Hunted (51 page)

“I’ve already killed someone!” she shot back and hearing the words caused a jolt to go through her.

“Lanie, you…you—“

“I fed!  I killed Hayley Strong!” she blurted out the words, feeling her stomach turn over.  “Please, let me go!  I…I just need to go!”

She would leave Fells Pointe.  She would run until she couldn’t run anymore and then she would find someone…some way…to put an end to herself before she hurt anyone else.

Kyle suddenly pulled Lanie to him and wrapped his arms around her in a crushing hug.  “It’ll be okay, Lanie.  I know how to help you.”

Help her?  Could he turn back the clock and undo what had been done to her?  If not, then he couldn’t do anything for her.

“You can’t help me, Kyle,” she told him, letting her arms slide around him so that she could hold on tight.  She thought she had never felt anything so wonderful as having his arms around her right then.  How very…normal it felt.  If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend everything was okay.

“Father Cristos can help you, Lanie.  He knows how to live without hurting people.  He’s been doing it for centuries.  He can teach you how,” Kyle said, squeezing her so that her spine popped.

Lanie felt a wild spasm uncoil in her belly.  She didn’t have to die and leave her dad behind?  She could go on and…live.  At least in some form or fashion.

“You can
choose
how to live, Lanie.  Father Cristos taught me that much.  It’s hard, but you don’t have to kill to survive.  I
know
you’re strong enough to make that choice,” Kyle told her.

Yes.  She was strong enough.  Well, she wanted to be strong enough.  And if she could learn to live without having to hurt people to do it, then she wanted to try.  She wasn’t ready to have a stake put through her heart.  Not yet.  Maybe one day, but not just yet. 

“I need to tell my dad what’s going on.  He should know,” Lanie said into Kyle’s shirt.

“We’ll call your dad from the road.  We have to get out of here while we have the chance,” stated Kyle.  “My car is at Gretchen’s.”

“I have some clothes there,” Lanie said as Kyle lifted her up off her feet and nestled her against his chest.  A sudden thought occurred to her.  “Can I-I…get inside?  I mean…now?”

“Gretchen is dead and if there’s no one else with ownership of the house, then you can walk in on your own,” he told her.

“I went to see my dad, but…I couldn’t have gotten inside, could I?” she questioned hoarsely.  She’d been ready to barge inside and see her father.  She hadn’t even thought…

“No.  You couldn’t,” Kyle said, his eyes sad.  “You…you have to be invited into that house.”

She couldn’t go inside her own house.  She had to be invited before she could even see her own father.  This was not how things were supposed to go.

“It’s alright, Lanie,” Kyle assured her, holding her tight.  “I’ll help you get through this.  I swear.  I’ll be right here with you.”

“Hand her over, boy!” a deep voice stated, causing Kyle’s gaze to whip up.

Dread surged inside Lanie and her head jerked toward the voice.  Frederik was standing in front of them on the street, Chase Wylie beside him, both pairs of eyes gleaming in the low light.

Lanie felt every muscle in Kyle’s body go rigid and the hate that was suddenly pouring out of him was smothering.  Slowly, he sat Lanie on her feet and tucked her against his side.  “You can’t have her,” he told Frederik, his voice deadly cold.

Frederik regarded Kyle for a few seconds.  “Do not make me take her from you.  Hand her over,” he warned.

“I’ll die first,” Kyle said plainly.

“I’m giving you a chance to avoid that, boy,” Frederik said thickly, his lips pulling back over his teeth.  “I’ve let you live this long, I see no need to kill you now.  Just hand her over and you can go on as you have.”

“I’m not coming with you,” Lanie heard herself saying.  “I’m staying with Kyle.”

Frederik’s brows shot up and a look of slight hurt crossed his pale face.  “I’m your family now.  You must go where I go.”

“I’m not coming with you,” she said again.  “Please, just…just go away and leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that,” Frederik told her.  “You belong to me.”

Lanie saw a look of irritation waft over Chase Wylie’s pale face.  She couldn’t believe that was the boy she’d gone to school with her entire life, that pale monster with the gleaming eyes and the cold expression.  This was not Chase Wylie.  This was a monster living inside his body.

“Come to me, Lanie.  There’s no need for anyone to get hurt,” Frederik said, his tone gravelly.  His patience was wearing thin. 

“You can’t have her,” Kyle restated.  “She’s staying with me.”

The very next instant the world seemed to explode in a torrent of movement and sound and Lanie was watching it all as if it was in slow motion.  With an earthshaking snarl, Frederik charged Kyle at the same instant that Kyle whipped his crossbow out from beneath his coat and hit the trigger, sending a gleaming shard flying at Frederik. 

The shard struck Frederik in the chest but didn’t stop him from hitting Kyle head on, knocking him backward onto the ground.  They were instantly locked in a brutal clash that seemed to be nothing more than flying fists and gnashing teeth.  The next second Chase bolted forward toward Lanie, his teeth barred as he clamped his hands down onto her shoulders and jerked her forward off the ground. 

But, Lanie wasn’t going with him without a fight.  She would not be Allison’s…pet!  Her body jerked into action and some of the self-defense training she’d gone through seemed to kick in.  Only this time, she was fighting with a strength and speed that her mind could hardly comprehend.

Her forearms were crashing down over Chase Wylie’s, breaking the grip he had on her shoulders and allowing her to fall to her feet.  Stunned, he hesitated for a moment, but Lanie did not.  Rage was instantly sweeping over her, a rage unlike any she’d ever experienced before.  And that rage spurred her and fueled her and then next thing she knew her fists were cracking into Chase’s face and his solar plexus, which doubled him over enough for her to allow her to crash her knee into his stomach and then she was off, flying over the ground and away from Chase Wylie, who she knew was stronger than she was, even though she’d managed to catch him off guard.

