Stalking Dead (Vampire Hunter Book 2) (9 page)

“So did this mean we’re a couple now?” Henry asked me nervously.

A couple!

“Henry, I like you but I’m not ready for a commitment. It’s taking all I have to keep it together. I don’t think I could handle a relationship right now.”

Henry’s face fell. Hurt and confusion took the place of a smile.

“It’s not you,” I said quickly.

“What is it then? Is this about Lucas? I’m not stupid; I could tell you had the
hots for him.”

Shaking, I stood up from the couch. I didn’t want to hurt Henry’s feelings, but I had to get away from him. I had to think. “I, I have to go,” I stuttered.

He was saying something to me. I thought I heard my name, but I was too dazed to comprehend his words. Before he could stop me, I was off the couch and up the stairs. I knew that I shouldn’t, but instead of going to Henry’s room I stopped on the second floor and went to his parent’s bedroom instead. I just needed to be in a neutral zone.

I sat down heavily on the bed and sunk my head into my hands. I examined the hard wood floor, tracing the lines in the wood with my eyes. I had to
think
, and I couldn’t do that in the same room with Henry.

That kiss had been nice. Okay,
really
nice. Much better than the first drunken one.

How in the world had I never noticed Henry’s big, soft lips before? How had I never appreciated his strong jaw line, the way his eyes
would pop, almost electric, when he looked at me?

How long has he liked me?
How did I not know before? I hope this doesn’t change everything.

“Rory?” I looked up at Henry, standing in the door frame, when he said my name.

I didn’t answer, but managed to muster a small smile.

He walked over and sat down next to me on the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My reaction has nothing to do with you. I’m just…confused right now.”

“Me, too.” Henry flopped backwards onto the bed so that he was lying on his back. “I didn’t really plan for that to happen.”

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. Finally, Henry broke the silence. “What now?”

“I think I just need time to think, you know, clear my head,” I said honestly.

“I don’t want it to change our friendship,” Henry said. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. Of course we’re not a couple.” Henry smiled but I could tell it was forced.

“It won’t
change our friendship,” I assured him. But my voice sounded high pitched, unsure. I wasn’t fooling either of us. How could it
not
change things, for heaven’s sake?

“Oh, hey, I almost forgot.
You were going to tell me something. You know…
before
.” Henry wouldn’t look me in the eye.

That. How can I tell him now?

Maybe if I came clean, this would at least take the focus off of the awkwardness from our kiss. It wasn’t a good time, but there was never a good time for bad news.

Here goes nothing.

“So, I don’t have anything totally, 100% confirmed, but I thought you needed to know what’s going on.” I wrung my hands nervously.

Henry sat up. “Okay, you’ve got my attention now. What’s happened?”

“Well,” I hedged. “You’ve got to understand that I didn’t want to tell you about this until I was pretty sure my suspicions were right.” I looked at Henry imploringly.

“You aren’t making sense. First you tell me you’re not 100% sure, then you say you waited to tell me until you could confirm your suspicions? Suspicions about
what?
Please, just tell me and stop rambling.”

“Remember, before, when I
mentioned that your dad came home in the middle of the day?”

Henry nodded.

“I overheard a phone call,” I managed to choke out. “It, uh, sounded like your dad was talking to somebody he was
romantically
involved with. It sounded like he was sneaking around.”

I paused, trying to read Henry’s face. It was blank. And then, out of nowhere, he burst out laughing.

“Good one, Aurora,” he said, in between fits of laughter. “You almost had me for a minute. Now, what did you
really
want to talk to me about?”

“Henry, I’m serious,”
I said quietly. “I’m not messing around. I really think your dad is having an affair.”

Now that the words were out of my mouth, there was no going back. I filled Henry in on the details of his dad’s phone conversation and how I had followed him to the hotel
the first time, leaving out the part about Lucas accompanying me.

When I had finished, Henry was shaking his head. “It doe
sn’t mean anything,” he argued. “It was probably just Dad trying to plan the party!”

“There’s more,” I whispered. Before I could lose my nerve, I told Henry about following Mr. Matthews again to a different hotel. I had just gotten to the part about him checking in under a fake name, when Henry jumped up from the bed.

“I’ve heard enough,” he said angrily. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but you’re
wrong
.”

I winced. This wasn’t going well, and
I hadn’t even gotten to the most disturbing part of the story – the gender of the person he was meeting.

“Why would I make this up? I’d have nothing to gain! You know I’m not a liar.”

“I was asking myself that very same question, as I was listening to your garbage.”

