Hunted (Vampire Wars Book 5)

by Violett Skye

  “After what I saw in the clearing last night, I seriously doubt you could freak me out,” he said.

  Jeremy took her hand as they walked among the trees, hidden from the sight of anyone else that might be at the park.

  She thought briefly of Cedric and remembered that there was nobody else that they had to hide from. The danger had passed. Dillan would rescue his brother and the brief rekindling of the Vampire Wars would be at an end. For good this time, now that Cedric was dead.

  “Tell me. I promise, Ella. It doesn’t even matter. I don’t care. You are here. I don’t care about anything else.”

  He pulled her to him and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her, holding on like he would never let go. She kissed him back, and her human memories of their kisses before flooded into her mind.

  Jeremy pulled back when he noticed her tears. “Oh, Ella. Are you okay? I’ve missed you so much. I’m so glad you are back. Don’t cry. You’re back. Everything is okay now.”

  “I missed you so much, Jeremy. Things just weren’t—aren’t—the same without you.”

  He wiped her tears.

  “I know. Everything was wrong without you. But it doesn’t matter. That’s over and you are here now. You can tell me about those creatures later. Right now, we are here. That’s enough for me.”

  How was she going to do this? She took a deep breath and then took the plunge.

  “Jeremy, do you remember that night when we wrecked your truck?”

  He nodded. “Of course, I do.”

  “Something happened that night. It’s complicated but, I am…”

  Silence hung in the air between them as she composed her thoughts. She could see the impatience in his eyes, but how did you just tell someone you were dead? That everything was different. That nothing could be what it was?

  “What, Ella? What?”

  “I died, Jeremy.” She blurted out the words, watching his face. She wanted to look away. She didn’t want to see the look in his eyes as he realized that she really was dead, but she couldn’t make herself look away.

  There was no understanding in his eyes, and he shook his head. “Ella, you are not dead. You are right here in front of me. I can touch you. Kiss you.”

  He demonstrated and kissed her, long and slow. She couldn’t help but kiss him back. There was a large part of her that never wanted to stop kissing Jeremy. And then she remembered what she’d come her to say and knew she had to be stronger.

  At some point he realized that she’d stopped kissing him and pulled away.

  “Jeremy, you have to listen to me. I died. I’m only here in front of you because…”

  More silence.

  Finally, he spoke again, sounding completely exasperated. “Ella! What are you trying to say? Just spit it out.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m a vampire, Jeremy.”

  He laughed. And laughed.

  This is not what she expected. Revulsion. Fear. Hatred, maybe. But not laughter.

  “Very funny, Ella.”

  Tears of laughter streamed down his cheeks. She waited until he got it out of his system.

  He doesn’t believe me. This is going to be harder than I’d thought.

  When he saw that she wasn’t laughing—or even smiling—he stopped abruptly.

  “I’m serious, Jeremy. I know it sounds ridiculous. But it’s true.”

  “Okay, I might be a little freaked out. Maybe you hit your head. We should get you to a doctor. And we need to call your dad. He’ll know what to do.”

  She looked into his eyes and knew there was only one way he was going to believe her.

  “Let me see your arm, Jeremy.”

  Fearless, he stretched out his hand to her.

  She turned it over, exposing the inside of his wrist. She brought her lips to his wrist and softly kissed it.

  He stretched his other hand out and placed it behind her head, pulling her in tighter to him. He kissed the top of her head.

  Then her teeth pierced the soft flesh of his wrist, and he gasped in pain. She drank from him, just like Dillan had taught her, ignoring his protests and cries.

  When she sat back up, he was leaning away from her. She could see the horror in his eyes. He was terrified.

  Maybe now he believes.

  “What the hell, Ella?”

  She stepped toward him, wanting to comfort him. She only wanted him to believe her. To understand her. Not to be frightened of her. “I’m not going to hurt you, Jeremy. I just had to make you believe. Do you see now?”

