IM02 - Hunters & Prey (7 page)

“C’mon Fallon, why would I come here if that was my intention? I know where you live.”

She shuddered and scooted further away from me.

“Ok, that didn’t come out right. Look, you’re still my best friend, and I need a friend right now.”

Those words seemed to work. The tension in Fallon’s shoulders relaxed. A little color started to return to her face. She took another sip from her coffee.

“So, what you’re telling me is vampires are real and you’re one of them?”

“Let’s just try not to focus on that fact for right now, okay? I’m still Alyssa. No matter what has happened to me, I’m still your friend. Please… accept this.”

She let out a loud sigh and fumbled with her cup. After a silent moment. she nodded and looked up at me. “I guess an undead friend is better than no friend at all.” She set the coffee cup on the table.

“I’m not dead, or undead, whatever you want to call it.” I held out my wrist. “Go on, check my pulse. My heart still beats.”

Fallon recoiled again.

I groaned. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She hesitated for a second before reaching out to place her fingers on my wrist. “You’re so cold.”

“Poor circulation. Can you feel it?”

Her fingers rested over the blue vein pulsing slowly on my wrist. After a moment, a small smile spread across her lips. “I do feel it. But I thought…”

I shook my head. “Not all the myths are true.”

“So are you… you know…” Her voice lowered and a spark of excitement glinted in her eyes. “Immortal?”

I giggled at how silly she sounded. “Yeah.”

“Don’t do that.” She winced and leaned back in her chair.

“What?”

“Your smile, it’s creepy. Just looking at those teeth.” She made an exaggerated shivering motion. “How do you even talk with those things?”

I ran my tongue across my teeth. Fallon shuddered again.

“Will you stop that?”

“I guess I don’t notice them anymore. Are they really that obvious?”

“When you smile they are. Just don’t smile at me, okay?”

I bit back a laugh so she wouldn’t have to see my fangs again. At least she was beginning to calm down about everything.

“So if I hadn’t ditched you that night, you wouldn’t be this…thing, huh?” There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a thing, but yeah, I probably wouldn’t. Not that I blame you.”

She fidgeted in her chair, grabbed her coffee cup, and rolled it back and forth between her hands. I awaited more questions.

“What’s it like?”

“Uh, well…”
Not prepared for that one.
“Not much different from regular life. Diet kind of sucks, and I won’t be getting a tan anytime soon, but it has its perks.”

She cocked her head to the side. “So you can’t go out in the daylight?”

“Nah.” I frowned. “I tend to sunburn easily.”

Her eyes darted around the room. I could tell she was avoiding looking directly at me. “Yeah, guess that’s a downer.”

“Wasn’t much of a morning person anyway, so I don’t miss it too much.”

“So, what are the perks?” She seemed to be reaching to keep the conversation light.

“Well, my sire, Lysander. That’s the guy who turned me. He is pretty hot.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, we’re kind of a thing now.”

She giggled. “Go on, describe.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the anxiety was finally leaving her. She was right back to the old Fallon again. Girl talk trumped blood sucking any day, and I could sense she was okay with me, at least for the moment.

“Imagine the statue of David coming to life: tall, dark messy hair, perfect muscles, and gorgeous eyes.”

She giggled again. “Oooh. Where can I find one?”

A sudden thought struck me. What if she wanted to be turned? I hoped that wasn’t where the conversation was heading. “They aren’t all hot guys.” I shrugged, trying to look casual. “I just got lucky, I guess.”

“I’d say. So any other perks?”

“You know, the usual,” I said, flippantly waving my hand in the air. “Strength, speed, ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound… Oh, wait, that’s Superman.” I winked.

“Lyssa, stop playing.”

“Okay, the strength and speed part are true.”

“Really? Show me!”

“Not here. That’s the thing.” I leaned in closer to her, and thankfully she didn’t back away. I dropped my voice to a whisper. “I kind of broke a rule by coming here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone about what I am.”

“Well, technically you didn’t. I figured it out.” She sat up tall in her seat, as if showing off how smart she felt.

“You’d never have known if I hadn’t shown up.”

“I see your point.” She reached to her pack of smokes, grabbed one, and lit it. “So showing off is a no-no then?”

“Yeah.”

“Gotcha. But, since I already know about you, can you tell me more?

The damage is already done.
“I guess there’s no harm in chatting. Let’s just keep our voices low. Okay?”

“Yeah. So what else can you tell me? Oooh, weaknesses. Let’s say I needed to kill you.”

“Right.” I laughed. “With that line of questioning, you think I’m going to tell you?”

“I was just joking. C’mon, I could never kill my best friend.” She arched an eyebrow at me. “Just like she could never kill me, right?”

“I already told you, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Just checking. So what is it? Garlic, stakes through the heart, holy water?”

“None of the above.”

“None? What the hell, you’re just invincible?”

“Hardly. Those things aren’t going to hurt me though. Stake through the heart might be really painful, but I doubt it would kill me. We regenerate really fast.”

The fearful look crept back across her face.

“So what does kill you?”

I lowered my voice to a barely audible murmur. “Fire and dismemberment.”

She cringed. “Well … at least there is something.”

“Happy now?”

“For the moment.”

