9. The Night Monster

Elfrida

You would think Brody Huffins was the mayor's son, considering the amount of people in attendance at his funeral. I could only stare, as both his mom and dad accepted condolences from everyone while the rest stood around, making small conversations and consoling each other at the town's loss.

I let out a shaky breath.

It never does get easier, no matter how many times I attend these sorts of things, that sickening, gut-churning feeling never actually leaves. This was yet another soul leaving the world the moment I stepped into the little town, yet again another soul damned by my presence. This would have been when Beverly would tell me things happen by chance, and has absolutely nothing to do with me.

At the thought of the girl who I would never forget, the one who always had my back, my team, my partner; My chest tightened, if she were here, she would have pulled me away from all the grieving and the pain, telling me I had a fetish for witnessing unsettling things.

I smiled a little at the memory, my eyes going around to find Picklewod coming over to my direction.

"Hey Elfie." She looked pretty bored, her hair up in a really tangled looking bun, the bangs at the front looking rougher than ever as the camera around her neck dangled lightly. "Funerals right?"

"What?" I asked, unsure of what she meant.

"You have that look." She pointed out.

My brows pulled down at the confusion swirling through me. "What look?"

"The one that clearly spells, 'When will this end, again?'" she answered, her tongue coming to poke her inner cheek as her squinted eyes surveyed the area. "Carly couldn't make it?" she asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"She was around a while ago, but she left pretty early."

Picklewood sighed. "She ran from me again..." I heard her mutter underneath her breath.

"What do you mean?"

She snapped out of her daze, her eyes coming to meet mine again. "Confessed my feelings to her, and ever since then, she's been avoiding and ignoring me. Says she's too old for me."

"Age is just a number." I said to her with an encouraging smile.

"See, you get it... you are like a cool deputy, and she's like so old school." she said. "I wonder why age matters that much to some people. It's not like my dad would care about who I date." She scoffed at that. "Besides, what's wrong with a little six year difference? There are couples out there with an age difference of more than double that number." She voiced out, sounding frustrated.

"One thing I've learnt about Westbane is that people care a lot about what and how the society would view their actions, perhaps Carly is scared of that."

"It's not a matter of perhaps, she is scared of that." Picklewood confirmed. "But I know how she feels about me. She really does care, but she has always held herself back from me."

"Time will tell, Picklewood... time always tells." I heard myself say, my thoughts also lost in itself.

The sound of a car stopping just at the gate of the cemetery, had almost all heads turning in that direction, including mine.

It was a sleek black car, one I hadn't seen in town before. Last I checked, I didn't know anyone rich enough to afford such an expensive car in Westbane.

Could it be the Mayor whose name and face still hasn't been illuminated by the spotlight? Or someone else?

Right then and there, I felt it again. That strange feeling that slipped into my veins, sending my heart into an uncoordinated, dangerous beating, like rolling your ankle during a race. I could feel the hair on my skin rising as I looked around, searching for something I couldn't identify yet.

The front seat doors soundlessly opened. And out came Kai Labrosky, adorned in all back... unlike the first time I saw him, the vibe around him was airy, a little dangerous and hard. Like all other features to him, the frown suited him perfectly.

His brows were etched down, indicating that he wasn't in any sort of mood to make small talk or mess around with anyone. The black suit he wore was unbuttoned, revealing the black button up shirt underneath that seemed to hug his chest and torso perfectly. His slacks fitted him, kissing his skin over smooth muscles on his long legs, his hair was unkempt but still looked really sexy. His eyes, darker than I had ever seen them, had one dominant color now... the reddish blue hue seemed to be fighting their way to the surface of his eyes as he scanned the surroundings.

I looked away so as not to get caught staring so shamelessly at a man, especially since it was also during a funeral.

I need to get myself together.

"I'm not surprised." Picklewood said out of nowhere.

"What?"

"That you would fall amongst the category of women who adore the guy."

"You mean-- Kai?"

"Obviously. You were straight on ogling him just now. You can't even deny it if you want to." she pointed out.

Rolling my eyes at her, I slid both my hands into the pocket of my jeans. "There's just something about him that-- I don't know, it's weird."

"The beginning of every crush ever. Just don't fall too deep, he's the wet dream of every highschooler in Westbane... boys included." She said, making her way towards Brody's parents with a small wave goodbye towards my direction.

I sighed, looking back at the direction the car stopped, curious to know who drove here with him.

She was beautiful... her blonde hair seemed too long and shiny it was unreal... her pale skin caught the eyes of almost everyone in attendance. And her eyes,  as blue as the ocean, carried a sort of innocent glow to them that seemed to appeal to all the gazes that rested on her.

I couldn't help the curiosity that surfaced within me, as I tried to figure out who she was to him, and why she came to the funeral with him. Was she his girlfriend, sister, friend...

I paused, looking away again.

Why the hell am I worried about who she is to him? Was Picklewood right? Was this some sort of silly crush I have growing within me?

I knew there was something about Kai that appealed to me, something that seemed to make me want to submit to his every bidding. It was scary and confusing, yet exciting.

I blinked out of the thought, internal voices beginning to swim around my head.

Snap out of it Elfrida, this is so not the time for boy issues, even if it is part of the reasons why you want to start afresh. Right now, a kid just died, and no one is exactly sure about what happened to Brody Huffins, or what animal could have done that to him.

Besides, Kai Labrosky isn't the only capable gentleman in the whole of Westbane, I should just probably listen to Picklewood, and not invest too much on the thought of him.

