Hunting the Dark (20 page)

Of course, Jace had moved my cardigan from where it had been holding the door open, and it was now shut. And stuck fast.

I turned accusing eyes on him. ‘What did you do that for?’

‘So that nobody could follow us.’

‘Great idea, Einstein.’

Ten watched us with apparent fascination, but before she could say anything – or before one of us could offer to tear the door off its hinges – two security guys ran toward us from the far end of the corridor. They wore unusual uniforms, not the regular sort of security get-up you’d expect in a place like this. More like black army fatigues.

‘Hey! What are you kids doing back here?’

Panicking, I gripped the edge of the door with my fingertips and
pulled
. Adrenaline gave me even more strength, and I peeled the whole thing back like it was the lid on a tin of sardines.

The guards were almost on us.

I pushed Jace through the door, no longer worrying about what was on the other side. ‘Go! Just go!’ I turned to Subject Ten.

She grabbed my arm and shoved me through the gap. ‘Run.’

I put on the brakes, trying to get a look at her face. What was she doing? Why was she helping me?

She reached into her jeans pocket and stuffed a piece of tightly folded paper into my hand. ‘Take this, and just
go
.’

The men had reached her, but I was on the other side of the door now with Jace trying to pull me away. ‘Moth, what are you doing? People are staring. Come
on
!’

With a final look behind me, I grabbed Jace’s arm and ran.

A few minutes later, we were hiding in the cloakroom just off the main lobby. Sounds filtered through the wall; I could hear the crowd of people moving from the auditorium and back into the reception area, which at least made me feel less nervous about being caught back here. The book signing would probably be starting soon.

I wondered whether Ten had escaped and who the heck those two guys were. No way they were University security. What would Dr Stark be going with people like that around her? Were they her bodyguards?

‘Let’s see it then,’ Jace said, breaking into my thoughts.

I handed him the crumpled paper and he unfolded it, laying it out across our laps. We stared at it for a long time, trying to figure out what Ten had wanted to tell us. Or to tell
me
. She’d given the note to me, after all, and hadn’t seemed terribly enamored when it came to Jace.

It was just a standard letter-sized sheet of paper: a printout of a short email dated January 2001.

Jace pointed at the date. ‘Did they even
have
email back then?’

‘Of course they did.’ I rolled my eyes, but my brain was already whirring. I flashed back to Subject Ten’s dog tags; the numbers on that had been 01-2001. Coincidence? Not likely. The email’s subject line was:
Re: The Weapon is the Cure
.

It was clearly part of an ongoing conversation, but we only had this very small part of it. What did that title mean? What weapon? Something about those words made my stomach churn with anxiety, although I had no idea why. Just intuition, I guess; a bodily sense of
wrongness
.

Jace frowned. ‘A cure for what?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘But I have a feeling that maybe I don’t
want
to know.’

‘Did you see the signature?’

I gave him a look. Of course I’d seen the signature. That was why I was sitting here trying to recover from shock – while also feeling new pieces of the puzzle slot neatly into place:

Helena
,

I have something for you. I think we can work together on this one. Will meet you in the usual place next month.

Ciao
,

Nic

The full email signature was, Nicole Bertonelli.

Holy freaking crap! That must be
Nicole.
Theo’s Maker knew Dr Helena Stark, and had done for more than a decade.

And, not only that: now I knew what the NB on those tags stood for. I was getting closer and closer to the truth, and it was a larger and far more twisted thing than I could ever have imagined. Now was definitely the time to see Theo. I had proof – at least of
something
– and he would simply
have
to realize that Jace Murdoch was the least of his worries.

‘
The Weapon is the Cure
,’ Jace said, still looking confused. ‘Are you sure you don’t know anything about that?’

‘Of course I don’t,’ I said, pushing him out of the way to avoid his champagne-breath. He was leaning all over me thanks to how many freebies he’d put away earlier.

‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Jace said, sounding like he blamed me for how cryptic it was. ‘What does it mean?’

‘I said,
I don’t know
,’ I snapped. ‘We can think about it later.’

‘And why did that strange girl let us leave like that?’

