The Hunted (13 page)

The glass panes of my window creaked noisily as I opened them again slowly. I cringed and glanced nervously towards the door, waiting with the very real expectation that I was about to be busted.

A couple of seconds passed silently before I realised that I had been holding my breath. I exhaled nosily and sucked in some fresh air, keeping my watchful eyes on the back of my bedroom door.

Phew! So far, so good.

My ears pricked again as I listened for any trace of movement in the house. It seemed that all was quiet in the Manory household tonight.

Satisfied, I swung my bag over my head, straightened the strap on my shoulder and then climbed up onto the painted timber sill of my second story window. Then I braced myself for what was coming.

This was the painful part, because regardless of the miraculous effects of my self-healing ability, I wasn’t immune to initial breakages, cuts, and abrasions. And every time I jumped from this window, something inevitably went
snap
.

I clasped my fingers around the window frame and stepped into a position to jump from the opening. Afraid of chickening out, I started counting steadily towards three. I started at one, got to two, and then started breaking it down in eighths, quarters, and then halves.

I’d gotten to two and three quarters when the door behind me opened so quickly that it even bounced on the rubber stopper before swinging back.

Ahh, crap.

‘Elena, what are you doing?’

I smirked. What else could I be doing—bird watching?

I turned my head around slowly and grinned sheepishly at the silhouette of my brother, Lucas. He was standing in my bedroom doorway with his arms folded in front of his chest, eyeing me suspiciously.

God, he looked just like George when he stood there like that, trying to look all authoritarian and threatening. ‘Nothing,’ I replied innocently. ‘I was just opening the window for some fresh air.’ His eyes narrowed into slits before he threw his hands up into the air in exasperation and started towards me. I jumped back onto my bedroom floor.

‘I know you’re trying to sneak out again, Elena. Don’t even bother trying to deny it. I heard the bloody window open,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘And just for the record, if the window needs to be opened, you can do it standing on the floor. You don’t need to be in one of your best outfits and standing on the ledge.’

I laughed. ‘This isn’t one of my best outfits.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘You know what I mean.’

I paused for a moment, thinking. I didn’t think he would be such a mamma’s boy about this. Don’t get me wrong—I loved my adopted brother, but he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

The only thing he did that was morally questionable was usually because he had tagged along with me and Kayla. It was only in these rare moments when he truly let his hair down (so to speak) that I caught glimpses of the fun-loving guy inside. Still, like me, he hadn’t indulged in many of the things a teenager of his age could, hence why the closest he had come to rubbing up against a girl was falling asleep on top of one of his Playboy magazines.

I looked quickly back at the clock again.

I don’t have time for this now
.

‘Okay, okay,’ I said, pressing a finger to my lips in an effort to get him to keep his voice down. ‘I was sneaking out, but come on, you know that I’ll be safe and I can’t miss tonight! I have to go! Kayla will be disappointed if I don’t. In fact, she’s waiting in her car down the street right now.’

I saw his eyes flick away to look out the window and down the street upon mentioning Kayla’s name. Lucas had always had a bit of a thing for her, but had never plucked up the courage to come out and say so. I’d never pushed the issue either. It was just too ‘icky’ to imagine.

All I wanted to do was have a good time tonight which was obviously going to be short lived if I didn’t invite him along.

I sighed. I couldn’t do it. Kayla would kill me if I dragged him along to another night out just for the sake of blessed silence. With all of the drugs, alcohol, boys, and steamy make out sessions at the rave tonight, I knew he would be like the big brother chaperone from hell.

Make room everyone, buzzkill coming through.

‘Lucas. I’d planned to go to this rave over a month ago. I can’t wig out on Kayla now, she’ll end up just going by herself and that would be dangerous. I promise I won’t get up to any mischief—strictly dancing only and no funny business. I promise that I’ll come home no later than four or five.’ I crossed my fingers behind my back.

His blue eyes locked onto mine again and he sort of smiled, expectantly. I’d seen this sort of smile before and I didn’t like where his head was at.

He’s not coming.

The last time Lucas had guilted me into taking him along on one of our nights out, it ended quite badly. Needless to say there was a wedding dress involved, a bottle of tequila, a stolen golf cart which later ended up in some random’s swimming pool, a black eye, a couple of stitches, and to top it all off, a night spent at the police lock-up.

No need for further details.

‘I won’t stay out for too long, I promise.’ I said, pouting lips. ‘Oh, and please don’t tell Susan and George, they’ll kill me. I just want to have a little fun tonight. Please, Lucas … pretty please? I’ll do your chores for a month.’

He snorted. ‘You’ll end up having to do those anyway when you get caught.’

Undoubtedly.

‘Come on, It’ll be fine.’

‘It’s not you I’m worried about, dickhead—it’s the other people,’ he said, still smiling. ‘Where is this rave anyway?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Only if you don’t want me to tag along with you. Besides, someone needs to know where you are in case something goes wrong.’

