The Soul Stealer (15 page)

“And when are you planning on going home?” The accusation in her voice was evident.

“Never. I’ll never leave you,” Hunter said without hesitation. He took a deep breath. “That’s the real problem.”

“Problem for you, or problem for me?”

“Both of us, I’m afraid.” Hunter stopped for a moment before continuing. “It won’t be easy for us to be together if Father decides to seek revenge once he’s realized I’m not coming back.”

Malia wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to her next question. “What will he do?”

“Send his assassins,” Hunter said with a firm nod. “But they won’t get the jump on me. I’ll know when they’re near. And I won’t let them hurt you.” Hunter put his hand out on the table for her to hold.

She hesitated for a moment but then put her fingers through his, feeling his smooth, silky skin, and wanting to feel his entire body next to hers.

He bent and brushed his lips against her fingertips and then pulled away to look in her eyes. “They can’t get near you, beautiful girl. Not as long as you wear that necklace.”

She sucked in her breath, hoping he was right as the feeling of dread pounded in her stomach. “Why does being with me make you stronger?”

Hunter stared at her with a serious look, but then his eyes took on a loving tenderness, and he stroked her hand with his fingers. “Because we’re two halves of a whole, never to be complete without the other. It’s why I had to find you. I’ve seen you in my dreams all my life. So here I am.”

“And from where? Where did you come from?” She held her breath, hoping for an answer.

Hunter bent and kissed her hand again and shook his head without looking at her, signaling the end of that line of questioning.

She sighed, determined to solve the mystery of Hunter with or without his assistance. Finding out who he really was and where he came from would lead her to answers about her mother and why she was murdered. Malia gazed at Hunter over the candlelit table, knowing love and trust didn’t always come together in a neat package.

The heat was thick with moisture and not even the whirling ceiling fan helped cool Malia enough for sleep. And having a hot body right next to her didn’t help the situation at all, especially since she wanted to roll on top of him to wake him for what she desired more than sleep. Yet even with all his declarations of love, Hunter didn’t invite intimacy. Instead, he pulled away every time she tried to do more than kiss him. After that first night she explored his body, Hunter never let her satisfy his obvious need, even though he ravished her body with his hands and mouth whenever he could. Malia moved away from him, wanting some space between them so she could think clearly. Touching him put too many desires in her head. For once he didn’t have his leg or arm over her. His soft breathing rang in her ear.

She quietly got out of bed and pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. A first bird song began, signaling the dawning light of day. Soon there would be a chorus singing from the trees to welcome the sun. Malia looked at Hunter’s brown leather bag sitting on the floor by the bed. She glanced over at him and then back to the bag. No, to look in it would be a breach of trust, she decided.

Malia put on her running shoes. Her body was tense with lack of sleep and unmet desire. Although Hunter’s hands were adept at pleasing her for a moment, she needed more—much more of him. She needed to feel his body on top of hers, overwhelming her with his passion, having him inside her, making her feel like a woman. It was getting frustrating. And she was sure he was frustrated, too.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped and looked back toward the house, wondering if she should wake him and put an end to the longing, once and for all. She imagined getting on top of Hunter, having him inside her before he could stop it. He would awake in a sweet bliss he wouldn’t be able to resist. Malia smiled, tempted to turn around, instead she kept going down the stairs. She wanted their first time making love to be Hunter’s choice, as well as hers.

As she passed by the door to the studio another thought took over. She glanced up the stairs and listened, but no sound could be heard. She tiptoed to the studio door and tried the knob, but it was locked. She reached above the door and felt around on the ledge of the door frame, hoping the key that had always been hidden above was still there. Her fingers closed on the familiar shape. She unlocked the door and went in with a pang of guilt, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible.

She looked around in surprise. There were large maps of various countries all over the small dinette table, and one of the mainland United States spread out. Check marks in black ink were in various places across the map, mostly in the middle of the country.

