“That lying bastard.”Liv was still fuming, even after we’d arrived at our remote cabin in Montana. Yaak, Montana, was literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but trees, wide open land, and moose. Just like I liked it. It lacked people and grocery stores and even cell service, but it was a safe haven for hiding out. Rumor had it that the CIA had cabins along the Yaak River for when they needed to disappear. Liv and I bought a tiny cabin last year in case we ever needed to bug out. We’d paid cash for it and no one from the society knew about it, including Maz.
We’d told Maz we were going on vacation to San Diego and then we decided to hunker down in the cabin on the river while I dried Luka out and he starved to death. From what the book said, it would be a rough few days for me as well, but then it would be done and I wouldn’t need to worry about it anymore.
I couldn’t kill him outright, he was too human to me, but I could withhold his meals. After seeing the picture of the woman he murdered and knowing he’d lied to me, I just couldn’t do this anymore; it was eating at my soul to live this double life.
“This is the right thing,” I told Liv as we pulled my Beetle up to the river house.
In the winter, this place was blanketed in snow, but right now, in late summer, it was perfect.
“I missed this place,” Liv sighed, as I directed my car into the little overhang carport.
“We should take the canoe out, do some fishing before you really start feeling it,” Liv offered.
I nodded, the knot in my stomach tightening with each passing moment. I was going to starve Luka Drake to death.
Every time I felt bad about it, I pulled up the mental image of the redheaded girl he’d killed.
Raped.
Fresh hot anger rushed through me and I nodded, grabbing my duffle bag as Liv and I stepped onto the porch.
I’d turned my phone off so that it couldn’t be tracked. Even though there was no cell service here on the Yaak, I wasn’t taking any chances.
The sun was going to set in a few hours, so Liv and I made quick work of readying the house for our stay. I turned on the well pump, dusted off the furniture, and opened the windows while Liv started up the refrigerator and transferred the contents of our cooler into it.
After that, we pulled the old canoe out and brushed off the spider webs.
“We haven’t been up here in ages. Feels good to get away.” Liv smiled as she looked out at the river and our sad little dock that was in desperate need of repair. One post had sunken in, making it crooked, and I felt bad for not taking better care of this place. Montana was God’s country; everywhere I looked I saw his perfect design. Liv and I had gotten this place for a hundred grand. It had a composting toilet, well, and solar electricity. The perfect off-grid house.
I sighed, letting the nature and fresh air settle into my bones and give me strength for the task ahead.
The sun was still out, warming us with its rays as we launched the canoe out onto the water. We paddled as we passed other houses, waving at some of the older neighbors who didn’t know who we were.
I’d convinced Liv to buy this place after my twentieth kill. Hunters had a shelf life of about twenty-five to thirty years. Finn was pushing it. In fact, now that I thought about it, he was the oldest hunter in our Spokane branch, save for Maz. All that violence and danger eventually wore you down or took you out. It was actually Sterling who told me it was a well-known thing that hunters had little boltholes they stashed away for the day they would retire … if they weren’t killed in action. By then your face was well known in the supernatural community and so you just faded away into some small town where no one knew your past.
This place would do until Liv and I could upgrade to our private island.
“Do you think he can sense where you are?” Liv asked suddenly.
My eyes widened. “Luka?” I could feel him just under my skin, like a thought waiting to pop into my head. “No. No way.” I wasn’t actually sure, but that idea horrified me.
Liv relaxed a little, slowing her paddling as the water’s stream carried our canoe. “And it will take three days to kill him?”
I mean, I didn’t exactly know, but hadn’t he said he needed to feed every two days to survive?
“I think so,” I added.
Liv looked happier at that, nodding curtly. “In four days, this will be a distant memory, and we can go back to hunting and never speak of this again.”
That was one thing we both agreed on. “Ever. Ever. Again,” I agreed.
We fished for an hour, catching two large trout before heading back to hunker in the cabin. Looking over at my bestie, I thanked God for her. I wouldn’t be able to go through this with anyone else.
That night, we ate a good dinner of grilled lemon-seasoned trout and potatoes. After playing two hours of Scrabble, we said goodnight and I tucked into bed in my little room at the far end of our small cabin.
As my eyes were drifting off to sleep, I felt him.
‘Aspen? I thought you were coming over? Everything okay?’
