Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series) (18 page)

              I saw a shadow move then, and before I could react, a long-handled shovel flashed out and struck Anton in the side of the head.

              He went sprawling to the ground. And standing over him was a man I recognized. It was the skinny, dark-haired man who had picked William's pocket back at the Black Moon Carnival.

              Anton looked up at the man. "So that's what it does. It masks your signature completely. You don't register as a vampire or a human—you don't register as anything at all. I can't sense you unless I can actually see you."

              He squinted at the man. "It's Sebastian, right? Free agent? Loser?"

              In response, the man raised his shovel again.

              Anton caught the shovel as it fell and sprang to his feet. He wrenched the shovel out of the man's hands and threw it to the side.

              "I'll take care of this," Anton said to me. "You smash the top."

              Anton and the man he'd called Sebastian disappeared from the auditorium in a blur. I stood for a moment, staring after them in shock. Then I heard a crash and a cry, and then another crash.

              The sound shook me out of my daze, and I ran for the shovel. I picked it up and brought it down as hard as I could on the top.

              The little jeweled object continued to spin, but one of its jewels dropped off, and it began to shake just a little. I hit the top again and again, and eventually, it split down the middle. The top stopped spinning, and the two halves fell to the stage motionless. The silver light went out.

              I looked out over the auditorium. The people in the seats all moved at the same time, as if they'd all awakened from a deep sleep in unison. I saw GM looking around in confusion.

              Anton reappeared at my side. "We'd better go."

              "But GM's just woken up," I said. "She doesn't know where she is."

              "We had a deal," Anton said. "She's safe now."

              "What about Sebastian?"

              "I persuaded him that it was in his best interests to leave town. He won't be bothering any of these people again."

              "What did you—"

              "Are you sure you want to know?"

              "No."

              I glanced back at GM.

              "Come on," Anton said. "It's best if we go before she sees you. Trust me."

              I took Anton's hand, and we disappeared into the night.

Chapter 14.

The world around me became a blur, and when Anton and I came to a stop, we were standing in my driveway in front of my house.

              I stared up at it in surprise. "What are we doing back here?"

              "It just occurred to me that you'll need to collect a few things before we go," Anton said. "Namely your passport. And probably clothes would be nice, too. It should be a little while before your grandmother makes her way home. We should have enough time to get in and get out before she returns."

              "My passport?" I said. "What do I need a passport for?"

              "You'll need it to enter Russia," Anton said. "Ideally, you'd have a visa, too, but I think we can work something out."

              "Why Russia?" I asked.

              "Because that's where we'll have the best chance of keeping you safe. There's a protective charm on the house you used to live in. It was placed there by your mother. With any luck, that will be enough to keep him out."

              "That's what William wanted to do," I said. "And by 'him' you mean—"

              There was a buzzing sound, and Anton held up a hand. "Sorry, I'd better take this."

              He took out his phone and answered it.

              "Yeah?" Anton's eyebrows rose. "Oh. That's not good." There was a long pause. "And that's even worse. Okay. Will do." He put the phone away.

              "A friend of yours?" I said.

              "A change in plans," Anton replied. He glanced around. "We'd better get moving."

              We went into the house and then up to my room so I could pack. I went to my closet and then realized that my suitcase was actually at the Krstics' house, so I went to get one of GM's suitcases out of the closet in the hall. As I left the room, Anton was checking messages on his phone. But when I got back, he was sitting on my bed flipping quickly through a magazine.

              He looked up as I set the suitcase on the bed. "Do you actually read this stuff?"

              I glanced at the cover of the magazine. "It's a teen magazine. I'm a teen. It's not that weird. Besides, I like looking at the clothes."

              "I guess that makes sense," Anton said. He continued to flip through the magazine quickly—if I hadn't known better, I would have said that he was nervous.

              I began to pull clothes out of my drawers. "I'll need my backpack."

              "Why?"

              "I've got my passport and my phone here, but my other stuff, like my driver's license, is in the backpack."

              Anton smirked. "You have a driver's license?"

              "It's a provisional license," I said. "But yes, it's a driver's license. I'll need my ID. You never know what could happen."

              "Where is your backpack?"

              "It's at the Krstics' house," I said.

              "I'll get it later," Anton said.

              I looked at him in surprise. "Do you know them?"

              "No, but I assume you can give me their address."

              Anton threw the magazine onto the bed and stood up. Then he went to the window and pulled back the curtain. He stood for a long moment looking out.

              "Is something out there?" I asked.

              "Yes and no," Anton replied.

              "That's an enigmatic answer," I said.

              "I'm an enigmatic man." Anton let the curtain drop and went back to sit on the bed.

              "So what was all of that with Sebastian?" I asked as I continued to work.

              "I told you. It was a trap to catch you."

              "I know—but why does he want to catch me?"

              "There is an ancient vampire known as the Hunter after you. The Hunter was revived and released by the Werdulac specifically to catch you. And he did that because there's a widespread belief that you are a fearsome vampire-and-hybrid hunter known as the ghost girl. For the record, I happen to know that you are nothing of the kind."

              "Oh no?" I said.

              "No," Anton replied. "So, Sebastian, despite his great cowardice, thought he would be enterprising. He thought he would catch you himself and turn you over to the Werdulac. He figured he would get ahead of the Hunter and be suitably rewarded. But it's a bad idea."

              "Why is it a bad idea?" I asked. "It does sound enterprising, as you said."

              "Because Sebastian would never get to deliver you. The Hunter is quite literally a legend—and for a reason. He never gives up. He always gets his prey. And he doesn't let anyone else get in his way. You'd have to be incredibly bold or incredibly stupid to challenge him. Guess which one Sebastian is."

              Anton glanced at me sharply. "You seem to be taking this Hunter thing very calmly, by the way. Most people would be more than a little disturbed to hear that they were being stalked by an ancient vampire."

