Night Walker's Woman Ch. 12

"Did you kill her, Sean?"

"Of course."

The simplicity of his admission to murder shocked her senses, "Why? She was just a kid. What could she have possibly done to deserve that?"

"She had an abortion. She murdered my child. I got sloppy, something I never did with you. I was hungry for a kill. So, I transformed and went hunting. I did not know that she saw me. I thought she was asleep."

"When I came back, she was gone. Would not answer my calls or texts. But I was not going to allow that, not when she was pregnant with my son. I hunted her down. But I was too late. When I tried to bargain with her to come back, just until the child was born, she told me there would be no baby, that she would not bring another monster into this world."

"I could not let her live. Not only had she murdered my legacy, but she knew the truth. Sure, I could have discredited her as delusional. But why take the risk? She deserved to die."

Jaycee was not sure whether to feel pity or anger at the young woman. Perhaps even sympathy, how would she have felt if she had known the truth about the man, about that thing? She wanted to believe that she would not have blamed an innocent child, but would she?

"You have a child, Sean. Angel, isn't she enough?"

"A girl. A worthless little girl. You saw what happened. The seizures. She won't live. They never do."

He shook her, hard. "It's all your fault. You had only one purpose - to breed me a son. And you're so pathetic you couldn't even get that right."

Jaycee would not allow his words to shake her as she noticed Rex inching closer to where they stood. She dropped her head and turned her body just slightly. She knew that Sean interpreted it as his words hitting their mark, but it brought them parallel to the drop. Her back was no longer entirely to the cliff, and Rex was no longer in Sean's direct line of sight.

She lifted her head and stared into those glowing orbs, "And your first wife? Did you kill her, too?"

Jaycee was grateful that she had maneuvered into a better position as Sean pushed her away. As it was, she fell to the hard ground a few feet away. Now she had a clear route of escape. Not yet, though. She would buy Rex some more time as he got into position.

"Do not ever speak of Astrid. You have no right!"

She squared her shoulders and lifted her head, "I have every right to know the truth. I lived with a monster for a decade. I gave you a child. The truth is the least I deserve."

The thing shook its head, half beast, half man. "What does it matter? You won't live to tell anyone."

"No, I did not kill Astrid."

For a moment, Jaycee would have almost sworn she saw the man she had once admired, that deep pain which she had once tried to soothe. But then it was gone with a snarl.

"Astrid killed herself."

The words hung between them. Jaycee could not have moved if she wanted to. Even Rex froze twenty or thirty feet behind Sean, or that thing.

"Why?" She seemed as bad as Angel when it came to that word. But this might be her last chance to get any of the answers she needed to make sense of most of her adult life.

"Because she could not give me a child, you stupid bitch. Do you have any idea how much I loathed you? Watching you get bigger every day of your pregnancy, knowing it should have been Astrid."

He shook his head, and his eyes softened to those endless, almost black pools she had once thought attractive, "She was wrong. I would have loved her, anyway. She was my fucking mate. How could she not have known that meant more than a baby?"

"Oh, Daddy, I'm so sorry."

Jaycee's heart stopped as she turned to look over her shoulder. Grandfather stood next to Hector, who held a ghostly pale Angel in his arms. She squirmed and pushed at the older man's shoulder. "Let me down."

"No, no, Angel," but her pleas were in vain as her daughter wobbled to find her footing.

Her daughter shook her head and met her gaze, "It's okay, Mommy. It'll be alright, I promise."

But Jaycee was not so confident. Their daughter had never meant much to Sean. She had known that even before his harsh words today. She reached out as the child passed by but was shocked at the speed and agility with which her daughter avoided her grasp.

"It will be okay, Daddy. I know you're still in there. Somewhere. The man, the skinwalker that she knew. You just need to fight your way back for her. For your Astrid," the child pleaded.

The thing bent down on the ground next to the little girl. It ran a sharp talon down her cheek, Jaycee was surprised not to see blood in its wake.

It shook its head as it spoke, "No, it is too late for me, Angel. You are so like her. So, full of life, and light, and laughter. It hurt just to be near you. You were such a reminder of all I had lost."

Angel reached out her hand and gently caressed her father's cheek, "You can make this right, I know you can."

He closed his eyes and, for the briefest moment, leaned into that touch. A gentle smile almost touched his lips. Jaycee would have sworn that she saw real tears glisten in those dark chocolate depths as her ex-husband met the gaze of their daughter.

"No, Angel. Daddy has done too many bad things. Bad things that you may hear about one day. They are all true. But remember, I was not always this way. Once upon a time, I was young like you. And full of light and hope. You hold onto that - like I could not."

Rex was only a few feet from them, but he was not quick enough, not even with his preternatural speed. He could not stop the man from flinging himself over the edge of the cliff. He barely reached the little girl and grabbed onto her to keep her from following.

He wrapped his arms tightly about Angel and turned them so that she could not see over the edge of the cliff.

But the small group of men who emerged from the woods just behind him walked to the precipice. The old man leaned on his son as his attorney shook his head at Jaycee. Tim Master looked as if he might lose the contents of his stomach.

"What's going on here?" boomed the voice from behind Grandfather.

Jaycee jumped at the sound, which startled her out of her shock. She moved quickly to where Rex and Angel were, wrapping them in her arms and holding tighter than she knew she should.

When Sheriff Kerr joined the men at the edge, he turned to Rex, "I'm putting you under arrest for the murder of Sean Riley. You have the right to remain..."

It was Mitch Taylor who put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Not only do you not have the authority to arrest anyone in this county, but the man is innocent. Sean Riley threw himself over the edge of that cliff. And there are half a dozen witnesses to prove it. So, I suggest you back off, buddy."

"Anyone have a signal?" the man took charge of the chaos.

They all shook their heads. "Then, the sheriff and I will stay here and secure the scene. The rest of you go back to the house and call the local authorities." He turned to Kerr, "The ones that do have the power to investigate this mess."

Somehow or the other, Rex steered them away from the cliff. The walk back to the house seemed an eternity, as so many old memories flooded her mind. Pieces of the puzzle falling into place, but still, there were so many missing. Things that she would never know or understand about the man she had been married to for a decade.