IM02 - Hunters & Prey (29 page)

“You were shot, twice. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Her face flushed red for a moment. “Yeah. You didn’t tell me vampires could heal wounds.”

I shot her a quizzical look before realization hit me. Our saliva has some healing properties.

“Nicholas took care of my arm.” She bit her lip. “He … well … sort of … licked my wounds clean.” A slight shudder rocked her body.

I could just imagine what that must have been like for her. A vampire licking her wounds clean. I’d probably shudder too. I hoped Nicholas hadn’t been too much of a jerk about it. I could easily see him making a big show of it to freak her out, relishing the sight as she cringed and tried to pull away from him. He did like to rub people the wrong way, just to see their reactions.

Fallon lifted her bandaged arm. “This one still hurts. They had to extract the bullet.” She gritted her teeth as if remembering the pain. “Still a little tender, but the skin has healed.”

“Well I’m glad you’re okay. I thought everyone had died.”

“It wasn’t any fun, but I’m good now. In all honesty, I was more worried about you. You looked truly dead by the time the clan found you. They all tried to give you blood, but you didn’t respond. It was really scary. Lysander lost it.” She shuddered again. “That man is pretty scary when he is mad. You don’t want to know what he did to Quentin’s body. Took both Nicholas and Drew to hold him down until he was calm enough to move you.”

I blushed. Not because Lysander had gone into a murderous rage, but because everyone, it seemed, had been so worried about me and did all they could to bring me back from the edge of death. “Seems I owe everyone a great big thank you.”

“Not me. I owe you all the thanks. You really came through for me.” She beamed with pride.

“And with all this appreciation, you were just going to leave without saying goodbye?” I cocked my head and arched an eyebrow at Fallon.

“Yeah, I was going to pack up my stuff at home.” A mischievous smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “Didn’t Lysander tell you?”

I jerked my head around, looking back toward the bed. Lysander was sitting up, stretching his arms wide with a yawn.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Tell me what, honey?”

His face was a mask of innocence. “Fallon has agreed to take care of our home during the daylight hours.”

“You’re moving in?” I squealed, turning back toward Fallon.

“Yeah. But don’t get any ideas. I’m not trying to become one of you guys. I just want to be able to be close to my friend. And well, this place totally puts my rat-hole apartment to shame.” She finished with a snort.

I was beyond words. I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t still dreaming. Things were better than I had hoped. I got to keep my friend and my clan together.

“So, okay, I have to go pack.” Fallon turned on her heel and walked down the hallway and out to the living room.

I hastily found a pair of jeans and turned back to Lysander. “So you’ve finally accepted her?”

“Yes, and you were right, I should have done so earlier. In some instances, vampires and human can be good friends and allies. Besides, I know now that I cannot keep you from her. Your friendship is too strong a bond. And I am certainly not willing to risk your life again to test it.” He stood up from the bed and wrapped his arms around me. “Fallon is a good person and one tough woman. She has more than proved her mettle with me. I know we can trust her.”

“Thank you.”

“Go out there,” He whispered in my ear. “I’m sure the rest of the clan is anxiously awaiting news of your good health. I’ll be out in a minute.”

I nodded and walked out to the living room.

Surprise stole the breath from my lungs as I spotted Santino, alive and well, perched on the edge of the couch. Even more shocking was the fact that he was writing in one of Lysander’s large books. I’d never seen anyone but Lysander scribbling in those pages. They were his history, his memoirs, the place he chronicled events he witnessed to keep track of the future.

“What are you doing?” The words left me before I could filter out the rude accusatory tone.

“Filling in the gaps in Lysander’s information about me and the Acta Sanctorum.” He grunted.

Well, that was nice of him.

“Thanks, I guess.” Information was always handy to have. And I’d noticed the limited amount of information Lysander had accumulated when I myself had searched through the books. It still felt odd, even though we had worked together for a common purpose, seeing Santino acting as an ally.

He finished a note and set down his pen. “Lysander asked me to do it.” He looked up, stone faced at me. I couldn’t gauge if he was pleased or not to see me. I was certain my own facial expression gave him the same impression.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be gone soon,” he said curtly, then lowered his head back down and started flipping through pages.

“For what it’s worth, thanks for your help back there.”

“I didn’t do it to help you kill him. I wanted to take him into custody, back to Rome.” Santino set the book down on the table and shot me an angry glare.

“I don’t remember killing him, just knocking him out.”

He snorted and leaned back into the couch. “You tore out his throat when you collapsed together on the ground. He bled to death before anyone else showed up.”

“And what of the rest of his creations?”

“Lysander and the others took care of them.”

“And your Acta Sanctorum?”

Santino grunted, and his eyes shot to the ceiling. “Won’t be going back there now. They’d never take me back for killing Quentin. I set his lab on fire. Vampires will be blamed, of course.” He waved a hand dismissively. “It will be assumed by the Order that I am dead, and I don’t plan on changing that opinion.”

“What are you going to do, then?” I certainly didn’t see him gaining a place with us in the Peregrinus clan. He may have worked with us this time, but I doubted that would be enough to erase the prejudice created by his reputation.

“I’ll rest a bit longer.” He stretched out long ways on the couch. “Then take off on my own. Maybe go into business for myself. I’ll keep my word though. Your clan is safe. I know you are not the monsters I was trained to believe you are. But there
are
monsters out there.”

I crossed my arms and nodded. “Fair enough. Good luck. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never have to see each other again.”

Santino let out a deep belly laugh. “None taken. The feeling is more than mutual.”

A rough hand clasped my shoulder. I jumped in surprise.

“Well, look who’s come back from the dead,” Nicholas said.

I turned to find a smile painted across his face. “Thanks.”

