rafe spoke up. “They crave power, wealth, fame—”

“They’re incredibly stupid,” Evan added.

“That, too,” Rafe admitted. “They think, even though so many have failed before them, that they’ll be the ones to master the demon inside.” He shook his head. “They never do.”

“It’s illegal to mess with demon blood like that,” Evan said.
He was going through his satchel again—pulling out a piece of chalk, which he drew symbols on the ground with. They were alien to me, but I guessed they were part of another spell. “The moment you do that, Silver Moon will hunt you down with permission to kill on sight. Unfortunately for us, Davenport got away.”

Rafe grimaced and looked away.
I touched his arm and asked, “Rafe?”

He exhaled slowly.
“He was a mentor, you could say. Took care of me after my parents were killed. Never thought I should quit being a hunter just because I didn’t possess the Sight. I thought he was a good guy.”

“We all did,” Evan said, not looking up from his chalk drawings.
He had his hand on his chin and was frowning at the floor, as if looking for an answer amongst his white scribbles. “You weren’t the only one fooled, Rafe.”

“So he got away an
d now he’s what, creating an army of demons?” I shook my head. “And attacking you guys?” I told them what Davenport had said about using me to lead them to him. “Why does he want to fight you? Especially when he knows you’ll kill him on sight?”

“Well, Rafe is going around killing his pets,” Evan pointed out.
“He must be pretty pissed off about that.”

Rafe’s green eyes darkened.
“That’s fine by me. He messed with Gabi, so now he’s going to have to deal with me.”

“But why my sister?”
I wondered. “Why not just come after me?”

“Because he’s a sadistic bastard,” Evan said, still scribbling away on the floor.

“Would you ever fall for Davenport’s lies?” Rafe asked softly. “Even without the Sight, would you ever listen to him and agree to go out with him?”

“No, I’d kick him in the crotch and tell him to leave me the hell alone, stupid creepy old man.”

Evan let out a snort of laughter. “Which is why he went for your sister.”

“I told you before, demons prey on the weak,” Rafe said.
“With the week your sister has been having, she was a perfect target.”

I replayed all t
he evil things I had said to Chloe in the last couple of days—of course she would believe the pretty lies Davenport spun for her! “I’m a horrible sister.”

“This is
not
your fault. His goal was me and Evan, and your sister was just a means of getting what he wanted.” Rafe’s grip on me tightened. “But
what
does he want with us?”

“You’ll have to ask him yourself,” I said.
“He said you’d know where to find him, Evan.”

“Well, he’s right about that,” Evan said, stabbing a finger against the floor.
He was pointing to a square, which didn’t exactly enlighten me. “He’s holed up in an apartment on the other side of town, waiting for us.”

My mouth dropped open.
“How the hell do you know that?”

Evan gave me a wink.
“Magic, my dear. Didn’t Rafe tell you how good I am at it?”

I glanced at Rafe.
“Uh, no, he neglected to tell me that.” I was under the impression that all Evan was good at was flirting and lazing about.

Rafe let go of me to face Evan.
“Are you going to help me with this?” His voice was strong, but there was uncertainty in his face.

Evan stood as well, brushing the chalk dust off of his fingers as he wiped away the symbols on the floor with his sneaker.
“You think I’m going to let you go off into a nest by yourself?” He smacked Rafe on the arm. “Don’t be an idiot, you idiot. Of course I’m coming. And you better not get in my way when I kill Davenport.” He turned on his heel, stalking out of the room and muttering something about supplies under his breath.

Rafe turned to me, looking relieved.
“I’m glad I’m not doing this alone.”

“Rafe—”

“No,” he said, before I could start protesting. “I’m not letting you go. It’s too dangerous.”

“He has my sister!”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. “If you think I’m just going to sit here while you go off to rescue her—”

“Gabi.”

“Rafe, please,” I said, tears in my eyes. “He was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my entire life, and
he has my sister
. How can you ask me to sit here and wait for you to come back?”

He winced.
“I can’t let someone else I care about get hurt.”

“Neither can I,” I said, holding up my hands.
My magical, glowing,
healing
hands. He stared at them, his jaw clenched stubbornly. “You need me there, Rafe. Admit it.”

“Dammit,” he swore and I knew I had convinced him.
“Look, you have to stay in the back, out of harm’s way. I don’t know what we’re walking into, but I guarantee it’ll be dangerous.”

“Okay.”
I nodded my head a million times to let him know that I fully intended on following his plans. He was the hunter, not me. I had already shown how much of a failure I was against Davenport back in the house. “Where did Evan go?”

