Hunting Jessica

by Elizabeth St. John

  He laughed, “Jess, you can’t see it?” I shook my head no, “Jay is my brother. My baby brother,” he explained.

  “I never noticed a family resemblance before,” I confessed. “That’s strange.”

  “So, your name is Gage Johnston.” I couldn’t believe I was sleeping with and living with a guy and I didn’t know his last name. Shame on me.

  “Our last name is Johnston but our uncle’s last name was Tate. That’s why the company is named T&J.”

  I pondered on what I would ask next as I cleaned up my food. I grabbed some chocolate chip cookies and took them back to the table. He was watching my every move. I broke a cookie in half but didn’t eat it. I was thinking too much.

  “I would have died last night if y’all didn’t come.”

  “When you got out of that truck we followed you. Knowing what was out there, I couldn’t let you run off alone.”

  His words surprised me, “What do you mean? Knowing? Did you know Dawn was hunting me?” My blood began to boil. He knew and didn’t tell me.

  “There is always a possibility of vampires, Jess. I changed once I smelled them coming for you. Jay called Marie and told her to grab Rayce and come help.”

  “Did you know Dawn was a vampire?”

  “Yes. Jay went back to the house that night to say goodbye to her one last time and found she was gone. It was then that he knew she had turned,” he explained.

  “And you didn’t find that information vital enough to tell me?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Come on, Gage. You know she hated me and I wasn’t exactly her biggest fan.” I was floored. I couldn’t believe he kept this from me. “You should have let me know.”

  “There is nothing I can do about it now,” he stated but didn’t own up to his mistake. I wanted so much to call Jay and ream his ass for not telling me. I had to calm myself.

  “So, you knew about her turning. You suspected she would attack, and you told me nothing,” my brow furrowed in disbelief. “If I would have been told, something, anything. Maybe I could have been more prepared.”

  “Jess, we didn’t know until the following night. It wasn’t as if we intentionally left you out of the loop. Jay wanted to handle it himself,” he explained.

  “Jesus,” I shook my head. “I didn’t know until last night but she was the one who left the hand.”

  He nearly spat cola all over me, “What hand? When did this happen?”

  “The morning of her death,” I said and pulled it out of the freezer and fished the note out of the drawer.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he asked after reading the scribbly handwriting.

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t sure who left it. Now I know.”

  “Jess, if you would have said something to me about this, then maybe I would have had a clue into her animosity toward you,” he explained. He was right. There wasn’t anyone to blame for this situation.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “We are going to kill her,” he finalized.

  “You know, she wanted you.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “Last night, she said she wanted me dead so I wouldn’t be in the way of her pursuit of you. She plans to turn you,” I explained.

  “That can’t happen.”

  “I know. Just the thought of becoming a vampire.”

  “No. What I mean is she can’t turn me. If she tries, she’ll kill me. Hellhounds can’t handle vampire venom,” he explained.

  “You have to give me a minute here.”

  “Take your time,” he said.

  “I mean, everything is hitting me all at once. How could I not know about this? I can’t believe I am finding out about hell whatever’s.”

  “Hellhounds.”

  I sighed in frustration and pinch the bridge of my nose, “The point is, how can I work with you guys for so long and not know a thing about this?”

  “Well, we do a very good job trying to hide it. All the reports that are filed, we keep them on the computer at the office.” I knew that because I was being nosy at the office. “We haven’t been seen by the random human for many, many years. None of us have ever been found out,” he explained with a smile.

  We talked for hours and not only about what he was but who he was. He told me about his other life and his ex-drug-addict girlfriend. I told him about the loser that had me move out here and then dumped me for someone else. I told him about how I had to live in a crap motel until the loan for the house went through and how much stuff I had to do to the house for me to be able to actually call it home.

  No matter how much we talked, there seemed to be a barricade there when it came to him in particular. He wasn’t exactly hiding anything. He simply wasn’t telling the whole story.

  Hours went by and I found him watching TV, “Can I ask you one more question and I promise to leave you alone. Until tomorrow,” I grinned.

  He muted the TV and looked up at me, “Shoot.”

  I looked at him sheepishly and bit my lip. I was a little embarrassed to ask, “Will you show me again, what you look like?”

  “You already know what I look like,” he winked. A blush kissed my cheeks as I thought of his body.

  I sat down next to him, “What I mean is, will you let me watch you change?”

  He thought about it for a second, “Aren’t you afraid?”

  “If I was afraid, you wouldn’t be in this house and I wouldn’t have, well, you know,” I said sheepishly.

  He smiled, “Sure.”

  “I’ll get my keys,” I said excitedly.

  “Why? I can do it here.”

  “In the living room?”

  “Or I can get naked in the bedroom if you like,” he winked.

  “Tempting but let’s save that for later,” I said, blushing. I had never had a man make me blush so much.

  He stood up and moved the coffee table out of the way and shoved the couch back. “Come sit down.”

  I sat down on the couch and folded my legs under me. He checked the curtains and made sure the front door was locked. There was no chance that it wouldn’t be. I waited.

