Hunted (23 page)

“Aunt Gretchen, stop!” Lanie cried out again, trying to wrestle out of the iron grip Kyle had on her.  “He’s not hurting me! 
He’s my friend
!”

That last statement fell like stones into a still pond and Gretchen, her fist drawn back to strike again, froze, her face going slack.  Terror shot through Lanie as the realization of what was happening came crashing in on her.

Oh crap.  She was caught.  And so was Kyle.  They were both caught.  Which meant, they were both dead.  Sam Bancroft was going to string them both up by their heels and beat the stuffing out of them.  And then, if there was anything left of either of them, he’d kill them.  Slowly and painfully.

“Wh-what?” Gretchen breathed, her hands both going to her chest to clutch at her heart and her wide gaze going to the crossbow clutched in Kyle’s hand.  “Lanie…I-I…what?”

Lanie could actually see her life flashing before her eyes.  It didn’t take very long, because she hadn’t been around for that many years, but in that brief flash, she realized that she wasn’t ready to die.  She had things she wanted to do!  It wasn’t fair to be cut down at such a tender age by her own father!

But, there was nothing she could do to stop it.  She’d tried her hand at subterfuge and she’d lost.  She’d have to face the firing squad like a woman and take the bullets without complaint.

“Lanie?  Tell me what’s going on!” Gretchen demanded, her large blue eyes going from the crossbow to Kyle and then back to the crossbow again. 

Lanie tried to take a step forward, but Kyle’s arm around her stopped her.  Slightly annoyed, she gave his ribs a jab with her elbow, eliciting a little
oomph
from him.  But, he got the message and loosened his grip so that she could move away from him.  Facing her aunt, Lanie swallowed hard and opened her mouth to…lie?  Ha!  What lie could she possibly tell that would explain why Kyle had been pointing a crossbow right at her aunt?

Oh crap.

Again, Lanie saw her short life flash right in front of her face.  She was going to have to tell her aunt the truth…or some version of it, which meant that her dad was going to kill her.  Her life was over.  She was a walking corpse.  It would have been less painful if Kyle had just let that monster kill her in the park the night before.

“Lanie?  Tell me what’s going on,” Aunt Gretchen demanded.

Lanie shot a quick glance over her shoulder at Kyle, who was once again pinching his nose closed and tilting his head backward.  Oh no.  Not again.  This was just not Kyle Vincent’s day.  

“Start talking, Lanie, or else I’m calling your father,” Gretchen warned.

Gretchen probably wouldn’t have to bother.  Her dad would most likely come home at any second and then…game over. 

“Alright,” Lanie sighed, feeling her body resign itself to the fate that surely awaited her.  “Let’s go in the kitchen.  Kyle’s bleeding.”  Again.

Lanie and Gretchen both hurried to gather up the spilled groceries and then they headed toward the kitchen, where Lanie wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but whatever it was, she was certain it was going to lead to her own father committing cold blooded murder.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lanie Bancroft had always lived her life by one simple rule.  The truth was always best.  If a girl told the truth, she didn’t have to worry about keeping her story straight or worry that her lies might catch up to her one day.  Lies could only lead to trouble and the liar was always found out in the end.

However, in this case, telling the truth was a bit more complicated than it should have been.  Even telling a half-truth wasn’t something that could be easily done, thanks to Kyle’s
crossbow
! 

She could not come up with a single, feasible explanation for why a strange man was not only in the house, but was also armed with a weapon which he happened to have been pointing directly at her aunt.  And telling her aunt the complete truth as to why Kyle Vincent was in her house, didn’t seem like a viable option, either.  Aunt Gretchen would ask questions, questions she could not answer without opening up a can of worms that just might get someone she loved killed.  But, she had to come up with something because the clock was ticking and her dad might come home at any minute!

The sudden pressure of the situation began to crush Lanie and she knew right then that she was going to crumble beneath it.  However, she didn’t have to.  Kyle, sitting at the center island with a cloth held to his bleeding face, was the one to speak up.

“I cad explaid everythink,” Kyle said after the silence had stretched on for a couple of very uncomfortable minutes.

“Please, do,” Gretchen said from by the sink, where she was standing with her arms folded over her chest, eyeing them both like a hawk eyeing its prey.  “I’m very interested to hear just what the hell is going on around here.”

Oh crap. 

“Aunt Gretchen, listen,” Lanie began hoarsely, not wanting Kyle to be the one in the direct line of fire.  He’d suffered enough already that day.  “This is a…complicated situation.  I-I…I don’t know how to explain it to you, but I need you to…to—“

“To what?” Gretchen demanded.  “To believe there’s a good reason why I walked into this house to find you being held hostage by a maniac with a crossbow!”

“Aunt Gretchen, he’s not a maniac—“

“I’ll ask why you aren’t at school like you should be later!” Gretchen hissed, cutting Lanie’s words off.  “But first, I’d like to hear exactly why you’re alone in the house with a boy and exactly why he tried to kill me!”

“Uh…it’s…it’s…complicated,” Lanie reiterated. 

Like a bloodthirsty vampire on the loose complicated.

“Spill it, Lanie,” Gretchen urged, her tone going surprisingly soft.  “You know you can tell me anything.  And I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”  She shot Kyle a look that said she’d give him another beating if it came down to it.

“I…I…” Lanie started and then paused, looking at Kyle, who was still holding the cloth to his face.  He lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug.  Clearly, he’d never been in this situation before. 

