Chapter 16 Kate
KATE
When I got to his room, Stuart was sitting on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. He looked tired—the visions always left him drained—but when he lifted his head, his eyes were clear. Present. More like the Stuart I’d married than he’d been in months.
“Hey,” I said softly. “We need to talk.”
Something flickered across his face—wariness, maybe, or resignation. These days, “we need to talk” never led anywhere good.
“What’s wrong?”
I sat down beside him, close enough that our shoulders almost touched.
Almost.
For half a second, I thought for sure I would cry. Then I drew a breath, reminded myself that I was a bad-ass Demon Hunter, and took the plunge.
“Marcus found something on Antonio’s USB drive. Something about Eric. About this thing that happened twenty years ago in Rome.”
He tilted his head. “I’m going to assume this isn’t a happy story?”
“Kind of happy,” I said with a grimace. “I mean, I’m not dead at the end.”
For a moment, his features softened, and he put his hand on mine. “That is a happy ending.”
I drew in a breath, almost scared to exhale. This was the closest I’d been emotionally to this man in months, and I just sat there, knowing we needed to get down to the meeting, but terrified of missing some shift in Stuart that would push him back to the real and present side of the equation.
“Tell me,” he said, and I nodded like an eager puppy, thrilled to have him sticking his toe back into what had become our strange family’s occupation.
I gave him the short version, of course. My optimism was only going so far. I filled him in on Samarek. The ritual. Saving my life—and then Allie coincidentally trapping the demon years later.
Stuart listened without interrupting, his face growing more closed with each revelation. When I finished, the silence stretched between us like a wire pulled too tight.
“So Eric made a deal with a demon to save your life,” he finally said. “And now that demon wants revenge on Allie.”
“Well, actually, yeah. That’s the gist of it.”
“And you’re just finding this out now. Twenty years later.”
“Stuart, please.”
“How many more secrets, Kate?” His voice was quiet, but I heard the edge underneath. “How many more things about your past with Eric are going to come crawling out of the woodwork?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” He stood, moving away from me, and the distance felt like more than just physical space. “I’m not angry. I’m just...tired. Tired of being the one who’s always three steps behind. Tired of finding out that the life we built together has all these trap doors I didn’t know existed.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him that I hadn’t known either, that Eric’s secrets weren’t my secrets. But the truth was more complicated than that, and we both knew it.
“We’re calling a meeting,” I said instead. “We need to figure out what we’re dealing with and how to protect Allie.”
Stuart nodded slowly. “I’ll be there.”
A knock at the door interrupted us, and I was more grateful than I should have been. Fran poked her head in, her expression apologetic. “Sorry to bother you, but Timmy’s asking for his mom. He won’t settle.”
“I’ll come.” I stood, then hesitated. I wanted to reach for Stuart’s hand, but I was afraid he’d just leave me hanging.
“Get some rest if you can,” I said to him instead.
“Meeting’s in fifteen minutes.” Then I stepped out of the room without looking back, a strange sense of finality settling over me.
I forced myself to shake it off. Told myself that Stuart and I would get through this. Except I wasn’t sure that we would. And there was some small, traitorous part of me that wasn’t sad or scared. It was just quietly waiting to see where all of this would land.
I found Timmy in his room, sitting up in bed with Boo Bear clutched against his chest. His dark hair was sticking up in all directions, and his lower lip had that telltale wobble that preceded either tears or a tantrum.
“Hey, baby.” I scooped him up and settled into the rocking chair by the window, tucking him against me. “What’s wrong? Bad dream?”
He shook his head, burying his face in my neck.
“Use your words, Timmy.”
“Drew pictures,” he mumbled.
“You drew pictures? That’s great. You’re such a good little artist.”
“Miss Fran thinks they’re scary.”
“She said that?”
He shook his head. “But she thinks so.”
I frowned, wishing I’d read a few more books on child psychology. Or, actually, any books.
Now, I glanced toward the small desk in the corner, where a few sheets of paper were scattered. Even from here, I could see they were more pictures of rectangles, except these were different. Dark. Heavy red and black crayon pressed hard into the paper.
