by Lucinda Dark
Chapter 21
Torin
I watched Barbie leave the church through the windshield of my car and get into Maverick's truck. Did he know? I wondered. Did he know about her? Or about me? Did she for that matter?
Holy water. I knew that's what she had gone in for. The same stuff she’d used on Delia’s face. I cursed and cranked the engine before speeding out of the halfway hidden parking spot across the street. My mind reeled as I drove. I couldn't go back to the house yet. Regardless of the fact that Eloise and Delia couldn't control me to get the truth, they would know something was wrong and something was very wrong.
Barbie was the hunter.
I slammed my fist against the steering wheel. She had no clue the danger she was in. Why hadn't she just skipped town? I wondered. Surely, she knew Delia would come after her. My stomach cramped with hunger, with thirst.
Fuck, when was the last time I'd fed? I cursed and pulled over on the side of the road, reaching into the backseat for the cooler I'd brought along just in case. Popping open the top, I reached inside and snatched the bag off the top. Opening my mouth and extending my fangs, I popped them into the plastic bag and let them suck down the cold, red fluid. To Katalin and the others, blood was apparently inherently different from person to person, but because I'd only ever drunk from the bag, it was as tasteless as coppery water. When the bag was emptied and the pain in my abdomen had receded, I tossed it back in the cooler and closed the lid.
Resting my head against the leather seat, I let myself come to grips with what I knew. Barbara "Barbie" Steele, was the daughter of Peter and Delvina Steele, and both had been vampire hunters up until six months ago. In the passenger seat of my car sat the whole file on her family. All information I'd gained illegally from a paid hacker and added to the thick folder were my own notes.
Travis and Kent, two of my father's lower ranking minions had been assigned to the Steele family. Six months ago—around the same time Barbie's family had been killed in a supposed robbery and house fire gone wrong—they'd been assigned to kill them. Arrius was intent on wiping out the entirety of vampire hunters on the North American continent. I had no doubt in my mind, though, that it wouldn't be enough for him. Kent and Travis had gone missing after the Steele family's demise.
The image of Barbie's face popped into my mind's eye. She'd probably been responsible for their disappearance. Somehow, she'd managed to defeat not one, but two vampires and escape the assassination attempt with her life. How she'd ended up here—just miles from my house—at the same damn school I attended was all detailed in the folder as well.
Was it just a coincidence? How could it be? Did she know what I was? Katalin had assured me as a child that even if vampire hunters understood that I wasn't completely a vampire, they wouldn't care. They'd strike me down and Barbie certainly hadn't acted as though she cared for me when we'd first met. In fact, she was as surly and aloof as any woman with a grudge.
A dull throb began to form behind my eyes. While El and the like couldn't get headaches, that didn't mean I—half human as I was—couldn't, and the rising feeling of agony pounding at the inside of my skull made it difficult to think straight.
I sighed and put the car into drive once more. I'd give Barbie the rest of the week to get out. If she wasn't gone by Friday, I'd approach her and make sure she knew that leaving was her only option. It was either that or stay and be captured, tortured, and killed by a wrathful vampire with a bad attitude. I could only hope that Barbie was smart enough to use the time I gave her wisely, even if she didn't know she was living on borrowed time and had been since the moment her family had been marked for death.
The front door was open when I returned home. I slowed to a stop, parked the car, and pocketed my keys as I got out. I watched as two men lifted a large trunk and backed out of the doorway as they carried it to a waiting town car. Frowning their way, I headed inside and found my sister and Eloise in the second floor library.
Eloise lounged, as per usual, against one of the reclining couches while Katalin sat in the corner, a book in hand.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Who’s leaving?”
Eloise flipped her hair over the curve of her shoulder and looked back at me. “I am, darling,” she said. “Arrius has called me to England. He’s meeting with the council there to discuss the eradication of the European hunters.”
I frowned, but this would make things easier. “Where’s Delia?” I asked.
“Still sulking in her room,” Eloise replied. “Have you found the hunter responsible yet?”
My spine stiffened. “I’m working on it.”
“I would suggest you work faster,” Eloise replied. “She’s running out of patience and so am I.”
“It’s only been a few days,” I snapped. “And there have been other developments.” Such as the death of Derick Gilmore.
“Torin.” My sister’s voice halted any further conversation as she closed her book and stood up from her chair.
I cast Eloise a dark glare when she snickered and whispered, “Someone’s angered their big sister.”
Katalin was rarely angry, but when she was, it was catastrophic. I watched her carefully as she strode across the room towards me, her book still in hand. “Father would be disappointed if he were informed that you couldn’t track down a single hunter, especially since he’s managed to kill almost all of the hunter families in North America,” she said quietly. Her gaze lifted, meeting mine.
“I will find the person responsible,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. I already had found the person responsible. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Barbie was the one responsible. The only issue was, I wasn’t willing to let her suffer for her mistake. It would kill something inside of me to see those deep ocean blue eyes paled in physical pain. Anguish was something I knew she felt. Guilt, too. I could see those two things clearly. And when she had accidentally brushed against me that first day as I was leaving the library … I hadn’t shown it then, but I had felt something. A shock of recognition. Katalin had said a vampire mated only once and rarely at that. Many killed their own mates so that they would have no weaknesses. I couldn’t imagine killing Barbie. If that was what she was, then all I wanted to do was get her far away from here.
