Hunted (The Tinder Chronicles)

by Land, Alexa

  A faint ringing was coming from somewhere inside the apartment. Or maybe it was just the ringing in my ears after that auditory assault. It stopped after a minute. And then it started up again.

  I followed the sound to the kitchen, where I found a slim black phone on the (beige) kitchen counter. God, even the kitchen was beige, who did that? The phone had a note stuck to it. It said: Answer me. That was the second vaguely Alice in Wonderland reference I’d gotten from Bane over the past few weeks. I wondered if it was intentional.

  The phone stopped ringing. And then a few seconds later, it started up again. I sighed and answered it by saying, “You know what I hate?”

  “Vampires?” Bane guessed.

  “Obviously. But a very close second is the color beige. What the hell were you thinking with this place? It’s like a baby had diarrhea over every square inch of this apartment.”

  “It came furnished, and I never bothered to change it. That’s a delightful visual, by the way.”

  “You need to get back here and let me out, Bane.”

  “No.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “With that gang of vampires on the loose, it’s not safe for you out there right now.”

  I busted out an impressive level of maturity, and went with, “I can go home if I want to. You’re not the boss of me.”

  He chuckled at that and said, “And you wonder why I treat you like a child.”

  “Up yours.”

  “You’re only reinforcing my point for me.” He sounded smug.

  “Where are you right now?”

  “Oxnard.”

  “Bullshit.”

  He laughed again. “Now why on Earth would I make that up?”

  “What the hell are you doing in Oxnard?”

  “Driving through on my way back to Long Beach.”

  “From where?”

  “Points north,” he said.

  “Thanks for all that information, Captain Vague.”

  “I’ve been trying to track down the vampires that targeted you. I followed a lead that took me up to Pismo Beach, but it didn’t pan out. Now I’m backtracking. Crikey,” he said, and there was a soft thudding sound. I could hear him swearing in the background. After a few moments, he got back on the line and said, “Sorry ‘bout that. I dropped the phone.”

  “You know who says crikey? Australians. Did you suddenly forget that you’re British?”

  “I lived in Australia for nearly three decades. Some of the speech rubbed off on me.”

  “When was that?”

  “Latter part of the nineteenth century.”

  “Wow, you actually answered a question. Let’s see if you’ll answer another. How old are you, Bane?”

  “Really fucking old.”

  “Oh look, we’re back to vague again.”

  “Go back to bed, Tinder. You look like hell, and will probably topple over at any moment,” he said.

  I raised an eyebrow at that. “Wait. Can you somehow see me right now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nothing creepy about that.” I looked all around the room for cameras, but they were well-concealed. “I’m out of here. And it’s your call how I leave: the easy way, or the hard way.” I put the phone on speaker and set it on the counter, then went over to the little beige breakfast nook, where I picked up a chair. “Do you see what I’m doing?” I asked him, carrying the chair over to a large window.

  “That’s not going to work.”

  I hoisted the chair over my head. “You know I’m not bluffing. Either tell me how to get out of this apartment by way of the front door, or else I’m going out the window.”

  “Don’t throw that chair, Tinder. And when you fail to listen to me and throw it anyway, for God’s sake, duck.”

  I sighed dramatically and swung the chair back despite the protests of both my sore arms, and launched it at the window. It ricocheted right back to me, striking me in the left arm. I cried out in pain and dropped to my knees, clutching my arm to my chest.

  “Damn it!” Bane yelled. “Why can’t you ever just listen when someone tries to tell you something?”

  “You could have mentioned the windows were bulletproof, or whatever the hell they are,” I ground out, taking a few deep breaths to manage the pain shooting through me.

  “Did you break your arm again?” he asked.

  “I have no idea. God that hurt,” I mumbled, rubbing my arm gingerly. All of that had been completely exhausting, and I laid down on my side right there on the kitchen floor, curling into myself a little.

  “You’re not going to convince me to let you out by getting in a fetal position and acting pathetic,” Bane said.

  “Fuck you.”

  “Pithy comeback.”

  “Eat shit and die, vamp.”

  “It’s cute how you regress when you’re cross. And your temper always reminds me how you got your rather apt nickname.” There was a smile in his voice.

  I sat up and frowned at the ceiling, where the cameras probably were. “What if there’s a fire? Did you think of that? You’ve totally sealed me in on the top floor of a highly flammable building. That’s pretty irresponsible for someone who’s allegedly trying to look out for me.”

  “There’s not going to be a fire.”

  “There will be if I start one.”

  “You can’t start a fire.”

  “Sure I can.”

  “You can’t. I confiscated your lighter.”

  I patted my jacket pocket and swore vividly, then said, “You really raise being a control freak to a whole new level.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  “I know,” he said. “But it’s probably as close as I’ll ever come to getting one from you, so I decided to embrace it.”

  I sighed and got up off the floor, scooped up the cell phone, and trudged back to the bedroom, where I collapsed across the mattress. “Good boy,” he said, and I gave the ceiling the finger.

  “I hate you Bane. I really, really hate you.”

  “No you don’t. You want to hate me, but you’re failing miserably at it.”

