A Hunter Within

by Anna Applegate

Henry was not backing down either. “I already said I’d look out for her,” he said again.

  “Look,” Seeley started, stalking toward Henry. “I get you trained like a hunter, and you think you’re good, but I don’t need another person to have to watch out for on this mission. What I need is to get in, get my brother, and get out.”

  “And I’ve told you more than once, don’t underestimate me,” Henry said, keeping his cool during the entire exchange.

  I heard a whooshing sound and gasped as I saw Henry’s hand up by his face, clutching a dagger. I turned, glaring over at the direction it had to have come from and saw Rebecca smiling, surprised.

  “He seems pretty good to me.” She winked at Henry who chuckled and looked back to Seeley.

  I shot Rebecca the fiercest glare I could muster, which wasn’t hard considering she could have seriously injured Henry. “What if he hadn’t caught it?” I demanded.

  Seeley narrowed his eyes, ignoring me along with everyone else. “Watch her no matter what,” he said and shoved his finger into Henry’s chest.

  He brushed past me and the others went off toward the back of the house. They looked like villains stalking off to their evil lair, and I smirked. Rebecca looked back once more at Henry, seeming surprised by his abilities.

  “Fingerprint scanner?” Henry asked once they were gone.

  I looked at him innocently and sighed. “I can’t be left out of this. I need to be useful. If not, I’m afraid I’ll just…stop feeling anything at all.”

  He considered me with more emotion in his eyes than I’d ever seen a person have, and he reached out and nudged my chin. “You are useful. You’re one of the most important people left now. Once Marissa is finished, you’ll have to decide just how useful you want to be in this world.”

  I knew we didn’t have a plan, or even a vague concept of how we were going to stop her at the moment. But I knew in my heart that we would. That I would. I wouldn’t rest until she had paid for what she had done to my family, and for the vampires and people she’d hurt in her rise to power.

  “Henry?” I asked.

  “Mmm,” he said.

  “Do you think your father is on her side?”

  It was something bothering me. I couldn’t imagine Henry’s father being anything other than a kind, good man, but then again he was with Marissa. How could you be with someone and not know what they are? Worse yet, how could he stay with her knowing what she’d done?

  “No,” Henry said. His answer was short. Maybe it was hard for him to think about. I couldn’t imagine wondering whose side your family was on.

  I stood there a moment longer before pulling away. I was exhausted and knew I needed rest if I was going to be on for tonight’s mission. “I’m going to get ready,” I whispered.

  Henry looked down at me. “You’re going to be okay. You know that, right?”

  I smiled at him and nodded, taking his hand in mine briefly before walking back toward the bedroom I had emerged from earlier.

  It would all begin soon. We’d rescue Gabe and then hopefully find a way to stop Marissa.

  I walked into my room and looked around before looking back down at my bright colored outfit. This would stand out poorly for a sneaky break in at Falcone.

  “I went and got some of your clothes while you were resting,” Seeley said, making me jump. He walked into my room and opened the closet doors revealing a few of my clothes from my apartment. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here. We’ll get everything taken care of, and you can figure out what you want to do from there,” he said. He stood for a minute, looking awkward for probably the first time in his life.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that all?”

  He nodded once and walked out. I shivered at his departure, wishing for just a small touch from him. Pathetic, I sighed.

  I sat back down on the bed momentarily, taking deep breaths and trying to calm my quivering lip. This whirlwind had taken me by surprise, and my whole life was turning upside down. I had fallen in love for the first time in my life and potentially lost it already. I’d lost the last of my family. I’d gotten my dream job only to discover the monster who ran it killed my parents and countless others. Everything had changed. But I couldn’t handle any of that now. I’d have to find time later to deal with it.

  Now it was time to be strong. Now it was time for us to come together so we could get Gabriel back and find a way to defeat Marissa. Once that was over, I’d have time to grieve. Hopefully I’d have time to determine what I would do after the fact. Would the organization be relying on me? A person they thought was a mere intern? There were more questions than there were answers at this point. I wasn’t sure who would help me figure it out. It would be nice if we knew who inside Falcone was good, but there was no way of knowing that. At least not yet.

