Authors: Abigail Colucci
Kindling (24 page)
I waited a few minutes before I was sure he wasn’t going to continue my tutoring, then I took my pants off and waded into the ocean in my underwear. Jean-Luc whistled and I blushed again, but they both left me alone to my thoughts.
I spent the rest of the day walking along the beach and in the water, mentally preparing myself for the next day. I knew Braith was right. If I was too overwhelmed that night I wouldn’t be able to cope with everything tomorrow.
But, it turned out I could cope with it much better than I thought.
I had gotten so used to waking up at 4:30, I woke up automatically and couldn’t go back to sleep. My stomach was a mix of nerves and excitement. I decided to jog around the town, as I had promised Braith that I wouldn’t go to the other side of the door if he wasn’t with me.
I ran around the town a few times – it wasn’t very big – but quickly got bored, so I decided to sneak out to the beach. To my surprise, Jean-Luc was sitting where we had swum earlier, smoking a cigar.
“Bonjour, Jean-Luc,” I said, hoping to impress him with my French. “Ça va?”
“Ah, très bien, merci,” he said. He grinned up at me and patted the sand next to him for me to sit down. “Parlez-vous Français?”
“No, not really,” I said. “Some phrases are similar in Spanish.”
“Ah, you are a lover of the Romance Languages,” he said and grinned. “Just like me.”
“What are you doing out here so early?” I asked. “With a cigar?”
“Does it bother you? I’ll put it out?”
“No, no, it’s okay.”
He grinned and inhaled the smoke. In a moment he let out a long exhale and the sweet smoke rose above our heads. “My wife, she has moved here from France, finally, a month ago.” He grinned and stared into the ocean. “We’re going to have a baby,” he said.
“Oh my god, Jean-Luc, that’s wonderful. Congratulations,” I said. I leaned over and hugged him. “I have to meet your wife. You never even told me you were married.”
Jean-Luc shrugged. “It’s hard, you know. My first wife, she died, her and my daughter were killed by vampyres. It’s been hard to live with that. Because the vampyres killed them to get to me. It’s been hard to live with that,” he said again.
“I’m so sorry, Jean-Luc,” I said. I thought I should say more but there wasn’t much else I could say. Jean-Luc smiled kind of sadly and we were both quiet for awhile. “Will you tell me about them?” I asked.
He looked at me strangely for a moment and smiled a little. “My wife was a ballerina. She loved to dance. She broke her foot and that was it. But if she hadn’t broken her foot I never would have met her.” He grinned at some memory and sighed. “But she taught ballet to little girls. She was very good, very beautiful. Camille, was her name, she was this petit little thing with big, blue eyes and curls. Oh, her whole head was full of curls. We had Adèle just a year after we met. It was hard on us. We weren’t married, you know, so I moved them to the Den. Camille taught ballet, Adèle went to school, and I hunted vampyres. It was beautiful. And I knew my little girl was a wolf. I prepared her for it. I let her watch how I did it and play with her papa when I was changed. It was good, everything was good.” Jean-Luc’s eyes became distant and he frowned. “I told her not to take Adèle to the city, but my girls wanted it so badly. I should have taken them. I was happy in the Den, but Camille loved the city. I should have taken them myself.” He swallowed and paused for awhile, listening only to his breaths and the lapping of the ocean. “Braith found them. He tried to hide them from me but I could smell their deaths and smell the vampyres. I knew right away who had done it and wanted to leave immediately to find him. Braith made me stay for their burials. I’m glad he made me stay. Three days wouldn’t have made a difference.” He sighed. “We tracked them for five years. Five years, mon petit chaton, and they stayed ahead of us that whole time. And then, poof, they disappeared. It’s been 20 years. I think he may have already been killed, but who knows? No one will admit to it.”
“I’m so sorry, Jean-Luc,” I said, although I knew it didn’t sound like it was enough.
He smiled. “It took a long time to feel better. It still hurts,” Jean-Luc said. “I met Josephine – she’s an American like you – a few years ago. It’s like I have a second chance to do things right. And now we’ll have a child. I’m scared to be a father again,” he laughed a little. “I should not tell you this, Mon Chaton. You have enough to fret over.”
I entwined my fingers into his and rested my head on his shoulder. “We’re friends. You can tell me things.” We sat quietly and watched the waves. “I want to meet your Josephine, though.”
