Hunted (44 page)

Without pausing he practically tossed Lanie and Johnna over the threshold and into the entryway, where they both landed on their hands and knees just as a loud snarl split the air and Kyle was ripped backwards into the night.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Lanie let out a shriek and jumped to her feet, Johnna right beside her.  She saw Kyle lying in a heap at the bottom of the steps and then he was blocked out by the towering form of Frederik suddenly looming in the doorway.  There was blood staining his ashen face and his eyes were so filled with rage they looked like two rubies that had been lit on fire.

The bullet hole was still there in his forehead, a gaping reminder that Frederik could not be killed so easily.

“Come out to me!” Frederik barked in deep, gravelly voice that shook Lanie from the inside out.

Jarred, Lanie abruptly remembered the large can she was still clutching.  As one, she and Johnna lifted the canisters, squeezed the handles and sprayed arcs of water right into Frederik’s enraged face.  An ear piercing, guttural scream erupted from Frederik, there was a massive plume of smoke and then…he was gone as swiftly as a shadow flickering through the darkness.

There was no thought as Lanie let her canister clatter to the floor, bolted out the door and down the steps to Kyle, who was still crumpled on the walkway, still clutching his crossbow in his hand.  Johnna was right next to her and they both took an arm, both heaving with all their might to pull him up the steps.  He was so heavy they could barely manage it, yet somehow they did, both of them heaving and straining until they finally hauled him across the porch and over the threshold into the house.  Once they were all three safely inside, she and Johnna both fell to their knees, huffing and panting from the effort.

“Is he dead?” Johnna asked hoarsely.

Breathing hard, Lanie looked down at Kyle, fighting the urge to watch for the rise and fall of his chest.  He had no breath, no heartbeat.  She had no idea how to check to see if he was still alive or not.  Other than bullet hole and the blood staining his shirt, there was no sign that anything was wrong with him.  He looked perfect, peaceful.  As if he was just sleeping.

But, there wasn’t a stake through his heart and his head was still intact, so she was going to believe that he was okay.

“Let’s get him away from the door,” she said, and both she and Johnna again grabbed an arm and heaved Kyle through the foyer, past the front door which was now lying on the floor in front of the stairway, and into the living room.

He was too heavy to lift onto the sofa, so they had to leave him lying on the rug by the sofa, but Lanie got a pillow for his head and one for his feet and then sat down beside him, her breathing still harsh and now tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.  She removed the two handguns still in his waistband and laid them on the sofa.  They were probably empty and wouldn’t be of any use now.

She didn’t have to cry.  Not yet.  Kyle was okay.  And they had made it to her house.  They were inside, safe and sound, where Frederik could not get to them. 

“What do we do now?” Johnna questioned unevenly. 

“I-I don’t know,” Lanie answered in the same tone. 

They had gotten this far, but now what?  She honestly had no idea, other than just completely breaking down into hysterics, which couldn’t possibly make things any worse.

“Johnna, do you have your phone?” she rasped past the knot of hopelessness in her throat. 

She suddenly really wanted to call her dad.  She needed to hear his voice, to know that he was okay.  To tell him that she loved him, just in case.

Johnna pulled her phone from her back pocket and Lanie took it with a trembling hand, dialing her dad’s number and hoping she could actually speak when he answered.

Sam picked up on the first ring.  “Lanie!  Lanie is this you?  Lanie, where are you!” he shouted into the phone.

“Daddy, I’m at the house!” she sobbed out the words, thinking she really was on the verge of a breakdown.  “Where are you!”

“I’m at Town Hall!  Lanie, don’t move!  I’m coming to get you!” Sam told her, still shouting.

“Daddy, wait!” she gasped, horrified.  “Kyle said you were hurt!”

“Just don’t move, Lanie!” he told her, sounding almost desperate.  “I can make it to get to you!”

“No, you can’t!” Lanie cried.  “He’s outside!  If you come here he’ll kill you!”

“Lanie, I’m not leaving you alone to face that monster!” Sam growled at her. 

“Daddy, he can’t get into the house!  Please, just stay there!  And I’m not alone!  Kyle is here with me,”

“Lanie—“

“Please, dad!” Lanie begged, desperate to get her dad to understand.  “You have to stay where it’s safe!  Please!  Let me come to you!”

Hearing her anguish caused Sam to pause and then let out a deep sigh.  “Fine.  I-I really don’t know if I can do more than make it there.  I’ve…lost a lot of blood.”

Lanie let out another sob.  “Are you okay?” she whispered, terror clawing at her.

“I’ll live.  But, he…killed Deputy Smitty.  And I couldn’t find Gretchen, Lanie.”

A cold wave engulfed Lanie.  Frederik had killed Alan Smitty?  She’d known him since she was a little girl.  She knew his wife.  They had only been married for a few years.

“Lanie, I’m sorry I locked you in the cell-block.  I was trying to keep you safe.  I thought we could take this guy out,” Sam confessed roughly.  “But, I-I was wrong.

Lanie choked back a sob.  “I’m sorry, Daddy.  I never should have told you about this.”

If she hadn’t, her dad would be okay and Alan Smitty would still be alive.

“You had to, Lanie.  You did the right thing by telling me,” her father assured her.

No.  She hadn’t done the right thing.  She should have listened to Kyle.  He’d warned her what would happen, but she’d brought her father into it anyway and for what?  Sam was hurt, one of his deputies, his friends, was dead, and they still hadn’t managed to find Gretchen, who was probably long dead by now.  Kyle had been so right.  Sam Bancroft had no place in this.