A fine layer of shimmering dust covered the kitchenette counter. Malia ran her finger over it and then studied the glittery substance on her fingertip, thinking it odd. She looked up at the ceiling but didn’t notice anything coming through that would leave such a trail, so she wiped it on her shorts and turned her attention to the computers.

There were four computers next to each other, all turned on and running, as if of their own accord. Numbers and letters that seemed gibberish to her scrolled across one monitor. Two others seemed to be downloading information about various towns in different states, with addresses of police headquarters, city halls, and the like. She couldn’t make out what was on the fourth monitor. There were shapes and images outlined in shades of light and colors, and symbols scrolling across the bottom, something about magnetic fields. She had never been a very computer-oriented person, but she knew this was technology most people didn’t have in their homes. It went beyond anything she had ever seen.

Malia stepped closer to get a better view and a noise blared from the middle computer. She clicked on the mouse, trying to stop the alarming sound, only to have it get louder. A quick escape seemed the best option, so she turned toward the door.

“Find what you’re looking for?” Hunter asked with a hurt look on his face. He stood in the doorway with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his hair still disheveled from sleep. “Reset alarm,” he ordered and the alarm stopped.

“What are you doing with all this?” she asked, ignoring that she had been caught snooping.

“Nothing sinister, if that’s what you think.”

“Then what?”

“I’m searching for an answer to a simple question.”

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

“Are you sure you want to open Pandora’s box?” Hunter asked with a warning tone.

Still she didn’t say anything, waiting for an answer to her question.

“I’m trying to figure out where we can hide from my father,” Hunter said after a moment of silence. He looked at the monitors with a frustrated expression. “So far, I haven’t found a place that has the right magnetic force to block him from finding us. I know it must exist, and then I can set up a diversion, a fake magnetic field that will appear to be us on his tracking device, but I haven’t quite figured out where that hiding place is yet.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving Hawaii. This is my home.”

Hunter leveled his gaze at her, and his eyes held a serious light she had not seen in them before. “If you want to be with me, you will have to leave, because I need to hide from them to stay alive.”

She sucked in her breath. “I thought you said your family couldn’t hurt you.”

“I said I wouldn’t be an easy target. But we will be forced to flee if we want to stay together, especially if I don’t return home soon.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of being without Hunter.

“What do you want, Malia? Because right now you have two choices, and I will do whichever you choose. I will leave today and go back to my family to protect you from them, and you will never see me again. This, by the way, is the smartest choice.” Hunter stopped and searched her face for a reaction before speaking again. “Or, we can be together, knowing that one day soon, we’ll have to flee quickly and probably keep running from them for the rest of our lives. But we’ll be together.” He stopped again to gauge her reaction. “The second choice is a dumb move for both of us, quite frankly, but I know it’s what I want. But I can’t make that decision for you. You have to tell me, because sometimes it’s unclear what you want from me.”

“This is insane,” she said, unable to keep the anger from her voice. “You can’t expect me to commit to leaving the only home I’ve ever had on the turn of a dime. I barely know you, and I’ve lived on this tiny little island all my life! Do you know what it’s like to grow up on an island? My world is small, and very familiar. I can’t just pick up and leave this house or the shop. It’s all I know.” She shook her head and walked past him toward the door, expecting him to throw a counter argument at her, but only silence followed. She put her hand on the doorknob but couldn’t force herself to turn it. She shut her eyes and tried to imagine life without Hunter, and a sick feeling took form in the pit of her stomach.

“I’ll be gone before you get home from work,” he said in a faint whisper.

Malia took another deep breath and looked down at her hand enclosed around the brass doorknob, still unable to make her fingers twist and turn. She sighed and turned around. He stood motionless, waiting. No emotion showed through the elegant lines of his face to influence her decision.

“To pick up and leave with you would be a huge leap of faith, especially since you haven’t exactly been honest with me,” Malia said, hoping his ultimatum would go away.

