She spent the first hours of her day wallowing in a miserable fog of racing thoughts and horrid worry over what might be happening to Kyle Vincent, along with everyone else in Fells Pointe. She honestly could not decide if she should tell her father or keep this to herself.
More people in town were going to die. A vampire was going to hunt another person down and kill them. That knowledge ate at her, gnawing a hole right through her!
She was the sheriff’s daughter and she had firsthand knowledge about the person who’d killed her friend and some other poor soul. Yet, she was withholding that information. That was the same thing as aiding and abetting! She was as good as a criminal! She was mentally harboring a criminal and any other deaths that occurred as a result of that were going to be her fault!
Just when Lanie thought she might throw her head back and howl, the lunch bell rang and she dashed from American History and out to her locker in the senior hallway, hoping to make it to the cafeteria before a line formed. She really just wanted something to drink and a minute to pull herself together before her friends showed up.
Devyn and Johnna had been hounding her all morning to tell them what was wrong and she had no ready answers to their questions! In fact, if either of them asked her what was wrong one more time, she just might break down and confess to everything she knew just to have it off her shoulders!
How beautiful it would be to scream out, “It’s a vampire! It’s a vampire that’s killing people and I saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!”
As she slammed her locker shut, her phone vibrated, scaring her so that she let out a shriek and jumped a foot off the floor. Thankfully, there weren’t too many kids out in the hallway yet, so no one seemed to notice. Whipping her phone out of her pocket, she saw the text was from her dad, who wanted her to come to the station and give her statement. He’d already called Mr. Hamilton, the school principal, to let him know that she would be leaving and why.
A slight wave of relief washed over Lanie. At least she could get out of the school house for a while. Slamming her locker, she pecked out a quick text to Johnna to let her know she’d be leaving and then she bolted for the door of the school, though as she pushed through the front door and stepped out into the bright afternoon, she paused, a little thread of fear snaking through her. The expanse of green lawn at the front of the building was deserted and the street and the parking lot beyond were still. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Which meant that she’d be making the walk to her car on her own. And there very well could be a monster lurking someplace about, just waiting for an opportunity like this.
Lanie, halfway out the door, thought about calling her dad and having him send a squad car to pick her up, but she’d have to explain why she didn’t want to drive herself to the Sheriff’s Office, and of course, she couldn’t explain.
It actually took far longer than it should have for her to decide what the best course of action would be. In the end, not being one of those girls who knew there was a monster in the woods yet went out into the woods anyway, she spun back around and went to round up Finn, Brady, and Chase, who were all at their lockers.
“Hey, guys. Will you do me a favor?” she asked them as they all turned to look at her.
So, in an effort to stave off any impending vampire attack—and trying not to laugh out loud because she was actually worried about an impending vampire attack—Lanie was escorted to her car by not three, but six burly footballs players, all of who thought they were protecting her from the person she’d seen in the park the night before, thanks to Chase’s filling them in on the details.
She felt kind of weird about being surrounded by a wall of stiff and wary athletes acting as if they expected someone to come charging out of nowhere to try and finish her off, but she had to do what she had to. Once she was in the car and safely on her way, she knew the six boys would all make it back inside in one piece due to their sheer numbers.
Lanie drove through town and over to the Sheriff’s Office, where she was hustled into her dad’s little cluttered space and then spent the next hour giving a very detailed, and half untruthful, account of the previous night’s events. Once she was finished, she was escorted out the door and to her car by her dad, who she noted was looking worn and weary.
“Go back to school, squirt. I’ll be home when I can,” he told her, dropping a peck onto her forehead.
“You look like your about to fall over,” she told him worriedly. “Can’t you go home and get some sleep?”
“I should be able to in a couple of more hours. I have some calls I’m waiting for and some paperwork to take care of,” Sam told her with a weak smile.
Lanie opened her door and started to climb in, but paused. “Can you tell me who it was…lying in the park last night?”
