Soul Bound

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

It feels good to have a full house again. T.K. is snuggled up in my lap with a doll I'd made for her out of palm fronds while Niki draws something on Hicks' new cast, in between the flowers and butterflies that T.K. already drew. Hicks sits patiently and I stifle a laugh. Such a massively intimidating man, sporting such a flowery cast. At least it gives him a bit more personality.

Dunn is rocking back and forth in my hammock, legs thrown lazily over both sides. He turns his fishhook necklace over and over in his fingers.

We need this. All of us. A nice, relaxing day that feels the closest to normal it's been in weeks. I'm not going to think about vampires, or werewolves, or the Order, or the hooded guy. I'm going to enjoy my company and pretend all is as it should be.

"Niki says Finn wants to eat me," T.K. chirps.

So much for that. I look over at Niki whose eyes are wide, watching for my reaction.

"No, no, Finn doesn't want to eat you," I say, giving Niki a look.

"But Finn is a vampire. Vampires eat people. Like they ate Mommy," she says.

My gut wrenches. "Only some vampires do that. Finn doesn't do that. He would never do that." I try to reassure her, but I realize I've never seen Finn drink from a blood bag. Not once in my life.

"Finn looked for Mommy. Finn is good," T.K. rationalizes.

I forgot about that. Finn took responsibility for the vampire that took Anna. He searched for her for weeks, afraid she would meet a fate worse than death. The virus that turns vampires also destroys whatever part of the soul that holds their humanity. He could've been mercilessly cruel to her. They're all cruel in some way. Some just remember what that humanity felt like better than others. Finn is one of them.

"Yeah, Finn is good." I say.

"Don't tell her that! No vampires are good!" Niki's hands ball into fists, his eyes shining with tears.

Everyone is silent. My heart falls into the pit of my stomach. Niki was there when Anna was taken from their home. He was only five when it happened. Simon said he found him curled up in the corner of the bedroom, in complete shock. He didn't speak for weeks.

"Hey, you know Finn, yeah?" Dunn says, perched on the edge of the hammock. "He would never hurt you guys."

"He would! He will! They're all bad!" Niki throws his marker on the floor and walks out the backdoor, slamming it shut behind him.

T.K. starts to cry. Dunn, Hicks, and I look at each other, all at a loss for words. Hicks stands and scoops T.K. up from my lap with his good arm. She sobs against his shoulder as he lightly bounces her up and down.

Dunn moves to go out the back door after Niki, but I stop him.

"No, I'll go," I say. "Make T.K. laugh with your face or something."

Niki is nowhere in sight so I use Wolf's nose to sniff him out. He always smells like syrup and blackberries. I find him sitting between two large roots around the other side of Yan. The roots are so big that he's completely hidden by them. When I crawl into the little space with him, he turns to hide the tears on his face. We sit in silence for a bit.

Pup, Wolf coos.

Poor kid. It must be harder to have known your mom and lost her than to have never known her at all, I say, mostly to myself, but hoping Wolf has something comforting to say in response.

She's silent.

"Hey, kiddo. You know that Finn would never, ever hurt you, right?" I say, trying to get him to look at me.