  He swayed his hips, pulled his polo shirt over his head, and tossed it at me like a stripper. I laughed and fanned my face like an adoring fan. Watching my eyes the entire time, he unbuckled his belt, the button on his jeans came open, and the zipper came down. He removed his jeans and then went the boxers. He stood in the nude and his body was wonderful. I could feel the need for his touch building in my body again.

  The first thing to change on him were his eyes. They weren’t his normal gray but a golden-yellow. It was freaky how they looked against his tan face. The shape was larger as well. They didn’t have the slit eye like a cat. It was a normal round pupil.

  “Are you ready?”

  “I am.” My body was on pins and needles as he crouched down on the floor. I did not expect it but a magical mist formed around him as he did this. His muscles and bones began to contort in a sickening way. It was fascinating to watch. His skin began to change color. What was once beautiful skin being now a dry deep-black and started to sprout thick black hair. The threatening spines grew out of his back.

  His handsome face elongated and his perfect smile was replaced with large functioning canines, fit for any primal animal. He was right. What he was scared me but fascinated me all at the same time. I was amazed that something so magnificent could be living inside a human being. He wasn’t human, was he? He was a hellhound. His size took up most of the space he created.

  Slowly, he approached me and put his paws on the couch. I looked deeply into his mysterious eyes and even though they were different, I could still see him inside. “Strange,” I whispered. He tilted his head as if to ask me what was strange. “Your eyes. They are different but the same in a way. What’s even more bizarre is that you can understand me.”

  He released a low grumble as if he were laughing. With a shaking hand, I reached for
him, his ears stood up. I was remembering when he snapped at Jay. I put my hand out and ran my fingers through his fur. The man I’m sleeping with has fur. It looked rough and sharp but it wasn’t. It was soft like his skin.

  He walked back to the middle of the floor, curled up, and it was like the hair and the color of his skin melted into him. It reminded me of watercolors. Everything swirled together. It took him no time at all to be back to normal.

  I marveled over his naked body when he stood. I still couldn’t believe something like that lived inside him. He was something supernatural, something magical, something perfect.

  “Aren’t you scared?” he asked.

  “Yes and no.”

  “More yes than no?” he asked.

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. I can’t think with a naked man standing in front of me,” I giggled.

  “Ah, I see,” he snickered and slipped his boxers and jeans on. He left his shirt with me and sat down next to me. “Any questions?”

  I thought about it for a long minute. “What does it feel like?”

  “Now, that’s a good question, Jess.” He took a deep breath before speaking. “It feels like falling. Like a roller coaster,” he started to show me with his hand angling up. I knew the feeling well. Before the attack, my emotions were doing the same. “All your nerves are on end, and your heart is going a hundred miles an hour. Once you hit the peak,” he tilted his hand down. “Then you slowly start to go over the edge and you feel like you’re going to fall off. Once you start to go down, your stomach is inside your throat and....BAM,” he slapped his hands together, making me jump.

  “Is it painful?”

  “My first shift did hurt. I felt like all my bones were being broken, my muscles stretched to their limit, but I was fighting it, you see? I wouldn’t let it happen like it was supposed to,” he explained.

  I couldn’t imagine that pain, “How old were you the first time?”

  He looked up in thought, “I was twelve. I was helping my father out on our land when it happened. I remember screaming with the pain. My father and brother found me curled up on the ground. Talk about growing pains,” he said laughing.

  I didn’t realize my hands went up to my mouth. I couldn’t even think of something like that happening, “That’s a terrible thing for a kid to experience.”

  “My father carried me to the house. I was screaming all the way. He took me into my room and placed me on my bed. I wanted Jay with me but, my father told me he wasn’t ready. He was only eight at the time. He wouldn’t have understood. Then he told me what was going to happen and left me alone,” he explained.

  “Alone?”

  “I had to experience it alone to learn how to control my body. That’s how my father explained it anyway.”

  I knew he was sick of talking about it but I wanted to ask more. I figured one more question wouldn’t make a difference. “How old are you?”

  He grinned, “How old are you, Jess?”

  “You got me there,” I laughed.

  CHAPTER

  11

  Surprisingly, Jay hadn’t called me into work. I wondered if Gage had something to do with that. I hadn’t had these many days off in a long time. It was nice to finally relax. Gage and I had spent a few days together talking and letting my body heal. My shoulder still hurt but I was getting better. He massaged every part of my body with his. He was very good at what he did.

  I woke up reluctant to get out of bed. I laid there letting the sun that streamed through the curtains warm my feet. An hour or so later, I was up and dressed. I knew we had to find Dawn. She was on the loose and causing more problems. Jay found his tires torn to shreds and someone had smashed the front window of the office. Good thing he had bars covering the inside, so no one could gain access to the files on that computer, or even break into the gym.

  I was sitting at my vanity, putting on a little moisturizer while thinking about the bitch trying to kill me and harm my friends. Something about our last encounter got my wheels turning. She was filthy and that scent that clung to her, it was unmistakable. Then the dirty piece of trash paper came to mind.

  “I know where you are.”

