Chapter Eight #2
He also couldn’t help wondering just how bad things must’ve gotten for her.
He doubted she’d gotten much to eat or enough rest over the past few weeks.
A shawarma and a smoothie, not to mention the opportunity to sit out in the open and enjoy the fair, must feel like a luxury for her right now.
Sure, she’d been on the run for a little over a month, but that was more than enough time for anyone.
Hadn’t it only been one night he’d almost died at Carmen’s hands?
That incident alone had plagued him for a long time.
He couldn’t imagine how many times Nora must’ve looked death in the face.
But it didn’t necessarily make her innocent, did it?
For all he knew, she could simply be facing retribution for an actual murder.
Her story wasn’t unbelievable per se, but there was always the possibility that she wasn’t telling the truth—or at least the entirety of it.
Hadn’t she hesitated to tell him what she was in the first place?
If he hadn’t pried further, he might never have found out about the murder.
Murder. Manslaughter. Whatever the case, someone was dead, and this hybrid was tied to it somehow. His own personal distrust aside, it wasn’t a good look for her.
“Perhaps it’s time for me to do the questioning,” he said.
She blinked at him. “Well, I’m forty-two, recently single, and I used to work at a fast-food restaurant, although now I’m pretty sure I’m out of a job.” She gave a lighthearted grin. “Anything else you’d like to know about me?”
“Yes.” He straightened in his seat, taking his elbows off the table. “I’d like to know what you’d do if the hunter stopped coming after you. Or if we somehow managed to take him down.”
His words seemed to take her by surprise. “What?”
“With the hunter out of the way, what would you do?”
She frowned at him for a moment, as if trying to figure out why he’d asked her that. “I mean...I’m not sure, honestly.”
He stared into those golden eyes, ignoring the gentle flutter in his ribcage. “You don’t think you’d return home?”
Alarm flickered across her face then. She shook her head a little too hard, her grip tightening on her smoothie. “No. I can’t go back. Didn’t you hear what I said before? My coven is trying to kill me. What’s to say they won’t send another hunter after me?”
“You did leave a dead body in your wake,” he pointed out.
The look she shot him was one of incredulity.
Henry gave a nasal sigh. It was somewhat weird, feeling this much distrust and desire toward a single person, but the way he was starting to see it, one was simply a function of the other.
He wouldn’t feel so much distrust toward this woman if he didn’t want her so badly he could barely sit still.
The more desire he felt, the more his instincts tried to remind him of what had happened the last time he’d gotten involved with and trusted someone like her.
On the flipside, it seemed, the more reasons he had not to trust this woman, the more he found himself drawn to her. It really made no sense. Then again, not much did when it came to desire. The only certainty was that he wanted her. The why was difficult to pinpoint.
“Henry...” she began, that alarmed look growing more prominent. “I didn’t—”
“Kill a witch?” He cocked his head to one side. “Because I remember you saying that you did. Which is it, exactly? Did you do it, or didn’t you?”
“I didn’t!” she snapped.
At the same time, there was a series of squeals as several bulbs outside a nearby tent exploded.
As people rushed out of the way of the falling shards, speculating among themselves about a possible power surge, Nora got a look of guilt on her face, and Henry realized she must’ve destroyed those bulbs without even meaning to.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” she said in a quieter voice.
“Or at least, I wouldn’t kill anyone. I’ve lived my entire life being feared or resented—even attacked—by other supernaturals, for the ‘crime’ of being a hybrid.
I’ve had more than enough reason to hurt a lot of people, and I didn’t.
I wouldn’t kill one of my coven members. ”
She tore her gaze away, looking like she was close to tears.
Guilt spread through Henry’s insides, but he tried to ignore it.
He was running with the facts he was aware of.
Not to mention this was a life-and-death situation he and Nora were in.
It made perfect sense for him to be distrustful of her.
His jaw clenched. If she was innocent, he’d be doing the right thing, making sure that the hunter never harmed a hair on her head. If not...then he’d be protecting a murderer, at least until she no longer needed his protection and turned on him. That thought sent a chill down his spine.
This shouldn’t be such a difficult situation, but it was.
It was bad enough that he was dealing with a hybrid woman after his experience with the last one.
Even worse, danger loomed over her head—and, by extension, his.
But most of all, he couldn’t be sure whether she was as innocent as she would have him believe.
The more he thought about it, the more complicated it seemed.
“It’s your word against an entire coven’s,” he said. “You have to try to look at things from my point of view here.”
She shook her head. “Henry, I don’t think you’re—”
Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off completely by a shrill whistle. A split second later, something whizzed between them, embedding itself into the table. Both Henry and Nora jerked back, leaping to their feet in surprise.
“What the hell?” he cried.
He stared at the object that had just narrowly missed him. It was a blade, he realized, some sort of runic markings lining the curved edge protruding from the table. The handle was covered in dark leather. The runes glowed slightly, and Henry took another step backward.
“No,” he heard Nora say.
When he looked up, her eyes were wide with horror, her fingers trembling at her sides. Henry didn’t bother asking why. Right at that moment, more shrieks filled the air. They turned in the direction of the sound, and he saw the source of the commotion.
Striding toward them, was the medieval-looking man from earlier.
He still wore the hood over his head, and in his hand was a blade identical to the one stuck in the table.
As Henry watched, the hunter stretched out his free hand, and a low hum carried into the air.
Almost immediately, the blade extricated itself from the table, zipping back through the air into its owner’s waiting palm.
“He’s found me,” Nora gasped, a quaver in her tone.
The next thing Henry knew, he’d stepped in front of her, watching as the hunter approached. He’d seen them this time, alright. And Henry doubted he’d be leaving without a fight this time.
The hunter came to a halt a few feet away, his head lowered so Henry couldn’t see much of his face. In his hands, those blades thrummed slightly.
“My name is Ergog,” he declared. “And you are in my way. Move, or I will be forced to remove you.”