Hunting the Dark (6 page)

Something new slid through his eyes, there and gone in an instant: an almost human vulnerability that made my chest ache.

‘If you live long enough, the only certainty left is that you’ll end up alone. That is the true cost of our
immortality
.’

‘This isn’t you talking,’ I cried, on my knees as I shook him. ‘This is just some kind of side effect of what happened to your Maker.’

Theo plucked my hands away from him like they were nothing. He rose to his feet and staggered slightly as he headed to the hidden stairway, but managed to reach the door without falling.

This was bad. This was really, really bad.

I
moved
, arriving at the door at the same time as him. ‘You’ll be OK,’ I said.

The words sounded hollow, even to me.

His perfect mouth lifted at one corner, a ghostly smile that chilled me to the bone. ‘I will end Jason Murdoch’s life for what he has done this night. Perhaps then I will be, as you say,
OK
.’

My whole body went rigid with fear. So we were back to
this
again. ‘I really believe you have the wrong guy. This has to be a frame job, don’t you think?’ I wasn’t nearly as certain as I sounded, but I didn’t want Theo to be the one who found Jace first. ‘You said you wanted my help, so let me help. I’ll find out who’s responsible and if it
was
Jace – if you’re right – I swear to tell you. I’ll even kill him myself.’ I hoped I didn’t live to regret those words.

He grabbed me by the arms and dragged me toward him. ‘You will do
nothing
. And you will not speak of this, do you understand me? I want the Murdoch boy dead by my hand.’

‘But if he’s innocent that isn’t fair!’

‘Do not presume to speak to me of
fairness
. He has killed our kind before. His father killed many of us. How, then, is he innocent?’

‘But—’

‘I will speak to the others now. Perhaps it is as well to have all our eyes looking for him.’

‘What happened to killing him being
your
duty?’

‘I only want him brought to me – nobody but I will have the pleasure of ending his life.’

Horror rose in my gut. This was like a nightmare. I had to do something!

Theo stared at me. ‘I forbid you to warn him. Do you understand?’

I gritted my teeth against the automatic desire to please him. I was not his puppet and, no matter how powerful his influence could be over humans, I was no longer human. He couldn’t influence me with his gaze. Being my Maker didn’t mean he could
actually
control me. Not through anything other than our link, pheromones and plain old emotional blackmail.

His voice went low, silky with a sweet and sickening threat I had never heard when he spoke to me. ‘I said: Do. You. Understand?’

‘Yes,’ I replied, sullen. Fine. If it would make him happy, I would tell him what he wanted to hear. It was utterly clear that I needed to talk to the young hunter first – and if I was going to do that, I couldn’t risk Theo finding out about it. Not after I’d promised.

Satisfied, Theo released me and spun away, stalking back down the stairs like the predator he was. He was on his way to speak with the gathered vampires below. Jason Murdoch’s name would be known to all of them, and that would only be the start of it. There would be a hunt through the city – but thanks to the approaching dawn, Jace might have the benefit of a head start.

Theo turned back to me. ‘The boy is already dead, Moth. Better to forget him.’

I pressed my shaking hands together and stayed where I was, preparing myself for what I was about to do: for the call that I had to make. I understood exactly what Theo was saying – and of course I got why he was saying it – but that didn’t mean I would sell Jace out. Mindlessly obeying my Maker was no longer at the top of my to-do list, not when he was acting so out of character. Not when he must have made a mistake about the splash of
eau-de-Murdoch
he’d supposedly detected outside Subterranean.

I headed back down into the house, but I didn’t stop when a voice called out for me to stop.
Holly.
Well, she could bite me. I walked straight through the already open front door and banged it on my way out.

Cool night drifted over me like a veil, and I blinked as my eyes turned silver-bright in the darkness. I felt more like myself. Clearer.

I had to help Theo. But I also had to protect Jace. Somehow, I would do both things and still remain sane.

I’m an optimist, what can I say?

A cab drove past and I ran after it, waving my arms.

Home.
I slid into the backseat, trying to ignore the scent of Chinese food and humanity that surrounded me in the confined space.

As we drove toward the North End apartment that I shared with Holly, all I could think about was the look on Theo’s face when he ordered the death of someone I had – perhaps unwisely – grown attached to.

Perhaps?
Right. There was no ‘maybe’ about it: however I felt about Jace (and I really and truly didn’t know what that was, most of the freaking time), I certainly didn’t want him dead. And especially not until I’d found out if Theo was right about him being near Subterranean in the first place. My Maker’s instincts were usually good, but this was a stretch even under normal circumstances.

It’s true that I wanted Jace to be innocent, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t make it my business to find out for sure. What if my Maker wasn’t just imagining things? What if Jace really
was
responsible?

But in the meantime, I needed to warn him that he was in danger. Innocent until proven guilty, right? I could only hope that Theo didn’t find out that I was planning to go behind his back, because that would definitely
not
end well.

For any of us  . . .

Two days passed with no word from Theo. Maybe I’d gotten away with what I’d done: a single phone call that could be the end of me.

But on the third night I woke up and immediately knew I wasn’t alone in my room. My first thought was:
Holly
. But she and her girlfriend were at Theo’s. She and Alanya had already made up after their fight, and they were both now spending more and more time at the Master’s main residence in Boston.

Gray light slipped through the gap in my curtains, and I could clearly see the outline of someone tall standing at the foot of my bed. My eyes took a fraction of a second to adjust to the gloom, and I realized that it must be close to dawn. I caught a scent – a very
familiar
one: warm sunlight and cold metal, along with a whisper of soap and mint.

‘Moth,’ the outline said. ‘Did you know that you snore?’

Jace.
I groaned. Why couldn’t my nose have been wrong?