‘What could possibly go wrong?’

Besides you blowing my cover and getting me grounded for even longer?

I thought about what I’d just said for a second, my mind lingering on the details of my parent’s conversation in the garden, and I shuddered slightly. Perhaps there was plenty that could go wrong?

His head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. I knew he wasn’t going to let it go.

‘Fine. It’s just past Ellis Beach. But don’t worry. I’ve got my mobile and my knife. I should be fine. It’s just a dance party, not a blood orgy.’

He scowled and then huffed at me as I turned and prepared to climb up onto the window ledge again, not waiting for a reply. I could feel his disapproving look on my back but I didn’t care. I just hoped that the little moocher would keep his mouth shut long enough for me to have some fun tonight because now the probability of getting caught had just gone up by seventy-five percent.

‘Are we done? Can I go now?’ I said, looking back at him.

‘Elena, it’s not a good idea, I think I—’

Need to shut up and go back to your room
.

‘Okay, thanks Lucas, I appreciate it,’ I said, cutting him off.

My hands braced against the window architraves again as I pulled myself up and prepared to jump down to the
ground below me.

Cringing, I counted to three, throwing myself from the window opening with all the reckless abandonment I could muster. The air that whistled past my skin was bitingly cold, against my face and the uncovered section of my arms. I barely had time to shiver before my feet hit hard earth below. The predictable snap of one of my bones breaking was the auditory accompaniment to the profanity that slipped past my lips.

Sharp pain coursed its way through my limbs sending spasms of unleashed torment through my legs, bringing tears to my eyes.

I bit down hard on my tongue to suppress the scream that was burning at the back of my throat.

A minute later, and feeling more composed, I rose slowly from my crouched position, feeling my Vampiric genes set to work on my fractured legs. In a few seconds there would be nothing more than a dull ache, the severity of the initial impact all but subsiding now that my body was concentrating on reversing the damages. It was amazing that my ‘battery’ for this particular gift never seemed to run low or die. No matter what I did to myself, I always seemed to bounce right back.

A slow smile spread across my face as the pain effects dissipated.

I looked back up to my window and saw Lucas shaking his head at me, and then disappear, probably to stalk off back to his bedroom.

I waved at his retreating back, a small giggle escaping my lips. My healing ability really was a neat little party trick. It was just a pity I could never tell anyone about it.

I straightened the bag against my shoulder and quietly manoeuvred my way through the overgrown back garden and down the front driveway, picking out pieces of grass seed from the side of my clothes as I walked. Once I knew that I was definitely out of earshot from the house, I started to jog to where I knew Kayla would be sitting in her car waiting for me.

*          *          *

‘Hey E, looking good,’ Kayla said, sweeping an approving glance over my body as I got in and buckled my seatbelt.

I took a quick minute to eye my friend over in return. This was typical Kayla—she was wearing a super-short blue sundress over her voluptuous frame. Her breasts were barely contained behind the strained material, but I had to admire her confidence, even if it did get her into compromising situations sometimes. Her long blonde hair was tied back into a neat ponytail, her brown eyes were lacquered with lashings of thick eye make-up, and her lips were painted a vivid scarlet.

She was walking sin.

‘So did you bring your bathing suit?’ she asked, breaking into my thoughts while she pulled the car away from the curb. She made a left shortly after, which soon intersected with the main highway leading out of town and towards the northern beaches. The Main Roads Department sign we passed declared that we were sixty-five kilometres away to our intended destination. This would usually mean a forty-five minute drive, but since Kayla was behind the wheel it’d probably only last half an hour.

‘Should I have bought my bathing suit?’

Bit late now.

‘No, you didn’t have to. I just wanted a chance to test my new bikini out.’ She shifted the straps on her dress, letting them fall from her shoulders to reveal the makings of a sparkling midnight blue bikini. How she could walk around in that get up in this weather, I had no idea.

‘Nice, huh? I got it on sale. Think this might turn some heads?’

‘Like you needed the bathing suit to do that—have you looked in the mirror tonight?’ As if to make my point clearer, I angled the rear vision mirror towards her face.

She stuck her tongue out at me, flipping me off all at the same time. ‘Are you kidding? I’m going up against you— naturally gorgeous supermodel extraordinaire. I have to work twice as hard at standing out, even if I am a blonde with big boobs.’

I rolled my eyes and nestled back into the seat. I had never thought that I was as beautiful as she or my family made me out to be. Attractive, yes—gorgeous, no. ‘Sorry, were you trying to achieve
naturally
gorgeous?’ I said as she readjusted the mirror.

‘Shut up. I don’t have
that
much make-up on. Besides, I think I look hot.’

You look something, that’s for sure.

She flicked me a satisfied grin and readjusted the straps on her dress. Kayla turned the radio on in the car and flicked through a few stations before finally settling on her favourite one. The sounds of Rhianna’s
Umbrella
blared through the speaker system, and we both turned and grinned at each other before singing along in the best shower voices we could muster.