Chapter Eight
No One Is Free
Gunner slept for days. I sat by his bed and watched him, refusing to believe in what Lucifer had said to me. If Gunner suffered, it was at Lucifer’s hand and not his own. I could not accept that the man I found myself falling in love with could have been a monster, he would never hand his sister over to be beaten and abused as she had been. There is no way, so I pushed Lucifer’s words aside and believed in the only thing that I could now, that Gunner was the man I believed him to be. He was an amazingly unselfish person who had killed out of anger and revenge for that of his sister. We all make mistakes, we all pay for them and unfortunately all of us here paid more than others did. We were right on the edge of salvation and I didn’t know if we would ever be set free, but we would certainly try the best that we could.
I heard the door open behind me and saw Dorin step forward. His eyes looked over Gunner’s body and then settled on me. I stood up and walked to him as he stepped back and I followed him back out of the room.
“We have to hunt tonight.” He said to me as I glanced back at Gunner.
“He is not ready.”
“He won’t be coming, it will just be us.”
“What? We can’t hunt without him.”
Dorin smiled at me. “Do you think we cannot do this without him? He has been like this many times before and the fight goes on Halo.”
“How many?”
“Too many to count.” He said to me and turned to watch Gunner lying still in the bed.
“Fine.” I said to him as I reached out and closed his door as quietly as I could. I then turned as he stared at me.
“What?”
“You need to get over this.”
“Over what?” I said.
“Being all distracted with him.”
I started to walk and he jerked my arm back and I pulled it from him as it angered me.
“I am not distracted.”
“This will get you killed and not a purgatory death, a real death.”
I looked at him as his words started to anger me. “What’s the difference?”
“A real death means you are gone forever, no coming back, no more chances.”
I shook my head and walked back to my room. I slammed the door behind me as his words bothered me almost as much as the ones still lingering in my mind from Lucifer’s lips. I then tried to shake it off as I walked to my closet and stepped in, ready to suit up and kill some beasts. I definitely need a release.
***
“F*cking hold him still!” Finna yelled out as Ari tried his best to wrestle a seemingly small 14 year old boy still. I lowered my goggles and then saw it as it truly was, as the vampire hissed and spit. It suddenly darted and Ari lost hold of him as Finna rolled her eyes with a stake held up above her head.
“Damn it Ari!” she said as they both ran after him and left me alone with Dorin in the street.
“This is it tonight? Just one small vampire?”
“Vampires are not easy.” Dorin said to me as I realized I may have insulted him.
“I didn’t mean it that way, you are a badass of course.” I said as he smiled at me.
“Halo.”
“Movies really have ruined it a tiny bit…”
“Halo.”
I stopped talking and looked him over then continued on. “You know, you are so pretty that you could be a vampire in a movie.”
He then knocked me aside as the vampire came running towards him, Ari came running back around the corner and Finna followed closely behind.
“I told you to hold him still!” Finna yelled and Ari rolled his eyes, trying to ignore her as usual.
I pushed myself up and watched as Dorin took a stronger stance and then pulled a wooden stake from his jacket. He then crouched down as the vampire sped up and lunged at him. Dorin spun as he rose up and rammed the stake straight through the bottom of the vampires chin and up out the top of his head, Ari and Finna stopped running as they saw Dorin do this. He then leaned up and whispered something to the vampire as he jerked it out and slammed it into his heart. The vampire screamed, a terrible sound that rose up and cracked a couple of car windows, it also set off a car alarm and I watched as the vampire started to change into dust, it rose up into the night sky as Dorin stepped back and watched it, almost looking like he was saddened by it.
“Well good catch.” Ari yelled out to him as Dorin nodded and glanced over at me. I just stood there wondering how he could kill his own, but I quickly swallowed it. I mean I had killed “my own” to, when I killed Travis. It was no different to Dorin. Beating heart or not, he was still a Hellhound, as was I.
***
We sat at the table and ate. I tried my best to eat as I watched Ari and Finna eat like …well, they eat like Vikings, all messy and loud, spilling drinks and everything. Dorin eyed both of them as they quieted down. “You need to loosen up Dorin.” Ari said as Finna kissed him on the cheek and they decided to leave us sitting in the large dining room at the table alone. The candles were lined up and down the middle, each one lit and the only source of light in the room. I took a bite and then sat back as I chewed. Not so much hungry as just needing to eat. I know it would seem that we don’t need food, but we do. Food is just something that fuels us as we spend a ton of energy when we hunt. Dorin had nothing on his plate, but he did have a glass filled with what I will pretend is red wine, even though I know it is blood. He took a slow drink and enjoyed it, maybe a bit too much. He placed his glass down and watched me chew. I swallowed and then took a drink from my glass, careful to smell it first. He grinned and leaned back in his chair.
“I would not slip you any blood, if that is what you are thinking.”
“I never said that.”
“But you thought it.”
I took a long drink and downed the wine, quickly searching the table for the bottle. Dorin stood up and grabbed it; he walked to my side and leaned down as I held my glass up to him. The flame from the candles making him even prettier than he already was. He finished pouring the wine and lingered for a moment longer until I took a drink and turned to ignore him. He smiled and set the bottle down next to me as he returned to his seat and picked up his glass. He played with the edge of it with his fingertips until a low note rose up from the glass and I watched him.
