The Kelpie's Curse (book #1 in the Kelpie's Entrapment trilogy)

Day 6 pt. 6

About thirty minutes after Evelyn and Kaloria watched Renestrae walk away in search of Dageus they finally found Ainslie outside the bar they had first met Sean Grandach at. They had, of course, stashed their new bows safely away in the car as Renestrae had suggested. No need for people to start thinking the worst of them as well.

    Evelyn had commented as they slowly drove around town that innocent or not Renestrae wasn't doing herself any favors by carrying that thing around. Kali didn't like having to admit it but her blond friend had a point. Renestrae might have carried her bow around for the same sense of security that most girls carried around pepper-spray but she highly doubted that anyone else would believe that.

    Kali didn't understand Evelyn's drive to be perceived as normal but she could see how a little normality wouldn't exactly hurt Renestrae at the moment, all things considered. She smiled sadly as she put the car in park and walked over to where Ainslie was leaning on the side of the building.

    The black suit he wore looked clean and freshly pressed and the black shoes he wore were either new or had been recently polished. However that was where the well put together appearance ended. His red hair looked as if he'd just rolled out of bed, there were dark circles under his eyes and if she wasn't mistaken there was a small bruise on his right cheek.

    She frowned when she caught sight of the healing bruise. She knew that grief affected everyone differently and lashing out at the people around you wasn't all that uncommon but who would have engaged him in a fight so soon after his twin brother was brutally murdered?

    "Ainslie, are you alright?"

    His moss green eyes swung to her and she could see rage clearly stamped across his face for a moment before his expression softened.

    "My apologies Lass, I did not mean to frighten ye."

    "It's understandable." Evelyn answered as she rounded the back of the car before Kaloria had a chance to.

    Kaloria watched as Ainslie's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at Evelyn and she instantly felt a sense of panic. She had assumed that as long as Renestrae wasn't present then bringing Evelyn with her was no big deal, but perhaps she had been wrong.

    "Do you mind if Evelyn attends as well?" Kali asked, her tone hopeful.

    "You know I could wait around town while you guys go, I'm really only here for moral support."

    Ainslie sighed heavily before answering. "No, it's alright..." He trailed off, hesitating for a moment. "So where's tha' other friend of yers?"

    Evelyn and Kaloria both exchanged nervous glances the pause in Ainslie speech had spoken volumes but even if they had completely missed that they couldn't miss the way he flat out refused to say Renestrae's name or the tone he had used when referring to her.

    "Do you have a problem with our friend?" Evelyn snapped before Kaloria could stop her.

    'Crap,' Kali thought as her face began to feel as if it was on fire. 'and here I thought the hot-head was on a date.' Instantly she imagined a thousand different scenarios in her head and none of them were very pleasant.

    "I have nothing against yer friend, I don't even know the lass-"

    "Then what's with the atti-"

    "The people here are weary of outsiders when things are normal. What do ye think people are saying when folks start dying right after the three of ye get to town. Then yer friend finds Alec's body and-"

    "Ok, I think we get the idea." Kali interrupted.  "Why don't we start heading for the church.

    "We still have to wait a moment, Shawn's still inside."

    Kali looked nervously over at Evelyn when Ainslie mentioned Shawn. She hadn't said anything about it but Kali was sure that Evelyn had felt slighted, at least on some level, when Shawn hadn't called or shown any sign of being interested in seeing her again.

    Evelyn sighed heavily before she spoke. "Look I understand why everyone is so weary about Renestrae right now but she sends her condolences."

    Ainslie's brow furrowed in confusion at that. "Her condolences?"

    "Yes and she would have given her regards to your family herself but Ren is a smart girl." Evelyn explained calmly. "She realized, without having to be told, that no one was going to want to see her today."

    Oddly enough Ainslie smiled at the both them at the same moment that Sean walked out of the bar. "Thank you."

    "Are we ready to go then?" Shawn asked, barely so much as glancing in Kaloria and Evelyn's direction.

    "Yes, I believe we are." Kaloria sighed. It wasn't that she was ready to go to a funeral, never having gone to one before she doubted she'd ever be truly ready, but she was more than happy to get away from the thick tension that seemed to choke the air around her.

    Evelyn was extremely loyal so Kali wasn't all that surprised that she had come to Renestrae's defense. The extremely petite girl had been known to tell people that she was the only one allowed to make fun of Ren and herself, still though... Evelyn must have been reaching the end of her rope if she was confronting people without forethought.

    The group of four made their way to the church in silence but despite this and the fact that they were going to a ceremony of death Kali couldn't help but feel her mood begin to lighten. However she supposed that it was probably because of the silence that she felt this way. Surely Evelyn wouldn't feel the need to be on the defensive if nobody said anything.

    Later Kaloria would look back on that day and realize that she should have assumed something was wrong just from the crowd in front of the church alone. However as the events were playing out it wasn't until they got closer to the church and she heard a familiar voice shout "Please, stay back." that she felt the, now, familiar sense of dread shoot down her spine.

    It took a moment for her brain to process what she was seeing but the moment she did she only had enough time for a horrified gasp to escape her before she was in Ainslie's arms and he was turning her away from the sight.

    "Don't look at it Kali-lass, look at me." he whispered into her ear.

    Kali nodded and firmly closed her eyes but honestly it didn't matter. That image was going to be burned into her mind for the rest of her days.

    Nailed to the church doors was the body of a teenage boy dressed in what she assumed was his finest clothes. Like all the others the boy's heart was missing from his chest and blood ran freely from the empty cavity. However, as disturbing as that was the worst part was the message written in the boy's blood by the killer.

Give me what was promised and I will stop hunting you