Jasper liked that Cullen was relaxed with him, even though he didn’t understand why the monster felt that way.Cullen was safe, though.Jasper would make sure of that.
Once they were in the monster district, no one looked twice at Cullen, who was visibly a monster.The same couldn’t be said for Jasper.He looked human, so of course, people turned to look at him as soon as he parked his car.He didn’t really care.He just wanted to find answers and get out of here.
That was easier said than done.
The problems started almost as soon as he got out of the car.They didn’t even leave the parking lot before someone yelled at them.
“We don’t want your kind here.”
Jasper sighed and turned.A massive monster was coming toward them.Jasper wasn’t scared—he’d fought monsters bigger than this guy in his hunter days—but he wanted to avoid getting too much attention.There was already enough of it on him as it was.
“Hey,” Cullen said to the monster when he reached them.
The monster ignored him.His full attention was on Jasper.“We don’t want hunters here,” he said.
“I’m not a hunter.I’m a mechanic,” Jasper told him.
The monster’s eyes narrowed.“I don’t care what you do now.I know you’re a hunter.”
Jasper sighed.“I’m just looking for information.You might’ve heard of my boyfriend, Archie.He owns a PI agency.”
The monster hesitated, then shook his head.“I don’t care who you’re fucking.You’re a hunter, and you need to leave.”
“He can go anywhere he wants, just like any of us,” Cullen said, stepping forward again.
Jasper caught his arm and pulled him back.He didn’t want or need Cullen to fight his battles.There was an easy way to end this conversation, but Jasper wasn’t ready to come out as a monster yet.He needed more information before he could.Fighting with this monster in full daylight when he wasn’t a hunter and didn’t want to fight anyone wouldn’t help.
“Fine.We’re going,” he said, hoping to placate the monster.
“We don’t have to,” Cullen insisted.
But Jasper was done.He’d known this wouldn’t be easy, and he wasn’t giving up, not completely, but for now, this was enough.
He didn’t need to know anything about his past.He wanted to, but not desperately enough to get in a fight.“I’ll try again another time,” he told Cullen.
“It’s not fair,” Cullen muttered.
Jasper wanted to tell him that life wasn’t fair, but Cullen already knew that life was unfair.He didn’t need Jasper to explain that to him.
* * * *
ARCHIE LOOKED AROUNDthe neighborhood as Braith tried to get one of the Hendersons’ neighbors to talk to him.He’d never been on this particular street before, but he’d been around, so he’d known what to expect.It was a residential neighborhood just like so many in the city.The houses were small but well cared for, and there had been kids playing on the street when he and Braith had arrived.It was a nice place to raise children, and Finn should have been safe here.
“We’re just trying to find Finn,” Braith was saying.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about him,” the woman at the door said, still glancing around as if she expected someone to ask her what she was doing.
Maybe she was.There was no way to know what had happened to Finn, and while Archie doubted the neighbors had anything to do with it, he could be wrong.
What the woman said caught Archie’s attention, though.“Do you know something about someone else?”he asked.
The woman paled.Her skin was already paper white, so Jasper hadn’t thought that possible.It was impressive.She looked around again, but nothing had changed.The street was still mostly empty, with just a cat walking down the sidewalk.They could hear the sound of people talking in the house next door, but no one was paying attention to them.
The woman still leaned closer, her green hair sliding forward with the movement.It looked like whatever she was about to say was a secret, and Archie’s heart raced as he waited to hear the words.
“Finn isn’t the first boy to disappear in the area,” she said softly.“Two others are gone.”
Archie and Braith exchanged a glance.They hadn’t expected that.Mr.and Mrs.Henderson hadn’t said anything about it, maybe because they didn’t know.Wasn’t that something they’d be aware of, though?Jasper felt that most of the neighborhood would know about the two missing kids, and it would have been important for the Hendersons to tell them.It might be a coincidence, but Archie doubted it.
