Blood Reaction A Vampire Novel (24 page)

With what appeared to be some difficulty in taking his mind off the scent, he pivoted to face me. “What is that sound you are making?”

Shrugging my shoulders at him, I gave him my best look of complete cluelessness and watched for his response. He kept turning slightly to face the scent while trying to keep his attention on me. How could I have been so stupid as to scrape my nails in the trees? Like I could possibly explain that away. Waiting anxiously, I was relieved when he turned back towards the scents.

“I have let myself get too hungry by staying too long with you each evening,” he noted, turning narrowed eyes on me before continuing up the path.

It was mid-February. Prime time for coon hunting in this part of the country. I was betting the men we were hunting were out here on a hunting trip themselves, it would never occur to them that they were about to become the prey.

We continued to move in the general direction of the men but Asa had stopped moving directly towards them. He seemed to be crisscrossing his trail some. I wasn’t sure why and I couldn’t ask him since that would give away my ability to track their scent as well. The night was still quite young so time wasn’t an issue. Maybe he was just dragging it out for my benefit.

If we hadn’t been on our way to kill someone, I would have enjoyed walking through the dark woods. The scents, the breeze, the darkness were all more comforting than I would have ever expected.

Having spent quite a bit of time on horseback here, I had never failed to notice its beauty, but I now saw it with a whole new set of eyes, quite literally. The snow continued to drift lightly not enough to even dust the ground. If I were completely human, I wouldn’t have been able to see the glaze the snowflakes created on the trees.

I could hear the crunch of every leaf and stick that my feet trampled on. It sounded deafening to me as I was still not used to the overwhelming sense of hearing I had developed.

Noticing new sounds in the general direction of the human smell, it was only a second before I recognized the baying of dogs. Probably coon dogs that had been let loose to run the game. The men would give the dogs time to catch the scent of their prey and would then follow their baying until they came to where the animal was cornered. Each of the humans would most likely have their own dog and they would split up when the hunt started.

Asa had stopped in front of me again, listening intently, turning his head in the direction of the hounds. Sure that he was formulating a plan by the look on his face, I felt for the men up ahead, knowing there was nothing I could do for them.

There were three, all men, I was now certain of their scents. One was quite young, one was middle-aged but very healthy, and the third was elderly but still smelled vibrant.

Probably a three-generation hunting party with wives, children, and grandchildren at home. Out for a good time, they never considered that these woods held any real threats. Would Asa stop at one like he had said, or would he go after all three?

We were getting very close to their base camp now. I could make out the flicker of their campfire through the densely packed pine trees. The camp had been made in a small clearing located in the midst of the largest of the pines. Judging from the size of the trees I could see up ahead, it was likely scheduled for clear-cutting soon, but for now it made a great camp area.

Stepping into the camp, Asa stopped to look around for a moment. Three small and weathered campers were arranged into a semi-circle pattern at the far edge of the small clearing. The fire ring sat in the middle, a neat circle of smoke-blackened rocks surrounded by several different types of old lawn chairs. A dented coffee pot, its bottom beginning to show signs of rust, sat on the corner of one rock.

Still warm coals glowed brightly against the dark of the night. Had I still been completely human they probably would have appeared more grayish in color, but with my new eyesight any light looked bright. A thin curl of smoke rose from the small fire that burned in the remains of the logs that had been heaped into the center of the ring. The smell of the smoke along with the occasional pop of the fire gave the camp a cozy feel and made this all the more awful.

Walking over to the camper nearest to us, Asa pulled the unlocked door open. Stepping inside with a single step, I heard him rummaging through the cabinets. A moment later he walked out with a small wad of cash and then followed suit with the next two campers.

“First lesson for you.” He looked at me as he spoke. “Do not forget to take what you can from your victims. Money will come in handy even for vampires from time to time. Humans also carry other items of value. Shoes, clothes, credit cards, identification. You never know what you will find. They carry the most unusual things.” He sounded like some sort of bizarre commentator you might hear describing the steals you could find at a yard sale rather than at a soon-to-be murder scene.

Shoving the small amount of money deep into his jeans pocket, he stopped in the middle of the camp and took in a deep breath. I did the same behind his back, letting the delicious scents of the three men fill my lungs.

He had obviously chosen the youngest of the three because he moved in the direction the youngest had gone. I couldn’t really blame him, the younger man smelled divine, like gourmet chocolate compared to the dollar-store variety. If I were drinking for sport, I would have chosen him too.

But I wasn’t drinking for sport. I was only here because I had to be. An agreement. In exchange for the information I needed. Asa was going to kill this young man and I would have to watch, unable to help him. He had also said that he didn’t have to kill and that many times, he didn’t. But a dread in the pit of my belly told me he would tonight. If for no other reason than to show me how cruel he really was. But I needed no proof, I had seen enough already.

We trailed slowly through the woods, following the scent of the man, letting his wonderful aroma pull us further into the younger pines that had begun a couple hundred feet west of the campsite. As a human, I could have followed him just by the howling of the hounds and now I could hear them as if they were standing right next to me. The dogs didn’t take a direct path, but followed the exact trail of the prey.

The human was trailing the dogs as quickly as he could. His trail was more as the crow flies and ours was even more direct than his. We would have overtaken him very quickly but Asa slowed his pace; I was sure it was to let the man get deeper into the woods before we intercepted him. But why? The other two humans certainly stood no chance where Asa was concerned.

“Why are you letting him get so far into the woods? Why the games?” I lashed out at him with my tongue as I continued to follow him.

