His to Rescue

1

Jules

I stare out the window of the bus. The fields are giving way to the fringes of a city. Large buildings, all dark at this time of the night, streets with only a few lights, and nobody walking around. It’s strange and a little creepy.

This is the last night bus in this direction. I was lucky to even make it.

The previous bus was running late, or I would have had to wait five hours until the next bus. I hadn’t been looking forward to spending the night at a bus station in the middle of nowhere.

But I made it and now I’m nearly at my destination.

It feels a little too familiar.

Travelling in the middle of the night, hiding on busses with just a bag and not much else.

Running away, again, from a hunter, again, trying to keep myself and others safe, again.

I’d hoped to get away from this life, not get back to it. Definitely not under these circumstances.

When the hunter went after Liam, I knew that there was no way I could stay any longer. And when we found Liam, hurt like that, his foot all mangled…

I knew that I had to protect them from more danger. I knew that I had to come up with a plan and the only way I could do that was by going away in the meantime. Get the hunter to follow me instead of staying around Sean, Tyler, Liam and Jace.

I hope they’re okay. I so hope that they’re okay. I wouldn’t know what to do if something happened to them while I was gone. Not anymore.

Liam was hurt enough, I can’t let anything else happen to them, to any of them.

The bus slows down as it turns onto a lane in front of a train station. One I recognise, even if it’s just barely.

It’s the same station I arrived at seven years ago.

The same station I arrived at when I went to meet Zoey for the first time, the night after I attacked Tyler.

And this time it’s because a hunter attacked someone close to me and I need him to stop. I need to stop the hunter, because I can’t keep doing this.

I stand up, pulling my bag onto my back, and then I go to the back door.

The bus stops and I hold up my hand to the driver as I swipe my card to check out and pay for the trip.

“Night.” The driver holds up his hand in greeting too and then starts packing his things. He’s probably done for the night too.

I step out of the bus and look around, trying to remember what Zoey told me about her meeting me here.

“Jules!” A female voice calls out for me, and I turn to the sound.

Zoey is standing under a partially covered path between the main buildings of the station and the bus stops. Her stance is strong and she has a slight smile on her face, though I can also see the worry in her eyes.

Next to her is a guy, about my height, though, even under his thick coat, I can see that he’s got a lot more muscle on him than I do. When he looks up to me, I realise that he’s not a vampire, like Zoey and me, but he’s also not human.

I go over to them and Zoey takes me in her arms, pulling me close.

“Good to see you again. And relatively unharmed too.” Zoey lets go of me, smiling more, then she turns to the guy next to her. “This is Kai. He’s a mage and with our coven. He’s going to help with taking that hunter down once and for all, focusing on the parts that vampires can’t handle as easily.”

I nod to Kai. “Thanks for helping out.”

“Of course.” He shrugs a little and then looks up at Zoey. “Least I can do after the way these guys have helped me out before.”

He pulls up a shoulder and the hood he was wearing falls back and reveals his black hair in dreads and pulled to the back. He looks strong and pretty intimidating, definitely more intimidating than me.

“Okay. Introductions done. Let’s get home.” Zoey starts walking and we follow her down the side of the building to a car park at the back. “Jules, anything new since we last spoke?”

I shrug. “Not really. I messaged Sean for a bit. He and Tyler found out I was gone pretty quickly. And I told Sean that he wouldn’t be able to reach me. That I had to do this on my own, for their safety.”

“Right.” Zoey’s voice is sombre. “Can’t be easy leaving your mate behind like that.”

“I had to.” I sigh, not liking to think about it. “I don’t want him all wrapped up in all this shit. It’s hard enough for him to really ‘get’ what me being a vampire means, but I don’t want to get him involved with the bad parts of it all. It’s just…” I shake my head.

“You left your mate behind? Near a hunter?” Kai sounds surprised, a little on edge.

“I had to. It’s safer if he’s not with me right now. And he’s in good hands. There are people there looking out for him. People I trust.”

Like Tyler and Jace and Liam, even though Liam isn’t much use right now, with his foot and all… Which is all my fault anyway.

Yay, me. I’m such a great friend.

Zoey opens the door of a car and then waits until we’re all inside. I’m sitting in the back as Zoey and Kai sit in the front.

As she drives off, I know I need to ask something else of her, something else I need to take care of. Because Liam getting attacked is still my responsibility, my fault. If I hadn’t been there and he hadn’t been around me all weekend, the hunter wouldn’t have gone after him.

“Zoey?” I look at her in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah?” She glances at me for a moment and then focuses on the road again.

“My friend, Liam, the hunter attacked him. I…” I stare at my hands. “I need to make sure he lives somewhere safe, somewhere people can protect him. Somewhere where hunters won’t come. It’s my fault he’s…” I shake my head, not sure how to go on with that sentence.

“It’s not your fault.” Zoey’s voice has an edge to it. “The hunter chose to attack him.”

“For being my friend.” I raise my voice. She’s doesn’t get it. Nobody gets it. If it wasn’t for me…

“Because the hunter wanted to.” Her voice has a tone of finality to it. “He attacked your friend because he wanted to. The hunter could have done a hundred things to get you to come after him, but he chose this. Like he chose to hurt you and Tyler seven years ago.”

