Stalking Dead (Vampire Hunter Book 2) (5 page)

He’s never seemed gay. How could he fool everyone for so long? He and
Valerie were high school sweethearts!

It was bad enough to think
that he was going out on his wife, but this added a whole new layer of insanity. This meant that his entire life was a lie, not just the part where he pretended to still be in love with Valerie.

Sure, he probably cared for her, but he had never been
in love
with her. He wasn’t capable of being in love with a woman, because he wasn’t attracted to them.

I wanted to sink into the ground. To curl myself up in the fetal position and just pretend I didn’t exist. But the overwhelming urge to get the hell out of the hotel overpowered everything else. I sprinted to the elevator, pressing the down arrow impatiently. The elevator whirred as it approached my floor.
Come on!

Finally, it was there. I threw myself inside and punched the
L
button in one motion. When I got back to the lobby, I again sprinted towards the exit. I heard someone calling, “Miss! Is everything alright?” but I ignored the voice. I had to get out of there.

Once back out onto the street, I finally stopped running. I tucked my hair, which had come loose, back up under the baseball cap and slowly walked towards the bus stop.

When does it get better? Why does everything just keep getting worse and worse? And how the fuck do I tell Henry his dad is not only having an affair, but he’s also gay and been hiding it from the family forever?

Difficult as it was, I would have to come clean with Henry today.
He would be shocked, angry, and hurt. But once he got over those initial feelings, he’d be thankful to me for telling him the truth….right?

I didn’t know how I was going to tell Henry about his father, but it had to be done
. I would tell him as soon as he got back from playing basketball.

I waylaid him as he was walking through the door. “We need to talk,” I said.

“Woah.” Henry held up his hand, laughing. “I’ve been playing for three hours. I have to hit the shower first.”

Grr
. I didn’t want to lose my nerve. “Okay.”

“I actually need to talk to you, too,” Henry called as he was walking up the stairs.

I didn’t answer, too engrossed in my own thoughts. I should have blurted it out then, not given him the chance to put me off.

Henry came back downstairs after his shower and sat down next to me on the couch.

Say it. Say the words. “Your dad is gay.”

I opened my mouth to speak.

“So I’ve got to tell you something,” Henry started. He sounded nervous. His face was flushed.

“Um, okay,” I said, confused.

“I kind of failed calculus this semester.”

Huh?
That was the
last
thing I’d expected him to say.

“But Henry, you’re a math whiz!” I said in surprise.

“I know, I know. That’s why I thought it would be okay to skip that class, um, occasionally.”

“I heard Tad say that night at Lucas’
house that he’d missed you in class. Why are you skipping classes? That’s not like you!”

“I know!
” Henry said again. “But it was for a good reason. And I figured I could easily catch up, since I’ve always been so good at Math before.” Henry looked sheepish.

“Good reason?” I echoed.

“Yes.” Henry leaned forward excitedly. “Now, I know you might be skeptical – God knows I would have been before all of this – but I figured we needed all of the help we could get. And, I was more than a little concerned about Lucas’ true intentions when you first met him.”

“I thought we got past that,” I said impatiently.

“We did. Let me finish. So anyway,” Henry continued, “I found out about a psychic who specializes in paranormal stuff.”

“Now before you start with the crystal ball jokes, let me tell you this guy’s legit,” Henry said
before I could interject.

I raised my eyebrows but didn’t comment.

“His name is Emmett; he’s a professor at the university. He just does this psychic/medium stuff on the side.”

“So he talks to dead people?” I questioned. This was getting better and better.

“Not exactly. He has
feelings
about things. He can tell you stuff that he shouldn’t know.”

“And
you cut class to meet him?”

“I did a few times, yeah.”

“Hmm.”

“What are you thinking
?” Henry asked me. “I was sure you were going to give me a hard time about trusting a psychic.”

“Well,” I said slowly, “I would have before. But
I don’t know what to believe about
anything
anymore.”

“Good.” Henry nodded. “I’m glad you’re being open-minded.”

“But why didn’t you tell me when you first contacted him?” It was true I had kept some secrets from Henry, but I had no idea he was keeping any from
me
.

“I didn’t know how you’d react, and I didn’t know if it would pan out. I figured you –
both
of us, really – have enough on our minds.”

You got that right.
But aloud I just said, “What did Emmett tell you?”

“The first time I met him was at your grave. He didn’t know anything about the situation. I had just called and told him I wanted to hire him, that I needed information about my friend who died last year.”

“So when we met at the grave,” Henry continued, “he immediately told me that you weren’t in it.”

“That is impressive,” I admitted. “So he really didn’t know I was back at that point?”

“Nope. Then I told him about you waking up in your grave.”

