The Sight Seer (11 page)

Chapter Twenty-one

We rode in silence. A few times, I worked up the courage to say something, but I got as far as inhaling deeply and opening my mouth before my stomach clenched in fear and I clammed up. Rafe deserved an explanation for my freak out, but this was too damn hard.

“You don’t have to tell me anything that makes you uncomfortable,” he said after I had opened and closed my mouth
like a fish for the fifth time. “We can talk about something else. Anything you want.”

Except that I didn’t want to talk about anything else.
I was so sick of
not
talking about the elephant in the room that I blurted out, “My mom left us when I was a kid.”

Rafe, for his part, said nothing, but a sympathetic look crossed his face.

“And we don’t really talk about it, me and my dad and my sister, I mean, and I’m sure some professional would say it’s not healthy or whatever but it’s just…hard. You know?” My words trailed off when I realized I was rambling. Feeling my cheeks heat up, I stared down at my hands in my lap, wishing I had just shut up and talked about something else. Like the weather. You can’t go wrong when discussing the weather!

Rafe let out a slow breath.
“I’m sorry,” he said and then winced. “God, I hate when people say those two words and expect them to make something as tragic as this better, and here I am saying them to you.”

“No, it’s alright.
I mean, what else can you say, right?”

He stopped at a red light and looked at me, his expression intense.
“I don’t know. Something, anything, instead of feeling so useless.” He hit the steering wheel for extra emphasis.

Touched that this was bothering him this much, I shook my head.
“It happened a long time ago, Rafe.” I gave him a brief explanation of what had happened that day, when we had realized Mom was gone. I made a face, wondering what he thought of me as he listened to this sob story. “I should have gotten over it by now, right?”

“No!”
His sudden exclamation made me jump. “No,” he repeated in a softer voice. “This is your
mom
, Gabi. You can’t just forget something like this. Or get over it. And anyone who tells you otherwise should go to hell.”

Wow.
No one had ever stood up for us like that. Dad’s side of the family had been cruel about it, insisting Dad forget all about Mom and look for someone new to raise us, as if he were incapable of raising two daughters. And even when he proved them wrong, they still said he should have found a new wife!

And let’s not forget the teachers who insisted Chloe and I see a counselor because we were “damaged.”
Dad had stormed to school, the letters we had been sent home with crumpled in his fist, and told them exactly what he thought of their suggestion. No one had ever suggested we see a counselor again.

Penny had tried a few times to get me to talk about it, but I had always shot her down.
Eventually, she had given up, but she still liked to bring up my trust issues. If Harrison was around, he told her to back off, but I think even he wondered about me. They probably discussed my issues behind my back. I know they did it because they cared, but it still bothered me. I didn’t lash out and rebel like Chloe did, but instead kept it inside. I was a loner by nature, who had just happened to land a best friend for life at the tender age of five. So yes, maybe it was a big deal that I was hanging out with a guy, but this wasn’t what they thought it was. At least, I didn’t think so.

Maybe I should ask?
I mean, I just told him about Mom and he had handled that better than I expected, so maybe he wouldn’t run away screaming when I asked about us. I cleared my throat, wiping my suddenly sweaty palms on my jeans. “Rafe, what are we doing?”

“Huh?”
He looked confused. “We’re driving around.”

“No, I mean us.
The two of us.”

Rafe swallowed hard.
“Um. We’re friends?”

I felt a surge of disappointment.
Of course. We were just two people who hung out and occasionally fought demons together. What had I expected him to say? That we were going out? That he liked me? God, why had I listened to Evan? Of course he had been wrong about Rafe!

Rafe surprised me by pulling the car over in front of a boarded-up and abandoned home.
I blinked, looking around. I didn’t recognize where we were. “What are you doing?”

After turning off the car, he undid his seatbelt and turned so he could look me squarely in the eye.
My heart thumped loudly against my chest and I wondered if he could hear it. “I want to talk.”

“Okay.
” I tried not to squirm nervously.
What
had I gotten myself into?

“You had asked me this back in the mall, if I was using you just for your Sight, and I never got to answer,” Rafe said.
He narrowed his eyes. “The answer is no. That was never my intention. Yes, you offer me something I never dreamed I could have, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to abuse it without any regard to your feelings. I’m not like that, Gabi. I want us to…hang out.” His cheeks flushed adorably. “And, um, do non-demon hunting stuff? If that’s okay with you?”

“But as friends,” I said bluntly.

“Of course!” He looked surprised. “I mean, you just shared something major with me, so obviously you think of me as something more than a mere acquaintance, right?”

