I apologize for this chapter taking so long to get up, still I hope you enjoy it and continue to read :) If you have corrections, suggestions, positive or negative feedback, please leave it in a review, and I will most certainly take things into consideration to make the story more enjoyable.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Night Worl Series.
"Explain." That was the single word Ash said once he'd followed Hugh out to stand on the back deck of the farmhouse. Ash had never been one to get involved when it came to his sister's private love lives. However, this was HUGH. It was just far to bizarre for him to catch Hugh of all people trying to get cozy with the coldest of the Redfern sisters. After all, this was a guy who supposedly tried to keep his distance from most women. Or at least, that's how he'd been since Ash had met him. He had heard a whisper or two about how Hugh used to have a crush on Ash's cousin Jez, but as far as Ash had seen Hugh only treated her as a friend since she'd found her soulmate in Morgead.
"Kestrel is my soulmate." Hugh stated, not beating around the bush. He thought this might be better to just get out of the way with Ash at least. Ash couldn't be angry with Hugh for Kestrel being his soulmate. Ash out of everyone should know you don't get to choose. Ash was now staring at Hugh as if he had two heads. Okay, so far so good.
"So you lay on her in the kitchen?!" Ash finally got out and Hugh quickly shook his head. "oh! Goddess! No! That's not what happened. We were playing a guessing game, and if you got a guess wrong the other person got splashed with water. But apparently your sister is a bad sport and so it turned into more of a war...She's good." Hugh said giving a grin only to look towards Ash again after his explanation to see the other boy looking fairly grossed out.
"And she's going willingly?" Ash asked, his tone one of surprise. Hugh couldn't blame him. Kestrel didn't seem the type who would willingly accept her fate. Especially one that had to do with romance. "I don't know. I don't think she knows. I'll let her figure it out for herself, but I don't want to push it on her and scare her off." Hugh admitted with a slight frown.
Ash fell silent for a moment, but when he looked like he was finally about to say something there was a loud thud from behind them. Hugh and Ash immediately turned around, Ash bracing himself for a fight. The pair let out a breath of relief when they spotted the golden hair shinning in the light of the moon. Kestrel had jumped from the second story, and now was smirking in the direction of her brother. "What's wrong Ash trey? A little off your game?" She asked rather meanly before running to the edge of the yard and hopping the fence, all in a few swift motions.
Rowan and Jade then filed out of the backdoor. "Ash, we're going hunting now." Rowan said, glancing at Hugh as if to be sure he wasn't made uncomfortable by the idea. After all, while Hugh had been in Circle Daybreak for awhile, she didn't exactly know how comfortable he would be with the idea of the group going out to drink the blood of animals. Mark had even gotten sick before.
Hugh gave no reaction though. With his many times of coming back through reincarnation, he'd had plenty of time to get used to the idea that vampires needed the blood of others to survive. Though more then that, he didn't mind at all when said vampires chose to drink from animals rather then people. And by what he'd heard, the Redfern girls actually usually let the animals live, which was much more humane than what any human did to the poor animals that they bought dead and chopped up from the grocery store to live off of. It didn't take long for Ash to decide that hunting was more important then talking to Hugh about his relationship with Kestrel. The three of them then ran towards the gate almost simultaneously, probably trying to catch up to the sister who had probably made it to the woods by now.
Hugh then made his way back into the home. Mark and Mary-Lynette had already left, and so Hugh was left by himself. He supposed now would be as good a time as any to start unpacking in the guest room that had been shown to him earlier when he'd first arrived. It wasn't an amazing room, but it was comfortable and had a bed, so Hugh wouldn't complain.
