A Hunter Within

by Anna Applegate

  “Of course,” I said. “We’ll be all right,” I said.

  “I know. I just can’t let anything happen to you. We can get ourselves out of a lot of situations, but I don’t think I’d come back from something happening to you.” He sighed as he spoke. He was opening up when I knew he didn’t want to.

  I leaned in, wrapping my arms around him and holding on just in case it was the last time he let me.

  His hand came up to my head, and he held me firmly, not breaking contact or pulling away. We stood there until the door opened and the others walked back in. Seeley finally let go and looked at my eyes one more time. He didn’t even care that we had an audience. He traced the side of my face gently and backed away.

  My phone beeped, and I knew who it was. Nerves weaved through my body and a trepidation begin to replace the contentment Seeley’s arms had brought. I opened the text from Henry.

  I haven’t put eyes on her directly. Her car is in the driveway, and my dad said she’s in her office. I can hear her voice, at least it sounds like it. Maybe I should go in.

  “Tell him no,” Seeley said firmly. “If he doesn’t normally interact much with her, we don’t want to draw more attention to anything. We’ll go on that. It’s enough.” And with that, he nodded to the others, and we walked out of the house to head to Falcone.

  I quickly typed my response to Henry before running out to catch up with the others. Seeley said don’t go in. We’re going ahead. Don’t draw any attention to yourself, Henry.

  My phone pinged again, and I read the two words from Henry I knew he’d continue to tell me if we kept texting tonight. Be safe.

  We all piled into one car, and as we made our way toward our second rescue attempt, the vampires discussed their strategy again. They seemed very familiar with all of this, like it was nothing new to them. I wondered how many times they had cause to go on these sorts of missions. If there really was a treaty with the hunters, it couldn’t be that often. Unless they had discord among themselves. My thoughts reminded me there was so much about this world I had to learn, so much I knew absolutely nothing about.

  We pulled in quicker than I’d expected. I pulled out my phone, glancing at it to see if I had missed another text from Henry. But there was nothing there. I flicked the phone to silent and held it in my pocket, reminding myself that I would actually need to check it every few minutes to ensure I didn’t miss anything.

  We made our way to the building. The guards who had been patrolling the day before seemed scarce. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

  The vampires seemed to notice, too.

  “Where is everyone?” Rebecca hissed.

  Seeley shot her a stony glare at her vocalizing what they were clearly already conveying. He shook his head once, signaling her to zip it.

  We made our way closer to the building, and Kellan rushed off to the side of us, causing me to gasp. He came back with an unconscious guard, only this one looked like the regular security guard Falcone employed, not the decked out ones we had seen yesterday,

  Seeley narrowed his eyes as Kellan propped the man against the wall, he began tying him up with some sort of rope that he had pulled out of the duffel bag, moving quickly. I noticed the guard’s keys, flashlight, and walkie-talkie were all on the ground far enough in front of the guard that he’d never reach them before being untied.

  We continued on toward the front doors of the building. Seeley led the way, keeping me close to his side, but didn’t let on what he thought about the lack of security. His eyes stayed trained on the entrance. Rebecca monitored our surrounding area immediately to my other side, and Kellan stayed behind us, bringing up the rear.

  When we approached the main entrance, Seeley fished the card we’d obtained at the bar out of his pocket. He waved it in front of the door and the light on the security panel flicked green.

  We walked through the doors.

  Back into the organization that had destroyed my life.

  Only this time, I knew what they had done. I shuddered as I passed through the doors and on with our mission.

  CHAPTER 15

  I was shocked at how quickly the foyer had been transformed from the gala back to the typical research facility. Had the gala only been two days ago? I bent my head down, breathing carefully through my nose to settle my nerves. After that fateful event, I had brought these monsters straight to Amanda’s. Perhaps if I hadn’t gone home they would have come to my apartment instead to get me.

  No! I commanded myself. Now was not the time. I couldn’t let myself get distracted. And I couldn’t live in a world of what-ifs.

