Frost Burn (The Fire and Ice Series, Book 1) (6 page)

Her mouth parted as she gazed at the people gathered within the room. She’d suspected they were more than human when she’d seen them move, his words only solidified it in her mind.

But none of it made any sense, what would a group of Hunters be doing with a vampire? Her gaze drifted back to the imposing figure standing near the front door. Julian folded his arms over his chest while he held her gaze.

She turned her attention back to the man on the pool table. “You’re a Guardian.”

He smiled as he waved his hand toward the lanky youth on her other side. “I am.”

She glanced between the other girl and two boys. The ones who had been faster and more lethal while killing the vampires. “And you’re Hunters.”

“We are,” the boy with sandy blond haired confirmed.

A strange tug pulled at the area of her heart but she shoved it aside. The past was the past, and she definitely didn’t have time to get caught up in her memories right now. “I’d heard most of you were dead.” She kept her face completely impassive when she uttered the words, but she felt like she had a big sign over her head screaming
liar
. She’d never reveal she’d done more than heard to this group of strangers.

“Our numbers took a big hit during The Slaughter, but we’re working to find more survivors and rebuild our numbers,” the man on the pool table answered.

“Have you heard what happened to The Elders?” the vamp inquired as he stepped forward.

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I have, but I don’t do a whole lot of talking with vampires.”

His gaze slid over her once more. “You run into our kind often?”

“I try to avoid it at all costs.”

“And why is that?”

“I don’t exactly have a good track record with them,” she replied with a wave at the dead bodies. “They certainly didn’t seem pleased to see you either.”

His eyes actually sparkled as he flashed her a smile that revealed his perfectly even, white teeth. She imagined his smile had disarmed many women around the world; she scowled back at him. His grin only widened. He dropped his arms to his side and came at her with a mesmerizing grace. She shifted defensively and gripped her stake tighter.

“There are reasons for that,” he told her.

“I’m sure there are,” she retorted.

Julian didn’t look amused by her now as his face hardened. “You’ve attracted attention to yourself. After seeing what you can do, and hearing about this vision, I can guarantee they’re going to keep coming for you.”

“They don’t know where I am or who I am.”

“If someone has had a vision of what you can do, they could also see where you are and possibly your face.”

“You can’t know that,” she protested.

“I can and I do. There are more of them,
many
more out there looking for you.”

She folded her arms over her chest as she looked him up and down. “Is that your super power? You can tell when people are lying.”

“I’m not a comic book character. I don’t have super powers.”

No, he most certainly wasn’t fictional, but she didn’t know how else to describe it. “Whatever you want to call it then.”

“Not that,” the boy with the sandy blond hair said. “But Julian is right, the man wasn’t lying.”

Julian’s eyes remained pinned on hers as he took another step forward. “They want you, and they’ll do everything they can to find you.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” she replied with a casual air she didn’t entirely feel. “I’ll make sure to stay on the lookout.”

“You’re not a killer,” Julian said.

She waved her hand toward the shrunken body near his feet. “I think that guy would disagree with you.”

“You know what I mean.” His gravelly voice sent a shiver down her spine. “Do you kill humans?”

“No.”
Or at least not in six years
, she added silently.

“And that’s why we haven’t killed you yet.”

Her hands clenched. “I’m not easy to take down.”

“No, you’re not,” he agreed. “But we both know it can be done.”

Her upper lip curled back, she was half-tempted to give him a blast he would never forget. The only problem was she didn’t know how much it would actually affect him, and she still wasn’t up to full power. “Try it.”

His smile, no matter how dazzling, grated on her nerves. “If I planned to try it, I already would have. We’re all on the same side here.”

“Your side is a freak show,” she muttered.

“Been called worse,” the sandy blond said. His sapphire colored eyes held hers as he extended his hand toward her.

Quinn’s gaze fell to his hand before shooting back up to him. “You want to touch
me
?”

“I understand you jolting Julian earlier. Believe me I know how much he deserves it, and so did that other vampire. I’m trusting you.” There were few who had ever known about her ability and been willing to touch her. They were all gone now, but she’d never expected a stranger to say those words to her. Especially after what he’d just witnessed. She cautiously took hold of his hand. “I’m Chris.”