“To get to supplies and to
…say goodbye.”

“Who was that girl, Rafe?”

Looking uncomfortable, he began fidgeting with the chair, pulling it back so two of its legs were in the air and then letting it drop to the floor with a loud bang. Over and over he did this while he decided whether he should answer me or not. “This isn’t really my story to tell, but that’s Alex. Alexandra Chen, a hunter and…Evan’s girlfriend.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.
“His
girlfriend
?”

“Yeah,” Rafe nodded.
“That’s why he’s not serious about any of those other girls, Gabi. He loves Alex.”

I thought of her sitting in that bed, looking so tiny and fragile.
“What happened to her?”

“Four of us were taking out a nest in this abandoned, condemned building when the floor broke and Alex fell.”
Rafe closed his eyes, as if the memory hurt. “She broke her spine and hit her head really hard, and has been unconscious ever since.”

“When did this happen?”

“Two years ago. We moved here shortly after that, so we could be closer to her. Evan comes to visit her every week. The doctors say there’s no chance she’ll wake, but he doesn’t believe them.”

Of course not
, I thought. If someone I loved was in a coma, I’d still hold on to the hope that they would someday open their eyes. “When you said there were four of you taking out the nest… who was the fourth person?” I had an inkling, but waited for Rafe to confirm it for me.

“Matthew Davenport,” Evan said from the doorway, a backpack slung over one shoulder.
He had tied up his hair and put on a jacket, and was casually twirling a dagger in his left hand. Rafe winced, clearly unhappy that Evan had overheard us discussing Alexandra, but Evan didn’t mention it. “He had already gone demon by then, and tricked us into entering the condemned building. He even fought alongside us, against the demons, and came to console me after her accident.” Evan’s blue eyes flashed with murder. It was so weird, seeing him like that. Usually he was laidback and flippant; I had never seen him so serious before. “It was only later that we found out what he had done. So I have him to thank for what happened to Alex.” The last words came out as a snarl and I shivered, truly afraid of Evan at that moment.

He gestured towards the hallway with his head.
“Come on. Let’s go kill some demon bastards.”

Chapter Forty-o
ne

I was still a little shaky from the spell, but I forced myself to follow the boys down the hallway to the elevator. I would not complain or walk slowly or do anything that would convince Rafe that I was better off staying behind. Davenport had my sister, dammit!

In the elevator, Evan took out his pack of cigarettes but stopped when he saw Rafe glaring at him.
“You are no fun, man.” He tucked the cigarettes back into his pocket and went back to twirling his knife. The movement was hypnotic, or maybe I was loopy from the spell, but I had to snap my eyes away from it with an effort.

“Where are we?” I asked, my voice breaking the silence.

Evan snorted. “An elevator, Gabi.”

“Don’t be a jerk,” Rafe told him.
“This is a private hospital, Gabi.”

“Lucky for Alex, her parents are loaded,” Evan said.
“They moved her here right after the incident.” He scowled at his reflection on the elevator’s doors. “Thought they could finally keep us apart.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“They didn’t like you.” A statement, not a question.

He smiled bitterly.
“Can you blame them?” Leaning his head back, he spoke to the ceiling. “Her parents are retired hunters. Retired after her brother Sam was killed in a fight. They forbade Alex from fighting, but she was already a full-fledged hunter by then, what did they expect?”

“They blamed Evan for influencing her,” Rafe said.
“Me too. The three of us were a group, you know?”

“He had a crush on Alex,” Evan said, suddenly grinning.

Rafe turned red. “I did not!” He looked at me. “He’s lying.”

I shrugged.
“As long as you don’t have a crush on her now, it doesn’t really concern me, right?” He shot me a nervous look but apparently decided it was best to drop the subject.
Wise move, Rafe.

The elevator dinged and the doors slowly slid open to reveal the lobby.
Evan continued the story as we walked through the deserted waiting room, waving to the female receptionist behind the desk. A TV airing a game show was set up in front of a few empty couches. I shivered. The place felt too sterile, too
cold
. “That all happened in Manhattan, where we used to live. I told you HQ was there, remember?” I nodded, remembering it was the place Evan had warned me to stay far, far away from, back when I thought the Sight was the strangest thing about me. As if reading my mind, Rafe’s hand found mine and I leaned closer to him as we walked to his car in the dark. The sky was completely obscured by clouds, giving the night an even more sinister feel to it.

