Hunting the Dark

by Karen Mahoney

  His voice went low, silky with a sweet and sickening threat I had never heard when he spoke to me. ‘I said: Do. You. Understand?’

  ‘Yes,’ I replied, sullen. Fine. If it would make him happy, I would tell him what he wanted to hear. It was utterly clear that I needed to talk to the young hunter first – and if I was going to do that, I couldn’t risk Theo finding out about it. Not after I’d promised.

  Satisfied, Theo released me and spun away, stalking back down the stairs like the predator he was. He was on his way to speak with the gathered vampires below. Jason Murdoch’s name would be known to all of them, and that would only be the start of it. There would be a hunt through the city – but thanks to the approaching dawn, Jace might have the benefit of a head start.

  Theo turned back to me. ‘The boy is already dead, Moth. Better to forget him.’

  I pressed my shaking hands together and stayed where I was, preparing myself for what I was about to do: for the call that I had to make. I understood exactly what Theo was saying – and of course I got why he was saying it – but that didn’t mean I would sell Jace out. Mindlessly obeying my Maker was no longer at the top of my to-do list, not when he was acting so out of character. Not when he must have made a mistake about the splash of eau-de-Murdoch he’d supposedly detected outside Subterranean.

  I headed back down into the house, but I didn’t stop when a voice called out for me to stop. Holly. Well, she could bite me. I walked straight through the already open front door and banged it on my way out.

  Cool night drifted over me like a veil, and I blinked as my eyes turned silver-bright in the darkness. I felt more like myself. Clearer.

  I had to help Theo. But I also had to protect Jace. Somehow, I would do both things and still remain sane.

  I’m an optimist, what can I say?

  A cab drove past and I ran after it, waving my arms.

  Home. I slid into the backseat, trying to ignore the scent of Chinese food and humanity that surrounded me in the confined space.

  As we drove toward the North End apartment that I shared with Holly, all I could think about was the look on Theo’s face when he ordered the death of someone I had – perhaps unwisely – grown attached to.

  Perhaps? Right. There was no ‘maybe’ about it: however I felt about Jace (and I really and truly didn’t know what that was, most of the freaking time), I certainly didn’t want him dead. And especially not until I’d found out if Theo was right about him being near Subterranean in the first place. My Maker’s instincts were usually good, but this was a stretch even under normal circumstances.

  It’s true that I wanted Jace to be innocent, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t make it my business to find out for sure. What if my Maker wasn’t just imagining things? What if Jace really was responsible?

  But in the meantime, I needed to warn him that he was in danger. Innocent until proven guilty, right? I could only hope that Theo didn’t find out that I was planning to go behind his back, because that would definitely not end well.

  For any of us . . .

  Chapter Five

  Death Wish

  Two days passed with no word from Theo. Maybe I’d gotten away with what I’d done: a single phone call that could be the end of me.

  But on the third night I woke up and immediately knew I wasn’t alone in my room. My first thought was: Holly. But she and her girlfriend were at Theo’s. She and Alanya had already made up after their fight, and they were both now spending more and more time at the Master’s main residence in Boston.

  Gray light slipped through the gap in my curtains, and I could clearly see the outline of someone tall standing at the foot of my bed. My eyes took a fraction of a second to adjust to the gloom, and I realized that it must be close to dawn. I caught a scent – a very familiar one: warm sunlight and cold metal, along with a whisper of soap and mint.

  ‘Moth,’ the outline said. ‘Did you know that you snore?’

  Jace. I groaned. Why couldn’t my nose have been wrong?

  ‘What are you doing here? I took a huge risk calling you the other night, and your response to me telling you to “run like hell” is to turn up right where the monsters live?’

  ‘I was watching you sleep,’ he deadpanned. ‘Isn’t that considered romantic these days?’

  I snorted. ‘Creepy, more like.’

  I switched on the side light, more for his benefit than for mine. He looked as delicious as ever. A tall, nineteen-year-old almost-man – I could hardly call him a kid, but at the same time he sometimes displayed boyish qualities that reminded me of how young he still was. Lean muscle, spiky blond hair, and brown eyes I could drown in completed the picture. (Shut up. Sometimes a girl just can’t help herself.) The silver ring in his left eyebrow glinted. Jace was wearing his usual uniform of blue jeans, Chucks, and that stupid army jacket. The one that had caused all this trouble.

