The Hunted (62 page)

I showed him the little dead bugs that were still entrenched in our now gluggy rice.

‘Gross,’ he said, ‘I’m ordering pizza.’

I nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

While he went to order us our dinner, I emptied the rest of the contents down the sink and rinsed the saucepan, before shoving it into the dishwasher. While I was at it, I threw in a detergent block, shut the door and turned it on. The machine purred to life with a slight whirring and splashing sound.

I wiped down the remaining benches and cleaned up. At least I had tried to cook something for us for dinner last night. It wasn’t fancy, just some steak and vegetables, but at this rate we were going to burn through that emergency money before we knew it. As it was there was only about fifty dollars left. Our Italian buffet the other night had cost a little more than either of us imagined. At least I had made an effort to cook tonight. It wasn’t my fault that the pantry was so full of food that none of us ever ate and had now become a refuge to bugs.

I rinsed out the cloth and hung it over the kitchen tap to dry. I stared out into the darkness of the empty garden and beyond. It was pretty scary at night, particularly when the wind pushed the jacaranda trees’ gnarled and tangled branches weaving around into the night air like giant octopus tentacles. The sunflowers below looked like faces staring back at me. The overgrown grass and weeds didn’t help either.

Anything could be hiding out there amongst the mess and we wouldn’t know, given that everything was almost waist high. Our garden was a jungle, the perfect place for an unwanted visitor to hide.

We’d spent all of yesterday holed up in the house considering our options and trying to formulate some sort of plan on how we could assist either The Protectors or the Vampires.

We hadn’t gotten far.

The best we could come up with so far was alerting William to the fact that another victim had been claimed. Thankfully, William and Thomas were now on the trail. I’d told them all about the poster we’d seen and they’d gone to the police station yesterday to glamour some information. They’d already been to her home, gathered her scent and continued trying to cross reference trails last night. I hadn’t heard from them yet so I had no clue as to how the hunt was going.

As expected, according to Susan, The Protectors were coming up empty handed every night, despite their hunting and laying of traps. Lucas and I wanted to tell them that they were searching in the wrong area, but then that would mean I’d have to admit that I was fraternising with vampires—there was no way I was about to do that.

‘Pizza’s ordered,’ Lucas said, interrupting my thoughts. ‘It should be here soon. They think about half an hour, tops.’

‘Okay,’ I answered absently, as I glanced out the kitchen window again and noted the easily recognisable shadow that quickly climbed through my bedroom window. I hid my smile, before turning on my heels and heading upstairs.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Just to my bedroom for a little while. There’s a copy of Wheel’s magazine with my name on it.’

‘Well, I’m just going down to the shops to grab some drinks to have with dinner. Do you want anything?’

‘Chocolate,’ I yelled down the stairs.

‘Okay, see you when I get back. I might be a while so don’t worry.’

Slightly alarmed, I paced a few steps backwards down the stairs and poked my head around the corner to look at him. ‘Why?’

He pulled a ten dollar note from the tin above the microwave and shoved it into his pocket. ‘I’m going to walk.’

I frowned. ‘You’re not taking the car? It’s dark outside, Lucas.’

He nodded. ‘It’s fine, I want to. I need some fresh air after being stuck in the house all day again.’

‘Lucas, I really don’t know if that’s a good idea.’

He smiled. ‘I’ll be fine.’ He held his hand up in front of him to show me the blue light that pulsed across his fingertips and then lifted his shirt to show me the silver dagger tucked into the side of his jeans. ‘If I get into trouble, I’ll sort it out. You’re not the only one capable of killing wolves, you know.’

I glanced up the stairs and then back at Lucas again. ‘Okay, but be careful and take your phone with you, just in case.’

‘Yes, mum.’

‘Ugh! Don’t call me that,’ I said, shaking my head and taking off up the stairs again.

Putting thoughts of Lucas traipsing through the dark on his own out of my head, I raced down the hallway, pushed open my bedroom door and peered into the darkness beyond. The door slammed shut behind me and I was pushed roughly against the back of the door, soft, cool lips coming down hard on top of mine and claiming them with a fevered urgency. I didn’t resist.

‘What took you so long?’ William whispered up against my lips a moment later.

‘My legs don’t move as quickly as yours, remember?’

He groaned and kissed me again, my heart doing a giddy little flip-flop inside my chest. ‘I’ve been thinking about you all day,’ he murmured.

‘You have?’

He nodded.

‘Good things, I hope?’

His answering kiss told me exactly what thoughts he’d been having and I was more than willing for him to show me just how good they were. I could argue plenty of points why William and I shouldn’t be going down this path together, but when his mouth moved against my own with such expertise, it was pretty impossible to find a plausible excuse. The two of us seemed to fit together so perfectly. Although, there was always a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, a small piece of myself that sometimes didn’t feel like his were the right lips to be kissing. A very small piece, though.