“Quinn.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Quinn.”

The slender, raven-haired girl stepped forward next and enfolded both of Quinn’s hands within hers. “Melissa.”

The others introduced themselves to her, Julian came last. A daring sparkle lit his eyes as he extended his hand to her. “Julian, but you already know that.” The tempting urge to give him a zap still ran through her, but when his hand enfolded hers she ended up being the one to experience a shock. Her hand instinctively tightened around his. Heat sizzled over her skin, up her arm, and into her chest. His eyes flickered as they ran over her face before she pulled her hand away. “There is a lot of power in you,” he murmured.

“In you too.”

His smile wasn’t nearly as one thousand watt or as careless as it had been before. “I’ve got some age on me but I’d guess you’re no older than twenty in vampire years. You feel at least a hundred if not more though.”

There was no way she would ever tell him the truth about her. She already felt too exposed around him and his merry group. “I guess some of us are just different.”

He leaned closer to her and though neither of them breathed, the minty scent of his breath washed over her. “That we are. Some of us can even see things others desire to keep hidden.”

Unable to suppress a shudder, she stared defiantly back at him. “And you are one of those vampires I take it.”

“I am.” Before she could question him further about his ability he turned on his heel and walked away from her. “We have to get rid of these bodies before daybreak.”

Questions spun through her mind as he bent and tossed the body of the one he’d staked over his shoulder. She couldn’t shake the bad feeling her quiet life here had just been completely upended.

Quinn had never realized how small her apartment was until now. The group gathered within it took up almost all of the space in her living room. She slid around the back of the couch she’d picked up from the side of the road a couple of months ago. Yellow bits of stuffing poked through the gray striped fabric on the arms. One of the cushions bowed in the middle but she avoided that side and the material didn’t smell like piss or have stains all over it, which was a noticeable upgrade from her last couch. To her, it had been the find of the decade.

After what had happened in the bar, and having to hide the bodies somewhere they wouldn’t be discovered before the sun could hit them this morning, all she wanted to do was curl up on the couch right now and relax. That wasn’t to be as she had a pack of watchdogs nipping at her heels.

“Would you like something to drink?” She dropped her coat on the couch and made her way toward the galley style kitchen. It didn’t bother her some closets were bigger than her kitchen; the only thing she cared about was that the fridge kept her Mountain Dew and peanut butter cups cold. They were her left over addictions from her human years; she didn’t get any nourishment from them but she still loved them.

“You have something other than blood?” Chris inquired.

“Mountain Dew and tap water.”

“Poison,” Melissa muttered.

Quinn stopped walking to stare at the young woman in confusion. “She doesn’t mean you poisoned them,” Chris hastily explained. “She’s a health freak so soda’s not really her thing, but I’ll take one.”

“So will I,” Lou said but the others shook their heads no in response to her questioning look.

She grabbed three sodas from the fridge and walked back into the living room to give the other two to Chris and Lou. Popping the top on her can, she took a swig before placing it on her milk crate coffee table. She didn’t know what to say or what they were all doing here, but her eyes were irresistibly drawn toward Julian as he stared around the room.

She didn’t have many things in here; she couldn’t when she might have to leave at a moment’s notice. There was nothing that would tell anyone where she came from in this room, or anywhere else in this apartment. The only things that meant anything to her, she always kept on her. Instinctively her hand fluttered to the heart locket with two pictures inside. It had belonged to her cousin, Betsy. The coolness of the gold against her flesh was a constant reminder of those she’d lost.

Her fingers fell away when Julian’s eyes slid to her. “Don’t spend much time here?”

“Only my days,” she responded. “But the TV works…”

“It does?” Lou asked in disbelief.

She glanced at the old, fifteen-inch tube TV. It wasn’t anything fancy and had to be turned on and off by hand, but it worked well enough that she was able to watch the News and Netflix. “Yes, it does,” she informed him. “Since you’ve all insisted upon following me here, and you know what I can do, it’s only fair you tell me what you’re capable of.”