“Oh.
Right.” My words sounded wooden and heavy to my ears. Well, now at least I had my answer for Penny, and anyone else who asked! We were friends, nothing more. I leaned my head against the window and sighed.

“Gabi—”

He was cut off by the sound of an animal screeching in pain. I jumped, cracking my head against the doorframe and cursed.

“What the hell?” Rafe asked, leaning over to look out my window.
He was so close I could smell his cologne and it made me dizzy. “Is someone torturing an animal?” He moved even closer, his face inches from mine.

“It sounds like it,” I managed to say,
vaguely wondering if I was breathing on his face and hoping my breath didn’t smell or anything like that. “Maybe we should go check it out?”
              Rafe turned his head, green eyes widening comically when he saw how close our faces were. Just a couple inches closer and he could kiss me. I quickly banished that thought from my brain.
‘Just friends’ don’t kiss, Gabi.
Rafe blinked a few times.

“Uh.
Um. What?” He flushed again and I would have laughed if the animal, maybe a cat, hadn’t cried out again.

“Move,” I told him, reaching for the door handle and letting myself out.

“Wait, Gabi!” He cursed as he followed me. “Maybe you should wait in the car!”

I paused to look at him over my shoulder.
“But you’re the big bad demon hunter. You’ll protect me! You promised!”

He sighed heavily as he flipped open his jacket and pulled out a knife.
“Just stay behind me, alright?”

“What, no sword?”

“Gabi.”
The look he gave me was so serious that I couldn’t help but giggle. “The sword is for
demons
. We don’t know what this is yet.”

“With the way our luck has been going, it’s probably a demon.”

Rafe pulled the knife out of its sheath; it was curved on the end and deadly looking. “Yeah, well, let me see first before I go rushing in, swinging my sword around.” He tucked the sheath back into his inside jacket pocket.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” I asked.
He gave me another look before creeping along the side of the abandoned house, putting a finger to his lips to hush me. I rolled my eyes but followed, walking on tiptoes to humor him. He’d probably make me wait in the car if I accidentally stepped on a tree branch.

We cautiously crept around the abandoned home.
After years of neglect, it was in dire need of work. Shingles were missing from the roof, and a couple of the beams on the porch had rotted and broken in half. The grass should have been mowed two months ago, and vines were creeping across the walls like long, thin fingers. I itched to stop and pull out some weeds that were growing through cracks in the porch floor, but the animal’s cry quickly brought me back to the present.

Rafe cursed under his breath and I couldn’t help but agree.
Each time the poor thing screamed, my blood froze in my veins. Whoever was doing this, demon or human, needed to be stopped.
Now.

With his body pressed against the side of the house, Rafe slowly inched his head over to look at the backyard.
I joined him, our bodies very close as we scarcely dared to breathe. I wondered if his heart was pounding as hard as mine. I also wondered if mine was racing because I was scared, or because we were pressed against one another.

“What do you see?” he asked, his whispered words caressing my ear like a soft breeze.

What did I see?
I saw someone, a male, with his back to us, an orange kitten cowering in the dirt in front of him. Blood was splattered on the ground and matted in the kitten’s fur. Bile rose in my throat and I clenched my hands into fists. How
dare
he!

“Gabi!”
Rafe’s voice was still soft, but insistent. Snapping to attention, I took a better look at the person. If Rafe was asking me what I saw, it meant the demon hadn’t revealed its true form. Or it wasn’t a demon at all, but a human. A stupid human who liked picking on defenseless animals. Either way, Rafe would put a stop to this.

I squinted, eyeing the person or thing or whatever from head to toe.
He looked human, but I was only seeing him from behind. Just because he didn’t have a tail or horns didn’t mean he wasn’t actually a demon. The first one had had the forked tongue, after all. And the pointed ears. I couldn’t even see this guy’s ears; they were covered with dirty-blonde hair.

“Um,” I said, knowing Rafe was waiting for an answer.
“I can’t tell.”

He let out a sigh of impatience.
“Alright. Stay here, no matter what. I’ll approach him and—”

At that moment the guy raised his right hand, which had been hidden in his sleeve, and for a brief second I saw a claw.
Like a lobster claw, but extra pointy.

“Demon,” I screamed as it
slashed its arm in a downwards arc towards the poor kitten. “Demon, Rafe, kill it!”

Man, I was getting violent.
But it was a
kitten
!

Before I had even finished screaming the first “demon,” Rafe had begun to move, the knife held high as he lunged towards the demon.

