Page 17 of In the Monster’s Wake (Monsters Amongst Us #1)

The person didn’t move for a moment. Archibald waited, hoping he wouldn’t have to continue running after them, or worse, that he wouldn’t have to defend himself from them.

He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wouldn’t hurt them.

He wasn’t planning to. He just wanted answers.

If they had nothing to do with Kester, Archibald would let them go or maybe even help them.

The person slowly turned. Like Archibald had suspected, he hadn’t been following a human.

The boy’s arms were too long for him to be human, although not as long as Kester’s.

Archibald could see a peek of fangs in the boy’s mouth, but not as many as in Kester’s mouth, or at least, Archibald hoped not.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he repeated. “I’m Archibald.”

The boy sniffed. He couldn’t be older than twenty, if even that. “Cullen.”

“Well, Cullen, I’m sorry if we bothered you. My partner and I are here looking for a monster, but not you.”

Cullen stared for a second before nodding. “You’re looking for my father.”

Archibald didn’t know how to answer that. “We’re looking for a monster named Kester. He’s been hurting people, and we were hired to stop him.” Archibald had been, anyway. Cullen didn’t need to know details about Jasper and why he was involved.

“He’s here because he’s looking for me. He’s been killing people because he can’t find me.”

If Cullen really was Kester’s son, Archibald understood why he was hiding.

He wouldn’t want to get any kind of attention from Kester, either, and being Kester’s son sounded difficult to say the least. Archibald didn’t think that Cullen was dangerous.

He was shaking like a leaf and kept looking around as if searching for an exit that wasn’t there.

“He’s been killing people because he wants to,” Archibald tried to soothe Cullen. “Kester makes his own decisions. The deaths he caused have nothing to do with you.”

“He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.” Cullen swallowed. “He found me.”

Archibald’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that meant. “Is he in the building?”

“I was hiding from him.”

Archibald swore. He lunged forward, ignored Cullen’s squeak as he grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along. He started running, sorry for the way Cullen stumbled, but unwilling to slow down.

He needed to get back to Jasper.

Not only was Kester aware that he was being hunted, but he was also intrigued by Jasper. If he found out that Jasper was alone in the building, he’d probably try to talk to him, if not worse. Jasper was alone right now, and if anything happened to him, Archibald would never forgive himself.

Cullen tried resisting. He dug his heels in, effectively stopping Archibald from running back to Jasper. Archibald didn’t have time to waste, so he pulled harder, but Cullen wasn’t moving.

“I can’t go back. He’s going to hurt me.”

Archibald turned. He didn’t want to scare Cullen or yell at him, but he needed to go, and he wasn’t letting Cullen leave. He might be their one chance at finally stopping Kester.

“He’s going to hurt my partner,” he snapped. “Jasper is human, and you just said that your father’s here.”

Cullen stared at Archibald. “Your partner’s probably already dead.”

That wasn’t what Archibald had wanted to hear.

* * * *

J ASPER KNEW THAT IF Archie didn’t come back, he would be dead. There was no way he could keep up with Kester, even though he had at the park. The only reason he’d survived that evening was that Kester had left, but what were the odds that he’d leave tonight, too?

Jasper couldn’t count on that, which meant that he’d have to defend himself. Waiting for Kester to do something wouldn’t help. If Jasper was going to die anyway, he’d die standing and trying to take Kester out.

He threw himself at Kester. He didn’t miss the way Kester’s lips curled into a smile. It was creepy, but not something Jasper could focus on.

He slid his knives out of his jacket before he reached Kester. He was fast—fast enough to manage to stab Kester in the arm—but Kester barely reacted. He sidestepped Jasper, then pushed him.

Jasper stumbled, but he knew that if he wasn’t careful, he’d be dead.

He turned on Kester again, throwing himself at the monster for the second time.

He just needed to distract Kester long enough for Archie to come back.

He didn’t even care if Archie managed to find the monster he’d been following.

They could find that person again, but if Jasper died, there was no coming back from it.

Jasper put everything he knew into the fight.

He’d fought countless monsters when he was a hunter, but none of those fights had been easy, and none of the monsters had been as strong and ruthless as Kester.

It wasn’t only that Kester was a monster.

He didn’t have a soul, didn’t have any remorse or emotions or wants beyond pleasing himself.

From the way he was smiling, it was clear that he was enjoying their fight.

Jasper wasn’t sure if it was a good thing for him.

