Redemption (Night Marchers #2) Written by: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (11 page)

Kao's lips turn up so slightly that if I
hadn't been paying attention I could have missed his reaction. "I
realize that. However, I do not know your name." He says
simply.

After all of the things I have been through,
I didn't think I could be surprised. For some reason, though, I am.
It may sound stupid, but I didn't know if Kao would even know
English. I mean, he's been a Night Marcher for centuries, would he
have learned English there? Or did he learn it in his previous
human life? I don't know much about this islands’ history, but I
thought that most natives used to speak only the Hawaiian language.
I don't have much time to think about it when he speaks again.

"So, are you going to tell me your name?" Kao
asks slyly.

"No." I say bluntly.

"Her name is Emma and my name is Kaylee."

I groan and I have to hold back from elbowing
her in the ribs like I want to right now. I turn to her raising an
eyebrow trying to silently ask her, 'WTF?'

She whispers low, "What? He's kind of cute.
So what if he knows our names."

Kao clears his throat then takes a step
forward, which I counter with a step back. I have to literally
force Kaylee back by yanking her shoulder. Kao seems to accept the
space I'm declaring. "Emma." He lets my name roll off his tongue. I
can't help but feel like there was a little slitheriness added to
his voice, like a snake. "Nice to meet you Kaylee." He gives Kaylee
a sharp smile. For a recently turned human, he has quite a white
smile. He looks like the Cheshire cat with his sly expression.

"Nice to meet you too, and what pray tell is
your name?" She asks with a little hoarseness in her voice.

I roll my eyes knowing what she's thinking
when her voice goes like that. She's thinking fair game. It's sick
just knowing that she could be even remotely attractive to Kao. Not
that Kao is unattractive; I mean he's the identical image of Kai,
who is miles far from having been hit with the ugly stick. I give
Kao the once over and have to force myself not to sigh thinking
about Kai. His medium length dark locks, skin the color of bronze
caramel and lean muscles showing off his strong build. I have to
shake my head to remind myself that this is not my Kai. This man
does not have my Kai's stormy grey eyes that I could lose myself
in. No, Kao has pitch black, soulless eyes!

Having caught me in the act of staring, he
answers looking directly at me, "My name is Kao."

Kaylee adds more syrup to her voice and draws
his attention back to her by saying, "Kao, that's a unique
name."

I cut off her flirting by demanding to Kao,
"Enough with the pleasantries,
what
are you doing here?"

He raises his eyebrows in question and
returns, "I was about to ask you the same. What are
you
doing here?"

Frustration and nervous tension has my every
nerve heightened. I look to Kaylee and basically give her the stare
down that says, 'don't you dare say anything.' Then I look at him
with faked confidence and say, "We were just going for a swim when
we stumbled upon this small little cave. Kaylee and I were just
admiring the stalagmites and stalactites. I was just trying to
explain the difference between the two. How, stalactites hang
'tight' from the ceiling and stalagmites 'might' be a danger if you
step on one."

Kaylee whispers under her breath, "Great,
making me look like the dumb blonde who doesn't know the
difference."

"Well you don't." I whisper back and barely
catch her rolling her eyes at me before I turn back to look at
Kao.

He looks like he's contemplating something,
more than likely whether he believes my story or not. He speaks up,
"It is quite breathtaking in here."

"Yes." I say tightly.

"So, have you two beautiful young ladies had
the opportunity to tour more of the cave?" He asks raising his
eyebrows while staring me down.

I answer quickly so Kaylee doesn't get a
chance. "No. We are both a bit claustrophobic and this small room
is about all we could manage." My heart starts pounding in my chest
as I pray that he believes me.

"Oh, too bad. I was going to offer you two a
tour. There are some amazing caverns with larger stalactites
further in." He says coolly all the while still staring me down
with intensity as if he's trying to tell if I'm lying or not.

I grab onto Kaylee's hand, squeezing it
tight. I'm trying to give her the code signal to play along or stay
quiet. Thankfully she chooses the latter. "Thank you for the offer,
but we really must be going. Our friends will be missing us if we
don't return soon." I say trying to play cool too.

"You must be the ones camping near here. You
know, it's not always safe in this area at night." This time he
gives me a full on creepy smile.

