Hunting Tess Page 2

  I remember seeing them that first day, trailing down the hall after Hillbrook’s headmaster and another man who didn’t look more than thirty. There was something odd about them. They smelled too sweet, like rotting fruit.

  “What happened?”

  Coming back to the present, I try to give him an abbreviated version. “They were clever. By the time I realized their plan I had to make a choice. So, I did the only logical thing and faked my death.”

  Silence follows my big reveal but I don’t look at his reaction. It doesn’t matter anyway.

  “You . . . faked . . . your death. Isn’t that illegal?”

  “Yes, and I ask for your discretion.” A sprawling ranch house comes into view nestled among the trees and I get ready for action.

  “And those men?”

  “They aren’t men. When I tell you, jump out of the car and run for the door. All you need to do is get inside and you’ll be safe.”

  “Won’t they just follow?”

  “No.”

  “Wait, what do you mean they aren’t men. Then what are they?”

  My eyes track the movement among the trees, shadowed figures darting in the darkened tree line far too fast for any human to run. Hostile eyes reflect in the night and I can feel my nails trying to extend.

  “Vampires.”

  Unable to have much of a reaction, I shove Nathan from the car as I yell for him to run. Jumping out of my barely opened door, I vault over the roof to tackle a short vampire aiming for Nathan. My nails extend to their sharpened razorblades and make quick work of the one most impatient for blood.

  Barely touching the ground, my foot arches backward to connect with a second vampire sneaking up from behind. A wooden stake flies past my ear and finds its sickening mark in the vampire’s chest. Leo stands on the front porch reloading his crossbow as I backhand a third into my car which likewise makes a sickening thud, but the metal holds under his weight.

  Spinning around I prep for the next ambush only to find the large driveway empty. Enhancing my eyesight, I can make out three others standing off in the trees as if beckoning me to cross the line into darkness. The scuff of a foot slides against a roof shingle snapping my attention to the two-story home. Another stands at attention with something that looks like a mix between crossbow and firearm.

  The ping of a trigger gives me the warning I need for a brave, or stupid depending on how you see it, vampire, to sprint right for me. Feigning left when he is only a few feet from me, I jump, leaping over his head to decapitate him before landing.

  Beelining up the stairs, another stake whizzes over my head but I’m through the front door before I hear it find its mark.

  The door slams behind so I assume the brothers have returned into the safety of their home. Nathan stands by the living room window, a witness to the mini massacre that happened outside. His mouth hangs open and he has yet to shift his attention from the bodies strewn outside. I hope he doesn’t call the cops. Maybe I should take his phone.

  My hand throbs from the force it took to cut through that last vampire’s neck as I walk down the hallway in search of the kitchen, trying to catch red droplets from falling to the floor. Leo brings me a towel as I make my way to the kitchen sink, washing away the blood. The clear water swirls, mingling with the red liquid until it disappears down the drain.

  “Busy night?” Leo asks. His brown eyes are wide and his hands unconsciously flex from the pent-up adrenaline that results from this kind of fight. Taking the offered towel, I pat my hands dry.

  “There are at least three, maybe four more hiding in the woods.”

  “Cowering more like it,” Leo’s older brother declares, walking down the stairs before crossing the kitchen to get a glass of water. He must have been the one on the roof. My attention flicks to Nathan who wanders into the room. His eyes are slightly glazed and I worry he’s going into shock.

  “Good shot, Caleb! I’m pretty sure you pinned it to a tree.”

  “That was some impressive fighting,” Caleb says, leaning his hip against the counter. He takes a long inhale and I know what he is looking for. No human, no matter how much training they put themselves through, can move as quickly as I can. Or are as strong, or agile.

  “You won’t smell anything dressed like that,” I hint. His eyes marginally narrow at the statement, displeased with the amount of knowledge I possess. He glares at Leo who just looks back in naïve confusion. Wolves are so touchy. “It’s your business anyway. Do you have my order?”