“Ah, we will have you for dinner. The Rabbi has taken up all your time, before, but now you will have a bit more. She’s a terrible cook, but luckily I am an amazing chef.” I laughed and he checked his watch. “Almost time, Mon Chaton, are you ready?” He sprung up and held his hand out to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.
“As ready as I think I could be,” I said.
We started walking back to the Walters’ house. Jean-Luc said Braith would be waiting there, shitting himself with impatience. We walked slowly and he told me about some of his travels and about hunting with Braith. They seemed to have had amazing adventures, travelling around the globe, east to west and south to north. They were always outsiders, he said, and that’s what brought them together. And now they were closer than brothers.
When we rounded the corner to the Walters’ block, we saw Braith pacing in front of the door. When saw us he sighed, but it was too early to yell so he kept quiet, just crossed his arms and tapped his foot.
“See,” Jean-Luc whispered. “He’s turned into such a mother hen. He didn’t used to be like this. It’s from watching you, Mon Chaton. You are the worry of his life.” Jean-Luc laughed but I blushed.
I could tell Braith was really upset when we got closer. His teeth were grinding. “I was about to wake up the whole house,” he said. “Where have you been?”
“With Jean-Luc,” I said. “On the beach. I’ve already run.”
Braith glared at Jean-Luc. “Why didn’t you bring her back sooner? I’ve been worried sick. This is going to be an incredibly stressful day for her and you’ve got her out at all hours getting a sun tan?”
Jean-Luc and I glanced at each other and grinned. “Josephine is pregnant,” Jean-Luc answered. “Enceinte.”
“Are you serious?” Braith asked. Jean-Luc nodded. Braith grinned. “Merde!” Jean-Luc laughed. They spoke quickly in French for a few minutes and I was completely lost. Braith’s French was nearly perfect. If he had an accent, I couldn’t hear one. I did catch, at the end of the conversation, Braith offering a congratulations and wondering when Josephine was due.
“Avril,” Jean-Luc said.
“Ah!” Braith slapped Jean-Luc’s chest and they hugged. “Un papa, Chanceux!” They laughed and then remembered me. “Shouldn’t you be on the field?” Braith asked. He and Jean-Luc shoved passed me, expecting me to follow. I briefly considered being stubborn and not following, but they were walking without paying me any attention and I thought I would probably just get left behind.
They ignored me until we reached the wall. Just like on my first day of training, Braith placed his hand on the door and turned to me. Jean-Luc and Braith both looked at me with pity. “Are you ready for this?” Braith asked.
I wasn’t ready. I was scared. I knew all the things the Hunter trainees yelled at me over the last nine weeks and I knew the harassment would get much worse, now that I was part of them. Besides the fight on my birthday with the vampyres, I had never fought anyone that really wanted to harm me. After I walked through that door, my life wouldn’t be safe. Everyone was going to want to harm me and Braith had implied that even the High Masters who worked with the boys didn’t want me around. It was going to be difficult, so all I could say was, “Do I have a choice?”
We all knew I there was only one choice for me, so Braith pushed open the door.
Author Musings
Thanks for taking the time to read - and hopefully enjoy - book one of
The Hunter Trilogy
. I’ve already got the second book mostly finished, so you won’t have to wait too long to find out the exiting continuation. I’ve spent my life writing and most of it was seriously depressing stuff, but I can’t bring myself to publish most of it and make other people miserable. So, I started delving into Fantasy. Fantasy is a wonderful and amazing genre and I’m really proud to call this novel my own. I’ve worked tremendously hard to write, edit, and produce this novel - I was like having a second, full-time job! - and, hopefully, you at least somewhat enjoyed it. If you didn’t like it, I’m sorry, but I’m going to continue writing because it’s what I do. I write.
Thanks to my fantastic partner in crime, Jarret, for giving me pointers, for listening to my ramblings, for reading the same novel multiple times, and for just encouraging me to keep going.
It’s a lot of work getting an ebook ready for publication and a lot of formatting mistakes occur. If you notice a formatting or some other mistake, please send me a message at my website or Facebook. I’ll fix it as quickly as possible. Also, if you’d like to learn more about me and read more about The Hunter Trilogy at
abbeycbooks.com
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