Blood Hunt

by Jessica Wayne

  Rage bubbles inside me, and I breathe deeply, trying to soothe the anger before I black out and do something stupid. Because right now, Elijah will take the brunt of whatever happens if I snap. “And she just poured all this out to you? A complete stranger?”

  “She told me the last time I saw her. Before I left for Prague and when she made me promise to watch out for you.”

  “I can’t believe she would hide that from me. That my family would lie to me like that.”

  “No one could know she was alive, Rainey. The shifter family hunting her—they were notoriously deadly.”

  “And you didn’t think this information was worth sharing with me earlier? So I could track them down?” Fury consumes me as the weight of my family’s secrets threaten to swallow me whole. “What if they’re the ones who killed her?”

  “They’re not.”

  “And how the fuck do you know?”

  “Because I tracked them down and eliminated the threat after she told me.”

  I blanch. “You killed them all?”

  “I did. Because I know better than most that secrets hidden in the dark will eventually make their way to the light, and I didn’t want to lose her due to something she had no control over.”

  “So you killed them,” I repeat.

  “I did.”

  “The young?”

  “There were only two young shifters in the pack, and they are still alive today. They live with another pack in Canada. I took them there myself.”

  Somehow, even through my anger—my grief—knowing he wouldn’t harm innocents solidifies the trust I’ve begun to feel when it comes to the vampire I was born to hate. If what he’s saying is true, the pack was gunning for my sister. But that doesn’t mean I can condone the murder of innocents.

  “You should have told me earlier.”

  “You wouldn’t have believed me.”

  “And who says I do now?”

  “If you don’t, we’re in the perfect place for you to seek the truth. Your sister did say this is where you’d find answers, so start looking.”

  32

  Rainey

  “Can’t sleep, either?” I ask as I step into the living room.

  Elijah glances up from the book he’s reading. “No.”

  “Do vampires even sleep?” I ask.

  Eyebrow raised, he nods. “You should know that by now. We did share a bed.”

  I swallow hard remembering the way his fingers felt kneading into my sore muscles as they stole away my pain. “Good point.” I cross the room and lift a text from the wall. After spending all day yesterday and all day today searching, the only thing I have is a massive fucking headache.

  “What are you reading?” I ask, walking over to curl on the sofa across from him.

  “Your family’s lineage.”

  “My lineage? Like, my family tree?”

  “Precisely.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can prove to you I’m not lying about Delaney.”

  “You stayed up to prove that to me?” I haven’t brought it up since he told me, unable to face what that truth makes me feel—completely fucking angry at myself for not being there when Delaney needed me.

  Had she ever tried to tell me? Had I turned her away? Made her feel like I didn’t care? Emotion wells up inside me, my throat constricting, so I swallow hard in an attempt to beat it back.

  “Why do you care if I believe you?”

  He glances up at me. “Because I need you to trust me.”

  Need. It strikes me then, as he says those words, how much I already do trust him. So much so, that I barely questioned his revelation. Something completely unlike me. I’ve trained myself to look at a situation from every possible angle—examining every possibility before deciding on the truth.

  But with Elijah, I believe that he would never mislead me.

  And that confidence I have in him is terrifying to someone with an untrusting heart like mine. He turns the page, scanning, then turning to the next.

  It gives me a moment to study him, to watch without his notice. Hair pulled back at the base of his neck, he looks so damned relaxed. More like a human you’d find at a peace rally—not a deadly vampire with more blood on his hands than any war ever waged against man.

  “Thank you.”

  He glances up. “I haven’t found anything yet.”

  “No, but you’ve saved my life multiple times now, you saved Delaney’s, and now you’re staying up late to find me some peace of mind. You claim you’re not a hero—and maybe you’re not—but I don’t see a villain when I look at you. And I’m pretty damn good at reading people.”

  Elijah smiles—for probably the first fucking time ever—and it’s so beautiful it’s blinding. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  “Don’t get used to it.” I wink and get to my feet again, needing to put some space between myself and this sappy-ass situation I’ve found myself in.

  I don’t do feelings—not like most people. I hate compliments, shrink away at the first sign of a sentimental moment—it’s just how I’m wired. How I’ve always been wired. Even when I was young, before tragedy struck my family, I handled myself differently. Almost as if I could shut that part of me out and throw away the key.

  Elijah’s presence appears behind me, and I know he’s blurred across the room. He’s so near I can feel his body warmth—the power radiating off of him. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end, my skin tingles in anticipation of his touch, but to my dismay, he keeps his hands to himself.

  I can’t figure out what I want with him, but I do know that if he came to me now—if he kissed me again—I’d be lost, and it would be fucking glorious.

  “I found something,” he says, his warm breath on my neck bathing my body in goosebumps.

  Turning, I take note of the book in his hands. He holds it out and I see a large tree that honestly reminds me of the one on his back. It spans both pages of the spread, and each line has names scrawled in elegant script.