              "I already knew about him," I said.

              "Oh?"

              "Someone warned me," I said.

              "Who?"

              "I don't know exactly," I replied. I briefly told him about the messages I had received.

              "Intriguing," Anton said. "I wonder now."

              "William said the messages were from a vampire," I said. "He sensed one when we were in Bryony's grandmother's house."

              "It's possible. I can tell you the messages weren't from me. And I'm reasonably sure they weren't from Sebastian, either."

              "About Sebastian, why couldn't you or William sense him?"

              Anton reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small object, which he held out to me.

              "That's how he did it," Anton said. "That's how he was able to sneak up on me."

              I walked over and took the object from him—it was a necklace. I saw to my surprise that I was holding a dull green stone on a heavy, black metal chain—it looked identical to the one William had found the night of the Black Moon Carnival.

              "Where did Sebastian get this?" I asked.

              "I believe he scavenged it from the treasure cache in the cave," Anton said. "He took the necklace and the broken-heart charm and probably a few other things. He did seem to know which stuff was good."

              Anton tilted his head. "You seem to recognize it."

              "I saw something like it not long ago with William," I said. "He found it when he was out with me."

              "Did he tell you what it was?"

              "He said it was a relic of the Werdulac's era," I replied. "He said he'd seen one like it back at the Vaults in Rusalka Castle."

              "Did he tell you what it does?"

              "William said it didn't do anything," I replied. "He said its significance lay in its age and in the fact that it was Russian. He said it was an historical artifact from another part of the world, and he didn't know what it was doing here."

              "Typical," Anton said.

              "What is?"

              "William," Anton said. "Thinking he knows everything."

              "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

              "It means that the necklace does indeed do something. It
is
a relic of the Werdulac's era, but it isn't just for show. There are five of these necklaces—one for each member of the Werdulac's family—the Werdulac himself, his queen, his brother, his son, his daughter. If a vampire wears the necklace, it masks his signature completely. It makes his presence invisible to others of his kind unless they can actually see him. I had originally thought that it made the vampire register as a human. But after my altercation with Sebastian, I realized it did even more. It actually makes the wearer a complete blank—that's why I didn't know Sebastian was behind me. I didn't sense anything at all."

              I stared at Anton. "You knew all this time?"

              "You sound angry and accusing," Anton said. "Why is that?"

              "William said he asked you about the necklace."

              "He did."

              "Then why didn't you tell him what it was?" I asked.

              "I did tell him. William sent me a picture of the necklace and asked me if it was the same type of thing we had in the Vaults. I told him that it was. He didn't ask me anything more about it. I didn't know that he didn't know what it was for."

              "I feel like you're dissembling," I said, "but I'll let it go."

              "No doubt you will," Anton said. "People always do on account of my great charm. Incidentally, what happened to the necklace William found?"

              "As far as I know, he still has it," I said. "Maybe you should tell me where he is."

              Anton glanced over at me. "Do you know what they say about these necklaces?"

              "No, of course I don't," I said.

              "According to legend, each one of the necklaces contains a soul that has been trapped inside the stone. Supposedly, that's how it masks the presence of the vampire who wears it. It makes a doomed, soulless creature appear as if he has a soul."

              I gave the necklace back to Anton quickly.

              He smiled. "It's not true, you know. Not the part about being doomed—that's true enough. I mean the part about the soul trapped in the stone. That's not how it works. It's just another piece of magic like the spinning top."

              "Nice distraction, by the way," I said.

              "I thought so."

              "So Sebastian got his necklace from the cave," I said. "And William's must have come from there, too."

              "How do you figure that?" Anton asked. "William told me he didn't know where it had come from."

              "He didn't know," I said. "He found the necklace as a prize at a carnival. And I found out later that the necklace had come in a box of stuff from the Neverovs. Maksim Neverov must have removed the necklace from the cave at some point."

              "That's odd," Anton said. "Very odd."

              "Why is it odd for Maksim Neverov to have had the necklace?" I asked. "Especially if he's helping to run that operation at the cave?"

              "The now-defunct operation at the cave," Anton said. "Good luck to anybody who wants to try to dig all that out. And it's not odd for Maksim to have had the necklace. What is odd is that he would've let it go. It's exactly the type of thing he ought to hang onto."

              "Maybe it was an accident," I said. "The executive assistant told me she found it on the floor."

              "Maybe," Anton said. "It's odd all the same."

              He stood and glanced out the window. "Are we almost done here?"

              "Just about," I said.

              He turned suddenly and looked back at me. "You people need to eat, right?"

              "Sometimes we do, yes."

              "How about we get you a very late dinner, and then we get you a safe place to sleep for a little while? We have some time we need to kill."

              "We do?" I said. "I thought we were in a hurry."

              "The situation is evolving," Anton said. "Everything is up in the air—or not, as the case may be."

              "Cryptic," I said.

              "Do you want to go?"

              "Sure, I guess," I said. I snapped the latch on my suitcase closed.

              We went downstairs and out of the house, and as I paused to lock the door, I glanced over at Anton.

              "GM will be all right, won't she?" I asked.

              "I'm sure of it," Anton replied. "Her capture by Sebastian was accidental—I'm certain he had no idea who she was. And now that you're leaving, no one will have any reason to harm her. This is the best thing you could do for her."

              "I hope you're right," I said.

              Anton and I sped off into the darkness, and the world around me became a black blur. When we stopped again, I found myself standing next to a car that was parked on a deserted street.

              Anton unlocked the door and opened it. "After you."

              I hesitated. "Is this car yours?"

              "No."

              "No?" I said.

              "Relax," Anton replied. "It's a rental. And anyway, if I was going to break into a random car, I'd hardly have the keys."