Hunger

by Jacquelyn Frank

  “Life. The hunt is a constant gamble. You’re playing odds on what you think a mark is thinking, on what their pattern of behavior is. Then you’re gambling on whether or not you can take them, although in my case it’s a stacked deck.”

  “Man, you’re a cocky bastard.”

  “No one’s gotten the better of me yet.”

  She held up her hands to indicate the room around them and gave him a look that said, Duh! He smiled dangerously. “Give me time,” he said.

  She dropped her hands with a sigh.

  “I’m exhausted,” she said, plopping down into the chair next to his.

  “So go to sleep,” he said, this time being the one to cast the duh look.

  “I can’t. I’m…itchy.”

  He raised a brow and she huffed, “And no, you can’t scratch my itch!”

  “Just checking,” he said with a chuckle. “In all seriousness, what do you mean by ‘itchy’?”

  “I mean…my skin is crawling. Like hundreds of ants are marching over me.”

  “It could be an aftereffect of the heroin. Come here.”

  She gave him a dubious look.

  “Come sit in my lap. I promise I’ll make it better.”

  “You just don’t stop, do you?”

  “I’m serious. I’m not coming on to you. I can make you feel better.”

  She gave him another dubious look, but he could tell she was contemplating her options. She must really be twitchy if she was considering getting in his lap. That made him frown. He didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. He would go to her if she didn’t come to him. However, he preferred if she came to him voluntarily.

  “Then sit on the arm of the chair,” he said, giving her a safer choice. “I promise I’ll behave,” he said.

  “I have to be out of my mind,” Felice cast out into the room. Then she turned and gingerly placed her bottom onto the arm of the chair, letting her legs hang one over each side, her left leg draped loosely between his. He immediately turned her by her shoulders until she was facing him as well as she could given the awkward way she had settled. Then he stared into her eyes. Slowly he let his hypno ability out, snaring her with it, calming her fractious nerves.

  “You’re going to feel fine. Calm. You’ll let your exhaustion take you into a deep and restful sleep,” he said in a soft tone. He didn’t need anyone overhearing him taking control of her—just in case they didn’t know what he was—however unlikely that was.

  “All right,” she said, her eyes immediately drooping a little.

  “Go over to the bed, curl up, and rest. You’ll sleep solidly for eight hours provided no one comes in the room. If they do then you will wake immediately and be fully refreshed and ready.”

  “All right,” she repeated, yawning widely.

  “Go on. Go.”

  She hesitated, and he found himself rubbing her arms in encouragement.

  “Thank you,” she said softly. “You made the itchies stop.”

  “I know I did. Now go.”

  She was out of hypno now. The suggestion she was subject to was now a part of her subconscious. Whatever she said or did next was completely of her own accord. That was why he was so surprised when she leaned against his chest, her full breasts pressing against him, and kissed his mouth.

  She meant for it to be a friendly gesture. A thank-you. He knew that. But she was so delectable that he couldn’t let the opportunity escape him. He slid his hands over her back, effectively trapping her against him, and slanted his mouth hungrily against hers. She immediately grew resistant, but that only lasted a second. She sighed a little and relaxed in his embrace. Her mouth went warm and willing. He felt a little guilty taking advantage while she was still relaxed from the hypno, but only a little.

  He ran his tongue gently over the seam of her lips, and she opened for him readily. Her instant response made him respond in kind. She was all naked and delectable and willing in his arms, and a saint would have had trouble keeping from responding. She unthinkingly slid off the arm of the chair and fully into his lap. He immediately grew hard beneath her bottom.

  That seemed to wake her up. With a gasp she jerked back in his hold. He let her go, although he felt more than a little regret at her leaving. She stood up and backed away.

  “You’re a…a…” she spluttered.

  “Male?” he finished for her with a grin.

  “Perv!”

  “Hardly. You kissed me, remember?”

  “I didn’t mean for you to…for us to…”

  “Are you going to start finishing your sentences any time soon?”

