The Hunted (10 page)

Cartoons.

Ugh, I hate cartoons.

I flicked through the channels until I settled on the news. Nothing particularly exciting going on in the world at the moment. It was the same old thing—fighting, killing, global financial crises and terrorists. On reflection, all that stuff must have been pretty scary to the humans, given that terrorists were like their version of the supernatural. The UN would have an absolute coronary if they discovered there were worse things out there than suicide bombers and weapons of mass destruction. Not that those things weren’t shocking. I’d watched the news, seen the damage that hate between humans could cause. But if they only knew that an army of vân
â
tors alone could pretty much wipe out the planet if they so desired it …

Ugh, who am I kidding? People always find a reason to hate and a reason to fight.

I switched the television off when I heard Kayla pull up into the drive way and beep twice.

I grabbed my bag off the floor, swiped my keys off the bureau by the door and then locked up the house behind me.

‘Hey,’ she said as I got into the car beside her.

I tossed my back pack over my shoulder and onto the back seat. ‘Hey.’

She threw the car into reverse and swung back out onto the road. ‘So how was your trip, anyway? You didn’t really say too much about it.’

I grinned. ‘Probably because you were too busy getting up me about cell coverage to listen.’

She smiled back, turning left onto the main road. ‘You were only gone for what? Four days? What’s the point of driving all the way down to Brisbane for only a few hours?’

‘Susan and George had some work to do.’

‘What? They couldn’t leave you and Lucas at home?’

I shrugged. ‘I guess not. But in case this vital fact escaped your attention, I’m not exactly trustworthy, am I?’

She grinned and then, refocusing on her thoughts, frowned slightly. ‘Why didn’t you all just fly down if it was for a job? Why drive all that way?’

‘Susan’s afraid of flying,’ I lied, not exactly sure why. After all it was a legitimate question. But I couldn’t tell her that we scoped out every major town along the way to ensure that the Vân
â
tors hadn’t moved on from the suspected point of contact. It wasn’t like we could do that if we had direct flights.

Kayla’s eyes narrowed and she gripped the steering wheel a little tighter before glancing at me with disbelieving eyes. ‘But all of you flew to Melbourne last year for the Christmas holidays.’

Ah, whoops. How did I forget that? I guess that’s what happens when you spend all of your time lying to people.

I shrugged again. ‘We had some pretty bad turbulence on that flight and she vowed never to get on an aeroplane again if she could help it.’

‘Oh,’ Kayla said, staring back out the windscreen. ‘So what did you do when you got—’

‘Hey!’ I said, interrupting. ‘You didn’t tell me about that cute guy that you mentioned.’

She broke out into a grin. ‘I didn’t, did I?’

It was so easy to distract Kayla. All you had to do was bring up her favourite subject and all else would be forgotten.

I listened to her ramble on about this one particular guy for the whole twenty minutes during the trip into town. I nodded at all the appropriate sections and also chipped in a few words of encouragement when required. Apparently there hadn’t been any interaction between either of them other than a brief moment of eye contact. This of course meant we had to spend at least fifteen minutes of the twenty minute conversation dissecting just exactly what it meant when he fluttered his eyelashes a certain way or smiled at her with slightly upturned lips.

I was mentally exhausted before I even got to work. Kayla always wondered why I didn’t bother with boys. It was just far too much effort to expend on one species. Plus I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was dubious about the direction her latest crush’s sexuality swung in. I mean, the guy was wearing designer threads and was hanging around in a furniture and accessory store. He was more likely to have been checking out Glen the store manager than Kayla.

‘So, to sum up, we think that by him giving me an almost wink, a quick, but also lingering glance in my direction … oh yeah, and the slight upturn of his lips into a smile, he was definitely interested?’

Yeah, in the Laura Ashley bed linen.

I sighed. ‘I don’t know, Kayla. Do you even know who he is?’

She frowned. ‘What does that matter?’

She pulled the car into one of the car parks behind the store and switched the engine off.

I unbuckled my seat belt and reached around into the back seat for my back pack. ‘Well, if you don’t know who he is, where he works, if he lives in Cairns, or even what his name is—what does it matter if he was interested? You may never see him again.’

She was quiet as she got out of the car. Looking back at me as she rested her arms over the top of the car, a small grin formed on her face. ‘You’re right,’ she said, smacking a hand on the surface of the roof.

‘I am?’ I said, looking back at her in bewilderment as I slung the back pack over my shoulder.

‘Of course he liked me. How could he not?’ she said, gesturing to her voluptuous frame. ‘He was just shy.’

Gay’s more like it.

I rolled my eyes and smiled before shutting the car door behind me. If he hadn’t been attracted to Kayla’s long blonde hair, tanned skin and long legs then it was really anyone’s guess why he hadn’t made plans to hook up with her on Saturday night.

I wandered into the loading dock, Kayla shuffling along behind me. Glen, the store manager, was sitting on an upturned milk crate smoking a cigarette. We both stopped and said a quick hello.

