by Jade Farhill
“He’s not your client!” shouted Harriet. “And nor is he in danger and being tortured!”
Jen jerked to a halt, then stared at Abby. “You … need—” her gaze fell longingly on Elliot for a moment before she forced herself to focus on Abby. “We need to get you out of that silver and give you some blood. Then we’ll take this to the president. I’ll review the tapes of what happened while you’re healing and build a case as to why you’re still legally protected.”
Abby nodded, unwilling to even speak. Just like the night on the hospital roof with Kenny, she needed blood, and wanted it from everyone around her.
The pain from the silver chain whips made her shake.
“Come on,” Trent said, approaching and releasing the chains gently.
She almost collapsed when they fell to the floor.
Trent put his arm around her and guided her towards the refectory. Abby barely knew what was going on or where she was.
Liam rushed out with a cup of blood and gave it to her. “Here, drink this,” he said, pale with worry.
Abby sucked on the metal straw, her vision coming in and out of focus.
Soon, her mind cleared.
She looked around, seeing that she was sitting at a table, being watched by hunters, kitchen staff and the scientists alike.
The moment she met Trent’s eyes, he smiled at her. “I’m so glad you’re back to your normal self.”
Abby ducked her head. “Thanks.”
Jen approached. “You ready to talk to the president? I can’t hold him off any longer.”
“Sure,” Abby said, standing gingerly.
As they walked towards the president’s room, Jen inspected Abby. “You were completely out of control,” she said. “How did you come back to yourself?”
“Blood rages can be broken. My sister taught me that.”
Some hunters were following her, the little hunter among them. Had he been in that hallway? She had a vague feeling that he had been.
Would this encourage him to stop tormenting her?
They entered the president’s office. Don Cooper looked at her, eyes cold and hard. “You went into a blood rage,” he said without any preamble. He waved a hand at Jen. “This is hunter business now. Your client went savage and was the means of one of our own getting injured.”
“Miss Rormton didn’t attack anyone.”
“She went into a blood rage. That violates any terms in her contract.”
“I remember negotiating that should she harm anyone, her contract would be violated. I’ve reviewed the video of everything that happened today. Not once did she hurt anyone.”
“She almost injured Lynn,” argued Nina.
“Almost isn’t the same as actually,” said Jen. “You can’t violate this legal contract on the basis of almost.”
The room went silent.
“You can’t deny that she’s dangerous,” said Don.
Jen shook her head. “No, I can’t.”
Abby winced. Jen had officially been turned against her. She couldn’t blame her.
“But the fact is Miss Rormton hasn’t harmed anyone. Yes, she went into a blood rage, but she also broke out of it.”
“A fluke,” scoffed Don.
“Fluke or not, it means that she has more control over herself than any of you believe.”
The hunters begrudgingly looked like they accepted this.
“Now, considering her contract hasn’t been broken, there’s no need for this interview to continue. Let her get back to work,” commanded Jen.
The president nodded coldly; Abby knew this wasn’t over.
“Dismissed.”
Abby and Jen walked out, surrounded by Abby’s guards, who were pressing closer to her. She wanted to get to her lab. To isolate herself from those who’d almost killed her and whom she’d also almost killed. She needed to digest everything that had happened today, including how she’d gone into—and broken out of—a blood rage.
CHAPTER 20
Despite Abby showing extraordinary control over herself, the number of hunters who passed her lab tripled after that, and all of them cut themselves—the little hunter still among them. He’d even gathered a band of teens to torment her.
But Harriet and her friends and team all roused on them when she saw them.
Finally: a hunter was being responsible.
But the little hunter just returned when Elliot and Nina were on duty, and made inappropriate comments at her while shedding his own blood.
“You think she’s massaging you,” he said one night to Trent, “but she thinks she’s tenderising you.”
Trent jumped up and went to the door. “It’s past your bedtime, kid.” He shut the door, locking the little hunter outside.
“But it’ll never be past hers!” he shouted from the other side. “She doesn’t sleep, right? Doesn’t that make you question your friendship with her?”
“If you don’t leave, I’ll call Harriet over here!”
“Yeah, call more hunters. It’ll make us all safer from the vampire!”
“You were there when she broke out of that blood rage. You know she’s safe.”
No response.
Trent turned back to Abby and smirked. “Silence at last.”
“She’s luring you into a trap. The moment you ask to be alone with her, she’ll drain you dry!”
“Go cry about it to your parents!”
“Trent!” Abby chastised, and was at the door in a flash. She opened it to see the little hunter looking pained. “I’m sorry. He didn’t mean it. I’m sorry, Little Hunter.”
The boy pulled out his blade and cut his hand again.
Abby stayed where she was, hoping he saw the sincerity in her eyes.
“Why aren’t you attacking me?” he said in the thick voice. “Why?”
Abby flinched. “Why should I?”
“You know why!”
Because he was bleeding.
“Nina,” Abby asked, “Please can you take Tay-Tay back to his room?”
Tears filled the boy’s eyes and he dashed off down the hall. Abby watched him go.
“It just slipped out, Abby,” Trent said, standing beside her. “I didn’t mean it. I shouldn’t have said that.”
