Caleb was nervous, and rightfully so, because he understood he could be in trouble—or more worrying was the fact Hilda was here.
But she was a lot friendlier than she was when they initially met, and Caleb hoped she had warmed up to him because the thought of someone disliking him didn't sit right with him.
"Mrs. Hilda… About yesterday, I apologize if I was rude," Caleb was quick to apologize and clear up any miscommunication.
"It is fine, Caleb. I was just worried for my daughter. Not everyone has good intentions these days…" Hilda said before pausing briefly to recollect her thoughts.
"…And it is Hilda. 'Mrs.' ended a long time ago," Hilda was sure to let him know.
But before the conversation could go further, Eileen returned with a fresh cup of coffee and handed it to her.
However, she was watching Caleb to judge what they were talking about in her absence.
"Have you gotten acquainted?" Eileen asked, but Caleb was confused because she had come to announce her arrival to the neighbourhood.
"We were meant to be getting acquainted?" Caleb asked, clearly confused, but Hilda simply giggled at his reaction.
He was a lot different than she thought he would be, considering his height, looks, and obvious popularity in school.
Boys of this age acted quite differently and would try to use their status to the best of their ability.
Caleb looked embarrassed, but Eileen was worried. She was wary of Hilda because she didn't know how much she knew.
However, she was the only witch desperate enough to act on the beacon, but Eileen knew Luke would be furious if he knew about any of this.
"Come over here for a second, boy," Hilda called out to Caleb. He looked at Eileen, and she gave him an approving nod.
Caleb walked toward Hilda with his guard down because there was no reason to have them up, to begin with.
She gestured for him to lower himself, and this was what Caleb did, but Eileen was observing her.
"Um… okay," Caleb complied, even though this was a strange request, he had no qualms about it.
She placed both her hands on either side of his head like she was trying to read it, but this would involve magic.
"Close your eyes," she whispered, to which Caleb complied.
Eileen moved in to stop her, but Hilda instantly withdrew her hands like they were repelled.
Eileen saw the look on her face—there was no doubt about it.
She looked at Eileen in shock and made her question why this hunter was providing her protection when something this evil existed.
"Well?" Caleb asked, waiting for an answer because he was crouched over awkwardly.
The thing was, Hilda didn't willingly remove her hands—she was repelled by something dark and sinister.
Whatever it was, it all made sense. But if she could harness whatever it was inside him, no hunter on earth could stop her.
Hilda, however, wasn't going to act on impulse because she needed it to be consensual.
But judging from this boy's aura, he had no idea what he was or who he was.
And she was going to leave it that way… for now.
"You're going to have a very bright future, Caleb," Hilda said, and Caleb smiled despite knowing this was bollocks.
There was no way she could determine that with a single touch—that was impractical and quite a silly notion.
"You should come over sometime. Leila would be glad to have you," Hilda said, taking a sip of her coffee with Caleb leaving the two adults to converse.
Luke and Bryan had taken shelter at a nearby motel to gather up their strength. Unlike Luke, Bryan didn't escape unscathed.
He had a few injuries, so he needed time to recover, but Luke had a bad feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.
He opened up his laptop and monitored the hacked CCTV cameras, rewinding to a couple of days ago. However, he noticed there were no hunters where they were meant to be.
"That is strange…" Luke muttered under his breath. There was no way the Church would give up on their task.
They would chase him to the ends of the world if they had to, so this could only mean one thing:
They found a more effective way to hunt him—or so Luke thought because while this thought was going through his head,
the usual hunters arrived at the scene. But Luke found it strange they weren't avoiding the cameras.
It was almost like they wanted him to know they were coming after him—to make sure he kept running, creating enough distance between him and his son so he wouldn't be able to make it back in time should something bad happen.
Luke knew this was a possibility, and just then, his phone rang—it was Eileen.
"Eileen, I told you to only call if it was life or death," Luke was dismissive right from the onset, showing these two didn't have any relationship outside of mutual transactions.
[[It is… The seal, I'm afraid it is weakening!]] Eileen got right to it, and for the first time, Luke's face conveyed fear.
If this was true, then he would be able to be sensed once they had his scent, and Luke was well aware that his children were identical in every sense.
But what would be the outcome?