The Faerie Slayer
Chapter 22

Kade's Pov

The sun had still not risen when my cellphone had gone off. I groaned into my pillow and stirred awake, grasping ahold of the damn thing. The time displayed was five am. I had gotten but a few hours of sleep thus far.

The called ID was Candice. I debated not answering, but for her to be calling at such as hour meant that this could be urgent and so I hit the button that said; answer.

"Hello?" My voice was still waking up. It was deep and hardly audible.

"They found him!" The urgency of her yelp was like a pump of adrenaline. I sat up immediately," he's dead!"

"Who's dead?" I struggled to search my mind for the answer.

"Mike! The bounty guys, the humans! They shot him!"

I was up on my feet within a second. Cellphone balancing between my shoulder and my ear, I wiggled into my shifting gear.

"Where are you now?"

"Behind Deadwood Creek, by the old willow tree closest to the reserve."

I knew exactly where that was," I'll be there in ten minutes."

I darted outside of my room, down the stairs and shifted as soon as I was outside. I scurried as fast as I could to the creek, mentally praying over and over again that it wasn't true, that Mike was not dead. If he were true and Mike had been killed by a mortal, then it would all be my fault.

When I arrived to the scene of the old willow, Candice was not within sight at first. Forming a circle around the center of something I could not make out were my father, Luce Atlas, Paul, Jacob and a few others I recognized as family members of Mike and Candice. I heard the heart broken cries of someone nearby. They surrounded Candice as she sobbed into Mike's limp body. He was still in the form of a wolf, his brown shaggy fur was stained with the blood of the seeping bullet that had hit his head. Someone from the circle had tried to pick Candice up but she wouldn't budge. She'd always loved her little cousin as if he were her sibling. I felt tormented that this could have happened because of me. I had shifted a few meters back behind a tree. Father had stepped out of the circle when he'd seen me.

"What are you doing here?" He began and I found that hard to understand how that could he his first question. He knew of my history with Candice, how could he think that I would not come?

"What happened?" I answered with instead.

"One of the bounty hunters, they found Mike drinking out of the Creek about half an hour ago."

"Did he know about your new rules? About not shifting?"

"He's a newly shifted wolf, he can't always control himself."

The loudening screams of Candices cries brought us both to silence. She buried her face further into the nape of her cousin now blood stained as well.

"We have to get rid of the body soon," father began again," before the killer returns with the police."

"She needs more time."

"We're running out of it. They are most likely on their way here."

I had no solution to cough up. There was not a world where I would abandon Candice and leave her to fend for herself in the face or mortals. I knew I was the only hope that we had to get her to get up and walk away.

"I'll talk to her-" I began a stride towards her but fathers strong grip on my elbow stopped me. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"This has nothing to do with you. You need to go find that trow."

"I've got that handled. It's under control."

"Oh? Then you just have a packet of faerie dust to present me with."

I sighed out loud. He was persistent with insisting that I should leave this scene and resume my quest for the faerie. But I could not just leave Candice like this, especially when all of this had been triggered by my foolish shift in Boerum Hill.

"I'll leave in a second," I said," but I'm taking her with me."

"Kade-" father began to roar but I had already stepped past him and entered the circle where Candice lie, crying hopelessly. I crouched to her head level and struggled to meet her gaze. I lifted my hands to place them on her shoulder. She made no indication to move.

"Candice," I whispered as softly as I could muster. It wasn't until she lifted her chin to look into my eyes with her teary ones that I had been flooded with the gust of guilt that made me want to collapse," you need to get up. We have to leave, soon."

She began to shake her head," Mike-"

"The others will take care of his body. The cops are on their way, we have to do this now."

"How did this happen?" Her skin had gone red and her cheeks were inflated. I had never seen her in such a state. She was always so put together. This would truly be the thing to make her undone. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up. At the realization of my intent, her arms thrusted against me forcefully as she cried into my shoulders. I knew we had no more time to waste. I placed another arm under her legs and carried her outside of the circle where the eyes of a dozen witnesses haunted me. As I exited the crowd, I was met with my father who made an attempt to speak over the cries of Candice.

"Take her home, make sure she's safe in bed, reassure her that we'll take her for her cousin."

I nodded and proceeded forward.

When I reached the front entrance of Candices home, the lights were still on and the doors were wide open. It was as if she had ran out with no thought to spare as soon as she had heard the news. She had fell asleep in my arms somewhere along the way. The sun had made its appearance now. I still hadn't thought of what I would say to her when she was awake. How do I tell her that I was sorry and that I wished that I could have gone back in time and somehow controlled myself better? It was unlike me, in fact, it was never a possibility for me to do something so reckless. Somewhere along the timeline of meeting or rather more, discovering Aubrette, I had grown to become flawed, weakened by my desires to the point that it had cost someone their life.