  Leo nods his head distractedly before disappearing from the room. Nathan looks like he is about to drop on his feet so I guide him to a giant couch, lightly pushing his shoulder to sit.

  “Not that I’m against taking out some vamps,” Caleb declares, following us to the open family room, “but we don’t have many enemies making an all-out assault on our home. We generally go to them.”

  “Sorry to break up your routine,” is all I say, more focused on Nathan. I shouldn’t have agreed to a date. He looks like he was put through the ringer.

  Girlish laughter comes from stairs leading to a basement before two figures emerge.

  “Parker, I didn’t know you two were still here.” Caleb tries to keep his voice light but I can hear the strain beneath.

  Parker must hear it too because a small crease forms between his eyebrows. “The movie ran long. We were just heading out to grab something to eat.”

  “Have you showed Ashley the garage? She might find your collection of cars impressive.”

  “My collection?”

  “Oh, I love cars!” The girl named Ashley gushes, her blonde waves swaying in a manner I’m sure men find charming.

  “It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes,” Caleb insists, almost shooing the couple toward the back of the house. Ashley doesn’t even look my direction, but Parker does. Coming to his own conclusion about what happened he follows Ashley, his smile not as bright.

  Ten minutes should be enough time to clean up the front before Ashley sees.

  Leo drops a heavy duffle bag on the floor beside me as Caleb disappears.

  “This is some pretty heavy artillery,” he says skeptically. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were going hunting.”

  Leo and I shared a class my freshman year. Greek and Roman Mythology. It wasn’t hard to narrow down the smell of damp earth coming from him. And because of his heritage I knew he would also know about the existence of vampires, so it was easy to befriend him. I guessed right that he would be able to handle himself in a fight.

  And he knows a very abbreviated version of me. As in, he knows I know about vampires.

  “It’s an insurance policy,” I explain, looking down at the hefty bag. A lot of it should be pure silver which is challenging to come by. “Where did you find the pieces?”

  “My brother has connections through his job.”

  Turning to him, I ask to speak privately in the hallway. In no way can Nathan return to his apartment right now. Dmitri and Viktor have probably followed his scent back home and Nathan will need a place to stay. Plus, some kind of protection.

  Explaining my dilemma, Leo is far more accommodating than I thought.

  “I owe you.”

  “It’s no problem,” Leo claims. “Nathan can stay here, goodness knows there’s enough room, and we can carpool to campus for a few weeks.”

  I gratefully nod my head. I’m hoping to draw the vampires away from the area when I return home. Hopefully Nathan can return to his apartment then.

  Caleb returns from cleaning up the bodies strewn across the lawn and driveway the same time I try to explain the plan to Nathan. If it went well talking to Leo, the opposite is true for Nathan.

  “You want me to what?”

  “Just for a little while. The time will fly by—”

  “Vampires aren’t real!”

  “Nathan—”

  “No!”

  Rubbing my temples to relieve a painful throbbing that started about t
en minutes ago, I’m worried Caleb and Leo are going to tie Nathan down. After another ten minutes of my explaining I start to wonder if there are any tranquilizers in the house.

  The very loud “discussion” is silenced by three echoing raps from the front door, putting everyone on edge. Vampires can’t come in unless invited. It’s one of their rules. Opening the door isn’t strictly an invitation, but the knock could be a trap. Caleb and Leo retrieve their stashed weapons, raising them in defense as Leo opens the door.

  A squeak of surprise sounds from the porch. They didn’t. How could they track me here?

  “Well are you going to shoot us or can we come in?” Ben asks, already looking past their shoulders to what awaits inside.

  “How . . . what . . . how could you possible know I was here?” my voice so eloquently articulates as I rise from a chair I had plopped into during the fighting.

  “Please,” Eliza states, breezing past the two stunned men. “Ben installed a tracking device on your phone before you even left home. We can find you anywhere.”

  “You what?”

  “Well it’s a good thing we did,” she verifies, pulling me into a hug before I feel two cats rub up against my legs.