“It would be in your best interests to do so quickly,” Katalin said, drawing me from my internal thoughts. “As Eloise has suggested.”
I nodded, my tongue thick in my mouth. “Yes, Katalin.”
Chapter 22
Barbie
I tapped my fingers impatiently against the surface of my desk as I waited for the bell to ring. Torin was back. It had taken the entire length of the week and I had a feeling that the only reason there weren’t more rumors flying about his unusual disappearance from classes was because everyone was still so focused on Derick’s death. The police had no leads and what was worse, neither did I.
But news of Torin’s return had popped up in Calculus and as soon as the bell rang, I was out the door and heading for the hallway I knew he’d be coming from. As soon as I saw his head of dark hair towering above the others, I was shoving my way through the crowd of people. He grunted as I slammed into his back and kept going, heading straight for a janitor’s closet I’d spotted on my way to him.
Opening the door and pushing him inside, I followed. The door clicked shut and I flipped the lock to keep anyone else from intruding. I had questions and Torin Priest had answers and it didn’t matter what I had to do to get them, but I would. Darkness descended but before I could reach for the light switch, strong fingers wrapped around my wrist and jerked me forward, spinning me and slamming my back into a wall of shelves. I cursed as they dug into my lower spine, making me arch against a wall of hard muscle as Torin’s hands moved to my sides.
“What the fuck, Barbie?” I blinked against the darkness—white dots dancing in front of my eyes as I tried to see through the pitch black. What little light there was came from a single line at the bottom of the door. I saw n
othing more than the outline of Torin’s head as it bowed over mine.
“What the fuck do you mean ‘what the fuck?’” I snapped. “That’s my fucking line, Torin.”
“No, why are you still here?” he demanded.
Shock and confusion rippled through me and I pushed my hands against his chest, trying to put some distance between us. “Let go,” I ordered. His hands clamped down harder, even going so far as to slide down beneath my thighs and heft me further up against the wall until my feet dangled along either side of his hips. I froze. “Torin.” I had no weapons, my daggers had been lost at the party and with Maverick so close by most of the time, it was difficult to get away long enough to find out where I could get some more.
“I know what you are,” he said, leaning forward. “I know who you are.”
I stiffened. “Torin, let go,” I repeated the words, hardening my tone. Inside, I was a fucking wreck. I had to force down the shivers that wanted to escape as I felt his fingers trail up the sides of my arms. He touched my chin, tipping my head up and back.
“I know what happened to your family,” he whispered. “What really happened to them. Why did you come here, Barbie?”
Ice threaded through my veins. Horror, thick and tantalizing, wove intricate bands through my mind. “You’re not a vampire,” I said. “Why are you living with them? They’re monsters.”
“Are you sure I’m not a monster?” he asked, pressing his lips against the column of my throat.
I swallowed reflexively. It had been a mistake to push him into the closet. A mistake to approach him on my own. But how could I have asked these questions in front of Maverick? I shook my head, trying to dislodge his attentions. His hand gripped my chin with an unbreakable grasp, holding me immobile. “You can walk in the sunlight.” The statement was breathless, my voice coming out light and not at all like I wanted it to.
“I can,” he agreed. Those shivers I had been keeping at bay made their way to the surface and raced up and down my back. My whole body went rigid when I felt two points of distinctive sharpness against my neck. “You need to leave town, Barbie. Right now. You can’t attack a vampire, leave them alive, and expect to continue on with your life. If you don’t leave, you’re as good as dead.”
I heard him, but I was increasingly focused on the fangs at my jugular. Fangs. Torin Priest had fangs. But he could also walk in the sunlight. He ate human food. I had watched him in the cafeteria. How was this possible?
“What are you?” I blurted the question even as my hands curled into the fabric of his shirt. My nails sank into the softness of the cotton and then beneath it until he could feel their sharpness in his flesh.
Torin sighed, the puff of air racing over my skin, raising goosebumps in its wake. “What I am doesn’t matter,” he said. “Are you listening to me? You have to leave town.”
“No.” I wouldn’t leave town just because he said so. Yeah, I knew the vampire was probably going to come for me. I was surprised it had taken her so long. I’d tried to prepare the house as much as possible, but without a viable excuse for Beth and Jon, there was no way I could continue to stay there for much longer unless I handled the situation, and I would rather be staked through my own damn heart before I let them be used against me. I knew from experience vampires had no qualms about hurting innocents to get what they wanted. They’d used me to get my family.
Torin’s hands found my arms once more and using his grip on them, he shook me. “Do you have a death wish?” he rasped, anger tightening his voice and sharpening his tone until it felt as though he were trying to cut me with verbal daggers.
“Let’s be honest,” I replied, reaching out desperately for the one thing that could fucking save me from doing something stupid—sarcasm. “My death will probably be caused by my mouth and not my actions.”