"Hey."

I jumped, snapping out of my head, and turning to the direction of the voice. Rhett smiled pleasantly at me. "I guess this is the part where I ask, 'penny for your thoughts?'"

I returned the smile. "I was just lost... there wasn't an exact thought running through my mind."

He nodded in understanding. "This must all be stressing you out." he noted.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not as stressed as his parents right now, so it's fine." At the mention of his parents, we turned to their direction, just in time to see Kai hugging Brody's mum, whispering what seemed like words of comfort to her ears, as she cried into his chest, while the blonde lady talked soothingly to the distraught father not too far away.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Is Kai familiar with the Huffins?"

Rhett sighed. "Kai is familiar with everyone. Sometimes he can be too nice, and too everywhere, it's irritating to watch." There was this edge to his voice that told me, he didn't mean those words that fell from his mouth.

"How so?" I asked.

"Sometimes people read into his actions too much, due to the fact that he's too nice to everyone. He raises false hopes and-- I don't know... some of the stuff he does can be very misleading."

I wanted to say something, but before I could open my mouth, he continued. "There was this girl, Anita. He would do all sorts of nice stuff for her... buy her flowers, chocolates in a box, presents and even drive her anywhere she wanted to go. Anita thought he had feelings for her, until she realized he was the same way to everyone else... she was crushed beyond anyone's expectations, she even sold her house and moved out of Westbane."

"Whoa... "

"Yeah... it's crazy how his charms or whatever, seems to have a really weird effect on everyone. Young and old combined."

Do I really want to fall a victim of whatever charm Kai possesses? No, I don't think so.

Men like Kai are one of the reasons why I left New York City for Westbane.

My eyes swept to his direction again, a weird but inviting feeling hitting me at every pressure point, my heart beating wildly against my chest.

If it was so bad having these feelings for Kai, why the hell can't I stop my body from reacting this way? Why do I get these strong urges to close the distance between us each time? Never have I ever felt like this for anyone else... ever.

I swallowed, looking away again before Rhett caught me staring and came to the same assumption Picklewood came to. "Poor Anita..." I heard myself say. "I think it's pretty cool, Kai is the way he is... nice to people, always helping out when help is needed. It's rare to find the likes of him these days."

Rhett chuckled. "Sounds like you're defending his actions"

"I'm defending being nice. Mrs Huffins probably needed that hug more than anything else."

Rhett nodded. "Yeah."

"It's not easy to lose a kid... especially one who is of this age, just starting life and blossoming into the world."

I felt Rhett's eyes on me. I knew very well of the questions they currently held... I was pretty sure he had a lot of them to ask me. But he held himself back.

I was thankful for that. The last thing I want right now, is to talk about how I went house to house, to the familiar parents of my team members, breaking the terrible news to them. Talking about the pain I felt that day, felt like me reopening old scars, and burning them once more with a steaming iron.

"If you want to take the rest of the day off, feel free to do that. I can handle whatever we need to cover up alone." he assured.

"Oh no it's fine... I'm okay. More than you expect actually." A small chuckle escaped me.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Rhett... I am... I've seen worse... been through worse... I still completed my hours and did my work like everyone else. These terrible things come with our line of work."

He sighed. "If you say so. Was just making-"

"Does she look weak to you, Rhett?"

I froze, the sound of Kai's voice, had my stomach doing jumps, the hair on my skin rising, all attention and awareness was solely on him. I turned slightly as our gaze met.

He looked even better up close, his lashes shielding his beautiful eyes from the angry sun above us, casting elegant shadows below his eyes, shadows that made him look dark. There was still that hostile vibe to him, the one he had left with the last time I saw him.

"Nice to see you again, Deputy. Although I wish it were in better circumstances."

"Same here, Mr. Labrosky. I appreciate you coming over to give your support."

He smiled. "Always."

Our eyes never left each other, it felt like he had me enraptured in those alluring eyes of his... eyes that told so many silent secrets.

The sound of Rhett's phone going off, broke the little spell that had befallen his brother and I. "I need to take this." he said, rushing away from us both.

I let out a shaky breath.

My heart was raising... this wasn't normal... controlling myself didn't seem so hard years ago? I should be able to dictate how my heart managed its pace in situations like this.

And why in hell do I act this way around him? I couldn't have liked him so fast could I? Or was this the weird charm Rhett was talking about? Did it get to me?

Breathe Elfrida, Breathe...

The fact that I could feel his eyes on me, wasn't helping things. I summoned enough courage to look back at him, to find that curious look in his eyes again, his head tilted slightly on an angle, like an animal accessing something rather strange to him.

"W-"

"This might seem too forward," He cut me off from the question I wanted to ask him. "Do you want to skip all this and continue the day with me? I'll talk to Rhett."

I swallowed. "Why?"

"Oh trust me, you don't want to know the real answer to that question, Elfie."

"I kind of need to know if you want me to skip work."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "I want to get to know you... and you also look like you need an out from all of this... let me take your mind off it, hm?"

I watched him for the longest time, asking myself if it was wise to heed to this aching... the aching that required me wanting to be close to him in all ways possible.

Could I entrust my vulnerable side to him?

He's like this with everyone else...

No, maybe he was being different with me... maybe this feeling was right? Maybe he feels the same connection... it couldn't be only me... I couldn't be the only one feeling this way... no...

There's only one way to find out...

"You're right... I do need an out from all of this."

The smile spread across his lips, his whole face lightening up as he spoke. "Follow me."