Page 14 of Hunters and Prey

Chapter 8

Tom listened to the four vampires, who took turns spinning a tale worthy of the greatest storytellers. A tale that couldn't be true. They were having a laugh. Maybe there was a camera somewhere and they were filming the poor idiotic human to laugh at his reaction.

His eyes returned to Viola periodically. She was watching him closely, gauging his reaction.

He wondered what she saw. He wondered whether he looked incredulous, amused, confused, or pissed. He felt none of those things.

While his brain said that it couldn't be possible, that they must be lying for some nefarious reason, there was a part of him that said “Of course.” Of course they were right. Obviously, he wasn't normal. He'd never felt a kinship with anyone at all, except for his sister; maybe his father, although George Miller didn't quite feel like a teammate, someone who had his back.

Everyone else always seemed…other. Too slow, too weird, with desires and hopes and interests that didn't align with his.

Then, there was Chloe. His sister who could get anyone—the meanest, angriest asshole—to eat out of her hand.

What about him? There was nothing special at all about him. If the vampires were to be believed and he was some long-lost vamp royalty, wouldn't he have a power like Chloe?

In the end, when they were done talking, he said the only thing he could say. "Prove it."

He needed something tangible to hold on to.

The vampires exchanged a glance. All seemed to defer to Viola. Tom wasn't surprised. They all felt like seasoned predators, but there was something about that woman.

She brought her wrist to her mouth, and two long, thin canines protruded out of the top of her gums, twisting her face into something else, something wilder and perhaps more beautiful.

But whatever she was about to do with it was interrupted by the high-pitched screech of his phone, a sound so out of place after talk of mysteries, secrets, and murders.

His phone was still on silent, set to ignore everyone except for the one person he had set up as a VIP: his sister.

Chloe never called. She was a texter through and through.

"I have to take this."

He pulled his phone out an instant before Viola did the same with hers.

Tom tensed.

On the other end of the line, Chloe, who was so cheerful and sassy, Chloe, who never cried, was sobbing. Tom's grasp tightened around his phone. If the vamps had done anything to hurt and upset her…

She was incoherent. He didn't understand a word out of five.

"Chloe, I don't understand a word you're saying. Where are you? I'll come get you…"

"At…station."

"Station?" he repeated, confused.

Viola had already hung up with her contact, and was watching Tom carefully. Obviously, she knew what was going on.

"The fire station?"

Maybe she was waiting for him there. He didn't have a shift today, but she might have mistaken his schedule.

She swallowed, forced herself to breathe in and out, and repeated herself. "At the police station. Dad…Dad's been arrested for murder."

Tom was already walking toward the door.

"I'll be there in a few. Stay where you are, okay?"

He wasn't surprised to see the five others trailing his steps. Tom considered telling them to fuck off, leave him be while he dealt with this mess, but something stopped him.

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