He let out a laugh. “Don’t thank me yet. It seems you have a mind to be a lone warrior. Has Lysander told you of your punishment yet?”

Blood drained from my face at the mention of punishment. Lysander had mentioned wanting to discuss something with me. He wasn’t happy I had run off. I hoped for just a smack on the hand, but doubted I would get off that easily—not after seeing how happy Nicholas was about it.

“A month in the stocks,” I said with a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, we’ve got something better in store for you,” Lysander said as he joined us in the living room.

Nicholas leaned into my ear. “Since you seem to think you can take on the world, little warrior, it’s now my job to train you.”

“Nicholas will be teaching you the finer points of hand-to-hand combat.” Lysander said. “So the next time you decide to run off by yourself, we won’t find you in a pool of your own blood.”

I gulped.

Nicholas’ eyes lit up as he smiled at me. “And I won’t go easy on you.”

I could only imagine how much fun he was going to have putting me on my ass. I deserved it though. I’d done a lot to cause trouble in the clan. I feigned a smile of my own and clasped my hands behind my back, twisting my fingers together. “Great. Looking forward to it.”

“We’ll start tomorrow night. You get one more night to heal up, little warrior, before I break you again.” Nicholas patted me on the head as if I were a child.

I cringed. This was going to hurt.

“Alyssa, can you come here for a moment?” I heard Rozaline call out from the back bedroom. I cringed, wondering if she too would participate in my punishment. She had warned me not to go off on my own. I prepared for another well-deserved earful as I walked back toward her bedroom door. Rozaline, Crystal, and Drew were all casually lounging on the bed as I entered.

“I’m sorry, Roz,” the words sprung from my lips the moment I locked eyes on her.

She stood and closed the distance between us, assessing me with neither anger or relief showing on her face. After a moment of awkward silence, she sighed quietly. Reaching around behind her neck, she unclasped one of her necklaces. Light twinkled off a yellow crystal point pendant as she lifted it from her chest and handed it to me.

“I knew you wouldn’t listen. I feared it would lead to your death.” She wrapped the silver chain around my neck and clasped it. “This is for you. Citrine is not only for luck, but for clarity of mind. You must learn to think things through. You are too brash, and one day things might not work in your favor. When that day comes, hopefully this will give you a little more luck.” She hugged me close.

I had no words to say. “Thank you” didn’t quite cover it. “Sorry” was an understatement, and at this point it would do no good to erase the damage done. I couldn’t assure her I would never find my way into trouble again either. As Lysander liked to say, I was a magnet for trouble. I settled for silent nodding as my response and wrapped my arms around her to return the hug.

Crystal and Drew both smiled from the bed. They looked relaxed and comfortable, lying together reading a magazine about traveling. Thankfully, they didn’t show the slightest hint of wanting a turn to chastise me. Knowing them both, they probably felt I’d heard and been through enough.

“Why are you all in here?” I asked. Normally the living room was the place everyone congregated—with Nicholas hogging the television.

The smile melted from Crystal’s face. “I won’t leave until he does.” Hatred poisoned the normally carefree tone in her voice.

“Santino,” Drew added as if I couldn’t guess who she was talking about. “He may have helped us, but she will not acknowledge him because of what he claims he did to the wolves in Colorado.”

“Understandable,” I said with a nod. “He said he was leaving soon.”

“He’s already overstayed his welcome,” Crystal spat the words.

Drew shrugged, giving me one of those what-are-you-going-to-do looks. It shocked me to see Crystal holding such a grudge—valid though it was—but I guess Drew knew better how to deal with his mate. And I had to admit, too, it was nice to have a peaceful house right now, even if it was a strained peace with Santino here.

Crystal and Drew returned to reading their magazine.

Rozaline joined them again sitting on the end of the bed. “Want to join us?” she asked.

Before I could answer, I felt a cool touch on my shoulder. I turned to see Lysander’s smiling face.

“Come back to bed. You could still use a bit of rest.” He pulled me into his arms and whispered in my ear. “And I want a little private time with my mate, now that she’s on the mend.”

I let out a serene sigh and leaned into Lysander’s body, allowing him to guide me back to the bedroom.

The pain still lingered in my chest, but it was more than bearable now. Things were definitely looking up. Quentin was gone, we’d survived yet another encounter with the Acta Sanctorum, and I had managed to keep my best friend alive. Of course, I’d almost died to accomplish all of this. It wasn’t a perfect end, but I wasn’t complaining.

Don’t miss the next installment of the Immortalis series. Due out in 2012

Pandora’s Box

Pandora's Box

*****

“You make living with vampires look easy.” I laughed, watching Fallon—my very
human
best friend—stake her claim in the den.

Since moving in, Fallon had taken over the empty den in our house, turning it into her own ultra-modern studio apartment: half bedroom, half office space. A silver-framed futon-couch sat in the center of the room on top of a shaggy white rug. On one wall hung a large abstract painting in muted tones of blue and green. A wide-arched window, the only one in the room, had been curtained off in thick, sandy-colored drapes. The sister arch, that served as a doorway into the den, had also been curtained off in matching fabric, making the room feel completely separate from the rest of the house.

“I’ve had some pretty scary roommates in the past. You guys are nothing!” she laughed, downplaying the strangeness of our situation.

Fallon was a rarity, a human possessing knowledge of our kind, who had not been turned or killed. She was never supposed to know I was a vampire, but after a hasty retreat I made while dodging a hunter from the Acta Sanctorum, I had sort of let the cat out of the bag. My clan, the Peregrinus, weren’t too keen on the idea at first, but after she showed us she was capable of not only keeping out secret but being helpful, they gave in and allowed her to stay with us.