Knights v Hunters; The Return

Eden snuck a sideways glance at the Hunter who had orchestrated the invasion of Knight town together with Seth and the Blocker. Zeke had been quiet in the car for a long time, contemplative almost. When he eventually spoke, he did so very quietly. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt, despite what just happened. I just wanted to gain access into Knight town and Seth provided the means.”

Eden listened to him explain how he had met first Lucia and then Seth and how he had fell in with their plans. All the while, she remembered growing up thinking that she didn’t look like anyone in the town, even her own family. Her dark, almost black hair and blue eyes stood in sharp contrast to the blonde and red haired children of her youth. All her siblings had inherited some of their parents’ features, whereas she only reflected Gabe’s temperament. Now she understood better why that was so.

“You look like me, you know,” Zeke confirmed, almost proudly. “I always wondered if I would recognise you when I saw you, if there was anything of me in you and today, I realised, I would know you anywhere. You carry yourself like Delia though,” he said sadly.

“Tell me about her,” Eden asked, watching as Zeke drove her down a very familiar path. “How did you meet?”

Zeke was quiet again and Eden sensed genuine heartbreak as he spoke. “I met her on a mission more than twenty years ago. She was spellbindingly beautiful, almost mesmeric and she was feisty,” he laughed. “And yet, she saw something in me that made her defy the covenant that prohibited relationships between Knights and Hunters. Her ancestors had put that in place centuries ago when there was some fallout between our two worlds. It wasn’t easy for her because her brother was the leader of the Knights and she loved him, would do anything for him, so our relationship was a betrayal to him as well.”

Eden had heard her father speak of Delia over the years with the greatest love and regret, but never with the feeling that she had betrayed him. “I don’t think that he ever thought that,” Eden said. “He genuinely loved her.”

“Maybe,” Zeke acknowledged, “but when she told him about us, he was so angry, he was ready to banish her from Knight town until Grace intervened. Grace asked him to relook the covenant, to be a brother and a leader to Delia, but Gabe was angry for a long time and when Delia fell pregnant, it was the final straw. He asked her to leave, so she came to live with me at the compound. Jude was not pleased either, because he didn’t want to raise the ire of the leader of the Knights, but I knew that he would protect us no matter what happened. I had asked Delia to marry me a few weeks after we met and she refused then and all the times after, but when she came to the compound, she eventually relented. We were going to be married before you were born; we’d even designed our wedding bands and Jude agreed to preside over the ceremony.”

The car came to a standstill then and Zeke opened Eden’s door. “This is where you would have grown up,” he said. “This is where your mother and I would have lived.”

Matthew and his siblings struggled to absorb the news their father had just shared, while Gabe and Jude conferred, away from their young. Eden and Matthew had been close their entire lives – they had fought together, played together, trained together and even played pranks on their other siblings. Their father had always said that Eden was a lot like his sister Delia. He just hadn’t realised that was because Delia was actually Eden’s biological mother!

“We can’t just stand around here while Eden is out there with that madman!” he said angrily to his brother and sister. Rafe, Caleb and Becca looked on, seemingly conflicted. “I can’t even track her because she’s with a Hunter!”

“We can’t track her either,” Caleb said. “Seems as if Zeke wants some alone time with her. You heard Rafe, he won’t hurt her.”

“We don’t know that,” Kyra said. “Sorry Rafe, it’s not that I don’t trust what you sense, but I can’t take that for granted when it comes to my sister.” Rafe waived aside her apology. He understood exactly how she felt, except he couldn’t explain why he felt that way. He knew though that the dream he had about the Hunter looking like Eden, finally made sense.

Matthew thought for a second. “Caleb, can I talk to you alone please?”

The two men moved away from the rest of the Knights and Hunters. “I know that Rafe and Eden used to communicate the same way that you and him do. Do you think that he can reach out to her now, find out where she might be?”

“I’m not sure if he can. But if he can, are you going to explain to him why he has that bond with her?” Caleb asked angrily. He still wasn’t over the fact that Matthew had used his ability as a Cleaner, on Rafe.

