“Yup,” Adrian replied.
“You were a hunter before.”
“That too.” Adrian’s gaze darkened visibly. Nathan had a vague idea of what precisely had caused Adrian to be turned. The Delacroix family had tried to strike above their paygrade, so to speak: they’d gone after Damien. Adrian, twenty-seven and one of the best hunters in the family by a wide margin, had led the attack. Damien had a sense of humour. The details on the actual event were sketchy, which was not surprising. Adrian had probably had the sense not to approach his family again after he came back from the dead, or he’d have ended up with a stake in his heart.
“You’re not still a hunter, are you?” Cynthia asked.
“It’s not possible to be both, love,” Adrian replied.
“Oh.”
“He still has his training though,” Nathan said. “The same training I do. I figured we could give you a practical demonstration.”
Cynthia nodded. “Okay.”
They ended up breaking into University College’s sports ground, which was just down the road. Cynthia watched in alarm as Nathan picked the padlock on the gate.
“Is this okay? And how do you know how to do that?”
“Standard part of the hunter oeuvre,” Adrian said flippantly.
“It’s fine,” Monica said. “University term only starts next week.”
“Oh.” Cynthia still looked worried. The lock opened.
“So, hunter life is kind of complicated and full of semi-legalities,” Nathan said. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, though. Just tell me, and we’ll leave.”
Cynthia shook her head. “It’s fine.”
“Too nice, Nate,” Adrian said. Nathan slugged him in the kidney and smiled when Adrian winced.
"Lesson number one,” he told Cynthia airily as they entered the sports field. “Vampires feel pain just the same as humans do. They just recover quicker.”
“Which means kicking them in the balls is still effective,” Monica said darkly.
“Don’t teach her bad habits,” Adrian protested.
Nathan dropped his bag on the ground and pulled his jumper off. Adrian followed suit. Then Nathan put his gloves on and pulled out one of his knives. Adrian’s eyes glinted.
“If I get that off you, you’re toast.”
“You’ll never.” Close combat with knives was Nathan’s best form. He sank into a ready position. Adrian rushed him, and then they were fighting, a jab here, a slice there, Nathan drew first blood.
Adrian hissed in pain. Nathan’s mind filled with the image of the feral crying for help. He missed an easy parry, and Adrian slammed him on his back hard enough that his ears rang.
“Fuck!” Nathan snapped. What the hell had happened there?
Adrian stood over him, confused. “You’re off your game, kid. I never get you that easily.” He had blood on his arm, but the cut was already healed. Usually, Nathan had a good chance of doing Adrian actual damage.
“Again,” Nathan said, and let Adrian pull him up. Adrian was still peering at him in concern. Nathan knew he wanted to ask, so he hurriedly took up a fighting stance. This time, he threw the first punch, catching Adrian under the chin. He ducked Adrian’s return and managed to kick his knee. Adrian landed a blow on the side of Nathan’s neck and he staggered. He saw Adrian coming and parried with the knife; blood; Adrian kept coming and he wasn’t fast enough, and then Adrian had thrown the knife away and driven Nathan to his knees, locking his arms behind his back.
“What the hell?”
Nathan glared at the grass. “It’s none of your business, okay?”
“Like fuck it’s not. You never go down this easy. Is this over initiations? They’re not going to pull you out. They never pull our family.”
“It’s not about initiations,” Nathan said. He wrestled himself free of Adrian and clambered to his feet. “And they are considering pulling me.”
“Are you joking?” Adrian asked. “Who’re they gonna pick over you? You’re probably better than I was. You train hard. I don’t know how you’re even passing school; I swear you spend all your time training.”
“I’m not passing school,” Nathan said uneasily.
Adrian stared at him. A dozen different expressions passed over his face. Nathan’s whole body seemed to burn with shame.
“What happened?”
“I can’t talk about it,” Nathan said.
“Is it hunter business?”
