Chapter 19

Ren and Ashton shared a look.

Ren stepped away from the door. His heart was back up in his throat. He clenched and unclenched his hands as Ashton opened the door.

"What?"

Ren could just see a hint of vibrant red hair from where he was standing. He didn't think it was Ashton's father—not with the way that he was talking to him.

Whoever was on the otherwise tried to push the door open.

"What do you mean what? I heard you talking to someone."

It was a man. He had a higher pitch voice than Ashton, but it wasn't a feminine sounding voice. He sounded full of himself. Ren wouldn't doubt that this was a relative of Ashton's. A brother? They sounded like they were around the same age.

"That isn't any of your business, is it?"

Ashton tried to push the man out.

"Are you sneaking them in for the night? Who is it? I really don't think anyone is willing to sleep with your ugly corpse."

The man managed to slip through the small space between Ashton and the door. They came to a halt and looked around with a smirk on their face.

He was much taller than what Ren was expecting. His vibrant red hair couldn't have been natural, but by the way he had it pulled up into a no-nonsense ponytail, he didn't seem like the type to really care about the color of his hair. He was wearing black silk pajamas that couldn't have been cheap and a pair of gold wire glasses.

That was unusual. Vampires didn't need glasses. They had more than perfect vision.

Ren was right about the fact that he and Ashton were related. They had the same eyes. The same eyes that Ashton had gotten from his mother. And Ren had also been right that they were around the same age.

Ren had never been so right in his life.

The man stopped and stared at Ren. He cocked his head.

"Well, that's surprising."

Ashton tried to slam the door, but it was so well built that it came to a soft close. That was probably for the best. Ren didn't want to find out what Ashton's parents were like when they were woken up and grumpy.

He'd seen enough just from Ashton's mother.

"Is there a reason why you need to see what I'm up to?" Ashton crossed his arms and walked in front of the man.

The man was still looking at Ren. Ren shifted back and forth on his feet, trying to shake out the uneasiness that he got from the man's wandering gaze. When he seemed to have gotten over his curiosity, he looked away. The smirk on his face reminded Ren so much of Ashton, yet it was different. The smirk on this man was unsettling. Like he was planning devious acts. When Ashton did the same, he just looked like he knew he was better than everyone else.

Ren would choose that over the other any day.

"I don't think I need a reason when you're bringing in strangers into the house that I live in," the man said. He looked around the room and his eyes settled on the book on the bed. "What's this?"

"Don't—"

The man jumped on the bed. He landed with a thump, messing up the neatly made bed. He grabbed the book and flipped it open. The page that Ren and Ashton had been looking at was freshly creased. The book made it easy for the man to find what they were looking at.

He gave a long whistle. "Demon Hounds, huh. You two going on a hunt or something?"

Ren stepped further to the side when he saw the look on Ashton's face.

Ashton yanked the book out of the man's hands. The man rose a brow.

"Okay. I didn't know it was that serious."

Ashton shoved the man in the shoulder. "Get out."

The man raised both his hands. "Alright. I get it. I'm sorry I interrupted your important matters."

He rolled his eyes and jumped off the bed. But before he made it to the door, he turned to Ren.

"I'm Kai, by the way." He held out his hand.

Ren stared at it.

After a few silent seconds, Kai got the message. He retracted his hand. "Have fun."

He gave Ren a lingering look that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He left the room, but it didn't feel like he was entirely gone.

Ren didn't know what to say. The whole scene felt like it had been a dream. The man—Kai—had seemed more curious about Ren than he had been disgusted. However, there was a certain level of something that Ren couldn't put a name to that made him wary of the man. More so than he had been about Ashton.

"I think you should leave now," Ashton said as he closed the old book and set it on his desk.

He didn't look back at Ren. He put his hands on the brown desk, staring down at the book like he was waiting for it to reveal a huge secret to him. Ren couldn't help but take a long look at Ashton. His walls were down. It was a split second in time in which Ren could simply look at Ashton without being cautious of being caught.

His dark blond hair looked light when they were inside. Ren hadn't seen him in the daytime which might be why Ashton's hair looked darker than it might be.

He looked normal. As normal as he could when he was standing in a room that looked like it was taken right out of a history documentary.

Ren was so caught up in analyzing him that Ren didn't notice when Ashton looked up. Ren quickly looked away, ignoring the slight uptick in his pulse.

There was a solid second where neither of them moved. They both knew how awkward the situation was—they didn't belong together like this, acting as if they were closer to friends than they could ever be.

Ashton let out a soft sigh, his hair falling in front of his face. The medium-length strands slightly curled at the end, brushing over his fair cheek.

He looked over at Ren. Ren could still remember clearly how those eyes had looked when they were bright red. He remembered how he thought his life was over and also how they had pierced him through the heart. They had stolen his breath right out of his lungs and instilled fear inside of him.

"I guess I can show you out."

Ren had been so caught up in just looking at Ashton that he didn't even think to realize that it was a little strange of him to just stand there. He straightened as Ashton crossed the room and walked right out the bedroom door to the hall.

He gave one little glance at Ren before he walked to the stairs.

Ren stood there for far longer than he should have. He jumped out of his little frazzled headspace and swiftly followed Ashton down to the front door. On the way, Ren kept going over the conversation they'd had. He looked down at his cut hand. It had stopped bleeding, but the lingering sting was making the area ache. The skin was puffy and he wanted to scratch at it.

He was practically bound to Ashton now. Contracts like these were normal during the war when vampires were inlisting soldiers. He'd never thought he would ever be in one of them.

Ashton opened the door. He looked at Ren, but it was a look that felt like there was no one on the other side.

Ren didn't wait for him to tell him to get the hell out of there. He was ready to go. He was ready to be safe in his bed—as safe as he could be when there was a murderer on the loose but much safer than being in a house full of vampires he didn't know.

