“I-I couldn’t te—“
“Those girls that were killed, the one outside killed them, right?” Johnna went on, still sounding accusatory. “And he’s been after you, hasn’t he! He was the person you saw in the park! And your friend, the bum from The Pub, has been trying to keep him away from you!”
Lanie was astounded by Johnna’s accuracy. If watching teen vampire movies honed a person’s perception to this extent, she was shocked that every vampire roaming the earth hadn’t already been discovered!
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
“What does the one outside want?” Johnna questioned, flinching as another reverberation echoed through the house. “Does he want to kill you or does he want you for…something else?”
“Something else, I think,” Lanie answered hoarsely, not quite at ease with how quickly her friend was coming to grips with the situation.
“Where’s your friend at right now?” Johnna asked, beginning to pace, her hands nervously fiddling with the little canister she was still holding. Lanie only then realized that it was a can of Mace.
Lanie shook her head, trying not to let her worry over Kyle overwhelm her. “I-I don’t know. He was taking me home and Frederik…blindsided us.”
Johnna considered that for a moment. “So, how do we kill him?” she asked, a serious expression on her face.
“We can’t,” Lanie answered. “We don’t have the right…weapons. Kyle has them.”
Johnna let out a sudden gasp, her already wide eyes going even wider. “Lanie! My parents are at a meeting at the Town Hall! Everyone went there to see what the Mayor’s doing about finding the killer, but they’ll be back! What if he’s still out there when they come home? What if he…what if he…”
Lanie didn’t know what to say to that. This wasn’t like it was in Johnna’s books or movies. People had died and people were probably going to continue to die. And if Johnna’s parents got in the way, they might die, too.
Another reverberation shook the house and Johnna bit back another scream. “What do we do! I can’t let him hurt my parents!” she exclaimed, panicked now.
Lanie felt a surge of tears hit her hard. She had no idea what to do. Maybe if she’d read more of Johnna’s terrible vampire novels, she’d have an inkling. But, at the moment, she had nothing!
The house reverberated again and Lanie heard herself let out a shriek. She knew Frederik couldn’t get into the house, but it sounded as if he might figure out a way at any second.
Lanie stood in an agony of indecision. But, another reverberation echoing through the house had her mind lurching into action, searching for options. She couldn’t make a run for it. Frederik would have her two seconds after she stepped out the door. She couldn’t call for help. He might kill anyone who came and no one could help her anyway. As long as she and Johnna were inside the house, they were safe, but how long would he wait out there? Johnna’s parents would eventually come home and then…Frederik might kill them. Or force them to invite him inside so he could get to her.
There was only one option that she could see. She had to get out of Johnna’s house. If she wasn’t there, Frederik wouldn’t be either and Johnna’s parents would be safe. And there was only one place she knew for certain that no one would be coming home to. She had to get to her house. Somehow.
However, she lived four streets away. That was no short distance, especially not with a vampire who could move faster than lightning chasing after her.
“What should we do?” Johnna questioned, sounding choked.
“I have no idea,” Lanie answered, wondering why Johnna kept asking her. Wasn’t Johnna the vampire expert!
A sharp gasp suddenly flew out of the girl and Lanie could see a light bulb go on inside her head. But, a thought flashed through Lanie’s mind, too, one that had her leaping forward to clamp a hand down over Johnna’s mouth.
“He can hear us!” she mouthed the words to her friend, whose eyes were as enormous as saucers.
Johnna nodded her understanding and spun around on her heel, exiting the room with Lanie right behind her. They made their way to the back of the house and into the den, where Johnna pointed to the large, glass fronted gun cabinet sitting next to the window.
Johnna’s father was an avid weapons collector, and luckily, he’d taught Johnna how to use them. Lanie, being the daughter of the town sheriff, was also well versed in how to use firearms. In that moment, Lanie didn’t see any good reason why they shouldn’t riddle Frederik with bullets. Maybe it would slow him down enough to let her get away from Johnna’s house. That was all she needed. Just enough time to get away from Johnna’s house so that the girl’s family would be safe. Johnna didn’t deserve to lose the people she cared about. This had nothing to do with Johnna.
