The Hunted (46 page)

Before I could think, he was upon me again. He sprang up onto my chest and pinned me down hard against the pavement, my legs wedged underneath his massively clawed paws. He was so heavy I wondered if my bones were going to break under the sheer weight of him. William had been right. He was going to snap me like a twig.

I struggled uselessly, trying to roll him off me—no such luck. One free hand punched at the side of his face and neck, while the other hand grabbed at the blade in his shoulder, twisted it and then pulled it free.

He growled in pain again and then lowered his muzzle to my neck and sunk his teeth down hard into the soft flesh there. I cried out in agony, a strangled sound that escaped my throat more out of shock and surprise than fear or pain itself.

His teeth seized me from the neck all the way down through my collar bone and down to the top of my breast. I could feel my actual collar bone grinding against the sharp points of his teeth, and any minute now I half-expected it to snap under the strain of the bite.

I struggled, the blood draining from my body making me weaker by the minute. I couldn’t even grip my knife anymore—it lay limply in my hand. The bite must have severed a few of the tendons.

Immobile, I waited for help to come. That was all I could do. Screaming out for help seemed impossible. My throat was dry and my body felt consumed by weariness. I couldn’t even move my lips.

In the distance I could hear the pounding of footsteps on the pavement. At least I thought that was what it was. It could have been the sound of my heart pounding in my ears too, but I couldn’t be sure. I was so close to losing consciousness now that it probably didn’t matter. All I could smell was blood all around me.

My blood.

His blood.

The Vânâtor licked at the flesh of my shoulder with his tongue and dug in deeper into my skin, slurping at the blood that continued to pour forth from the wound. It was strange that I could still feel him there, feel him biting into my flesh and draining the life out of me, but the initial pain of the experience was starting to ebb away. A haze was starting to build around me that was blanketing coherent thoughts, numbing my physical response.

I swallowed absently, an ever increasing dryness in my throat.

Why am I so thirsty?

My mouth was parched and rough. I needed some water, something that could satiate my growing thirst. Worse than before, swallowing felt like a chore. Even the act of breathing seemed to evaporate any moisture left behind.

I swallowed again trying to abate the feeling of thirst and ignore the Vânâtor clinging persistently to my neck and shoulder, draining me of every last ounce of fluid.

He shifted his grip and moved further forward, repositioning himself directly above me. I turned my head to the side to keep my face away from the side of his muzzle, unconsciously breathing through my mouth instead of my nose so I could avoid the fetid smell of his drool.

I swallowed again, and a warm, unrecognisable sweetness dribbled past my lips, rushing across the surface of my tastebuds, like liquid syrup. It eased the persistent ache of my throat and the unrelenting dryness.

My prayers had obviously been answered. Someone must have found me, scared off the alpha, and then eased my thirst with some kind of liquid heaven. Whatever it was that they were feeding to me was absolutely delicious.

I tried to concentrate as I drank down the warmth, but everything seemed so far away in my mind. I tried to remember what was happening, but I couldn’t see or think clearly. Everything was so hazy and distant. Maybe I was dead? I was caught in a fog so dense that there seemed to be no way out.

I swallowed greedily. It tasted like a cross between condensed milk and hot, liquid milk chocolate. Its syrupy sweetness filled my veins with a growing fire, my conscious surging back from the dark.

I suddenly became aware of the alpha, the bulk of his weight resting across my chest like a four storey apartment block, his sharp teeth planted in my neck like a wrecking ball with spikes.

I should have stayed in the car.

Pressure was released from my neck and my shoulder. The hideous heaviness of the apartment building resting upon my chest was gone. I heard a howl. It was short and unassuming and sounded very far away inside my mind.

The sweet tasting syrup that I had been lapping up had stopped and I was instantly saddened. There were voices now—lots of them. Snippets of murmured conversation between people I recognised, but words I could not make out.

I lay very still.

The voices got louder and louder. I heard the word
demon
, closely followed by the word
blood
and a few cuss words from somebody else. It was still a little difficult to discern what was happening. I still hadn’t fully decided if I was dead or alive yet.

‘Elena? Elena? Oh my God, George, look at her.’ I heard Susan mumble through the fog.

Something shook at my body. My head wobbled from side to side. I wasn’t ready to wake up just yet. I felt tired. I felt drained.

A second later a hand slapped at my face and I cursed.

That wasn’t very nice.

‘What!’ I gurgled angrily, slowly opening my eyes and trying to focus on the blurry images crowding around me. The first person I saw was Susan. She was leaning over me, fluttering her fingers over my body and brushing my hair from my face.

‘Are you okay?’ she whispered, bending down and kissing my forehead.

Dazed and confused by her motherly concern, I tried to sit up. My body felt so weak. I looked down at my shoulder. My shirt was soaked with blood and there were holes all through the cotton where the Vânâtor had taken hold of me.

I brushed the destroyed fabric aside and ran my fingers over my shoulder and neck. There were no imperfections in my skin, just the destruction of my T-shirt. Apart from that, I appeared to be in perfect health.