I cringed. Henry was furious. I’m not sure I’d ever heard him take that tone with
anyone
before, much less with me.

“And then it hit me,” he continued. “You don’t like me. Who even knows if you care about me as a friend? For all I know, you’ve been laughing at me behind my back for all of these years. You just knew I’d help you. That’s why you came here when you got out of the grave.”

“No, no, no,” I was trying desperately to interrupt him, but Henry wasn’t done with his tirade.

“If you didn’t like me, you could at least have
had the balls to say it. You didn’t have to kiss me back like that, make me think you had feelings for me.”

“Please, Henry, listen to what you’re saying! You know me. I would never lie to you.”
About something so important,
I added silently.

“Why are you trying to rip my family apart?” he demanded.
“Distract me with some hair brained lie. Is it so I won’t notice you sneaking off to be with vampire boy?“

“Henry, it’s not like that,” I tried again.

“Just stop speaking,” Henry cut me off. “You’ve done enough damage. Just leave.”

I stared at Henry in shocked silence. “If that’s what you want,” I whispered.

Without another word, Henry stormed out of the bedroom.

I was stunned. And hurt.
What the hell just happened? Did Henry truly think that I was capable of doing something so horrible?
I knew he was reeling from what I’d told him, but I’d never have expected him to lash out at me like that.

Does he really want me to leave?

I couldn’t believe that those words had come out of his mouth. If I’d had any inkling whatsoever about how he’d react, I would have never told him about his dad. I’d worried that kissing Henry would ruin our friendship, but that paled in comparison to
this.

My legs felt shaky, but I forced myself to try to stand. On the first attempt, my knees gave out and I fell back onto the bed. I felt like I might faint, but knew that was physically impossible given my un-dead state.

Just when I didn’t think things could get any worse. I’ve truly hit rock bottom. My best friend in the world hates my guts.

I stood up again. I had to get out of this house. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.
But where can I go?

I stepped
outside his parent’s bedroom and walked slowly towards the stairs, pausing to see if I could hear Henry in his room.
Footsteps.
He’s up there.

I stood for a moment longer,
hoping Henry would open his door and come down the stairs, tell me he was sorry for what he said, that he knew I would never
really
want to rip his family apart, that he
believed
me.

But Henry didn’t come down the steps, and
I couldn’t stand there all night. I headed downstairs. Since Henry’s parents were on the cruise, I had been able to move around freely. My jacket was sitting on the kitchen counter. I grabbed it and checked my pocket for my cell phone.
Nothing else to take
, I thought sadly.

It was dark outside so
I didn’t bother putting on the baseball cap. I didn’t even care if anyone I knew saw me. At least if they did, it would be out in the open, no longer looming over my head.

After I reached the edge of the gate and walked through
it, I turned back one last time to look at Henry’s house.
I’ve lived there for weeks, undetected, and now I’m never welcome there again.

Not paying attention to where I was walking, I headed down the street. I had the vague sense that I was going towards my house; alarm bells were faintly sounding in my head.

Maybe I’d just show up and throw myself into my mom’s arms. I desperately needed a hug from my mother, and I longed to see her face again, to smell her perfume as she wrapped her arms around me.

When I first heard my name, I was so deeply engrossed in my thoughts that I figured I somehow dreamed it. But when I heard my name the second time, I knew it wasn’t my imagination.

“Aurora! Over here.” I recognized the deep male voice almost immediately. Lucas!

I squinted across the street. There he was, standing half obscured by a huge oak tree in the neighbor’s yard. He was wearing his signature coat, with the hood pulled up over his head.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “I’ve had the worst night of my life. I can’t take much more.”

“I’ve got to talk to you,” he called back in a stage whisper.

I jogged across the street to where Lucas was standing.

“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked him.

“I tried to call you several times! Check your phone.”

I pulled it out of my pocket to look. “I do have some missed calls.”
I was too caught up in kissing Henry to hear my phone ring.

“First you don’t answer my call
s, and now I find you wondering the streets at night.” Lucas looked at me suspiciously.

“Oh, calm down, I’m not out searching for victims. Once I make the jump to murderous creature, you’ll be the first to know,” I added sarcastically.

“Wow, what’s gotten into you? Fight with your boyfriend?” Lucas’ tone was teasing, but I was in no mood to joke around.

“What’s wrong with you, you idiot? Henry is not, never has been, and never will be my boyfriend. And I’m pretty sure he’ll never be my friend again either. I do not want to talk about it.” I gave Lucas my best do-not-cross-me look.

“Woah!” Lucas held up his hand. “I was just kidding around. I know you’re not with him.” He gave me a funny look. “I didn’t mean to hit a sore spot.”