Chapter Twenty-two

This was the third time I watched Rafe take on a demon and I was still impressed. You’d think for a tall guy he would be all awkward with his lanky form, but no, Rafe obviously knew what he was doing. He moved fast, using his long legs to cover the distance in record time. He kept his body low and tight, springing forward at the last moment to tackle the demon. They hit the ground hard, but the demon rolled away before Rafe could stab him with the knife. A human would have definitely had the air knocked out of their lungs, but I guess the same rules didn’t apply to demons. This one jumped to its feet and I recoiled in horror when I got my first look at its face.

There were freaking
barnacles
on its face. Like it was a fish monster or an extra from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Did these things choose their features, or were they summoned into bodies of the caster’s choosing? Although why anyone would think there was anything appealing about this body was beyond me. This one was definitely the grossest of the three, especially when it opened its mouth to show off its seaweed-green teeth.

“Ugh,” I said.

Rafe made a face, agreeing with me.
“It smells even worse than it looks.”

The demon hissed, but I ignored it as I asked, “Does it smell like fish?”

“Dead fish.”

“Ugh,” I repeated.

“Yep.” Rafe nodded. “I’m never going to be able to eat tuna salad again after this.”

A growl rumbled in Fishface’s chest as it propelled itself towards Rafe.
He easily sidestepped it, taunting, “Is that all?” Taking a few steps backwards, he waved for the demon to follow. While the demon rushed towards him, Rafe spared the briefest of seconds to lock eyes with me before sending a meaningful look towards the kitten.

He wanted me to get the kitten out of there.
Fine, I could do that. Creeping forward at a crouch, so Fishface wouldn’t see me and think I was sneaking up on it, I dropped to my knees in front of the kitten, careful to avoid getting any blood on my jeans. The poor thing was shaking badly, all of its fur standing up in fear. I could see the pain in its light green eyes and another wave of anger crashed over me.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said in a soft voice, slowly reaching for it.
Its front left paw had a horrible gash on it that I knew I had to bandage up before it bled to death. The kitten hissed when my fingers got close to its body, but it was too weak to put up much of a fight. I cradled it in my arms, sighing when I realized I was ruining yet another piece of clothing. “Oh well,” I told the cat, “this isn’t my favorite jacket, anyway.”

That cat mewed in response, which I took as a good sign.
I mean, if it had enough strength to agree with me about my clothes, then it must be okay, right?

Standing there with the shaking cat in my arms, I watched the fight progress.
Rafe seemed to have it under control; he slashed at Fishface’s side with his knife and it went down hard as green goo splashed out on the overgrown grass. Taking a step back, Rafe drew the shining silver crescent moon in the air, snatching his sword and lining it up to behead the demon.

In desperation,
the demon slashed upwards with its claw-hand and sliced Rafe on his left bicep. He cried out as the claw cut through his jacket, shirt, and skin, and a scarlet-colored waterfall began pouring down his arm and onto the grass.

I gasped.
Maybe I was stupid, thinking Rafe was invincible, but he hadn’t had any trouble with the other two demons, so I figured he was pretty safe when it came to fighting. He was skilled and they weren’t. There would never be any
red
blood spilled during these battles.

I clutch
ed the kitten, feeling and hearing a low humming noise vibrate deep within my chest. My feet moved on their own, taking me closer to both the fight and the danger. My eyes were locked on Rafe, who clutched his left arm with his right hand. He had dropped his sword when he had been hit, but I barely noticed. All I could see was the wound, and the blood that was flowing. I had to do something. I had to help him. I had to make it stop—

“Stay back, Gabi!” he shouted, snapping me out of my trance.
I blinked, recoiling when I realized how close I had strayed to the battle and Fishface. If it turned, it could easily slash me with its horrible claw.

And of course it was turning towards me.

“Crap,” I said, taking a step backwards and nearly tripping over my own two stupid feet. The cat made a sound of surprise, and I realized I was holding it way too tight. Frozen with fear, all I could do was gape as the sea-demon flashed its seaweed teeth in a triumphant grin as it prepared to dissect me with its lobster claw. I opened my mouth to scream, but then I heard Rafe yell, “Gabi,
move
, unless you want to be covered in demon blood again!”

That
got my feet moving again. Sprinting backwards at record speed, I watched as Rafe leapt into the air and swung with all his might. His sword went cleanly through the demon’s neck and blood erupted from the wound like a volcano. Luckily, I was out of the splash zone and avoided being hit this time. I mean, I still had kitten blood on me, but it was about time I didn’t get splashed with green goo.

