Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (21 page)

“I’ll do my best.” He turned his back to me, and I looked at his ass for five seconds. Then I gave myself a pat on the back for getting my lustful thoughts under control that fast.

I focused on the silver lining. He’d said Adrian was my king. We were part of a fated couple. But the voice in my head wanted Daniel. I wanted Daniel.

Adrian had called my Hunger, but Daniel possessed the power to shut it down. Didn’t that count as him being able to control my magic, the way he’d said a mate could?

What if matters of the heart…well…mattered? My heart wanted Daniel. He was good, kind, strong, and patient. He cared for me—I knew it.

I buttoned the shirt and picked the head back up. “All clear, T.T.B.”

He turned back around and hefted the torso before heading up the side of the hill without looking back. I scrambled along behind him, cursing most of the way. He made it look so easy, as though the laws of slippery leaf litter and gravity didn’t apply to him.

When I crested the top of the hill, mud streaked my already bloody jeans and shirt, several nails were broken, and leaves were embedded in my hair. Sweat trickled down my back into my waistband. Daniel looked bored, but I could tell he scanned the area for any perceived threat. That pretend calm didn’t fool me. And of course, his clothes looked pretty much the same as when we’d been in the cave.

“This way.”

He headed off to the left, and I clumped along behind, worn out and irritated, tired of carrying the stupid head and being covered in disgusting substances. At least the path was blacktop.

Somehow we managed to avoid any people. Even the birds were quiet. The path ended at a parking lot. Daniel made a beeline for the one car parked there.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?” I jogged to catch up, the head thumping my lower back.

“We cannot be seen walking around in public with a dead body.” He tried the door handle—it was locked of course—before heading to the trunk. He grabbed the bottom edge of the lid and pried it until the car rose off the ground. The lock released, and the vehicle hit the pavement, rocking up and down. He tossed his bundle in with a look of satisfaction and gave me a pointed glare until I tossed the head in.

I slammed my hands on my hips. “OK, but how are we gonna get into the rest of the car, genius?”

“The backseats fold down. Just push on them hard enough and you can crawl through and unlock the door. I am too large to fit.”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose and swallowed a retort about him doing it himself, too big or not. I put my butt on the bumper and slid in feet first, pushing against the seat until it popped down. I scrabbled through the cramped interior, managing to lean forward to the front seat to unlock the doors.

Daniel opened the driver’s side and jerked a bunch of wires from under the dashboard. Thankfully the car didn’t have all kinds of electronic gadgets or we’d have set the alarm off by now.

“You need to find something to tie the lid of the trunk down with.”

“Wait—what? With what? A fucking twig?” He sounded so reasonable and nonchalant. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.

He blinked and used a knife to cut a few of the wires. “Look in the glove box, on the floor, surely there’s something around here you can use.”

A vibration started in my pocket, and I jumped in the seat. I fished for my phone. It was only Anna. I hit ignore and searched the car.

I looked everywhere. This had to be the cleanest car I’d ever seen. Not even some dirt on the carpet. The only things I found were a book of CDs and the owner’s manual. I took the knife from the dashboard and climbed out the passenger side. Daniel looked over at me curiously, and his eyes widened to saucers when he saw what I was doing.

I unzipped my pants and slid them over my hips until my underwear showed. They weren’t anything incredibly sexy, just plain cotton bikinis, but you’d have thought I had on a million-dollar-diamond-encrusted thong from the look on his face. I took the knife to one side and then the other before pulling the fabric out from between my thighs. He kept staring and swallowed hard at the sight of my exposed flesh until I zipped my jeans. His hands flexed on the steering wheel until it creaked.

Was it vindictive and mean? Hell yes. The buzz from feeding on Daniel had worn off long ago, leaving me starved and tired. I was cranky and sick of stumbling around in a rat maze while a bunch of assholes pressed buttons that shocked and humiliated me at every turn. Every time I thought I’d found the way out, the floor dropped out or a wall slammed down.

I crawled into the back of the car, put the knife on the dash, and smiled at the stricken expression on his face before climbing on my belly back into the trunk. I had just managed to tie it down when the engine caught. My phone started to vibrate again, and this time the surprise of it made me smack my head on the trunk lid.