As her friend hurried to her dad’s desk to retrieve the key to the gun cabinet, Lanie shot across the room to pull the curtains closed, not wanting Frederik to get a look at what they were doing.
Johnna opened the large case, which held at least twenty different handguns and rifles and quickly pulled out a .38 snub nose revolver, handing it to Lanie with a trembling hand. The small, weighty chunk of steel was cold to the touch. She pulled out a 9mm pistol for herself and then unlocked the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet and pulled out two boxes of ammunition, handing one to Lanie.
Lanie knew her way around a handgun and she had the cylinder open and the bullets loaded within a few seconds, despite her unsteady hands. Once she had the six bullets in place, she pushed the cylinder closed and turned to Johnna, who was finishing loading the clip of her 9mm. She shoved the clip into the pistol and locked it into place before turning her gaze to Lanie.
“What’s the plan?” Johnna questioned without voice, perhaps suddenly a bit too comfortable with the situation.
“I have to get to my house,” Lanie mouthed her answer.
“Do you think bullets will kill him?” Johnna asked.
“No. But, they might slow him down so I can get out,” Lanie stated.
“But, he’ll come after you!” Johnna argued, viciously shaking her head.
“I don’t care! I have to leave before your parents come back!” she said, being as clear as she could without using her voice.
“Well, I’m coming with you!” Johnna put in.
“No way! You have to stay here!” Lanie denied.
“You know that’s not going to happen!” was Johnna silent retort. Lanie opened her mouth to argue, but Johnna held up a hand to stop her. “I’m coming! Deal with it!”
Was Johnna insane! Had she not figured out this wasn’t one of her movies! “You could die!”
“I’m not letting you go out there alone!” Johnna shot back, her large eyes suddenly filling with tears.
Lanie’s eyes welled up, too, and for a long moment they just stared at one another. Another reverberation echoed through the house and they both jumped, causing a little shriek to burst out of Johnna. There was no time to argue. She had to get Frederik away from Johnna’s house! Now!
“Let’s go!” Johnna mouthed, efficiently pulling back the slide of her pistol, cocking it. The metallic sound of the bullet being chambered seemed to explode through the quiet room. “Aim for the kill zones,” Johnna ordered and Lanie, still thinking her friend seemed a bit too at ease for the circumstances, nodded her understanding.
The kill zones, on an ordinary human, were the heart and the head. In this case, though, the most they could hope for was a slight delay rather than an instant death.
Lanie pulled in a breath and they both left the den, a little part of her not actually wanting to believe that she was armed and preparing to actually shoot another living being. Her conscience didn’t seem to care that the being was a monster dead set on sinking his teeth into her. A monster that had probably killed her aunt.
Making their way back through the house, they stopped just outside the foyer, quickly formulating their plan of attack and then paused, regarding one another for the space of a few seconds.
Lanie felt sickness and fear washing over her, making her tremble from the inside out. And she could tell that Johnna was feeling the same. Scared and sick. Which is probably how they should have felt because firing bullets into a man, despite the fact that he was a vampire, was a horrifying thought. This was not something that two seventeen year old girls were naturally equipped to deal with. But, another reverberation sounding through the house reminded Lanie that these were not normal circumstances.
If she didn’t get out of the house, more people were going to die.
Fighting the sickness and numbing adrenaline buffeting her, Lanie lurched into motion, moving across the foyer on weak, unsteady legs. As they had worked out, she went to the front door and took hold of the deadbolt, sliding it backward before taking hold of the doorknob.
Johnna was right there next to her and as Lanie turned the knob, they both lifted their weapons. Frederik was unbelievably fast. They would have only a split second before he realized what they were doing.