‘Morning ladies,’ he said cheerfully, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

‘Hey, Glen,’ we both replied in return.

‘Going to be a busy day today, I think,’ he said, taking a long drag. ‘Elena, you’ll be on front counter today, while Kayla and I attend to the consults we have coming in.’

He stubbed out what was left of the butt underneath his shiny black shoes, pulled a mint out of his pocket, and then popped it into his mouth. Very considerate of him considering how sensitive my nose was to smells, not that he knew that.

Kayla was doing a traineeship in interior decorating as well as studying a correspondence course in interior design and furniture restoration. She’d been working at the store for well over a year now, having left school immediately after her year ten examinations to pursue a career in the furnishings industry. Glen gave her a lot of opportunities to perfect her craft. She was actually pretty talented and held a lot of promise of one day becoming a good designer.

That was how Kayla and I had met, here at work. While she worked full-time, I just worked here for the Saturday shift. It was long enough to earn a little bit of cash and yet not long enough to send me completely crazy—one day of mundane human activities was enough for me.

Sundays were generally my day off and that time I usually spent with Kayla. While the rest of the week I was at the IMI either studying skills for the field or fulfilling my requirements to complete my home-schooling education. Of that, I still had a year and a bit left.

Although I actually hated the schoolwork part, I loved being at the IMI, despite the fact that the people themselves weren’t one hundred percent welcoming. Sarah, one of the ladies, was racist in every way possible. I’m not black, I’m not gay, and I’m not foreign, but I was going to become a vampire, so that was probably reason enough for her to hate me. Kim, Sarah’s friend, was just a nasty bitch. The rest tolerated me because I think they believed I would one day aid them in the fight against the Vampires. Peter just ignored me when possible.

But despite the frosty reception, watching The Protectors perform magic and hone their skills was definitely exciting. It was just a shame that I would never be able to learn that particular craft, as magical skills were inherent and not learnt.

It was in the blood.

‘Elena, did you hear me?’ Glen asked as he stood up, straightening his tie and silk shirt. I’d never noticed before, but he was actually quite handsome.

I wonder why I only just noticed now?

He was tall, slim, but athletic, with blue-grey eyes and short sandy-blonde hair that curled around the sides of his ears. He was in his mid-thirties, an interior designer, a massive fan of Ralph Lauren, the application of stripes and spots, and also apparently liked long walks along the beach. Or so he’d told me at last year’s Christmas party when he’d had a little too much to drink.

Still, he wasn’t really my type, and if his immaculately cut physical appearance, personal hygiene, and exceptional taste in clothing were anything to go by, then he was probably batting for the other team.

‘Elena?’

‘Umm, yep. I’m on the front counter. Got it.’

I pushed the rear door open and headed into the staff room, leaving Kayla and Glen to discuss the upcoming consults and who would be assigned to what. I dumped my bag in the cupboard by the sink and then headed out to open the store. It was almost nine.

The day passed quite quickly in hindsight. Glen had been right. It was extremely busy. Kayla and Glen had spent the entire day attending to one consultation after another, and booking several others that would involve home visits.

I manned the front counter as instructed, being entirely on my own since everyone was too busy to help. I also spent what little time I had not serving, labelling the new batch of stock that arrived on Friday, and setting up shelves to house the new kitchen wares. By the end of the shift my mind was swirling around with the varied aromas from the scented candles I had also unpacked, and the assorted questions relating to mirrored cabinets and the latest Trisha Guild fabric collection. By six o’clock I was ready to split. I’d more than had enough of helping people match their pillows to their bedspreads and other such menial nonsense.

‘You ready?’ Kayla said to me as she turned the sign around on the front window and padlocked shut the front door.

I grinned and blew out a sigh of relief. ‘It’s like you read my mind.’

‘You ladies have a nice weekend,’ Glen said, patting me on the shoulder before heading over to the cash register and counting the till. ‘Good work today—both of you. Kayla. I’ll see you Monday.’

‘Thanks, Glen,’ she beamed, walking back to me. She had that supercilious look on her face whenever a good-looking male complemented her. ‘Let’s go.’

I retrieved my bag from the staff room on the way out and then followed Kayla to her car. I checked my phone for messages. There was only one, a text message from Lucas that said,
‘Sucks to be you’.

I deleted the message and shoved the phone back inside my bag.

Dumb ass.

We were cruising home again before I knew it, Kayla chatting excitedly about her day. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I wasn’t the slightest bit interested—eight hours of home design conversation and dusting furniture was more than enough for me. However, I faked listening to her every word,
oohing
and
ahhing
when required.

I could have jumped for joy when we finally pulled up in my driveway, which instantly plagued my conscience, making me feel like a really bad friend. Then again, as much as I loved Kayla, she was conceited, and probably wouldn’t have noticed my lack of interest anyway.

‘So I’ll see you tonight then?’

‘Tonight?’ I said, looking at her bewildered.

Had I forgotten something?