“I guess,” Nathan said nervously. Adrian frowned. He picked up the knife, spinning it so the silver blade was in his hand. His skin began to redden. He held the knife out to Nathan, his gaze on Nathan’s. Nathan was human; he could be compelled. He made a habit of looking at Adrian’s nose or forehead, but today he couldn’t seem to look away from Adrian’s eyes. They didn’t turn red. He didn’t use any kind of power. Nathan wanted to tell Adrian the truth because, well, he just wanted to.
He took the knife.
“Again,” he said weakly.
“Take five,” Adrian suggested, showing his burnt palm. Nathan nodded. Adrian wandered off. Nathan sat down and pulled out a towel.
“You okay?” Cynthia asked, crouching beside him.
“It’s not my best day,” Nathan said.
“Because of your initiations?” she asked. “What are initiations?”
“We’re not supposed to talk about it,” Nathan said. “It’s basically the test you have to pass to become a hunter apprentice, the next step up from trainee. You take it when you turn eighteen.”
“Oh,” Cynthia said. “Your birthday’s next week.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. In that one word, he summed up the whole situation: his birthday approached. He was consorting with vampires in secret. His family wanted him to be a hunter. He was certainly capable. The trouble was… he didn’t know if he wanted to.
Adrian was over by the fence, looking out at the Thames.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” Nathan said. Cynthia nodded. He got up and jogged over to his uncle. Adrian didn’t turn around. Nathan stood behind him, which somehow made it easier to ask, “Did they have the prison in your days?”
“They had prisons,” Adrian said. “They weren’t amazingly effective. We mostly just killed troublesome vamps, rather than locking them up.”
“There’s a facility down the M40, in Buckinghamshire,” Nathan said.
“The old Wedley Manor?” Adrian asked. “That was a lab in my day.”
Nathan doubted it. That place had been operational longer than anyone would ever admit to.
“You ever go there?”
“Sure, we used to take them dust samples and stuff. Weapons that had blood on them. They were always collecting things to analyse,” Adrian replied.
“You go into the basement ever?”
“Didn’t know it had a basement.”
“Grey took me there yesterday,” Nathan said. “Downstairs. They’re keeping ferals there and doing experiments on them.”
Adrian tensed. He squeezed the links of the fence, and Nathan watched the metal buckle.
“One of them,” Nathan added, “It was almost… okay. It kept begging for help.” He closed his eyes and heard the litany— please, please, please.
“Fuck, Nate,” Adrian said. “You’re only seventeen.”
“Grey doesn’t think I’m ready,” Nathan admitted, and it felt cathartic to finally say it out loud. “I don’t think I’m ready.”
“No one’s ever ready. You think no one else ever had doubts? We all have doubts.”
“Did you doubt?”
“Did I doubt that I was capable of driving a stake through a vampire’s chest—an intelligent, capable, almost human vampire—and snuffing out their life? For sure,” Adrian said.
“Did you ever doubt whether it was right to kill vampires?”
Adrian turned around, and there was bitterness in his eyes. “No,” he said. “But look where it got me.”
Nathan could
n’t meet Adrian’s gaze. “You could make me want it,” he said. “You could make me forget my doubts.”
“No,” Adrian said. “No way would I ever do that to you.” Nathan still avoided his gaze. “Nate, look at me.”
Nathan looked.
Adrian’s eyes were human and filled with sympathy. Nathan hated it.
“If you’re not ready, don’t go for it,” Adrian said. “Fuck what anyone else says, this isn’t something you want to get into for the wrong reasons.”
“I don’t know what the right reasons are,” Nathan said miserably.
“The right reasons are reasons that you can live with,” Adrian said. “Because in the end, you’re the one who’s got to live with them.”
“What were your reasons?” Nathan asked.
“I thought I was ridding the world of evil,” Adrian said. “I saw what happened to Sebastian, and I wanted to protect other people from dying like that.”
Sebastian had been the oldest Delacroix sibling, another person who had met a brutal end.
“I don’t know if vampires are evil,” Nathan said. “You’re not. Lily’s not. I don’t even think Damien is, really. He does bad things—but humans do too, and we don’t kill them for it.”
“Oh, Nate.” Adrian sighed. “You’re an idiot.”