He attacked again. For some reason, Kester moved as if he didn’t want to hurt him. He sidestepped Jasper when he could in a way that made Jasper realize he was playing with him. He probably shouldn’t care, but it was infuriating. Was Kester trying not to hurt him, or was he playing with him?

He managed to scratch his knife down Kester’s arm. Kester reacted by backhanding him and making him stumble back. Jasper’s face hurt, and when he gingerly touched his lips, he found blood.

That wasn’t enough to stop him. With a grin he didn’t completely feel, he threw himself forward again.

He stepped to the left, relieved when Kester followed him because it gave him enough time to quickly move to the right and strike out.

He stabbed Kester in the neck, and for a second, he thought he’d done it—he’d killed Kester.

Kester’s fingers wrapped around Jasper’s throat. Jasper choked and stabbed his second knife into Kester’s arm, but Kester didn’t even react. He slammed Jasper against the closest wall, pushing the air out of his lungs and making him feel like he was about to die.

He probably wasn’t wrong thinking that.

For a moment, the only thing Jasper could hear was the sound of his labored breathing.

Kester wasn’t suffocating him. He wasn’t strangling him.

He was just holding him there, and Jasper wondered if he was thinking about how he’d kill him.

He hoped it would be fast, but knowing Kester, it wouldn’t be.

He squeaked when Kester leaned forward and licked the corner of his lips.

His stomach turned, and he wondered if he was about to throw up in Kester’s face.

That would serve Kester right. Jasper doubted anyone had ever thrown up on Kester, although considering the state of some of his victims, he might be wrong.

Kester leaned back and blinked. He looked surprised, but that quickly turned into a delighted expression that Jasper didn’t understand—and he didn’t think he wanted to understand it.

“Why, little hunter. You’re not what I expected.”

“Not a hunter,” Jasper grumbled as he dug his fingers into Kester’s wrist. He needed to get that hand off him.

“But you were once. I looked into you. I know you, Jasper Wyle.”

Jasper wasn’t surprised. Kester would’ve wanted to know the name of the person who’d fought him and had lived to tell the tale, at least the first time.

“Not a hunter,” he grumbled as he dug his fingernails into Kester’s wrist.

“Not anymore, but I wouldn’t have expected someone like you to be a hunter at all.” Kester leaned forward and licked the blood off Jasper’s lips again.

There was a high possibility that Jasper was going to throw up in Kester’s face. Kester smelled like rotten meat and old blood. Jasper didn’t want to think about why he smelled that way.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jasper said.

Kester grinned, exposing his fangs. He was distracted, and while it might not be enough, Jasper couldn’t afford not to take advantage of this moment.

One of his knives was still embedded in Kester’s neck, while the other had fallen to the ground.

Those weren’t the only two weapons Jasper had on him, though.

He slid the knife hidden in his sleeve lower, caught it with his palm, and moved.

Clearly, stabbing Kester in the neck wasn’t going to help, but Jasper just needed Kester to drop him.

He aimed for the face this time.

Kester let him go to grab his wrist. He didn’t seem to want to be stabbed in the eye. Jasper had never thought he’d be able to, so he didn’t push. Instead, he twisted as soon as his feet hit the ground. He kicked Kester’s knee, grinning when Kester let him go.

Jasper ran. Fighting Kester wouldn’t help. Jasper wasn’t going to win that fight, and he wanted to survive, so there was only one way out of this, and he was taking it. He was running for his life.

He had no idea where he was going or if Kester was following him. He just ran into the darkness of the building. The only sounds he could hear were his harsh breathing and his feet hitting the ground. His muscles burned, but not enough to slow him down, let alone make him stop.

He turned a corner and slammed into someone. He panicked and scrambled back, raising his knife. Thankfully, he stopped before stabbing the person.

“Jasper?” Archie murmured. “You’re bleeding.”

He reached for Jasper, and Jasper broke. He didn’t have to be strong right now. Archie was there. He would protect him.

He dropped the knife and threw himself into Archie’s arms. Archie caught him easily, holding him close and stroking his back. Jasper only allowed himself a few moments of weakness before sucking in a breath and pushing away from Archie.

“Kester was here. We fought.”

Archie nodded. “I’m not surprised to hear that. We should go.”

Part of Jasper wanted to argue that they needed to go back to Kester and fight him, but could they?

Jasper was already in pain and a bit banged up.

Archie wasn’t alone, and the monster he’d been chasing looked like he was going to bolt at any second.

Besides, Kester wasn’t an idiot. He’d probably already left.

Jasper wasn’t going back to check.