Another awkward pause left us both fidgeting in our seats. I wished I were strong enough to read her mind. It would make this so much easier. I could sense her lingering fear rising back to the surface. I knew she wanted to know more, but the details we had yet to discuss were the ones that would scare her.

She nibbled at her thumbnail. “So, what about blood?”

“Do you really want these details?”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “Yeah, I think I have to know.”

I groaned. “Before I answer this question, you have to know, I only do what I need to do to survive.”
Please don’t make me give details.

“How often do you… drink?”

“Right now, every other night.”

“Can you eat real food?”

“No.” The answer came out faster than I wanted it to. My heart beat like a drum roll as I awaited the inevitable.
Here comes the bad question.

“When did you last… have a drink?”

Not the one I expected; maybe she won’t go into detail. Now, do I tell her I just fed, or do I tell her it’s been a while? What will she be able to accept?

“I drank earlier this evening. I’m not thirsty, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

She gave me a weak smile. “And how exactly do you get your bl… drinks?”

Crap, that’s the one I was dreading.
“Look, I’ve got plenty of sources all over the city. I told you, I have to drink it to survive.”

“Hey, this isn’t like choosing to be a vegan or something,” she snapped at me. “You’re drinking blood.”

“Keep it down. I don’t want the whole café hearing this.”

“Fine. I’m just trying to figure out if I can accept this.” Fallon’s disgust was starting to show again.

Maybe if I keep her arguing with me, I can avoid the finer points of obtaining blood.

“Yeah, I get it, you’re shocked. How do you think I felt? It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.” I shot her a cold stare. “I was dying. Cut me a little slack.”

“Well this isn’t easy for me either. I just found out my best friend is a blood sucking vampire.”

A few people around us stopped their conversation and looked back giving me an odd look.

“Fallon, why did you have to ruin my secret?” I tried to fill my voice with sarcastic laughter. “Now what will I be for Halloween this year?” Thankfully with all the Goths frequenting this place, talk of vampires didn’t draw too much attention.

Leaning in toward Fallon, I scowled. “Don’t make me say this again. Keep your voice down. People are starting to look at us.”

Her face reddened with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

“Can you accept me for who I am now?”

“I’m trying to figure that out. I don’t want you drinking my blood.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to drink your blood. I already told you I’m not going to hurt you. Chill, okay?”

“Then where do you get your blood from?”

Damn, she just doesn’t give up.

“I already told you, I have sources all over town. You don’t need to worry. I’m not going to turn on my friends.”

Please just drop this. I don’t want to give you details.

My memory flashed. The faces of all my victims slowly came into view, one by one. I saw the terror in their wide eyes, seconds before I sank my teeth into their necks. My stomach turned and I felt sick as guilt washed over me, realizing I’d lost my humanity so quickly. In just a few short months, I had become accustomed to killing. I hadn’t even given a second thought to those people I murdered. I couldn’t blame Fallon for being scared. I would be too, sitting this close to a monster.

“Fine. Quit with the puppy dog eyes, I believe you. You just got to let me wrap my head around this, okay?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

A few moments of silence passed between us. The strange, familiar prickling sensation tickled against the back of my neck. My head shot up. I scanned the windows, looking for signs of an immortal’s presence.

I couldn’t tell which direction the creepy prickling feeling came from. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Worry swam in my gut, but I figured I was safe, for the moment, in the company of humans. A hunter like Santino wouldn’t dare attack in public. Hunters guarded our secret as well as they guarded the humans they protected us from.

CHAPTER 5

*****

S
itting in the café talking to Fallon was as good an insurance policy as any, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. I couldn’t stay here forever. I’d have to face the vampire stalking around outside sooner or later. Copioh didn’t stay open all night, and even if it did, there was no way I could stay here past dawn—there were too many uncovered windows. I couldn’t go home either and risk Santino or any of the Saints following me. I needed a Plan B.

I tried to blank my face of any worried expressions. I didn’t need Fallon getting scared again. “Hey. You have your cell on you?”

Fallon fixed me with a narrow gaze before reaching into her small canvas purse. “Where’s yours?” She pulled out a black clam-shell phone. “Guess that explains why you never answered my calls.”

“Yeah. My phone’s gone. It got smashed up pretty good the night I … uh … never mind. Besides, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about myself, remember?” I took the phone from her and dialed Lysander’s number. “You know, the whole secret thing.”

“Well, the secret’s out now. So I’ll expect you to keep in touch.”

I nodded as I pressed the send button.
Hmm, how do I explain this to Lysander?
It rang a few times before his deep voice greeted me.

I took a deep breath to gather my courage. This wasn’t going to be a good conversation. I knew Lysander would be furious with me once I told him where I was and what I had been doing.

“It’s me, Alyssa.” I tried to sound casual. “I need you to listen for a second, okay?”

He cut me off before I could say another word. “Where are you?” His voice carried an urgent tone. “What’s going on? Are you hurt? What is all that noise I hear in the background?”

I could just imagine the wide-eyed expression on his face.

“I’m fine. But none of us are really safe. I was right. I saw Santino while I was out…” Fallon’s head turned just slightly to the side so her ear faced me. She was eavesdropping. I knew I needed to choose my words carefully. I didn’t want to say something that might spook her, but I needed to make sure that Lysander understood the warning I was trying to give. “… You know, when I left the house this evening.”

“You saw him?” Worry strained his voice. “Where is he now? Are you safe?”