Hunter

by Adrianne Lemke

  I frowned, and paused at the top step glancing at him quizzically. “No, I did not kill them. I simply watched until they left, and then took over their home. Their paid house sitter, on the other hand… well, I needed to be able to use the place without being reported. The cops haven’t found him yet. Now keep moving.” He waved the gun again, and I continued to the upstairs hallway. Every so often I glanced at the pictures on the walls, and hoped he was being truthful about leaving them alive.

  We walked to a closed room at the end of the hall, and he reached around me to open the door. My relief at seeing Hannah and Sam, unharmed, sitting on the bed, was immense. I wanted to run to them and examine every inch to make sure they were completely untouched. The hunter derailed that thought when he grabbed my arm and steered me into the corner opposite the bed near the closet.

  Hannah and Sam sat up straight on the bed, and stared wide-eyed as the man took a length of rope out of the closet and tied my feet together tightly. He then made me sit on the floor. “You guys okay?” I looked around him to see them nodding.

  “We’re okay, Jason,” Sam assured me.

  “Enough,” Hunter snapped, holding the gun to my forehead. “You can catch up in a few moments. For now, you will sit here quietly and wait for me to make you secure. I need to get some things from the hall. If anyone speaks while I’m gone, I will shoot one of you. Oh, and Jason?” I looked at him past the gun he still held in my face. “Any attempt to use your abilities, and I think you know what will happen. So, just be patient, okay?”

  My throat felt a little dry as I nodded slightly, trying to avoid further pressure from the gun barrel. He patted my cheek. “Good boy. I’ll be right back.”

  He left the room and I sat silently. Every so often I glanced over at the bed, where Hannah looked terrified and Sam looked furious. I gave them a slight smile, trying to assure them that I was okay. From the frowns and raised eyebrows, I don’t think they bought it.

  True to his word, Hunter was back quickly with some tools and a large metal ring. He held a drill and a stud finder. Before long the ring was solidly in place in the wall. He even pulled on it to double check. “Get on your knees,” he ordered, and I realized what the ring was for. If I knelt, it would be at neck height, and he would be tying me to it by the collar already around my neck. It was a position I wouldn’t be able to stay in for long, and if he didn’t give it enough slack… I could choke myself.

  Hesitation, as I should have learned from my experience when he put me in the trunk, was not my friend. Once again, he pressed the control button. I screamed as the electricity flowed through my body. At least I tried. Not much noise escaped as the current temporarily paralyzed my vocal cords. I vaguely heard Hannah and Sam in the background, yelling at him to stop. When he finally did, I lay panting in a heap on the floor. My body shook, and I gasped for air. I was really beginning to hate this guy, and almost hoped to be given the opportunity to take him out.

  He waited with odd patience as I caught my breath. Once I was a little steadier, he spoke again. “Get on your knees, Jason.”

  Getting to my knees with my hands behind my back and feet tied together was not easy, but since I was trying to do what he said, he spared me the electricity. Eventually, he grabbed my arm and levered me up. He tied a length of thin rope, or some kind of strong cord, to the ring in the wall and looped it through the collar. I could sit on my feet, but changing position otherwise would not be an option.

  I stared at the floor, trying to quell the rise of nausea. Being electrocuted twice in such a short time was rough on the system. In an unusual show of concern, Hunter held a glass to my lips. “Take a drink,” he said almost gently. “It should help you feel less shaky.”

  The water tasted odd, but it did help the nausea a little. I rested back toward the wall, still keeping my gaze on the floor. “I’ll be back in a little while. You can have more water then,” our captor said. “Feel free to visit now.”

  I glared at him as he left the room. I hadn’t wished for someone’s death so hard since Trevor Mason. I didn’t even want Kindred dead as badly. At least the assassin knew to leave my little brother alone. “Jason?” Sam’s voice was shaky, and drew my gaze toward him.

  “I’m okay, kiddo.” My voice was scratchy. Based on the doubtful look on his face, I wasn’t overly convincing.