“It was Amy Jarvis,” Sam answered somberly.
Amy Jarvis, the quiet girl who played the flute in the band. Amy had third period with Lanie. And she hadn’t even noticed the girl was absent that morning. Guilt stabbed at her, though she had no idea why. She didn’t have to ask her dad how the girl had died. She already knew. She’d seen…
“The coroner thinks she was killed sometime between two and four p.m. yesterday, Lanie,” her dad said, his tone hard.
Between two and four. That was around the time she’d been at the game field, along with half the other people in town. She racked her memory, trying to recall if she’d seen Amy Jarvis there, but she couldn’t. There’d been too many people around and she’d been too…distracted. If Amy had been at the field…if she’d been taken from the field…that meant Frederik had been at the field, too.
“Wait. She wasn’t found until last night at the candle light service,” Lanie said, confused. “Didn’t her parents miss her?”
“I’ve talked to them and she was supposed to stay the night with Millie Carter. I’ve spoken to Millie and when Amy didn’t show up, she figured the girl had decided to stay home. Some wires got crossed somewhere, that’s all.”
And now Amy Jarvis was dead. And there was every chance that another person, or people, would wind up the same way. And she knew exactly who, or what, was killing them.
“Dad—“ she heard herself say, but then stopped and clamped her mouth shut.
Sam’s brows went low over his sharp blue eyes. “What is it, squirt?”
Lanie waffled, hard, for a second. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him so bad that she ached from it! But, even if he did believe her, which was up for debate because a piece of her still didn’t believe her, looking for the monster would get him killed. She knew. She’d seen…
“Squirt?” her dad urged, eyeing her as if he could tell she was hiding something from him. Or perhaps that was simply her own guilt and paranoia.
“N-nothing. It’s nothing,” she said, tossing her bag into the car so she could break eye contact for a second.
“Lanie, listen to me,” Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her so that she had to look up at him. “I can’t say too much right now, but there’s some really hinky stuff going on here. If you saw something, if you think you know something, you need to tell me.”
Dear God, she wished she could tell him. How much she wished she could tell him!
“If you saw someone in the park last night, even if it’s someone you know, someone you can’t believe would be responsible for doing something to hurt Stacy or Amy Jarvis, you need to tell me. Please,” Sam beseeched and Lanie suddenly knew that her dad thought she was in denial because she’d seen someone she was friends with standing over the body in the park. “It isn’t wrong to tell me the name of someone who’s going around doing…terrible things to young girls. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. No one will blame you.”
Again, she fought with herself. One little sentence. That was all it would take. But, what if her father wound up getting hurt? He was all she had. With her mom gone, Sam Bancroft was all she had left in the world. Was she willing to possibly sacrifice her father t
o save even one life?
“I don’t know who it was,” Lanie heard herself answer and immediately knew she was going straight to Hell.
A look of mild disappointment washed over Sam Bancroft’s features, but it quickly disappeared. “It’s alright, squirt. I believe you’d tell me if you could.”
Did he believe that? Because he shouldn’t. She was lying right to his face.
“Go back to school. I’ll see you this evening,” he said, ushering her into the car and then standing on the sidewalk until she’d started the engine and pulled away.
Halfway down the block from the Sheriff’s Station, Lanie knew she would not be going back to school that day. Even if it meant dealing with her father’s wrath later. There was no way she could sit through another four hours of classes with all the things going on inside her head. So, instead of retracing the route back to Fells Pointe High, she pointed herself in the direction of home, where she fully intended on going to her room, flinging herself onto her bed, and staying there until she was forced to get up.
She was tired. She was grumpy. The giant ball of guilt in her stomach was throbbing dully. She needed some aspirin because she had a splitting headache. And more than anything, she felt like she needed a moment to herself, without anyone else hanging around, so that she could sit down and just…sort things out. And maybe cry a little. Crying seemed like an appropriate response to the situation.