“Hey!”
“This is my fault,” Adrian added. “I should have stayed away from you.”
“Yeah, you did sort of muddy the lines,” Nathan said.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said thoughtfully. “Well, I’m sort of stuck now. Don’t suppose you could be evil for the next two weeks?”
“No more than I want to compel you.”
“That’s… annoyingly ethical of you,” Nathan muttered.
“Look, forget sparring,” Adrian said. “Let’s go teach your girlfriend how to throw a punch.”
“She’s not my girlfriend!”
“She wants to be your girlfriend. Just kiss her.”
“That’s harder than you think.” Nathan scowled.
“Oh no, you’re the one making it hard.” Adrian grinned. “Come on, Prince Charming. Your Cinderella awaits. No, wait, I suppose she’d be, uh, what was the princess in Swan Lake?”
“I have no idea, you ponce.” Nathan slugged him on the arm.
They were still sniggering when they re-joined the girls. Monica was lazily turning over one of Nathan’s knives, letting it catch the sun every so often.
“You done?” she called to them. “Hey, Nate, I had an idea on how to hide that Sihr knife you lifted.”
“What, you still have that?” Adrian asked, alarmed.
“What was I going to do with it?” Nathan asked.
“He shoved it in his cupboard, wrapped in a jumper,” Monica said. “Typical guy. What would you do if Jess grabbed it by accident?”
Nathan’s heart sank. “Oops. Okay, we can go back to mine later and you can fix it up.”
Monica held up the knife in her hands. “Silver blocks magic, and don’t you hunters use those boxes to store old artefacts? Could you get hold of one of those?”
“Maybe,” Nathan said, “But it would take time. I’d have to request it from HQ, and then they’d want to know why.”
“Wouldn’t wards do the same thing?” Adrian asked.
Monica beamed. “That’s just what I was thinking.”
“One more bout, first,” Nathan said, confiscating his knife from Monica.
“You ready?” Adrian asked. “I’m not going easy just because you’ve got jelly for brains today.”
“I can’t believe I’m related to you,” Nathan gripped the knife and swung at Adrian. Adrian crouched and, using a judo move, neatly flipped Nathan over his shoulder. Nathan rolled and came up on his feet. Before he even turned around, Adrian was there. This time, they were both on form. Adrian had a knack for finding pressure points. Nathan ended the bout by stabbing the knife into Adrian’s thigh.
“Oi,” Adrian groaned as he sank down to sit. “Now I have to get back to Damien’s with blood all over me.”
“Should have worn black,” Nathan said cheerfully. “Two out of three, though. You did better than usual.”
“You’re such a brat. I wish Benny had never decided to have kids.”
This banter was much more their usual speed. Nathan smirked. “Wait ‘til it’s Jess stabbing you. That will hurt twice as much.”
“Ugh.” Adrian sprawled out on the ground.
Cynthia approached tentatively. “Is he alright?”
“Already healed.” Adrian chuckled.
“Ignore him,” Nathan said. “He’s a drama queen.”
“If I’m queen, then you’re my bitch,” Adrian sang. Nathan kicked him in the ribs. “OUCH, NATE!” Monica and Nathan both laughed.
“Alright,” Nathan said, turning to Cynthia. “You want to learn?”
“I doubt I can do that,” she said.
“No need for you to do fight like I do,” Nathan said. “Seeing as you’re not in the business of killing vampires. Let me put the knife away.” He returned it to its sheath, then stood opposite Cynthia.
“Alright, hands up here,” he said, “Guard your face.” Cynthia copied him, and he reached for her hands automatically to correct the position and realised this was going to be a problem. Her skin was soft.
Nathan backed up and cleared his throat. He’d never known hands could be sexy. “Okay, try and punch me.”
“Won’t I hurt you?”
“If you’re lucky,” Nathan said. Then he replayed that sentence in his head and realised how cocky it had sounded. Shit. “I mean—”
Then Cynthia punched him.
He didn’t have his guard up. He brought an arm up on instinct, catching her arm and twisting it until she was forced to stagger into him. Her body collided with his. Nathan let go.
