Hunted (43 page)

As her friend hurried to her dad’s desk to retrieve the key to the gun cabinet, Lanie shot across the room to pull the curtains closed, not wanting Frederik to get a look at what they were doing. 

Johnna opened the large case, which held at least twenty different handguns and rifles and quickly pulled out a .38 snub nose revolver, handing it to Lanie with a trembling hand.  The small, weighty chunk of steel was cold to the touch.  She pulled out a 9mm pistol for herself and then unlocked the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet and pulled out two boxes of ammunition, handing one to Lanie.

Lanie knew her way around a handgun and she had the cylinder open and the bullets loaded within a few seconds, despite her unsteady hands.  Once she had the six bullets in place, she pushed the cylinder closed and turned to Johnna, who was finishing loading the clip of her 9mm.  She shoved the clip into the pistol and locked it into place before turning her gaze to Lanie.

“
What’s the plan
?” Johnna questioned without voice, perhaps suddenly a bit
too
comfortable with the situation.

“
I have to get to my house
,” Lanie mouthed her answer. 

“
Do you think bullets will kill him
?” Johnna asked.

“
No
. 
But, they might slow him down so I can get out
,” Lanie stated. 

“
But, he’ll come after you
!” Johnna argued, viciously shaking her head. 

“
I don’t care
!
I have to leave before your parents come back
!” she said, being as clear as she could without using her voice. 

“
Well, I’m coming with you
!” Johnna put in.

“
No way
! 
You have to stay here
!” Lanie denied.

“
You know that’s not going to happen
!” was Johnna silent retort.  Lanie opened her mouth to argue, but Johnna held up a hand to stop her.  “
I’m coming
! 
Deal with it
!”

Was Johnna insane!  Had she not figured out this wasn’t one of her movies!  “
You could die
!”

“
I’m not letting you go out there alone
!” Johnna shot back, her large eyes suddenly filling with tears.

Lanie’s eyes welled up, too, and for a long moment they just stared at one another.  Another reverberation echoed through the house and they both jumped, causing a little shriek to burst out of Johnna.  There was no time to argue.  She had to get Frederik away from Johnna’s house!  Now!

“
Let’s go
!” Johnna mouthed, efficiently pulling back the slide of her pistol, cocking it.  The metallic sound of the bullet being chambered seemed to explode through the quiet room.  “
Aim for the kill zones
,” Johnna ordered and Lanie, still thinking her friend seemed a bit too at ease for the circumstances, nodded her understanding.

The kill zones, on an ordinary human, were the heart and the head.  In this case, though, the most they could hope for was a slight delay rather than an instant death.

Lanie pulled in a breath and they both left the den, a little part of her not actually wanting to believe that she was armed and preparing to actually shoot another living being.   Her conscience didn’t seem to care that the being was a monster dead set on sinking his teeth into her.  A monster that had probably killed her aunt.

Making their way back through the house, they stopped just outside the foyer, quickly formulating their plan of attack and then paused, regarding one another for the space of a few seconds. 

Lanie felt sickness and fear washing over her, making her tremble from the inside out.  And she could tell that Johnna was feeling the same.  Scared and sick.  Which is probably how they should have felt because firing bullets into a man, despite the fact that he was a vampire, was a horrifying thought.  This was not something that two seventeen year old girls were naturally equipped to deal with.  But, another reverberation sounding through the house reminded Lanie that these were not normal circumstances.

If she didn’t get out of the house, more people were going to die.

Fighting the sickness and numbing adrenaline buffeting her, Lanie lurched into motion, moving across the foyer on weak, unsteady legs.  As they had worked out, she went to the front door and took hold of the deadbolt, sliding it backward before taking hold of the doorknob.

Johnna was right there next to her and as Lanie turned the knob, they both lifted their weapons.  Frederik was unbelievably fast.  They would have only a split second before he realized what they were doing. 

Trying to fight the urge to be throw up, Lanie swallowed the lump in her throat and jerked the door open before she changed her mind.  For an instant, there was nothing outside the door but the empty front porch and the darkness beyond.  And then Frederik was there, his large frame filling up the doorway, his ashen face enraged and his blood red eyes wild.  He opened his mouth to speak, but his gleaming red eyes fell on the two handguns that were leveled at him. 

Lanie couldn’t say who fired first or whose bullets were striking what.  The air just suddenly exploded in a deafening barrage of gunfire and Lanie watched, almost disconnected from the scene, as Frederik’s body lurched backward from the point blank impact of the rounds that were striking him. 

Lanie could feel the recoil from her .38 jarring her bones, but she continued to pull the trigger, watching as the man in the doorway was sent reeling.  And then a dull, repulsive thunk sounded out and Frederik’s body went stiff and his eyes went wide.  A second later a rivulet of dark red blood cascaded down the center of his ashen face and it took Lanie a stalled second to understand the blood was coming from the large, round hole in the center of Frederik’s forehead.  And then Frederik toppled backwards onto the porch like a felled tree.