Lanie got herself home poste-haste, pulled into the driveway and cut the car engine. She did not sit in her car and ponder the best way to safely get into her house because she figured there was no best way other than to just do it. So, she grabbed her bag and flung the door open, jumping out and suddenly slamming into the hard wall of flesh and bone that had appeared right before her eyes. A terrified shriek erupted from her throat, but a hand clamped down over her mouth, stifling it before it made its way past her lips.
Oh God! Frederik had her! She was going to die!
CHAPTER TEN
That instantaneous thought had horror streaking painfully through her and her body fighting against the monster—the vampire—who wanted to sink his teeth into her throat. She was suddenly kicking and flailing, her fists flying and her body twisting and writhing in an effort to get away from the monster that had her in his clutches! She could not die this way! She would not die this way!
She would not have her own father investigating her murder!
A loud oomph! then a muffled umph! and a pained ergh! sounded out and there was a quick blur of movement that made her head spin and Lanie, unsure how it happened, found herself lying on the ground with a very stern and very pained, yet very handsome and very familiar, face hovering over her.
“Lanie, what are you doing! I’m not going to hurt you!” Kyle grumped at her, his hands biting into her shoulders.
It took several seconds for Lanie’s body to catch up to what her eyes were seeing, and in those several seconds she continued to buck and writhe and struggle to get away from Frederik, even though it clearly was not Frederik who was on top of her, pressing her into the grass.
“Lanie! It’s me! Stop fighting me! I’m not going to hurt you!” Kyle growled, but her self-defense classes came rushing back and a picture suddenly zipped through her mind and before she could stop herself, she jerked her head up off the ground, slamming her forehead right into the Kyle’s face.
The impact shot through her, blurring her vision and eliciting a loud growl of anguish from Kyle, whose weight suddenly vanished from her. Once the weight was lifted, Lanie’s mind seemed to catch up to the rest of her and after taking a second to blink away her double vision, she quickly rolled onto her side and pushed herself up off the grass, glancing around to find Kyle across from her, sitting on the top porch step with his head held back and his fingers pinching his nose closed.
The fear still shooting through her quickly dissipated and was replaced by a crushing wave of remorse. “Kyle! Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” she gasped, getting to her feet and rushing toward the porch where Kyle was sitting. “I-I…I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!”
Kyle looked at her while keeping his head tilted backward and his nose pinched shut. “It’d sure seebed like you beadt do,” he said to her, shaking his head as if he was greatly disappointed in her.
Lanie felt like a retch. “I’m really sorry! I-I thought you were…him. I-I panicked!”
“If thad was you padicking, I’d hate to see whad you’d do od purpose,” Kyle said sadly.
Lanie felt the sudden urge to cry. She’d never hit anyone before! Never! Sure, she’d gone through self-defense training, but she’d never actually hit someone! And now…she’d broken a very beautiful man’s nose!
With tears stinging at the backs of her eyelids, Lanie took hold of Kyle’s arm and tugged him up off the step. “Come on. I’ll…I’ll try to stop the bleeding,” she said, her words thick and watery.
Once Kyle was on his feet, Lanie darted over to the car, grabbed her bag from the ground where it was lying, slammed the door shut and hurried back to the porch, taking Kyle by the coat sleeve and fairly dragging him up the steps and over to the front door.
She struggled to dig out her keys and unlock the door, but as she stepped over the threshold, Kyle made an odd noise that stopped her. She turned to look up at him, standing just outside the door, head held backward, a look on his face that…caused Lanie’s heart to tear inside her chest.
“What’s the matter?” she asked him hoarsely, trying to keep the tears threatening her at bay.
A look akin to shame washed over his handsome features. “I can’d cobe inside.”
Lanie paused. She knew what he meant. Sort of. But, honestly, she wasn’t sure she believed him. After all, there was nothing at all stopping him. The door was wide open. But, there was something in his expression that stopped her from asking him to give her the proof she wanted. He was embarrassed. And she didn’t want to make it worse for him.