I shiver. Him saying that to me, like it's
some kind of intimate inside joke makes me sick. I try to play it
off as to not upset him but still say through tight lips, "Yes, I
know."

He moves to the side out of the path to the
waterfall then gestures with his hand. "Well then, it was very nice
to meet you Kaylee and Emma." He lingers too long on my name. I
push Kaylee in front of me so that she can be the first to get out
of the cave.

She gives Kao a big smile as she walks by and
says in her sweetest southern drawl, "Nice to meet you too,
Kao."

Yuck! I shake off her disgusting flirting and
follow her giving Kao a slight nod. When Kaylee is at the drop down
near the back of the waterfall I hear Kao say only loud enough for
me to hear, "I will see you around."

Prickly goose bumps rise up on my skin and I
hurry to fall in step with Kaylee who is letting herself down back
into the water. We swim quickly under water and emerge on the other
side of the waterfall in broad daylight. I squint knowing it's
going to take a few minutes for my night vision to kick off.

Both Kaylee and I remain silent as we swim to
the waters edge, get out and head back to the campsite. It isn't
until the two of us are changed and in dry clothes that Kaylee
says, "So what the heck was your problem?"

I immediately go on defense, "What was
my
problem? What was
your
problem? Ms. swooning love
struck teenager."

"What? Are you blind? He was freaking hot
Emma. Can you really blame me?" She folds her arms over her chest
glaring at me.

I really can't, after all, I am immensely
attracted to Kai which since they are identical twins, means that
Kao must look attractive as well. "No, but you don't know him. He
is not a good person Kaylee."

"How do you know?" She challenges me.

"Do you not
remember
why we are here
right now?" I huff out a loud breath of exasperation when she gives
me a blank look. "Seriously?" I ask but her facial expression still
states that she doesn't get it. "Him! Kao!
He's
the reason
Kaylee that I am here right now.
He
tried to
kill
me!"

I'm utterly amazed when Kaylee finally gets
that look on her face that says a light bulb went off in her head.
I calm down realizing that she just didn't put two and two
together. I don't blame her, this whole thing has been utterly
nuts.

"Sorry Emma. I guess I didn't realize that's
who that was back there. I figured you would be screaming or
passing out or something else as equally fright worthy." She starts
fidgeting with the hem of her shirt contemplating how to word her
next sentence. "I...I was just thinking...I mean, what if he
couldn't help it?" She furrows her eyebrows and looks like she
wants to say more but she's stopped by the look on my face.

"Couldn't
help
it? Couldn't
help
trying to
kill
me...twice? Or forcing Kai to
take his place?" Kaylee flinches as I yell out the last part.

"No, I'm not trying to say...I mean, what I
meant was...What if it's part of the curse. Like, how do you know
that if you saw Kai today as a Night Marcher that he wouldn't try
to kill you?"

"Why are you even trying to defend
that...that demon? Just because you think someone's cute, doesn't
mean they are a good person." I say meanly.

"Emma, that's not fair. I was just asking. I
don't know if he's good or bad. I don't know him. I am certainly
not stupid and would not just go off someone's looks to judge who
they are. You know me better than that."

The look on her face sends instant guilt
daggers directly into my heart. I am being horrible to my best
friend right now. Why? Because I'm scared. In all fairness Kaylee
did have a point. I don't know if Kai would try to kill me if I
looked into his eyes. I would hope not, but who knows? "Kaylee, I'm
sorry. I'm redirecting my fear and anger in this situation to you
and it's wrong."

"I forgive you." She says then she gives me a
hug. "I know that this is an emotional roller coaster. Emma, I
trust you and if you say that guy is bad news, I believe it. I just
wish I had more info."

Now that I think of it, I hadn't told Kaylee
everything. "To be honest, I don't know if the evil acts Kao did
were prompted by the curse. But, I do know that Kai told me that he
was evil before he turned. Kao murdered Kai's fiancé, Heleya"

Kaylee gasps and looks at me wide eyed.
"Heleya! Didn't he call you that when he first saw you?"

