"Something could have happened while you were human-"
"Shut your mouth, Hunter." Suddenly, Zane's voice was a hiss, and his eyes were like midnight. "Do you honestly want to walk on those grounds? With my personal life, there's a fine line. Cross it, and you're in trouble."
I tried to capture Zane's gaze, puzzled by his words, but couldn't. That in itself made my stomach toss and turn. Why did he go ballistic exactly when Ty was referencing to kids?
"Look, whatever," Ty snapped, an edge to his own voice. "But you intruded on my personal life, so don't expect to just stand here and take it."
A wordless hiss passed through Zane's lips, and he suddenly crossed over to stand closer to me. "We'll need to go onto the field for this one. It would be better for him."
"Who?" I asked, finally speaking again.
Zane's eyes met mine, and his cold fingers brushed against the top of my hand for just a second. "The victim."
"I don't want Alex put in danger," Ty interjected hotly.
"Shut up, Ty," I stated firmly. "I want to help out... But if there's a victim around, I'm not sure how I can. I'm just a human."
"Exactly," Zane said with a grim smile. "I think that there's no one else he'd trust right now besides another human. He just needs someone to talk to, someone to calm him down... I doubt he would trust a Supernatural or a Hunter. But still, I would like Sanders to be there... He probably wouldn't let you go without him anyway, and I also want him to see why I think that his own people might be in on this thing."
"Oh..." I stared at him, shocked. "You mean... This has something to do with the murders you're looking at?"
"Yes." Zane turned around. "Follow me." He calmly went to walk out my front door, as if he was the one who lived at my home.
After writing a post-it note that I would be out with Lulu-I was one of the "good kids" whose parents were OK with them-I walked outside with Ty. The sun had set, and it was evening. The pale blue light was eerie against Zane's shockingly pale skin.
As he walked past the house, two shapes plummeted from out of nowhere, landing neatly on the ground next to him. My shriek was cut short when I realized that they were Natalie and Madison. They walked on as if nothing was strange.
"Evening, angels," Zane muttered as he walked past them, smiling.
"Evening, Charlie," they replied, perfectly on cue and in unison.
I completely got that joke, though it made me more jealous than ever. Natalie and Madison, with their perfect bodies, perfect skin, perfect faces... And there was the fact that they got to hang out with hot guys. A lot. Man, I've got to stop thinking about Zane as a hot guy. He's a vampire. A vampire.
"Was it just me, or did you fly from thin air?" I asked, causing the others to laugh.
"We were on your roof, waiting," Natalie assured me. "Sorry, we can't just materialize. That's not one of our abilities, sorry."
Thank God, I thought to myself. I wouldn't be able to bear it if they were all-powerful and beautiful. That just wasn't fair.
"I'm guessing that you'll want her to ride with you," Zane guessed, inclining his head towards me—though it was clear that he was talking to Ty.
"Yes." Ty slipped a hand on my shoulder, and I distinctly felt like I was a child with divorced parents. Which was kind of weird to think about...
"I'll ride with Ty," I decided, making my voice kind of loud. "We'll follow you. Right, Ty?" These words were accompanied with an elbow in his ribs.
"Yeah," he groaned, taking my wrist and beginning to lead me towards his car.
An icy hand gripped my shoulder, and I snapped my head around, surprised to find my face inches from Zane's. A slow smile crossed his face, and I could feel Ty tensing as the vampire leaned in towards me, his lips near my throat.
"How come you put up a fight around me, but you're completely complacent with him?" There was amusement in his voice. "Do I frighten you? Or maybe the Hunter's just... boring."
I opened my mouth to give a reply, but the words never left my mouth. In a blur, Ty attacked Zane, and the vampire darted to the side, retaliating with a sharp kick. Considering what had happened to George, that scared me—enough to make me yell. But Ty just jumped to his feet, as if nothing had happened, prepared.
Zane's eyes were dark, but his fangs weren't bared. He was waiting, watching for Ty's next move. Madison didn't seem to be troubled by all of this—she expected that Zane would have no problem, if there was an actual fight. Natalie was a different story. She stood tensed, leaning forward slightly in preparation.
