AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A vampire who’s let us know where he’s working.” Lucas smiled grimly. “Which means a vampire who’s just made a big mistake.”
“You don’t mean you want to—to hunt this vampire?”
“He’s killing people.”
“But what are you going to do? Just—kill him first?”
Lucas was very still. “I’ve done it before. You know that.”
He’d killed a vampire to save Raquel during his year at Evernight Academy. Although I believed that he’d truly had no choice, and that Raquel might easily have been killed otherwise, the thought of hunting down a vampire and killing him in cold blood made me feel sick inside. “It seems like there should be another way.”
“Well, there’s not.” Lucas pushed back from the table, energized by the thought of action. “It’s not like there’s a vampire jail or anything.” Then he paused. “Is there?”
“Not that I know of.”
My unease must have showed clearly on my face, because Lucas covered my hand with his. “Once the vampire knows we’re after him, he might take off. Leave town. That happens a lot. The second they find out a hunt is on, they split.”
“Here’s hoping,” I said. “For his sake.”
Lucas gave me a lopsided grin. “That’s the spirit.”
“You really need this, don’t you? A mission. A reason for—” For being, I wanted to say, but the look on Lucas’s face stopped me.
“Hey. You’re my reason. Having a normal life—well, as normal as hiding out in a wine cellar gets—I’ve waited a long time for that. The fact that I get to live that life with you just makes it more perfect.”
“Okay, you don’t need a mission.” I folded my arms. I wasn’t actually annoyed with him, but I felt Lucas needed to know I had his number. “But you really like having one.”
Sheepishly, Lucas nodded. If the situation had been any less grave, I might have laughed. He looked so boyish when he got called out. It was cute, really.
I hadn’t become a master hunter during my six weeks with Black Cross, but I had learned a few key things, including the first rule: Never go out for a hunt unarmed. Lucas and I didn’t have the Black Cross arsenal to turn to. We searched around in the Woodsons’ garage to see if there was anything we could use; it worked on the same security code as the wine cellar, and was happily laser free. Obviously Vic’s parents weren’t going to have gallons of holy water stored near the riding mower, but whatever they had on hand would beat going on patrol with nothing but good intentions. Luckily, Lucas found some gear—including several wooden gardening stakes, which could serve if needed.
The garage was closed on Sundays, which meant that Lucas and I had the next day free. I’d come up with all sorts of plans for us earlier in the week, like maybe taking a carriage ride through the historical section of Philadelphia or maybe just staying in bed for hours.
Instead, we set out for the downtown neighborhood where that woman had died.
As the sun set, Lucas and I arrived in the alleyway. We couldn’t walk all the way down to the site of the murder; part of the alley had been sealed off with strips of yellow tape that read CRIME SCENE.
“We could duck under it,” I suggested. “Even if the police did see us back there, they’d just think we were going to see it because it was gross or something. On a dare, maybe.”
“Not worth the hassle. We know how things ended here. What we have to figure out is where it started.”
Lucas and I began making our way through the neighborhood, looking for a place where a vampire might scope out potential prey. Neon beer signs in the window of a nearby bar served as a pretty good guide.
“I’m going to go in,” he said. “Get a look at the crowd in there.”
“Don’t you mean we’re going in?”
“No.” When I gave him a dirty look, Lucas sighed. “Listen, we’re both too young to be in a bar legally. But I’m twenty and can pass for older. You’re seventeen—”
“Only for two more weeks!”
“—and you look seventeen. If I go in, chances are nobody’s going to throw me out. If you go in, it’s fifty-fifty at best that the bartender’s going to let us stay. Besides, dressed like that”—Lucas gave my blue sundress an appraising glance that made a slow smile spread across my face—“you’d definitely draw too much attention.”
“Well. When you put it that way.”
Lucas kissed me softly, and I rested my hands against his chest. I liked feeling the rise and fall of his breath. He murmured, “Get yourself something to eat, okay? We ran out of Ranulf’s stash a couple days ago. You’ve got to be starving.”
I hadn’t even noticed that I’d gone without blood. “I’ve had a few things,” I lied. “Don’t worry.”