“Look, remember what I said a few days ago? That I would make it right with Rafe? Well, let me do that now!”

“What do you mean?” Caleb asked curiously.

“I can restore his memories,” Matthew said simply.

“What? I thought you were a Cleaner.”

“I am, but I’m also a Memory Keeper. There are less than a handful amongst us now,” Matthew confessed, “and it’s generally a closely guarded secret, as you can imagine.”

“So, you can restore memories and abilities?” Caleb asked in wonder.

“No, just memories. Once abilities are removed, we can never restore them. I have the memories of all those former Knights I have cleaned. I can’t destroy them and I’ve never had to restore them before, but I can with Rafe.”

This gave Caleb a lot to think about. He had to make a monumental decision on behalf of his brother, something that would once again change Rafe’s life, but hadn’t Rafe’s life been disrupted enough?

“No,” Caleb said with difficulty. “We can find Eden without Rafe having to go through this,” Caleb assured Matthew.

“I also need to do this for Eden,” Matthew admitted. “I interfered in her life, without a thought for the repercussions and it broke her heart. She hasn’t yet forgiven me.”

“She will in time,” Caleb guaranteed. “After all, she is half-Hunter!”

“I can’t believe it,” Matthew said, “but it explains so much, especially her connection with all the Hunters. Caleb, I need to repair the relationship between her and Rafe.”

“Let nature take its course this time,” Caleb advised. “If they are meant to be together, they’ll find a way back to each other.”

Jude and Gabe meanwhile were discussing their options. “In a little while, his concentration will lapse and we’ll be able to track him,” Jude assured Gabe.

“Like you, I don’t think he’ll hurt her,” Gabe said.

“Despite what happened at our compound and in your town today, Zeke never participated in any acts of violence. His main focus was Eden – finding her and getting her out. She’s been his mission from the very beginning.”

“Yes, but to what end?” Gabe asked in desperation. “And will she be smart enough to go along with it and not rile him? Jude, we haven’t seen him in two decades, we can’t be sure if he’s still anything like the man we knew!”

“He isn’t. The man we knew would have burnt down this town to find his daughter. He’s a bit more subdued nowadays,” Jude said.

“I regret not letting them lead their own lives, you know,” Gabe confessed. “I regret forcing my sister to abide by a covenant that was designed in anger. She never forgave me for that.”

“She came back to you though,” Jude said. “In the end, she came back home, even though I begged her to stay at the compound.”

“Only because she thought she had lost the man she loved. She seemed so defeated the last few weeks before she died, it was like a light had gone out in her,” Gabe said ruefully.

“We would be the same if we lost our partners,” Jude said.

“I know,” Gabe replied sadly. “It just took me a long time to realise that Zeke was hers.”

Zeke walked through his old home, lost in memories of what was and thoughts of what could have been. His home was almost exactly as he had left it – except it looked much neater. The photos he’d taken of Delia were still on the mantelpiece. No one had lived here in all these years, he realised and yet someone had maintained it well. Ava?

Eden stood in front of the photo of the people she now knew to be her mother and father. They looked young and obviously in love – it shone in their eyes, in their smiles and the way they held each other. “You were happy together,” she said simply.

“I’d never been so happy my entire life,” Zeke said quietly. “Delia gave my life a purpose outside of being a Hunter. I finally understood Jude when he spoke about Ava. When I found out we were expecting you, it made everything complete, you know. A couple of months before you were to be born, I went on a mission with Ethan and a few others. There was a group of condemned Normals who were holding practically an entire suburb hostage. They would commit brazen acts of robbery, break into homes when people were asleep and then terrorise them. They killed an entire family as they slept. The police couldn’t identify them, but we knew exactly who they were, so we went in to help. It was crazy, everything happened so fast and before I knew it, I was shot several times and left for dead. I didn’t see Ethan or any of the other Hunters and I was worried that they hadn’t made it either,” he said. “Lucia found me. She helped nurse me back to health and Gentry informed her that I was a Hunter. Things changed after that.”

“Why didn’t you go back to the Hunters?” Eden asked.

“They left me to die!” he said. “They left me there and never looked back!”

