End Game (Vampire Hunter Book 6) (5 page)

Sunday proved to be uneventful, which was fine by me given the escapades
of Friday and Saturday. When Henry picked me up for school Monday morning, I
could tell he was tense.

“What’s happened?” I asked, immediately thinking the worst.

“Nothing. Why?” Henry gave me an odd look.

“You just seemed…pensive. I don’t know, I guess I miss the happy-go-lucky
Henry I used to know.”

“Yeah, if someone had told me this was how my senior year of school was
going to pan out, I’d have thought they were crazy!”

“No kidding,” I muttered. “So you’re sure Benji will be in the gym after
practice?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, should be,” Henry replied.

 The day went by slowly as I tried to concentrate on my classes. I
hadn’t been doing my reading assignments for English and last week Ms. Perry
had threatened to arrange a meeting with my parents if I didn’t pull my D up to
a B. So I was trying extra hard to pay attention.

When the final bell rang at the end of the day, I headed to the library.
I’d have to wait until after football practice to confront Benji, and it
usually lasted for an hour and a half. There was no point in going home –
what was I going to do anyway? Climb the walls as usual? – so I’d decided
to use the time to get my homework done.

The library was empty when I walked in.
Good
.
I’d rather be
alone.
Henry was going to come over once his basketball practice ended, and
he’d wait outside the gym while I got Benji’s hair.

I pulled my English book out of my bag and flipped it open. We had to
read a short story by Wednesday that was over 200 pages.
Ugh.

I leaned back in my chair and propped my feet up on the table, since no
one was there to bitch at me not to. For the next half hour I read, trying to
focus on the story, until I heard the
thud
of the library door as it
slammed shut. I peeked over my book, towards the door, but didn’t see anyone.

I’m sure I heard someone come in.
“Henry?” I called tentatively.
Maybe
I lost track of time and he’s already done with basketball practice.

But something didn’t seem quite
right
. I sat up in my seat,
craning my neck to see if anyone was standing between the massive bookshelves.
No one was there.

I was just climbing out of my chair when someone spoke. “Don’t get up on
my account.”

I swung around to see who was talking. A tall, slender woman was standing
a few feet away from my table. She walked over and sat down across from me.

“You’re Aurora, right?” she asked with a slight smile.

This can’t be good.
I didn’t answer. I knew the woman wasn’t a
student here; the high school was small, and even if you didn’t know someone’s
name, you’d at least
recognize
them.

But that wasn’t the real problem. She looked too old to be in high school.
She had to be in her twenties. Maybe she was a new teacher’s aide?

Although she sure didn’t look like any teacher’s aide I’d seen before.
The woman was pretty, with shocking red hair, piercing green eyes and red lips
that looked about five shades too dark. She had on a form fitting black top
that showed off her ample curves.

“Who are you?” I finally asked, deciding not to answer her question about
my name.

Her pouty red lips spread into a wide smile. “Me? I’m not sure you know
me. My name’s Senara.”

I tried to keep my face expressionless – and my mouth from hanging
open – as I stared at the woman in front of me. I had no idea how to
react. Play it cool and pretend I’d never heard that name a day in my life?
Tell her I knew exactly who she was?

“No matter.” Senara waved her hand dismissively. “If you don’t know me
now, trust me, dear, you will.” Her tone was condescending, menacing.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“Just checking out the competition.” She looked me up and down slowly,
purposefully. “Honestly, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. I can’t
imagine I’ve got much to worry about,” she concluded with a humorless laugh.

My mind was reeling. How could Lucas have liked this…
sexpot
? If
this was Lucas’ type, then how could he even begin to think of me as anything
other than a friend? I was the polar opposite of Senara.

That was a long time ago,
I reminded myself. I had laughed when
Lucas was jealous of Jet, but now the shoe was on the other foot. The thought
of Lucas kissing Senara, touching her… I wanted to reach across the table and
smear my fist across her ridiculous red lips.

Instead, I remained silent. If she was as powerful as Jet said, this wasn’t
a battle I was prepared to fight – not yet at least.

