End Game (Vampire Hunter Book 6) (10 page)

“They’re closed – for good,” Lucas said, his eyes blazing. “Of
course, we could still send you back with the demon extractor. But we thought
you should get a first-hand look at the prophet’s prediction.”

“There are still other demons on the surface, locked out of Hell,” Leon
said. “If you kill me, they will retaliate. Mark my words.”

“So then I’ll kill them, too,” I snapped.

“I’ve got a better proposal for you,” Leon said.

“I don’t really think you’re in any position to be making deals,”
Nicholas told him.

“You don’t want to antagonize my loyal followers,” Leon argued. “Use that
demon extractor and send me back to Hell – it’s where I belong anyway,
ruling as King. Not to mention it happens to be the only means to get into
Hell, at the moment. And if you won’t honor my request, be prepared to spend
the rest of eternity running from the monsters who
will
avenge my
death.”

Leon was trying to look cool, confident, but I could see the fear in his
eyes. “You’re friends with David’s son,” he continued. “I’ll make sure he’s
killed, too, along with your parents and sister.”

“You can spout off as many threats as you want, but it’s time to go.” My
voice sounded strangely calm. And then, acting on pure instinct with no thought
to my actions, I leaned forward, placing my hand on Leon’s forehead, feeling
the heat travel through my toes and up my entire body, until it reached my
fingertips, which now felt like they were on fire.

Leon was convulsing, as though my touch was sending waves of electricity
through his human body. His eyes rolled back in his head as a dark smoke pooled
out of his nose, swirling to the ground like a cyclone, leaving a puddle of some
substance that looked like oil.

“What? What’s happening?” The boy that Leon had possessed was talking. He
was alive! “I was possessed, wasn’t I?” he sputtered, a dazed expression on his
face.

Lucas reached out and untied his hands and arms. “Not anymore,” he said
quietly.

“Who are you?” he asked. “Are you angels?”

“Something like that,” Nicholas said, smiling. “We need to go, and you
do, too.”

“That
thing
that was inside of me – you called him Leon
– took my car and drove it here. I still have the keys. My parents must
be worried sick about me.” He stood up shakily.

“What’s your name?” Lucas asked. His face had finally returned to normal.

“Kevin,” he answered.

“Just a friendly word of advice, Kevin. If you try to tell your friends
and family what happened, they’re not going to believe you. I know this sounds
crazy, but you need to move on, and just be happy that Leon let you live when
he took over your body,” Lucas said gently.

Kevin shook his head, still looking out of it. “Thank you, thank you so
much for saving me,” he said as we left that dump of a house.

When we were back in the car, Lucas leaned to the back seat and squeezed
my hand. “You did it!” he said, grinning broadly. “See, you knew exactly what
to do, when the time came.”

“Yes,” I said, struggling to return his smile. But the bigger, more
important, unspoken question, still remained. It loomed over all of our heads:
would I know how to get rid of Senara when the time came?

Lucas insisted on accompanying me back to my house, even though I had
protested profusely. Mom was sitting downstairs when we arrived, but thankfully
let us retreat upstairs with a friendly reminder to keep my bedroom door open.
If
only she knew…
I couldn’t help but think.

As much as I wanted to reach out, to touch Lucas, my open bedroom door
was a stark reminder that now was not the time or the place.

“What if his minions really are after my family, ready to pounce?” I
asked in a low voice, perched tensely on the edge of my bed.

“I think most of Leon’s followers are still in Hell – trapped,
thanks to you and Henry,” Lucas said slowly. “And I doubt there’s much loyalty
between demons, anyhow. I think Leon is all talk, no action. And, personal
feelings aside, I do believe Jet is doing whatever he can to protect your
family.” Lucas reached out and placed his hand over mine.

“I know, but what if it’s not enough?” I asked, trying to ignore the
feeling of his fingers across my skin.

“Either way,” he said, “after word gets out that you’ve killed both
Tobias and Leon, I can’t imagine anyone – demon or otherwise –
would be stupid enough to try and challenge you. The message is loud and clear
not to fuck with Aurora Stone.”

I laughed, despite myself. “Oh, Lucas,” I said, my voice trailing off.