  “Now why would you say that?”

  “Because you brought the cell phone with you when you went to the bedroom.” I could practically hear his smirk.

  I smiled sweetly at the ceiling and showed him the cell phone. Then I threw it as hard as I could against the bedroom wall, grinning with satisfaction when it broke into a hundred pieces. I flipped him off with both hands, then lounged against the pillows.

  A muffled ring came from the nightstand. I sat up and pulled open the drawer. The cellphone was inside it. I pushed the speaker button with wide-eyed amazement, and Bane said, “Oh, come now. I’m not that good. It’s a second identical phone, not the first one reincarnated.” I dragged my hand over my face, and he added, “By the way, I’m glad to see you didn’t re-break your arm.”

  “How do you know it’s not broken?”

  “You were able to flip me the bird with both hands.”

  “That’s true. Let’s see that again.” I gave him the double-finger one more time, then pried off the back of the phone, removed the battery, and tossed it over my shoulder. I kind of expected yet another phone to start ringing somewhere in the apartment, but all was silent.

  Too silent. After sitting there in the quiet for a while, I actually regretted ending our conversation. I was way too stubborn to put the battery back in the phone, though.

  Chapter Six

  So, apparently I’d fallen asleep yet again, and awoke feeling slightly less out of it than the last time. I got up and unconsciously did a quick weapons check, my hands going to all the spots on my body where I kept them concealed. Everything was in order. Then, because my mouth was really dry, I went to get a drink of water.

  When I reached the kitchen doorway, I stopped short. Bane was seated at the little table, sunlight spilling across his broad shoulders. I’d never seen him in daylight before, for obvious r
easons. It suited him in ways I could never have imagined. Warm chestnut highlights were brought out in his otherwise dark brown hair, and his pale skin was luminous. He looked up from his thin, silver laptop. The sun added incredible depth and sparkle to his green eyes, making them practically iridescent beneath their dark lashes.

  He was so incredibly gorgeous, more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. I didn’t even know what to do with the overwhelming attraction I felt for him in that moment, so I went with muttering dumbly, “So, you own a daylight talisman.”

  “Of course I do.” He was watching me closely, his expression guarded.

  “Am I free to go?”

  “No.”

  “I feel a lot better.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You saw what’s happening out there, Tinder. The vampires are organizing, they’re working together,” Bane said, leaning back in his chair. “You’re perfectly capable of taking on one or two at a time, but not five or ten. So until I figure out a way to make you safe out there, you’re not going anywhere.”

  I stared at him incredulously. “So, you’re actually proposing keeping me prisoner here, locked up in the Tower of Beige until you think it’s safe enough for me to venture into the outside world? Are you insane?”

  “I’m not proposing anything. I’m telling you how it is.” He turned back to his laptop, tapping a few keys. Arrogant bastard.

  “Screw that,” I said, pulling my gun on him. “I’m leaving. You can either hand me the keys that’ll get me out of here, or I can fill your skull with lead and get them myself.”

  “Your gun’s unloaded,” he said, still looking at the screen.

  I checked the clip and growled, then threw the gun at his head. He caught it without even glancing up and set it on the table, then clicked a couple more keys.

  This infuriated me, and I pulled two stakes from my jacket and flung myself at him. In the next instant, I was flat on my back on the tile floor, my hands pinned to either side of my head. Bane frowned down at me as he straddled my hips. “I don’t have time for this right now, Tinder. I’m trying to figure out a way to help you, and it’d go a lot faster if you could stop trying to kill me for five minutes.”

  I glared at him. “I don’t need or want your help. And you’re not helping anyway. What are you doing on that computer? Did you type how to help Tinder into Google? Nothing on there’s going to do any good.”

  “If you feel you can cooperate, I’ll let you up and show you what I’m doing. I think you might actually find it fascinating.”

  Despite myself, I was actually getting a bit turned on by being pinned underneath him. And that was the last thing I wanted right now, so I muttered, “Fine. Get off me.” He plucked the weapons from my hands and got up, tossing the stakes on the table before sitting down in front of his computer again.

  “It’s annoying that you don’t take me seriously,” I said. “You don’t see me as a threat at all.”

  “What makes you say that?” His eyes were back on the screen.

  “You’re not even trying to keep those stakes from me.”

  “That’s because I know you have no real interest in killing me.”

  “Oh really? Then why did you take the bullets out of my gun?”

  “Because while you won’t kill me, you might shoot me. I happen to like this shirt, and didn’t want it riddled with bullet holes.” He adjusted the lapel of his dark blue button-down shirt as he said that.

  I rolled my eyes and came to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder. A scan of an old, handwritten text was on the screen. “Yeah, that’s fascinating,” I said. “Look, I’m really not going to let you imprison me. So how about if you – hey, what is that?” He’d scrolled down in the on-screen document, revealing an elaborate symbol, concentric circles containing text framed by six smaller symbols.

  “It’s a protection symbol, but not the one you need.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I said, pulling up the other kitchen chair right beside him and spinning the computer to face me.

