The Human Hunter

Chapter 22

Feeling warm sheets against her skin had Emma sighing, content to remain lying exactly where she was. Wait. Where am I? she wondered through the haze of sleep that swam around her mind like a heavy rain cloud, refusing to leave after a storm.

"Do not move."

Her whole body suddenly felt like ice water was being pumped through her veins, freezing her limbs in place. The voice was somewhat familiar and very close. From what she could tell, its owner was somewhere above her. On the ceiling... Brax? Her heart stuttered, trying to get itself back into a normal rhythm from the sudden shock of him possibly being there.

"I know why you are all here. I heard your friends, but I could not control my actions the way I was."

It is Brax. Dad.

Emma wanted to talk with him, to look at him, but she knew that she had to take his warning seriously. She didn't dare make a single movement besides taking air into her lungs and slowly letting it out.

"I struggle, even now, to keep my mind away from the constant barrage of unbearable instincts telling me to kill you and the others when they return from feeding and fetching you food."

Emma didn't try to correct him. Legs and Goliath had returned to the group of pholcikin the Congregation had sent after they'd cleaned themselves up from the fight in the alley. They were probably going to try to find out what the lycokin's plan was. Hopefully, the two groups were together and openly discussing, or at least willing to share the information.

"But, I will help however I am able to at the time of the attack."

Of course he knew about the plan. Or at least part of it.

"I can't, however, be an ally. If I fight, you and your friends must stay as far away from me as you can. Because when I am an arakin, I will kill anything without hesitation."

Hearing the anguish in his words twisted her heart. Even though his voice and appearance had changed, as he spoke to her right then, she could still hear her father loud and clear through whatever kin he currently was.

When he remained silent for several long moments, Emma licked her lips nervously and spoke in a soft, careful tone. "Will it ever be safe to be near you again?"

She felt that she knew the answer already, but she needed to hear it from him. Needed to know that she and Salem had indeed lost their father the night of the accident which had claimed their mother, even if he hadn't really died.

"No. I have been slowly going insane over the past several years. Each time I disappeared from our home I was struggling to control what was going through my mind," Brax answered after a minute.

Emma wanted so badly to open her eyes but forced herself to remain completely still except for her breathing and the slight movement from her lips as she spoke again. "Then the accident... did you?" It hurt her to think that it was possible, but she had no idea how her father viewed the world.

A deep rumble vibrated the bed after Emma felt something drop onto the covers beside her, depressing the space to her left as if someone were crouching there. She waited as Brax tried to regain control, his internal fight easily audible as his growls grew in volume, then lowered, then rose again. When he finally quieted completely, Emma could hear him panting from the stress of getting his arakin back under control.

"I would never have hurt her! She thought that when I left, that I was cheating. I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't tell her what I was or that I was going insane. Losing myself. Having thoughts about killing anyone I came in contact with." He stopped speaking for a moment, his breathing speeding up as she felt him shift on the bed slightly. "We were arguing and she kept looking over at me as she drove. I was normally so alert, especially after letting myself be free as an arakin so recently. But that one time, I focused completely on her instead of splitting my attention between her and the road. I was so hurt. I wanted to fix everything that was falling apart because of what I was. But I couldn't."