He walked out of there. He was not at all confident in his walk, a sharp contrast than he had when he'd come here tonight yelling for Ashton. But he would say that he'd been out of his mind then. He'd been pulling straws trying to come up with a solution for a problem that was bigger than him.

It had been a last resort.

He was in the middle of the yard. The cold air against his skin was refreshing. He breathed it in, hoping that he could find some kind of calm from it while he was wading through the chaos of his mind.

However, when he looked out to the forest and he saw the dark shadows that were reaching out toward him like ink seeping onto a page, he was thrown back into a pit of frazzled nerves. His heart thudded in his throat, his eardrums pounded, and he couldn't stop the twitching in his hands.

Ren didn't want to say it. As he looked out at the dark forest from the middle of Ashton's yard, he hoped that he wouldn't have to say it. He wished he was the type of person that thought they were strong enough to take on anything. He wished he could be dumb enough to head out like he had a few hours before.

But he knew what was out there now. He knew if the Hounds attacked him he wouldn't be able to fight them off. He would be dead.

He turned around.

Ashton was still standing in the doorway with the door open. He was looking at Ren like he knew what he was thinking. Or that he was thinking the same thing. The difference didn't matter.

Ren waited. Either for Ashton to go back inside and close the door or for him to join Ren.

When Ashton finally closed the door with him on the outside, Ren got some kind of relief. It wasn't enough to make him feel better about the situation, but it was enough for him to not feel like he was about to faint.

Ashton slowly walked down the steps. He took his time, the wind slightly blowing his hair back, and t-shirt he'd changed into billowing. He didn't look uppety as he had earlier that night though he would always be stuck up. It was rooted in his DNA. That part of him would never be able to be taken away.

He was silent as he stopped in front of Ren. There was a silent agreement between them. Their eyes locked and that was it.

Ren was the first one to walk away. He took the path back to where the clearing was. He looked for the path that he knew would lead him back to his house. While at first he was unsure about letting Ashton know where he lived, he had to outweigh two different evils. The Mantels weren't going to kill him and his mom just yet.

Maybe in the future he would have to worry about that, but as of right then, his main problem was Demon Hounds and the Hunter Society.

The house and the woods surrounding it was quiet. Ren was relieved that he didn't feel like someone was watching him. He didn't even have to worry about the hunger inside of him. Everything seemed to be fine.

He turned. "Thanks—"

Ashton Mantel was already gone.

Ren stared at where they'd come from, wondering just how long it would take before the two of them tried to kill each other.

He bet it would be soon. Very soon.

***

"Do you want fish?"

The bored lunch lady stared blankly back at Ren from across the plastic partition.

"Yes, please."

She slapped the poor thing down onto the plastic blue tray and then slid it out for him to take. He gripped it with both hands. He kept his head down as he grabbed a water cup instead of a carton of milk and headed toward the check out area. After typing in his lunch code, he glanced up at one of the large televisions that were mounted to the cafeteria walls.

The standard news network was playing. It was mandatory that the less than factual Reginae propaganda was shoved down kids' throats. He didn't go out of his way to find out what they were trying to feed to the general public, but it was better to watch that than to listen to what the tone-deaf kids were saying around him.

However, this time, he almost dropped his tray when he saw what they were talking about.

"Seventeen Carla Withings has been missing for six days. Police are now suspecting this might be in connection with two other murders earlier this month."

His hands tightened on the tray. Kids were walking around him, giving him weird looks, but he couldn't care less about it. He stared at the screen as two other pictures of teenagers were shown. They were both human, around the same age, and looked typical. They looked normal.

His eardrums thumped as he stared at those photos. A girl with brown hair and brown eyes, and a boy with dirty blond hair and brown eyes as well. They didn't look related. He was trying to hear more about them, but he was so stricken.

The girl. They're still looking for her. Of course, he'd been expecting that. He knew that they weren't going to stop looking for her. She had connections to the Hunter Society. They were known for never stopping until they got the answers they were looking for.

If anyone could be accused of beating a dead horse, it was them.

He backed away from the screen. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't take his eyes off the TV. He didn't want to miss a thing. A single detail. Though he couldn't hear anything, he needed to know what would appear on the screen next. His eyes glanced around, taking in every single small detail, and read quickly over the red banner of moving text on the bottom.

It said something about the Hunter Society.

His whole world came crashing down around him. He felt weak at the knees. His right leg lost its strength. He stumbled. His tray almost went flying over the floor, but he managed to right his footing before it was too late.

The room was spinning. Everyone was looking at him. They were whispering about how he looked. They were laughing at him on the inside, hiding behind their masks, and they were going to spread rumors around the school about how dumb he was.

All of that came crashing down on him as he found an empty table. He kept his head down as he sat. His stomach twisted as he looked at the food. He was hungry—the loud and uncomfortable growling coming from his stomach was a testemate to that.

The table shook under the force of his hand. He hid it in his lap. These tremors were new. They were more frequent too. They'd started after the urge or thirst for mayhem inside of him. It was nothing that he could fix right now. Not exactly what he was worried about right now when there was news about two more murders.

He looked back up at the TV.

"—President Stantley has granted all rights to the Hunter Society to operate as its own police force. As of today, the Hunter Society is now officially active."

The symbol of the Hunter Society was shown in a box beside the blond female anchor. It was a snake chasing or eating its own tail.

If Ren could see himself, he swore his face would be pale.

The cafeteria was going on as business as usual. No one else was staring at the TV screen like their life was sentenced to end. No one cared that the Hunter Society—the organization that was founded on hunting down and killing vampires—was now coming back to find a serial killer.

But no one else knew the things that Ren knew.

Ren clenched his knees.

This had gotten way more complicated.