Page 19 of Lured

“You came here to kill Ludis,” he said, the first to break the silence.

“I did. That was the role the guild assigned me. But I've not succeeded. I couldn't get close to him and the task will be near to impossible now.” I sighed, knowing that this vampire would make it far more than impossible. I wouldn't stand a chance at all. I was done. I wouldn't be a vampire hunter a moment longer.

“Did they tell you why they wanted him dead?” the true-blood asked.

I shook my head. “They rarely do, not unless it's important to the mission.”

“And you never thought to ask?” He growled as he spoke, but I knew the anger wasn't directed at me.

Shrugging, I tried to put into words what it was like. “The academy don't explain a lot. And they don't need to. Any entity that preys on humans and eats us for pleasure and sport only deserves so much respect. We might understand that the Brethren aren't as bad and you try to keep your killing minimal, but you still take humans as sort of drugged up pets and you still kill because you enjoy it.”

“Some of us don't kill at all.” His voice remained deep and menacing and I briefly considered how wise it was to antagonize him further, but I also knew that it didn't matter right now. If he was going to kill me, he was going to kill me and there was little I could do about it.

“Whatever you do. There's a reason we hunt your kind.”

“That much I can believe. Some of my kind are worth hunting. But not all of us. And you'll never convince me otherwise. Now, what about the rest of your team? Would any of them have been told why Ludis was wanted dead? The shooter perhaps?”

He paused as I frowned, seeming to notice that I wasn't okay with the questions and he was bombarding me with them. “I wasn't in a team.”

“You mean that?”

I nodded. “Yeah, there was no team. I used to have one, but not anymore. My last mission went sideways and I had to rescue it, but my team didn't forgive me for it. Reported me to the academy and I was forced to take this suicide mission to try to get back in their good graces.”

“So you knew this wasn't going to be easy?” He lifted an eyebrow and sat down on the chair opposite me.

“It was a punishment. Pretty sure they're expecting me to fail so they can kick me out of the academy.” I exhaled, knowing that it was all my own fault.

“It might be more than that.” He coughed to get my attention and pulled a couple of photos out of his jacket pocket. “I found this in here before you came to check out the scene. Whoever the shooter was, I'm guessing they dropped them.”

I took the photos as he held them out, our fingers brushing against each other in passing. His skin was cold, but not like ice as some people assumed vampires would be. Another sign that he wasn't a half-blood. He wasn't turned, but born the way he was.

I sucked in my breath at the contact, finding myself wanting to reach out and touch his skin again. As I looked up at him, I found his gaze was as focused on me. Heat flushed through my body and pooled between my legs. Under his gaze I felt like I was some sort of prey, but I felt so much more than that.

“It's you,” he said.

Blinking, I tried to take in what he meant. Did he find me attractive too? It took me a couple of seconds to remember I was supposed to be looking at the photos in my hand and then I gulped. One of them was Ludis. But the other was me. Whoever had tried to take a shot at Ludis, they had also wanted me dead.

“I'm sorry.” He reached out and gently took my hand. “I don't know if they were from the academy, but they were after you as well.”

After shaking my head, wanting to deny it, I realized how much sense it made. Not that they were necessarily from the academy, but the actions of a shooter now made sense.

They hadn't fired at me, but at Ludis and almost seemed to deliberately miss him. Of course, he'd then wanted to kill me. If this vampire in front of me hadn't intervened then I would be dead right now.

My hand was still in his and there was something about it that seemed right. I didn't want to pull back. As I looked up at him, I noticed he was closer than ever. He was still staring at me, as if he couldn't get enough of taking me in, his eyes gently roving over my body, taking their time, drinking in every feature.

I shuddered, both in delight and heated desire, but also in fear of what these photos meant.

“I don't know why anyone would want me dead,” I said, frowning.

“Sometimes people do strange things for strange reasons. If you're a hunter and have been for a long time, you might not let yourself be kicked out of the academy quietly, for example. I know hunters have gone rogue just as vampires do.”

Looking down and away from the intense gaze from his deep dark eyes, I nodded. “My uncle. He was an academy hunter, but after my parents died...”

Why was I telling him all this? I couldn't say for sure, but I knew there was no gain in hiding it anymore. He appeared to want answers and by giving them to him, I appeared to be gaining some measure of affection.

“Were your parents hunters too?” He didn't let go of my hand, his placed over the top.

“Yes. They began my training but they died before I finished it. My uncle sent me off to the academy and told me they would complete it, but they sent me on my first mission long before I felt ready.”

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