The Hunted (77 page)

‘Quite right,’ Peter agreed. ‘Perhaps we should all go.’

Malcolm and Vincent returned a few minutes later, puffing and panting as if they hadn’t done any running in a long time. ‘It’s done.’

‘You left no evidence?’ George asked.

Vincent’s pointed finger drew our attention to the cloud of black smoke rising above the canopy of trees in the distance. Acrid smells of charred flesh were still present in the clearing, but the crackle of burning timber and the sound of breaking glass clearly indicated the job was done. ‘The house is ablaze. I have little doubt that any evidence will remain,’ Malcolm said.

Lucas’s eyes narrowed. ‘That’s a lot of smoke. Are you sure you didn’t start a bushfire?’

‘It’s a risk we had to take,’ Vincent answered.

‘Then we should definitely be leaving,’ George said. ‘As Martha mentioned, there is nothing more we can do.’

The Protectors shared a look and started to head off.

Lucas lingered, his eyes locked on the spiralling smoke in the distance. ‘How bad was it?’ he said, finally turning and looking me in the eyes now that the others were gone.

‘I’m okay.’

He gave me a knowing look, his lips pressed together in a hard line. ‘You’re lying.’

I sniffed, a small grimace forming on my features. No one knew me like Lucas. ‘I can’t talk about it just yet. I need to digest everything and figure out how I feel before I spill.’

He nodded sombrely.

‘After I’ve had a shower, maybe got some edible food in me and started feeling normal again, maybe everything will be okay.’

Lucas didn’t look convinced, and sadly, neither was I. ‘Come on,’ Lucas said, taking my hand. ‘We have to go.’

I turned my head and followed behind Lucas. He held my hand tight, leading me through the underbrush and back to the path The Protectors had followed on their way in.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived back at another small clearing. There were tyre tracks embedded in the soft dirt and a disruption to the long grass to the left of the clearing where cars had obviously come and gone. There was nothing here now though. Well, nothing that I could actually see.

Sarah, Kim, and some of the others got into one of the invisible cars and disappeared underneath their magic—the rest of us piled into Malcolm’s Pajero.

No one said anything to me during the trip back home, not even Lucas. In fact, there was zero discussion. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, including me. I centred my thoughts around William, mostly because I needed distracting from the disturbing mental images that were stuck in my mind. But most of all, I craved answers, like why had William been so cold and distant towards me?

I shook my head and crossed my arms in front of my chest to stop from fidgeting. Why should I care anyway? If he didn’t want to be around me anymore, then so what? I could move on. He wasn’t the only vampire on the planet.

You’re only lying to yourself, you know.

Didn’t I tell you to shut up earlier?

You can’t tell yourself to shut up either, it’s illogical. You just have to admit that you like him.

No, I don’t.

Well then why do you care if he leaves or not? If you’re so unconcerned then why does your heart ache inside your chest?

I’m not listening anymore. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Ah-hah, sure. Are you really going to keep this tough girl facade up forever?

A short time later Malcolm’s car pulled up in our driveway. I clawed at the door handle, practically falling out as the door swung open, desperate to be home and surrounded by familiarity. The silence in the car had slowly eaten at me. I’d tried thinking only of William, his absence, and the reasons behind it, but my capture still ran rampant through my thoughts. It wasn’t so much the violence that bothered me, as it kept on looping through my head, but my reactions to the violence and the sense of loss I felt.

Normal people would have been curled up in a corner, crying or numb from shock. I didn’t know what I was. I just knew that images of heated kisses between John and myself should not have kept playing through my mind. I should’ve hated him, but I couldn’t.

‘Talk to me,’ Lucas murmured, smoothing a hand across my back. Susan and George were handing out official thanks to the rest of The Protectors, seemingly oblivious to my depressed state.

I grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards the house. ‘Distract me. Tell me everything that happened after I left.’

He tripped over his own feet, quickly correcting the clumsy move as I shoved him towards the front door—newly installed in my absence. I noted the front fence was still a shambles and glass littered the driveway where the Forester had been parked, but otherwise the place looked the same.

Once Lucas’s key had twisted free of the front door, I pushed him inside, hustling him towards the stairs and up to the relative privacy of our bedrooms.

‘Geez, E! Could you give me a sec to get inside?’

I shook my head, grabbed his flailing arms and pulled him towards the stairs. I made him run until we were inside my bedroom, door closed. ‘You have to tell me everything, Lucas,’ I said, releasing him so I could pace the floor. ‘Tell me what William said so I know where I stand. Tell me
anything
so I don’t think of … of him.’

‘Well, this is new,’ Lucas joked. He pressed a hand against my forehead. I slapped it away, unable to be amused. ‘Since when have you ever cared if a guy liked you or not?’

‘I don’t care.’

‘So why ask?’

‘Because I don’t want to keep thinking about John’s hands on me,’ I muttered, finally stopping the frenetic pacing and dropping down onto the edge of the mattress.