“Yes?”

“About earlier,” I started.

“Don’t,” Lucas cut in.

I felt like I had just been punched in the stomach.
Does he regret
what almost happened?

But Lucas was still talking. “Rory, I want to be with you. My feelings
for you – I don’t even know where to start,” he whispered. “But I’m glad
that Nic came over when he did. The first time we make love…I want it to be
special.” Lucas sounded vulnerable, scared.

“I thought it
was
going to be special,” I said, trying to keep the
hurt out of my voice.

“I just meant that I don’t want to rush things,” Lucas explained. “I
didn’t picture getting carried away like that, taking you on my living room
couch,” he said in a low voice, glancing nervously at my open bedroom door.

“Oh, so you’ve thought about it before?” I asked. I couldn’t help the
smile that spread from ear to ear across my face, making me look like a
grinning idiot.

“Of course I have,” he said simply. “Apart from everything we’ve been
going through, you are the only other thing on my mind.” Lucas paused. “And I
probably shouldn’t tell you this, but my thoughts –
fantasies
–
haven’t always been exactly pure.”

I leaned in and kissed Lucas, not caring that my bedroom door was open.
Our kiss intensified, longing,
lingering
, until we pulled apart abruptly
as the doorbell rang. Lucas and I looked at each other, and, without speaking,
we jumped to our feet and ran down the stairs. It couldn’t be anyone we
trusted, anyone good. If Senara had come for us, I was toast.

I cut my mom off right as she was getting to the door. “Sorry,” I said,
trying to smile. I flung it open, praying it wasn’t Senara.

“Annabelle!” Mark’s face spread into a grin when he saw me, but it
quickly dropped when his eyes flicked to Lucas.

“Annabelle?” My mom was saying from behind me.

“One sec!” I said to my mom, hastily stepping outside with Lucas on my
heels. I shut the door behind us.

“Mark, how did you find me?” I asked.

“I tried calling you,” Mark said, “but I must have put your number in
wrong. And then your sister came by the leasing office to ask if anyone had
been looking for her. I know you said not to say anything, but I really wanted
to see you again, so I told her about your visit earlier. She was nice enough
to give me your address; said she didn’t have your current phone number.”

Right, how wonderfully nice of Senara.

Mark looked at Lucas again. “Who is this? You told me you didn’t have a
boyfriend.”

“No, er, yes,” I said, completely flustered.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Lucas interjected. He placed
his arm around my shoulder.

Mark’s eyes flashed angrily. “Well, man, you should know your girl was
locking lips with me this morning.” Lucas’ arm tensed but he didn’t answer.

Mark turned to leave. “Waste of gas,” he muttered. And then right before
he got to his car, he turned around. “Have a nice life,
Annabelle
, if
that’s even your real name.”

“Sorry,” I called out lamely. I didn’t want to hurt people. It had been a
stupid, innocent kiss and I shouldn’t have led Mark on, but now I had more
important worries.

I turned to Lucas; the hurt was written all over his face. “You don’t
have to say anything,” he told me, holding up his hand.

“No,” I replied hastily. “Let me explain. I was trying to get the key to
her apartment, and yeah, Mark kissed me. Maybe I didn’t pull back as fast as I
should have, but it meant
nothing
. You have to believe me, Lucas. I only
want
you
.”

But Lucas didn’t look convinced. “Come back inside,” I suggested. “Come
to my room so we can talk about this.” I noticed the sweat on his forehead from
the strain of being outside in the sun.

“I need to get going anyway,” Lucas replied. “See you later.” And with
that, Lucas was gone, leaving me dumbfounded, staring at the empty road.

I walked back into the house, in a daze. There was my mom, standing,
waiting for me, looking anything but happy. “Annabelle?” she questioned.
“Aurora, what in the world was that about? Why are you lying to boys about your
name?”

“Mom,” I said, “I’m not trying to be rude, but I just don’t have the time
or energy to explain this to you. I have to call Lucas, and try to get him to
understand.”

“I thought he wasn’t your boyfriend!” my mom exclaimed. “What has gotten
into you lately? Are you dating Lucas or not?”

