Page 63 of Lured

I walked around the room, trying to take in the scent and how I hadn't noticed it coming out of the room again. It didn't take me long to figure out why. He had coated himself in some sort of covering scent.

After making sure I could detect it, I followed the new trail. It didn't take me back out of the room, however, but to the balcony. There I paused again, unable to follow the trail.

I was sure that the vampire had hopped to another balcony and continued on. Maybe even hopped to several other balconies. After being very worried that Anais would lose Ludis and his trail, I had lost my own one.

It was smart and about the only way to completely erase a pathway a vampire could follow on a ship like this. The water spray and whipping air outside kept the scent from lingering and making it easy to figure out where the vampire had gone.

Backing up, I tried to decide what to do next. I could go after Ludis, but I got the impression that if any of the vampires got off this ship and managed to pick up whatever relic they were after, we would have some serious problems.

Before anyone could come and see what had made the noise to break the door, I left the room again and went the other way down the hallway. For the next few minutes I hurried around the ship, sniffing the air and trying to figure out if the vampire popped out somewhere else.

He had to be here somewhere.

It took almost fifteen minutes for me to find the trail again, but I didn't find it by figuring out what room the vampire had come back out of. Instead I found it in the stairways of the ship near the middle. I ran after it as soon as I picked it up, knowing that time was running out.

The vampire had made its way down to the deck where the smaller boats could be let down and I knew that a single strong vampire might be able to do enough on their own to get one in the water.

I ran out onto one of the decks and found the vampire doing just that part way down the deck. Because of the angle, he spotted me at about the same time as I saw him.

Immediately he hurried away. I picked up the pace to follow, but the vampire reacted faster than I'd have expected to be possible and they made their way back into the heart of the ship. It was not the ideal situation, but I had kept him from leaving so far.

Although it was very late at night, the vampire made their way down to the next deck where a lot of the casino was and the few people left awake and still active at this time of night. I was aware that no matter how much I needed to stop him, I also had to keep the peace.

This situation had gone from bad to worse. I frowned and continued to try to keep the pace and walk through the casino after him. Now and then he glanced back at me, but he also focused on his task.

He needed to lose me, but I had his new scent and it would take a lot to make me lose it now. This vampire would be mine, it was just down to how long it would take to corner him enough.

I kept my focus on the goal, keeping calm and trying to look as if I was taking a late night stroll through the ship, but the vampire ahead of me looked panicked enough that he was drawing looks for the both of us. At first, most people were too tired to care much, but as we reached an area where people were less absorbed in their own games and walking around and talking, they paid more attention.

When a handful of them noticed that I appeared to be following an agitated person, some frowned and others began to change their course as if they planned to intercept me. If one of them succeeded at the wrong moment, I could find myself right back at square one. Unable to find my quarry and having to search the whole ship to pick up the scent again.

By the time I had done something like that, there would be a good chance they'd have taken a boat and rowed away. If they managed to get into the water on another vessel, I wouldn't be able to find them again.

I couldn't lose him. No matter what, I had to keep going.

I deliberately took a slightly different path here and there and slowed a small amount to stop the late night gamblers from noticing my passing as much as the vampire I was in pursuit of.

It seemed to help and before long I was out in another hallway. He had pulled ahead of me again, but it was clear that he was beginning to move erratically and change his mind at junctions. I was scaring him and in his panicked state he was more likely to make a mistake.

Again, I picked up the pace, but did everything I could to keep quiet. We passed room after room as we found some more living areas of the ship, no longer by the lounges and casinos and he grew even more agitated. Once again I was gaining on him and he kept glancing back at me.

He darted down a side turning as he reached one, heading back toward the middle of the ship, but it only went past yet more rooms and I used the section where I was blind to him to sprint and catch up even more.

Once I started sprinting, I continued, finding him trying door handles of all the rooms he passed. For a couple of seconds he was so intent on the task that he didn't notice me closing the gap until I was only a few yards behind him.

His eyes went wide as soon as he noticed his error and he tried to run off again. My momentum carried me closer as I pushed up to the full speed a vampire like me was capable of. Even though he could run far faster than the average human as well, it wasn't enough to outpace me.

I grabbed his arm and dragged him along with me before I slowly brought us back to human speed and slower. He tried to struggle but I pulled a blade and made it very obvious by his side.

“We can walk along nicely together and go have a little chat in my suite, or I can gut you here, take your phone and figure out what I need to know later.”

“What good is the choice if I'm going to die either way?” the vampire replied.

I almost chuckled at the probable outcomes. He had a point, but I couldn't let him think that or he'd never help.

“You'll be safe enough in my suite if you prove cooperative. I have no interest in killing a vampire who got caught up in events way above their head as long as they recognize that they bit off more than they could swallow.”

He gulped, almost aptly, and again I had to fight not to laugh at the situation. Despite the fear, he relaxed a little and made it clear he planned to cooperate for now.

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