‘I don’t know that either,’ I said. ‘Let’s just get out of here.’

We headed for the nearest exit, for once in total agreement: we’d both seen enough for one night.

It was time to get the hell out of Dodge. Or at the very least, to get outside without being caught.

Outside, however, another ‘issue’ immediately made itself apparent.

It wasn’t that we’d been chased or anything like that. There was no death or decapitation on the horizon (at least, not that I could see). No, we’d made it out relatively unscathed – all things considered.

The problem was far simpler than that: Jace was drunk.

Maybe not a lot, but enough that I could see his guard was down. Maybe enough that he shouldn’t be driving anywhere tonight. I tried not to enjoy the feel of his arm around me, but it was difficult not to sink into his warmth. I tried even harder not to think about his blood, and how it might taste. If it was even half as good as he smelled, I would be in trouble. Not that I’d ever find out; he’d told me that, once, in no uncertain terms. But, despite my reservations about taking blood from an actual person, a girl could dream.

‘Exactly
how
many glasses of champagne did you drink tonight?’ I tried to keep my tone light, knowing that I was failing miserably.

‘A couple. Three, maybe?’

I put my hands on my hips. ‘Why would you do something like that?’

‘Relax, Moth. It was just a bit of champagne. Live a little.’

I glared at him.

Jace grimaced. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that. Just a saying, you know?’

I ignored him and tried to remember what his car looked like. I never took any notice of that stuff. What was the point when I didn’t drive?

I fixed him with the iciest expression I could muster. It was tough considering how he was stroking my arm with the back of his hand.

‘Where did you park?’

‘Don’t you remember?’ Jace asked, his expression completely serious.

‘I didn’t come with you, you idiot!’

‘Oh, right.’ He nodded, although he still didn’t look certain.

‘Jace,’ I said, trying not to let my anger spill over. ‘I said, where’s the damn car?’

‘You ask a lot of questions.’

‘It was one question.’

‘In general, I mean.’ His sleepy gaze turned his eyes to melting chocolate, and he watched me in a way that made my stomach flip.

‘Um  . . . sorry?’

His hand began to fiddle with the ends of my hair and I gasped involuntarily. Thankfully, the chill night air helped to cool my flushing cheeks.

‘Seriously,’ he said, seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on me. ‘You ask a lot of stuff about me. About my life, my family. All that.’

I shrugged, batting my eyelashes in an attempt to deflect him with my feminine wiles. The location of Jace’s car didn’t seem so important right now.

‘Do you have something in your eye?’ he asked.

I stopped batting. ‘I guess I just find you interesting. Sort of.’

‘Interesting, huh?’

‘Sort of.’

‘I like the sound of that,’ he said, voice low and eyes warm.

I nodded, incapable of words as his hand moved to the back of my neck and rested there, firm and comforting, promising something else. Something that I wanted very, very much, no matter how hard I tried not to.

Jace watched me, and it was hard not to think of myself as prey.
I
was supposed to be the predator, but the look in his eyes was one step away from a hunter closing in on his quarry.

‘It appears that I’m off the hook,’ he said. ‘With your scary boss, I mean.’

‘Hopefully.’ I wouldn’t believe it until I’d shown Theo the email from Nicole. It proved a link between her and Nemesis – and presumably Subject Ten – but there were still a few more dots to join.

Jace smiled. ‘We should celebrate.’

‘Um  . . .’ I said. ‘How do you propose we do that?’

He removed my glasses. ‘You seem nervous.’

‘I’m not nervous. You’re staring.’

‘Which is making you nervous?’

‘No,’ I snapped. ‘I already said I’m not nervous. I just don’t know why you’re looking at me like that.’

‘Maybe I find
you
interesting,’ he said. ‘Sort of.’

And then he kissed me. Properly.

Finally.

At the first touch of Jace’s lips against mine, I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back. It wasn’t that my nerves had magically disappeared – no, I was honestly terrified. But not of him. I was scared of myself and of what I might do if I lost control. I’d only just begun to master the bloodlust of a newbie vamp, and I’d seen how even someone as experienced as Theo could lose it at the wrong moment. Hell, I’d almost lost it myself just a few days ago.

