Page 4 of In the Monster's Wake
“Stop bickering, boys,” Kerry said as she pushed them both toward the living room.“Sit down.I’ll order dinner.”
“Check if it’s them before opening the door,” Jasper insisted.
She rolled her eyes, but he wasn’t offended.Hewasbeing kind of ridiculous.
He couldn’t help it.This was what spending time with his father did to him.He’d do pretty much anything to avoid doing so, but unfortunately, his father knew it, which was why he always tried to catch him by surprise.He’d managed today.
Jasper would make sure he wouldn’t next time.
He flopped on the couch next to Corey, who bumped their shoulders together.He didn’t have to say anything.They’d been through this more times than Jasper could remember.
Corey and Kerry had been his friends since he was a kid.They knew his father as well as he did, but they had the advantage of being able to avoid him.They weren’t related to him, and their parents didn’t care that they didn’t want to be hunters.In fact, their mother had been happy when they’d told her they were out.Jasper liked it whenshevisited them.
He didn’t like it when his parents did.
Corey turned on the TV.The news was on, so Corey moved to change the channel, but Jasper put a hand on his wrist to stop him.“Turn the volume up a bit,” he said.
Corey glanced at him but obeyed.
“The current wave of violent crime in the monster community is worrying,” the guy sitting behind his desk was saying.“It will eventually spill over to us, which is something no one wants.”
A second man was sitting there, nodding along.Jasper gritted his teeth.These people didn’t care about monsters.They only cared about themselves and were acting as if human-on-human crime wasn’t a thing.
It was one of the reasons Jasper had left the hunters.Monsters might be physically different from humans, but as far as he was concerned, there were good and bad people on both sides.He didn’t care if someone had tentacles instead of hands as long as they were a good person.The hunters didn’t see things that way.They thought that all monsters were dangerous and acted accordingly.
“More rules need to be put in place,” the second man agreed.“Monsters have been allowed to wreak havoc for too long, and if we’re not careful, we’ll pay for that.I wouldn’t be surprised if we got news that humans have started dying, too.When we do, it’ll be too late, and whose fault will it be?We need the people in charge to protect us, but they’re sitting back and letting monsters do what they want.”
Jasper was tempted to find out who the fuck was killing monsters just so that all of this would end.It was unfair to the monsters who were just trying to live their lives.There was nothing he could do, though.He wasn’t a hunter and had no plans on becoming one again.He was fine with being a mechanic and staying away from that part of his life.
But he was worried.His father wouldn’t continue taking no for an answer if this continued and more hunters got involved, and people were dying.The situation was explosive, and Jasper couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if this killer set their attention on a human.
Unfortunately, he thought he knew the answer to that question.
Chapter Two
“Kerry wants to go home,” Corey yelled over the music.
