Tag, The Vampire's Game (3 page)

Granted, she did try to kill him but still...

****

She brought her mind back to the present. She had shot him so he was injured. Gina needed to track him before he had time to heal. The longer this game went on the more confused she would be about him, about her feelings towards him. Once he was dead she could move on and be done with this nonsense of wanting him.

The truth was that even if she wanted to be with him and he with her, what then? There were other hunters, who would be more than happy to track them down, kill him
and
her just for being with him. No this was how it had to be.

Kneeling down she noticed there was a trail of blood leading out of the alleyway. He was moving fast, but not so fast that she couldn't catch up to him. She may not have killed him, but she had injured him badly so he wouldn't have been able to get far without blood. Either she would find someone dead, drained of blood not far from here or he had a residence nearby.

Her money was on he had a residence nearby. He preferred to live in small houses in quiet residential areas. Usually the house would be small, secluded from a main road and nestled in a patch of trees ensuring privacy. While the district she was in currently happened to be an industrial area, there was a small residential district just a few miles to the north so that was the direction she was heading.

She had left her SUV, an old beat up Grand Cherokee just a few blocks from her current location so she headed the vehicle, hopefully tonight will be the night that she finally disposes of the Vampire Lance.

Chapter 3

Lance was hurting, there was no doubt about it. He was lucky that he lived just a few miles from the place he was shot otherwise he would have had to drink some poor buggers blood. He stumbled into the front door of his house, closing the door with his foot he made his way into the kitchen. He had a stash of blood in there. A couple of bags of blood and a good nights sleep and he would be as good as new.

Flinging open the fridge door he snatched up a bag of blood, bit into the corner of the bag, spit out the plastic and drank, deeply, straight from the bag. Halfway through the bag, he closed the fridge door and flopped himself down in a chair at the kitchen table.

He finished off the rest of bag of blood, then headed for the fridge for a second one.

He took his time drinking the second. Pulling off his jacket and shirt, he then proceeded to examine the wound. It was already beginning to heal. Fresh blood was always better, in taste and in healing effectiveness, but he rarely drank directly from humans anymore.

Gina's was the last time he had tasted human blood.

He had a number of reasons for this but the main one was that killing humans just didn't appeal to him any longer. In addition, it was just so hard to stop himself from draining a human once he started that it just didn't seem worth it to him anymore. It took all his strength to stop himself from draining Gina several months ago.

Once he was finished the second bag of blood he felt much better, virtually all his strength was back, but he was still exhausted so he decided to make it an early night. He reached the bedroom and was just about to remove his pants when he noticed a shadow move across his bedroom window.

She couldn't have found me here already, could she?
She was good he had to give her that. She knew his habits inside and out so it certainly wouldn't be impossible that she had followed him home to finish him off.

Instead of stripping his clothing off the remainder of his clothing as planned, he walked towards the closet and hid inside it, waiting. The shadows concealed him completely.

The neighbourhood had a number of houses that may have been suited to Lance. There was only one, however that was extra secluded and didn't have a single light on at the moment. Lance would have no reason for lights so she was betting that was his. She drove by a couple of times looking for movement in the house, but didn't notice anything, so she decided to park the car a couple blocks away and go by foot to his house. Her plan was to break in, verify it was his, and if so she would find herself a nice little hiding place and wait for him to come home.

As she passed by the bedroom window she could have sworn she had seen something move inside, but when she took a closer look she realized she was mistaken. The room was empty. She continued to search the grounds and came across a basement window.

Removing her jacket, she wrapped it around her hand. As quietly as she could she smashed the window, reached for the unlocking latch on the inside, unlocked it, and then slid it up.

The window was a tight squeeze but once she took the bow and arrows off her back she was able to wiggle her way through. Once inside she grabbed her equipment and closed the window behind her. Slinging the arrows over her back she removed an arrow, loaded it into the bow and quietly crept through the basement.

After a short exploration, she discovered there was nothing out of the ordinary in the basement so made her way to the narrow set of stairs that led to the main part of the house. She cursed as she stepped on a creaky stair and froze listening for movement.

There was none.

Deciding it was safe she quickened her pace, opened the basement door and peeped into the main hallway. Still all was quiet. Using a little less caution she explored the rest of the rooms. The living room was clear, ditto for the dining room. Once she entered the kitchen she knew she had the right place.

Making her way to the kitchen table she discovered two empty blood bags and the shirt he was wearing when she shot him. She froze in her place.
He's here!

Does he know that I'm here? Is he in hiding, patiently waiting for me to walk by?
There was only one way to find out.

Keeping her back to the wall she continued her search of the house, all was clear and the only room she had left was the master bedroom at the back of the house.

Keeping her bow ready she entered the master bedroom. Once inside the doorway she positioned her back tight against the wall. If he came for her, she'd at least be able to get a shot off, with any luck it would be his heart she speared this time.

****

The wait was excruciating as Lance remained in the closet. He'd heard the window breaking in the basement, heard the creak of the basement stairs and then finally she appeared in the doorway of his bedroom. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do with her once he had her. There was a slight stir in his groin which made him chuckle to himself. He knew what he'd
like
to do to her, but didn't think she'd be in the mood for that.

He watched as she backed up against the wall opposite to him, the bow and arrow posed and ready to fire in front of her. He had to be careful, in a small area like this it would be hard to have a chance to react if she took a shot for him.

Be patient and wait.
He told himself. The one thing he was best at was waiting. When you lived for six hundred years you learn how to be patient.

She looked in the direction of the open closet. She was staring directly at him, fortunately the window was on his side of the room so no light cast into his hiding spot.