Once he entered the room he walked over to the bag he'd set on the bed and began taking the items out of it. Normally he would have kept it packed, but seeing as he was going to be here awhile, he might as well make the room at least more welcoming. The first things Hugh ended up pulling out of his bag were the weapons. He didn't have much, just a gun, two wooden stakes, and three silver knives. Most people from Circle Daybreak carried a lot more, however Hugh was never supposed to be used for fighting. He was the guy who told people what missions they went on, not the one who went on them. Thierry of course would sometimes send Hugh to scope things out somewhere, as he was a human with a limp, no one really saw him as a threat, but again, he wasn't supposed to engage in combat, as that was likely a one way ticket to his death. However it was good to be prepared at least, just in case he did end up getting attacked, or one of his companions needed help at some point, which did happen on occasion.
Hugh continued his unpacking, but stopped abruptly when the floor board gave out a load moan. Hugh turned around and reached for his silver dagger, only to be hit across the face causing him to topple onto the floor with a loud "UMPH!" Hugh quickly began to crawl away, and managed to get to the inn table before he was dragged back by his foot. He grabbed the leg of the table causing it to topple over, and the weapons all dropped onto the floor. He managed to grab a silver dagger as he was being dragged then swung it behind him and slashed the hand of his attacker. It had little to no affect. The attacked was clearly a vampire, and a woman at that. She gave a sharp laugh. "They said you might try to fight, but boy were they right! You can't fight!" She exclaimed through laughter before pouncing down on Hugh and holding him in place. She then lowered her lips to his neck, her lips curling up. "They said not to, but you just smell so good, the blood of an old soul is rare after all. Like aged wine." She commented darkly before biting into Hugh's neck.
Kestrel looked up from the deer she'd been feeding on. She felt alert, and even on edge. "What's wrong Kes?" Rowan asked, seeing the anxiety that was now written all over Kestrel's face.
"I don't know." Kestrel stated but then let out a loud gasp as she was suddenly thrown into the guest room back at their home. No, she wasn't their. Her mind snapped back to the forest. Then a flash, and she was back in the guest room, panting, and struggling. Back in the forest. She looked around, now she really was panting. Her siblings looked at Kestrel as she backed away from them. What was going on with her?!
Back in the guest room some woman was on top of her, trying to kill her! Another vampire who Kestrel did not recognize.
Kestrel was thrust back into the forest as the vision went dark. Without a word to her siblings though she high tailed it out of the woods and pushed herself to go as fast as she could to get to the guest room. She didn't know what had happened to her, but whatever it was had to be important. She felt the hairs on the back of her arms stand up when she neared the house. She could sense the vampire.
Kestrel threw the back door open then raced up the stairs and into the guest room. There lay Hugh unconscious on the ground, The woman in question now standing above him and staring at Kestrel with a cruel smirk. "Oh, I'm afraid I might have hurt your little pet." She said.
Kestrel found herself trembling with rage. She didn't know why she was so angry, she didn't even like Hugh. But seeing him there, unconscious on the floor stirred new emotions into Kestrel. Ones that made her jump at the other woman only to be knocked away. By now her siblings had caught up to her, and Ash was the first to jump in. He tackled the woman from behind, giving Kestrel enough time to grab a wooden stake from off the floor. "MOVE YOU IDIOT!" She shouted at Ash who jumped off the woman giving Kestrel the space to drive the stake through her heart, causing the woman to turn mummified the way vampires did when they were murdered.
Kestrel didn't even stop to think before she was at Hugh's side. "Is he dead?!" She demanded from no one in particular. She moved her head down and pressed it against his chest, breathing a sigh of relief. Not dead. He was alive. But he'd lost a lot of blood."No, he's fine." Kestrel answered herself before getting up and looking at her brother and sisters, only now realizing how desperate she must of looked. "I need a shower thanks to him." She said, trying to sound bitter, but even she could hardly hide the shake in her voice, as her mind was still reeling from her earlier experience of what she now guesses must have been entering into his head. But how had she done it? She wasn't great with telepathy, much less being able to pick through someone else's head without even trying.
"Is he awake yet? It's been days!" A soft voice exclaimed.
"Wait, I think he moved his eyelid..." Another voice added just before Hugh managed to open his eyes. Things were blurry at first, but the more he looked around, the clearer things got.