"Yes. He must think I look like her. Kai even
said that I strongly resemble her. Kao killed her on the eve of
their wedding. A spear through the stomach." I watch Kaylee
cringe.

"That's sick. I'm so sorry Emma. That is
weird though, the thing about you resembling Kai's dead fiancé."
She says bluntly.

"Yeah, it is kind of weird. Although, there
isn't much about any of this that is normal." I say off
handedly.

"True." Kaylee says.

The loud growling of my stomach thankfully
interrupts our conversation. As if on cue, Kaylee's stomach rumbles
too which makes us both laugh. "I guess we should find something to
eat." I say.

Kaylee nods and we both head over to scavenge
for some food amongst Tristan's supplies. We find two Coke's and a
package of Nutter Butter's and decide that it is enough to tide us
over until Tristan get's back.

Thinking of Tristan sends my mind into a
frenzy because I have no idea how he's going to react to what we
found today. "Hey, what do you think we should tell Tristan? I mean
about what we saw today?" I ask Kaylee.

"Hmmm. Honestly, I don't know. He's going to
freak out, regardless. Not to mention, he most likely will make us
move somewhere tonight since we ran into Kao only yards from our
campsite." She says between bites of her Nutter Butter.

I hadn't really thought about that. It's
true, if he is the one that's staying in that cave, we’re probably
not safe here. I think back to that room and what looked like blood
splatter on the floor and wall. Even if that's not his room, some
psycho could be living in that cave. "Yeah, do you think we should
tell him?" I ask.

"Um, do you have a gun?" Kaylee
questions.

"No. Why?" I say raising my eyebrows
wondering where she's going with that.

"Just wondering, because if you are packing
then I don't see a problem with spending the night out here. But,
if you aren't I don't feel like being murdered in my sleep."

"True and no, I don't have a gun. Last I
checked minors still aren't allowed to get concealed handgun
licenses. Anyhow, I agree. I don't think it's safe. I just wonder
how much we should tell Tristan. He already is freaking out and
ready to ship me back to Texas. I don't need to add more fuel to
the fire." I say.

Kaylee thinks about it for a minute then
answers. "Well, if you don't want to tell him everything, maybe you
can just tell him about the cave. Not about Kao. That way it's not
like the immediate threat is concerning you."

"Good idea. I like the way your devious
little mind thinks sometimes." I say jokingly.

Kaylee mock pretends that she's offended by
putting her hand up to her chest. "Devious? This coming from the
girl who asked me if she should tell her boyfriend or not."

"Tell her boyfriend what?" I hear Tristan
call out from behind me.

My face goes beat red and I give Kaylee a
deer caught in the headlights look. I try to will my face to
un-flush so that it doesn't give me away, then I turn around to
face him. My heart flutters a bit seeing him. He must have gone
home to get a change of clothes and he's totally rocking the plaid
shirt and jeans woodsman look. "Um...Kaylee and I, we found
something."

"Like what?" He asks concerned.

I look to Kaylee for help, but she just stays
silent. "A cave behind the waterfall. We didn't mean to find it,
but it was there." I re-hash the story of us finding the burial
cave and then the creepy room. I omitted the part about Kao
though.

"Are you girls all right? That had to have
been scary. Not to mention dangerous." He says first starting out
concerned but ending sternly. "You weren't kidding when you said
the two of you have a knack for getting in trouble. I have been
coming to this waterfall for years and never found that cave. It
takes you girls less than twenty four hours."

I feel a little like Lucy and Kaylee is
Ethel. Actually come to think of it, it's probably the other way
around. Anyhow, Tristan is giving us the 'Ricky' talk but without
the accent. It's actually kind of endearing. "Yeah that's us,
trouble makers." I say jokingly.

"Well, I'm glad you two are okay. You need to
be careful though. You can't just be wandering through caves and
stuff. The Night Marchers aren't the only thing scary on this
island." He says.

We both nod in unison.

“So were you able to find anything out
today?” I ask, changing the direction of the conversation.

Tristan shakes his head. “No, sadly. Well,
nothing I didn’t already know anyway. The book was old and in
Pidgin, but from what I can translate, it's basically a generic
history book with nothing more than advise about not looking Night
Marchers in the eyes. That we've already learned first
handedly.”