But I desperately didn’t want this to be the wrong moment. It felt so very, very right and I wanted to hold it close. Just as I was holding him close. Oh, how I wanted Jace then. Just this moment, one kiss  . . . That’s all I wanted. To feel the rush of blood through
my
body. To press myself against him and feel the vibration of his beating heart, almost as though it was my own. To hear his sharp intake of breath as his tongue found its way into my mouth and touched the tip of one of my fangs – and even then he didn’t stop kissing me. He carried on, holding my face gently between his hands as though I was a real person that he could really like.

I hoped this precious moment would never end. I fiercely hoped it wasn’t just the champagne talking. Jace moved his hands to my hips, and my fingers were in his hair. I felt him breathe and forced myself to breathe along with him, matching the rhythm to his, trying to pretend it was natural for me. I felt his heart beating slow and steady, imagining the blood flowing through his veins, keeping him alive and strong.

He half lifted me, and I wanted to climb up his body like a piece of ivy, kiss him deep enough to lose myself. Disappear inside him and wrap myself in the warmth of his wonderful humanity.

And I wanted to taste him, in other ways – in ways that would no doubt send him running the other way in disgust. But I didn’t do that. Of course I didn’t. I tucked that part of me away into a corner and let Marie enjoy this moment. Moth could wait her turn.

My back hit the wall of the building as he walked with me, pressing me into the brick, suddenly not being gentle anymore, as though he knew that was exactly what I wanted. He didn’t have to be gentle – not with me. Things were getting crazy, way out of control, just with a kiss. It felt like everything inside me was on fire, and I was sure that if anyone were watching us they’d think he was kissing a medusa from mythology, her hair rising into the air, writhing like snakes from the sheer electricity we were creating. It was so incredibly wild and passionate and
good
.

It was heaven.

He pulled away, and I saw the blood on his lip from where I must have snagged him and I was about to apologize, say something that would make him not regret this – regret
us
– but then I saw
her
behind him. Too late.

The girl who’d killed Nicole. The girl who had, just minutes before, let us go.

Subject Ten.

She threw the dagger so fast, impossibly fast, and I was half drugged from the best kiss of my life. I couldn’t stop her. All I could do was push Jace to one side at the last possible moment – a split second when everything seemed to move in movie-style slow motion. I somehow managed to get myself in front of him, don’t ask me how. But there I was, shielding him when the blade hit me squarely in the chest.

The first thing I thought, while looking down at the alien, sharp object sticking out of my body was: Why would she do that?

And then the second thought, following quickly on the heels of the first:
At least I saved him
.

I must have blacked out for a moment, but I couldn’t be sure. Everything was blurry, although it felt like someone was dragging me along the ground.

‘What are you doing?’ I muttered. ‘Stop  . . .’

‘I have to move you,’ a voice I recognized said.
Jace.
‘Got to get you hidden.’

‘So I can die in peace?’ I felt gravel dig into the backs of my legs. ‘Good idea.’ I could hear someone singing and it was strangely soothing. Then I realized it was just a cell phone. Was it mine?

‘Moth!’ Jace was calling me from what seemed a very long way away, his eyes wide and panic-stricken as he tried to get me to respond. ‘Stay with me. Just  . . . stay with me, OK?’

He wrapped his hand around the hilt of the shiny dagger sticking out of my chest and pulled. The jagged
thing
lodged deep inside me hardly moved, and the pain was so bad that my vision blurred and brightened, bringing me back to full consciousness for an agonizing moment. Maybe this is it, I thought. I’m dying. For real, this time.

Silver blade to the heart and  . . . lights out.

The pain continued and nothing changed. No lights out.

Shouldn’t I already be dead? How long does it take? I considered asking someone this question, but I didn’t think I had enough energy.

‘Moth,’ Jace said. ‘
Marie.
Hold on, I’m trying to take it out.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ I slurred, wondering if he could hear me properly.
Don’t call me Marie.
My fangs were fully extended, probably from shock, and all I could taste was blood. All I could smell was Jace.