She was running as fast as her legs could carry her, without a thought of where she was heading, but having a location in mind wouldn’t have mattered because she heard Chase’s fast footsteps behind her within a few seconds.  She was suddenly seized by the waist, whipped through the air, and then slammed against something hard enough to tear an anguished cry from her throat.

“Don’t run from me!” Chase’s coarse voice snarled at her. 

She felt herself being whipped around again and then slammed down to the ground with enough force to shift her bones beneath her skin.  Before she could recover, she felt Chase’s hands tearing at her clothes, grabbing hold of her shirt and ripping the fabric as easily as if it was tissue paper.

Terror shot through Lanie and she blindly began to fight, her fists striking Chase and her nails clawing at him.  She heard herself shrieking in a way she never imagined she could and fighting with every ounce of strength she possessed, fighting tooth and nail, her mind refusing to allow what Chase Wylie was trying to do to her there in the dirt.  Again!

It dawned on her then that maybe this wasn’t a monster in Chase Wylie’s body.  Maybe this was what he had been the entire time and now, thanks to Frederik and Allison, the monster had been let out.

As Chase’s grasping hands went for the button of her jeans, a burst of strength, borne of desperation and fear, surged through her veins and she somehow landed a blow that sent him toppling sideways and then she was up and running. 

But, then a sound hit her ears.  An agonized growl that she knew had come from Kyle. 

Something akin to a murderous fury flared up in her belly and she was spinning around toward that sound, her gaze landing on Frederik, who had Kyle held up by the throat, cracking his fist against Kyle’s face again and again and again.

Lanie was suddenly racing back to Kyle, the only thought in her mind of helping him.  Frederik might kill him this time, if he thought Kyle was standing in the way of what Allison wanted! 

Lanie was at Frederik, throwing herself against him and cracking her fist into the side of his face, which didn’t even seem to faze him.  So, she tried again, hitting him as hard as she could, which snapped his head sideways, but didn’t stop him from pummeling Kyle with all his strength.

The sound of fast footsteps pounding the ground fell on her ears and before she even knew what she was doing, Lanie was grabbing one of the shards from the pouch strapped to Kyle’s leg and whipped around, driving the stake as hard as she could right into the body that was hurtling at her.  A pained howl split the air and Lanie shoved harder, pushing the shard until it was buried in flesh and bone and her hand was against the wall of Chase Wylie’s chest. 

For an instant, Chase’s eyes went wide, but Lanie knew she’d missed.  The shard was in the center of his chest, not in his heart, but the pain was apparently enough for him because he was suddenly on his knees, clutching at the shard, trying to pull it from him, but it was embedded too far.  Blood was spilling down the front of his shirt and Lanie drew back, fear tingling through her at the sight of that curtain of crimson…but nothing happened.  There was no velvety taste on her tongue, nor was there a
need
to taste it.

As she was watching Chase Wylie writhe in agony, she was keenly aware that Frederik was still pummeling Kyle and again she spun around, jerking another shard from the sheath on Kyle’s leg and, knowing she couldn’t plunge it through his heart, she drove it straight through the side of his neck, causing Frederik to let out an enraged snarl and drop Kyle, who instantly tackled him, knocking him to the ground.  Kyle went down with him, his hand grabbing for a shard on the way down.  As they both hit the pavement, Kyle lifted the shard above his head and drove it downward.  But, before the shard could touch Frederik, a wild shriek tore the air and a shape came from out nowhere, hitting Kyle head on and sending flying him backward.  For a few seconds there was nothing but a writhing, snarling ball of shadows flailing on the ground and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the two shadows separated and were standing there, facing one another. 

Lanie felt a sickening wave wash over her as she watched the expression changing on Kyle’s beautiful face.  At first there was nothing, just a blank void as his eyes took in the person standing before him.  And then recognition slowly washed over his features, followed again by that blank stare. 

And then Kyle’s face filled with such stark…
relief
that Lanie felt as if someone had physically stabbed her in the heart. 

“Allison?” he rasped, taking a step forward and reaching out to her.

But, Allison shrieked wildly and lurched away from him, streaking over to where Frederik was struggling to his feet.  Within a split second, she jerked the shard from Frederik’s neck and whipped back to face Kyle, her teeth out and her eyes gleaming.  She was flying at Kyle then, hitting him with enough force to send them both sailing through the air and landing with a crash on the sidewalk across the street.

Lanie shrieked as Allison plunged the shard downward and Kyle let out an agonized roar, but the next instant Allison was sent hurtling backward away from him, landing hard on the pavement.  Kyle was on his feet then, his face enraged, the blood spilling down him turning his shirtfront red.  Lanie streaked over to him just as Frederik made it to Allison’s side, pulling her up to her feet.

Lanie saw the shard protruding from his chest and she felt a chill sweep over her.  It looked like Allison had barely missed his heart.

“
I told you to kill him
!” Allison was suddenly shrieking and Lanie glanced over to see Frederik working hard at restraining her.  “I’ve told you to kill him a thousand times! 
You should have listened to me
!  He’s ruining everything
again
!”

Lanie glanced back at Kyle, who was now holding the loaded crossbow, which he had aimed right at his sister.  Hearing the words his sister was shrieking seemed to be causing him physical pain.

“Why didn’t you kill him before!  You’ve had a thousand chances!” Allison shrieked, struggling to get away from Frederik.