  “I don’t understand, Ella. How?”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t really matter, Jeremy. Maybe someday I’ll explain it to you. But for now….”

  She gulped and willed herself to continue.

  Now for the hard part.

  “Jeremy, I had to tell you. I couldn’t let you think I died. But, I….”

  She wasn’t certain exactly what to say next.

  “You have to move on now, Jeremy. Don’t tell anyone else. Let them think I died like a normal person. My dad—” She took a deep breath. “My dad cannot know about this. I don’t think he’d understand. He always worries for me. This way is better. At least he’ll think I’ve found peace. That I’m with mom again.”

  Jeremy shook his head, and he started to interrupt her, but she kept going. “At least they can move on. Just leave it at that, okay?”

  He was shaking his head. “Ella, what are you talking about? I can’t let your dad believe you are dead. You didn’t see him when he thought you were—uh—dead. I can’t let him believe that.”

  “But, Jeremy, I am dead.”

  His face was pale, and she could see his eyes looking around, trying to process what she’d told him.

  She knew it was too much for him, but she had no choice. This was better for him.

  “I came here to say goodbye, Jeremy. I’m going to be fine. You have to believe that. But we can’t be together. Not now. Now that I’m…different.”

  “No! Ella, I just got you back. You can’t leave now. I don’t care if you are vampire or a zombie or whatever. Just stay here with me. Come back to your life.”

  She stood there watching him beg her to stay, and she steeled herself. This was for his own good.

  “I’m dead, Jeremy. I’m a monster now.” She willed her features to change, like she’d seen Dillan do. It was easier than she expected.

  She leaned in slowly, the monster that she was now, and watched his eyes for any sign of fear. She saw none. Gently, she pressed her lips to his and lingered for just a moment.

  “Goodbye, Jeremy.”

  She touched his cheek for a final time and then vanished, leaving him standing alone under their favorite tree.

  When she was far enough away so that she could no longer hear Jeremy’s cries, she collapsed against a tree and sat sobbing. After a bit, her eyes dried out, and she had no more tears to cry.

  A peace settled over her as she thought of what she’d do next.

  She knew the hardest part of her decision would be telling Jeremy goodbye. That there was no way he could be part of her life now.

  As her tears subsided, she could feel the bark of the tree digging into her skin. She contemplated the night before when she’d stared into the flames. She’d felt Dillan’s presence behind her all night as she’d tried to decide who she could live without. She listened to him breathing and pretended like she hadn’t known he was there. Ella tried to imagine a future in which he wasn’t present. Her heart broke then as she anticipated saying goodbye to Jeremy, and it felt bruised and battered now in the reality of having ended things with him.

  The agony of that thought was more than she could bear. And although she hated breaking Jeremy’s heart, that was behind her now. It was time to move on. Jeremy and her old life were packed up in a box where they would live on in her memory, but that’s all they could ever be to her. Memories.

  Dillan was in her future. Dillan was her future.

 
She stood up, took a few deep breaths and turned in the direction of that future. She couldn’t fight the smile on her face as she anticipated the look on his face when she came back.

  She started forward, eager for the first time about what her future held.

  Preoccupied by the breathless beating of her own heart, thinking of that reunion kiss, Ella didn’t hear the stranger come up behind her.

  “Ella, is it?”

  She turned quickly. She didn’t recognize the voice and found herself wrapped in bounds of air, unable to move. It was too dark to see who this person was. A sorcerer, perhaps? But she knew she hadn’t heard this voice before.

  He spoke quietly, his voice raspy and somehow slimy. “Ella, my dear. You are a lovely thing. I think I will have quite a time with you.”

  His breath was warm and rank on her face.

  Who? What is going on?

  His hand reached out for her cheek, and because she was bound, Ella couldn’t move away or scream. His touch was clammy and sent a chill down her spine.

  He stroked her cheek gently, leaving cold and dirty feelings on her skin.

  “Yes, I think you’ll do nicely. Dillan should have taken better care of you, I think.”

