The Hunted (51 page)

He spun me around quickly, cradling me in his arms like a baby. I would have protested, but given that I was still seeing little green gnomes dancing around my head, I figured I’d stay put.

‘Elena, you should be unconscious or dead right now,’ he said frantically, running his fingers over my forehead and checking for damage. If there was any, it surely would have healed by now. Sometimes the internals just took a little while to catch up, and head injuries were the worst for me.

‘I only head-butted you,’ I said, blinking away the last little gnome and pretty white stars.

‘Exactly.’

‘Aww, have a heart, William. I just had my head bashed in and I’m seeing green people, I don’t have a mental capacity right now.’

He cursed under his breath and checked my forehead again, his eyes dripping with concern. ‘I can’t believe how careless I just was. I’m not used to being around humans like this. I didn’t think. I’m so sorry, Elena.’ He shook his head again. ‘I’m supposed to be protecting you not trying to kill you.’

‘Huh?’

‘It’s nothing. I’m just frustrated.’

I wriggled around in his arms trying to find a way out. He wasn’t having a bar of it. ‘Don’t worry about it, I’m fine.’

‘Yes, but you shouldn’t be fine. Any other human would have had their skull crushed instantly by the impact you just experienced. Even I felt our heads collide and a little bit of pain and that shouldn’t happen. Self-healing capabilities or not, I can’t understand why you’re still alive right now.’

‘Just lucky, I guess.’

‘I think we both know that’s—’

‘Hey,’ I interrupted him. ‘May I suggest a saddle and some reins for the next time you decide to try that with someone? It might make it easier to hang on and slow down.’

His eyebrow rose marginally. ‘Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?’

I smiled, grateful that the subject had changed so easily. ‘That depends. Do you prefer giddy up? Or go horsey go?’

He let go of me instantly and I fell to the ground landing hard on my backside.

Ouch.

‘Okay, I deserved that,’ I said as I scrambled back to my feet, wiping the dirt from the back of my shorts. ‘Where are we, anyway?’

‘You don’t recognise where we are?’ he said moodily.

Note to self: don’t compare overly sensitive vampire to a thoroughbred.

I took a closer look at my surrounds and noted nothing remarkable. It was just an empty parking lot in the city.

Woohoo! What a spectacular surprise. Not.

I did work out after a few seconds of surveying the area that we were in the middle of the business area. We were just down the street from the convention centre and fairly close to the harbour and shopping district. Across the road there were a few cars, a luxury apartment building that I’d never be able to afford to live in, and directly next to us was the National Mutual tower looming impressively above us—it was one of the tallest buildings in Cairns.

‘I’ll buy it. What are we doing here?’ I asked.

‘We’re here to admire the view.’

I looked around. As I said, the street was still littered with quite a few parked cars and people happily walking the footpath on the way to the restaurants, coffee shops and nightclubs in the area. But I could not see this
view
that he was speaking of. Not unless he meant the blonde with the short red dress clacking in her high heels along the footpath on the other side of the street.

I leant back against the concrete wall and folded my arms across my chest. ‘There’s nothing worth looking at here. Why did you really bring me here, William?’

He glanced upwards and pointed to the top of the tower. ‘I told you, the view. I’m taking you up there. That’s where the view is and that’s where we will be able to talk without being disturbed or followed by unwanted spectators.’

I followed his gaze up to the top of the tower and almost fell over backwards trying to take in its full height.

Was he crazy?

‘Ah … no,’ I answered and took a few steps away from him. ‘I’m not going up there.’

He grinned. ‘Are you afraid of heights?’

‘No, it’s not the height that’s the problem it’s the sudden stop at the bottom.’

‘You’ll be safe with me, Elena. I won’t let you fall.’

My brows furrowed. ‘You’d better be joking. I’m not going up there.’

‘Yes, you are.’

‘William Granville, I
will
hurt you.’

‘You have to catch me first,’ he laughed as he lowered into a crouch and then disappeared in a blur of movement.

I looked around the parking lot and spotted him at the far end walking across a steel chain that resembled a tightrope, suspended stiffly between two timber stumps to stop cars from accessing some of the reserved parking spaces. Just to be a jackass, he flipped into a handstand and continued to walk along the chain with his hands, his feet balanced effortlessly in the air above him.

‘Is there any particular reason why you’re showing off?’ I called out to him, internally awed by his theatrics.

He cartwheeled backwards onto the chain and stood with perfect balance. He smiled and gave me a quick wink. In the next instant, he blurred and then vanished again.

I searched the space for him again, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

He whistled to grab my attention and I swung around to see him standing next to the tower wall about halfway across the car park. He pressed his fingers against the smooth concrete and then watched my face intently as he climbed the vertical surface like a spider. He scuttled up the wall about twenty metres and then turned around and clambered quickly towards me in a blur of arms and legs.

I ducked when he reached me, but then he changed tact and backflipped off the wall behind me, landing soundlessly on the ground at my feet. After that he disappeared again, my eyes far too human to keep pace with his speed.

