The Silver Cross - The Path Of A Monster (Book One)

Chapter Three - Katie's Fate

Jack stood softly outside, hidden from view of the door and windows as Cain knocked on it, pacing up and down as he waited for an answer. The pacing came to a halt as the door slowly opened, revealing the redhead behind it with a bright smile. She greeted him with a hug and a romantic kiss, holding him tightly as if she expected not to see him again.

"I didn't expect you to arrive until the morning," she confessed.

"Hello, Nicola, I just thought I'd come home early... I have news," Cain replied with an uneasy smile.

She gasped, looking around quickly, a thought coming to her head, "is it Jack? Is he alright? I knew this work was dangerous. What did I tell you?!"

Cain rolled his eyes as Jack stepped out from hiding with a bright smile. Nicola slapped him across the face before hugging him quickly. He didn't say a word, just let his arms gently wrap around her for a few seconds. He let her go as she pulled away. She walked into the house with a slight graceful look about her and yet did not say a word to either of them as she walked into the kitchen.

She put the kettle on, grabbing three mugs, throwing a teabag into each one as she watched the water bubble and boil, waiting for the switch to click

"What is it?" Jack asked, guessing something was wrong.

"The letter came for Katie. Two years old, walking and learning and already they want her to train like one of you."

Jack shook his head, not bothering to hide his disgust as he put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, he did not know what to say but got the sense she was not yet finished.

Her strands of red hair fell down by her side as she gripped the counter, "I'll be frank, I despise your job, I despise waiting for the door to knock, praying it means both of you are safe, praying I don't have someone from the order coming here, telling me one of you, or both of you are hurt... or worse. I don't want that for Katie, I want her to have freedom, a life, a choice."

He hung his head in shame, pulling her into a comforting hug, stroking her hair almost lovingly as she cried on him, fearing for the daughter she loved. He shared her fears, disgusted by the idea that Katie could die because of the order. As the first born, she was expected to be drafted in, without a word or a choice. Once born into it, you only leave once you're dead or old enough to retire, but so few reached that age, many met their deaths on hunts, or at the end of a hunter's gun.

The Silver Cross's progress was slow, they needed more hunters drafted in to fill their ranks but the last thing Jack wanted was to see his niece forced into a life from which there was no escape. He hadn't forgotten the years of training, honing the skills that apparently came naturally to him, having been trained from an early age himself, alongside his younger brother. Their father was proud, he wanted both his sons to be great hunters, to bring honour to the family name and they were brought up to know no other life, just the one created for them, lived for them until their father perished.

"I will stand in their way, they won't have her."

Nicola nodded as she wiped her eyes. "You can't promise," she whispered.

"No, but I can try my best, for my niece."

He feared all he would do was merely delay the inevitable, after all once Katie was old enough, she could choose to become a huntress, a monster hunter alongside them and in a battlefield, you can't always protect those you love, sometimes you're faced with the chance of losing them and Nicola would be told that her only child was no more.

As he promised he would, he would try and stop them, try and make them see that so many parents no longer saw the honour in the job, but instead the harsh pain of the truth, that a new generation of hunters were needed, their training had to begin or they'd face eradication, extinction and the vampires would have the chance to take over, killing more and more innocent to feed their lust for blood.

There was nothing to say, just a nod to each other as she made tea. She handed it to him with a gentle smile but those green eyes lit up as she saw Cain walking down the stairs, waiting for his. Jack had never seen a happier couple better suited to each other, the love they both shared was beautiful, bright and colourful and yet he knew the sad truth, that the odds were stacked against them, that chances are she'd lose him to the life of a hunter, one way or another. He'd either be away from home, hunting a creature down, or she'd be widowed, crying at his funeral as they burnt his body over the waters.

Nicole grabbed Cain, pulling him in for a romantic kiss as she looked at him, stroking his face softly. Jack did his best to look away, the sight of romance was too much for him, with little point in having a family, a wife or children when he would risk them being widowed, or risk burying his children in a fight that would never end, giving their lives to a conflict he could not see coming to an end in his generation or the next.

"Jack, stay a while," Cain asked.

"I can't, my one bedroomed flat awaits," he joked playfully as he winked at his brother, gulping down the remainder of his tea before turning to leave.

If it hadn't been so early for Katie, he'd have said goodbye to her, and yet such a precious thing should be given sleep, not denied such a thing because Jack decided to be selfish. He had to believe he'd see her again, one way or another. If the upcoming fights were to be his last, he'd give them a good fight and pray ghosts were real so he could be there for his family, in whichever lifeform was possible.

"See you, Jack," Nicole whispered as she hugged him. "Don't you dare be a stranger."

All he could do was look at her and hope for the best. If he was the type, he'd have prayed for her and her family but if there was a god, he had forsaken The Silver Cross many years ago, because of their job, their sins and there was nothing Jack or anyone else could do to atone for it, but instead he would merely have to plough on and continue on the path set out for him, hoping he would find an end.