Hunted (53 page)

“I’ll make sure she calls, Sheriff Bancroft,” Kyle promised.  “And you don’t have to worry.  My friend will help her.  And I’ll be with her the entire time.”

“But, you’ll call if you need anything?” Sam persisted.  “I’ll do anything I can for you.  I’ll keep money on your bank card and—“

“And if you have internet service you can Skype with us.  I put your laptop in with your things,” Johnna cut in, plastering a big, fake smile on her face.

“I’ll answer my phone any time, day or night, squirt,” Sam assured her.  “If you need anything, you just call and you’ll have it.”

“I’ll call every day.  I promise,” she whispered.

Sam took a step forward, but Kyle stiffened and held up a hand.  “That’s not a good idea,” he warned quietly. 

Sam moved back, taking in a deep breath.  “You’ll bring her back, right?  She’ll be coming home soon?” he asked Kyle, his large blue eyes shining with tears.

Lanie was suddenly very glad she wasn’t feeling anything.  Seeing her dad’s eyes filling up with tears would have killed her. 

“I’ll bring her back home,” Kyle answered the man.  Lanie knew he was leaving off the
one day
part.

“I’ll keep you up on everything that’s going on at school,” Johnna put in thickly, swiping at her cheeks.  “When you get back, it’ll be like you never even left.”

Lanie nodded and tried to plaster a smile on her own face.  “That’ll be nice.” 

Johnna made it seem like she was just going to camp for a while.  And if that was how her friend needed to look at it, then she’d get no arguments.

“We have to get going,” Kyle said.

Both Johnna and Sam stiffened and again Lanie was glad that she was numb.  This part would have hurt beyond words.

“I love you, squirt,” Sam told her, swiping at his own cheeks.  “I’ll be right here when you get back.”

“Me, too,” Johnna added.  “We’ll both be right here.”

No, Johnna would probably be long gone before Lanie came back.

“I love you, Daddy,” she heard herself saying as Kyle began to walk her toward his enormous yellow car parked behind the cruiser.  “I’ll call you.  I promise.”

“Things will go fast, squirt,” Sam told her as Kyle walked her around to the passenger door.  “You’ll be back home before you know it.”

Lanie stood for a second, taking in the picture of her dad and Johnna standing next to each other in the dim glow of the porch light.  It would be a long while before she saw either of them again. 

She gave them both a wave and let Kyle tuck her into the car and belt her in.  He rounded the vehicle and climbed behind the wheel, starting the engine and then pausing a moment before turning on the headlights and illuminating the driveway.  Lanie gritted her teeth as she saw her dad and Johnna with an arm around each other, both of them waving to her, both their faces stricken, yet plastered with unnatural smiles. 

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for her dad.  He wasn’t supposed to be left all alone like this.  He wasn’t supposed to have lost everyone that he cared about.  It wasn’t fair.

Kyle threw the car into reverse and backed slowly out of the driveway and Lanie kept her gaze locked on her father.  As Kyle shifted into drive, he paused again, giving her a chance to wave one last time.  Sam and Johnna both waved back and Lanie tried to fight the awful feeling that she was never going to see either of them again. 

She would.  One day, she would be strong enough to come back to Fells Pointe.  One day.

And then she turned away from the two people standing there in the driveway and looked over at Kyle, who reached out and took her hand in his.

“Let’s go,” she whispered to him.

Kyle gave her a reassuring smile and started forward down the darkened street.  “I’ll bring you back home, Lanie.  One day,” he told her.

“I know,” she said to him, lacing her fingers through his and turning her gaze out the windshield.

“But first, I have to kill my sister,” he stated firmly.

“I know,” she answered.

She would come back home one day.  But first, there was something she needed to do, too.  She needed to help Kyle Vincent kill the vampires who had taken Sam Bancroft’s daughter from him…  

The End