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I would never admit it, but part of me could understand where the Order was coming from, at least when it came to infusions. Not that I could say all that much when I owed my life to the blood.
"Sorry," I said, trying to calm down even though his warning had the exact opposite of its intended effect. Or maybe that was what he wanted. Knowing Arrow, it could probably go either way.
"Where did they see this thing?" Baker asked when another ten minutes had passed with no sign of so much as a gnarled tree limb.
Arrow paused, looking down at the compass GPS he always carried with him. Unlike most of the gear that hunters used, it didn't have the Church’s insignia engraved on it, just his initials.
"Here, supposedly," he answered. "Unless the farmer’s a quack."
Baker grunted. "Seems likely enough."
"Let's split up," Arrow suggested, as if he had never watched a horror movie in his life. To be fair, he resembled the creatures that made the movies so scary more than anything. "I'll take the east, you take the west, and we’ll meet back at the barn in an hour if we haven't found anything."
"All right," Baker said, hoisting his crossbow up on his shoulder. He paused to look at me. "Who’s taking him?"
"I got him," Arrow said before I could protest.
Great.
"Come on, mutt," he said when I had lingered all of half a second.
I sighed, following him and telling myself it wasn't likely he would just let me die, if only because Marius would be pissed. I wasn't exactly sure the patriarch liked me, but he was kind enough and I was officially a hunter now, which meant something.
I hoped.
"You know, you’re gonna have to stop being such a chicken around your own kind eventually," Arrow remarked. "Especially since you're not collared anymore. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
"I'm not trying to inspire confidence so much as stay alive," I informed him.
He scoffed. "Don’t you want revenge on the bastard who turned you?"
"Yeah," I said, defensive in response to his tone. “What about it?”
"I'm just saying, it's not very practical. A hunter who's afraid of dying isn't worth much."
I frowned. "I'm not afraid of dying. I was willing to die when you guys found me," I reminded him.
"Being suicidal and being ballsy are two different things."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said, since I had accidentally found out passive agreement was a good way to piss him off without him actually being able to retaliate. The fact that he scowled at me was proof it was still working.
I usually wouldn't try to antagonize him, but I definitely wasn't feeling like my best self tonight. The shotgun was like a lead weight in my hands, and my body didn't feel much easier to maneuver.
"You smell weird," Arrow remarked.
I scowled at him.
"I didn't say you smelledbad," he clarified. "Just weird."
"Weird how?" I asked warily.
He paused as if he was considering it. "I don't know. Sweet?"
Considering Arrow had plenty of monster blood running through his veins, I wasn't sure if that was the wolf side or the vampire side talking. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. His words echoed what Castor had said the night before he disappeared a bit too closely for comfort.
My scent had been different then, too, right before…
Shit. Was I in rut again? The last time, it had taken months, and from what I understood, four weeks was just about the minimum time in between. This wasn't fair.