"We are in public, Hunter." Once again, Zane's voice had taken that cold, flat tone. "Don't let your emotions get the best of you. Been there, done that. Look where it got me."
This was a side of Ty I'd never seen before. His eyes followed Zane just as closely as Zane's followed him. Muscles were tensed right beneath his skin. Once again, I noticed that he was wearing a sleek jacket, and I saw that his hand was reaching inside... Pulling out a stake...
Now Madison looked a bit more serious. Her face still calm, she began to creep towards Zane, just inching towards him. Natalie, on the other hand, gave a low hiss, a blur as she rushed to Zane's side.
"Get away, Natalie," Zane ordered in a low voice. "You know he isn't going to touch me. Stay back, Madison."
"No." Natalie's voice was definite. Her eyes flashed like jewels in the darkness. "You know you don't want to do this, Hunter. You know you don't."
Suddenly, her eyes moved to meet mine. For that moment that we locked gazes, I was stunned. There was pleading in Natalie's eyes. She was begging with me to help out. Looking towards Ty, I realized that the Hunters had deeply-rooted instincts as well... Instincts that could take over...
"Ty." I walked over to his side, slipping my fingers through his and leaning my head against his shoulder. "Ty, listen to me now. Is this really the time? Sure, it's evening... But don't you think that-"
"This is my job." His voice was rough. "Didn't you realize that he had his mouth right next to your neck? He was going to bite you!"
"Or maybe I was just playing with the girl," Zane replied, his voice light, calm. "Flirting with her."
"It's something he tends to do," Madison added. She was keeping her voice breezy, the same as Zane's. It must be a vampire thing. "He wasn't doing anything serious."
"Maybe that's what made you mad." Suddenly, Natalie was standing face to face with Ty, looking straight at him. "That someone at all was flirting with your little human. Honestly, you clearly haven't been making a move. Did you really think that Zane was going to bite her? No. You were just..." She ran a finger down the curve of his neck. "Jealous." Emotions flew through her eyes—not like a normal vampire.
Frightened, I gripped Ty's hand tighter in mine. "Calm down. She's just talking to you. She's not being threatening." In the back of my mind, I did wonder... Was Ty just being jealous? There was nothing to be jealous of! I mean, yeah... Zane was certainly... Um, attractive. But I'd be blind if I didn't think he was. But I barely knew him.
"Please calm down," I pleaded quietly. Cautiously, I pressed my lips against the side of his face. To my surprise, I saw Madison give a wide smile at this. "For me. Come on, Ty..."
Slowly, I felt him relaxing, straightening from his crouch. Awkwardly, I lifted my head off his shoulder, but kept my hand intertwined with his. However, to my surprise, Ty jerked away from me, silent. "Let's go." He began to walk towards his car.
Fluidly, as if nothing wrong had happened, Zane walked by, Madison at his heels. She leaned over to whisper to me as she passed by.
"Nice using the feminine wiles, Alex. Very vampiric of you." With a wink, she followed after Zane.
Only Natalie remained, a shell-shocked look on her face. Still, her eyes followed Zane, and I wondered why. Slowly, I walked over to her.
"You OK?"
As if coming out of a trance, she started, then looked towards me. "Yes, yes... I'm fine. Just keep your Hunter on his leash, all right? I do not want Zane-any
one-getting hurt because of him. And they call us volatile..."
Looking like a beautiful part-feline creature, she followed the other vampires to Zane's car. And like the good little human I was, I followed Ty.
Though I wondered... What was the world of the vampires really like? The way Natalie had jumped to help Zane, the way Madison had followed more quietly...
Silently, I slid into the front passenger seat next to Ty. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white beneath the skin. His eyes stared straight ahead, and he refused to look at me.
"Don't worry," I mumbled. "Natalie seems to be a bit... Well, something's on her mind. She was just defending Zane, for whatever reason. I know that she was just drawing things out of a hat. I know you weren't jealous."
"That's the problem." Ty gave a heavy sigh, still not looking at me and starting the car. "She was telling the truth. I was jealous. Really jealous."
We weren't moving yet, and the words flew out of my lips more quickly than I thought possible. "Were you about to kiss me in the house?"