“I am! I was!” I yelled. “I don’t fucking know anymore, Mother,” I said,
ignoring her shocked expression and storming up the stairs. I slammed the door
to my room shut behind me. With trembling hands, I tried calling Lucas. No
answer.

I buried my head in my pillow and screamed into it, then hurled it
against the wall as hard as I could. Had I really blown it with Lucas over
something so stupid?

I waited five minutes and called him again. As long as he’d gone straight
home, he should be back by now.

Pick up, pick up, pick up.

“Hey,” his sexy voice came over the line.

“Lucas, I know you’re mad at me. And I don’t blame you. But what can I do
to prove to you that it was nothing more than a dumb mistake? My head’s been so
fucked up lately; I shouldn’t have let it happen. But it did. And I want to
move forward. Into the future. With
you
.” The words tumbled out of my
mouth without giving Lucas a chance to get a word in. I finally paused,
painfully waiting for him to say something.

Lucas sighed. “I believe you; just hearing that you’d kissed someone else
made me feel like I’d been punched in the gut. I get that our relationship
hasn’t been very well defined. It’s just that…I haven’t been kissing anyone
else, and I guess I assumed the same for you.”

“I don’t want to, ever again,” I said honestly. “Lucas, I – I think
I’m falling in love with you.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

“I’m one step ahead of you, then,” Lucas said huskily, “because I know
I’m in love with you.”

“I wish I could be with you now,” I said, feeling like if I didn’t touch
Lucas
right this very second
I was going to explode.

“I know,” Lucas agreed. “I don’t want to spend a moment apart. Hopefully,
soon…” his voice trailed off.

We hung up the phone, promising to talk soon. I knew I needed to do
damage control with my mom, but I was just too mentally exhausted. And really,
how much longer was I going to be able to keep up this charade, anyway?
Everything had changed. I could pretend like I was excited about going to
college, deciding what to do with my life, but the truth was, it had never
really been a decision at all. I knew my path now. I was going to become a
hunter, hopefully with Lucas, if Senara didn’t kill him first. I gulped and
pushed the disturbing thought out of my head.

###

The next morning, I had to ask my mom to drive me to school since Henry
wasn’t going to school any more. It was the first time I’d talked to her since
my blow-up the night before.

“Henry’s sick,” I told her. “Would you mind giving me a lift to school?”

“Of course not, honey,” my mom said, her expression strained.

When we got into the car, she turned to me. “About last night – ”
she started.

“I’m sorry,” I said hastily. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.
I’d just had a fight with Lucas, and I wanted to make sure things were okay
with him. That’s why I ran upstairs so quickly.”

“It’s fine,” my mom said. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I
realize I need to let you grow up, make your own choices. But while you still
live with us, before you go to college, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for
you to tell me where you are and who you’re with. And who you’re dating,” she
added.

“Understood,” I said in relief. “Honestly, I hadn’t really been dating
Lucas, not until recently.”

“Is that why Henry didn’t drive you to school?” she asked gently. “I got
the impression he had feelings for you. When you used to play as kids, I always
wondered if it would turn into something more when you got older.”

“Henry really is sick,” I lied. “But yeah, things between us
are…complicated.” I didn’t elaborate.

“Well, you’re young,” Mom said. “Just try to have fun and not fret so
much.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I replied.

We pulled up to the school and I hopped out. “See you tonight,” I said,
forcing a smile.

I walked into the courtyard and sat down on a bench. It was crazy, being
here without Henry. I guess I knew things were going to change, but I wanted
them to change on my terms. I doubted I would finish out the school year here,
but the thought of having to go even a week without Henry was almost
unbearable. Even though my heart belonged to someone else, I still cared for
him deeply. And that was one thing that would never change.

As I watched all of the students, laughing, talking about their weekends,
I knew I couldn’t do it. Not today at least. I needed to see Henry, to make
sure he was going to be okay. But I couldn’t ask Lucas to take me. I
thought
he’d forgiven me for the Mark incident, but he’d probably feel betrayed if
I ran to see Henry the very next day. And besides, there was the whole sunlight
issue.

I picked up my phone and called the only person who might agree to take
me to Jet’s house.