I yanked the phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. Anna again. “Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Hi, Mom! How are you?” I put all the false sunshine and bullshit into my voice I could muster.

“Quit. Just spill.” Annoyance laced her reply.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I scooted back toward the front seat, rubbing the back of my head. A forming knot swelled under my palm. Great. “Can’t you turn it off for once? Ignore me or something? You really won’t believe me.”

Angry silence. Daniel looked over at me, and I shrugged. He held his seat belt out from his chest, so I buckled mine. He tossed the CD book out the window and backed out of the parking spot.

“Fine. I’m stealing a car from the Metroparks with my new friend. I was tying the trunk lid closed with my panties when you called.”

She sighed. “Why were you doing that?”

“The car was locked, and we needed an easy way in and a place to put the body. Getting in broke the lock, and I didn’t have anything else to tie it down with. A group of evil vampires have killed my parents and taken over my father’s coven. They tried to imprison me this morning, but my friend T.T.B. busted me out through an underground cave that opened up in the Metroparks. We had to steal a car to transport the dead vampire who was sent to watch him bang me. Now I’m covered in nasty vampire goo, spider bodies, blood, and mud.”

“Uh-huh.” There was a rustling noise. “Right. Vampires. Vampire covens. Sure.”

“I’m not lying.” My nails needed to be cut down to the quick. Everyone had black debris embedded under it. I rested my arm on the windowsill and scrubbed my hair back from my face.

“So, is T.T.B. his real name?”

“No, it’s Daniel. Last night I found something nasty outside my door and then I did some laundry. When I left the Laundromat, a jerk I met a few days ago followed me home.”

“And?”

“You know, sometimes this is really annoying.” The blood crusted on my shoulder and down my chest itched. I scratched at it, got grossed out by it caking under my nails, and stopped.

“Yeah, well so are gay boyfriends and getting bombarded with sex feelings when I’m at work. Do you know how many batteries I’ve been through since meeting you?”

I laughed in spite of myself.

Anna interrupted me. “I always wondered what was going on with you. And I know you’re not lying. I knew you were different, but…”

My heart hammered. I kept waiting for her to hang up. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your parents. Your father had a coven because he was a vampire?”

“Me too. And yes, he was.” We’d stopped at a cross street, and when the traffic cleared T.T.B. merged onto the main road running past the park.

“So you’re—what exactly? You don’t have fangs and you’re not dead. No wonder you were always laughing at
Underworld
.”

She was taking it remarkably well. I wondered what would happen when I hung up. “I’m kinda like a teenage vampire I guess. I’ve been in denial for awhile.”

Daniel snorted and rolled his eyes. I smacked him with my free hand. “Listen can we talk about this later? When I’m not running around in a stolen car with body parts in the trunk?”

“Yeah. You just had me worried. There’s been a lot bombarding me the past few days from you.” The crinkle of plastic came through. “Normally I can ignore most of it.”

“So, can I call you later?”

“Of course.”

“You’re not freaked out?” We passed a police car, and I hunched down in the seat an inch or two. What would someone think if they saw me?

“Ah, if I said no all the way, it would be a lie. But, come on, even when I wondered if you were an indiscriminate ho I was still your friend.”

A smile curled Daniel’s lips, and I couldn’t help but laugh myself. “You really thought I was a ho?”

“Nah. I could tell you didn’t really enjoy it. Actually, I though you needed therapy. A lot of therapy. You haven’t explained the sex thing to me though. Why are you doing it all the time?”

“Uh, well it sorta has something to do with me being part Incubus.”

“No! Seriously? A sex demon?” She began laughing hysterically.

“I don’t think it’s all that funny.” Annoyance burned in my chest.

“My best friend is a sex demon! Ya know, the last few days there’s been a few times when it seemed like you might actually like the sex. Who—”

“I have to go. Right now. Bye!”

I snapped the phone shut and put it on silent when it started ringing again. I could see Daniel from the corner of my eye with a self-satisfied smirk hanging around his lips.

A text popped up.