  Looking down in surprise, I don’t have time to ask about the tabbies before Eliza explains. “They knew something was wrong and stowed away. How your cats know whenever there’s trouble is beyond me.”

  “My cats?”

  “Yes, your cats.”

  “Animal intuition,” Ben claims as he checks out the house with appreciation. “I was waiting for the unbearable yowling to accompany our road trip as every cat displays, but they just stared. Thinking back on it I think I would have rather had the yowling.”

  “Why is that?” Leo questions, keeping his eyes on the felines.

  “Because they’re far smarter than any animal I know. Heck, even some people I know. Their quietness was just a reminder.”

  Crouching down, I willingly stroke the necks of the Twins as I call them. They have gotten me through more kerfuffle’s during my time at Hillbrook than I care to admit and are an excellent warning system for lurking danger.

  “We should get going.” The sooner I walk through my front door the better I’ll feel. It’s not that I’m worried vampires will break into my parent’s house. I’m anxious about the eight-hour drive and what can happen between here and there.

  “But we just got here! Don’t you want to introduce me to your friends?” Eliza complains, pulling one of the tabby’s off of a nearly comatose Nathan. All that arguing must have worn him out and I look to Leo who takes the cue. Once I hear their steps climbing the padded stairs, I unzip my duffle bag of goodies to see what Leo procured.

  About a year ago I put in an order for him to collect a series of weapons capable of fighting all forms of evil. Crossbows, swords, and throwing knives gleam back at me, plus several other weapons I don’t recognize.

  I look up at Eliza incredulously. “Eliza, priorities!”

  “Oh, fine then, keep your other friends to yourself,” she sulks, only perking up when I hand her a set of throwing knives.

  “We can take our car,” Ben interjects, eyeing a hefty rigged crossbow which I hand him.

  “My car is better fortified.”

  “Or we can just take both,” Eliza says.

  “What’s going on?” a male voice demands. Parker stalks to our little gathering and I rise to my feet to better offset our height difference. He towers well over six feet, and while I’m not considered short, I don’t like having to crane my neck so far back just to look at him.

  Eliza waggles her eyebrows in my direction and I swear the girl is itching for a bruising. Yes, Parker is gorgeous, but who has time for dating? I tried it and things went horribly wrong very quickly.

  “This is Samantha, Leo’s friend from school.” Caleb’s vague description drips with sarcasm. “But,” he says reluctantly, “the girl can fight.”

  “She’s the one I was telling you about,” Leo interjects, descending the last two steps.

  I wonder briefly what there could be to say, but follow the trajectory of both men’s gaze as it trails to the pile of weapons at my feet.

  Looking down I realize the Twins are no longer hovering around the group, but rather sitting on the ledge above the sink, gazing out the window.

  “She put in the order? Do you know how long it took me to collect this stuff?”

  Ignoring the blatant shock of Leo’s brother’s faces, I drift toward the felines.

  “That’s not good,” I hear Ben mutter under his breath.

  CHAPTER 2

  HIM

  “There are at least eleven out there. Probably more.” Samantha stands at the kitchen sink, a stark contrast of white against the gray cabinets. Her loose flowing shirt was probably once spotless but is now streaked with grime and speckled with blood.

  “Did you lead a horde of vampires here?” I ask her, crossing my arms against my chest.

  I expect her to shift uncomfortably under my glower as she rejoins the group, but instead she looks me in the eye and responds with a secret smile. “Yes.”

  “I hope Dmitri is out there,” her friend grins maliciously. I didn’t catch her name and don’t bother asking. She seems peppy, and the last thing I want is for another peppy girl to talk my ear off. My date with Ashley was bad enough. “I want to a chance to hit him where the sun don’t shine.”

  “I already did.” Samantha grins back, just as wickedly. Leo described the girl from school as intelligent. Seeking a fight with a vampire is anything but.