  “Oh!”

  She stormed across the room to the bed. She sat down with a huff of annoyance; then, still under the subconscious suggestion of sleep, she lay down. She tucked an arm under her head since there were no pillows.

  “Don’t come over here,” she commanded with a yawn. “You can sleep there.”

  “Aw c’mon. There’s plenty of room over there,” he teased. “I’ll behave.”

  “You said that before!”

  “You’re the one who didn’t behave.”

  “Shut up!”

  He chuckled and fell silent. He knew she would find the hypno irresistible and quickly fall asleep. He listened to her breathing, waiting for it to even out and grow deep. It only took a few minutes for her to fade off.

  Once she was asleep he took a moment to examine his hand. He had definitely broken something. Not that it mattered. He would be healed by morning—provided he rested. He was burning precious energy and his only resource for replenishment was spoiled with heroin. She had no idea, of course, that if he fed from her he could immediately become addicted to tainted energy sources. Sure, he might be able to be brought back as long as he let the poison be purged…as long as it was done so in a quick manner…within a week. But would he want to be brought back? Would the lure of the addiction be too much for him?

  No. He would be able to come back from it, he thought stubbornly. If he had no choice but to feed from her he could bring himself back from it. But that was only if he could get the hell out of there. And soon. He would only have one chance at this, he knew. One opportunity to get them out of this mess. He didn’t know when or how that opportunity would present itself, but he suspected he would be poisoned long before then—whether it be from gas or feeding from a tainted woman. Or who knew how many other ways they could taint him. As it was, he was used to an organic diet—free of organophosphates. And despite his reckless lifestyle, he only fed from clean sources. He lived a clean life—the only exception being when he drank. But even then, he spent more time hunting than playing. These bastards had caught him with his pants down, possibly quite literally. He couldn’t remember all the details.

  Had they used a woman to lure him? Did it even matter?

  No. It didn’t matter. He had become a victim, and it was his own fault. Man, that chapped his ass. However, he could look on the bright side. He was trapped with a luscious handful of a woman. An impressive woman. A fighter. That might come in handy in a bad situation. She wasn’t a shrinking violet. If she could hold her own against him then she could hold her own against them. He remembered how she had fought them earlier. If he could harness that then they had a hope of getting out of there without either of them suffering too much in the way of casualties.

  For now, he needed to sleep. Rest. Conserve energy. A large part of him resisted the idea of letting himself become vulnerable, but he knew a part of him would stay aware. No one would be able to sneak up on him—as long as they didn’t use gas again. But he didn’t see how else they were going to feed them, exchange dishes. The captors would have to come in eventually. Maybe they would grow lax. Maybe they would think they could control him with threats. He would have to wait and see. They would make a mistake. Everyone made mistakes. And when they did, he would be ready for them.

  —

  “Wake up!”

  Halo was awake in an instant, lunging out of the chair
at the ready. He looked around to see who had spoken. It had not been Felice. She was still asleep.

  “Good. You’re awake.”

  The voice was coming from the television. Someone had turned it on remotely. It was on a blank, blue channel. That was a neat trick. He wondered how they pulled that one off.

  “What do you want?” he asked the voice. “What’s the purpose of all of this?”

  “Haven’t you figured that out? We want you to know what it’s like to be hunted by your own people. We want you to get a real good dose of life from our perspective. Then, once you’re good and poisoned, we’ll let you out and let the self-righteous so-called lawful vampires hunt you down for being one of us.”

  It was what he had begun to suspect, Halo thought grimly. As he had drifted off to sleep he had contemplated the motivation behind holding him captive, and this motive had easily crossed his mind. It wasn’t as if it was an original idea. He had heard of vampires being forced to cross over before. But he hadn’t realized they would go to such extremes to see it done. He wondered how many vampires they had done this to or if he was a special case.

  “Why me?” he asked, wanting them to talk.