Fishface’s body fell over with a low thud and Rafe and I stared at one another.
We were both breathing hard, even though I hadn’t done any actual fighting, and I was certain my heart was racing even faster than Rafe’s.

He shoved his sword into the ground and put his hand over the wound, grimacing.
Even from where I stood, I could see the pain in his eyes.

“Rafe—”

“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “Take the cat and wait in the car, Gabi. I won’t be long.”

“The hell I will!” I shouted, surprising us both.
“You’re hurt!”

“Gabi—”

“Let me help, Rafe.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile. “I don’t even care about getting goo on me. Let me help you. Please.”

Closing his eyes briefly, he nodded.
“Fine. Come on.” We walked back to the car, where he opened the truck and pulled out an old jacket. Taking his knife, he cut off two pieces. One we wound around the kitten’s paw, who mewed in protest, while the other was tied tightly around Rafe’s upper arm. He winced but otherwise didn’t say anything.

“It doesn’t look too deep,” I told him.
“You probably won’t even need stitches.” Like I knew what the hell I was talking about.

“I have stuff at my apartment.
Bandages and antiseptic,” he said, grabbing a body bag from the trunk. He paused. “Unless you want me to take you home?”

The words came out in a breathless rush.
“No, I’m going with you.” Yeah, I had just agreed to go home with him.

Of course, we were just friends, so I had nothing to worry about.
Besides, we were both covered in blood and one of us was wounded. What, exactly, did I think we were going to do?

Wrapping the kitten up with the rest of Rafe’s jacket, I deposited it on the front passenger seat before returning to the backyard.
Rafe wouldn’t let me touch the body, but he did let me hold the body bag open, lucky me. I tried not to look too closely as he shoved the body in roughly. Thanks to all those horror movies I watched with Chloe, I wasn’t squeamish, but this was still kind of gross. It was even worse when Rafe awkwardly hauled the body back to the car with one arm, leaving me alone with the head. I was tempted to give it a good kick right in the middle of its forehead, but with my luck, it would come back to life and bite my foot or something. So instead I hummed under my breath, staring up at the sky until Rafe came back with a regular garbage bag. He shoved the head in and wound his body up, going through the motions of a baseball pitcher as he tossed the head towards the car like a baseball. It flew through the air awkwardly, hitting the side of his car with a muffled thump.

I laughed.
I couldn’t help it. I was practically buzzing with adrenaline, and I needed to do something before I went crazy. Rafe shot me a sideways look before grinning himself. “Hey, come here for a sec. This part is cool.”

I curiously watched as he pulled a matchbox from his pocket.
Taking a match out, he gestured for me to hold the box while he struck the match. It flared a brilliant blue and I gasped. “What—?” Rafe tossed the match onto the ground and I rushed forward with a shriek, foot raised to stomp out the flames before the pyromaniac succeeded in burning the entire block down.

“No!” he said, stopping me with his good arm, which he wrapped around my waist.
I froze in shock, unable to breathe. It didn’t help that he didn’t let me go, either. I looked up at Rafe, but he clucked his tongue and said, “
Watch
, Gabi.”

With a great effort, I lowered my eyes away from his face to study the fire that I was sure was blazing by now.
Instead, it was contained, flickering only on the spots of grass the demon blood had splattered. It burned blue-white and was completely odorless and smokeless. After a couple of minutes, it died out on its own, leaving behind the untouched too-tall grass.

“Wow,” I breathed, looking up at Rafe, who was
still
holding me. I think he finally realized, because he dropped his hand, muttering an apology under his breath. I felt a stab of disappointment, but I ignored it as I concentrated on the lingering warmth of his touch on my hip. It had felt nice, dammit. Giving my head a little shake, I asked, “Was that magic?”

“Yep,” he said, not quite looking at me as he deposited the matchbox back into his pocket.
“It’s designed to destroy all traces of blood. Even human blood.” He was right; looking closely, I noticed the blood from both him and the kitten was gone as well.

“And here I thought you had scrubbed my backyard clean the night we met,” I teased.

Picking up his sword, Rafe muttered a word and it shimmered briefly before vanishing as easily as it had appeared. The crescent moon symbol reappeared for half a second before disappearing as well. I wondered if it was a seal of some sort that appeared and disappeared whenever the sword was summoned? Gee, look at me, acting like I knew how magic worked!

I opened my mouth to pester Rafe with more questions, but he was looking a little pale as he held his wounded arm again.
“Are you going to be able to drive?” I asked instead.

“I’m fine,” he said.
“Come on, let’s go.”

He doesn’t look fine
, I thought worriedly as I trudged after him.