"What happened?" Hugh asked, attempting to sit up before laying right back down with dizziness. Glancing around again, he spotted both Rowan and Jade in his room, and Ash sleeping on a chair. No Kestrel. "Where's Kestrel?" He asked next frowning.
"You don't remember?" Rowan asked, a concerned look in her eyes while Jade shook Ash awake. "You were attacked! By a vampire, Kestrel saved your life. If she hadn't known to come back early we wouldn't have been able to stop her in time..." Rowan said, though now she looked at Hugh suspiciously. Kestrel had been acting strangely ever since that night. She had refused to set foot in the guest room to see Hugh. In fact she hardly left her room at all with the exception of hunting, but even then she wouldn't talk to anyone, but rather drank her blood then left the group and returned to her room.
Perhaps that wasn't exactly true. On the first night that Hugh had been unconscious, Rowan had heard Kestrel and Ash bickering. She had been unable to make out the words at the time, but then Kestrel left Ash alone, and next thing she knew Ash had been sleeping in the chair in Hugh's room. "Kestrel is in her room. She wont come out." Rowan then added. "Do you have no idea of why you were attacked?"
"I don't know for sure..." Hugh said as he slowly began to recall his memories the harder he tried. "She kept mentioning that I was an old soul. But I'm not sure if it had to do with anything. I'm more worried about why they were here in the first place." Hugh said as he finally managed to sit up. "How long was I out?" He asked.
"Two days." Rowan answered quietly, looking down in thought as she attempted to piece together why a vampire would attack Hugh while they were away. Hugh then struggled to stand up, gripping onto the bed rail for support as he stood and his head began to spin. "You should stay in bed, you had a concussion, and lost a lot of blood." Rowan said with a frown as she moved forward and tried to help Hugh sit back down.
Hugh waved Rowan away. "No, I want to go thank Kestrel." Hugh said as he struggled to the door. No one stopped him. That was one thing Hugh liked about being on his own sometimes. There was no one hovering over him. It wasn't their job. But as he neared the door of Kestrel Redfern, he realized while he did want to thank her, he more wanted to be sure that she was okay. She was probably confused and going stir crazy in her room. And Hugh also wanted to know if Kestrel had figured out just what they were to one another yet, as if she did, she certainly hadn't told Jade or Rowan just yet.
Hugh knocked lightly on the door, it swung open on the first knock. Kestrel stood there, wearing a plain shirt and pajama pants, her hair framing her face like bird wings the same as when he'd first seen her. Hugh was struck for a moment by how beautiful she appeared, even after being locked in her room for days. He hadn't realized he was gawking until Kestrel narrowed her eyes and yanked Hugh into the room roughly by the arm.
Kestrel then slammed the door shut and whirled on Hugh. "What did you do to me?! Why can I see your thoughts?!" She demanded, marching closer to Hugh, her hands balled into fists. "Why can I feel what you feel?!" She demanded again.
Hugh held his hands up in defense backing away a bit. "Woe! Calm down! Hurting me will only make us both more upset..."Hugh tried to say, however it did not calm Kestrel down at all, but rather seemed to anger her even more. Kestrel reached forward and grabbed Hugh by the front of his shirt. "Are you a witch or something?! Place some incantation on me?! Well you hid it well!" She said sharply. Hugh grabbed Kestrel's hand and pulled it off of his shirt. He pulled her arm forward, and she crashed into him, probably from not anticipating what he planned to do.
Hugh pressed his lips firmly against Kestrel's, moving his hands to rest on the sides of her arms. The moment their lips touched Kestrel could feel the sparks going off. She found herself beginning to get lost in the kiss, her eyes closing as she shifted closer to Hugh. It was almost a full minute before she managed to get back her senses and Jerk away from him. "What the hell are you doing?!" She hissed out.
"I can answer all of your questions! Why you can see my thoughts without trying, and why I make you happy in the blink of an eye, and I know I do, I can see it! Kestrel, we're soulmates!" Hugh cried out then awaited a reply from the blonde wild woman before him.
