Hunted (45 page)

She made it to the front door before arms encircled her and pulled her backward to keep her from running outside.  “Lanie, don’t!  You can’t help her!” Kyle growled.

Lanie let out a sob as her gaze fell on the scene through the open doorway.  Frederik was standing on the porch, only a few steps away, and with him was Gretchen.  His hand was tangled into Gretchen’s blonde hair, forcing her to stay next to his side.  Held there, Gretchen was pale and unmoving, her clothes rumpled and torn, her face bearing the marks of what had clearly been a few very long days for her.  There was a bruise beneath her right eye, a trail of dried blood leading down from a large gash on her forehead, her lip had been split open, and there were obvious puncture wounds on her both sides of her neck.  Someone had been feeding on Gretchen.

“Gretchen!” Lanie screamed after that first stalled second, suddenly struggling to get out of Kyle’s vice-like grip.

“Lanie, stay inside!” Gretchen shouted back in a scratchy, weak voice. 

“Let her go!” Lanie screamed at the monster holding her aunt.

“Come out to me!” Frederik snarled back at her.

Kyle tightened his grip on Lanie.  “She’s not coming out!”

“Send her out to me!” Frederik demanded, giving Gretchen a vicious shake that tore a pained scream from her.

Lanie screamed, too, but Kyle refused to release her.  “Kyle!  Let me go!  Let him have me!”

“No!  He’ll kill Gretchen anyway because you’ve defied him!” Kyle shouted back at her.

Frederik gave Gretchen another shake, tearing another scream from her.  “Come out to me!” he demanded.

Lanie fought Kyle as hard as she could, but she could not break out of his grip.  “Don’t hurt her!” she begged Frederik.  “He won’t let me go!  Please, don’t hurt her!”

“Lanie, stop!  You can’t go out to him!” Johnna cried out.

“Stay inside the house!” Gretchen screamed at her.  “I don’t care what happens to me!”

Lanie could not live with that!  She cared what happened to Gretchen!  “Let me go!” she cried, struggling against the arms that imprisoned her.  “Please!  He won’t let me come out!”

“Send her out to me!” Frederik growled.

Kyle pulled Lanie backwards a few steps.  “You can’t have her!  Not her!”

Frederik went still and his eyes fell on Lanie.  Something sickening rolled over her and before she could get the scream past her lips, Frederik had both hands tangled in Gretchen’s hair…and then he gave her head a vicious twist. 

There was a sickening crack and for one horror filled moment Lanie was looking directly into her aunt’s wide, disbelieving eyes.  And then, as surely as a cloud being blown apart by the wind, the soul behind those eyes faded, leaving nothing but two staring, vacant orbs.  Frederik let go his grip on Gretchen and her body crumpled onto the porch.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Lanie went numb.  She seemed to be frozen for a moment, trapped in a place without feeling or sound, her gaze fixed on what was left her aunt.  A long, deafening scream erupted from outside the numb fog wrapped around Lanie.  A scream that sounded familiar.  Yes, it was familiar.

It was her.  She was the one making that horrible, tortured sound.

As her voice died away, Frederik stepped right up to the open doorway, his pale face placid.  “I’ll kill them all one by one until you come out to me,” he told her, his voice completely amicable, as if he was simply inviting her out for a walk.

“You’ll have to because I’m not letting you take her!” Kyle snarled, his tone as hard as nails. 

Frederik’s gaze slid to Kyle and the two stared at one another for a long minute.  And then Frederik turned and was…gone.  Lanie looked at the unmoving figure of her aunt lying just outside the doorway, her stomach turning over and her heart tearing in half.  She braced herself for the stab of pain she knew was coming; only it was something else that swept over her. 

It was stark, cold, smothering…rage.

Lanie was suddenly struggling as hard as she could to get out of Kyle’s arms, desperately fighting to get away from him.  He loosened his grip on her and she abruptly spun around, her hand slicing through the air and cracking right against Kyle’s face, whipping his head sideways and sending stinging pain shooting up her arm.  And then she slapped him again, harder, putting so much force behind it that her arm went numb and an anguished growl was forced out of Kyle.

“Lanie!” Johnna shrieked, throwing herself at Lanie and dragging her backwards away from Kyle.  “Stop it!  It’s not his fault!”

“You should have let me go!” she heard herself scream at Kyle, even as she shrugged Johnna’s hands off her so that she could hit him again.

But, Kyle was suddenly taking her in his arms and crushing her against his blood soaked shirt.  “I’m sorry, Lanie.  I’m so sorry,” he told her thickly.  “But, he would have killed her anyway.  And then I would have lost you for nothing.”

“You don’t know that!  He might have let her go!” she sobbed into his shoulder, the need to feel her palm cracking against his flesh burning inside her. 

“Lanie, he isn’t like you.  He doesn’t think like you.  He has no soul.  He
would
have killed her.  Or he would have made you kill her after he turned you,” Kyle told her.  “There was no way he was going let her live.”

Kyle sounded so sure, but she had no proof that Frederik wouldn’t have let her aunt go!  If only he’d gotten what he wanted, he might have let her aunt live! 

“You’ve seen, Lanie.  He kills without blinking an eye.  If I had handed you over, you both would have died,” Kyle soothed, kissing the top of her head.  “Gretchen wouldn’t want that.”

“Kyle’s right, Lanie,” Johnna agreed.  “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I know that he would have killed her anyway.  That’s how it works.”

Johnna was the authority on vampires.  She would know how it worked if anyone would.  But, it didn’t make Lanie feel any less responsible.  Her aunt was dead, murdered right in front of her because she hadn’t done what Frederik wanted. 

She would carry that weight with her for the rest of her life as surely as if it was a stone around her neck.