There hadn’t been much time to talk while they’d been carrying the bodies out of the bar and cleaning up the mess. She didn’t consider this group her enemies, but she wasn’t about to let her guard down around them either. The furniture in the apartment was sparse, but she stood within a foot of the nearest hidden stake and within three feet of five more of them. It wouldn’t take her more than a second to retrieve each one and start flinging them at people.

She also knew she could leap from this third story apartment and be out of here in less time than it would take them to blink. Granted the window had always been open when she’d practiced her escape before, she did pay for the a/c and heat here, she wasn’t about to have plastic over the window twelve months a year. The glass would slow her but not by much, and she knew this town better than Julian. He may be more powerful than her, but he wouldn’t expect her to leap out the window, she hoped. Once free of here, she could lose herself amongst the stores and homes if it became necessary. It was an escape route she’d practiced weekly over the past three years to keep herself honed and prepared if it became necessary.

She’d been caught with her guard down once already, it would never happen again. Inadvertently, her fingers slid up to the scar running from her eyebrow to her hairline. Her hand hastily fell away when Julian’s eyes latched upon her. She threw back her shoulders and held his gaze.

“Well,” she prompted.

Melissa perched on the arm of the couch. “I have visions, or I suppose you could call me a Seer.”

Quinn didn’t know how to take that revelation. “Have you seen anything about me?”

Melissa shook her head. “Whatever was seen about you has been an entirely vampire revelation, so far.”

She didn’t want them to know how much Melissa’s words had just unsettled her. Acting far more nonchalant than she felt, she turned to Zach. “How about you?”

“I can control the air,” he replied.

“I can tell things about people, sense their emotions, read them,” Chris said. “I know when they’re lying, when they’re evil or hiding something.”

An uneasy feeling settled into Quinn’s stomach. Her whole existence was built on nothing but secrets and lies. Secrets she’d never let
any
one know. Secrets two members of this group might eventually uncover if she wasn’t extremely careful around them. She kept her face impassive as she held Chris’s gaze. Questions about her past would be best avoided in his presence.

“As Guardians, Lou and I are mere mortals,” Luther said with a laugh.

She’d never considered the Guardians mere mortals, though she supposed they technically were. They had none of the abilities of the Hunters or vampires. She wouldn’t require a stake to take them down but her fingers itched for a weapon. They would have attacked her by now, if that had been their objective, and they most certainly wouldn’t be standing here, with
him
. No, there was far more to this group than met the eye, and her morbid curiosity kept her standing there.

“You’re more than mortals,” she murmured.

“You have knowledge of the Hunter and Guardian line?” This question was from
him
.

“Doesn’t every vampire have at least some knowledge of those who hunt us?”

“Most, yes. Your sire filled you in on the details?”

It probably normally happened that way, but her transformation had been anything but normal.
Chris can detect a lie,
she reminded herself. “Sort of.” It wasn’t technically a lie; it was more a hedge.

“Sort of?” he inquired.

“If you’re going to reveal
every
detail of your life, then feel free, but I’d prefer to keep my private life
private
from people I don’t know.”

His head tilted to the side before he gave her a brief nod. “Fair enough.”

“What do you know about them?” Luther inquired.

“I know Guardians train Hunters and keep the knowledge of their history. I know The Hunter line was created from vampire blood, through experimentation by The Commission as a way to fight against vampires. I know The Commission was the leading body of The Hunters and Guardians.” She didn’t miss the muscle twitch in Julian’s cheek when she mentioned The Commission.

Wonder what that’s all about?
She pondered but didn’t ask. She was going to keep her secrets, so she wasn’t about to start asking him to divulge his.

“You know a lot then,” Luther muttered. “You said you’ve heard what had happened to The Elders but have you heard about The Commission?”

“I’ve heard the rumors they’ve both been decimated,” she confirmed.

“They were.”

“And I suppose you had something to do with it?” She took a small step closer to her escape window as she asked the question.

“They were monsters who had to be stopped.
All
of them.” Julian’s low, gravelly tone caused the hair on her nape to rise.

Quinn’s gaze slid over the Hunters and Guardians standing with him right now. “I never had any interaction with either group.” Again that revelation wasn’t a total lie, but not the whole truth either. If she kept this up maybe she could continue to fly below Chris’s lie-dar.