  I pounced before he knew what hit him, grabbing the collar of his jacket. ‘Take this off.’

  Jace tried to push me away. ‘If I’d known how you felt, I would have turned up in your bedroom way before now. Control yourself, woman!’

  ‘Off!’ I forced him to shrug out of the jacket, or have his arms ripped off along with the material.

  Jace lifted his T-shirt, revealing his toned abs. ‘You want this too?’

  Yes please . . . ‘No!’ I yelped. ‘Keep it on. I just want the jacket.’

  ‘What the hell for?’ Thankfully, he kept his clothes on and sat beside me on the bed as I searched the material for a missing piece.

  And there it was. Damn and double damn.

  I closed my eyes, trying to will the torn section of the army jacket to grow back. Opening one eye, I peeked at it and my shoulders slumped. No such luck. ‘What happened to this?’ I waved it in his face.

  Jace stood and put distance between us, looking at me like I was totally crazy. ‘What’s gotten into you? So, my jacket’s torn. So what?’

  ‘Do you realize that this incriminates you? Theo thinks you killed a very powerful vampire, and this places you right at the scene.’

  My voice was trembling. Please don’t let me be wrong about him, I found myself praying. I didn’t want Theo to go after Jace. I didn’t want to lose another human being that I cared about. I swallowed, thinking of my mom. Thinking of how Caitlín had been in such danger last year, thanks to my links to the vampire community.

  ‘Jace,’ I said, searching for the truth on his face. ‘Just tell me that you didn’t do it.’

  He ran a hand through his messy blond hair, blowing out a loud breath. ‘What happened to our truce? I thought we were friends now. Sort of.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘I thought that meant we trusted each other.’

  I did trust him . . . didn’t I? At least, I had until just recently. As much as a vampire can trust a supposedly reformed vampire hunter.

  Trying to sort through how I felt about him being here was . . . a challenge. For a start, he was in my apartment. My bedroom. He could have killed me and I may not have woken in time. Probably wouldn’t have done, because young vampires still need their sleep.

  I shivered.

  As though he could read my mind, Jace reached toward me. I just repressed my flinch in time as he tugged at one of my curls.

  ‘I wouldn’t hurt you,’ he said, his expression serious.

  I swallowed and quirked a shaky smile. ‘That’s not what you used to say.’

  ‘Things change.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, tossing the jacket in his face. ‘Apparently they do.’

  He caught it – barely – and scowled. ‘What is with you?’

  ‘Explain that.’ I pointed at the jagged tear in the material, clearly showing a small section of cloth was missing. ‘Tell me how Theo managed to find the missing piece of your jacket right where an Elder vampire was crossbow-staked. Right outside Subterranean.’

  ‘I can’t explain it.’

  ‘Because you don’t want to admit that you did it?’


  ‘No,’ he snapped. ‘Because I honestly don’t know how it got there. I didn’t even notice I’d ripped my jacket.’

  ‘Seriously, Jace, if you’re going to lie to me, why are you even here? You shouldn’t be anywhere near me right now.’

  His face moved into an indecipherable Jace-expression. ‘Yeah, because they’re out looking for me. I’m public enemy number one, right?’

  ‘Right.’ I nodded emphatically. ‘Do you have a death wish or something?’

  ‘Or something,’ he said, his gaze sliding away from mine again. ‘I needed to talk to you.’

  ‘So, talk.’ I gestured around the room. ‘There’s no one else here right now. I suppose most vamps wouldn’t think to look for you here, anyway.’

  ‘Apart from your Maker,’ he said.

  ‘Yes. Apart from him.’ I sighed. ‘I promised him that I wouldn’t do anything to warn you, and there’s no way he’d expect me to lie about it.’

  Jace nodded, almost absent-mindedly.

  I scowled. ‘You owe me, Murdoch. I’m risking a lot for you.’ And I don’t even know why, I thought. I could almost bring myself to believe that.