Trying to fight the urge to be throw up, Lanie swallowed the lump in her throat and jerked the door open before she changed her mind. For an instant, there was nothing outside the door but the empty front porch and the darkness beyond. And then Frederik was there, his large frame filling up the doorway, his ashen face enraged and his blood red eyes wild. He opened his mouth to speak, but his gleaming red eyes fell on the two handguns that were leveled at him.
Lanie couldn’t say who fired first or whose bullets were striking what. The air just suddenly exploded in a deafening barrage of gunfire and Lanie watched, almost disconnected from the scene, as Frederik’s body lurched backward from the point blank impact of the rounds that were striking him.
Lanie could feel the recoil from her .38 jarring her bones, but she continued to pull the trigger, watching as the man in the doorway was sent reeling. And then a dull, repulsive thunk sounded out and Frederik’s body went stiff and his eyes went wide. A second later a rivulet of dark red blood cascaded down the center of his ashen face and it took Lanie a stalled second to understand the blood was coming from the large, round hole in the center of Frederik’s forehead. And then Frederik toppled backwards onto the porch like a felled tree.
Lanie stopped squeezing the trigger, hearing a loud sound through the ringing in her ears. A sound that brought her gaze around to Johnna, who was standing with her weapon still raised and a blood curdling scream pouring out of her.
Not knowing how long Frederik would be lying on the front porch, Lanie’s mind jolted her body into action. She spun around and took off through the house, making for the back door.
Four streets. She only had to make it four streets over and everything would be okay.
“Is he dead!” Johnna cried out, appearing beside Lanie as she reached the kitchen door and threw the deadbolt back.
“No!” she shouted her answer, jerking the door and open and shoving through the screen.
Four streets. Four streets over and she could take a minute to figure out what to do next.
They hit the backyard running, knowing the shortest way between the houses because they’d taken it a hundred times when they were kids. They raced through the familiar backyards, shooting across the dark and empty streets, and flying through the maze of sidewalks, their footfall echoing through the night
One more street! One more street and they would be safe!
Tearing down Butler Street with her lungs burning like cinders and her heart aching inside her chest, Lanie thought she heard that sound again, that sound of thunder rumbling from far away.
Oh God! Frederik was coming!
Lanie wanted to scream at Johnna, to tell her to get away, that Frederik was coming, but she didn’t have the breath in her lungs!
Oh God! Frederik was coming and Johnna was going to die!”
There wasn’t time to do anything but keep running because the footsteps were gaining on them with every passing second. A choked sob managed to burst out of Lanie’s searing chest. They could not out run Frederik! And now they were both going to die!
“Lanie!” Johnna screamed out and spun around, firing her gun with a blast that echoed off the houses and lit up the night with a sudden burst of fire.
There was an anguished growl that caused something dreadful to slice through Lanie and she slammed to a halt and whipped around, her eyes falling on something that tore a strangled shriek out of her that sounded almost as loud as the blast from the 9mm.
Lying in a heap on the asphalt was not Frederik, but Kyle.
“Kyle!” Lanie screeched and bolted back down the sidewalk, dropping to her knees when she reached Kyle.
Kyle was groaning and clutching at his chest, and even in the dim light Lanie could see the dark blood flowing from between his fingers. “Damn! Your friend shot me!” he bit out, his handsome twisted in agony
“I-I’m sorry!” Johnna cried as she appeared beside them. “I thought you were him!”
“Where is he!” Kyle spat out the question through clenched teeth.
“We…we left him on Johnna’s porch! We-we shot him!” Lanie answered in a ragged, breathless voice.
Kyle was struggling to sit up, then. “Bullets won’t kill him!” he growled as both Lanie and Johnna grabbed an arm to try and help him to his feet.
“They stopped him long enough for us to make it this far!” Johnna argued as Kyle righted himself.
“Bullets won’t keep him down for more than a few seconds!” Kyle said, deftly snatching each weapon from them and stuffing them into the waist band of his jeans. In one swift movement, he pulled two large canisters from beneath his coat and thrust one at each of them. “If he gets close, hit him in the face with this! It’ll keep him off you!”