  He swiveled the laptop back toward him, but only partway, so we could both see it. “No, look here. See this part?” With a few graceful flicks of his fingers, he enlarged part of the symbol. “It’s all wrong. It says—”

  “I know what it says.” I read the Greek incantation out loud, and he looked astonished. “It says that it protects the bearer of this symbol from all things supernatural.” I read a little more and added, “Oh, I see, it specifically only protects females.” He was still staring at me like an alien had just popped out of my chest, and I rolled my eyes. “You think I’m a total moron, don’t you? You can’t even believe I read Greek.”

  “I hardly think you’re a moron. But your parents never bothered sending you to school, so it does surprise me that you can do that.”

  “I may not have spent my childhood rotting in a classroom and learning shit like Algebra, but my parents taught me plenty. For one thing, I learned to read six different languages proficiently and three more passably by the time I was twelve. And really, once I knew how to read, a formal education was pointless. Everything I’d ever need to know is in books.”

  “It’s shocking that your parents took the time to teach five children so many languages. I always assumed they just taught all of you how to fight and then shoved you out into the field, from the time you were old enough to hold a stake.”

  I admitted, “Actually, they only taught me all those languages. I picked them up easily. Plus, I was the only one of their kids…well, with a need to read ancient texts.” I looked back at the computer, sliding my finger across the touch pad to bring more of the document into view.

  “You’re referring to your ability to work magic,” he said, and I nodded, not looking up. “Why are you embarrassed by that?”

  I shrugged and said, “I dunno. Maybe I figure I’m enough of a freak already, without also admitting I’m part warlock. I mean, you want to totally alienate yourself from the human race? Go around telling people shit like that.”

  “It’s always bothered you,” he said gently, reaching out and brushing the hair from my eyes. “Not fitting in, living a life so separated from the rest of society. I hate the fact that you were never given a choice, or the chance to lead a normal life. I always wished I could change that for you.”

  I met his gaze. “You don’t know me, Bane. This, right now, is the longest conversation you and I have ever had. Why do you always act like you have me all figured out?”

  Bane smiled at me, which revealed his fangs. I almost flinched. It was easy to forget what he was as he sat there bathed in sunlight. “Oh, I don’t have you all figured out, love. Far from it. But I’ve seen enough over the years to know your parents did you a real injustice.”

  “I hate it when you talk about my parents. You didn’t know them, either, and have no clue how they raised me.”

  “On the contrary, Tinder, I knew both of your parents. Not well, but I knew them. I actually have a long history with your mother’s side of the family, going all the way back to Portugal. In fact, I was an acquaintance of Duarte Sousa, your great, great grandfather.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “He was the last of your ancestors to display a strong proficiency in magic, and that’s how I knew him. Magical ability at the time wasn’t as rare as it is now, it hadn’t been totally diluted down yet by cross-breeding with the general population. So there was a small fellowship of warlocks in the parish of Alvor, including Duarte and me. He was an exceptional fellow. You’re like him in many ways.”

  “Did he know you were a vampire?”

  “Of course.”

  “So, why didn’t he kill you? He must have been a hunter, all of my mother’s family were.”

  “Oh, he tried. Many, many times. But he stopped after a while, when he finally realized I wasn’t his enemy.”

  “Now why the hell wouldn’t he see you as the enemy?”<
br />
  “Because I don’t kill people when I feed.”

  “But still. You’re a vampire.”

  Bane said, “You and I are having a civilized conversation right now, despite being hunter and vampire. It was no different for your ancestor and me.”

  “Yeah, well, all that proves is that I’m kind of a dumbshit.” A thought occurred to me then, and I asked, “Did you sleep with him too? And if you say yes, I seriously think I’m going to puke.”

  He laughed at that. “God no. Duarte was hardly my type.”

  “Why not?”

  “He was straight, for one thing.”

  “Well, thank God. That would have been really creepy.”

  Bane was still grinning as he turned his attention back to the computer and scrolled down a little farther. I watched his classically handsome profile for a few moments before turning my attention to the screen as well. After a while, he said, “I’m proud of you, Tinder. I really expected you to go ballistic, maybe try burrowing your way out of here with a soup spoon after I told you I was keeping you here. But you’re handling this remarkably well.”

  “I’m just waiting for my moment. If I try to escape while you’re here, you’re liable to stake me to a wall again. Thank you for that, by the way.” When I’d encountered Bane in that warehouse, he’d tried to prevent me from facing off against a bunch of vamps by detaining me in an office. His detention method left a lot to be desired.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I was being sarcastic.”

  “I know.”

  I knit my brows at him. His attention was still on the computer. “Are you even a little sorry you did that to me?” I asked.

  “Not in the least. You refused to listen, just as you always do, and I really needed to keep you in that office for a few minutes. What choice did I have?”

  I rolled my eyes and commandeered the computer, turning it toward me and flipping quickly through the document. Bane watched me for a moment, then pushed back from the table. “I’ll leave the laptop with you. There are over two hundred texts on witchcraft and alchemy saved to that hard drive. Should keep you busy for a while.”

  He started to leave the kitchen, and I asked, “Where are you going?”