Lanie stopped squeezing the trigger, hearing a loud sound through the ringing in her ears.  A sound that brought her gaze around to Johnna, who was standing with her weapon still raised and a blood curdling scream pouring out of her. 

Not knowing how long Frederik would be lying on the front porch, Lanie’s mind jolted her body into action.  She spun around and took off through the house, making for the back door. 

Four streets.  She only had to make it four streets over and everything would be okay. 

“Is he dead!” Johnna cried out, appearing beside Lanie as she reached the kitchen door and threw the deadbolt back.

“No!” she shouted her answer, jerking the door and open and shoving through the screen.   

Four streets.  Four streets over and she could take a minute to figure out what to do next. 

They hit the backyard running, knowing the shortest way between the houses because they’d taken it a hundred times when they were kids.  They raced through the familiar backyards, shooting across the dark and empty streets, and flying through the maze of sidewalks, their footfall echoing through the night

One more street!  One more street and they would be safe!

Tearing down Butler Street with her lungs burning like cinders and her heart aching inside her chest, Lanie thought she heard that sound again, that sound of thunder rumbling from far away. 

Oh God!  Frederik was coming!

Lanie wanted to scream at Johnna, to tell her to get away, that Frederik was coming, but she didn’t have the breath in her lungs!

Oh God!  Frederik was coming and Johnna was going to die!”

There wasn’t time to do anything but keep running because the footsteps were gaining on them with every passing second.  A choked sob managed to burst out of Lanie’s searing chest.  They could not out run Frederik!  And now they were both going to die!

“Lanie!” Johnna screamed out and spun around, firing her gun with a blast that echoed off the houses and lit up the night with a sudden burst of fire. 

There was an anguished growl that caused something dreadful to slice through Lanie and she slammed to a halt and whipped around, her eyes falling on something that tore a strangled shriek out of her that sounded almost as loud as the blast from the 9mm. 

Lying in a heap on the asphalt was not Frederik, but Kyle.

“
Kyle
!” Lanie screeched and bolted back down the sidewalk, dropping to her knees when she reached Kyle. 

Kyle was groaning and clutching at his chest, and even in the dim light Lanie could see the dark blood flowing from between his fingers.  “Damn!  Your friend shot me!” he bit out, his handsome twisted in agony

“I-I’m sorry!” Johnna cried as she appeared beside them.  “I thought you were him!”

“Where is he!” Kyle spat out the question through clenched teeth.

“We…we left him on Johnna’s porch!  We-we shot him!” Lanie answered in a ragged, breathless voice.

Kyle was struggling to sit up, then.  “Bullets won’t kill him!” he growled as both Lanie and Johnna grabbed an arm to try and help him to his feet.

“They stopped him long enough for us to make it this far!” Johnna argued as Kyle righted himself.

“Bullets won’t keep him down for more than a few seconds!” Kyle said, deftly snatching each weapon from them and stuffing them into the waist band of his jeans.  In one swift movement, he pulled two large canisters from beneath his coat and thrust one at each of them.  “If he gets close, hit him in the face with this!  It’ll keep him off you!”

Lanie and Johnna each took a canister and Kyle then pulled out his crossbow, the jewel like shard loaded into it glinting in the low light.  Seeing that brought a sharp gasp out of Johnna.

“If he comes after us can’t you kill him with that!” she demanded angrily.  “You are a vampire, aren’t you!  I mean, you can take him out!”

“I’m half vampire!” Kyle shot back.  “And I
can’t
kill him!”

That professed, he ushered them both forward up the street at a brisk run, still clutching at his chest with his free hand and grimacing in pain.

“What the hell do you mean you
can’t
kill him!” Johnna snapped as they wheeled around the corner and onto Rosetree Lane.

“I’ve tried!  And I just…can’t!” Kyle barked at the girl.  “I can shoot him, but I can’t let myself kill him!” 

Oh my god.  They were
all
dead.

“Well, give
me
the crossbow!  I’ll shoot his ass!” Johnna growled, sounding disgusted.

“You aren’t fast enough, girl!” Kyle growled back.  “You’d be dead before you even pulled the trigger!”

“It doesn’t matter!  We’re almost there!” Lanie shouted at them. 

They were so close to her house!  They were only half a street away! 

Lanie knew a moment of wild elation when it dawned on her that they were going to make it.  They were going to make it!  And that’s when Lanie heard the sound of thundering footsteps in the distance. 

Oh God!  Frederik! 

“He’s coming!” Kyle snarled and suddenly an arm was wrapping around Lanie’s waist and she was lifted off her feet. 

The next second he had an arm around Johnna and was racing them the rest of the way up the street.  Kyle shot them through the front gate and then he was taking the front steps in one long stride.  They reached the front door of the house and he didn’t stop to bother with opening it, but lifted his boot and slammed it against the door, sending it flying off its hinges and backward into the house with a deafening crash.