“Cat got your tongue?” Senara leaned forward. Her eyes flickered across
the open notebook that was next to my English book. She picked it up. “Aurora
Nathaniels?” she read, then threw her head back and laughed.

I snatched the notebook out of her grasp. I had been doodling
absentmindedly during Math class; I hadn’t meant to write my name with Lucas’
last name.

“Well, I guess there’s no need to ask about your relationship with Lucas.
My ex,” she said, pausing to see if I’d respond. I didn’t.

“I wondered if there was something between you two,” she continued, “when
I heard he was supposed to kill you and couldn’t follow through. But that
always was Lucas. He never quite seemed to understand that business was
business. Always had to question things, make certain every decision he made
was
morally
sound. But when it came to pleasure…he understood that all
too well.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” I said coolly, ignoring her
innuendo. “If you’re done, I’ve got a lot of work left to do.” I kept my hands
pressed firmly in my lap, hoping she wouldn’t notice that I was shaking like a
leaf.

Senara laughed. “Sure. Whatever you say. I must admit, I’m a bit
surprised to find that Lucas is robbing the cradle, though. He always liked his
women…
mature
.”

I stared ahead stonily. Senara was taunting me. I refused to take the
bait.

She stood up and leaned forward, her face barely a few inches from mine.
“Stay away from Lucas,” she hissed through her stupid red lips.

“What’s it to you?” I asked in surprise, before I could really stop to
think if that was such a good question.

Her eyes flashed angrily. “Lucas was once mine. And if I can’t have him,
no one can. I’m not yet sure if I can kill you, but I certainly can kill Lucas.
And I will, if you don’t keep your distance.” She paused. “Have you ever been
with a man?”

I averted my eyes from Senara’s pointed stare.

She laughed again. “That’s what I thought. Wow, what a cute little
project you are. The little virgin dead girl. Lucas always liked his projects.
If you give it up for him, he’ll be out the door the next morning. Sure, Lucas
is hot as fuck, but he’s still your typical man. One track mind.”

I was glad there was no blood circulating through my veins. I would have
been as red as a tomato, from anger or embarrassment, I wasn’t quite sure.

“You done?” I snapped.

But she wasn’t. Senara grabbed my shirt by the neck. I was forcefully
pulled from my seat.

“I’ll be done when you’re dead,” she hissed. Then, Senara put her hand
square against my chest and pushed. I was slammed into the bookshelf behind me.
It teetered but didn’t fall.

Senara smiled. “Next time I won’t be so gentle,” she warned. And then she
turned on her heel and was gone.

 I got up off the floor and walked shakily back to the library
table.
She’s just trying to intimidate you.

But still, I couldn’t get Senara’s words out of my head. I wasn’t stupid.
As much as I’d like to believe that the
relationship
Lucas and Senara
had was handholding and hugging, I knew better. He had been with her, in the
most intimate way you could be with someone, and that was a fact I was going to
have to accept. But to think that Lucas would use a girl for sex and run away
the next day?
That,
I couldn’t,
wouldn’t
believe.

But even more upsetting was Senara’s threat to kill Lucas. He was going
to have to go into hiding, whether he liked it or not. At least until we came
up with a plan to kill the bitch.

I was still seething over Senara when Henry walked into the library.

“Ready?” he asked, but his face fell when he saw my expression.

“Senara was here,” I explained before he could ask.

I told Henry what she had said, leaving out the embarrassing parts, the
ones about sex.

“She told me to stay away from Lucas,” I admitted.

“Did she say why?” Henry asked.

“No,” I lied. “Guess she’s afraid we might team up and come after her?” I
suggested.

“Ugh.” Henry shook his head. “This is getting
way
too complicated.”

“You got that right,” I muttered. “But I don’t think I need to warn Lucas
this very minute
. Let’s go see that jackass; let me get some of his hair.”

“Okay,” Henry replied. We left the library and headed towards the gym.

“I’ll be right outside,” Henry said. “I don’t want Benji to see me, but
if anything, and I repeat
anything
happens, you scream as loud as
possible.”