  We continued through the hallways. Seeley turned to look at me and made a glance down toward my pocket where I was storing my phone. I pulled it out and shook my head. Nothing from Henry. So far, we hadn’t tripped anything to warn Marissa of our presence.

  Seeley put his hand against me and pressed me forward, urging me to lead them. They had their maps, but I knew where to go, which would allow them to focus on our surroundings instead of a piece of paper.

  The building was silent, not a single noise. No monitors buzzing, no machines humming.

  It was also lacking any guards, again.

  I didn’t have any strange prickly warning signs, no goosebumps I’d been prone to lately when there were vampires around, at least vampires outside my fellow housemates. And yet, something wasn’t right. The sooner we could get to Gabriel and leave, the better off we’d all be.

  We were in front of the lab doors that I’d need to start using my key card on. I turned to them and let them know by holding my card up.

  They all nodded. Seeley watched me with a funny look in his eyes. “I guess the fingerprint scanner is broken?” he asked, teasingly.

  I shrugged. “I didn’t want to be left behind,” I admitted.

  “I’m glad you’re with us,” he whispered in my ear, tickling the hairs on my neck as he spoke.

  The card reader turned green, and the double doors opened to the arena-looking area which was the vampire research room. I shuddered being back in here again and grabbed Seeley’s hand, squeezing once for comfort. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for the others to walk into a room where their own were being experimented on. Especially Seeley, who felt these people were all of his responsibility as king.

  The doors sealed behind us, and we all breathed a small sigh of relief. It was safer speaking in here, too. “That’s Gabe’s door.” I pointed to the large, thick door at the back of the room.

  The others made their way toward it and pulled the knob. It opened easily, and I turned away, thinking I’d let them have a reunion moment and then get him out of there. They’d move as quickly as they needed to.

  I glanced down at my phone again. Full bars. No texts from Henry. We were almost in the clear.

  I thought about texting him but didn’t want to disrupt anyone when we were so close. Instead, I started walking around the room.

  There was an entire shelf full of binders that were the typical ones used for notes. I’d seen the technicians pull them out almost every time I’d been in here. There was a smaller desk next to the bookshelf which housed most of the notebooks. I opened the drawers and saw additional notepads I hadn’t seen before. I ran my fingers over them, curiously.

  I pulled the top one out and noticed a series of hand-scribbled notes off to the side in the columns as I read. There were all sorts of comments about the vampires, things about their blood, their strengths, all things Marissa had talked about in her conversations with me about what she was trying to pinpoint. But according to this scribbled mess, she had already pinpointed genes that made up those characteristics.

  My brows creased as I flipped the pages. The writing became heavier, things were underlined, starred.

  What was it she was so keen on looking for? I tried to take a step back from everything and analyze this. If I could figure out what it was Marissa was obsessed with finding or discovering for sure, then I
could perhaps discover her true intentions and give ourselves the upper hand. Something tugged in my subconscious again, reminding me deep down this couldn’t be about simply making savage vampires.

  I started retracing things from the beginning. I knew they were injecting vampires to make them go volatile, but there had to be a piece of this puzzle we were missing.

  Knowledge is power I remembered Marissa saying. The more we can learn about a certain gene or genome, the more we can comprehend what to do to subdue or express those traits further. That part seemed to have been accomplished with the drugs they already had.

  Are there ways to mutate their genetic composition to create a better species, to create a better version of what they already are?

  Marissa knew what she wanted about vampires, but I was new. She knew nothing about a true hunter. Henry already confirmed she couldn’t get to my parents, which left me, and she’d tried it before when I was a child. She wanted to comprehend what I could do, and perhaps… I gasped. What if her better species involved me?

  “Jules?” Seeley’s voice called out from behind the silver door.

  “I’m fine, sorry,” I said, calmly. I didn’t want to distract them from what they were doing.