During my hurried walk to Candice's home, I'd also thought a lot about the half faerie girl and how now that she was not under the protection of the trow, she was prone to another attack from the faerie world. It would be soon enough that the Queen of the Fey would discover that her trow had been killed. He must report to her every now and then. When she comes to the conclusion that Caleb is no more, there is no telling what she would do next. Perhaps she would send more warriors to retrieve the girl. I knew I had to put Candice to bed soon and go back to Aubrette's home. The thought riddled me with a guilt that self consumed me like lava. How could I call myself a decent man after I had cost Candice her cousin only to run back to the girl who's fault it was?

I could not blame Aubrette however. With all that it took, I could not even begin to be upset with her. She had no part in this, she knew nothing of the dirty lies of the shadow worlds that exist amongst her. She was the only true innocent one.

I headed inside of Candices home now and up the stairs where I was hit with the sense of deja vu at the familiarly of the place. Everything was just as I had remembered it. Colours everyone, curtains of coral, plush blue carpets and floral bedspread where I laid her down as if she were made of glass. She opened her eyes slowly when her head hit the pillow. They had gone bloodshot, bulging out from her sockets as if she's been crying for days.

"Kade," her voice was silken. I kneeled at her bedside and placed my palms to cup her small face. She gripped at my wrist," they murdered Mike."

"I know."

"How could they? He's just a kid, he's harmless."

"I know."

"I want to find the mortal that did it, and I want to take away someone that they love."

"I'm so sorry," I mumbled into her skin, stifling the urge to let the tears puddle down my face.

"It's not your fault."

But it is. There was no one else to put the blame on but me. In every perspective and outlook this was all my doing.

"Where is Mike now?" She asked.

"They're bringing him back here. Everything is being handled,"I said," you need to sleep."

"How can you mention sleep?"

I didn't say anything. Instead I walked to her windows and facilitated the black-out curtains so that there were hardly any light left in the room. I knew I had to get back to Aubrette, but how could I pull myself away from Candice when she was in a state like this. Part of me knew that during the time I spent here, Aubrette could have already been glamoured out of her bedroom and into the bottom of Deadwook Creek.

What a haunted place it was, I suddenly thought.

"Lay by me," Candice pled," please."

I could not say no. If this was how I could begin pay my debt then I would do it with no hesitation. The burden of the murder would forever hold its weight on my shoulders. I can only begin to retrace immediately. I took my boots off and tossed them so that they were not within sight. I did the same with hers and laid on her side. I had slept on this bed a thousand times and it always smelled the same, just like Candice's gardenia scented soaps and perfume. I wrapped my arms around her chest and pulled her close. She seemed to melt into my grip and it hurt to know that I would soon have to leave. Just as soon as she's drifted, she'd wake to find me gone.

The reality was, I could not afford another second to my mortal mind nor my wolf without reassurance that Aubrette was still safe. So I laid there for what seemed to be hours, caught between the web of a spider, corned by torment, contrition and despair.

When Candice had gone still and silent, it was my time to begin to inch away. I slowly removed my arms from atop of her hot skin and made my greatest effort to be as silent as I could. My footsteps were muffled by the solid floorboards and I suddenly regretted how far I'd tossed my shoes. I looked up to face her dresser where there was a picture frame of Candice and her mother. Not long ago, that picture frame homed an image of her and I.

I slid my boots back on and made it a foot away from the door when I heard her sorrowed whisper," where are you going?"

I turned back although I wished that I could have just ran out," I have some things to take care of."

"Kade, I need you."

The urgency of her forlorn tone was dreadful. I wanted to crawl back into her bed and hold her tight. I wanted to apologize until I was blue in the face and tell her that if it were up to me, that I'd trade places with Mike in a heart beat.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," as soon as I could see for myself that Aubrette was safe," I promise."

She sat up," what's more important then this?"

I could not answer. I had no words. She knew me well enough to decipher that there was nothing truly more important to me then being there for those whom I truly love.

In this given moment, I somehow must love Aubrette more.

"There's someone else," she breathed out with horrific realization. One again, I answered her with silence. In my mind I prayed that she would drop it. I could not lie to her, I had simply done enough damage. Through the murk of the dark I could see her eyes shine," I should have known. You seemed so different, so distant."

"Candice, stop-"

"You haven't been yourself, you've been so-cold. I can hardly recognize you, even when you're this close."

"Go back to bed," I said with a tone so blank it must have concluded the conversation," we'll talk tomorrow."

"Who is she?" she pressed," does she know about our late nights?"

"No."

Whilst shaking her head side to side, she said,"What kind of person have you turned into?"

I spared her one last glance. A long one, in hopes of delivering the message to her that I did not want to leave. That it pained me to walk away, and that there was a greater risk on the line. I turned to walk away and I was suddenly convinced that there had never been a more shameful strut to have existed. In the background I could hear her calling out to me. The last words I was able to make out before her cries were an echo of jumbles were," I can't do this without you."

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