“So what did you say to him?” I asked as I set my glass down. He stopped fingering his glass and looked at me.
“To the vampire?”
“Yes, you whispered something to him.”
“I said only the truth to him.”
“What is the truth, Dorin?”
“I told him that no one is free.”
I watched as he took a long drink and he leaned up, almost as if he had more to say to me, but with that came the sound of a chair pulling out from the table against the wooden floor. We both looked to our right as Gunner sat down and leaned up, pouring wine into his glass and saying nothing to either one of us. He took a long drink as my heartbeat sped up in my chest. Once he finished his glass he set it down and filled it again. Dorin leaned back and sighed.
“Feeling better?”
“I will after I drink this bottle.”
“You are welcome.” Dorin said as he stood up and walked out of the room. I knew what he meant, but for some reason Gunner never said thank you to him. I wasn’t even going to guess as to why. He took another drink and then stood up as he looked down the table at me.
“Have you been hunting?”
“I have.”
“What have you killed?”
“Two demons.”
“No vamps yet, huh?”
“We killed one tonight, I mean, Dorin killed one.”
“He is good at that.”
I nodded again as he walked the length of the table and then stopped behind me. I sat there as he leaned down and whispered into my ear.
“Don’t you ever follow me to Hell again, do you understand me?”
I nodded again, as I had no idea why he was being so distant to me. It was hurting more than the idea of yelling at him or even asking him any questions at all. He walked back to the end of the table and grabbed the glass and the bottle of wine. Then he left me there, no “Thank you Halo for coming after me, no I missed you or I am happy to be back.” Nothing, but his stinging words telling me to never follow him again. I then took a drink and ran after him as the anger started to settle in. He was half way up the stairs as I ran into the open room and yelled after him.
“I would do it again!” I said as it echoed through the house. He stopped climbing the large staircase and looked back at me.
“I don’t need your defiance Halo, I need your loyalty.”
I ran up to him and stared him down.
“I am not your dog, to simply take orders and follow you.”
“No, you are a Hound of Hell and a protector of humans.”
“Yes and so are you.”
“I need for you to listen to me.”
I shook my head as he started to take a drink. I knocked the glass from his hand as he looked down and then back up at me. He said nothing and walked away as if I meant nothing and it infuriated me even more. He reached the top of the stairs and started to walk down the long hallway and the fact that I needed to run after him was more of a natural reaction than something I thought about. I ran up behind him and he turned, anger in his eyes as he grabbed me, lifted me up and pushed me against the wall. I stared at him without fear as he held me there and then he shook his head.
“You need to do your job and not worry about me.”
“I can’t.”
“You cannot be a Hellhound and do your job?” he said as he studied my face.
“No, I can be that, but I can’t ignore you. I can’t.”
“Halo.” He said in a low tone as he lowered me to the ground. I stood there and then felt as if my passion took over. I leaned up and wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to kiss him, but he pushed me down and away from him and started to walk away.
“So that is it huh? You f*ck me and now what? You are bored and got what you wanted so you just need me to kill?” I yelled loud enough for it to echo through the house again. He stopped as I stepped forward and stared at his back.
“You know, I thought you were someone else, something else. Not this.” I said as my heart was breaking.
He hesitated and clinched his fists as his side and then walked away from me, leaving me to back up against the wall and slide down. The tears came, but not out of anger, from hurt. A deeper hurt than I thought I could ever feel.
I then pushed myself up and ran down the hallway. I stopped at his door and placed my hand against it and hesitated but the hesitation quickly faded as my need for him took control of me. I pushed the door open and Gunner stood there, by his fireplace staring into the flames. I closed the door behind me and he sighed as I knew I was intruding, I knew he didn’t want me anymore but my heart could not tell my brain to give up on him.
“Gunner.” I said as I walked towards him. He then rushed towards me and grabbed my shoulders. I was not frightened; there was no reason to be. I had shed the remainder of my fear when I allowed myself to admit the truth. The truth was simple. I looked up at him and my eyes remained clouded in tears.
“I love you.”
He looked stunned and stepped back from me. I straightened my shoulders and wiped my eyes.
“I do, I love you more than anything. I would do anything for you.”
“You don’t know what you are saying.”
I shook my head as he walked back to the fireplace and stared into the flames once again. I stepped up behind him and raised my hand, wanting to touch him and so I did. I placed my hand to his back and he closed his eyes.
“Are you going to say anything to me, anything at all?” I asked him and he opened his eyes again and turned to me.
“Leave.” He said as his face remained calm as ever. I shook my head and he looked at his door.
“Now.”
I opened my mouth but the words would not come to me. The pain of his rejection had stolen my will. I stepped back and started to cry even harder and then ran from his room, slamming his door behind me as he quickly ran to the door and placed his hand against it. I hesitated and stared at it, placing my hand on the other side as it matched his but neither one of us could break the barrier and open the door again.