Lanie and Johnna each took a canister and Kyle then pulled out his crossbow, the jewel like shard loaded into it glinting in the low light. Seeing that brought a sharp gasp out of Johnna.
“If he comes after us can’t you kill him with that!” she demanded angrily. “You are a vampire, aren’t you! I mean, you can take him out!”
“I’m half vampire!” Kyle shot back. “And I can’t kill him!”
That professed, he ushered them both forward up the street at a brisk run, still clutching at his chest with his free hand and grimacing in pain.
“What the hell do you mean you can’t kill him!” Johnna snapped as they wheeled around the corner and onto Rosetree Lane.
“I’ve tried! And I just…can’t!” Kyle barked at the girl. “I can shoot him, but I can’t let myself kill him!”
Oh my god. They were all dead.
“Well, give me the crossbow! I’ll shoot his ass!” Johnna growled, sounding disgusted.
“You aren’t fast enough, girl!” Kyle growled back. “You’d be dead before you even pulled the trigger!”
“It doesn’t matter! We’re almost there!” Lanie shouted at them.
They were so close to her house! They were only half a street away!
Lanie knew a moment of wild elation when it dawned on her that they were going to make it. They were going to make it! And that’s when Lanie heard the sound of thundering footsteps in the distance.
Oh God! Frederik!
“He’s coming!” Kyle snarled and suddenly an arm was wrapping around Lanie’s waist and she was lifted off her feet.
The next second he had an arm around Johnna and was racing them the rest of the way up the street. Kyle shot them through the front gate and then he was taking the front steps in one long stride. They reached the front door of the house and he didn’t stop to bother with opening it, but lifted his boot and slammed it against the door, sending it flying off its hinges and backward into the house with a deafening crash.
Without pausing he practically tossed Lanie and Johnna over the threshold and into the entryway, where they both landed on their hands and knees just as a loud snarl split the air and Kyle was ripped backwards into the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Lani
e let out a shriek and jumped to her feet, Johnna right beside her. She saw Kyle lying in a heap at the bottom of the steps and then he was blocked out by the towering form of Frederik suddenly looming in the doorway. There was blood staining his ashen face and his eyes were so filled with rage they looked like two rubies that had been lit on fire.
The bullet hole was still there in his forehead, a gaping reminder that Frederik could not be killed so easily.
“Come out to me!” Frederik barked in deep, gravelly voice that shook Lanie from the inside out.
Jarred, Lanie abruptly remembered the large can she was still clutching. As one, she and Johnna lifted the canisters, squeezed the handles and sprayed arcs of water right into Frederik’s enraged face. An ear piercing, guttural scream erupted from Frederik, there was a massive plume of smoke and then…he was gone as swiftly as a shadow flickering through the darkness.
There was no thought as Lanie let her canister clatter to the floor, bolted out the door and down the steps to Kyle, who was still crumpled on the walkway, still clutching his crossbow in his hand. Johnna was right next to her and they both took an arm, both heaving with all their might to pull him up the steps. He was so heavy they could barely manage it, yet somehow they did, both of them heaving and straining until they finally hauled him across the porch and over the threshold into the house. Once they were all three safely inside, she and Johnna both fell to their knees, huffing and panting from the effort.
“Is he dead?” Johnna asked hoarsely.
Breathing hard, Lanie looked down at Kyle, fighting the urge to watch for the rise and fall of his chest. He had no breath, no heartbeat. She had no idea how to check to see if he was still alive or not. Other than bullet hole and the blood staining his shirt, there was no sign that anything was wrong with him. He looked perfect, peaceful. As if he was just sleeping.
But, there wasn’t a stake through his heart and his head was still intact, so she was going to believe that he was okay.
“Let’s get him away from the door,” she said, and both she and Johnna again grabbed an arm and heaved Kyle through the foyer, past the front door which was now lying on the floor in front of the stairway, and into the living room.
Hunted Page 29