  My breathing was getting heavier, though. We knew Marissa wanted to study me, and I was almost as certain she wanted to see what she could create between myself and vampires. After all, if hunters were created to stop vampires, who knows how our genes could be used to alter theirs. She probably thought my makeup held the missing pieces she was looking for.

  I heard a growling, but it was one of pain and not one of anger. I turned to see Seeley, Rebecca, and Kellan emerging from the back room with Gabe in tow.

  “Rebecca, get the car ready by the exit we discussed,” Seeley ordered, using the commanding voice I’d only heard a few times before. He really was a leader when he was focused like this.

  Gabe was struggling but looked up at me and snarled when recognition flashed in his eyes. “I told you to stay away from here,” Gabe’s voice sounded. It was the first he’d said, at least that I had heard. Seeley and Kellan both looked at him in shock.

  “We know who she is, Gabe. It’s thanks to her we’re here,” Seeley said, chastising his brother.

  Gabe winced as Seeley adjusted his arm. “Then you should have left me. I worked too hard to make sure that no one found out about her,” he said, frustrated.

  I had no idea what he meant, but he had known who I was. He hadn’t been angry that Seeley was working with a human. No, it was that he was working with me, Jules Van Helsing.

  “We have to get out of here,” Kellan said. “We can talk about all this later.”

  I moved to close the steel door behind them and started walking out.

  “Something’s not right,” Gabriel growled.

  I watched Seeley’s grip tighten around his brother and Kellan moved forward, like he was ready to jump in as well.

  “They put something in me this evening. Shortly before you arrived,” Gabriel told us.

  “No one has been here for hours,” I said.

  Gabe shook his head, as if he was trying to remember something but then threw his head back with a menacing snarl and shout.

  I stumbled a few steps back, surprised by the sound he was making. I recognized it all too well. The crazed man that Seeley and I had run into made a similar noise the day I saw him in the lab.

  “Seeley, I think they put the drug in him,” I said, worried now, because as far as I knew there wasn’t any cure for it.

  “Yeah, I got that part.” Seeley grimaced as he tried to control Gabe. “Kell,” he shouted.

  Kellan was at his side, containing Gabriel. The two of them seemed strong enough for now. “Where’s the bag?” Seeley instructed.

  “Rebecca took it with her,” Kellan said, gritting his teeth, clearly starting to show signs of struggling to contain Gabe, who was beginning to thrash about.

  “You idiots have no idea what you walked in to.” Gabriel laughed, and his voice had changed into something menacing and dark.

  His eyes met mine, and I could see a flicker of recognition again. He closed them hard, as if he was desperate to fight what was happening to him. “Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.” He struggled to say each work to the vampires holding him. “Keep her safe,” he said with a sharp breath coming out of his lungs.

  We rushed toward the door, but Gabe had begun losing himself again. He shoved his arm out, pushing Kellan away which caused Seeley to work twice as hard to hold on to him. I darted to the side of the room, trying to stay out of the way so that the vampires could take control.

  I pulled out my phone. Perhaps Rebecca needed to come back and bring whatever was in that duffel.

  That’s when I saw two missed texts from Henry. And a call.

  Shaking, I quickly opened the texts.

  Something isn’t right. She’s still not out of her office, and it’s past when we would normally eat.

  The next text that followed wasn’t much better.

  My dad hasn’t seen her for hours. Jules, I think we have a problem.

  I looked up, realizing the struggle in front of me wasn’t getting much better. Gabriel was in a fighting stance being flanked by Seeley and Kellan.

  “Guys, we need to get out of here, now,” I urged.

  Seeley glanced at me for a moment and nodded once before turning his attention back to Gabe. I heard his voice momentarily as he tried to speak to his brother, and then the hairs stood on the back of my neck.

  Fear flooded me. None of my vampires were setting this off in me. It was something else, something darker. My hunter senses were increasing, and I had learned all too well this was a sign of another threat. I turned slowly and saw her, rising up from the room behind me like in a slow-motion horror film.

  Marissa.