“Alex’s parents decided to move her here, upstate, to get her away from everything,” Evan said.
“HQ, demons, and me. But of course we followed. It wasn’t that hard, really. I just used some hair from her hairbrush and a handy location spell, and here she was!” His blue eyes gleamed in the light thrown off from the streetlamps. “Then I just had to make friends with the nurse at the front desk—”

“You mean seduce her,” Rafe interrupted in a dry tone.

“Whatever works, right?” Evan grinned. “Anyway, now I have a free pass to come see her every Friday night, the one night of the week I don’t have to worry about her parents showing up unexpectedly because they always have some event or charity function to go to.” We made it to Rafe’s car and got in, Rafe and I in the front seat with Evan sitting in the middle seat in the back with his arms on his knees. “For all I know, they still think I’m back in Manhattan. They cut off all ties with Silver Moon, so they don’t know Rafe and I left shortly after they did.”

I buckled myself in, feeling my heart break for poor Evan.
Beneath that joking façade was a boy who cared so much about a girl that he would do anything,
anything
to be with her. And there was a very good chance that she wouldn’t wake up. That wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.

Matthew Davenport.
You evil man. First Alexandra, now my sister.
I glanced at Rafe, who was grimly staring out the window as he followed Evan’s directions to the apartment, and then at Evan, who was still twirling his knife between his fingers. This wasn’t just about my sister, I realized. This was about revenge. I heard revenge did crazy things to you, made you reckless. I hoped Rafe and Evan were above that, or else this battle would become a bloodbath. And despite what I had told Rafe back in the hospital room, I wasn’t sure I could heal them again if they needed me. I laid my hands face down on my thighs and stared at them. What if the other night had been a fluke? What if I couldn’t call upon that power again? I remembered watching Rafe’s life bleed out in front of me and the sense of hopelessness that had come with it. I couldn’t go through something like that again.

Well then, Gabi, don’t.
If they need you to heal them, you’ll heal them! So stop thinking about what ifs and concentrate on what’s important.

Saving Chloe.

* * *

“This is it,” Evan said after we had driven for ten minutes.
He leaned forward in his seat and pointed to an apartment building. It was tall, maybe eight or nine floors, and every window was dark despite it being early evening. The stores that surrounded the building were abandoned as well, and no one walked the streets or drove by. “He’s in there.”

Rafe pulled up in front, turning the car off.
He looked at the building and frowned.

“What is it?” I asked him, growing more nervous by the second.

“It’s too quiet. I don’t like it.”

“Because there’s a freaking nest of demons living in there,” Evan said.
“Would you want to share an apartment building with things that eat you?”

“How many demons?” I asked, looking from Rafe to Evan and back to Rafe again.
Could these two hunters take on an entire army?

“We won’t know until we get in there and start hacking them to pieces!” Evan said gleefully.

I was about to answer when Rafe handed me something. It was one of his knives, still in its sheath. Rafe said nothing as he stared out the windshield, his jaw clenched. “What is thi—” I clamped my mouth shut, knowing Evan would answer for Rafe. If you ask a stupid question…With a sigh, I took the knife from Rafe and pulled it slowly out of the sheath, the blade reflecting the yellow light from a lamppost. “Rafe?”

Evan got out of the car without a word, quietly closing the door behind him.
He pulled a cigarette out and smoked it as he walked in front of the car to study the apartment building.

“For protection,” Rafe said, answering my original, unasked question.
“Just in case.”

In case something got past him and Evan and came for me.
I shivered, putting the knife back in its sheath and pocketing it. “I probably won’t even need it.”

“Gabi—”
He turned his face towards me, looking as if he had a million things to say but no way of voicing his thoughts. With a growl of frustration he grabbed me by the shoulders, jerked me towards him, and kissed me, hard.

It was different from any of the other kisses we had shared.
Those had ranged from light, curious pecks as we grew accustomed to one other’s lips to passionate, fiery things that had left us gasping for breath.

This kiss was different.
There was a sense of desperation to this kiss as he clung to me, pressing his lips hard enough against mine to leave a bruise. This wasn’t a normal boyfriend-kissing-his-girlfriend kiss. This was an I’m-afraid-of-what-will-happen kiss.

Which was the same thing as a goodbye kiss.

When we pulled apart, there were tears in my eyes and I rubbed them away quickly. Looking down at my hands, I asked, “What was that for?”

“For luck,” he whispered.
His hand slid to grasp mine and I squeezed tightly. “You ready?”

Ready to see you get hurt again?
Never.

But then I thought of my sister, trapped in that place with that monster and I knew I would do whatever it took to get her out of there, alive.
No matter what.

I looked up into his eyes, which were watching me intently, and took a deep breath before nodding.
“I’m ready.”