Hunting the Dark (2 page)

‘Why?’ Her chin jutted out and the familiar gesture hit me with a visceral memory of our mother. ‘Will he turn me into a vegetable?
Kill
me?’

I grimaced. ‘Stop it. You know he wouldn’t hurt you.’ At least, I didn’t
think
he would. With Theo, that shaky faith in how much he cared about my feelings would have to be enough.

‘How is it that he gets to walk around controlling other people? It’s just not right!’

I grabbed her shoulders and made her look me in the eyes. ‘Listen to me.’

Hey, it’s not like she had to worry about me trying to use my budding vamp-powers to influence her with my gaze. Even if I
was
any good at it (which I’m not), I would never do that to Caitlín. But I had to explain things to her for my own peace of mind – and perhaps for her safety, because this was a world I didn’t want her to be a part of. My sister uses hearts instead of dots in the i’s of her name, for God’s sake. She’s way too sweet for any of this crap.

I forced myself to breathe. ‘Theo is important to me in ways that I can’t put into words. It goes so far beyond any kind of connection possible between  . . . humans. Honestly, the closest I can get to even beginning to describe it is how I feel about you.’

Caitlín screwed up her face. ‘Ew, gross. We’re sisters!’

‘Not like that.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘You know what I mean.’

She shrugged but didn’t say anything else. I kept talking.

‘Theo’s lived a long life. He’s seen and done things I can’t even imagine – things I don’t
want
to imagine. Sometimes I can’t help worrying that I’m too human for him, that he’ll lose interest in me.’

‘But I didn’t think you wanted to be with him like that. Not anymore. He treats you like a pet – it’s too weird. Why do you care so much?’

‘I don’t,’ I said. ‘That’s long gone, and I’m not even sure how real it was to start with. Ever since I found out what he is  . . . and ever since he changed me, I can’t let myself think of him in that way.’

She smirked. ‘Yeah, he’s disgustingly old for one thing.’

‘He’s not quite two hundred.’ I grinned, remembering to keep the tips of my fangs hidden just in time. Jeez  . . . we were out in public. ‘But I do still love him,’ I continued, sobering in an instant. ‘It’s complicated.’ My little sister was the only person who I could talk to about any of this stuff; it was both a blessing and a curse.

‘He’s your Maker, right? Does that mean it’s a magical link?’ She pulled a face. ‘I can’t believe I’m talking about
magic
.’

‘Sort of.’ I shrugged, not wanting to admit that I did my best to stick my head in the sand when it came to vampire lore. ‘I know that if something happens to me, he’d feel it. It would affect him pretty badly.’

Caitlín frowned. ‘Does that work the other way around too?’

I shrugged. ‘Probably.’

‘You don’t know?’ Her voice had travelled a notch higher and I made violent shushing motions with my hands.

‘Do you maybe want to tell everyone? I don’t think they heard you over in Victoria’s Secret.’

‘Sorry,’ she said, switching to a stage-whisper. ‘But I just don’t get how you can pretend this stuff isn’t important. What happens to you if something happens to Theo?’

‘Nothing’s going to happen to him,’ I replied, my tone frosty.

‘And you know this, how?’

‘I just know, OK? He’s powerful.’

‘People in power are assassinated all the time,’ she said darkly.

‘Stop it – I don’t want discuss this anymore. You’re freaking me out and I want to be all calm and in control when I see Theo.’

Cait tucked her arm through mine as we navigated the crowded sidewalk. ‘Good idea. You can talk to him about going back to college in the fall.’

My guilty thoughts strayed to the art school letter I’d received only yesterday. It confirmed this October as my final chance to take up my deferred place before having to go through the applications procedure all over again. ‘It might not be a good time to bring that up. He sounded serious on the phone, and I think something big must be going on – so I can’t imagine my desire to study sequential art and animation will be at the top of his agenda.’

‘It’s at the top of
yours
, isn’t it?’

I didn’t reply. I did want to go back to school; I’d barely gotten started when my whole existence got flipped on its head, courtesy of an extremely short-lived romance and a vampire bite that would last a lifetime. If I was going to do it, it had to be done properly: attend classes once more and live the student life. I was already more able to keep the bloodlust at bay (well, some of the time), and in another six months I’d be even stronger. I needed Theo to say ‘yes’ and I didn’t want to ask him at the wrong time. If he said ‘no’, it would be harder to change his mind later.