  “What if we wait until morning?” the guy asks. “The vampire will have to go into hiding and we can leave then.”

  “They’ll just come back and this is my problem. If we want a chance to make it to the freeway, we need to take them out,” she declares. “Eliza, draw their attention. And Ben—”

  “Don’t get bit.”

  “Exactly. You get bit, you die. You boys coming?”

  The gauntlet has been thrown, pricking my pride. Does this girl not understand how dangerous it is to fight vampires?

  “Aw yeah!” Caleb whoops, his unsure demeanor now warming up to the girl. Great, they share a certain bloodlust.

  “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to be smart,” I mandate, eying their weapons and wondering how well they’ll be wielded.

  “I agree,” Samantha concurs, already planning ahead. “You three can cover our blind spots from the roof. We’ll take care of those on the ground.”

  “That’s a terrible idea.”

  Three shifters would be better in face-to-face combat. I have no idea who these people are or what they can do, and explaining why I have three dead kids in front of my house is not something I want to explain to the authorities. My job could cover it up, they’ve done so in the past with vampire attacks, but Marc would be ticked. She thinks this over for half a second. “Eliza?”

  Her friend nods before responding. “I’ll be able to see more anyway.”

  “Perfect. But we’ll still need archers.” Her attention returns to me and for a split second I almost ask her out. Thankfully the words don’t cross my lips before my senses make a much-needed overhaul on my brain. I only date humans who are ignorant about things that go bump in the night. Something tells me this girl has some experience. When I don’t respond, she explains, “I can shoot a crossbow but I’m as likely to hit one of us as I am a vampire.”

  “All these weapons and you don’t know how to use them?”

  Looking at me with expectation, I realize she is waiting for volunteers to man the roof.

  “I can help out on the ground,” Leo offers, likewise looking to me for approval, pinning me and Caleb with roof duty. My eyebrows crinkle together as my stare flickers to my youngest brother.

  “It would be nice to have a shifter close by,” she admits, siding with Leo as the right half of her lower lip disappears between her teeth. My stare which was once contemplative on the y
oungest of us turns irate. The knowledge of our kind isn’t meant as a way to impress a girl.

  “Before you start pointing fingers,” she interjects, “I can smell you. And we’re wasting time.”

  Breathing hard through my nose I quickly gauge the reaction of the other two newcomers finding out what we are. They don’t even bat an eye and I feel a chill go down my spine at the thought that these strangers may not be quite human.

  Battling between demanding answers and knowing that the longer we wait the more time the vampires have to plan, I reluctantly return my attention to Leo. I’ll get answers after.

  Because of his age Leo was the last to shift and has the least experience dealing with depraved creatures. It would be better if Caleb or myself was on the ground. I start to say so when struck with the thought that this would be good experience.

  But if he gets hurt my mother will kill me.

  With a swift nod I take one last look at our motley crew and send up a prayer. We’re going to need it.

  After popping out the upstairs screen I swing one leg onto the tilted roof, squinting in the darkness. Light bleeds from the house into the night, highlighting the closest cluster of trees and maybe one or two figures. It’s harder to tell with my human eyesight. Staying low I exit the frame and curse how this mess started. I better not be responsible for any bodies.

  Feet sliding against the textured tile amplifies in the otherwise silent world. The night is usually humming with life and I miss its comforting calls.

  A gasp snaps my attention behind me where Eliza grips Caleb’s arm for stability as she struggles to find her balance. Her arm swings precariously and I nearly leap forward to catch her before Caleb gets her stable. Though I’m not nearly as fast as in wolf form, my reflexes and speed are still faster than a human’s.

  The screen door squeaks in ominous warning from below and I picture everyone getting into position. I don’t know what Samantha and Ben will do, but Leo will need space to shift.

  A snap fills the air and everyone starts moving at the same time. Loading my crossbow at record speed I shoot the arrow into the blackened space where a vampire emerges. Enjoying the twang of the thick string, my deft fingers have a new arrow before the first one hits its mark.