‘You’re still showing off,’ I yelled into the empty car park, searching him out. ‘It’s not a particularly becoming trait for you.’

A blur of wind sent my hair flying wildly into my eyes like shiny brown tentacles. I picked them free and then swore in fright as William appeared directly in front of me again.

He slammed me up against the wall, claiming my hands in his and pinning them to my sides, his face only an inch away from my own. ‘Do you think I’ve been showing off?’ he breathed.

I nodded, unable to be articulate when he was standing so close to me.

‘That was nothing,’ he whispered. ‘This is showing off.’

He dipped his head forward and brushed a quick kiss across my surprised lips before he released me and disappeared all over again.

What the hell?

Before I even had time to contemplate what had just happened, he blurred in front of me again, grabbed my arm, swung me onto his back, and leapt up onto the side of the building before I had a chance to protest. I was fairly certain that I spent the rest of the way up to the top squealing like a little girl. And there was nothing feminine or delicate about it—I swore like a trooper.

I chanced a look back down and nearly passed out, the cars were fast becoming the size of small matchboxes. That meant that we were really,
really
high up. ‘Please don’t let go of me,’ I cried as I buried my head into his shoulder and closed my eyes.

I’m going to kill you as soon as we get to some solid ground.

A moment later we stopped. I couldn’t open my eyes.

I felt William’s hands pull gently at the back’s of my thighs and turn my body around so that I was clinging onto his front now. My legs were now tightly wrapped around his back, my arms still around his neck, my head was buried deeply into his chest.

‘It’s okay. We’re at the top now. You can open your eyes,’ he said gently, as he helped me unravel my body parts from around him and lowered me to the ground.

As soon as I felt solid floor underneath my feet I let go of him and stepped away, but not before I threw the biggest and hardest punch I could muster directly at his face.

He stumbled backwards in surprise and cupped a hand to his now bleeding nose. I felt smug for just a second, but that was before I fell straight to my knees and screamed blue bloody murder for all the pain I was now feeling in my right hand. Each and every one of my knuckles had cracked as they connected with the toughened skin of his face. And yet despite the instant gratification from messing with his perfect features and taking him by surprise, I’d never felt more idiotic.

But, boy, what a punch!

I clutched my broken hand against my chest and bit back the tears of pain that were threatening to spill down my cheeks. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my hand was healed and I didn’t want him to see me cry.

When I looked back up at William, his face was restored. Even the blood that had covered his nose and lips had found a way back into his system. There was no facial swelling, no bruises, no anger or irritation, and no tell-tale signs that my fist had ever encroached on his perfect features.

I shook my hand and flexed the fingers a couple of times, just to confirm that the bones had set correctly. There was no pain at all anymore. Even the anger I had felt towards him had dispersed and had been replaced with a growing sense of satisfaction.

This was mostly because of the way he was looking at me now. It was like a light had exploded underneath his pale skin making his whole face radiate with energy, his gleaming eyes watching me with a mixture of awe and uncertainty.

‘How did you do that?’ he said urgently, his eyes wide and full of wonder.

I climbed back to my feet and smiled ruefully at him, giving my hand the final once over. ‘I did say that I would hurt you. It’s not my fault that you’re apparently deaf.’

He gave me a forced smile in return. ‘Yes, you did, but that explains nothing.’

‘It tells you why you shouldn’t show off and why you definitely shouldn’t kiss me unless invited.’

He grunted in reply. I took his non-answer as a good opportunity to change the subject and find out where I was.

I did a quick little turn on the spot and deduced that the top of the tower was fairly ordinary in comparison to the view that it offered. The structure was near oval in shape, but with squared-off edges that did little more than drop right off to thin air below. In the centre of the roof there was a large, concrete construction that probably housed the air-conditioning compressors for the building. But I was only guessing.

There was nothing remotely attractive about the rooftop. It was dirty and plastered with bird droppings. But there was something magical about being up here, nothing to do with the construction of the building itself. It was the three hundred and sixty degree view we had of the esplanade, inlet, city, and southern industrial areas. During the day I imagined that it was possible to see all the mountains, thick blankets of green that bordered the city. You could probably see all the way down the coast, past the airport and out towards the northern beaches too. From this height I imagined that the sun probably made the ocean sparkle with the kind of green iridescence you see only in tourist brochures, and the sand would look like glistening sugar crystals as the water lapped at the edges. At night, however, the mountains were nothing more than looming dark shadows on the horizon, the water looked like ink as the moonlight highlighted its depth and continual movement, and the sand was practically nonexistent—even grey in the instances that I could see it.

Despite my method of transport to reach such dizzying heights, and lack of pre-safety instructional video for flying Vampire Air, the view was spectacular. I could see the casino, all of the hotels that littered the esplanade and the lagoon, as well as the shopping precinct and beyond. They were absolutely breathtaking at night. The lights of the city twinkled below—the breeze that blew across the rooftop reminded you that you were a little closer to heaven than everyone else.