We reached Caitlín’s T-stop and said our goodbyes. My throat tightened as I gave my sister one final hug.

Caitlín flashed me a half-smile. ‘I’ll give your love to Dad.’

I pulled a face. ‘Great.’

‘And Sinéad.’

‘Even better,’ I said.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love my family; it was just that they made it so hard to
like
them. My dad had treated me with something close to hostility ever since Mom’s death, after her long battle with cancer. I tried not to think about any of it too much – and I visited even less.

‘You take care, OK?’ I told her.

‘And you’d better wear that new dress to something cool,’ she said, giving me her most bossy look. ‘I didn’t help you pick it out just for it to sit in your closet.’

‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘I’ll wear it to prom.’

‘You already had one of those, smartass. Oh, wait,’ she continued, ‘you didn’t go.’

‘Because I didn’t have a date,’ I said.

‘Hashtag,
lame
.’

Caitlín liked to tease me because I wasn’t allowed to have a Twitter account. Theo didn’t trust me not to say something potentially suspicious. I know, right? As if  . . .

Speaking of dates, though, brought to mind an image of Jason Murdoch: vampire hunter-in-training, owner of a pair of soulful brown eyes and too many weapons to count. My one-time nemesis, and now my  . . . what? My friend?

Hmm, I thought. I wouldn’t exactly go that far.

Caitlín nudged me. ‘Dreaming of Theo?’ She made an ‘L’ with her thumb and index finger. ‘You’re such a
loser
 . . .’

I blushed, deciding it was probably wiser to let her believe that. Jace was a complication I didn’t want to discuss; not even with my sister.

‘I’ll call you,’ I promised.

‘You’d better.’

‘And I’ll visit.’

Caitlín snorted. ‘Don’t push it.’

Subterranean
was a nightly carnival disguised as a Goth-style club.

The secret of its success was the little-known fact that it was actually run by vampires, giving it an illicit allure that humans couldn’t fully comprehend. Not on a conscious level. They just knew it was The Place To Be. And, let’s be honest, it helped that there were regular all-ages nights which pulled in the emo-teen crowd.

Tonight was definitely
not
an all-ages night.

I tried not to stare at the crowd waiting to gain entry, but it was a futile exercise in the face of so much awesome
strangeness
. Also, people-watching took my mind off worrying about what Theo wanted me here for in the first place. The crowd featured everything from old-school Goth to women dressed as what looked like  . . . space princesses. (And I don’t mean Princess Leia.) Metal-strapped latex, a ton of black leather, and thigh-high boots did battle with sequins and reflective metal that looked like armor. I was almost blinded by the garish glare of multiple piercings.

Seeing the shiny array made me glad that I’d stopped at home to change. I’d stuck with my regular chunky boots, but was also wearing black leggings, a short purple ballerina skirt, and a black off-the-shoulder peasant-style blouse. Hopefully, I fitted in well enough without looking too freaky.

I listened to the steady thump-thump-thump of music drifting out onto the street, trying to imagine it was beating in time with my non-beating heart. As I waited for the bouncer to notice me, I played my usual game: find the vampires standing in line with the humans – hiding in plain sight. I figured there was maybe one vamp for every seven or eight mortals, waiting for a chance to find a willing blood donor too drunk or high to realize what was really happening. Not that you could always tell just by looking. Some vamps these days actually
filed
their fangs. Seriously. Theo didn’t approve of anyone doing that in his Family, but it was a growing trend in places like New York City (apparently), especially among younger vamps, to help them blend into society. Also, it made things way less complicated when you had to hang out with your biological family.

Of course, there was a particularly high vampire-to-human ratio outside Subterranean, but that wasn’t representative of the world at large. We make up less than one per cent of the population; probably less than
half
of one per cent. With a worldwide population of seven billion, that’s  . . . OK, math has never been my strong suit. Sure, it’s still a lot of vampires, but in the scheme of things it’s a drop in the ocean. Humans – the very thing that I used to be – simply don’t notice the monsters living alongside them. Why would they? Vampires, werewolves, zombies  . . . it’s all fiction, right?

