Deadly Pursuit (A Blood Hunter Novel, #2) (13 page)

“What
the
fuck?”
Tannis
yelled.

The
speed
pushed
Alex
back
into
her
seat,
and
she
closed
her
eyes,
waiting
for
the
crash.
Instead,
they
slowed
dramatically,
the
ship
spun
on
her
tail,
and
they
stopped.

She
opened
one
eye
and
peered
through
her
lashes.
Everyone
still
sat
still
in
their
seats
as
though
waiting
for
something
to
happen.

“Where
are
we?”
Tannis
asked.

“We’ve
landed
on
the
back
of
the
Star
Cruiser,”
Skylar
said,
and
Alex
heard
the
wonder
in
her
voice.

Rico
grinned.
“We’re
out
of
their
visual
monitors,
and
their
systems
won’t
pick
us
up
amidst
their
own
internal
feedback.
Or
at
least
that’s
the
theory.
It
should
look
like
we
vanished.”

They
all
sat
in
silence.

“That’s
the
five
minutes
up,”
Tannis
murmured.
“And
we’re
still
here.
So
what
do
we
do
now?
They’ll
pick
us
up
as
soon
as
we
make
a
move.”

“Well,
in
the
movie,
they
waited
until
the
rubbish
was
released
into
space
and
then
just
floated
away.”

“What
rubbish?”
Tannis
asked.

“Yeah,
well.
This
movie
was
made
a
long
time
ago,
and
there
was
a
lot
of
rubbish
back
then.”

“So
we
sit
here
for
the
rest
of
our
lives.”
Tannis
raised
one
brow.

“Hey,
you’re
alive,
aren’t
you?
Quit
moaning.
I’ll
think
of
something.
We
need
to
give
them
time
to
run
some
checks
first
anyway.”

They
all
fell
silent.
Tannis
paced
the
bridge.
Skylar
took
the
seat
next
to
Rico,
who
was
gazing
at
the
monitor,
deep
in
thought.
Alex
pulled
her
feet
onto
her
chair,
rested
her
head
on
her
knees,
and
watched
them
all.
She’d
come
to
care
for
them
so
much
over
the
past
three
months.
Tannis
who
had
taken
her
in
when
she
was
starving,
Skylar
who
had
befriended
her,
and
even
Janey
when
Alex
managed
to
get
over
the
massive
inferiority
complex
the
other
woman
induced.
The
thought
of
going
back
to
the
Church,
never
seeing
them
again,
made
her
chest
ache.
She
still
had
to
tell
them
who
she
was,
and
she
only
hoped
they
wouldn’t
hate
her
for
lying
to
them.

After
a
few
minutes,
Tannis
paused
her
pacing,
and
her
glance
darted
between
Jon
and
Rico.
“So,
while
we’re
waiting,
tell
us,
where
do
werewolves
come
from?
For
that
matter,
where
do
vampires
come
from?”

Rico
grinned.
“Straight
from
Hell,
darling.”

“Really?”

“No,
not
really.
I’m
not
even
sure
Hell
exists.
The
truth
is
no
one
really
knows
where
we
come
from,
or
at
least
no
one
I
know
of,
and
if
they
ever
did,
the
information
was
probably
lost
when
the
Earth
died.”

Tannis
frowned.
“That’s
another
thing.
How
did
you
get
out
here?
How
did
you
escape
the
Earth?
I
read
that
there
wasn’t
room
on
the
ships
for
everyone
and
most
people
were
left
behind
to
die.
So
how
did
you
lot”—she
waved
a
hand
to
encompass
Rico
and
Jon—“manage
to
get
a
place?”

Alex
knew
Rico
was
old.
Skylar
had
told
her
he’d
lived
over
fifteen
hundred
years—she
couldn’t
imagine
being
around
that
long.
He’d
actually
lived
on
Earth. He
must
have
been
there
when
the
Chosen
Ones
made
their
exodus
nearly
a
thousand
years
ago.

Rico
settled
back
in
his
chair.
“Do
you
know
how
the
planets
in
the
Trakis
system
got
their
names?”

“Weren’t
they
called
after
the
spaceships
that
took
the
people
from
Earth?”
Janey
offered.

“That’s
right.
Twenty-four
ships,
each
carrying
ten
thousand
humans—The
Chosen
Ones.
They
were
picked
by
lottery,
though
the
whole
thing
was
pretty
much
rigged.
Anyway,
me
and
a
few
acquaintances
decided
we
weren’t
willing
to
rely
on
a
one
in
fifty
thousand
chance,
besides
which,
I
think
they
forgot
to
enter
us
in
the
lottery.
So
we
took
things
into
our
own
hands.”

“Acquaintances?”
Skylar
asked.
“You
mean
more
vampires?”

“Some,
but
other
things
as
well—you
might
say
we
came
together
for
a
common
cause.
Vampires”—he
nodded
at
Jon—“werewolves,
and
a
few
others
you
probably
wouldn’t
want
to
meet
on
a
dark
night.”

“So
what
did
you
do?”

“Most
of
the
people
were
to
be
kept
in
cryo,
except
for
a
small
crew
to
run
the
ship.
So
we
made
one
of
the
captains
an
offer
he
didn’t
want
to
refuse.”

“What?
What
could
you
offer
someone
when
the
world
was
about
to
end?”

“We
offered
him
life.
In
exchange
for
dumping
half
his
load
of
‘Chosen
Ones’
and
replacing
them
with
our
people,
I
gave
him
immortality.”

Tannis
frowned
as
she
thought
about
it,
then
her
expression
cleared.
“Shit—you
turned
the
guy
into
a
vampire—wow.”

“I
did,
and
here
we
are.”

“Yeah,
but
for
how
much
longer?”
she
asked,
waving
a
hand
at
the
monitor.
“You
got
any
idea
how
to
get
us
out
of
this
yet?”

“Actually,
I
might
have,”
Skylar
said
and
switched
on
the
monitor
so
it
filled
with
the
huge
silver
hull
of
the
star
cruiser.
She
clicked
between
views,
studying
the
layout.
“There.”
She
pointed
at
the
screen.
“Can
you
shift
us
so
we’re
up
against
that
blaster
shield?”