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“Kimberly,” I said, and I turned back toward her. No sooner had I done so than I felt her foot connect with the side of my jaw.
“That’s for my friends, mother fucker,” she shouted.
A roundhouse kick.
I should have been prepared.
She was flexible, I’d give her that, and she was braver than she should have been. Before I’d even registered what had happened, she was running back down the hallway and out the front door.
Good.
I loved a good chase.
My body was excited and suddenly, I felt wildly alive. She was running, and I was going to get to chase her. Oh, I loved a good chase, and it had been years.
“Sir?” A vampire servant appeared beside the door. “Do you want me to retrieve your supper for you?” He seemed mildly amused and slightly excited.
“Not at all,” I said, pushing my sleeves up. “The human is mine. Spread the word throughout the Grove. Nobody touches this one.”
“Understood,” the servant bowed slightly, turned, and left.
I went outside onto the large porch that wrapped around the mansion, and I sniffed the air. She’d only just started running. A minute or two head start wasn’t enough for her to get very far. Even if she was a huntress, she was still human. She was strong enough to fight vampires, but could she outrun one?
We were about to find out.
I could smell the body wash she used. Oh, she tried to stick to personal care items that were discreet and mild. She didn’t want to attract any extra attention to herself. I understood that perfectly well. Still, it didn’t matter. Kimberly’s scent was intoxicating, and I followed it easily, striding through the front yard of the mansion and then to the road. She’d gone East. I started walking. I was silent, but fast.
Soon the road forked, and I sniffed the air again. She was getting agitated, which meant she was starting to sweat. Her anxiety filled the air. It was a delicious sort of aroma, and I knew that i needed to find her fast before anyone else noticed that a little human had wandered into this part of the Grove.
Walking down the road, I turned once, then twice. Soon I approached an area that was filled with trees and tiny houses. It was a quiet sort of suburbia, I felt. Much of this area was abandoned. There were still vampires who lived here, but part of our nature was to move in groups. When the biggest vamp on the street had taken a “real” job in another city, most of the other vampires had left the Grove to follow him. I didn’t care. I wasn’t worried about our numbers or anything like that.
Instead, I wished him well.
Now, I was relieved there was nobody around. Kimberly had made me chase her, and I was going to punish the little brat when I found her. First, though, I was going to make her mine.
The third house on the left reeked of her scent. I stopped in front of it and looked up at the house. She’d probably gone in through the back door. I saw movement on the second floor of the house: a flutter of the light-blue curtains.
So, this was it.
This was where the little girl had gone to hide.
She probably expected me to knock politely on the door and to wait like the docile human boys she was used to. Well, tough shit. I wasn’t nice. I wasn’t polite. I definitely wasn’t going to knock.
Instead, I leapt up to the second-floor overhang that covered the front porch, strode over to the window, and kicked it in.
The moment I was inside, I knew I’d chosen the right room. She was on the bed, pressed up against the wall with her legs pulled up to her chest. She was shaking.
Finally, some fucking fear.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
“Excuse me?” I crossed my arms over my chest, eyeing her. She looked damn gorgeous. Her dress had slid up to her waist, and the way she was holding her legs meant I had a clear view of her red panties. Obviously, that hadn’t been her intention, but she didn’t seem to notice, either.
“You heard me. Stay away.”
“Or what? You’ll stake me?” I raised an eyebrow. “We both know you can’t win this fight, love.”
“You aren’t even allowed to be in this house,” she gestured to the window. “How did you do that?”