Zoey navigates the streets easily, her voice softer now. “But we can probably figure something out for your friend. Just… I don’t think it’s a good idea to focus on that tonight. I think we all need sleep before we come up with a plan. No matter how much you want to get moving right now.”

I don’t know what to answer to that. I’m tired, but I also feel guilty when I’m not actively doing something to resolve this situation. So, instead, I stay quiet, looking out the window.

Zoey turns onto a small street down the side of a big building and parks in the parking lot at the back. “We’re here.”

“Jules.” Kai’s voice is careful as he looks my way. “I promise that we’ll help. In any way that we can.”

I nod. I just feel so useless and so stupid sitting around and not doing much.

We get out of the car, and I look up at the building. It reminds me of where Sean lives. Only, this place isn’t an old factory, but looks like an old school.

“Welcome to our coven house.” Zoey smiles a little at me. “We’ve got quite a few people all packed in here. All vampires or donors.”

She starts walking and we follow her to a door at the back of the building. It’s a heavy steel door and I’m not sure if that was originally there or if they put it in for a reason.

I eye Kai. If everyone living here are all donors or vampires, then why does he live here too?

“I’m also a donor.” He shrugs a little. “You want to crash in the living room or in my room?”

“I’d take him up on that offer,” Zoey calls out from in front of us. “The people here really come in at all hours of the day or night so I can’t promise anything about having a good night’s rest if you sleep on one of the couches in the living room.”

When we reach a large hallway, Zoey stops, looking at us.

“Okay, a very quick tour. Stairs up lead to the bedrooms.” She turns. “Kitchen and dining room on the right. Both pretty big. Living room and play area on the left. And there is a workout area in the basement.”

Like I thought, the inside of the building betrays that this used to be a school before.

The high ceilings, the way the rooms are all divided up, the layout of the hallways. There are even jackets on hooks down the wall in the hallway to the kitchen.

I can imagine that it’s easy to house a whole group of people in a building like this, giving everyone their own space while also keeping a community together.

“I’m on the first floor, first door on your right, room number 106. And I’m sorry to cut this short and everything, but I need to get to bed. I’ve got an early morning shift. I’ll be back early afternoon. But I think that Kai can help you out before then.” She walks onto the stairs. “Night.”

“Night.” I nod at her and then look around the place.

“Do you want to take a look at the kitchen or something? Or do you want to sleep?” Kai is standing next to me, patiently waiting.

“Some food, maybe?” I hadn’t actually had dinner before everything went down, and I’ve not had anything to eat since.

“Good. Let’s see who’s there and how much of a mess they’ve made.” He shrugs, smiling a little. “Follow me.”

I don’t know why, but being in this place feels good.

It’s calming, somehow, even though I’m totally wound too tightly on the inside.

I need to do things, I need to be places. But I also know that I need to take care of myself and others, and that means that I need to get something to eat and then sleep, because I need to be able to make decisions tomorrow.

A lot of decisions.

***

Kai’s room is on the top floor of the building.

It’s obvious that this didn’t used to be a classroom, with the sloped roof and the really low sides of the room and everything. But the big windows make it light, not oppressive, and it feels cosy.

Especially since Kai seems to have collected all sorts of things in his room. I didn’t realise mages were such slobs.

“Sorry about the mess.” Kai shrugs a little. “I didn’t expect company and I’ve been working really hard on a couple of projects.”

One of which was incense, as far as I can smell. “It’s okay. I’ve lived with a guy for a couple of weeks and he’s not very good at not dumping everything all over the place either.”

Kai stops in the middle of pulling something from a closet. “A guy. Your mate?”

“Yeah.” My voice is quieter than I expect it to be, suddenly so aware of Sean not being here with me.

It hurts. It hurts inside that I’m here and he isn’t. That I’m suddenly so far away from him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” Kai comes over, his eyes sad. Then he dumps the blankets on his bed before bending over and pulling something from under his bed.

“It’s okay. It’s just… It’s strange not having him here. And we’ve only known each other for… just a few weeks, really.” I look out the window, at the dark sky.

There aren’t a lot of stars visible because of the lights from the city, but still enough of them to at least feel somewhat special.

“A few weeks is enough.” Kai comes to stand next to me. “Is he human?”

I nod, swallowing hard.

“He didn’t know about vampires before meeting you?”

I shake my head. “Told him…” I blink. “Two days ago.”

“Two days ago?” Kai’s surprised again.

“Yeah.” I turn around, looking over the room, not letting my eyes settle on anything. “Two days. And I’ve totally ruined his life in those days.”

“I can’t believe that, and I don’t believe that he would feel that way either.” Kai points to a mattress on the floor with some blankets. “Your bed for the night. There are towels in the linen closet in the hallway if you want to take a shower.”

I nod. “Thanks. Thanks so much for doing this.”

“No worries. Hunters are… Yeah. Scum.” He shrugs. “People choosing to hurt and torture others for the rest of their lives. Scum.”

Yeah. Maybe.

But what am I for putting others around me in danger?

I’m just as much scum, no matter what others want me to believe, it’s the truth.

I’m just as much scum.