Stopping, he turned to me, a smug look on his face. “Do you not enjoy the hunt? That is part of the sport, Annalice. Besides, I do not want the other two humans close by when his end is near. Trying to drink while batting off his would-be protectors would ruin my meal and I like to savor the taste.” He grinned at me, but I saw no humor in his joke.

“Will you kill all… all of them?” Studying his face closely, I was relieved to see that his mind wasn’t on me but on the prey ahead of us in the woods. Hunger was gnawing at him, I could sense it in his body language.

“I have not decided. I usually do not kill more than one at a time. As I said before, I try to avoid undue suspicion if I can. But sometimes I simply cannot help myself and I am quite hungry tonight. A mistake brought on by my obsession for you,” he added, his voice tinted lightly by anger. Was he blaming this on me?

“How often?” I asked point blank, not bothering to specify as I was sure he knew what I was asking.

“About once a month do I take the liberty to drain a human. I usually reserve that delicacy for the lucky days I find a drifter or someone foolish enough to be alone. The more I drink at once, the less often I need it, but I am like most Americans, I often eat for the fun of it, not out of necessity.” He flashed me a mocking grin.

He turned back to the scent trail and we resumed our hunt, the thick underbrush that is so common in clear-cut forests pulling at my legs and clothes. Vines and bushes covered in thorns that reached to my thighs tore at us both as we walked through them, making our own path. Asa didn’t appear to notice the thickness of the thorns but I, playing my human role, moved slowly pretending to be slowed down.

Looking down as a thorn tore sharply into the skin on the back of my hand, I watched in amazement as first one drop beaded up on my pale white skin and dripped down my wrist, only to see the next drop bead up and coagulate in a second in front of my eyes. In the next few seconds, the puncture wound was no longer visible. I hardly felt any pain, my new skin being much thicker and more impervious to the sharp points of the thorns.

My clothes didn’t hold up so well and I noticed several small pieces of my t-shirt hanging on some of the taller bushes.

The vampire ahead of me, stopping to wait for me, pinned me with a look of contempt. “I am growing tired of your human speed. You are keeping me from my meal.” Reaching over as I caught up to him, he knocked me backwards and caught me in his waiting arm. Not fighting him, I let him scoop me up as he resumed the path towards his meal.

“I can barely make out the disgusting smell of your anemia over my own scent,” he noted, aiming his piercing eyes down at me.

Looking up at him as innocently as I could, I countered, “You have only yourself to blame, Asa. I would still smell delicious if you had just kept on walking when you passed my house.”

Smiling down at me, he acted as if we were talking about the weather tonight before replying, “You have such a sense of humor about all of this, Annalice. It would have been such a waste to pass you up. Not to worry. In a few hours, you will have a new smell. Whether of rot or of vampire, I have not yet decided. But either one will be better than this sickly anemic smell that clings to you now.”

“I guess that depends on who’s doing the smelling,” I replied quickly. “I think I would take the aroma of anemia over decay any night.” I didn’t believe for a second that he didn’t already know what his decision was going to be, but telling me now would no doubt spoil part of his perverse fun.

“It is my professional opinion that you could become a first-rate vampire. All you really have to do is hold it together tonight, enjoy the kill, and then we will wake up together tomorrow night,” he intoned into the night air as he dropped me down roughly onto the ground, the worst of the thickets behind us.

Before he turned away, our gazes locked again for a brief second and I looked for my future in his eyes. But they were blank. Unreadable. Was he trying to show some mercy by not telling me outright that he was going to kill me at the end of the night, or did he really plan to turn me? Was it possible that I had changed him just slightly enough that he felt something, even if only pity, for me? Would he kill me so quickly that I would never know the outcome? Finally breaking his gaze from mine, he turned back to the scent trail.

The human pressed on and soon the horizon changed as we broke into the native woods as the new growth pines gave way to the oak trees that made up the native forests of this area. Shortly thereafter, the ground started to slant upwards as we climbed into the lower elevations of the foothills that slowly transformed into the mountains.

Although I could tell the human was slowing somewhat because of the increasing elevation, Asa kept the same pace. The scent of the other two humans had become quite faint and I knew that they were no longer in the vicinity. We had the young man all to ourselves and despite my best intentions, I felt a small wave of anticipation as we began to close in on our prey.

Continuing up into the foothills, neither Asa nor myself was winded at all. With his attention fully focused on the man ahead, he didn’t notice that I climbed just as easily as him. We had reached a small cliff of rocks, about ten feet tall, that stretched on for one hundred feet in both directions. We could have skirted it easily enough but Asa didn’t deviate away from it.

Leaping flat-footed with no effort, his attention stayed riveted towards the scent ahead of us. It took all of his focus to pay any attention to me at all. Blood lust was shockingly clear on his face. During my many nights with him, I had never seen him this hungry.

Pretending that I couldn’t get a handhold to pull myself up, I stood looking up at him hoping he would go on ahead. “I’ll go around,” I whispered up at him, but he lay down on his belly, reaching for my hand. Stepping up onto the tallest foothold that I would normally have been able to reach, I stretched my hand out to bridge the gap between us. By rising up on my tip-toes, he was able to grasp hold of my hand and hoist me very easily onto the top of the small cliff.

For the split-second that I was poised on the foothold, I considered using the momentum of his strength to bring my stashed stake into his chest, but my courage failed me in the last millisecond.

Regret nagged at me momentarily as I landed beside him with his heart intact and my stake still hidden. That might have been the perfect moment and I had just missed it. I could have kicked myself, but something had held me back.

As I looked into the face of my possible maker, I asked myself whether or not I could really do this. My mind flipped through random memories of the last week. I couldn’t deny that he had loved his mother and still did. He had even shown me an occasional tenderness and even now was considering keeping me.