You’ve got to calm down. Lucas might be the only friend you have left.

“I just had a huge fight with Henry,” I said. “I still don’t want to talk about it,” I added quickly.

Lucas nodded.

“Why did you need to speak to me?” I asked, changing the subject. I had to put my fight with Henry out of my mind.

“Let’s
go to my car. It’s safer to talk there.”

We started walking towards his car, which was parked at the end of the road.
Lucas looked at me sideways. “I can tell you’re having a really rough night. Anything I can do to help?”

“Not unless you can erase the last hour of my life.”

Lucas laughed. “I’m afraid that’s not one of my many talents,” he joked.

Despite my bad mood, I couldn’t help smiling.

What is wrong with me? How can I be so attracted to two different guys?
I was all over the place.

We arrived at his car and Lucas opened the door for me. I
slid inside and slammed it shut. Somehow, the resounding
bang
it made was satisfying.

“Jesus Christ,
you trying to wake the neighborhood?” Lucas asked in exasperation.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

Lucas drove for a few minutes before speaking. “I need to check that we aren’t being followed,” he explained.

“I thought you said we were safe from the twins!” I exclaimed. “For now, at least.”

“We are,” Lucas replied grimly. “But unfortunately I’ve found out there are other problems to deal with.”

“Trust me, it can’t get worse. It might have been better for everyone if Thomas and Bartholomew had gotten to say their spell.”

“Don’t say that!” Lucas said angrily. “After everything we’ve been through.”

“I don’t mean it,” I lamented. But inside I wasn’t so sure.

“Aurora, I need to know you’re going to be okay. You have to promise me you’ll try to get past what’s made you so upset.”

“Huh? How’s that relevant?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Lucas said. “I have to disappear for a while.”

“What! You’re the only friend I have.”

“I’m sure whatever happened with you and Henry can be righted,” he said lightly.

“Why are you leaving?”
I demanded, ignoring his comment.

“I don’t want to.” Lucas’ face was grim. “Nicholas called me again. It turns out those cretins set me up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. Probably still too fucked up from the blood they gave me.” I noticed he was clenching the steering will so tightly his knuckles had turned white.

“They had to kill someone to get that blood. And they set me up to take the fall for it.”

“Oh no!” I wailed. “But how can they do that?”

“Paid someone off to say they saw me do it, I imagine.” Lucas shrugged.

“So now you’re being hunted?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m sure they have someone out looking for me. I can’t go back to work, can’t stay at my house, can’t stay in this city.”

“That’s awful! Lucas, I’m so sorry.”

“Me, too. That’s why I need you to promise me you’re going to keep it together. I won’t be here to watch out for you.”

“How long until you can come back
?”

“I don’
t know.” Lucas sighed. “It depends on what it takes to clear my name. I don’t want to go – I don’t want to leave you.”

“So take me with you!” I begged. I had no reason to stay here.

“No,” Lucas said sharply.

He turned to me. “Rory, I’d like nothing more than to have you with me.” Lucas’ voice softened.

“Then what’s stopping you?” I demanded.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“But I’m already dead!” I argued. “I’d be the perfect sidekick. I’m practically untouchable.”

“I can’
t take you! I don’t know if I’d be able to protect you.”

“So you’ll leave me here to rot?”

“That’s a bit dramatic.”

“Look,” Lucas continued, “I would love for you to come with me, but I have to find the twins and clear my name, and it’s going to be dangerous. I can’t guarantee my own safety, let alone yours.”

“I guess.” I still wasn’t convinced, but I could tell that Lucas wasn’t going to cave.

“I hate to do this, but I’ve really got to hit the road. Where do you want to be dropped off?”

“Just dump me on the side of the street,” I said morosely.

Lucas parked the car
and turned to me. He looked helpless, hopeless. “I hate to just leave you here, but there’s no other choice. Listen to me: I will come back for you.”

“I believe you,” I whispered.

“Then stop looking so sad.” Lucas brushed my hair away from my eyes.

“You have to be strong. I’ll try t
o get messages to you if I can to let you know I’m okay and to make sure you are, too,” he said.

“Alright
. So I guess this is goodbye,” I said awkwardly.

“For
now
,” Lucas corrected me.

I tried to muster a smile, but I couldn’t.

Lucas leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him tight. I didn’t want to ever let go. Lucas buried his face in my hair. “I won’t forget about you,” he whispered in my ear.

Finally, Lucas pulled away from the embrace. He kissed me softly on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised.

And with that, I got out of the car and watched Lucas drive off into the night.