  Hannah shook her head. “You don’t have to lie, Jason. We saw what he did to you. So tell us the truth, are you okay?”

  Sighing, I dropped my head, bringing it up sharply when the rope dug into my neck. “No,” I said truthfully. “No, I am not okay. And I’m feeling a little woozy.” The room was blurring a bit, and I felt myself leaning forward again.

  “Jason!” Hannah called sharply, trying to reach me from her spot on the bed. Stretching, she was able to graze my forehead with her fingers. “You need to lean back toward the wall, or the rope will choke you. There must have been something in the water. Lean back!”

  Finally understanding what she meant, but still hesitant to lean away from even the barest touch, I slowly moved backward. I got as close to the wall as possible before the weakness settled in completely. “I’m all right,” I slurred.

  “Okay,” Hannah said. “Hunter probably just wanted to make sure you could be safely handled. He hasn’t used drugs on Sam or me, and you don’t seem to be losing consciousness. Sam, is Hunter nearby?”

  I wanted to ask how Sam would know, but Sam shook his head. “It seems like he’s downstairs. Not far, but enough that he can’t hear us. Why?”

  “Jason, can you concentrate enough to use your power?”

  “Nah,” I shook my head slightly. “Would bring the house down on us if I tried.”

  Sam winced. “Yeah, not a great idea. From a second floor he wouldn’t have much control even under the best circumstances. Drugged and upset, he would almost definitely knock down the whole house on top of us.”

  “Right.” Hannah was sitting on the bed again, but seemed ready to jump up if I threatened to move forward and choke myself again. “So what can we do?”

  “He’s winning,” I said, closing my eyes. “He has my powers and a gun. He’s very confident.”

  “Jason, you’re a genius!” Hannah exclaimed. Opening my eyes again, I raised my eyebrows curiously. “Overconfidence! If he is too confident, he could start to make mistakes.”

  Snorting, I shook my head, swallowing back a resurgence of the nausea. “He hasn’t made many so far.”

  FIFTY-THREE

  Sam

  Even without using my additional senses, Jason’s feeling of defeat was obvious. As soon as I saw the collar around his neck, the cause of his surge of fear and pain earlier was clear. I wanted to kill Hunter for making my brother go through this again. Jason seemed unable to think past the drugs and pain in order to understand what Hannah was saying. He definitely wasn’t with it enough for me to explain my abilities to him, which was my plan once I knew Hunter caught Jason.

  “Okay, Hannah,” I said. “I get what you’re saying, but there is no guarantee that extra confidence will give us any kind of advantage.”

  She shook her head adamantly. “Overconfidence is a weakness. At the very least, it’s worth a try.”

  Shaking my head at the long shot, I agreed. “Okay. It’s worth a shot.”

  After agreeing to her plan, there was no point in waiting. I closed my eyes, ignoring the sluggish flow of fear and angst coming from my brother, in order to focus on the more sadistic glee coming from Hunter. His confidence level was already high, so dialing it up took almost no effort on my part. Neither of us was surprised when we heard his footsteps clomping up the stairs only a few minutes later.

  Hunter swaggered in, looking like the cat that caught the canary, and sent a smug smile in the direction of my drugged and traumatized brother. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that conceited look off his face, and hoped the plan would work well enough to do so.

  “I’ve decided to be generous today.” T
he cockiness in his voice made me want to punch him, but both Hannah and I sat up slowly. We wanted to pay close attention to what he was about to say. He knelt by Jason, tapping his cheek to get his attention. “Jason, you need to pay attention to this part,” he said in a sing-song voice.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have drugged him then,” Hannah sneered quietly.

  Hunter glared at her, but otherwise ignored the interruption, waiting while Jason blinked sluggishly up at him from his kneeling position. “What?” he managed to hiss, and I was proud of my brother’s ability to still show his contempt for the man holding us captive.

  “Like I said, I’m going to be generous.” Hunter pointed at Hannah and me, and continued. “I’m going to let you choose.”

  Even drugged, Jason understood what Hunter was saying more quickly than I. “I won’t let you hurt either of them,” he spoke slowly but with force, showing the truth of what he said.