  Dillan, she thought. Oh, Dillan. Please no. Not now. Not yet. I haven’t told him. He doesn’t know.

  The man put his slimy, cold hands around her neck and squeezed. Her vision began to dim, black and spotty around the edges. She felt a warm tear slide down her cheek.

  Dillan…he’ll never know that I chose him.

  The memory of Dillan’s face—the face that moments ago had been her future—was the last thing she saw before her world went black.

  Nine - Dillan

  Dillan sat on the couch, just near the fireplace. He hadn’t moved since Ella left for the final time last night. He listened all night long for any sign of Ella, hoping by some miracle she might return. That she might have realized she loved him and come back to tell him.

  Isabella was gone. She left to search for Robert’s body, or at least the demon that currently wore his brother’s skin. She came back sometime in the night and reported that there was no sign of him at the church.

  “He had been there, but he was gone by the time I arrived. Someone else was with him, but I couldn’t tell who…or what.”

  The moon rose as she spoke, but Dillan didn’t stir. Robert was gone, and so was Ella. He knew he’d have to do something to track Andrew, but he wasn’t ready for that. All of his thoughts were on Ella. Isabella left him but checked back in on him throughout the evening. He noticed vaguely that she kept the fire going with her magic, but he never moved. It was as if moving from this spot would make her departure official, somehow more real.

  So he sat, deficit of emotion through the remainder of the night and long after the sun rose. But Ella never came.

  Finally, sometime around mid-day, he heard a car pull into the driveway. The only sound he cared about were Ella’s still absent footsteps. So when the door chimed, he let Isabella open it. Soft voices came from the foyer, Isabella’s clear, feminine one and a more distant, male voice. Dillan sighed. Not Ella.

  “Dillan. Dillan!” Isabella’s voice registered after a moment. Dillan dialed his eyes until her face came into sharp view. Alarm was in her eyes. That expression brought him back around to the present, and he stood up for the first time in many hours.

  “What is it?” His eyes moved from her face to Jeremy’s body. Fear was in his eyes. Dillan let out a sigh. “What do you want, boy? You got the girl. What more do you want from me?”

  Jeremy shook his head. “You don’t understand. I didn’t—she left. Ella said that we couldn’t be together. That she was—she showed me what she is.”

  Dillan let out a long breath. “I suppose you reacted badly?”

  “No! I told her I don’t care what she is. That it didn’t matter. Wait—she isn’t here?”

  “No, of course she isn’t here, you dimwitted moron.” Even Dillan was surprised by the venom in his voice. “She left last night, for good. She was supposed to go see you. When did you see her?”

  What on Earth is going on! Did she leave both of them?

  Thoughts ran wild in Dillan’s head, thinking the worst about Ella.

  “She came over last night. We talked for a bit. She seemed distracted, but things were kind of back to normal. Then she got weird, saying we couldn’t be together, and then she—she showed me what she is. You are a vampire, too, right?”

  Dillan nodded, growing impatient as the sense of dread in his stomach grew. “Then what’s the problem, boy? If you didn’t react badly, why didn’t she stay with you?”

  “Well, after she told me—showed me, I guess—what she is, she said we couldn’t be together. That things were different now.” His voice sounded regretful, but Dillan didn’t care.

  Dillan interrupted him. “Where did she say she was going?”

  Dillan took a step toward Jeremy, his hands curled, long and claw-like. This wasn’t really the boy’s fault, but his thoughts were turning to panic. Where did Ella go?

  Isabella stepped in between him and Jeremy.

  “Your dispute over the girl is hardly the most important thing right now, Dillan. We should learn where Ella went, yes?”

  He stopped abruptly, glaring at Jeremy, but nodded at Isabella’s words. “Yes. Where did she say she was going, boy?”

  Jeremy shook his head, gulping loudly. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. I thought she was coming back here. To, uh, to you. That’s why I came here today. To tell her that she belongs with me. No matter what or who she is. To tell her that I won’t take no for an answer.”