  Almost . . . but not quite.

  For the first time, I realized how exhausted he looked. Dark shadows hovered beneath his eyes and he hadn’t shaved in what looked like days. All the teasing and joking around couldn’t hide the fact that he was in bad shape.

  His shoulders slumped. ‘Can I sit down?’

  ‘Sure.’ I cleared the chair for him before sitting on the end of my bed. ‘Do you want anything to drink? There’s coffee. I can put on a fresh pot.’

  ‘Thanks, but I can’t stay long. I’ve been followed for the past two nights, and tonight was the first time I actually managed to shake them.’

  My stomach clenched. ‘How do you know you shook them off? They might be outside.’

  I jumped up again and pulled the curtain aside so that I could scan the street below. Everything seemed normal, for the middle of a Tuesday night – as in, everything seemed quiet – but I didn’t trust that for a second. What about that drunken guy who was wandering across the street at the end of our little corner of North End? He might be a vampire, or possibly a human spy coerced by Theo to keep watch on me.

  Because, even though my Maker had insisted otherwise, he hadn’t believed me when I said I had no love for Jason Murdoch.

  I bit my lip and let the curtain drop. Turned back to Jace and folded my arms across my chest.

  ‘You shouldn’t have come here,’ I repeated. ‘Why didn’t you just call me like a normal person?’

  He held my gaze, an extremely trusting thing to do considering what I was. ‘Because I wanted to look you in the eyes when we talked. I wanted you to believe me when I told you that I had nothing to do with that vampire lady’s death.’ He sighed, leaning back in the chair and clearly trying to relax. His left foot tapped a steady beat on the floor.

  ‘And—?’ I prompted.

  He smiled, but the expression looked pained. ‘And I wanted to see your face too. See if you looked like you might give me up to your boss. To Theo.’

  ‘Why would I do that when I warned you about him?’

  ‘He has influence over you. That trumps everything, when it comes down to it.’

  ‘I wouldn’t betray you,’ I said quickly.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Really,’ I repeated. ‘Like you said, things change.’

  ‘You don’t owe me anything,’ he said. He stated it as a fact, as though it didn’t bother him, but I could see the worry in his eyes. He was scared, but trying his best to hide it.

  ‘That’s true,’ I said, trying to lighten the mood. ‘In fact, if I remember rightly you said that you owed me.’

  ‘I figured you’d remember that.’

  ‘Of course,’ I agreed. ‘Vampires have excellent memories. Like elephants.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘Elephants?’

  I dug my hole deeper. ‘Sure. Just like them.’

  ‘You’re sort of crazy, you know that – right?’

  ‘Which is exactly why you should believe me when I tell you that I won’t betray you. Only a crazy person would say that and mean it.’

  He laughed, the sound exploding into the near silence of the apartment and making me jump. I curled my bare feet under me and waited for him to say something else, but he just sat there watching me, his dark eyes glittering in the half-light of the room.

  ‘The thing is,’ I said slowly, ‘I’m mostly sure that you didn’t kill Nicole. It’s that simple. And if you didn’t do it, then we need to figure out who did and why they would want to frame you for it. That might be enough to get Theo off your back. So, come on, help me out here . . . who would plan to hunt an Elder vampire in plain sight? Who has a grudge against you – or against your father?’ Internally, I rolled my eyes. The list could be endless.

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

  I scowled at him. ‘It’s all well and good coming to me for help, but you have to give a little in return. If you haven’t already forgotten, your life is on the line. There’s no point in covering for someone in your dad’s line of work.’

  ‘I’m not.’ His voice had risen, but I didn’t care how mad he got. This was important and we needed to deal with it.

  ‘Jace . . .’

  ‘I mean it, Moth. I’m not covering for anyone. Actually, I’m more concerned with how someone got close enough to me to rip into my jacket without me even knowing it.’

  ‘You might not have been wearing it at the time.’

  He smirked.

  ‘Stop it. I just meant that you could have left it at home and whoever it was broke in. Got to it that way.’

  ‘That’s not exactly reassuring.’

  ‘Forget the stupid jacket, Jace. If you’ve been framed, let’s talk about the hunters you know who might want to start killing super-powerful vampires. Who are you protecting?’