“That’s not true,” Jude said gently, surprising Zeke. Zeke hadn’t heard the door open. “We searched for you for months – we looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find you and eventually, we had to accept the fact that you were gone. I couldn’t get your signal.” Jude looked at the man who had once been his childhood friend. He had aged well, he thought, but the pain and sadness were etched on his face, forever marking him. Eden must have been shocked to see him – she was a mirror image of Zeke.

“That’s a lie!” Zeke cried, raising his hand as if he meant to use his arrow on the leader of the Hunters. “You left me there!”

“Why would we do that?” Jude asked, trying to reason with him. Meanwhile, Rafe, Gabe, Ava and Ethan had also walked into Zeke’s old home. “Why would we give up on someone we loved?”

“Because you …” Zeke couldn’t bring himself to say the words that he now suspected were not true. “She said no one came for me, no one came,” he finally got out, tears running down his face. Eden crossed over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“You should have come back home,” Ava said sorrowfully.

“There was nothing left here for me,” Zeke answered. “I heard that Delia had passed in childbirth and our child was being raised as a Knight, one of Gabe and Grace’s children.” He looked at Jude. “Why couldn’t you raise her here, with our own kind?”

“Because she was my family,” Gabe responded. “Delia came back home and she grew ill in the last few weeks. Your death defeated her. She begged me to look after Eden, to love her as my own because you didn’t have any family back at the compound. So I did. And I do!”

“You should have told me, Father,” Eden said to Gabe. “My decisions could have been different.” She looked at Rafe, thinking that had she known she was half-Hunter, they might still be together. She might have had a chance for happiness with him.

“We thought we’d tell you before you reached the Year of the Choice, but the longer we kept quiet, the more difficult it became.”

Zeke held onto Eden for a while, reluctant to let her go, now that he had finally found her. Eden couldn’t explain the bond she had immediately felt with the Hunter – she should have been afraid of him when they met, but she had known instinctively that he cared about her, that he would not hurt her. Now she was afraid, that he would be taken from her and she would never get the chance to know him.

“You will,” Rafe said silently, reading her mind. She looked back at him in shock, tears forming in her eyes, while Rafe was confused as to why Eden looked like she had heard him.

“What’s going to happen now?” Zeke asked after a few quiet moments, almost resigned to his fate.

Jude looked at Gabe and nodded, allowing the leader of the Knights to take the lead in the conversation. “Well, you’re home now. And if you want and if Eden wants to, you can use the time to get to know each other.”

Zeke reared back in shock and then looked at Jude for confirmation. The leader of the Hunters walked towards his old friend and held out his hand. Zeke took it. “Welcome home, brother,” he said.

Zeke was overwhelmed, as was Eden. She thanked Jude profusely, grateful for his kindness, while knowing that Zeke’s return would not be easy.

“What are the conditions?” Zeke asked, bracing himself for the worst.

“What are you willing to give up?” Jude questioned.

Zeke looked at his daughter. “To spend time with her? Everything.”

“You won’t be allowed to use your arrows without permission,” Jude began. “Your movements will also be tracked for a while – I’d prefer if you stayed in the compound apart from the times you visit Eden. And we can’t use you on missions for the foreseeable future, which means that you’ll have to work in our other business.”

“Yes. I’ll take that,” Zeke said.

Hours later, the Knights were still at the Hunters’ compound. Ava had invited them to stay the night since Grace needed a few more days before she could be allowed to travel.

They sat at the dinner table that night, the leader of the Knights and his children, with the leader of the Hunters and his family. They were joined by Zeke, who united them all forever.

“Where to from here?” Ava asked both her husband and Gabe.

“Well, we go home and fix what we need to. Fortunately, there’s not much damage and the Zolfars have already offered to assist,” Gabe said.

“Same here,” Jude replied. “We have more of a mess, but a few weeks of work should restore some order.”

“I would like to help,” Zeke volunteered.

“Oh, you’ll be doing that, alright,” Jude laughed. “How’s Noah?” he asked Gabe on a more serious note.

“I heard he’s doing better. You know he tried to warn us that Eden was in danger,” Gabe said.

