Heart's Redemption (MxM)

Chapter 22 ~ Sam

After the Walker girl finishes wagging her boobs in his face, Ian drives us out to the airport—the last place Inez was seen. On the way he gets a call—the current partner of his ex, I gather, and has a tense little conversation over the phone. When he finishes, I can tell he doesn't feel much like talking, but I want to know what the fuck is going on.

"Who was that?" I ask. Seems like a good place to start.

"Dane Hunter. Ex-cop, private detective."

"You don't like him," I state.

Ian grimaces. "We've had our differences, but he's a good guy."

"He's a Shifter too?" Carlos asks.

"Nope," Ian shakes his head. "Werewolf."

Carlos gives a low whistle. "Shit, I thought those things were really dangerous," he says.

"They are," Ian replies, glancing over at him with a raised brow. "How do you know about werewolves, anyway? Now that I think about it, you didn't seem very surprised when I turned into a bear the first time either. How do you know so much?"

Carlos pulls his long brown hair, which has been loose around his shoulders, back and secures it in a ponytail with an elastic tie.

"My family were like, asesinos back in the day," he says.

"'Asesinos?' Doesn't that mean murderers?"

Carlos shakes his head. "Sort of. 'Killers' is closer, but even that's not quite what it meant to them. More like...slayers, I guess."

"Like, vampire-slayers?" I ask. "Buffy style?"

"No—I mean they killed vampires, sure, but also stuff like werewolves, witches, demons—all kinds of things."

Ian slows his truck and pulls to the side of the road, rolling to a stop. He faces forward, not looking over.

For a moment we all sit in silence, and then he speaks, keeping his voice even with an obvious effort.

"Carlos...are you telling me your family...are witch-hunters?" he asks.

"What? No! I mean ... " Carlos stops and seems to think. "I mean they killed other stuff, too."

"Shit."

"That was a long time ago!" Carlos protests.

"Your aunt tried to kill us two weeks ago. I don't call two weeks a long time," Ian replies, sounding a little strained

"That was..." Carlos trails off, obviously having some sort of revelatory moment. "Shit."

"You haven't told her where we are, have you?"

"What? No. I haven't talked to her since we left the garage."

Ian leans his head against the back of the seat and blows out another long breath. "Thank fuck for that, at least."

"Hey, Toni's not so bad," Carlos protests. "She doesn't kill people, just demons and monsters."

"And into what category do you think she'd have put me an' Sam, huh?" Ian asks pointedly. "Or the Walkers, for that matter?"

Carlos looks blank for a moment, and then his eyes go wide. "No, come on—Toni's Toni, but she's no killer."

"Carlos, you just said your family were asesinos!" Ian yells, smacking his palm against the steering wheel and making us both jump. He sees our reaction, and something in his face instantly changes—shutters—like a light in a window being suddenly turned off. "Sorry," he says, swiping both hands through his hair and across the several days' worth of stubble darkening his chin and jaw. "Sorry. It's just...Jesus Christ, Carlos? You couldn't put two-and-two together?"