  He stood so suddenly I didn’t realize he was moving until he was standing over me. I forced myself not to flinch as he looked down on me fiercely.

  ‘Moth, why would I protect any of those guys? None of them gave a shit about my dad being dead. Well, apart from Quinn.’

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘And Quinn is . . .?’

  ‘Dad’s partner from waaay back in the day, but he’s been unable to hunt properly for years.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What happened to him?’

  ‘He almost died. A hunt left him . . . injured. Let’s just say it was career-ending.’

  I stared at him, wondering whether to push the matter further. Theo would love a name and I had one: Quinn. Maybe this would take his attention off Jace, even for a day or two. And anyway, so what if this dude Jace mentioned really was too injured to fight – that didn’t mean much. He might have friends helping him. A scapegoat could be useful.

  ‘Quinn’s his last name?’ I asked, trying (and probably failing) to look innocent.

  Jace glared at me. ‘I told you, it’s not him. Even if he wanted to take a shot at an Elder, even if he was capable, he certainly wouldn’t throw me to the wolves. Seriously, there’s no way he’d frame me. Why can’t you just let it go?’

  ‘I’m trying to help you, Jace. Why do you think I can’t “let it go”?’

  ‘I’m not ratting out a friend of Dad’s just to save my own skin.’

  ‘So you admit that this Quinn could have something to do with Nicole’s death?’

  ‘No,’ he said, his voice ultra-calm and even more dangerous-sounding than I’d ever heard it before. ‘He lost a leg and can barely get around because he refuses to wear the prosthetic the hospital fitted for him. Mostly he’s on crutches or in his wheelchair. Do you really think he’s riding a motorcycle with a crossbow strapped to his back?’

  ‘He could have hired someone.’ I jutted out my chin.

  ‘Oh, you mean someone like me? I wouldn’t go after a vampire as old as Nicole. She’d rip me to pieces. I don�
��t know why your Maker is so intent on my having something to do with it.’

  ‘She was shot at distance,’ I said. ‘It was cowardly but effective.’

  ‘I’m not a coward,’ he snapped. ‘I face my enemies.’

  I couldn’t resist a tiny smile. ‘Being modest, Jace? I’m not sure it suits you.’

  ‘I’m being honest. No matter what everyone seems to think, I’m not my father.’

  ‘No,’ I replied, my tone bleak. I couldn’t help remembering what Theo had said. ‘No, you’re not. But you are your father’s son.’

  He walked away from me and over to the window, putting distance between us. He looked outside, being careful not to move the curtain more than a fraction. After a whole minute had ticked by, he turned to face me. ‘It wasn’t me, Moth. A minute ago you said you believed me.’

  ‘I know, but you’re not telling me something. It doesn’t feel right.’ Why was I starting to doubt him? I didn’t like the way he was covering for this Quinn guy, for a start.

  Without a moment’s hesitation he grabbed my hand and drew it to his chest, holding it there against his heart. ‘What about this?’ he asked. ‘Does this feel right?’

  I froze, wondering whether I should push him away – only really wanting to pull him against me. I kept my mouth firmly shut.

  ‘You can hear my heart beat, can’t you?’ He continued to watch me, and I saw a flicker of . . . something . . . in his eyes. I didn’t want to think too hard about what that expression might mean. It made me want things – epically impractical things – things that I could never have. A normal life: college, boyfriends . . .

  Kissing.

  If my heart really could beat again, I mean properly, not just an echo of humanity, it would have been pounding uncontrollably with the feel of his chest beneath my fingers.

  Jace wrapped his other arm around me and drew me closer to him. ‘Can’t you tell whether I’m lying or not?’

  I caught my breath: an unconscious habit that I still hadn’t managed to break. ‘I’m not a walking lie detector,’ I muttered. My free hand went to his hip, prepared to push myself away if things got too weird. I was stronger than Jace. If I didn’t want to be standing right where I was, I wouldn’t be standing there. It was really that simple. But with one of his hands pressed against my lower back, and the other holding my own hand against his chest, I couldn’t honestly think of a better place to be. Not right in that moment.