  I shifted out of my thoughts and got dressed in darker colors so I didn’t stand out as we tried to break into Falcone.

  We all made our way to the building together. Henry drove the two of us in one car, and the vampires took another. It was a fairly quiet ride. I watched him as he drove us toward Falcone. He had been there in every way I needed. I hoped whatever was happening wouldn’t do anything to our friendship. After all, if he had trained as a hunter as a kid, maybe we’d be working together. If there was anyone I could lean on to teach me that side of things, I was thankful it was him.

  I prayed we could get in and out of Falcone quickly tonight and move onto the larger plan. Marissa couldn’t be expecting me to return here, especially after everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

  The cars rolled to a stop a little distance away from the main parking lot of the facility, and we proceeded on foot the remainder of the way.

  We were just about to crest the hill and come up on my favorite bench and coffee-drinking spot, when Seeley the vampires suddenly shoved me and Henry to the side. We landed on the ground with a thud. Rebecca had pushed me, harder than she probably needed to, and I glared at her. I guess she was back to her normal ways, even after our sort of heart-to-heart.

  I grimaced as I pushed myself up from the gravel, wincing as the rocks dug into my hands.

  Seeley held his index finger to his lip and then peered slowly back toward the front of the building, walking a little ways away from the rest of us.

  From where we were standing, we were blocked by a few evergreen trees and a small mound of a hillside.

  Seeley returned moments later, looking sternly at us. “There are more guards than I’ve ever seen here,” he whispered.

  “We barely have any security,” I hissed.

  He glanced between Kellan and Rebecca. “Well they are there now. Luckily, no vampires.”

  “Perhaps we should see what they do for a while. They may be easily overtaken,” Kellan suggested.

  “Stay here,” Seeley commanded to Henry and me.

  We waited as the vampires sped away, fanning out into their own tactical world.

  “How are you holding up, Jules?” Henry asked me after some more silence.

  I shrugged. “You know,” I said as I curled up next to him, crossing my legs.

  Henry didn’t say anything else. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and we sat in place. After what I was sure was nearing an hour, I glanced at my watch and saw it had only been fifteen minutes. I sighed.

  “You’d be terrible at being a cop.” He snickered.

  “Stake-outs aren’t really my thing, I guess,” I retorted.

  “Look.” Henry’s voice sounded more urgent, and he pointed.

  Sitting off to the side of the lot, back where we wouldn’t have seen it unless we were sitting here like we were, was Marissa’s car.

  “I guess she may be expecting something after all,” I grumbled, furiously.

  The vampires returned suddenly and Seeley spoke immediately. “I’m shocked at how many guards she has stationed here. They all have key cards for the building—”

  I held up my hand cutting
Seleey off. “Marissa’s here,” I said and pointed where Henry had directed my attention moments before the vampires’ arrival.”

  “Hmm,” Seeley said, pacing toward the car and then back to us. “I think our best bet to go undetected would be to get one of their key cards. If we use Jules’s to get in, I’m not sure what alarms that would set off for Marissa then,” Seeley informed us.

  “I’m not sure we could obtain a badge, get in and out, and keep Jules from being seen undetected at this point,” Henry commented. ”We’d need her badge to get into the lab where Gabe is anyway. If Marissa is here…” Henry trailed off.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Seeley concluded in agreement.

  “So what do we do?” I asked.

  I felt frustration building inside of me. I had banked on rescuing Gabe. I needed this to continue moving forward and not have to focus on the other things happening around me, not focus on the pain.

  “Doing anything tonight is foolish at this point. We have to keep you safe,” Seeley said, touching my shoulder gently as he spoke. “We can get Gabe another time, but too many people sacrificed too much to protect you.”