“Can I see?”
He shook his head harder. “You won’t like them either.”
“I like everything you make,” I said. “How about you try to sleep, and we’ll look at them together in the morning?”
“Okay.” He yawned, already relaxing against me. “Mommy?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Is Daddy sad?”
My heart clenched. “No, baby. Daddy’s just tired.”
“Does Daddy need more hugs?”
God. Kids noticed everything.
“Maybe,” I said, blinking back the sting in my eyes. “I think Daddy would love more hugs.”
“I give him hugs tomorrow,” Timmy said solemnly. “Big ones.”
“That sounds perfect, baby.”
Timmy seemed to accept that, his breathing evening out as sleep pulled him under. I held him for a while longer, rocking gently, watching the moonlight shift across his floor.
When I finally tucked him back into bed, I paused at the desk for a closer look at his drawings.
Red scribbles. Black shapes. A rectangle that seemed to have eyes and looked dark. Angry.
I grimaced, hoping this wasn’t some psychological price he was paying because of the tension between me and Stuart.
That, however, wasn’t something I could deal with now. So, I stepped away from the drawings, then left the room, pulling the door mostly closed behind me. I had a meeting to get to, and an ancient demon to worry about.
The drawings could wait.
I was on my way to find Allie when I heard voices coming from Laura’s office. The door was cracked open, and I probably should have kept walking, but Laura’s tone made me pause.
“I just think you need to be careful,” she was saying. “New relationships are tricky even without adding stakes and demons into the mix.”
“I know.” Mindy hesitated. “It’s just... He’s really nice, you know? And cute. And he actually listens when you talk to him.”
I leaned against the wall, shameless. Eavesdropping is a vital parenting skill. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t have teenagers.
Besides, Laura would tell me everything after the meeting, anyway.
“Those are good qualities,” Laura said. “But you barely know Zane.”
“I know. That’s why I’m asking. I mean—”
She cut herself off, and for a moment, silence just hung there. “It’s just, well, I’m not supposed to say, but it’s not me who likes him. It’s Allie.”
My heart stuttered.
Allie?
Allie and Zane?
Were there signs? Had I missed signs?
How could I have missed signs?
I mean, sure, she’d pulled him aside after a sparring session last week, but I assumed she was correcting his form. And, yes, they talked at meals, but she talked with everyone.
Still, he had come out of his shell around her. More so than he had with most of the others, except Mindy and Ren.
How on earth had I missed this?
I backed away from the door before they could catch me, my mind racing. Allie had Jared. Jared, who loved her. Jared, who’d been patient and steady and everything she needed.
Jared, whom I’d finally come to terms with being an ageless vampire who was dating my only daughter. Was she really going to throw him away for the new kid with the charming smile?
Except of course, she was. She was seventeen. Seventeen-year-olds made spectacularly bad romantic decisions.
Okay, that wasn’t fair. I’d never regretted Eric. Not even after I learned all his secrets. Pissed, yes. Regretful, no.
Still, a hundred-year age difference raised a lot of red flags. I think any mom—or marriage counselor—would agree with that. But moving from Jared to Zane...?
Time for a mother-daughter talk. The meeting could wait five minutes. Some things were more important than apocalyptic revenge demons.
Okay, that probably wasn’t true, but I pretended it was as I hurried to the training room where I found Allie running through forms with her stiletto. She moved like weaponized water—fluid, precise, deadly. My daughter. The girl who’d closed the gates of Hell.
The girl who was apparently on the verge of making what we moms like to call a Bad Life Choice.
I paused in the doorway, watching her. She was so much like Eric that sometimes it made my chest ache. The same intensity. The same single-minded focus. The same inability to do anything halfway.
Hopefully, her silence about her Zane crush wasn’t a sign that she’d also inherited her father’s annoying habit of keeping secrets he shouldn’t keep.
“Allie. Got a minute?”
She finished her sequence and turned, barely winded. Her cheeks were flushed, her ponytail coming loose, and she looked so young I truly felt my heart squeeze.
Seventeen. How could my baby be seventeen?