OMG! He could hear me couldn’t he!

Yes.

Did he hear me talking to you? Is he a fanger? Oh, it’s T.T.B. right, and he helped bust you out.

Fanger. Hah. That was funny. I giggled. I wished I had a better phone so I could text her faster.

Yes x2.

T.T.B. Totally, terrifically big?

I laughed and held the phone so Daniel couldn’t see.

LOL.

OMG call me later! I’m dying!

K ;)

“Didn’t want me to hear the rest?”

“Well, no actually.” I picked my hips up and shoved the phone into my pocket.

“Your friend is psychic?”

“I think so. She seems to pick up on emotions of the people around her. It’s made her isolated. We bonded over candy. But it’s been a double-edged sword for her since she picks up on it when I feel any strong emotion. It’s distracting at best, painful at worst.” I started to bite my thumbnail and stopped when I remembered how grossly dirty it was. “She isn’t in danger is she? Now that she knows?”

Daniel shrugged. “Not from me. It might be a good idea to have her come over to my place for a few days. Just to be on the safe side until things settle down with Stephan and Adrian.”

He turned the radio on to some kind of old-timey station way at the left end of the spectrum. Perry Como’s voice crooned out of the speakers.

I hummed along happily until I realized he stared at me with a bemused expression.

“What? Just ’cause I’m young doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate good stuff when I hear it.”

He raised a hand in surrender and sang a few bars with me in a beautiful tenor. “You trust her. Very much.”

I turned to face him. “Yeah. Why else would I tell her those things?”

“You’re sure she’s a human.”

“What else would she be?”

He shrugged in answer.

“I really hate it when you do that, you know? These non-committal shrugs of yours. Are you doing some kind of Gallic ‘I’m too cool to answer’ thing or what?” I glared out my window at houses and passing cars.

“I apologize. Sometimes I forget how little you know.”

Well, that was better. Insulting perhaps, but an answer.

“There are more creatures who are not human than you’d think. And most humans have a touch of something extra in their DNA. When someone has a ‘gift’ like your friend, they are often more ‘other’ than human. That’s all.”

“Oh.”

I’d always known Anna was different, but what Daniel told me meant that our entire friendship could be built on lies. If she knew that she wasn’t a full-fledged human, the possibility existed that she’d known what I was and had lied about it. I didn’t know for sure if I could trust her or not. I didn’t know if I could trust anyone.

Chapter Fourteen

We lapsed into silence. Daniel’s nostril’s flared every so often, and I wondered what he smelled. The nasty all over my body had to cover up my own brand of fuck me perfume. Maybe Christophe’s remains polluted the air. I’d closed up the backseat; the last thing we needed were the parts sliding out if we had to stop fast.

“We have to get rid of this car.” The words popped out of my mouth before I’d thought them through, but I was sure of them. Plus, I wanted to talk. It helped distract me from thinking.

“We will. But first I must get you to a secure location. It is easier to do so with a vehicle.”

“There are cars at the house I grew up in, and a garage. We could swap and hide this one under a car cover.” A chunk of green goop came off my pants. I’d been picking at my jeans, unable to sit still. The window descended with all the grace of an arthritic old man, and I tossed the refuse out onto the road. “Why’d you throw the CD book out the window?”

“I wanted to leave the owner some kind of remuneration for the vehicle. I stuck some money in it.” He ducked his head and shrugged. “There is no reason to swap this vehicle for a different one.”

“Why? The owner is sure to have a cell phone and report it stolen. And the keys to the cars at the little house are hanging by the back door.”

That muscle in his face ticked again. He glared at the road ahead. “I can take care of any police officers. How would you know about the keys?”

“I stopped by there before coming to the mansion. I left in a big fat hurry too.”

“Did nothing I asked you to do sink in? Nothing at all?” The steering wheel squeaked under his hands, and he turned from the road to glare me into submission.

I stared back and folded my arms over my chest. “I hadn’t heard from you. I was worried. I couldn’t sit around doing nothing any more, what with the nasty door prize, and laundry all done, and Adrian showing up, and the dreams or visions or whatever the Hell you want to call them.”