The bouncer – a new guy I didn’t recognize – flashed me a wink and the tip of one of his fangs.

‘Yo, Moth!’ he called. ‘Over here, babe.’

I glanced at him as he ushered me past the waiting flock and through neon-painted doors. Maybe I didn’t know him, but he was clearly expecting
me
. A group of lace-clad girls at the head of the line complained loudly at the perceived favoritism.

Nobody knew that a bunch of vampires were going to be meeting in a public space. OK, so it was
our
public space, unknown to the majority of the club’s patrons, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t have to be careful. Most of these meetings were reserved for vampires of a certain vintage. The old ones. I was hardly part of the inner circle. Well, apart from the fact that I was considered to be Theo’s pet.

I ignored the long polished bar and walked across the main floor of thrashing dancers, trying to look past all the black leather and fishnet to the other side where small circular tables crouched in corners, lit by candles. The party was already in full swing; this was a prime time for vampires to stalk the periphery, checking out potential victims.

Not that they killed anybody. That wasn’t allowed. So long as any vampire in Boston belonged to the Family, or at the very least checked in with us, then the city’s human residents were safe. If any visiting vamps
didn’t
ask Theo’s permission to be here, that meant they were potential rogues and therefore fair game for Theo’s Enforcer. Only problem was, Theo still hadn’t appointed a new vampire to this important position since the betrayal of his previous Enforcer. Kyle. I shivered as I remembered Kyle, remembered what he had done and how he had threatened my little sister; remembered those he had killed  . . .

There were several candidates for the role (no, I most certainly wasn’t one of them), but Theo seemed in no hurry to make a decision. Amazingly, it appeared that my roommate Holly Somerfield was in the running, and she was already sitting at our Master’s right hand in a shadowy corner of the club. She was campaigning hard for the post, which took me doubly by surprise. Holly mostly seemed happy as a motorcycle courier and selling her handmade crafts on Etsy. She was a good fighter, but it was something that she kept under the radar. Was she good enough to be an Enforcer? Apparently, before being Made about twenty years ago, she’d been a black belt in  . . . something or other that sounded impressive and deadly.

My idea of fighting was kicking ’em where it hurt and then running like hell. That’s why I wore the most kick-ass boots possible.

I waved at Holly as I approached the small group of vamps. ‘Hey, roomie.’ I loved annoying her when she was trying to be all mature.

She rolled her eyes, but lifted her hand in greeting. Her blue hair was curled tonight, just reaching the collar of her tailored black and crimson satin jacket. Her bangs were straight across her forehead, and she looked chic and sophisticated. Not that I’d tell
her
that. There was no sign of her girlfriend, Alanya, and I wondered briefly if they’d broken up. Last time she’d been at our place, the lovebirds had had the mother of all arguments.

But then all rational thought was wiped from my mind as I focused on my Maker. Theo, as usual, was dressed in black from head to toe. It was a vampire thing, and far be it from us to buck those expectations. Theo wore it well, although he never came across as a vain man. I think that had something to do with his other life – the human life he had left behind in Ireland almost two centuries ago.

‘Moth,’ Theo said, acknowledging my arrival with a nod before returning to his conversation with Nicole.

Nicole’s presence was a surprise. She was an Elder, higher up on the vampire totem pole than Theo, responsible for the whole of New York State rather than a single city. Even in the flickering candlelight she was so beautiful it almost hurt my eyes. Her super-long black hair was loose and flowed down her back in carefully styled waves, while her crimson dress (okay, so she was the exception to the mostly-black rule tonight) shimmered against her slender figure. On any other vampire the dress might have been a cliché. On her, it looked absolutely perfect. I figured that red didn’t show bloodstains, either. Nicole spared me a curious glance, no doubt wondering what I had been summoned here for.

Me and her both.

She was flanked by two vampires I’d never seen before. A hot Latino guy sat to her left, and a curvy black woman on her right. I assumed she’d brought them with her from New York. If this was her only entourage, I grudgingly respected her subtlety. I would have expected her to bring a whole group of newbie vampires, even a human servant or two. Plenty of guards. Nicole was older than Theo, so that kind of thing would be possible – maybe even expected. Instead, she was traveling light.