Chapter Three #2
Jasper gestured toward the other side of the room. “Cullen here decided to take a swan dive on the pavement.”
Archie blinked. “Cullen?”
Sure enough, when he turned, he found Cullen sitting on one of the beds, looking sheepish. There was a bandage on his nose and one on his left hand. Cullen raised it to wave, then winced and dropped it. “Hi,” he said.
Archie had no idea what was happening. “Hi.”
“We’re both okay,” Jasper reassured Archie. “We were in the monster district when two monsters approached us. I wanted to get out of there, but Cullen decided to face plant instead.”
“Were you attacked?” Archie needed to know whose ass he needed to kick if that was the case.
“Only by the asphalt.”
Cullen groaned. “It’s not funny.”
“It is a little now that we’re safe. You should’ve seen the way you fell.”
“I’m fine with never seeing it,” Cullen grumbled. “Feeling it was enough.”
Jasper snorted and shook his head. “Anyway. Cullen decided he wanted to fight the monsters but fell. I grabbed him and dragged him into the car. He got stitches in his hand, but he’ll be okay.”
“And you’re fine, too?” Jasper asked.
“Not a scratch. The cops got here because one of the nurses told them that Cullen was attacked, and I was with him. They didn’t realize I was a monster.
” He glanced at Cullen, who was now distracted by Braith’s presence.
“They asked me if I needed help with him. They recognized me as a hunter, and I think they believed I was trying to grab Cullen, and he fought back or something.”
Archie took Jasper’s hand. “But you aren’t. You’re not a hunter.”
“Not anymore, but it’s what people know me as. I wonder if they’ll ever stop.”
Maybe they would once they found out that Jasper was a monster, but Archie didn’t think that Jasper was ready for people to be aware of that.
Maybe he’d never be. It didn’t matter to Archie.
The only thing he wanted was for Jasper to be happy, and if he felt he could be by keeping what he was a secret, then Archie would support him.
* * * *
JASPER brEATHED A SIGH of relief when he walked into his apartment.
His day had been nothing like he’d expected, and he was relieved to be able to sit down and breathe.
Of course, he still had to deal with his little problem who’d followed him in through the door, looking around like he had earlier in the day.
“Sit down,” Jasper ordered Cullen.
Cullen looked like he wanted to argue, but one glare from Archie was enough to get him to obey.
He flopped down on the couch, and Jasper turned in the direction of the kitchen, from which he could hear voices coming.
He peeked in, not surprised to see Corey and Kerry there.
They each had a soda can in their hand, and they smiled at Jasper when they saw him, but Jasper immediately noticed that something was up.
He grimaced. “What happened now?”
“Do you really want to know?” Kerry asked.
“No, but something tells me I should.”
Corey and Kerry looked at each other. They were siblings, and they’d been training together since they were old enough to walk. They could communicate without words in a way that made Jasper jealous.
“I had a visitor at work today,” Corey eventually said. “One of the few friends I still have with the hunters.”
“I don’t want to talk about the hunters,” Jasper whined. “In fact, it’s the last thing I want to do right now.”
“You still should know that a lot of hunters are unhappy with the revelation that, well, that you’re not your father’s son,” Kerry warned.
Jasper wasn’t surprised. He was curious, though. “How did my father take it?”
Corey shrugged. “He’s forbidden anyone from talking about it, apparently. Some hunters are vocal, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found you at work to let you know exactly what they think about you being a monster. You need to be careful.”
“I’m always careful,” Jasper promised.
Corey frowned and cocked his head. “Is that blood?”
Jasper looked down to see that he did, in fact, have blood on his shirt. He groaned and tried to rub it off, but of course, it didn’t move. “Yeah, it’s blood,” he confirmed. “Not mine.”
“You need to be more specific than that.”
“Cullen found me earlier. He’s in the living room with Archie, by the way.”
Corey blinked. “That doesn’t tell us what happened.”
“He’s been homeless, and I told him that he could stay with us for a few days. He was with me when two monsters decided to come for me, and he tried to intervene.”
Kerry looked impressed. “That guy doesn’t have any training, does he?”
“I don’t know if you can consider growing up with Kester as a father training,” Jasper told her.
“He didn’t have to step in, and it was a bit ridiculous, but his heart is in the right place.
I need to find someone to keep an eye on him, just in case his father changes his mind about him, but I thought that for a few days, he could stay here if it’s okay with you. ”
Corey and Kerry looked at each other, and Corey shrugged. “Sure, why not? As long as he doesn’t start trouble.”
“I think it’s more that trouble might find him, but I’ll deal with it if it happens. I really think we need to stick together.”
“I can’t say I disagree,” Kerry said. “And having someone like him on our side might come in handy.”
Jasper wasn’t sure about that, but again, Cullen’s heart was in the right place.
He hadn’t done anything to deserve what had happened to him.
He couldn’t help who he was and who his father was, and he didn’t deserve to be homeless and hunted just because of that.
There wasn’t much that Jasper could do about Kester, but he could give Cullen a safe place to stay for a few days until he talked to Braith.
Besides, he felt like someone needed to keep an eye on Cullen.
It would be too easy for him to hurt himself again.
“Is there anything we should do about the hunters?” Corey asked as Jasper turned to go back to the living room.
Jasper paused. As much as he wanted to say that they should ignore the hunters and focus on their lives, it wouldn’t be the best idea.
The hunters wouldn’t ignore them, or rather, they wouldn’t ignore him.
They couldn’t. He was a monster, one of the beings they’d been raised and trained to deal with.
At the same time, he’d been one of them for decades, first as a trainee and then as a hunter.
He’d given hunters orders, had led them during raids and attacks.
Knowing some of them, he understood why they were unhappy.
They probably couldn’t believe that they’d taken orders from a monster.
Part of Jasper felt smug at the thought that he’d bothered them that way, but another part was worried.
He wouldn’t be surprised if some of them decided to take things into their own hands and look for him, which was the last thing he needed while he was trying to find out more about his birth parents.
He couldn’t hide in his apartment, though.
He had to go to work, and he hadn’t given up on finding out more about his biological family.
He was going to have to deal with whatever happened, no matter if it came from monsters or hunters.
Luckily for him, he wouldn’t have to deal with all of that on his own.
He had Corey and Kerry, and of course, Archie.
He was sure that Braith would step in in a heartbeat if he had to.
It wasn’t much, but these were the people Jasper loved and who loved him.
As bad as the situation was, it could have been much worse.