Page 2 of Hunted in the Shadows
I put a hand over my mouth, eyes wide.Stars help me, destructiveness shouldn’t be this much of a turn-on.As the dust settled, I shook my head and filed the image away for later.Focus.
Jon charged inside—and faltered. I pulled to a sharp hover beside him and drank in the depraved sight before us. What once might’ve been a break room had been transformed into a human farm. Outdated furnishings had been pushed off to one side, apart from a waist-high shelf that boasted a bulbous TV, the sole source of light. I briefly considered the image on-screen: a movie set in what appeared to be a high school, with young humans chatting in a parking lot.
A line of shackles were crudely hammered into the back wall of the dingy room—six sets. Only one was still occupied.
“One more move and I’ll snap her neck,” the vampire said between heavy breaths.
He had the one remaining woman clutched to him like a shield, a vice-like grip around her throat. Beneath her ratty tee and jeans, her body was covered in angry, welting bite marks.
“End of the line,” Jon said, his voice steadying through shallow breaths. “I’ll make it painless for you. Much kinder than the monster who turned you in the first place and ruined your life.”
“Ruined? Giovanni gave me everything I wanted! Family, power, immortality. I was nothing before I met him. A fucking loser selling printers at Office Depot. But he saw through all of that. He wanted me. Hechoseme!”
Despite his modest appearance—sandy hair, average features, and nondescript clothing—subtle, almost imperceptible nuances in his gaze and posture confirmed the sinister aura radiating off him in waves. He looked entirely human, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
The woman whimpered as the vampire’s grip tightened on her throat. Her chained hands scrabbled at his fingers as she gasped for air. She may as well have been clawing at stone.
“Let her go,” Jon bit out, all traces of reasoning hardening into resolve.
“I’ll raise you one,” the vampire said. “Kick the stake over and fuck off. Your little pet and your boyfriend out there, too.”
As the movie played on behind me, vivid hues danced across the woman’s anguished expression. The lighthearted dialogue and music knotted my stomach.
“Some asshole paid me to take out this really great girl.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, but I screwed up. I, um, I fell for her.”
Jon remained rooted, his face etched with steely determination, strategy whirring into place behind his eyes. This wasn’t the face of the man I’d spent hours intertwined within the spectral plane. This was the face of a killer.
The vampire gave a soft, throaty laugh. “You think you’re strong. Hunters always do. I’ve seen a few of you, waltzing around like you’re God’s gift to the world. But humanity is such a fragile concept.”
His unassuming features split into a smile that verged on crazed—and I watched in horrified disgust as it morphed into something nightmarish. In near silence, rows of needle-like teeth pushed through his gums, locking into place with a soft, grotesqueclick. My skin screamed for me to run, tofight. My body was coiled for action, but I looked urgently to Jon for my cue.
“Do whatever he says,” the woman rasped. “Please—go! Get out, he’ll kill you all.Please!”
I swallowed hard. She wasn’t begging for her life—she was trying to saveJon.A stranger. I might have surged forward to save her myself if Jon and Cliff hadn’t coached better self-control.
“Always a sweetheart, our Veronica,” the vampire sneered. Never taking his eyes off of Jon, he intimately brushed his cheek against Veronica’s. His teeth grazed his bottom lip like he wanted to add another bite to her collection. “Her blood’s on your hands if you don’t get the fuck out. I’ll take good care of her. Cross my heart.”
Jon didn’t flinch. “No. You’re handing her over.”
“I’m not sure you understand how hostage situations work.”
To my shock, Jon lowered the stake. “I understand better than you think. How about a trade?” He gestured to me and raised his eyebrows at the vampire.
“Yeah, right,” the vampire scoffed, but there was a hint of intrigue in his eyes at the unexpected offer. “She seems pretty loyal.”
“You ever seen one? She’s like a golden retriever. She’ll be loyal to anyone who treats her right. And trains her.” Jon raised his free arm toward me, exposing three deep gouges near his wrist. His eyes flickered to me, empty of their usual light. “Heal it. Now.”
Either he was creating this ruse on the spot, or he had kept the idea tucked away for an emergency. Whatever the case, my mouth fell open.
Still, I wasn’t about to blow it by not playing my part.
Lowering my gaze, I chanted the healing spell and closed the angry red lines on Jon’s forearm. The process took only a moment, but judging by how quiet the vampire became, he was truly pausing to consider my usefulness. A healer wouldn’t dohimor his kind much good, but Cliff’s journal said that vampires needed to be careful how much they drained from long-term victims. I could increase the longevity of their blood sources. Less missing people meant less hunters breathing down their necks.
“Good girl,” Jon said in a low voice that caressed my very soul and made my face flush. It was a wonder I didn’t melt. “Now show us how entertaining you can be with your frost. Do the one I like.”