“How is it that Seth didn’t know about Eden and Zeke?” Jude asked curiously.

“Well, Grace was also with child at the same time as Delia, but we unfortunately lost the baby. So when Delia passed on, it was easy to pass off her child as ours, since no one knew she was pregnant. We chose not to tell anyone because we weren’t sure whether the Council would allow us to keep a child that was half-Hunter.”

Eden listened to her father, still unable to absorb the fact that she was half-Hunter, that she also had a right to walk freely in the Hunters’ compound. And she would use that right, she decided. Like Zeke, this time, she would fight for what was hers.

“Noah knew about Eden though,” Gabe said. “He was one of the few who had known that Delia was pregnant. They were friends once, you see, so when he saw Eden, he knew and we couldn’t deny it. Yet he told no one all these years, even when I accused him of betraying the Knights and everything we stood for, he never once let on that I in fact, had breached a covenant. I should have known then, that he wasn’t the traitor.”

The Young Hunters showed the Knights around their compound and eventually took them to their control centre. Rafe and Eden lagged behind. They walked in silence, but Eden wanted so much to be able to tell him what they had once meant to each other. Rafe on the other hand, had feelings of deja vu. He instinctively took her hand, waiting for her to recoil like she had the last time he touched her, only to find her closing her fingers around his.

“Have we done this before?” Rafe asked and then laughed, “Well, stupid question, I would have remembered if we had.” Eden said nothing, but held onto his hand tighter. “How are you doing with all of this? With Zeke?”

“I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t freaking out. But I understand now why the Hunters’ way of life has always appealed to me and I understand why my father was so concerned that I might choose not to live as a Knight anymore. I want to get to know Zeke though. I want him to know me. I want to find out what it’s like to live in his world,” Eden confessed.

“You want to move to the compound?” Rafe asked in surprise.

“Not immediately,” Eden replied. “I couldn’t do that to my family. But, Zeke is also my family and I’m the only family he has, so in a few weeks, when all is settled back home, I’m going to suggest to my parents that I come live here for a while, provided your father agrees of course.”

“I can’t see my dad having a problem with that,” Rafe said honestly.

“Why is it that your father, who is so feared by Normals and Knights alike, is so easy going here?” Eden asked. “I thought that he would eliminate Zeke when he found him and yet, he’s offered him his old home back and welcomed him with little retribution.”

“My father is feared with good reason, but he is the most honourable and just man I’ve ever met in my life. He would never try to take you away from Zeke a second time. And Zeke is family – I saw it when my Dad spoke of him for the first time. He never got over his loss,” Rafe concluded.

“So, I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other,” Eden said casually, eagerly awaiting his response.

“Yes. Becca and Caleb will also be glad to hear that. They seem very fond of you and Sera admires your fighting ability,” he said, bringing Eden back to earth with a jolt. She had completely forgotten about Rafe’s new love.

“Well, let’s go tell them,” Eden said, infusing some excitement in her voice as she removed her hand from Rafe’s and walked into the control centre. Matthew immediately joined her side.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he said, as Rafe walked into the room looking a bit bewildered. “I’m sorry for taking him away from you. I had no right. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Thank you for saying that. Maybe… maybe he was never mine to keep,” Eden said, although her heart sang a very different tune. “But I forgive you, on account of you being my big brother and the future leader of the Knights from whom I might require a few favours in the not so distant future!” she said, punching his arm.

Matthew smiled. Despite Eden’s bravado, he knew that he was responsible for her heartbreak and he wouldn’t stop trying to fix that, to make her smile again the way she used to when she was with Rafe. Now, with Zeke the Hunter being her father, anything was possible.

When almost everyone had retired for the evening, Caleb, still feeling too restless to sleep, donned a pair of running shoes and went outside. Ten minutes into his run, he met up with Becca, who seemed to have the same idea.

They acknowledged each other, but ran companionably in silence for many miles before they stopped at the old wishing well where they had found Grace. Caleb was surprised to see Rafe there, staring into the night, looking forlorn.

“Hey bro. What are you doing?” Caleb asked hesitantly.