Although I couldn’t see it, the weight of Torin’s focus burned into me. The sensation of his gaze on my skin was like tiny pinpricks roving over my flesh. “You do have a death wish,” he seemed to decide as his hold loosened and he let me drop back down so that my feet touched the ground.
I sighed, but whether or not it was a sigh of relief or disappointment, I wasn’t quite sure. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…” I trailed off. “Time to answer some questions.”
“No, I don’t think it is,” Torin said.
“I disagree.” I reached up and latched onto his shirt once more. “You know about my family and I know that you’re not quite human.”
“So?”
I frowned. “So, answer my fucking questions and I won’t—”
“Won’t what?” he interrupted and just as quickly as he had released me, I was back in his arms. This time, he turned and shoved me against the door and locked his fingers like manacles around my wrists as he pinned them to the dull, wooden surface. “Tell on me?” he hissed as if the very notion was preposterous. Which, I mean, to give him some credit, it kind of was. No one would believe me and I really didn’t need to be locked up at this point in my investigation. I still had to find out why my family had been targeted.
“I’m getting really tired of you manhandling me,” I said. “You’re lucky I haven’t kicked your ass yet.”
“You think you could?” he challenged.
“I know I can,” I replied. Torin brought his face close to mine and in the darkness, I saw a circle of red begin to glow. No, not a circle—two circles of red. His eyes. They were bleeding red when they had once been a hazel green. I sucked in a breath. Bloodlust. “Your eyes…”
“Don’t worry, Barbie,” he whispered. “It’s not my intention to hurt you. I have enough human in me to give a shit about morality. I think you know that or else you would have tried to kick my ass by now as you’ve so plainly stated that you could.”
Though I suspected he couldn’t see me in the dark, I couldn’t be sure. He was at least half-vampire after all. I arched a brow at his tone. “You don’t believe me?”
The silhouette of his head nodded. “You held your own against Delia, I don’t doubt it.”
“Delia? The vampire?”
He nodded.
“So, you are with them.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. One that left me feeling a deep sinking fear that curdled in the pit of my stomach. I’d known it, but I suppose I had held out some sort of small sliver of hope that he wasn’t involved with them.
“They’re my family,” he answered anyway.
“Your family?” That didn’t make any sense. Vampires didn’t have families. They had nests, covens. Allies. Enemies. They didn’t have—my mind caught up with all of the information I’d been given.
Torin Priest had a vampire family.
Torin Priest could walk in the sunlight.
Torin Priest was human.
But Torin Priest was also a vampire.
“You really need to leave town, Barbie. Please.”
“Why?” I couldn’t fathom what he was, but the logical side of my brain had already put the pieces of the puzzle together. Torin was half vampire, half human. Even in my parents’ teachings, I hadn’t known a thing like that could happen. There should be no way he could exist and yet here he stood before me. His eyes glowing the color of rubies in the shadows. I’d felt his fangs as they slid up my throat. And there was no denying his strength as he held me suspended against his body and the door.
“Why?” he repeated my question. “She will kill you, Barbie. Today is your last chance. They put me in charge of finding you. You need to go.”
“Do they know it’s me?” I asked.
“Not yet, but Delia is on the warpath. Her face still hasn’t healed. She’s out for vengeance.”
“She’s not the only one,” I whispered. The redness of his eyes faded and silence descended between us. “Vampires killed my family, Torin. I’m not going to run from one.”
“Not even if it will save your life?”
“I don’t run.”
“You need to start,” he rep
lied.
I chuckled, the sound of my own sardonic laughter scraping against my ears. “That’s not going to happen,” I said. “Let her come. I’ll handle it.”
“With what?” he demanded, his hands squeezing my wrists harder as his tone grew tighter. “I found the daggers you tried to use at the party. They’re in my possession. They’re useless if you don’t have them.”
“Then give them back,” I suggested.
“And give you another opportunity to get yourself killed?” He barked an unamused laugh. “That’s not going to happen.”
I shrugged in his grasp. “Then what do you want me to say? I’ll deal with it when she comes.”
“What about Maverick?” he shot back. I pressed my lips together. Yes, Maverick was still an issue. “Does he know what you know?” Torin asked. “Does he know about me?”
“No,” I answered truthfully, not seeing any point in lying. “He knows nothing.”
“He will soon if you stick around.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t tell him yourself,” I said. “I heard you two used to be close. Best friends, people say.”
“Listening to ancient history?” he inquired and if I could make out the details of his expression, I would have bet that his lips were curled as he said it.
“Gaining information,” I hedged. “You’re an interesting subject. They call you two the Kings of St. Marion. I wonder what they would think if they knew the truth.”
“I wonder what they would do if they knew what you did with your spare time,” he replied. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Barbie, and no matter what you may think of me or my family, I don’t want to see you dead.”
Dead. Like Derick Gilmore. The reminder ricocheted through me. “Speaking of,” I said. “What do you know about Derick Gilmore’s death?”
His head leaned back as if he were surprised by the question. I waited for an answer. “What about it?” he asked.
“His heart was ripped out,” I said. “It’s still missing. That doesn’t sound like a vampire, but it also doesn’t sound like something a human would do.”