“Come on,” Kyle said, lifting Lanie off her feet and walking her out of the entryway.  “I’ll take care of Gretchen.”

He took Lanie to the kitchen and sat her on a stool at the island.  “I’ll be right back,” he told her.  “Johnna, get her something to drink, will you?”

As Kyle rushed from the room, Johnna went to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of tea, pouring two glasses with a trembling hand.

“Lanie?  Are…are you alright?” Johnna asked as she joined Lanie at the island.

Lanie had no idea.  Her aunt was lying dead on the front porch, after being tortured for days and days.  Who knew what Gretchen had lived through, what sort of pain and fear she’d endured.  And all for nothing.  She’d been killed anyway.  Pain twisted Lanie’s insides, but the tears she expected suddenly wouldn’t come.  Just like when her mother died, it would take a while.  They would come, though.  Probably about the time when she had to tell her dad about Gretchen.  If she lived long enough.

“Your car is right out in the driveway,” Johnna stated thoughtfully, breaking the silence in the room.  “If we can make it to the car, he might not be able to catch us once we hit the road.  I mean, how fast can he run?”

She had no idea how fast a vampire could run.  But, it was a long way to that car, which wasn’t exactly filled with horsepower.  Then Johnna’s words dawned on her.  “What do you mean
we
?  You aren’t coming with me!”

“Says you!” Johnna shot at her.  “You’re not leaving me behind!  I’m your best friend and if you’re going to be spending the rest of your life running from a blood thirsty vampire, then I’m going to be with you!”

Lanie felt anger zip through her.  “Johnna, this isn’t one of your books!  People are dying!  I don’t want you to be next!”

“You’d do the same for me, wouldn’t you?” Johnna asked seriously.  “Would you let go off by myself with a monster chasing after me?”

“I’m not alone.  Kyle will be with me,” she stated.

“And what if something happens to him?  Then you’d be all by yourself,” Johnna stated.

“You aren’t coming with me!” Lanie argued.

“Try and stop me!” Johnna dared her.

Grrr!   Did Johnna really think that she was going to follow her and Kyle and somehow wind up finding her very own brooding and tortured vampire boyfriend?  Well, it
obviously
wasn’t working out that way!  Had the girl not just witnessed Gretchen die right before her eyes!

“Johnna, I’m not talking about this anymore!  You’re staying here with your mom and dad!” she hissed at her friend.

“Pft!” Johnna responded.  “I’m outta here in a few months anyway.  I’m coming.”

Lanie let out a breath and then let it drop.  Johnna could think she was coming all she wanted, but it wasn’t going to happen.  Period.  This was not Johnna’s problem and she was not going to spend even a minute away from her family!

Something flashed by the kitchen window with startling suddenness, bringing both Lanie and Johnna to their feet.  Only a few seconds later there was a desperate pounding at the kitchen door. 

“Lanie!  Lanie, open the door! 
Please
!” the shrill voice shrieked.

Devyn!  It was Devyn!

Lanie jolted forward toward the kitchen door, her heart thumping in her throat.  She threw the deadbolt back and jerked the door open, finding Devyn standing outside, her eyes huge and terror etched on her features.

“Devyn!” Johnna gasped, surging forward past Lanie to grab hold of the girl.  “Oh my God!  Get in—“

“No!” a deep voice exploded and in the same instant Johnna was jerked backward so hard she lost her grip on Devyn.

Lanie shrieked and spun around to find Kyle holding Johnna, his hand covering her mouth.  “Kyle!  What are you doing!  We have to let Devyn in!”

A wild shriek shook the kitchen and a heavy weight hit Lanie, knocking the air from her lungs and then she was on the floor with no memory of how she’d gotten there, staring up into the face of her friend…or what had once been her friend.  Before what was happening really sank in, Devyn opened her mouth and Lanie’s body braced to feel teeth puncturing her flesh.

And then Devyn was gone, ripped away from Lanie with such speed Lanie didn’t even see it happen.  When her stalled mind finally caught up, she jerked herself upright, her gaze landing on Kyle, who had his hand wrapped around Devyn’s throat, holding her high up off the floor. 

Devyn…what was supposed to be Devyn…was shrieking like a cornered animal, kicking and clawing and swiping at Kyle, her ashen face twisted into a demonic mask and her ruby red eyes flashing fire.

In a swift and sure move, Kyle reached beneath his coat, swept out a gleaming shard, and plunged it right into Devyn’s chest, tearing a scream from Johnna and sending an ice cold wave of disbelief crashing over Lanie.

Lanie watched as Devyn went still, as her arms fell limply to her sides and a river of crimson blood began to soak through and spill down the front of her pink tee shirt.  Her ashen face went slack and slowly turned as white as paste…but then something else happened.  The mask, that demonic mask with the hollow cheeks and the wild red eyes, began to fade away.  It only took a few seconds and just as easily as that, as easily the morning fog fading in the sunlight, Devyn was…Devyn again.

Only now Devyn was dead.

As that realization hit Lanie like a fist and she thought of how much like a little girl Devyn looked, with her pink tee shirt and her blonde hair pulled back away from her pretty, still face, Kyle abruptly spun around and flashed out of the room. 

The kitchen was thrust into silence and neither Lanie nor Johnna moved.  They both stood, staring with opened mouths at the spot Kyle had been standing in only a second before.

Devyn was dead.  Devyn…sweet, kind hearted Devyn…was dead.  Oh God.  This would kill Brady.  He…he’d always loved Devyn.  He’d always waited for her to…figure it out…and love him back.  And what about Devyn’s mother?  The woman had always been so afraid that something would happen to her daughter.  Maybe…somehow she’d known.