She patted his arm. “I know.” But he didn’t know that the harassment had all started because of the little hunter.
***
A few weeks later, Abby strode into the refectory on her lunch break and saw that the pool table was set up. “Astrid, I challenge you to a game of pool,” she called dramatically. “Come on, show me your skills so I can mourn my lack of them!” Abby still hadn’t won against Astrid.
But no one emerged from the kitchen doors. “Astrid?” she asked, smelling her friend’s scent and knowing she was in there. What was going on?
A moment later, Astrid emerged, the smile on her face too bright. Her heartbeat didn’t match her cheeriness.
“Are you all right?” Abby asked, tilting her head.
Astrid’s face crumpled and she started crying.
“I didn’t want you to know, Abby,” sobbed Astrid.
“I’m sorry,” said Abby. “I know that hearing heartbeats is … invasive. I’ll try to be more discreet in future.”
Astrid shook her head, sniffing. “No, it’s not that.” She took in a shuddering breath and continued, “We had a fight.”
At the blank look on Abby’s face, Astrid elaborated. “My boyfriend and I had a fight.”
“Oh, Astrid!” Abby replied. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Astrid stifled a sob. “You came up last night in conversation …”
Ah. That was why Astrid didn’t want her to know she was upset. “I see. And you … fought about me, I take it?”
Astrid nodded.
Abby was silent for a long moment. “I assume he didn’t have a very high opinion of me?”
“That’s right,” Astrid choked out.
“And … you defended me?” asked Abby, uncer
tainly.
Astrid looked momentarily affronted. “Of course I defended you! I told him he couldn’t lump you in with the rest of the vampires. You eat rare steak, you eat honey, you only drink animal blood and you’re terrible at pool. I wouldn’t even be a match for any true vampire.”
Abby couldn’t help but laugh.
“He said a vampire is still a vampire and you’ll betray me one day.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “He said I should end my friendship with you for my own good. He said it would be best for all involved if I just ignored you.”
Abby pursed her lips—this didn’t sound like a healthy relationship.
“You almost died when you helped Lynn. No one seems to recognise that. I reminded him that you were working to help us all, but he said that vampires only work for selfish reasons.”
“I don’t think I’m working for selfish purposes,” said Abby.
Astrid took Abby’s hand. “I know you aren’t!”
Abby’s chest warmed at this—it was a wonderful thing to have someone believe in her.
Astrid sighed. “He said he only spoke to me because he knew I was your friend.”
“What the hell?” Abby snapped, and the hunters around her put their hands on their blades, readying themselves to draw at a moment’s notice. Abby ignored them, but calmed her voice and continued. “What a self-righteous arse! Who is he to say who’s worthy of being your friend?”
“I know!” sniffed Astrid. “Was he trying to save me or something? I’m perfectly capable of judging someone without another person’s help.”
“Damn straight, you are.”
“Yeah!” said Astrid. But in seconds, all her anger dissipated and she started crying again. “But he was so nice to begin with and I really liked him.”
Abby felt a pang of guilt in her chest. This was her fault. If she hadn’t been friends with Astrid, then none of this would have happened. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s not your fault,” Astrid replied and leaned on Abby’s shoulder, quietly crying.
But Abby knew it was.
***
Trent picked up on Abby’s low mood and suggested they have dinner.
“Don’t we have dinner every night?” Abby asked.
“Not like this, we don’t.” He winked at her.
Abby’s insides fluttered. What? What did he mean by that? “How so?”
He leaned close to her, a gleam of delight in his eyes. “Because this is a date.”
Abby stared at him.
Elliot groaned. “Do it after nine, please. Please, Trent, I’m serious here. Let me have a non-nausea filled dinner for once. I beg you.”
Trent’s eyes flicked over her face, taking in her lack of response. “Only if you want to, of cour—”
“Yes!” she said, wanting desperately to reach out to him, to touch him, to hold him.
He beamed at her.
A hand came under Trent’s chin and waggled it. “Great,” said Elliot, “we’ll have it at five past nine!”
Trent brushed Elliot off him and glared. “I had been contemplating your request, considering I’m in a good mood, but now—” he turned to Abby “—let’s have dinner at seven-thirty.”
Elliot’s team sent him foul looks and grumbled among themselves.
“What day?”
“How about on the weekend? That way, we can talk well into the night.”
Spending the evening—even if it was talking—with Trent sounded amazing. “Great. Sounds like a plan.”
Trent grinned, his eyes twinkling. “It’ll be a fancy dinner, by the way. So dress up.”
“Just don’t wear black and white,” Abby joked.
“I won’t.” He moved away, whistling to himself.
Abby rushed to the kitchen. “Astrid, I need your help!”
***
The weekend was finally here. It felt like it took a year to arrive.
“Why does it feel like only five minutes have passed?” grumbled Elliot as she left her bedroom. He caught sight of her dress and looked disgusted. “And there goes my appetite.”
“Ignore him,” Astrid said. “You look beautiful.”
“If the Grim Reaper could look beautiful,” muttered Nina.
Abby had looked in the mirror before she left, but of course, all she’d seen was a sparkly, navy dress clinging to an invisible form. “It’s wonderful, Astrid,” she whispered.