Oh crap
!

Lanie huffed out a breath.  “Aunt Gretchen, you have to swear not to say anything to my dad.”

“You know I can’t promise that until I’m sure this stud isn’t dragging you into something…shady,” she said, shooting Kyle a significant look.

Stud?  Did her aunt just call Kyle a
stud
?

Lanie opened her mouth to say…something, but then snapped it shut.  If she told Gretchen the truth…

“You can tell me, Lanie,” Gretchen told her.  “I promise I’ll do anything I can to help you.”

Lanie looked at her aunt’s sympathetic face and large eyes, coming up absolutely blank.  She had nothing.  Not a single even half believable tale to explain Kyle and his crossbow!  And her aunt was waiting for her to say something! 

It was at that point that Lanie folded like a cheap lawn chair, while Kyle Vincent stood by with his eyes narrowed and his shoulders stiff, one hand on the crossbow lying on the center island, as if he might have to defend himself or Lanie or at any moment.

Lanie didn’t want to tell Gretchen, but she couldn’t see a way out of the situation and besides, if she didn’t cough up the truth and Gretchen knew she was hiding something, she’d likely go straight to Sam and then…well, they’d all be right back in the same boat.  So, if the jig was up, she might as well face it head on and have it over with.

“So, you expect me to believe that a…
a vampire
killed Stacy Miller and Amy Jarvis? 
A vampire
?” Gretchen questioned in a slightly haughty voice.

Lanie shrugged.  She wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t seen it, so she truly didn’t expect her aunt to believe it.  She also wasn’t surprised that her aunt knew the name of the girl in the park.  As soon as the family was notified, it had undoubtedly spread like wildfire.

“And this
vampire
attacked
you
?” Gretchen continued dubiously.  “And your stud here thinks he might try again because he missed the first time?”

Again, Lanie shrugged, hoping and praying that she hadn’t made a mistake squealing to her aunt.  If she went to the Sheriff…Lanie couldn’t comprehend what would happen from there, but she envisioned mass mayhem, people running through the streets screaming in terror, and possibly a few buildings going up in flames.

“And you expect me not to tell the Sheriff because…” Gretchen left the statement open ended, waiting for one of them to fill it in.

“Because if he tries to find Frederik, if the Sheriff or any of his men get in his way, he’ll kill them without blinking,” Kyle explained seriously.  “I’ve seen it happen before.”

Gretchen’s gaze narrowed at Kyle.  “So, I’m supposed to say
nothing
knowing that there’s “
a vampire”
in Fells Pointe killing young girls?” she asked, using air quotes.

Lanie shrugged for the third time, feeling helpless.

“The fewer people who know about him, the better,” Kyle stated seriously.  “He’ll kill anyone who gets too close, no matter who it is.  He doesn’t care if it’s the Sheriff or you or your grandmother.”

Gretchen thought about that for a second.  “But, you’ve been after him for four years, right?  How come you’re still walking around?”

There was a moment of silence from Kyle, during which he turned his glance to Lanie, his eyes pinning hers with a look that caused her heart to twist inside her chest.  “He won’t kill me.”

“Oh?  Why is that?” Gretchen asked, openly suspicious.

Kyle kept his gaze pinned on Lanie, his handsome features slightly pained.  “He won’t kill me because…he made me.”

Gretchen stiffened and Lanie felt a little jolt go through her.  The kitchen fell silent and Kyle dropped his gaze down to the center island counter top, where his crossbow was laying, the little shard loaded into it glinting like a polished jewel in the light.

Gretchen suddenly cleared her voice.  “This vampire…this isn’t a euphemism for something is it?  I mean, it’s really
a vampire
we’re talking about?”

“It’s really a vampire,” Kyle assured the woman, keeping his gaze on his crossbow.

“This vampire,” Gretchen went on, “he made you?  Does that mean that you’re—“

“No.  I’m…only half of him,” Kyle stated.  “I don’t…feed on people the way he does.”

Lanie watched Kyle for a long minute, noting the look of shame on his face.  A sharp pain stabbed at her.  She couldn’t come to terms with someone who looked like that…feeling shame.  It made no sense.

Kyle’s gaze suddenly shot up to Lanie.  “Someone’s pulling into the driveway,” he said, his voice tight.

Pure terror shot through Lanie.  “My dad!” she gasped as panic gripped her. 

If Sam Bancroft found Kyle in his house…she was a dead woman!  She was going to be hanged with Kyle’s entrails! 

Gretchen was the one who suddenly jolted into motion, darting over to the back door and jerking it open.  “Kyle, get out!  Go get into my car and wait for me!”

“But, I can—“

“Wait for me in the car, boy!” Gretchen hissed at him.  “I’m not done with you!”

Kyle snatched up the crossbow and shot past Lanie and was just…gone, the screen door slamming against the back of the house the only proof that he’d gone off in that direction.

“Damn!” Gretchen exclaimed in shock, blinking hard a few times. 

Just a split second later the woman bolted back across the kitchen and over to the center island, where she quickly began unloading groceries from the bags still sitting there, plastering a completely placid expression on her face.

Lanie stood by the island, stiff and terrified, unsure of what to do with herself and then suddenly realizing she wasn’t able to do anything at all.  She seemed to be frozen to the spot, terror seizing her muscles tight, making her body go as rigid as stone.  She couldn’t have moved if her life had depended on it!