Lucas joined me, casually slinging an arm around my shoulder. ‘William is coming by to meet you later tonight.’

‘He said that?’ I replied, my voice sounding strained even to me. ‘He’s not pissed off about me kissing John?’

Lucas laughed. ‘I know, the guy’s totally bonkers, right? I would have dumped your ass if you were my girlfriend.’

I frowned. ‘He’s not my boyfriend, he’s—’

‘I know,’ he said, shaking his head in exasperation and rolling his eyes. ‘You don’t have to try and squeeze
sentimental
out of that emotionless body of yours. It would be more likely for me to suck steak through a straw than get you to admit that he was your boyfriend and that you loved him back.’

I shrugged. ‘It’s not that simple.’

‘Sure it is. You just make everything seem more complicated than it really is.’

‘… You’re right.’

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. ‘I am?’

‘Yep, sucking steak through a straw is hard.’

He rolled his eyes again. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to say
this, but it might change your perspective on a few things and hopefully warm the icy cockles of your heart.’

‘What will?’

‘The message that William asked me to give to you.’

I swallowed. ‘Let’s hear it then.’

Lucas gagged dramatically. I was barely holding onto the conversation. My focus was shot. So I slapped him gently across the back of the head. I was too tired, too impatient, and too miserable for dramatics.

‘Alright, geez,’ he said as he rubbed the crown of his head and frowned. ‘He said to say that he knows the kiss wasn’t really your fault and that he still loves you regardless.’

‘He really said that?’

He shook his head, all seriousness. ‘Actually, it was, “Bloody hell, Elena smells like shit and needs to have a shower before I barf”.’

I grinned at him and laughed in spite of myself. ‘Now you’re projecting. William would never say “shit” or
“barf”.’

‘Are you sure about that? You really do stink.’

‘I had a shower,’ I said, recalling the brief hose down in the small bathroom with Greg and Adam, and shuddering.

‘When? Before or
after
they threw you in a vat of shit?’

I laughed once, covering my mouth with my hand to stem the flow of emotion. It felt wrong to smile or laugh after everything that had happened. Elizabeth would never smile again. Neither would Kate, if that was even her name. I couldn’t be mad at Lucas for trying though. Healing had to start somewhere, and I was going to have to heal fast. The Protectors were going to want explanations for my behaviour with John and validation of my claims of a permanent end to the Vânâtors.

I just had to figure out how to tell them, and how to move past my own fear.

*          *          *

Lucas and I sat quietly for several minutes. He knew well enough not to push me into talking. His comforting arm wrapped around my shoulders was enough to calm me and remind me that I was home and safe.

Susan and George managed to leave us alone for a whole fifteen minutes before the pounding started on my bedroom door. Lucas and I had exchanged a wry look and then let them in, but only because the pounding wouldn’t cease until they knew all the gory details.

They didn’t get any.

Lucas stepped up to the plate and told them to give me some space for a few hours. He also left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. For the first ten minutes I’d just sat there, staring at the wall, thinking of everything and nothing all at once. After that, I’d finally broken down, pressing my dirty face into my pillows and crying until my throat hurt and the pillows were wet with tears. Afterwards, I felt no better.

A couple of hours later, I managed to drag myself into the bathroom, taking the longest shower in the history of mankind. I was fairly certain that I’d single-handedly drained Copperlode dam, our local reservoir, of its seemingly infinite resources. But justly so, as I wanted to wash off every single trace of the abduction from my skin and the remnants of those I could still clearly smell on me. I didn’t want to feel or scent John on me any longer than I had to, even though there was a very small part of me that had relished his touch and craved more. That was over now. Never again would I let myself be put in that position again.

John had made no secret of his desire to use my blood, to take my abilities from me and use them so his kind could destroy the world. And I had no doubt that he had ensured that his alpha companions were aware of me, his latest discovery, and if they weren’t they soon would be.

The saddest part of events was that I was probably no longer safe in Cairns. If the other alphas were now aware of my unique blood, then it would only be a matter of time before they sent others to look for me. If I was going to truly do the right thing by my family and myself then I would be better off either on my own or transferring to headquarters in Bucharest, keeping trouble away from everyone I loved.

Even William, with his competent training and endless knowledge of hunting vânâtors, could not be expected to hang around in Cairns to protect me from the coming onslaught. That was too much for any one person to expect of another. Deep down I knew that meant I was about to become a science experiment of the IMI, but there weren’t too many other options available. Lucas would disagree with me emphatically and hate me for my choice, but if I had to choose between being poked and prodded with needles and living in a soulless laboratory while The Protectors sought answers in my blood, then I would willingly volunteer if it meant that he was safe.

I sighed, running a hand through my now clean hair and watching my smiling family excitedly discuss the downfall of the Vânâtors. We were gathered around the dining room table, the site of many household discussions—today was no exception. They were animated, excited by the prospect of finally having solutions to the answers they’d long sought. I wanted to celebrate with them, revel in the wonder of what I had learnt, but I felt drained and oddly detached from it all.