  “You can choose, or they both die. Pick one to set free, and one for me to hunt. It’s up to you. I’ll give you a few minutes to decide.”

  Hannah and I exchanged a look as Hunter left the room. Jason should pick Hannah to be set free. I have no idea what the limit to my manipulation abilities are, but using it against Hunter would be easier if we remained in close proximity. Looking away from Hannah, I tried to get Jason’s attention. His gaze was aimed at the floor as if contemplating what would happen if he just let himself drift forward enough to choke. “Jason!” I snapped, and he looked up in surprise.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Hannah said before I could. Neither of us missed what Jason was thinking about doing.

  “It’s okay, big brother,” I soothed. “We have a plan. You need to tell him to let Hannah go.” He shook his head, not wanting to sacrifice me, but he couldn’t do it to Hannah either. “Trust me, Jase. I’ve been around you for years, and I know what to watch for with the ground motions before you let your power loose. I can do the same for Hunter. Besides, I’m quick and light on my feet. If we can manage to get Hunter distracted, I might be able to get away.”

  Hannah was wide-eyed, and her hair was a tangled mess. The look made her appear slightly (okay, extremely) terrified, but she nodded to Jason. “You need to trust us, Jason. We’re figuring things out. You need to get your focus back so you can kick this guy’s butt.” She tried to smile, and in that moment I knew why my brother loved her. Even terrified for her own safety, she was willing to set aside her own feelings to motivate Jason into action. She could be fierce in her own way.

  Still looking doubtful, Jason nodded as much as he could without choking himself. “Trust you,” he affirmed, leaning back against the wall for support and closing his eyes.

  Exchanging another look, this one of concern for Jason’s ability to work through the drug enough to see an opportunity to strike, we grasped at each other’s hand like a lifeline. “It will be okay,” Hannah told me. “Jason gave me some idea where he suspected Hunter used hunt, and I think he’ll probably go back there now. I should be able to get help out to you once I’m free.”

  I nodded, and motioned for her to be quiet when Hunter returned to the room.

  Now we had to hope Jason was lucid enough to follow our plan. Everything hinged on it.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Jones

  Furious was too mild a word for how I was currently feeling. Both Jason and Alice’s siblings were abducted. And now Jason, a man I counted as a friend, was missing as well. With Jason’s disappearance came my desire to find this killer and pound on him until my fists bled. For putting people I care about through this torture, he needed to suffer.

  Alice put on a brave face, but her confidence was shaken by Jason’s vanishing act. It was only made worse by the fact that it seemed Jason left willingly. The crumpled note on the porch told us why he left, but not where he went. We headed to the police station hoping to dredge up more information about possible locations.

  “We need him.” Nickels managed to sneak behind me unnoticed until he spoke. “He has a knack for tracking people down, and we need him.”

  I gave a sharp nod of agreement, and we went to the desk where Alice was scouring the case files for about the millionth time. “Anything?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. Since neither Jason nor anyone in the department here has seen anything, I’m probably wasting my time.”

  “Okay. Let’s go over everything we know again, and see if anything new shakes loose,” I suggested.

  About an hour later we were no closer than before. “He obviously began targeting Jason at some point,” I said. “But for what reason? He never acted like this for the other victims. He took them, and killed them, but never contacted anyone else. So what drew his attention to Jason?”

  Alice shrugged like the answer should be obvious. “They have the same, or at least similar, abilities. Maybe something to do with how those powers work drew him to Jason.”

  “Okay, so why take Sam? Or Hannah? Why set up all of this if his true target was Jason?”

  “He’s scared of him,” Nickels said, sounding sure. “Most likely he’s never come across another person with abilities, let alone one who has as much raw power as Jason. If I were him, I’d want Jason off his game and desperate, not focused and driven.”

  Alice threw her hands up in a sudden show of frustration. “Fine! He was scared! Does that help us find them? NO!”

  Nickels and I exchanged a quick glance. There was a slight smile on his face, which made me frown as I turned away from him. What was he smiling about?