“You can come inside,” she said, as if she was inviting any of her friends into her house.
Kyle Vincent hesitated for a brief space before carefully putting one foot over the threshold and into the house. Nothing happened. Except that after a second, Kyle finished stepping inside the house.
And now that was over, Lanie closed the front door and then motioned for him to follow her. She quickly hurried across the entry way and up the stairs to her bedroom. Suddenly very aware of a very large presence right behind her, Lanie stepped into her room, noticing with a measure of horror that it wasn’t exactly as neat as it usually was, thanks to Johnna and Devyn. Moving across the space toward the bathroom, she completely ignored the pair of panties that were lying on her dresser because she’d pulled them out that morning and decided she’d rather wear a thong with her jeans. Maybe if she acted like they weren’t there, he wouldn’t see them either.
Once they made it into her bathroom, which again wasn’t as tidy as it usually was, she motioned for Kyle Vincent to have a seat on the chair in front of her vanity, which was shamefully cluttered with so much make-up it looked like a small horde of drag queens lived there. There was also a bra that did not belong to her to hanging from the mirror, which she also ignored in hopes that Kyle would do the same.
As Kyle made himself comfortable on the chair, which seemed two sizes too small for him, Lanie rushed over to the cupboard that housed her towels and things and grabbed up a couple of wash cloths and a hand towel and hurried to the sink to run all the stuff under the faucet. Back at Kyle, she took hold of his wrist and carefully pulled his hand away from his face, a little gasp escaping her as a small cascade of blood spilled down over his lips.
“Oh god! I-I really hurt you!” she cried, quickly pressing a wet cloth to his nose to try and staunch the flow, tears filling her eyes in spite of herself.
“I’ll be fide. I’b a fast healer,” he told her, reaching up to take hold of the cloth. But, as his large hand closed over hers, a little jolt went through her, catching her br
eath in her throat. His hand…she wasn’t prepared for his hand to feel…like that!
She took a fast step backward, but then forced herself to regain that step, hoping Kyle hadn’t noticed. “Do you think it’s broken? Sh-should I take you to the hospital?”
Kyle shook his head in answer. “I’ll be fide. A hospidal can’d do adythink for be.”
Discreetly removing her hand from beneath his, Lanie grabbed the wet hand towel from the sink and reached around Kyle, wrapping it around the back of his neck. “But, if it’s broken—“
“It’s nod broked,” he told her. “You couldn’d break one of by bodes.”
Lanie did not believe him. He sure was bleeding pretty good for someone she couldn’t hurt.
“It’ll stop bleedink id a mindute,” Kyle assured her with a half-smile.
Again, Lanie did not believe him. But, standing in such close proximity to such a staggeringly beautiful man, whose nose she had just possibly broken, was ever so slightly awkward and made her feel as though she could use a bit of air.
“Just sit here for a minute and I’ll be right back,” she told him, spinning on her heel and swiftly exiting the bathroom.
Once she was back out in her bedroom, she quickly made for the window to glance down onto the street, just to make sure her father wasn’t in sight. What a horrible scene it would be if he came home and found one of his suspects actually in his house, alone with his daughter. She shuddered just thinking of it.
Once she was sure the police cruiser wasn’t anywhere to be seen, she decided to at least try and make her bedroom look like it wasn’t inhabited by a disgusting pig, starting with grabbing her panties off the dresser and shoving them into the drawer. That bit done, she darted about, straightening the bed covers and grabbing up all the clothes scattered over the floor, again not hers, and tossed them all into the floor of the closet, firmly shutting the door. Noting there wasn’t much else she could do without drawing a lot of attention to what she was doing, she spun away from the closet…only to find Kyle Vincent standing in the middle of the room watching her with a slightly amused expression on his handsome face, which oddly enough, was no longer oozing blood.
Hunted Page 14