  “Perhaps we can lure some of the guards out into the public to get a key card for tomorrow? We did overhear some of them saying there were others on patrol in town,” Kellan spoke up.

  “How about a bar?” Rebecca smiled. “A loud atmosphere could get us what we need and mask whatever may happen to the guards who we get the cards from.” Her smile made me shiver. She meant business.

  “And it wouldn’t be farfetched that Jules would be somewhere for a distraction, I guess,” Henry thought to himself. “How do we tip them off?”

  “I can make an anonymous call,” Rebecca offered.

  I shot her a glaring look. “Don’t sound so happy about it. They won’t actually get me, you know.”

  “A girl can dream,” she said, quirking her eyebrow at me, daring me to challenge her. I couldn’t tell if she was being friendly and joking with me or not. Part of me wondered if I’d ever be able to tell when it came to Rebecca.

  I shook my head, heading back toward the cars we came from. “I need that drink.”

  “Shockingly, we’re in agreement.” Rebecca sighed and glanced back at the building with a look of sadness on her face.

  My snarky comment that had been on the tip of my tongue faded away. I had forgotten that Kellan said Gabe was like family to her, and he was still trapped in there with Marissa.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t get to him tonight because of me,” I said, quietly.

  “We aren’t friends now.” She glowered at me, before her face relaxed. “But, thanks.”

  She was the most hot and cold woman I had ever met. Maybe it was a vampire thing. I smiled to myself, a real smile, and it felt surprisingly good. I would probably deal with the consequences of pushing my aunt’s death down so far soon, but for now it wasn’t something I was going to let come up. I took a deep breath, which seemed much more like a corking of all my emotions than a calming action, and opened the door to Henry’s car.

  “What bar?” Seeley asked.

  “Highlawn,” Henry and I said in unison.

  “It’s the only one I’ve ever gone to. And Saturday nights it’s packed. It would be ideal for taking care of whatever we needed to,” I suggested. “And for being seen.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Highlawn had been a good idea in theory, but as soon as our mismatched crew entered the bar, I knew this was going to be a long night.

  Going out wasn’t my thing on a good day, let alone on a bad one. I closed my eyes and tried not to let the thumping music and the smell of sweaty, drunken adults get to me.

  We made our way through the sticky, dancing bodies over to a table, and Rebecca disappeared, only to return a few moments later with a round of shots. I gleefully took two, not caring I left someone without, and downed them.

  I’d never been a heavy drinker, but I figured if I was ever going to partake, now was the time. After all, isn’t that what people did…drown their sorrows? Probably not the healthiest option, but right now I needed quick, not healthy.

  I stopped paying attention to what and who was setting things in front of me until I heard Seeley’s voice growling next to me.

  “I think that’s enough, Rebecca.”

  “She’s a grown woman, Seeley. Relax. You’re fine, right?” Rebecca asked.

  Her hand rested on my shoulder briefly and I nodded once. Instead of being around the brooding Seeley, I needed something distracting. Perhaps I’d get lost in the music somehow.

  Someone out there was on my side because at that moment, my song came on. A song that Amanda and I had danced to repeatedly over my last winter break, and I smiled. I stood up, yelling my intentions at the others. “I’m going to dance.”

  “Go with her,” Seeley said, turning to Rebecca.

  Rebecca sneered angrily and headed in the opposite direction, toward the bar, yelling over her shoulder. “I didn’t sign up to be a babysitter.”

  It looked like Seeley and Henry made some weird eye contact, but I ignored it. I wasn’t about to let him damper anything. The alcohol was lighting my body up and letting me do what I came here to do. Forget.

  Whatever battle Seeley and Henry had ended, and Seeley walked over to me, taking my arm and leading me onto the crowded dance floor. It was almost like he lost a bet. I didn’t care who was with me, though. I didn’t need him to dance.

  Instead of him letting go of me, he spun my body in toward him. I couldn’t help but laugh out of surprise. “I see you have some moves?” I teased.