I pushed my hands against his chest as I felt my composure start to ebb away. His body was altogether too enticing to ignore and I had too many questions about the hunt to ask. Our burning desire would have to wait. ‘William, stop now,’ I breathed as I pushed against his chest.

‘Why?’ he murmured, as another wave of compulsion hit me and he brushed another tantalising kiss across my lips.

I searched my mind for the answer. It was empty. ‘Umm … I forgot.’

He claimed my lips again with his and pressed himself against me in a way that made me want to melt away. Then he pulled away, both our breathing heavy and slightly laboured. I couldn’t see his eyes properly in the dark,
but I knew what they’d look like. I knew that we were dancing across his threshold of sanity—it was time to end the intimacy before we crossed a very dangerous line.

‘I’ve been wanting to do that all day,’ he said, after a few short seconds of simply standing still and trying to compose himself.

I ducked under his arm and placed some distance between us by pacing over towards the window, a smile on my face. ‘It’s nice to know that I’m wanted.’

He crossed the room in an instant, taking me by surprise as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back in close. ‘Oh, I definitely want you.’

I laughed. ‘I wasn’t talking about for dinner.’

He smiled and brushed a light kiss across my lips. ‘Neither was I.’

I struggled in his embrace, but managed to push him away with a few little twists and turns of my upper body. ‘Stop trying to woo me and tell me what’s going on with the hunt,’ I said, finally remembering.

His arms dropped down to his sides and he took a step back and leant up against the window frame, his eyes watching me with keen interest. ‘You don’t like it when things get too personal do you?’ he said.

Where did that come from?

I crossed my arms and sat down on the end of the bed. ‘Neither do you. You’ve barely answered one of my questions about your past.’

‘Four hundred and forty odd years of life can take an awfully long time to explain, and sometimes there are things that are always better left unsaid.’

‘I disagree.’

‘Well if you believe in full disclosure then you’ll understand why I have to tell you that I’m in love with you.’

What the hell?

I sniffed and looked past him out the window. ‘Okay,
that
you could have kept to yourself.’

‘I disagree.’

‘Well you would, wouldn’t you?’

Jesus Christ! He was in love with me.

Don’t panic. Just keep changing the subject.

He chuckled. ‘Why are you so afraid to feel something for me, Elena?’

I looked back at him. ‘Why are you so afraid to talk about your past?’

‘Touché. Perhaps this is something we both need to work on.’

‘You first.’

He laughed again, stepping forward and trying to pull me into his arms. I scooted over to the other side of the bed.

‘Well,’ he said lightly, ‘I can see that you’re making a stand here. How about we compromise? You admit that you love me too, and I’ll tell you some more about my time in the Roman Guard.’

I shook my head. ‘No way. I have a better deal. You tell me everything, the same way that I spilled my guts to you on the tower, and then we’ll see about the possibility of, well, you know …’

He raised an eyebrow as high as it could go, his lips twitching slightly at the corners. ‘You’re going to hold out on me until I tell you what you want to hear?’

I nodded.

He laughed quietly to himself and shook his head as if remembering the punchline to an extremely amusing joke. ‘It’s good to see that some things never change no matter how many centuries have passed.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I said, frowning at him again.

‘It means that whether human or vampire, women continue to use sex as a bargaining chip to get exactly what they want, and it appears that you, my love, are no different.’

I straightened up off the bed and looked at him square in the eye, brushing aside the comment as a slip of the tongue. ‘Does it usually work?’

He grinned. ‘Always.’

‘Well then I guess you better start talking or your lips are going to get very lonely.’

He took a step towards me, the pungent smell of his essence suddenly invading my nostrils again. ‘And you? What about your lips?’ he said seductively, his eyes trailing a heated gaze across my mouth.

I wish he wouldn’t do that.

I grimaced. ‘Don’t you worry yourself about my lips, William. They’ll do just fine without you.’

‘You drive a hard bargain, Elena Manory.’

‘So start talking.’

‘I can’t,’ he said, shaking his head again, ‘it takes too long to tell you everything and I only stopped by to tell you that we dug up a few new scents today. Thomas and I are going to split up tonight so that we can try and see where they lead.’

Convenient.

‘What about Elizabeth’s scent? Did you make any progress there?’

He nodded. ‘Yes and no. We trailed her as far as the city and then out towards the northern beaches, but then her scent just disappeared.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means the Vânâtor probably jumped.’

I looked at him confused. ‘Jumped?’

He nodded again. ‘Sometimes both vampires and vânâtors jump as a method of confusing scent trails or getting somewhere fast. We basically become airbourne, and can jump over great distances. With Elizabeth’s scent it was clear that she was with a vânâtor at the time, because both of their trails just disappeared in an instant.’