  Elijah’s finger is pointing to my name directly beneath my parents. Delaney’s name is not beside mine as it should have been. And as I follow his trail to the set of people directly to the left of my parents, I see Delaney’s name nestled beneath.

  I swallow hard, damned emotion trying to claw its way to the surface once again as I take in the names of all of my ancestors…right up to Magnus Astor at the top. Conveniently, they left the name of the original witch off the page. “Thank you,” I say again as I meet his gaze.

  “You’re welcome.”

  We stand there before each other, the space between us snapping with sexual tension so potent it constricts the very air I’m breathing. Elijah closes the book and reaches around me, setting it on the shelf and putting his body closer to mine in the process.

  I breathe him in as I remember the way his mouth felt on mine. When I glance up at him, I nearly lose my ever-loving mind with the way he’s staring at me. Warmth pools between my legs, drenching the soft cotton of my underwear. Elijah’s nostrils flare, his pupils dilating, and I know he can sense it—sense me—what he does to my body.

  “You are intoxicating,” he groans and inhales deeply.

  “Am I?” I ask, honestly. I’ve been with men before, had sex, felt desire—but all of that combined pales in comparison to what Elijah makes me feel.

  “It’s a terrible thing,” he says, lifting a finger to trail through the thick strands of my loose hair.

  “Is it?” I’ve apparently lost the ability to speak in full sentences…so that’s great.

  He nods. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.” He steps toward me, placing both hands on the bookcase and caging me in.

  But here in his arms, I’ve never felt more free.

  “I—”

  Elijah leans in, trailing his nose over my throat, the gentle caress lighting fires along my skin and making the soft throbbing between my legs damn near painful. I clench my thighs togethe
r, trying to ease some of it.

  If he’d just touch me—

  “You know we could never…” he starts, but trails off.

  Wood crunches.

  “Why?” The word leaves my lips on a sigh, and Elijah is gone from me as quickly as he came, and with the distance, I finally see reason. We’re already being hunted—that much is true. But if a relationship bloomed between us—and word got out—there would be no safe place. No ally to stand and aid us.

  It would no longer just be the vampires after me. Hunters would come. They would kill everyone near us for the shot at being the one to put blades in our hearts.

  My chest aches for the passion I’ll never get to experience even as I know I shouldn’t want him as badly as I do.

  A shiver tears through me, and Elijah is back in front of me in a blur of movement, this time with the throw blanket off the back of the couch. He wraps it around my shoulders.

  “I want you, Rainey. But I would ruin you.”

  “I’m not as innocent as you seem to want to believe.”

  He chuckles darkly and tucks hair behind my ear. “There’s not an innocent thing about you, Rainey Astor. But you are good—light—and I am nothing but shadows.”

  “You aren’t as dark as you’d like to believe. But I do agree with you. Anything between us…” I trail off because I know how sour my next words are going to taste. “It would be a mistake.”

  “It would,” Elijah agrees. “Goodnight, Rainey.” He kisses my cheek and turns away from me. Once his door shuts, I relax and start to head for my room, stopping the moment I’m no longer directly in front of the bookcase.

  Reaching out with a shaking hand, I run my fingertips over the now cracked wood where Elijah’s hands were braced on either side of me—proof of his control.

  Even as I believe the words I said—that it would be a mistake—I can’t help but wonder.

  What would it be like if that control snapped?

  33

  Elijah

  “There’s nothing here.” Rainey groans and tosses the book she’d been reading to the coffee table. I don’t blame her. We’ve been at this for three days, and so far, we’re no closer than we were when we first arrived in this damned bunker. I glance around the library at the hundreds of tomes lining the walls. Most of the texts in the room seem to be historical, some chronicles from other hunters in her line.

  I can see why Grandmother Astor wished to keep these hidden and layered magic above. If these books fell into the wrong hands, it could be dangerous.

  Not just for hunters but for other supernaturals as well. I watch Rainey as she lifts the book and carries it back to the shelf. She replaces it and scans for another. The way she moves, the strength apparent in the way she carries herself despite everything she’s been through and discovered over the last few days—it’s addictive.

  But at least, the lust for her blood has dulled down to something manageable. Though, I worry it won’t ever fully fade. Not since I’ve tasted the fire. She faces me, so I quickly glance away and roll my shoulders.

  “Wait—”

  I look back up at her. “What?”

  “You’re a vampire.”

  “Yes, I thought we covered that.”

  “Aren’t you hungry?”

  I arch an eyebrow and shut the book I was scanning. “Not at the moment.”

  “But don’t you need blood? I’m not about to bring you a human to drain.”

  “First of all, I don’t drain humans. If I can’t get a blood bag, I drink animal blood, though admittedly that doesn’t serve me quite as long as human does.”

  “Why not?”

  “Something about the blood. Not like I’ve done a ton of research into it.”

  “Okay. I can bring you back an animal if I need to. But no bunnies.”

  I laugh and shake my head. “No bunnies,” I agree. We’ve been less at each other than normal the past few days, and the peace that’s settled between us has been nice.

  Rainey breathes a sigh of relief. “How often do you eat?”