“How did you hear the rumors?” Julian inquired.

“I’ve been a vampire for six years now; I’ve run into more than a few of our kind since my creation. Thankfully one of them didn’t start spouting nonsense about Seers and try to capture me.”

His eyes narrowed on her, causing hers to do the same as she stared at him. “And the others?”

“They were monsters who had to be stopped.
All
of them.” She tossed his words back at him.

His mouth pursed. “Yes, there are some of those.”

“The others have told me what they’re capable of, but what about you?” she inquired of him.

“Psychometry.”

She did a double take at the word. “What in the world is that?”

“It’s the ability to learn about a person by touching them or an object they’ve touched.”

The floor didn’t lurch out from under her, oh no, the whole freaking thing exploded under her feet. She was certain her knees were going to give out on her; her willpower somehow managed to keep her standing.
What had he seen of her when they’d touched? What did he know?
The questions clogged in her throat. She needed the answers, but what if he hadn’t seen much of her and her questions only caused him to dig further?

“Interesting,” she forced herself to say.

“It can be,” he drawled.

The urge to scream filled her; it took all she had not to stomp her foot like a two year old. He wasn’t going to reveal anything he may have seen when he’d touched her. She was determined not to ask if all of her secrets had been laid bare to a man she barely knew and who could crush her skull with a flick of his wrist.

She didn’t think he’d seen much of her, no matter how much he was trying to hint that he had. This conversation would be going in a completely different way if he had. “How old are you?” Lou inquired.

Her attention was drawn to the lanky young human standing by her kitchen doorway. “I was turned into a vampire six years ago, at eighteen.”

She couldn’t resist the pull of the ice colored eyes burning into the side of her head. Julian’s arms were folded over his chest; his legs stretched out before him as he leaned against the wall by her bedroom door. The fact he appeared so nonplussed, while she felt as twitchy as a murderer on death row, only put her more on edge.

“What about you?” she demanded of him. Her tone came out far more hostile than she’d intended, but he’d just tossed her well-ordered life into the crapper.

“I was changed when I was twenty-two, that was five hundred and seventy-six years ago.”

Quinn was extremely proud she managed to keep her mouth from dropping. “You’re an Elder?”

“One of the only two left.”

Oh this whole situation kept getting better and better. Any vampire over five hundred years old moved into the Elder category and held a whole new level of supremacy over all the younger vampires. It definitely explained the power sizzling off of him and causing her skin to tingle. She had no chance of escaping him by jumping out of the window, she realized.

“And some of The Commission may still be out there too. If they are, they will be taken care of,” Julian continued.

“Bad experience with them?” she inquired.

“You could say that.” Her curiosity was piqued by his clipped tone, but she didn’t press him further.

She wistfully eyed the couch again; she didn’t even have the energy to haul her ass into her bedroom right now. A few hours to try and collect her thoughts would be awesome, instead she settled for finishing off her soda. She walked into the kitchen to grab another soda and a package of Reese’s.

“You do know you’re a vampire right?” Chris asked her.

“So I’ve been told,” she replied around a mouthful of melting peanut butter and chocolate that somehow failed to make her feel any better.

“It would be best if we left this town,” Julian said. “If the ones looking for you realize vampires died here, they may come here to search for the source of the disappearance.”

“This is my home.” It didn’t matter if she’d have to leave eventually, she wasn’t going anywhere with an Elder vampire who could learn about her by touching her, or the things she’d touched. She wondered if he could see into her life from touching the wall right now. His flesh wasn’t in contact with it, but then she didn’t know if that kind of contact would be required. “I’m not leaving.”

Hopefully you will
, she thought as she popped the second chocolate cup into her mouth.

“Well now, Dewdrop, we’re going to have ourselves a problem then.” Quinn stopped chewing on her candy, her jaw locked as she glowered at Julian. “Because we’re not leaving you alone in this town. Not with
that
ability, and not with them searching for you.”

The peanut butter went down like mud when she swallowed. “I can take care of myself.”

“Against one or two, sure. Against a dozen or two dozen, you’ll end up as free as the birdman of Alcatraz.”