“Uh.” Cynthia stared up at him.
“Sorry,” Nathan said. He caught her cheeks in his hands and kissed her.
Kissing Cynthia was easy and natural. All that worry over nothing! She opened her mouth and her tongue tangled with his. She got braver, wrapping her hands around his biceps. Nathan was pretty lost in the feeling of her tongue in his mouth, and the little noises she made in the back of her throat.
Something smacked him in the back of the head.
He pulled away from Cynthia and spun around. Adrian and Monica were both leering at him, and Adrian’s shoe was lying on the ground behind him. Nathan stared at it. Adrian had lobbed his shoe at him!
“You heathen,” he said, picking it up. “I ought to chuck this in the river.”
“Oi!” Adrian lurched to his feet. “Don’t you dare!”
Nathan threw the shoe as hard as he could towards the river. It would never make it the full distance, not that it mattered because Adrian, in defiance of every secrecy law in the history of ever, shot lightning-fast across the field and caught the shoe before it hit the ground.
Cynthia made a noise of fright. Nathan turned to look at her.
“Yeah,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“He’s so fast.”
“That too,” Nathan said. “All the sparring, the training, most of it is irrelevant. The truth is, if you’re hunting a vampire, you only get one chance. Stake them on the first go, or you don’t live to take another shot.”
Cynthia looked a bit pale. “But no vampires are going to come for me, right?”
“No, I’ll look after you,” Nathan said. At least, I hope not.
“Good.” And then Cynthia went red. “Um, I liked the kiss.”
Nathan felt his cheeks heating up too. “Good, uh, great,” he replied. “Coz I was kinda hoping for a repeat?”
“We could repeat,” Cynthia said tentatively. “Maybe when your friends aren’t watching?”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER NINE
NATHAN’S HOUSE WAS EMPTY when they got back, and Aunt Anna had left a note on the kitchen table.
�
�Free house ‘til four,” Nathan reported to Monica once they were upstairs in his room. Cynthia was studying everything with curiosity, and Nathan felt a disconcertingly uncomfortable. He fetched the knife from the cupboard.
Monica made his bed, which Nathan wished he’d thought of earlier, and then she spread her supplies out on it. “This would be better done on the kitchen table, but the magic will leave a residue your aunt will notice.”
“Yeah, better not,” Nathan said. “I’d prefer she didn’t catch wind of my extracurricular activities.”
“Well, the residue will disperse in about two days,” Monica said. “But, Nate…” Her voice turned gentle. “You know… if you’re going to get yourself kicked out of the hunters for this… don’t do anything stupid, yeah? Because, believe me, I know what that’s like. I mean, I don’t hate working for Jeremiah, but getting chucked out of my coven sucked.”
“I’m not a hunter yet,” Nathan pointed out. “So I can’t get kicked out. Anyway, you worry about your shit and I’ll worry about mine, M.”
“Just saying,” Monica said. “Because you’re not exactly… impartial in this.” Her eyes flicked to Cynthia.
Nathan scowled. “Let’s just get on with it. The sooner that thing is sorted, the better.”
Monica nodded. “Put it here.” She pointed to the side of the bed. Nathan carefully lowered the knife onto his bedcover.
Cynthia swore under her breath. “Where did you get that?”
“I nicked it from the guys who were chasing your sister.”
“Matches,” Monica said.
Nathan pulled a lighter from his chest of drawers. Monica raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not what you think! I’ve just been making a tonne of amulets lately, feels like.”
“Oh yeah, Lily’s giving Damien the run around. She reckons she should have paid you double.”
“I should have charged her double for it,” Nathan said. “Normal hunter rates are in the thousands for travelling wards.”
“Try getting one from a witch for less than two grand. There’s a reason why we always learn to make our own. You undercut the market.”
“Fifty percent discount because it’ll probably die at an inconvenient moment.” Nathan handed Monica the unscented white tealights he had hidden in his drawer, and she balanced them on the five points of the pentagram she’d just drawn with salt on the floor.
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