“I will,” I agreed. Normally I would have been nervous, doing something
like this, but all I could think about was Senara. I wanted to wrap my hands
around her perfect neck and squeeze until there was no life left inside her. If
that would even kill her.

Is this really what I’ve become? A cold-blooded killer.
I tried to
convince myself that Senara deserved it. After all, she really did. But I knew
my motives. And they weren’t pure – they were personal.

Henry and I peered through the see-through door of the gym. Sure enough,
there was Benji, lying down on a weight bench doing press ups.

“Here goes nothing…” I gave Henry a half smile and pushed the door open,
entering the gym.

Benji didn’t look up. I strode purposefully towards him. “Hey,
douchebag,” I snapped.

Benji put the weight back on the rack and glanced towards me. “You,” he
spat out.

As I got closer, I could see his face looked even more swollen than the
last time I had seen him.
What did you expect? It’s barely been a week.

“Yes,
me,
” I said, feeling the anger bubbling up inside my chest.
It wasn’t just Benji I was furious at – no, it was
everything.
Senara
for threatening me and trying to turn me against Lucas, Magnus for demanding I
kill Leon, Leon for killing me in the first place…

I walked over to Benji, who was now eyeing me warily.

“What do you want? Haven’t you done enough already?” he asked. His voice
was menacing but I could hear the hint of fear in it.

Good. Serves him right.

I sat down at the end of the weight bench and smiled. “You think you’re
so hot,” I said calmly. “But you know what? I’m glad I beat the shit out of
you. What I did to you will
never
make up for what you tried to do to
me. And the abuse you’ve inflicted on countless other girls.”

I clenched my hands into fists; I could feel my anger building. I willed
myself to keep it together. But Senara’s visit, combined with the knowledge of
what Benji had intended to do to me, had me seeing red. I knew I was out of
control, but I didn’t know how to stop it. And the worst part was, I didn’t
care. I had never wanted to hurt another living creature before in my life. But
right now, at this very moment, all I wanted to do was kill Benji Bloomer.

God help me…

With a primal scream, I lurched forward towards Benji. He scrambled off
the weight bench and backed up against the wall, his hands out in front of him.
“No! Please!” I heard as I lunged at him.

I scraped my nails down Benji’s face, watching with satisfaction as the
blood oozed out of the deep gashes. Then, I punched his already bandaged nose.
“I hope you’re disfigured after I’m through with you,” I screamed as my fist
connected with bone.

Benji flailed, trying desperately to get me off of him. But I was a woman
unhinged.
He deserves this and more
, I thought furiously. Just for good
measure, I punched him in the abdomen as hard as possible and watched him
double over in agony, clutching his stomach.

“You’re crazy!” he screamed. “What are you doing to me?”

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I seethed, meaning every word of it. I
grabbed his head, vaguely remembering the plan was for me to get some of his
hair.
Maybe if I tug hard enough I can pull his scalp off.

I bunched Benji’s hair into my hand. He was struggling, trying to break
free, but I easily held him against the wall, the familiar heat of absolute
power coursing through me.
You can’t kill him!
a voice in my head
screamed.

But why not? I had been so concerned about what Henry would do after
Benji’s attack, but now I could see crystal clear that Henry had been right.
Benji deserved to die. And I was the one who was going to kill him.

You’ll go to jail!
the voice screamed. I hesitated. My DNA would
be all over Benji.
Is this what you really want?

It was, but the practicality of the situation was starting to get to me.
I wouldn’t get away with this. I stopped pulling on Benji’s scalp, noticing
that I had a huge clump of his hair wadded in my fist.
Henry will be happy,
I
thought.

I dug my knee into Benji’s groin as hard as possible, watching in
satisfaction as he crumbled to the ground. “If you ever touch another woman
I’ll fucking kill you,” I raged. “I’ll cut off your balls and massacre your
face!” I screamed, barely understanding what I was saying. Even though Benji
was already in the fetal position, I kicked him again.