“What did he say?” I demanded.

“Well, that was just the first meeting. He said he had to think on things.”

“
Pfft. That’s lame,” I said.

“
But he called me the next day to meet him again. He doesn’t like talking on the phone. Doesn’t believe it’s safe to talk freely.”

“I hope he’s not some
crazy conspiracy theorist,” I said warily.

“He’s a normal guy. You should meet him. I’m sure he’d love to meet you.”

“Anyway, getting back to the point,” Henry continued. “The next time I talked to Emmett, he knew a lot more. He said you were involved with someone who wasn’t human, either. That this creature was trying to help you. And that he wouldn’t hurt either of us.”

“Lucas,” I said.

“Yep, and most importantly, he said you were going to have to make a decision.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like we talked about before.” Henry looked nervous. “You were brought back for something epic. Emmett doesn’t know what, exactly, but he said both sides wanted you.”

“Both sides?”

“Yeah, I guess like good vs. evil. Emmett didn’t really elaborate.”

“I guess that information is worth failing Calculus for,” I said slowly.

Henry laughed. “Yeah, I’m not too bummed out about it. I have to go to summer school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays to make it up and start as a senior in the fall.”

“I’m glad that’s out in the open now. I hate keeping secrets from you, Aurora.” Henry looked relieved.

I tried to push my guilt to the back of my mind.
If only Henry knew everything I’m keeping from him.

“So I’ll tell you next time I meet with him,” Henry was saying, “if you want to come with me.”

“Sure, that sounds like a plan.”

“Hey, didn’t you have something you wanted to talk to me about?” Henry asked, changing the subject.

By now I’d lost my nerve. “Um, just going to talk to you about tutoring me for school next year,” I fibbed. “But now that you’re in summer school, will you have the time?”

“Of course. I couldn’t imagine starting next semester without you. We’ll
make
the time.”

“Thanks, Henry,” I said, hoping that I sounded normal.

“Anytime.” He punched my arm playfully. “That’s what friends are for.”

I had been looking forward to having Henry around more during the summer to help break up the long boring days, but with his summer school schedule and basketball practice I doubted I would see much of him.

I used to love that feeling of the beginning of summer. Kayla and I would start counting down the days
nearly a month in advance, fighting over who got to cross off another day on the calendar hanging in the kitchen.

I wonder what Kayla is doing to celebrate
this year?

For as long as I could remember, we’d always had our end of the school year celebration. When we were both younger, mom would take us to the grocery store as soon as the last day of school let out. We’d head straight for the candy aisle.

First, before making any choices, we’d carefully study each bag of candy. Once we had completed the initial ‘walk-thru’ then we’d start bargaining with mom for how much she would buy us.

I always had a weakness for chocolate, while Kayla loved anything gummy and sour.

“Please, Mom,” I’d beg. “This one has almonds, so it’s not as bad for me. Can’t I have two bags today?”

“No,” she’d say sternly, although I think she was more amused than annoyed. “One bag each, then you can pick one candy bar for later.”

After wheedling and begging to no avail, we would make our final selection and eagerly wait for Mom to check out so we could tear into the bags of candy. That first bite was always the best, the most satisfying. We were allowed a few pieces before Mom would make us hand over the bags of candy, which were then stuffed into her purse until after dinner.

Even as we got older and stopped the last day of school candy ritual, Kayla and I would still reminisce about that time in our lives, and any taste of cand
y was an instant reminder of that wonderful feeling of the beginning of summer and freedom from school for two and a half glorious months.

I knew I didn’t have a heart, but I swear to god I felt an aching in my chest when
I thought about my baby sister and everything I missed about her smiling face.

Except that smiling face was now caked in makeup and her eyes were hard and untrusting. My death had changed her forever. And there was no guarantee that my return would make any difference. The damage was done.

Soon after I
had spied on Henry’s dad at the hotel, he surprised Valerie with two tickets for a weeklong cruise. Henry thought it was awesome, but all I could think is that he was trying to buy off his guilt.

Isn’t that what men always do? Cheat on their wives and somehow justify it by showering them with attention and gifts?
It was an impromptu trip and they left a couple of days later.

“You won’t have to sneak around!” Henry had said excitedly. “We’ll have the house all to ourselves!”

I didn’t want to ruin Henry’s time either – I knew how much fun it was when your parents left you home alone. It’s almost like
you’re
getting a vacation as well. So I still hadn’t said anything about his dad.

I had been trying – with varying degrees of success – not to think about Lucas. I hadn’t heard anything from him since our graveyard excursion, and that was almost a week ago.

So when my phone rang on Thursday morning, I jumped in surprise.
Why is Henry calling me?
Sometimes he’d text me during class, but he never called.