  He’s got grit, Dillan thought.

  Dillan looked from Jeremy to Isabella. “Do a locator spell? Please.”

  Isabella nodded. “Of course. Let me get my herbs.”

  She breezed past him and up the stairs, returning quickly enough that Dillan suspected she thought he might kill Jeremy if she left the two alone long enough. She was probably right. He turned his eyes toward Isabella as she begun to implore to the sun, the moon, and the spirits for some sign of Ella.

  Dillan had no more thoughts for the insignificant little boy that stood before him, only for Ella.

  Where are you, he thought. Surely she wouldn’t leave us all. She would want something familiar, wouldn’t she?

  Maybe she’s gone to Paris after all.

  Isabella stopped murmuring, and her eyes popped open, bulging slightly with what looked like terror.

  “I can’t tell where she is, Dillan. But I know who she’s with.”

  “Who?”

  The moments between question and answer felt like a lifetime, and the answer Isabella provided felt like death. “I can sense him, Dillan. It’s Rowan.”

  “Impossible. He’s dead. I killed him myself. There is no way he could be alive. It’s impossible.”

  Jeremy interrupted. “Uh, who’s Rowan?”

  Isabella looked at Dillan. “If he were dead, I wouldn’t be able to sense him, Dillan. You know that.”

  Dillan didn’t respond, his mind racing with possibility.

  He heard her words, somewhere in the mix of the cold fear that now ran through his body.

  Jeremy spoke again, his voice irritating Dillan. “Who is Rowan,” he demanded.

  “Rowan is Dillan’s sire. He turned Dillan into a vampire over a thousand years ago. Then he killed Dillan’s entire family, with the exception of his brother, Andrew. Rowan made Dillan watch.”

  Isabella spoke quietly, but each word cut Dillan like a sharpened blade. The old wound tore open, the one that he thought he’d locked away many, many years before. He looked at the witch, his horror reflected in her eyes.

  “He’ll kill her, Isabella.”

  “I know.”

  “Your spell,” Dillan’s mouth was dry and he struggled to get the words out. “She is still alive right now?”

  Isabella nodded. “Yes. Her spirit is strong. She’s a
live, but I can’t say for how long. Or where to find her.”

  Dillan looked at her face and saw fear in her eyes. Of course she would fear Rowan. Anyone with any sense would fear him. He turned, thinking, and looked at Jeremy.

  “Tell me exactly what time it was when she left you. We need to try and track her.” Without waiting for an answer, Dillan turned to Isabella. “I’ll need everything you’ve got in your arsenal. Everything. You understand? We begin the hunt immediately. We’ll need to find the others. See what they might know.”

  “Of course. Dillan?”

  “What?” His voice was ice.

  “There’s someone else with them.”

  “Well? Out with it.”

  “It’s Robert.”

  End of Book 5

  About Violett

  Violett Skye is a pen name for an author who publishes in different genres. In her efforts to find her own freedom, Violett is experimenting with writing in, for her, as yet unexplored genres. Mostly because it’s fun to try new things and that’s part of her DNA, no matter the moniker attached, but also because in exploration there is discovery. In order to find ourselves in this world, we must do three things. Start. Discover, Find. And then repeat. Each story must have a beginning, a starting point. That place where an idea is a glimmer of possiblity, still unexplored. Every story also has a middle where discovery occurs. We learn about the characters, we learn about the conflict that motivates them, and we adventure together. And finally, each story must find its way through the mirk to find that which it is. A finding, a knowing, that can only happen if Starting happens and if Discovery occurs..

  When you pick up a story from Violett Skye you can be sure that it will be an exploration of a new idea by the author. It will most likely be a tale that features strong women trying to make their way in the world. And because making our way in the world often involves matters of the heart or at least of lust, you can be pretty sure you’ll find some sexy romance. Because with every story idea that is explored, the author is finding about herself and the world she inhabits.

  Keep adventuring, dear readers. Life is short. Read all the things.