  She was holding something in her hand, a syringe, and there was a glistening in her eyes that held unspoken, victorious glee. She stalked toward me, and I turned, wondering if the others had seen her too.

  Seeley and Kellan had just managed to grab a hold of Gabriel. Seeley saw me and my fear and then saw Marissa standing behind us.

  “Jules, run!” Seeley commanded.

  I watched them struggling with Gabriel and realized there was no way they’d make it, worrying about me and him.

  “Well, isn’t this a surprise! My star pupil,” Marissa addressed me as she continued to stalk closer.

  I gritted my teeth and stared at her. “Marissa.” I said her name in a huff.

  “Now, now.” She made a tsking sound with her tongue. “That’s no way to treat me after I’ve given you almost everything you’ve ever wanted. It was your dream to work here, was it not?” She smirked. “Oh fate has been good to me tonight.”

  Seeley and Kellan were yanking on Gabe’s arms, pulling him toward the doors, and I could see Seeley struggling with what to do. If he let go of Gabe, Kellan wouldn’t be able to maintain control alone, and who knew what would happen. But if he stayed with Gabe, I was potentially in trouble. I started slowly backing toward the vampires and away from Marissa.

  “Jules, come on,” Seeley’s voice ordered again, stronger this time.

  I continued backing up until we were almost to the doors. I turned to run, but Marissa grabbed my arm. “You’re staying here with me.”

  I tugged, trying to pull away from her, but I couldn’t escape her steely grasp.

  Seeley left Kellan’s side immediately, and Gabriel began to take advantage of it. They had already gone outside the doors, and I couldn’t let everything they’d work so hard to accomplish go waste because I hadn’t moved fast enough and let myself get caught by Marissa.

  The next seconds happened so quickly. My reflexes had truly increased as I stopped taking the drugs Henry had been making for me. My hands were moving before my brain had even comprehended what I was doing. I reached out and slammed my fist into the large red button. The buttons that this building had everywhere. One I’
d pushed before. Only this one would initiate a lockdown inside the room I was in with Marissa. Seeley and the others would be safe to escape with Gabriel, though.

  The doors immediately slammed closed, sounding a loud, irritating alarm, complete with a bright flashing light.

  Marissa laughed behind me. This was what she wanted. Me. At least the others would escape.

  “No,” Seeley shouted and banged his fists on the glass over and over. I knew it wouldn’t do anything. The room had been designed to withstand and hold vampires.

  “What have you done?” he asked, a pained expression on his face.

  “You have to go. Get out of here,” I said, tears threatening to fall from my eyes, but I tried to be brave for just a little while longer.

  “I won’t leave you,” he said, his eyes softening and turning desperate.

  He was pleading with me, and those perfect blue eyes held such an intensity that I knew in that moment Seeley loved me. Maybe it was too late to realize that now. Whatever happened next, I’d be on my own.

  “Seeley,” Kellan’s voice sounded from an area I couldn’t see. He sounded strained. I couldn’t imagine he’d been able to restrain Gabriel by himself much longer.

  “I’ll come back for you. Do you hear me? I’ll come for you.” Seeley touched the glass, glancing back at what I only assumed was Kellan and Gabe.

  I knew he would, and feared they would. Whatever we had done had played into Marissa’s plan somehow. She had known we’d come for Gabe. Perhaps my badge had alerted her, or perhaps she’d known all along what we were doing.

  “I know. Seeley, ahhh,” I screamed and my eyes widened.

  Whatever Marissa had been holding in her hand earlier was now in my neck.

  “Yes, yes, young love. See you soon, Your Majesty,” she growled triumphantly.

  It was the last thing I heard before my eyes rolled back, and I blacked out.

  CHAPTER 16

  The rhythmic sound of an office heater whirred in my ears. My head was resting on something cold and metallic. My wrists were surrounded by chilly metal as well, and the pinch in my right arm alerted me something wasn’t normal. I slowly opened my eyes, but the fluorescent lights above my head made me wince and force them shut again.