I grabbed my phone. It was Lucas!

All of the anger I’d felt at him for acting like a jerk, then disappearing for nearly a week, made me hesitate. He really didn’t
deserve
for me to give him another chance. But curiosity got the better of me.

“Hello?” I said on the third ring.

“Aurora!” Lucas sounded excited. I hadn’t heard him like that before.

“Hey,” I said flatly.
He needs to know I don’t appreciate how he acted.

“I need you to come with me t
o meet someone. I can explain during the car ride.”

“Why can’t you explain now?” I demanded. Although I knew
deep down that I was just giving him a hard time; talking to Lucas again brought up all of those confused feelings. As much as I tried to fight it, I was drawn to him. I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to see him.

“Please, Aurora. I know you’re upset with me. I’m sorry I haven’t been in contact. I actually had another assignment to deal with.”

“Shadowing some other dead girl?” I asked.

Lucas laughed. “No, you’re still the one and only.”

I could feel some of my anger dissipating.

“So will you let me pick you up? I’m already en route. I can be there in ten minutes.”

Ten minutes!
That wasn’t going to be long enough for me to decide on an outfit and tame my hair.

I was more than aware that I had let myself become almost
too
relaxed this past week. Dead or not, that was no excuse to look like a gross slob. But I’d been depressed and just hadn’t been able to muster up the energy to care.

“I need fifteen,” I said.

Before Lucas could protest, I clicked the phone off and ran up the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, I
had showered and thrown on a blue sundress. I didn’t have time to blow dry my hair so I twisted it into a bun and pulled a baseball cap over my head.

Lucas was already there when I got to our meeting place. I pulled open the car door and hopped in the front seat, taking the baseball cap off since we were protected by the tinted windows.

“So what’s going on?” I asked.

“Well, hello to you, too.” Lucas looked over at me, eyes twinkling. I knew he was teasing me
again for always being so impatient.

“You don’t contact me f
or almost a week and then insist I go to some unknown place with you. You’re lucky I even agreed.”
Especially after how you acted last time.

As if reading my mind, Lucas said, “I can tell you’
re upset with me. I understand; I was being a jerk. I really am sorry. Forgive me?”

I had
wanted
to stay mad at Lucas – somehow it made it easier to fight my attraction to him when I was angry – but I could feel my anger melting away.

“No worries.” I waved my hand dismissively.
“So tell me what’s up?”

“I got a call from an o
ld friend,” Lucas explained. “His name is Nicholas.”

“He’s a vampire, too?” I asked.

“Yes. He’s a hunter, also, but overseas, so our paths haven’t crossed in a really long time.”

“If he’s a vampire, how do you know he’s really reformed – like you?” I asked nervously.

“I just do,” Lucas assured me. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Anyway,” he continued, “Nicholas called me because he knows about
you
.”

“Me?” I asked in surprise.

“He didn’t want to get into specifics until we met him in person, but we may finally get some answers!”

“Wow,” I said. “Where are we meeting him?”

“I think it’s some type of warehouse or storage unit. Somewhere dark, I’m sure. Trust me, he’s not going to want to be in the light any more than I do.”

“Does he drink synthetic blood, too?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s the only way to survive and not go off the rails.”

Off the rails.
It was an odd choice of words.

“I think this is it.” Lucas turned into an empty parking lot. There was a building in the middle with a FOR LEASE sign on it. He pulled his hood up and we get out of the car.

“What if Nicholas was hired to hunt
me
, like you were?” I blurted out nervously.

Lucas stopped and turned to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You trust me, right?”

I tried to ignore his hand and act cool, but inside I was quaking. “Yes,” I whispered.

“Nicholas
is my friend; he’s a good guy. I would trust him with my life. I wouldn’t have brought you here, under any circumstances, if I thought you could be harmed.”

I nodded, too scared to speak. Lucas turned and started walking again.
I followed close behind him.

All of the glass windows had been boarded up from the inside.
Probably can’t take the sunlight.

I hoped I would at least be able to
see
once we got inside. I was vaguely reminded of the first time I met Lucas, when he kidnapped me and took me to the cabin in the woods.

Without knocking, Lucas pulled open the door. He held it for me to go inside, but I shook my head slightly. I wasn’t going first!
Now’s not the time to show me you’re a gentleman.

Lucas stepped inside. “Nicholas?”
he called.

I was huddled
up behind him. The room was dark, but not pitch black. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I knew that something was horribly wrong. This had been a terrible mistake.

Lucas must have realized it
at the same time as me; he spun around, furious.

I turned to run back out the door we had just come in,
frantically grabbing for the handle. But it was too late. I was tackled to the ground.