  “I need to feed once every few weeks. The witch side of me makes it so I don’t need blood as often as most vampires.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Glad you think so.”

  Rainey sets her book down on the sofa but doesn’t sit beside it. “I think I’m going to go grab us some supplies. It’s nearing dinner time, and I’m starving. Plus, I’m tired of MREs, and I need some damned Skittles.”

  I stand. “I think you might have a problem.” She’d ripped into nearly every MRE in search of the elusive fruit candy and stolen every bag of them. I swear the woman could survive on Skittles alone.

  “It’s only a problem if I don’t get them. And you can’t go with me.”

  “No way in hell you’re going alone.”

  “The only way on and off this property is with my blood, and since that didn’t go all that well the last time, and we’ve since come to the conclusion that us fucking would be a terrible idea…”

  “I don’t believe I used the word ‘terrible’,” I interrupt.

  Rainey pins me with an amused glare. “I think it would be better if we avoid that particular ritual as often as possible.”

  “You can’t venture into Salem alone, Rainey. If someone recognizes you—what if the vampires who ordered your grandmother’s death are still here?”

  “I’m sure they are. But I haven’t been here since I was twelve, Elijah. The chances of someone recognizing me are slim to none at best.”

  Dread sinks in my gut like a pile of rocks. I know she’s capable, that the immediate threat is back in Billings, but that doesn’t mean it makes it any easier to consider sending her out alone. “I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t have to like it.” She grabs her jacket and shrugs into it.

  “You can’t even call if you need help. There’s no service down here.”

  “I’ll be fine, Elijah.”

  “And if you’re not?”

  “Then I guess you’re fucked since you won’t be able to leave.”

  A growl rips from my throat. “Not funny, Rainey.”

  “I’ll be back in an hour. If I’m not, feel free to try to leave anyway. Who knows? Maybe it won’t kill you.”

  She moves past me, and I grip her arm. When she turns to me, it’s not just anger in her eyes but something that beckons me. A monster reaching for the one within me.

  “Come back,” I tell her. “Don’t be an eejit.”

  She yanks her arm from my grasp. “I won’t. And if you grab me like that again, you’d damn well better be prepared to lose a fucking hand.”

  Watching her walk out the door is the hardest thing I think I’ve ever had to do. Especially knowing there’s not a damn thing I can do to save her if she runs into trouble.

  34

  Rainey

  The town is just the way I remember it. In fact, I’m pretty damn sure nothing has changed since Delaney brought me here for the last time right before I entered the Police Academy. Less than a month later, my grandmother was dead, and there was no reason for me to return.

  I stroll down the street, taking in the old houses, the way the leaves are changing colors to signify the coming of fall. It’s beautiful, that’s for damned sure, and the fresh air was much needed after spending nearly a week in the damned bunker.

  The grocery store is just ahead, so I pick up my pace. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I’m not back in an hour, Elijah’s going to try like hell to get out to come find me. It will probably kill him, but at the very least, it’s going to hurt like hell, and the idea of him suffering bothers me more than I care to admit.

  The last five days with him have actually been—dare I say it—pleasant. He’s typically up before me, prepping coffee, and pours me a mug without me even having to ask. Which is another reason I needed to get out. We’ve made a huge dent in the stock. Since my grandmother preferred tea to coffee, there was not much in the pantry, and I’m d
amned tired of the instant coffee from the MREs.

  A bell dings as I push open the door and step inside. After grabbing a basket, I start strolling through the aisles. The candy aisle is the first place I go, and I grab four large bags of Skittles. Don’t judge me, they’re my lifeblood. I’m pretty sure I’m more Skittles than woman at this point.

  Still, I have no shame.

  “Rainey Astor?”

  I turn at the sound of my name and meet the soft green gaze of an elderly woman I don’t immediately recognize.

  “It is you!” She claps her hands together. “I knew it was you!”

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  “Of course you wouldn’t remember me. I’m Doloris Taylor. Your grandmother and I were close.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” I remember her name, though I can’t say I ever met her. Which makes it even more uncomfortable that she knew me by sight. “What if someone remembers you?” I hate that he was right. “How did you know it was me?”

  “Your grandmother talked about you all the time. She showed us pictures right up to the end. She was so proud of you.”

  She reaches forward and pats my hand, the contact making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. A quick pinch of pain shoots through my hand and up my arm. I pull it back and study the flesh on the top of my hand. Nothing’s there, but something is wrong about her touch—something dark that has my adrenaline pumping, The Hunt surging in preparation for a fight. “It was nice to see you,” I say and start to walk away, but Doloris is not so easily ditched.

  “Are you staying on the estate?” she presses, trailing me down the aisle.

  “No, it was burned down.”

  “I knew that, so sad. I just wasn’t sure if perhaps you were rebuilding. Such a shame that the property is going to waste.”

  “We’re staying at a hotel.” The moment the word ‘we’ leaves my lips, I want to smack myself.

  “Oh! Is Delaney with you then? It’s been so long since I’ve seen her.”