  “If this is what you need, I’ll do it,” he said and smiled once he realized I had a genuine one on my face.

  We continued dancing, and I found myself giggling more and more as the song went on. Seeley loosened up and even sang a few lines in my ear in between spins, and I got lost in the moment.

  The song continued, and everything slipped away. I let my inhibitions, my fears, loneliness, and anger melt far from this moment. I moved my hips against Seeley, pushing my back up against his body until there was no more space.

  Before I could get too comfortable pressed up against him where I wanted to be, he grabbed my wrists, gently but with enough force to spin me again and pull me back and up to his face. I turned again, moving out and away from his body only to be pulled right back in, closer this time. Closer than I had danced with anyone before. I looked up at him, ready to apologize and tell him I had no idea what had come over me, but his intense gaze made me forget what it was I needed to apologize for.

  Maybe it was the alcohol or the atmosphere, but everything in the background faded—the loud shouting around me, the blaring music—it all disappeared, leaving only him and me.

  Standing with one hand in Seeley’s and the other on his chest, I forgot everything.

  “This isn’t very professional,” I whispered.

  Seeley’s hand came up to push at a lock of hair that had grown slightly damp on the side of my head. “I don’t know what you’re doing to me, Jules.” He paused bringing the fingertips that had just brushed my hair back to rest on the side of my face. His thumb caressed my lips in one slow motion.

  His eyes searched mine as the lights in the club spun around us, desperate for an acknowledgement of some kind. As he waited, remaining completely still, something inside of me stirred—I needed to feel anything other than the pain that was crushing my heart. I was waiting for my head to tell me no, knowing he had said that we should keep things professional. But my heart was a wreck. And Seeley, the man who had sparked something inside me I’d never imagined possible before, was here with me. He opened up a part of my heart I didn’t even know existed, and in that moment I didn’t know how to stop myself, nor did I want to.

  I stood on my tiptoes, closing what little space remained between us, and brushed my lips against his gently. I knew I had surprised him, but he only hesitated for a second. The passion in his kiss engulfed me, it
was stronger than ever and turned my gentle kiss into something so powerful I’d never be strong enough to break it.

  Right then, I belonged. I belonged to him. I felt cherished and wanted. Seeley’s hand ran through my hair as he clutched me to him. His desperation made it seem as if he was as frantic for me as I was for him. I smiled against his lips.

  He pulled back and shook his head. “We really shouldn’t be…” he started, but with a sudden change of heart, he leaned down again and captured my lips.

  Suddenly, we were moving, bumping into people as he led me across the crowded dance floor to a dark corner. I thought I would explode right there as his tongue caressed mine—as he owned my mind, body, and soul up against the hard cement wall. Feeling bold, I traced his bottom lip with my tongue, causing Seeley to moan.

  His hands moved to my jeans and unfastened the buttons, tortuously slow, as our kissing grew more passionate and my breath came out heavier. I was practically panting as his hands dipped inside the waistband of my pants. I could feel the tension in his hard muscles and realized he was just as out of control in that moment as I was.

  “Jules...” His voice was strained, as the pressure of his body against mine lessened, logic seemingly settling in. When he pulled back, I swear I felt physical pain from the loss.

  I grabbed at his hips, pulling him back to me. “I don’t care,” I said desperately. “Please,” I begged him, though I wasn’t sure what I was asking for. I needed everything he could give me, but I suspected, even that wouldn’t be enough.

  I ran my hands through his hair, quivering at the intensity of the passion racing through me, as he leaned his head into my shoulder. Seeley nuzzled into my neck and I tensed in anticipation of what could come. But as he turned his head slightly, his body stilled, before pulling back entirely. His lips pursed as his eyes focused on something towards the other side of the room. I groaned, knowing our moment had officially ended.

  “They’re here,” Seeley said, as he reached down and made sure I was decently covered again before he pulled my arm back toward the dance floor. “They’re after you, Jules. We need to get their attention without alerting them to the fact that they have ours.”