Susan helped me to my feet, and I staggered slightly. Lucas and George were reaching out to me with their shaking hands and worried expressions. I’d seen those looks before.

Sarah, not surprisingly, gave me a disgusted look, even though
she
was covered with blood. Malcolm and Vincent merely stood there, both of them looking like they’d seen a ghost. If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought they were all truly concerned about me.

The moment passed.

‘Did you get him?’ I asked groggily, becoming aware that blood covered my hands. I looked at it for the longest moment, imagining the taste of it all, and then curled them into fists and tucked them inside my pockets.

‘Yes, we got him,’ George said quietly.

‘Good. It would have been terrible to let the alpha get away.’ I looked around by my feet. ‘Um, where’s the body?’

No one answered me for the longest time.

I turned around on the spot, searching the street for the alpha’s remains. There was none. Over the trees and looking towards the street where they had laid the trap, I could see spirals of smoke winding up high into the air.

I pointed to the smoke over my shoulder and Lucas began to shake his head. ‘We got one of them,’ Lucas answered. ‘We didn’t realise there was a secondary one until we heard the howling.’

‘It was an alpha,’ I stated. ‘It must have gotten away before you found me.’

Sarah folded her pudgy arms in front of her blood soaked chest. ‘And how do you know that it was an alpha? We didn’t see anything.’

I looked at Lucas for guidance and he nodded his head at me. I took it as a sign. ‘William Granville, the Vampire, told me.’

‘The Vampire!’ George roared. ‘You’ve been associating with a vampire?’

I shook my head. ‘No, not exactly. He came here tonight because he too was hunting the Vânâtors. He found the alpha and realised it was hunting me. He was trying to protect me from getting hurt. He told me to stay in the car where it was safe and then chased after the alpha and just disappeared.’

‘He was trying to protect you?’ Malcolm said in disbelief. ‘Why? Vampires generally only look out for the members of their own coven.’

‘Look, it’s the truth. I was staying in the car like you told me to. Ask Lucas if you don’t believe me.’

They all looked to him and he nodded.

‘When the alpha started his attack, William defended me, and after they disappeared from sight I did the only thing I could think of which was try and find you guys. Only problem was the alpha must have slipped away from William somehow, or killed him, I’m not sure which, but then he attacked me.’

‘I see,’ George said calmly, touching the side of my neck with his fingers and then letting them fall to his side. ‘How did you know where to find us, Elena? I parked the car down an alley that was far enough away that you wouldn’t be able to get yourself into trouble, and yet here we are, yet again. You’re caught up in the very middle of it all. So tell me how you found us so quickly?’

He already knew the answer, I could tell just by looking at his face. ‘You know how I found you George. The same way I found the last vânâtors.’

‘I told you she’s not right in the head, George,’ Sarah said, stepping forward in front of me like I was invisible. ‘I don’t care about future plans. She’s not safe to have around the IMI anymore. Look at her! She’s becoming more like a beast by the minute.’

‘Calm yourself,’ George retorted. ‘We must hear Elena’s side of the story first. We know that she has always been able to smell blood but—’

‘Yes, she smells the blood,’ Sarah continued, interrupting George, ‘but drinking it! That’s crossing the line! She’s supposed to be human right now. Headquarters needs to know about this. It could change things.’

Sarah’s face was going red, her voice tinted with frustration and anger. I really didn’t like this woman. Next time I was going to have to push her off a higher grandstand.

Drinking blood? What was she talking about anyway?

‘Sarah, you need to take a step back,’ Vincent said calmly. ‘You’re saying things that shouldn’t be said and you’re not looking at this from any other perspective except your own. Elena was being drained of blood. Perhaps this was her body’s natural response in order to save itself?’

‘She drank Vânâtor blood!’ she screamed.

I took a step back in shock.

I did?

‘Does this not worry any of you? She lives with you, George, in your home with your family! Think of what she might do to Lucas or Susan while they are sleeping!’

‘I said, that’s enough!’ George roared. ‘One more word out of you Sarah and I will have you dismissed from your position at the IMI. You know I have the power to do it.’

She sniffed. ‘I will report this, George, mark my words.’

‘Do your worst, Sarah. I run this faction and it is by direct orders from Bucharest that Elena is still a part of the IMI, so if you have a problem with it, then you can take it up with them.’

‘I might just do that.’

He waved his hand at her in dismissal and then pushed her to the side to get a better look at me.

I glanced around at all the faces staring at me in concern, all of them zeroed in on my face. ‘I didn’t drink any blood,’ I mumbled pathetically. ‘I’ve never drunk blood before. It’s not possible. I would remember if I did.’

Susan took a step forward and brushed her fingers across my lips. When she pulled her hand away she held them up to show me that they were indeed stained with red.

I ran my tongue across my lips, tasting the last remnants of the imaginary chocolate concoction. It still tasted divine. I was instantly repulsed.