Now Ty looked at me. "Yes."
I took in a deep breath. "Do you know why?"
"...No."
Thank God we weren't moving yet. Looking away from Ty, I opened up the car door and began to walk away. Unfortunately, he has one of those cars that has the kind of alarm that goes off without any actual provocation.
Slamming my hands over my ears, I slammed the door behind me, yelling, "DANGIT!" Still, the alarm wouldn't go off. It reminded me strangely of my own life... Something that was freaking out and going way too fast for me.
My mind was a whirl as I walked towards the vampires' car. I could hear Ty shutting the alarm off, could hear him yelling at me, but I didn't pay any attention to the actual words. I saw Zane waiting, holding the car door open for me.
Numbly, I sat down in the back with Madison, Natalie having taken the hallowed shotgun position. This was no big surprise to me, but she and Zane certainly didn't seem to be romantic. On the contrary, both sat ramrod straight.
"Don't worry, we didn't listen to your conversation," Madison assured me, an inviting smile on her face. "But I myself am curious about what happened. Care to tell?"
"We just said some things," I mumbled in an embarrassed tone. "Sorry about him freaking out on you, Zane. I know you weren't going to bite me."
"Do you?" Zane's voice was completely honest. "After all, we don't each other that well. I could have easily been preparing to bite you."
"I don't believe that," I smiled calmly. "You wouldn't have bitten me in front of a Hunter. And I think you have more honor than that."
That got Natalie and Madison laughing, while a guilty look crossed Zane's face. "Apparently, I have been much too convincing."
"I wonder if he's upset." Madison sounded indecisive. "Who knows, maybe he'll run off the road, and that's never good."
Oh, shoot. The true volume of the situation hit me like a baseball bat. Ty had just given what was probably a major confession for him—he'd confessed that he was jealous of a guy making "advances" on me. (Though they weren't advances at all, right?) Me, on the other hand... I'd just blown him off. Like a calloused, shallow girl at school.
"Man," I muttered, leaning over to open the car door. "I'm such an idiot. Seriously, how stupid can you get? I've got to go talk to h-"
Abruptly, my words were cut short as a hand reached over to wrap around my wrist. There was no need to look at who it was. "Cut it out, Zane."
"His ego is wounded," Zane informed me calmly. "You'll just make things worse by going over there. The guy needs to get some anger out—drive fast, hit a few things... Just act like a guy."
"How would you know?" I retorted, stumbling over my words and sounding stupid, even to myself. "You're a vampire!"
"Ouch," Madison said, feigning a wince.
"That I may be," Zane allowed. "But I've also been trapped in a twenty-one-year-old guy's body for nearly five centuries. That teaches one something, don't you think?"
"Being a vampire is not without its romantic entanglements, either," Natalie muttered, somewhat ruefully. "I think we can all vouch for the fact that we get the issues with love and... well, war?"
"All too well," Madison agreed, her voice icy. Zane was just silent.
After a moment, he cleared his throat and started the car. "Your Hunter can't leave until we do, so I guess we should start."
For a few minutes, I just stared out the window, watching the street lights go by in a blur. It was very hard to get me carsick, no matter how fast someone drove. This seemed to just encourage Zane to drive faster. Either that, or he was trying to distract me from Ty. I welcomed both.
I couldn't help but flinch as icy fingers touched my arm. Turning my head, I expected to see Madison, but instead found Natalie. Her lithe body was easily curved around the eat of her car. It hadn't stretched like Mr. Fantastic—it just was that way. Vaguely, I wondered about how painful it would be for me if I'd tried to do the same thing. No one was that flexible. No one real.
The second surprising thing was the fact that it was Natalie who was touching me. Madison had at least acknowledged my presence and acted friendly enough. Her fellow vampiress couldn't seem to care less. However, now her face was kindly, and she was giving me a very small smile.
"Everything will be all right," she assured me. "You did nothing wrong. After all, you're just a teenager. Nobody can really expect you to react in any way besides the way you just did. He'll forgive you—even if he didn't want to, he'd have to. That's in his nature. I could tell."
