Dean rattles off something about a funeral, even though we won’t get his body back.
I should have known this was going to happen. They’re in over their heads hunting supes in the city. They’re getting reckless. Greedy. Desperate.
Growing up, I tried to convince Ethan to drop out with me. By the time I was fifteen and decided to leave the hunt, he was already too far into his training.
He looked up to our father and older brother. In his eyes, they were the badasses who took on scary monsters. He never saw our father as a parental figure, because after our mother died, that was my job. I tried to look after him, to care about him as a mother would do, but I was just a kid myself. I was still grieving her death.
So when I tried to talk him out of hunting, he wouldn’t listen. He was on their side. At least, that used to be the case. If only I had tried harder to convince him to leave, he might still be alive.
“Farrah!”
Dean’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
“Dad knows you moved to New York City. He wants you out.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Then help us.”
“You know I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Both.
I sigh loudly, and my brother answers with his own frustrated sigh.
“Look, just, watch your back. These monsters… they’re onto us—”
“And how does it feel? To be hunted? To be—”
“I’m not doing this with you, Farrah. Monsters don’t belong in our world. They’re killers. Evil.”
“And we’re not? We kill these creatures who’ve done nothing but defend themselves.”
Pressure builds behind my eyes and my throat aches. I hate that I always get emotional when trying to do what’s right. I should be stronger in my convictions.
“These supernatural beings have been here a lot longer than humans so I’m pretty surewe’rethe ones who don’t belong here.”
The call is silent, and I pull the phone away to see if my brother hung up on me. He hasn’t. He just hates arguing with me. He believeshe’s right.
I know I am.
“I’ll text you the funeral details.”
With that, Dean hangs up, and I let out a sob, sinking to the floor and burying my head in my hands.
Chapter 4 – Farrah
I’ve lost count with the number of times I’ve typed out a text to Locheran then immediately deleted it, so I didn’t accidentally hit send.
It’s been about two months since I drunkenly kissed him. I’ve been in hiding, too embarrassed to see him. I haven’t seen Evangeline either. After finding out about Ethan, I had texted her saying I needed to go back Upstate for a family thing and that I’d be gone for a few days. She watched Potato for me, which made me feel even worse for lying to her.
I couldn’t tell her that my brother was one of the hunters killed. Xander and his gargoyle soldiers are the ones who responded after finding out the sphinx was kidnapped. One of them no doubt dealt the deadly blow.
Evangeline also knew Ethan when we were kids, but it’s been years since she’d seen him—at least twenty. She would have insisted on coming with me to his funeral, but she’s mated to a gargoyle king now. Her magic is awakening, and my father and older brother would have immediately sensed her supernatural side.
They would have killed her or kidnapped her to get to Xander.