Rafe sighed. “Couldn’t sleep,” he said eventually. “You two as well, uh?” he asked and Becca and Caleb both nodded. “Except that I needed to walk, not run and I ended up here. I’ve been standing here for almost an hour and I don’t even know why,” he laughed without any amusement.

Caleb knew the reason, but he couldn’t say anything. Rafe needed to figure it out on his own. “You need anything?” he asked instead.

“No, I’m just going to stand aimlessly here for a few more minutes and then make my way back home. You two go on with your run.” He waved them off.

Becca turned back a little while later, still seeing Rafe standing there. “That’s where they used to meet, right?” she asked Caleb.

“Yeah. I think he’s waiting for her, but doesn’t know it.”

“That’s heart breaking. Do you think that they will ever get back together again? That he’ll ever remember her like that?” Becca asked with sadness.

“His heart remembers her. His mind just needs to catch up,” Caleb pronounced.

“That’s so sad,” Becca said. “Two people who were obviously meant to be with each other, now all alone.”

“Aw, don’t get all girly on me now,” Caleb protested.

“You’re an idiot, Caleb,” Becca proclaimed, swatting him in protest. “I’ll race you back home.”

The Knights look leave of the Hunters early the next morning, save for Grace who would join them a few days later. Kyra had volunteered to stay with her mother, but Grace had asked her to keep an eye on Gabe. She knew that Gabe would need support over the next few days, especially since he had very generously invited Zeke to spend some time with them in Knight town, knowing that his little girl would have wanted that. But Grace knew his heart would be sore.

The leaders of the Hunters and Knights shook hands, and exchanged words of gratitude. Gabe was grateful that the Hunters had chosen to enter Knight town to help them- when Grace had asked him to instruct the Guardians to allow the Hunters through the gates, he had done so, with very little hope that said Hunters would turn up. They had though and prevented mass casualties. This would forever change his opinion of them. Jude was glad that Gabe was affording Zeke the opportunity to be a part of Eden’s life, no matter how difficult that might be for the leader of the Knights. As they left the compound, Ava wrapped her arms around her husband, grateful to have him in her life.

“You’re a good man, Jude,” she said.

“And you,” he said, “are lucky to have me!” She punched his arm, knowing that Caleb had inherited his father’s infectious humour.

“Cut it out, you two,” Caleb admonished his parents. “We’ve got some cleaning up to do in the compound.” Both he and Rafe walked away in mock disgust, much to their parents’ delight.

Later at the control centre, after they had assisted in the clean-up, Rafe felt the need to have a heart-to heart discussion with his brother. “What do you think of Sera?” he asked Caleb.

Caleb looked up from the computer he had been monitoring and answered. “She’s a great girl. Why? Having second thoughts?”

Rafe ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know if this makes sense, but every time I’m with her, I feel like I’m cheating on someone else. Which is ridiculous, right?” he asked his brother for confirmation.

Mind catching up with the heart! Caleb only hesitated for a second, “Of course. So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I have to stop seeing her obviously, in case she develops any feelings for me, but am I going to feel this way about every girl I go out with? Like I’m a cheat. Hell, you’re the stud in the family, not me!” he cried in frustration.

“And don’t you forget it!” Caleb retorted. “Look, you’ll know when it feels right,” he said seriously. “You’ve never been the guy who plays the field, so don’t think of starting now. Just take some time off dating. You need the time to sort out your head, obviously,” he joked. And maybe, you’ll make space for Eden, like you’re meant to, Caleb thought.

“You’re right,” Rafe reflected. “I need some time off. I’ll go on a few missions, get back into my studies and occupy my mind with other things. Thanks.” He sat back in his chair, looking at his brother and decided to go for it. “So, are you ever going to tell Becca how you feel?”

“Feel about what?” Caleb asked, turning in his chair to face his brother.

“You’re an idiot, do you know that?” Rafe asked, punching his brother. “Are you going to wait for her to promise herself to Eli before you tell her that you’re crazy about her? That you want to be with her and only her?”

“Is it that obvious?” Caleb asked quietly.