With those gentle words, she drew away, looking ahead again. Biting my lip, I looked towards Madison. It seemed like she'd watched Natalie's little speech. Her doe eyes were focused on me, interested.
"She's right, you know," she smiled. "I was turned when I was only nineteen, but I've been in situations a bit like yours. For some reason, you care about the Hunter, and he definitely cares for you. Things will turn out fine."
This was all very odd to hear, coming from creatures that could easily kill me. It was like listening to a psycho therapist. Only Zane didn't offer any advice. I wondered if this was because he just didn't care... Or if he'd been in situations like this before, and knew that anything could happen.
We were soon driving out of town, and I began to realize how badly I could get in trouble. My parents were pretty loose, but how loose could they get? I mean, we were in the country now. Anything could happen in the country in Montana. A mountain lion could attack you, and nobody would know that you were missing for three weeks at the least.
OK, that was a bit dramatic. But I seriously want to get out of this stupid state! What do you expect?
Smoothly, Zane pulled over and stopped the car. His voice was still flat when he spoke again. "Time to get out."
"What?" I hissed, making my voice as soft as possible. "Why are we getting out? Wouldn't it be safer to stay in the car?"
"We aren't that far away." In a blur, Zane was at my side. "Besides, it's actually safer than staying in the car. Think about it this way: at least we're able to fight the bad guys when we're not in the car."
"Oh." I tried to smile. "Bad guys. Yeah. Don't you think that's something a bit contradictory for you to say, Dracula?"
"Dracula?" He rolled his eyes. "Please, come up with someone original at least."
"It all depends on the delivery," I smirked, trying to disguise my anxiety as I followed the vampires on the grassy ground. It was quiet... too quiet...
Don't worry, I'm not serious about that. But everything was pretty quiet, considering. Ty's old car showed up after a few minutes, and he stalked out, still looking angry. Before he spoke to us, however, he went to the trunk of his car, pulling out what seemed to be a briefcase.
Reaching into his pocket, he produce a key. That's when I noticed that the briefcase had what had to be a million complicated locks, and, miraculously, this one key opened them all. Inside the briefcase were carefully
designed stakes, silver daggers, and a pistol.
"Holy..." I couldn't find the right words to describe my shock. "Well—you never told me that you were packing it!"
Ty shrugged, slipping the pistol, a few stakes, and a dagger, into his jacket. "Never really found a reason to. Now, can someone tell me why we're out here?"
The vampires exchanged tense glances, and finally, Zane spoke. "There's been another attack on a human—a donor, by the looks of it. The problem is, he's so traumatized, we're not sure what happened. However, he wasn't bitten. Flora's already over there helping him out, since he is wounded... But he just doesn't seem to trust us right now. That's where Alex comes in."
Understanding, I nodded. This guy needed another human to talk to. "Yeah, no problem—you're sure that whatever got him is gone?"
Ty answered before Zane could. "Trust me, Alex... If there is anything out there, they're not going to be sticking around for long."
"Don't be so sure of that," Zane informed him, eyes unsure. "We don't even know what attacked him... They must have used some spell to disguise the scent."
"So it was a witch or warlock."
"Not necessarily," Natalie corrected, raising her eyebrows. "The magic probably did come from a witch or warlock—however, he or she may not have been using it of their own free will. There are tons of possible scenarios. This is just the first piece of the puzzle."
With that, she turned around, the cold window blowing her dark hair. Madison at her side, she began to walk along the side of the road. If they hadn't looked like supermodels, it would have been an image from an ad for Child Protective Services.
Zane turned to look at me, arching one eyebrow. His eyes seemed to be asking me a question: Can you handle talking to Ty?
Biting my lip, I nodded. Zane's eyes were so strange. Mysterious and empty one moment, and expressive the next. Fluidly, he prowled up to his "angels"-or whatever they were to him. Yet another mystery.
"Look, Ty, I'm sorry for being so obnoxious before." The stream of words came out of my mouth in a blur, but he seemed to be listening; maybe his "Hunter senses" were helping him pick apart my gibberish. "Running off like that was out of line. There's no good excuse, but... What you said was kind of unexpected.
Meeting: Vampire Hunter Saga Book 1 Page 12