He was grateful for that. She took a couple more steps towards the closet, paused, raised the bow fully and fired.

****

There was something about the closet that didn't seem right. It was open and just the right size for someone, or something to stash himself into.

"There's only one way to find out." Gina muttered under her breath as she raised her bow, aimed for the center of the closet and fired.

Before she had time to reach for another arrow she felt the impact of his body slamming against hers. His hard body roughly pinned hers against the wall. Startled the bow fell from her hand and kicked, by Lance, across the floor.

I still have the arrows. One through the heart is all I need,
she thought.

As if sensing what she was thinking Lance unbuckled the strap holding the arrows to her back and they fell to the floor as well. These too he kicked away from them.

"I think shooting me once in one night is enough don't you Gina?" he growled his eyes challenging her.

She struggled to free her arms, but he had them secure holding each of her upper arms solidly against the wall. He hadn't, however, remembered to secure her feet, bringing one knee up she connected hard with his groin. He screamed in agony as he buckled over from the pain, releasing her.

Freedom!

She leapt around him, over his right shoulder and made a break for her bow and arrows, both of which had been kicked near the bedroom doorway.

Just need to make it to the bow.

She could feel the bow in her hand, nearly taste the victory. She would finish this tonight!

****

The pain was excruciating.
Females always seem to know just where to kick a guy to
bring him to his knees,
he thought. He knew exactly what she was heading for the second she leapt over his shoulder. He couldn't spend time weeping over a little pain otherwise he knew he'd be dead within a minute.

Why he couldn't just disappear from this woman he couldn't figure out. She brought nothing but danger and pain, but at the same time the past year was the first time in over a century when he'd really felt alive! It was Gina, he owed for that, so he couldn't stay away from her, even if it meant he may die in the process.

He didn't want to hurt her, not really, but damn it she just wouldn't give up fighting him. Swallowing down the pain of his throbbing groin he tackled her. It was a tackle worthy of an instant replay if they were in the NFL. He swooped down and made contact with her stomach just as she was about to dive for her weapon. The impact propelled her up onto his shoulder. He carried her several feet and deposited her on the bed. The adrenaline from the excitement had brought out the vampire side of him, his fangs dropped and his eyes turned white.

He looked down at her, his chest heaving trying to calm himself down. She was usually less edgy with him when he looked
normal
. The fangs and white eyes seemed to remind her how much she wanted to kill him. As much as he enjoyed their little cat and mouse game he hoped that tonight they could as least come to an understanding.

She finally caught her breath and propped herself up on her elbows on the large king sized bed. If glares were stakes he'd be ash now. She looked beyond furious. He supposed now might not be the best time to try to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Just get it over with." She spat at him through clenched teeth. She exposed the creamy white flesh of her neck to him.

My God!
Looking down at her, seeing that lovely long neck exposed to him was making it all the more hard for him to resist, to calm the hunger building within him. He could still remember the taste of her blood, so delicious, delectable. Heat was building in his cock. He wanted this woman, needed her. He took a few steps back from the bed in an attempt to silence the throbbing in his ears, the throbbing of her blood flowing through her veins.

Gina was confused as she sat up on the bed, watching him.
What is he waiting for?
He had the perfect opportunity to kill her now, God knew she'd take the opportunity if it presented itself. Instead, he looked torn, backing away from her as if she had the plague.

She couldn't help but notice the wound on his chest from the arrow was nearly healed.

He was shirtless, his pale chest was sculpted, defined, reminding her of a statue you would expect to see in a museum of one of the Greek Gods. Strong, powerful and oh so very sexy. As her eyes strayed further down, she noticed an unmistakable bulge growing under his pants. She couldn't deny the thought that he desired her caused her own body to respond.

He had managed to convert his eyes back to the deep blue they normally were and his fangs had retracted. If he wasn't a vampire, and she hadn't devoted her life to exterminating his kind, she knew he'd have had her head of heels for him by now.

Despite the fact, he was a vampire she couldn't help but feel a sexual connection to him, strong and demanding.

He's using his glamour on me again.
That had to be it. She looked down at the pendant that dipped provocatively between her breasts.
Damn thing doesn't work.
He seemed to have whatever inner turmoil he had going on under control now and was now simply watching her.

She could feel a heat rising up within her, a desire. It sent shivers down her spine, and was pulsating between her legs. She chastised herself for allowing her mind to fantasize about how good it would feel to have his large cock grinding against her. Dipping into her.

She sighed, nervously chewing on her bottom lip. Upon seeing that it was drawing his attention to her lips she immediately stopped. He grinned as he folded his arms over his chest, apparently enjoying how self-conscious his gaze made her. His eyes swept over her body, taking in every inch of her.

Smug bastard.
He loved torturing her, she was sure of it. She knew how much he enjoyed the chase, her hunting him. It was apparent he got off on it. She growled inwardly. He wasn't going to get the best of her tonight. She couldn't run or escape, he was faster and stronger. She wouldn't get far.

Instead, she decided to stand her ground against him. He wouldn't kill her she was quite certain of it, he would have done it by now if he was going to.

She pushed herself off the bed and stood before him, her mouth inches away from his.

She looked him directly in the eye, not giving him the satisfaction of looking away. He didn't back down. The tension was so thick between them she could almost hear it crackling. She wasn't sure why she did it, but she finally broke down, the animal desire seemed to get the best of her as she leaned forward and claimed his mouth with hers.

Gina wrapped her hands around his neck, roughly pulling his mouth down to meet hers.

She nipped and sucked his bottom lip until he opened his mouth slightly, emitting a deep groan, as her tongue to gain entry.