  “You’re a hunter. You hunt us. You’ve even hunted me. And you’re good. I know the only way to get you off my back is to kill you. Or turn you. I thought turning you would be more poetic.”

  “Roth?” Halo demanded, suddenly recognizing the voice of his most recent target. A slippery target. He’d managed to stay a step ahead of Halo so far. That had not been surprising. Before turning, Roth had sent Halo out to hunt dozens of times for dozens of targets. He knew how Halo worked. In the abstract at least.

  “Smart. You’re not just a dumb drunk after all.”

  “I don’t get drunk,” Halo said.

  “You drink enough. Enough to let us drug you. Enough to flirt with poisoning yourself. You’re not so different from us.”

  “I know when to stop. I know when it’s going too far. You used to know that. What made you switch? I mean, besides utter stupidity?”

  “I got tired. Tired of hunting for clean resources. Tired of going hungry when I couldn’t find one.”

  “That just makes you a bad hunter. I wonder how you got so high up in our government if you sucked so badly at taking care of yourself.”

  “I would follow lawful vampires to their sources and use them. Saved me the work.”

  Halo knew how dangerous it was to take from one source too soon after another vampire had already been there. Roth had been flirting with unlawfulness a lot longer than they had suspected. It irked him that he hadn’t noticed in time to do something about it. It had taken another vampire to put him on Roth’s scent. Rafe DaSilva had come to Halo and told him about Roth. How had he been so dense? It frustrated him to think Roth kept getting the better of him.

  “And the girl?” he asked, glancing over at Felice.

  “Completely random.”

  “Why? You could have stuck any junkie in here with me. Why poison an innocent woman?”

  There was silence and he knew Roth was lying to him. She hadn’t been completely random. She had been chosen for a reason.

  “Clever,” came Roth’s voice again. “Smarter than you look.”

  “So tell me. Why her?”

  “I’ll let you figure that out on your own. In the meantime, we’ll be delivering your food through a slot in the bottom of the door you found. Slide your used trays through the slot after you’ve received the new ones.”

  “Why don’t you open the door and come face me?” Halo suggested calmly. It wasn’t worth getting angry over—he needed to think clearly. Maybe he could taunt Roth into making a mistake.

  “I’m not that stupid. Give the trays back, including the knives and forks—we’ll be counting—and we’ll keep feeding her. Misbehave and we’ll starve her.”

  That was another reason why Felice was there. They knew he wouldn’t risk an innocent’s life if it could at all be avoided. He wouldn’t risk her safety and well-being.

  “I hope you’re up for a long wait,” he said to Roth. “I’m a lot stronger than I look and that’s saying something.”

  “You’re as vulnerable as the rest of us. More so the more we gas you. Gassing you might not turn you, but it will weaken you enough to force you to take energy from her. Once you do that, you’ll be on our side. You’ll hunt for us. And then, we’ll send you after the queen.”

  So that was his real endgame, Halo thought. They wanted his skills as a hunter. They knew he always—always—got his target. It was just a matter of time. Roth was killing two birds. He was getting Halo off his back and making the queen of the vampires vulnerable. At least, that was what he was thinking in that twisted mind of his. One thing Halo could say about all sycophants, they all had delusions of grandeur. It was their fatal flaw. They all thought they were invincible. He didn’t know whether it was the poison they took in that made them that way or the fact that there were more poisoned resources out there than there were clean ones, thereby making them easily able to obtain power compared to lawful vampires who had to hunt harder.

  He was inclined to think it was the poison warping their perspectives.

  “Even if you do turn me, I’ll cut off my own dick before I’ll work with you,” Halo spat.

  “I know you, Halo. You act lowbrow, but you enjoy your position of power among the elite of the vampire world. You can have that with us. With Draz.”