  “Alice.” I put my hand on her shoulder, and ushered her out of the room to speak to her privately in the alcove by the door. “Don’t give up. You know Jason will do whatever it takes to keep Hannah and Sam safe. And we need to do whatever we can to bring all three of them home. It will be okay, because I believe Nickels is right about one thing: Jason has a lot of power. And while I don’t know much about this killer, I can bet he hasn’t been through half as much as Jason. Jason can and will come out on top. We’ll worry about the repercussions later,” I said, stalling what I knew would be her concern about Jason’s mental and emotional well-being if he had to take yet another life.

  She took a shaky breath and nodded. Alice was about to speak when Nickels burst out of the room, interrupting our talk. “We have a tip,” he said urgently. “Some kid was walking by a house that was supposed to be empty, and he said he heard voices inside and saw a car in the garage that doesn’t belong.”

  Alice gathered herself and nodded once. All business again, that’s my girl. “Let’s check it out.” We were already moving to the car, with Nickels calling for backup.

  The house in question was at the opposite side of the woods as Jason’s house, and took a while to get to from the police station. By the time we arrived, at least twenty minutes had passed. “I’ll check the garage,” Alice said. “Jones, take the front, and Nickels, the back. Call out if you find anything.” We nodded to confirm, and split up.

  The first call out, once we breached the unlocked doors, was from Alice. The car was gone.

  “So the kid was right. Someone has been here, taking advantage of an empty house,” I said, meeting the other two at the bottom of the staircase once we cleared the lower level.

  Continuing up the stairs, we split, Nickels and Alice to the left and I went to the right. Even knowing this could be the place where my friends were kept, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there. I was wrong. My eyes swept over the room quickly before focusing on the girl chained to the bed and unconscious.

  “Hannah!” I exclaimed, calling loudly, “Alice! Nickels! Hannah’s here!” Holstering my weapon I checked her vitals, and let out a breath of relief when I found a strong pulse and normal respirations.

  Alice rushed into the room, and I moved aside. “She’s okay. I think he drugged her,” I assured the clearly worried older sister.

  Sam and Jason were not in the house, but there was an empty manacle on the bed by Hann
ah and a metal ring in the wall with a length of rope attached to it that told me all three had been in the room at some point.

  At Alice’s continued urging, Hannah finally groaned and squinted her eyes open. She was unable to focus before drifting off again, but Alice seemed calmer once she’d tried.

  “We need to know what she knows,” Nickels urged. “Jason and Sam are still in the hands of that killer!”

  Alice turned to glare at him, but I spoke before she could. “We will find out as soon as we can get her awake. Did you call for an ambulance?” He nodded, and we waited impatiently for help to arrive. I watched as Alice stroked her sister’s hair and muttered softly to her.

  A Crime Scene Unit, or CSU team, arrived along with the ambulance. The techs began working as soon as they helped us get the chain off Hannah’s wrist so we could get her out.

  Alice went with Hannah in the ambulance. Nickels and I followed after leaving the CSU team our contact numbers and strict instructions to call with anything they found.

  “This guy still has two hostages,” I reminded them. “Be thorough, but be quick.”

  We were all thankful when it took only about half an hour for Hannah to wake from the drugged sleep. She was frantic with worry for Sam and Jason. “He made Jason choose,” she sobbed, grasping at her sister’s arm. “He chose to let me go and have Sam hunted. Jason was hurt and drugged, and I don’t know how he’s going to win.” She continued sobbing into her sister’s shoulder. Alice held her, gently rubbing her back and smoothing her hair.

  “Any idea where they would have gone?” She shook her head then said, “Hunter was going to hunt them, and I think he was going to bring them to his normal hunting grounds. From what Jason said, I think it might be somewhere near the river in the woods. I think he mentioned feeling something odd there and Sam said something about being followed while out there.”

  “Jason was all over those woods,” I stated.

  Alice spoke up. “Jason could have gotten too close. Almost caught Hunter. So Hunter needed to move before his hunting ground was discovered. Hence the use of the house on the other side of town.”