Page 4 of Hunted in the Shadows
“I could smell the neglect on you both from miles away,” Giovanni purred. “I’ve been watching you, same as you’ve been watching us. A pair of wounded little boys wielding shotguns and stakes because Daddy didn’t hug you enough…” He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. The sympathy on his face was unnervingly genuine, his voice dropping into a near-whisper. “I used to take boys just like you under my wing, you know. Boys who didn’t have a proper family. We can make our own. You won’t be alone again.”
“Just eat me, you fucking perv,” Cliff gritted out.
“That pretty mouth says ‘no’, but your eyes say you like it rough. This might be fun for you. Give it a decade or two on the other side of the game—you’ll warm up to the idea, same as I did.”
Giovanni's jaw rippled, almost like a grimace, and I muscled down a repulsed noise as his set of needle-like fangs emerged, clicking into place. Unlike most vampires, Giovanni had multiple rows—some layered right over the others, like they were competing for space.
The movement seemed to sever some invisible tether on Jon. He surged forward, his bloodstained oak stake gleaming dully in the flickering light.
I caught only a glimpse of Giovanni’s sharp, white teeth before they were buried in Cliff’s collarbone. A cry stuck in my throat. Jon’s roar of anger numbed my hearing. As Cliff bucked and rasped pained curses, the venom weakened him in seconds.
As I raced past Jon’s shoulder to attack, Giovanni lifted his head to set his eyes on me, and the world froze to a standstill. His bloodied lips didn’t move, yet his words washed over my mind like ink on paper.
“I’ve been shielding my true nature for your comfort, my dear. You have no idea what you’re dealing with. I’ve walked the Earth since Cortes first got his dick wet in America.”I swore his laugh echoedall around me.“Look at you. You’re ants trying to bring down a mountain.”
And then, he lowered the invisible shield that had so graciously blocked my senses, and his presence flooded me. I wanted to scream, but the sound was too big to escape. Sheer terror pounded through my veins as my senses were rattled by the full scope of his power, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.
The world swung back into motion, but as Jon closed the distance to Giovanni, I was drowning in the crushing weight of Giovanni's mental assault. I clapped my hands to my head, trying to force the throbbing to subside. I had to be stronger—I couldn't leave Jon alone.
In one swift motion, Giovanni released a weakened Cliff against the wall and lashed an arm out to thwart Jon’s advance. A brutal fist closed around the stake before it could impale his heart. The wood splintered, and Giovanni seized Jon by the throat.
“I will enjoy this,” Giovanni snarled at Jon, who fought like a rabid dog on a tight leash. The vampire’s expression softened into one of sick comfort as he turned to Cliff on the ground. “The bite will heal once you’ve turned. I’ll let you decide whether you want your friend to join you or be your first meal.” He chuckled as though he could anticipate the outcome. “Younglings are always so ravenous the first day. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
As Giovanni bit down on his own free wrist and drew a stream of crimson, I recalled the notes in Cliff’s journal. Vampire transformations required an exchange of blood—much more intentional than werewolves. The bite would weaken him, but a drink from Giovanni's veins would transform him permanently.
I pictured Jon in the basement of the Dottage house, skin hot as the werewolf infection ravaged him. I trembled with thoughts of the terrible things I would do to save either hunter.
I couldn’t let the vampire’s blood touch Cliff’s tongue.
My scream finally emerged in the form of an incantation. I caught a look at Giovanni’s face and saw the shock flash through his eyes. Evenhehadn't been prepared for me to tear through what he had done to me. I flew up near the ceiling—far from his reach—and aimed a spell at his arm. Frost coated his self-inflicted bite, freezing the blood before racing up his shoulder and across his chest. I grit my teeth, unyielding as I whispered the spell over and over.
Giovanni growled up at me, his angelic features melting into a nightmarish scowl. “Your filthy allegiance will be the death of you!”
Even in his weakened state, Cliff spotted the opening. He kicked at the vampire’s legs, making Giovanni stumble and loosen his grip on Jon.
“Jon!” Cliff grunted. He grabbed his own fallen stake and tossed it.
Without pausing to catch his breath, Jon snatched the weapon out of the air and drove it through Giovanni’s chest, shattering my icy formation like glass. The two of them slammed to the ground, fighting for the upper hand.
The vampire’s roar was pure animal, wide eyes hateful and bloodshot. I dove closer, defensive magic coiled up to my shoulders—but as Jon withdrew the stake, there was no need to cast another spell. Giovanni went limp, the agony etched on his face slackening.
Jon snarled, his voice rough in a way I scarcely recognized as he plunged the stake into the heart area a second time. A third. The stake’s tip shattered within the corpse, leaving a ragged column of oak in his hand. Silence might have followed, but Jon pulled his machete from its sheath. He raised it high and swung it down over Giovanni’s neck, severing head from shoulders.
He spat on the vampire’s prone, decapitated body. The display was savage, a far cry from the warm light I loved in him.
No—that light was there. I’d mistaken it for sunlight, but Jon waslightning.As frightening as it was beautiful, razing all it touched.
When he yanked the machete blade from the carpet and dismounted the body, I didn’t avert my gaze from his. If he was lightning, I would let him burn me over and over.
In seconds, Giovanni’s fair skin turned a sickly aged parchment shade. Fissures formed like paint peeling from ancient pottery. And then he crumbled to mere ash—settling like a disgusting snowfall, quiet as a whisper. The chaos dropped into an unnerving silence, leaving only the echoes of our heavy breathing in the stillness.
The remaining vampire corpses littering the floor followed suit—something about being tied to the alpha who turned them, Cliff had once told me. Piles of empty, bloodstained clothes were scattered in their wake. I coughed, flitting back toward the wall Cliff was slumped against. The Blockbuster was cloudy with vampire ash, and it smelled likeshit.Sulfurous decay hardly added to the bouquet of old movie snacks and bloodshed.
Below me, Cliff coughed raggedly. “I’ve told you a million times not to stake when my mouth’s open!” He spat out ash, glaring half-heartedly at Jon.
“You’re welcome,” Jon huffed. The rage on his face eased, eyes wide with worry as he studied Cliff. “We need to patch that up,fast. Are you feverish yet?”
“I feel great,” Cliff said, dragging himself up into a seated position. “Ilovebeing a human pincushion.”