I closed the door behind me, then moved to sit on the padded bench. “I wanted to have a mom/daughter talk.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Okaaaay. That’s not ominous at all.”
I put my hand on her arm, supportive yet firm. “It’s about Zane.”
Something flickered across her face—surprise, maybe that I had a clue about her crush—but I pressed on before I could lose my nerve.
“Look, I get it,” I said. “He’s new, he’s charming, he’s good-looking. And at your age, it’s natural to notice that.”
Her brow was furrowed, but she didn’t interrupt.
I took that as a good sign, drew another breath, then dove back in.
“The thing is, I know I was a little leery at first, but you have something real with Jared. Something most people never find. And I don’t want you to throw that away because you’re curious about the shiny new option. ”
Her eyes went wide, and her cheeks bloomed pink. “Um, Mom? I mean, what is this?”
“It’s just that I know I wasn’t always supportive of you and Jared. The age difference, the vampire thing—it’s a lot. But you know that’s changed, right? I’ve watched him with you, and I know he loves you. Really loves you. The kind of love that lasts.”
She started to speak, but I held up a finger. “No, let me finish. I just want to say that before you do anything you can’t take back, you need to think about what you’d be giving up.”
She just gaped at me, her brow furrowed like it does when she’s doing math.
Then her lips twitched, and her eyes got huge. “Oh. My. God. Mom.”
She let the words hang as she laughed, and while I wanted to tell her that breaking Jared’s heart was not funny, at the same time, I began to think that I’d gotten something wildly, terribly wrong.
“Mom,” she said slowly, in the tone of someone savoring every word. “I don’t have a crush on Zane.”
“Okaaaay,” I said, slowly. “Then why did Mindy tell Laura you did?”
“Um, hello? Because she has a crush on him.”
“But she said you did.”
“Well, duh. She probably wanted to feel out Aunt Laura about what she thinks of Zane.” Allie was grinning now, clearly enjoying my discomfort far more than any loving daughter should.
“Oh.” It took a second. Then...“Oh! So when I saw you two talking after training—”
“I was telling him to stop pulling his punches. He’s good, but he’s too careful. It’s going to get him killed.” She tilted her head, studying me with an expression that was uncomfortably knowing. “Did you really think I’d dump Jared?”
“No! I just thought maybe you were...confused. Or tempted. Or being an idiot.”
“Mom.” She put her hand on my arm, mimicking my earlier gesture with devastating accuracy. “I love Jared. Like, really love him. The kind of love that lasts.” She grinned.
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“I really am.”
I pressed my hand to my forehead. “I’m an idiot.”
“Little bit.” But her voice was fond. “For the record, I already know everything you said about Jared. But it’s nice to hear you say it, too. I’ll tell him you’re a fan. Because you’re right. He is good for me.”
“He really is,” I admitted.
“I know it’s not easy for you,” she said, her voice turning serious.
And sounding much older than seventeen. “The age thing, the vampire thing, all of it. So thanks. For trying. But, you know, maybe don’t say anything to Daddy.
I mean, he knows, but he probably doesn’t know. I’ll tell him. Just not quite yet.”
I laughed. “Fair enough,” I said, standing and then pulling her up and into a hug. With a sigh, I breathed in the familiar scent of her shampoo and the faint metallic tang of the weapons she’d been handling. My baby girl, pretty much all grown up.
“I love you,” I said, brushing away a tear. “Even when I’m being an oblivious idiot.”
“Love you too, Mom.” She hugged me back, then pulled away with a smirk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go tell Mindy that her secret crush isn’t as secret as she thinks.”
“Not yet. Tell her we’re having a meeting. Library. Now.”
“Oh.” The teenager vanished, replaced by the Hunter. “What happened?”
“Nothing good,” I said. “See you there. And hurry.”
She didn’t ask questions. She just nodded once and left, her footsteps quick and purposeful.
I stood alone in the training room, surrounded by weapons and mirrors and the lingering warmth of my daughter’s laughter.
And in a few minutes, I was going to have to tell her that an ancient demon was supremely pissed off and probably wanted her dead.