“Love is always a huge leap of faith, no matter what the circumstances are. So the question is, do you have faith? Faith in us?”

“But you aren’t talking about us just being together, making a life, having a family, or any of that. You’re talking about things I don’t understand, things you aren’t willing to fully explain, and life and death. It’s a lot to consider, much more than whether or not I love you.”

Hunter still stood motionless, but disappointment showed in his eyes. “You’re right. I can see you’re not ready for me.”

“Hunter, I,” she hesitated when she saw the devastated look on his face. She took a step toward him, but Hunter pulled away, keeping the distance between them. “I need a certain amount of routine in my life,” she explained. “I need someone who doesn’t surprise me at every turn. I need to get bored every once in awhile just so I know I’m safe and secure. I need to live in a place I’m familiar with.” She put her hand out to him, but he didn’t take it. “There’s nothing safe about you.” The words were difficult to get out.

Hunter’s lips quivered, and his face was a mix of pain and confusion. He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “Then I shall go.”

She tried to swallow but couldn’t, and her heart felt as if it were being ripped out. “Not yet. Stay one more night. Give me some time to think this through. Promise me you will.”

Hunter nodded but didn’t look at her as she left the studio.

For the rest of the morning Malia felt like a zombie. She wasn’t sure how it happened, couldn’t remember exactly what had been said, but she did know that she and Hunter had broken up a few hours earlier. Or, at least it seemed that way. It was all surreal. She had known him such a short time, but if he left, all the light in her life would go with him.

She had left Hunter in the studio and had gone upstairs to change for work, not seeing him again that morning. As Malia drove into town, she kept thinking it couldn’t be happening. It was just a bad dream. Maybe she should go to him and take it all back. But then the dreaded question would come to her mind: Could she run away with him? Malia didn’t know the answer to that, and she didn’t want to be forced into it. She needed time to think, time to sort it all out. He’d promised to stay one more night, so she had the afternoon to process the turmoil rushing through her heart.

But each time the bell on the shop door rang, she looked up from what she was doing, hoping the person coming through it had wild bronze hair and violet eyes. No one did.

One did have red hair and a freckled nose, however. Ryan entered the shop and glanced around the room. Malia stood behind the cash register, barely smiling as he walked toward her, afraid of why he might be there. It could be one of two reasons: he had found her mother’s killer, or he wanted to warn her about Hunter.

“Ryan,” Malia said without much enthusiasm.

“Did you get my message?”

“Yes,” she said, now remembering the message he had left on her answering machine. What Hunter had said about Ryan’s sadistic thoughts made looking at the detective now and pretending she was happy to see him a little difficult. “Sorry I didn’t call. I was on the Big Island at my Dad’s.”

“Something has come up since I called you,” Ryan said in an urgent manner.

“Really? Did you find details about Hunter’s background, after all?” She tried to keep her voice uninterested.

“No,” Ryan answered with a serious frown. “But I need to talk to him, and I want to ask your permission before we go barging onto your property, because I don’t have a warrant at this point.”

“What are you talking about?” Malia hoped the rapid pulse in her neck wasn’t obvious.

“There’s been a rash of robberies at ATMs, and like the transvestite, all the victims remember a dagger at their throat.”

“What does that have to do with Hunter?”

“One victim got a good look at the thief and gave us a detailed description. Seems the robber is tall with brownish hair and unusual eyes, sort of a purplish blue. Do you know anyone like that?” Ryan asked with a pointed stare. “Not exactly the standard description we get here in Honolulu.”

She swallowed hard but met Ryan’s stare, not wanting to look away for fear he would know what she was about to say was a lie. “Well, sounds like it could be Hunter, but I kicked him out. He’s not at my house anymore.”

“When?”

“Last night when I got home from my trip. He couldn’t make rent, and after I got your message, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to have him living downstairs. I was afraid I’d have to do the whole conviction thing, but this morning he was gone, and so was his stuff.” She looked at Ryan with a blank stare, hoping she was convincing.