  “What’s that?” Gage asked from my bedroom door. I looked at him and his jeans were covered in grease and he was wiping his hands on a red mechanic’s rag.

  “I know where Dawn is hiding. At least, I think I do.”

  “If you have any idea, we need to call Jay about it.”

  “No. I need to go to the office. There is something there I need.”

  “Alright. Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll be in the truck.”

  My eyes landed on the one thing I needed, the instant we entered the office. “Jay, are you in here?”

  “He’s probably in the gym.”

  I ripped what I needed off the wall, typed my key code into the keyboard of the old computer, and the door to the gym opened.

  “What do you need that old thing for?” he asked as I scanned it and found what I was looking for. “You can get maps on the internet now.”

  “I know, but this makes everything easier for everyone to see,” I stated with a smile. I looked down at the location and I knew I was right. “We got you now, bitch.”

  We entered the gym but I was stopped in my tracks when I realized how many people were inside. Jay was in the wrestling ring and everybody else was standing outside it, watching him. He seemed to be giving a speech. They were all engrossed in what he had to say.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered.

  “It’s a pack meeting.”

  “Aren’t you pack master? Why aren’t you directing this meeting?”

  “Jay takes care of this part of it, I do the rest. Believe me, I’m in charge.”

  I thought that was strange. If I were a leader, I sure as hell would be giving the orders. “Are all of these people hellhounds?”

  “Yes,” he replied curtly. His energy changed and I could tell he didn’t want to be here.

  I observed Jay and the way he addressed the pack. He had a voice you wanted to listen to. You could feel the command. It wasn’t anything like being around Gage. Yes, he was controlling but nothing like Jay. Jay had this pride about him that anyone would envy.

  I observed everyone in the room. There had to be twenty people here. Some I recognized from town and others I didn’t. I couldn’t believe some of them were what they were. One of them was a regular at the bar I used to work at years ago. Marie was also in the crowd. I adored the way she watched her man talk. She loved him and clung to every word he said.

  My eyes landed on Rayce. My heart fluttered at the sight of his cool physique. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed seeing him. As if he could feel me watching, he looked at me, smiled, and winked. My shoulders were suddenly weighed down with Gage’s arm as he wrapped it around me. Rayce laughed and shook his head in disbelief. I had a hard time tearing my eyes away from him as I tried to watch Jay speak to the pack.

  “We need to break up into groups of two and start the search. We will not stop until she and her nest are found. Remember, she used to work for me, so she will know where we will look. Inspect places you wouldn’t normally think of,” he said.

  I shrugged Gage’s heavy arm off and stepped forward, “Jay I believe I know where she is.”

  “Jessica, you shouldn’t be here,” he said a little surprised to see me among the pack.

  “I think she has the right. She is a hunter is she not?” Rayce asked. I was surprised he spoke up for me.

  Gage stepped forward next, “She is welcome at this meeting, and has the right to speak if she wishes.”

  Jay stepped back from his place, “The stage is yours.”

  I was nervous to get up in the ring with everyone watching me. Judging me for not being one of them.

  Gage stepped up before me, “Most of you have hunted with Jessica.” He was right. I had seen over half the faces here. “She is the one Dawn is after. She knows how she thinks, she also knows wh
at she wants. Please listen to what she has to say.”

  “Thanks.” I took a big breath and blew it out hard. I looked into the faces of all the people standing in front of me. Though I knew some of them, I was nervous as hell. I lingered on Rayce and he gave me a nod of approval. “Okay, here we go,” I whispered to myself but I was sure everyone could hear it. “The night Dawn attacked me, I noticed some things about her that made me think she’s at the Blackwater Land Fill.”

  “What makes you think that?” one man asked.

  “She was filthy and smelled like natural gas,” I explained.

  “That could be anything,” A woman stated.

  I was beyond nervous now. They were shooting me down but I knew I was right. They all looked at me like I was an idiot.

  Jay stepped up, “That’s right. Her father owns a scrap yard near there. She would know the layout. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before. That’s a very promising lead, Jessica.”

  I unfolded the map and put it down on the mat. “Does anyone have a marker or something?”

  It was Marie who walked up behind me and handed me the pen. She watched as I circled the location I believed Dawn was hiding. It wasn’t far at all. About twenty minutes away from the office.

  “Excellent, Jessica,” Jay said and took the map in order to show the others. Marie tapped me on the shoulder. I looked over at her and she had her signature smile to her lips.

  “Hey, girl.”

  “Hey. Thanks for the pen.”

  “Listen, I’m sorry for slamming you around a while back. I didn’t know how to control myself,” she explained sheepishly.

  I shrugged my shoulders, “It’s ok, no harm was done.” I had to be nice to her, she is one of us. I wasn’t too sure about that quote because all of these people belonged to a pack and I was the human outsider.

  “We need to plan this out. We as a pack will locate and survey the location.” He looked to me. “We will meet up in a few days.”

  I nodded my head and exited the ring. When I stepped down, my foot caught the fabric and I slipped. Someone caught me before I could hit the hard floor.