“You just need a scythe and you’ll complete the look,” Nina commented.
“Aren’t there monsters who specialise in seduction?” came the little hunter’s voice.
Where had he come from? Abby frowned at him. “And why are you here?”
He shrugged. “To see if Trent survives.”
The hunters around her snickered.
“Even our children understand what’s going on here,” Elliot said, sending the little hunter an approving smile. “Death stalks these hallways, her gaze trained on a foolish scientist, luring him close—close enough to bite.”
“I won’t be biting anyone,” Abby snapped.
Elliot just raised his eyebrows.
“Come on, Abby,” Astrid said, grabbing Abby’s hand and dragging her along the hallway. “Trent’s waiting for you.”
The kitchen staff had converted a spare room into a private dining room. A table was in the centre, lit by candlelight.
Trent—looking dashing in a navy suit and a slim yellow tie—pulled a chair out and gestured for Abby to take the seat.
“Such a gentleman,” Abby said, sitting down.
“I do my best,” Trent whispered into her ear, his lips tantalisingly near.
Shivers of pleasure went up her spine. The last time Trent had been this physically close to her was before he’d left for the holidays.
The hunters gathered loosely around the table, ready to attack if need be.
But tonight, it was easy to ignore them, and clearly Trent felt the same.
He stood and moved to the other side of the table.
“Dead man walking,” Nina said.
Trent took his seat, smiling at Abby. “I’m determined to enjoy tonight.”
“Me too.”
Their meals arrived. Abby was having rare steak; Trent, roast beef.
Astrid delivered a bottle of red wine and a silver milkshake container. She sent Abby an apologetic look. “I wanted to bring out two wine glasses, but the hunters said it was vulgar for a vampire to drink blood out of one.”
“I don’t mind,” Abby told her friend.
Astrid smiled and stood off to the side, ready to be of service.
Trent raised his glass. “A toast to us: a vampire and a human on a date.”
It was only then that Abby realised her sister’s silly vampire romance movies weren’t as silly as she’d once thought. Her chest tightened—where was Sharon? What was she doing?
“Abby?” Trent asked, worry on his face, still holding his wine glass in the air.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you hanging,” she replied, and tapped her cup against his glass. “To us.”
He smiled and sipped from his glass.
Abby sucked the blood through her straw.
But it felt like she was drinking lava—it burned in her mouth and all the way down her throat.
Abby dropped the cup on the floor, spilling blood everywhere, choking and gagging.
“What’s wrong?” shouted Astrid.
She rushed forward, but the hunters stopped her.
“Stay back,” Nina ordered.
The door creaked open and the little hunter peered in through the crack, his hand still bleeding from his latest cut. His wide-eyed gaze focused on Abby.
“What? She’s choking, not attacking anyone!” Astrid shouted at the hunters, her fists clenched. “She needs help!”
“Abby!” Trent cried, abandoning his wine and using Astrid’s distraction to dodge hunters. Abby slid from her chair and sunk to the floor.
Elliot ripped Trent away
. “Get back, she’ll kill you!”
“She will not!” Astrid protested, trying to get past Nina.
“She needs first aid,” Trent added.
“First aid involving your blood,” Elliot snapped back. “We’re not going to feed you to her!”
Liam heard the commotion and stormed past the little hunter. He stopped dead when he saw Abby.
“I specifically ensure that I only give her animal blood. If you’re choking, it must have been poisoned!” he shouted.
Flames were trying to melt Abby’s mouth, oesophagus and stomach. She couldn’t breathe. The skin on her legs and lower body felt like it was on fire.
“We have to do something!” screamed Astrid.
“How was her blood poisoned?” demanded Liam.
Another kitchen staffer burst into the room “What was it poisoned with?”
But Abby didn’t need an answer to that question. She’d felt this pain before, just never internally. She’d felt it when she touched the silver necklace, when the hunters lassoed her with a silver chain. The blood in her stomach was contaminated with silver.
With three other humans fighting to get to Abby and keeping the hunters distracted, Trent was able to reach her side.
Blood dripped from her mouth; her own blood. “We need to help her—she’s bleeding!” Trent yelled.
Another eruption of outrage and protests arose from the group as Trent cradled her in his arms.
“What do I do?” asked Trent. In the chaos, he met Astrid’s panicked eyes.
“Blood!” shouted the little hunter.
“Yes, we know, she’s bleeding,” spat Trent.
“No, give her blood!” the little hunter announced. “She’s a vampire, right? So shouldn’t she heal from blood?”
Had Abby been able to focus on anything, she would have wondered why the little hunter was helping her.
“Of course—Abby, take my blood,” said Trent.
“What did I tell you about us not feeding you to her?” Elliot cried, and tried to pull Trent away.
“She’ll drain you!” Nina screeched.
The other hunters joined in. “You can’t be serious!”
“I know you like her, but she’s still a vampire!”
“Don’t you dare stop me from helping my girlfriend,” Trent yelled, pushing Elliot off him. “Do you want her to die? Because if she does, you’ll never get the vaccine and cure for vampirism!”