“Listen, just try to come here to the Town Hall, okay?  Just make it here and we’ll figure this out.  Okay, squirt?” Sam entreated, his voice thick.  “Just make it here and we’ll figure this out.”

Lanie nodded even though Sam couldn’t see her.  “I’ll make it there,” she said.

“I’ll be waiting for you, Lanie,” he said to her. 

“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered.  She knew better than to let someone she loved go without telling them how she felt.

“Love you, squirt.  Just make it here in one piece, okay?”

Lanie again nodded and then disconnected, handing the phone back to Johnna, who was swiping at the tears streaming down her face.

“What’s been happening around here, Johnna?” Lanie croaked out, wiping her own damp cheeks.  “How many other people have been…found?”

“I’m not sure.  My parents locked me in the house.  Nearly
everyone
is locked in their houses.  Once people heard there was a serial killer and that Sheriff Bancroft’s own sister-in-law had gone missing, things went to hell,” Johnna stated direly.  “I haven’t seen or heard from anyone since…you went missing!  Where were you!  And
don’t
say you were at home, because Finn and Brady went there looking for you before they were locked down!”

“I was locked up at the Sheriff’s Office,” she said, causing Johnna’s eyes to go wide.

Without warning, Kyle sat bolt upright, startling Lanie and Johnna so they both shrieked. 

“Oh my God!  Kyle, are you okay!” Lanie gasped as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

“I’m fine,” he told her, lifting a hand to his jaw and wiggling it around.  “He packs one hell of a punch.”

Kyle began to struggle to his feet and Lanie and Johnna both stood to help him.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Johnna asked.  “Just sit here and wait for him to go away?”

“He’s not going away,” Kyle said.  “He’s more determined than I thought to get to Lanie.”

“So, how do we handle this?” Johnna asked.

“I didn’t think it would come to this, but I have to get Lanie out of here.  She needs to be as far away from Fells Pointe as she can get,” Kyle said.

“But, he’ll follow us!” Lanie argued.

“He will.  But, the people in town will at least be safe.  He’s going through them like cattle.” Kyle stated.

Lanie felt her stomach lurch.  “How m-many people has he killed?”

“Several.  And several more are missing,” Kyle answered, holstering the crossbow he was still holding.  I’ve never seen him kill this many.  I-I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Lanie felt sick with dread.  “Where will we go?” she asked, her mind racing, wondering how she would tell her dad that she was leaving.

“We’ll figure it out once we make it out of town,” Kyle said.  “My friend, Father Cristos, might be able to help us.  At least he can help me protect you.  He…he won’t have a problem killing Frederik.”

A sudden reverberation shook the house and Lanie let out another shriek. 

“It’s alright,” Kyle told her.  “He can’t get to you.  We have a little time.”

That did not serve to comfort Lanie.  “I-I just don’t understand!” she exclaimed, anger surging up inside her.  “Why does he have to have
me
!  Why can’t he just give up and go away!”

“Because that’s not how his mind works,” Kyle said soberly.

Johnna suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of Kyle’s shoulder.  “Kyle, would Frederik have to leave Lanie alone if she belonged to another vampire?”

Kyle shrugged.  “I guess.  I mean, I’ve never heard of a vampire taking another’s mate.  Why?”

“Why don’t you make Lanie your mate?” Johnna asked.  “He’ll have to leave her alone if she belongs to you!”

Lanie felt herself grow cold and Kyle went pale.  “I don’t think I can do that,” Kyle told the girl.  “I’m only half of what he is.  I don’t think a bite from me would do anything except hurt.”

Johnna still looked determined.  “Well, there has to be a way!  If she’s belongs to another vampire, he’ll have to leave her alone!”

“There’s no way to do that.  And I won’t risk it, anyway!  Not everyone makes it through the turning!  A lot of people wind up dead!” Kyle snapped.

Another reverberation shook the walls and Lanie felt a bleak wave crash in on her.  What did it matter if Kyle could turn her?  Frederik would still be alive, still be roaming around from town to town, killing people as if they mean nothing.  And she would be like him.  She would be feeding off people to survive and she did not want that for herself.

“Come out to me, girl!” a deep voice echoed through the house, causing Johnna to let out a sharp scream.

Kyle went stiff and Lanie knew he was going to fly out the door and go after Frederik, so she shot out a hand and clamped it down onto his arm.  “Kyle, don’t go out there!  Please!  You can’t do anything to him.”

Kyle suddenly caught Lanie in his gaze, his handsome face going heavy with responsibility.  “I’m sorry, Lanie.  This is all my fault.  I underestimated Frederik and I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s not your fault. 
He’s
the one doing this,” Lanie pointed out.  “He…he doesn’t have to be this way, does he?  I mean, he doesn’t have to kill every person that walks by him!”

“No, he doesn’t,” Kyle said bitterly.  “Father Cristos is a vampire and he lives without killing.  Frederik lives this way for the thrill.”

“Come out, girl!” that deep voice sounded out again.  “Come out or she dies!”

It took a second for Frederik’s words to sink in and then Lanie gasped and started to bolt from the room, but Kyle’s fingers wrapping around her arm stopped her short.  “Lanie, don’t.  You can’t help her.”

“Who?  Help who?” Lanie whispered, fear tearing through her because she thought she already knew the answer.

“It…it sounds like Gretchen,” Kyle said and the next instant Lanie was tearing away from him and rushing out into the entryway.