  Draz, the leader of the East Coast sycophants and their criminal enterprises. They trafficked in drugs, guns, and humans, trading lives away without any regard for humanity. Draz was relatively young when it came to vampire age—only about a century old. Draz was Rafe’s younger half brother, born on this planet, unlike the queen and her brethren who could trace their days back to when their ship had landed on this planet. Back to the days they’d been starving because they didn’t realize they needed to feed on the energy of others until, wholly by accident, they’d figured it out. Back then clean resources had been bountiful. There had been no such thing as inorganic compounds and fast food and narcotic medications that poisoned the resources available. People had been pure and vampires had grown fat and lazy. As people had evolved into less healthy lifestyles and cities had grown and things like smog and pollution had intensified, that had changed. Luckily humans were growing wise to the ills of processed foods and pesticides and hormones being fed into their food supply. Power sources were growing again, making the hunt easier. Roth had just grown lazy. He hadn’t wanted to work at it.

  Again, Halo became irritated with himself for not having seen it sooner. He had never liked the guy; now he knew why. Roth had always been something of a complainer. Nothing overt, but a whiner just the same. He’d often played the role of the devil’s advocate when most laws or things of importance were being discussed and hashed out. He’d always been resistant to more stringent regulations over vampire behavior.

  “Draz only thinks he’s in a position of power. He’s on my list too,” Halo said. “And as you know, the only way off my list is if you go poof, disappear in a cloud of electro vapor.”

  “Or if you join us.”

  “You should have just killed me.”

  “Sorry. We need you. You’re the only one with access to the queen who can hunt her down with skill and precision. You’ll see it our way soon. Very soon.”

  “What about the girl? What’s her role in this?”

  “Oh…just unfortunate connections, let’s say,” Roth said coyly.

  “You know what? I’m going to get out of here. And when I do, I’m going to pluck out your eyeballs and shove them up your ass. Just so you can see the shit you’re in.”

  “Colorful. But you won’t be getting out of there. Now, remember the trays. Be a good boy and we won’t have to hurt her.”

  “Touch her and you’re dead. You hear me, Roth? Roth!”

  There was no response.

  “Fuck! Fucking fucker! I’m going to r
ip your fucking heart ou—”

  In his temper Halo cast eyes over the back of the room and realized Felice was awake. She was sitting up staring at him with wide eyes.

  Jesus. How much had she heard?

  What she said next answered that question immediately.

  “What did he mean by you enjoying your position in the vampire world?”

  Chapter 6

  “Shit,” Halo ejected, running a hand through his long hair in frustration. Now he was going to have to use hypno on her to make her forget what she had heard.

  “Tell me what he meant!” she demanded, leaping out of bed and storming over to him.

  “Look. Calm down.”

  “Don’t you tell me to calm down! What kind of psycho demented people are you?

  “You know what,” she said then, “on second thought, I don’t care! All I care about is you people leaving me out of this! I have nothing to do with this! Clearly this is all your fault! I have nothing to do with this!” she repeated in a shout loud enough to bring the house down.

  “Yes,” he admitted sharply, “this is my fault. We’re here because of me, but I suspected that all along. I know just how important I am in my world.”

  “Your vampire world?”

  Halo winced. “Look, why don’t you come here and sit down with me,” he said, moving to the bed and sitting down. He patted the mattress beside him. “Let’s talk about this calmly and rationally.”

  “How can I be rational with a crazy person? I mean, that’s what you have to be, right? If you believe you’re a vampire?” She began to pace, crossing an arm over her chest, gripping her shoulder tightly with one hand and nibbling anxiously on her nail on the other. “Vampires don’t exist,” she argued with the air. “Vampires don’t sleep. At least not like normal people. Vampires have superhuman strength and a vampire could get us out of here!”

  “Unless it was another vampire keeping us captive, someone who knows exactly how strong I am and exactly how to keep me contained. Like, for instance, keeping me in a room with metal walls, very likely steel or iron, that I can’t bend or rip through if it’s a certain thickness, which only another vampire would know. Come and sit,” he repeated.