‘What are you doing here? I took a huge risk calling you the other night, and your response to me telling you to “run like hell” is to turn up right where the monsters live?’

‘I was watching you sleep,’ he deadpanned. ‘Isn’t that considered romantic these days?’

I snorted. ‘Creepy, more like.’

I switched on the side light, more for his benefit than for mine. He looked as delicious as ever. A tall, nineteen-year-old almost-man – I could hardly call him a
kid
, but at the same time he sometimes displayed boyish qualities that reminded me of how young he still was. Lean muscle, spiky blond hair, and brown eyes I could drown in completed the picture. (Shut up. Sometimes a girl just can’t help herself.) The silver ring in his left eyebrow glinted. Jace was wearing his usual uniform of blue jeans, Chucks, and that stupid army jacket. The one that had caused all this trouble.

I pounced before he knew what hit him, grabbing the collar of his jacket. ‘Take this off.’

Jace tried to push me away. ‘If I’d known how you felt, I would have turned up in your bedroom way before now. Control yourself, woman!’

‘
Off!
’ I forced him to shrug out of the jacket, or have his arms ripped off along with the material.

Jace lifted his T-shirt, revealing his toned abs. ‘You want this too?’

Yes please  . . .
‘No!’ I yelped. ‘Keep it on. I just want the jacket.’

‘What the hell for?’ Thankfully, he kept his clothes on and sat beside me on the bed as I searched the material for a missing piece.

And there it was. Damn and double damn.

I closed my eyes, trying to will the torn section of the army jacket to grow back. Opening one eye, I peeked at it and my shoulders slumped. No such luck. ‘What happened to this?’ I waved it in his face.

Jace stood and put distance between us, looking at me like I was totally crazy. ‘What’s gotten into you? So, my jacket’s torn. So what?’

‘Do you realize that this incriminates you? Theo thinks you killed a very powerful vampire, and this places you right at the scene.’

My voice was trembling.
Please don’t let me be wrong about him
, I found myself praying. I didn’t want Theo to go after Jace. I didn’t want to lose another human being that I cared about. I swallowed, thinking of my mom. Thinking of how Caitlín had been in such danger last year, thanks to my links to the vampire community.

‘Jace,’ I said, searching for the truth on his face. ‘Just tell me that you didn’t do it.’

He ran a hand through his messy blond hair, blowing out a loud breath. ‘What happened to our truce? I thought we were friends now. Sort of.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘I thought that meant we trusted each other.’

I did trust him  . . . didn’t I? At least, I had until just recently. As much as a vampire
can
trust a supposedly reformed vampire hunter.

Trying to sort through how I felt about him being here was  . . . a challenge. For a start, he was in my apartment. My
bedroom
. He could have killed me and I may not have woken in time. Probably wouldn’t have done, because young vampires still need their sleep.

I shivered.

As though he could read my mind, Jace reached toward me. I just repressed my flinch in time as he tugged at one of my curls.

‘I wouldn’t hurt you,’ he said, his expression serious.

I swallowed and quirked a shaky smile. ‘That’s not what you used to say.’

‘Things change.’

‘Yeah,’ I said, tossing the jacket in his face. ‘Apparently they do.’

He caught it – barely – and scowled. ‘What is
with
you?’

‘Explain
that
.’ I pointed at the jagged tear in the material, clearly showing a small section of cloth was missing. ‘Tell me how Theo managed to find the missing piece of your jacket right where an Elder vampire was crossbow-staked. Right outside Subterranean.’

‘I can’t explain it.’

‘Because you don’t want to admit that you did it?’

‘No,’ he snapped. ‘Because I honestly don’t know how it got there. I didn’t even notice I’d ripped my jacket.’

‘Seriously, Jace, if you’re going to lie to me, why are you even here? You shouldn’t be anywhere near me right now.’

His face moved into an indecipherable Jace-expression. ‘Yeah, because they’re out looking for me. I’m public enemy number one, right?’

‘Right.’ I nodded emphatically. ‘Do you have a death wish or something?’

‘Or something,’ he said, his gaze sliding away from mine again. ‘I needed to talk to you.’

‘So, talk.’ I gestured around the room. ‘There’s no one else here right now. I suppose most vamps wouldn’t think to look for you here, anyway.’

‘Apart from your Maker,’ he said.

‘Yes. Apart from him.’ I sighed. ‘I promised him that I wouldn’t do anything to warn you, and there’s no way he’d expect me to lie about it.’

Jace nodded, almost absent-mindedly.

I scowled. ‘You owe me, Murdoch. I’m risking a lot for you.’ And I don’t even know why, I thought. I could almost bring myself to believe that.

Almost  . . . but not quite.

For the first time, I realized how exhausted he looked. Dark shadows hovered beneath his eyes and he hadn’t shaved in what looked like days. All the teasing and joking around couldn’t hide the fact that he was in bad shape.

His shoulders slumped. ‘Can I sit down?’

‘Sure.’ I cleared the chair for him before sitting on the end of my bed. ‘Do you want anything to drink? There’s coffee. I can put on a fresh pot.’

‘Thanks, but I can’t stay long. I’ve been followed for the past two nights, and tonight was the first time I actually managed to shake them.’

My stomach clenched. ‘How do you know you shook them off? They might be outside.’

I jumped up again and pulled the curtain aside so that I could scan the street below. Everything seemed normal, for the middle of a Tuesday night – as in, everything seemed
quiet
– but I didn’t trust that for a second. What about that drunken guy who was wandering across the street at the end of our little corner of North End? He might be a vampire, or possibly a human spy coerced by Theo to keep watch on me.

Because, even though my Maker had insisted otherwise, he hadn’t believed me when I said I had no love for Jason Murdoch.

I bit my lip and let the curtain drop. Turned back to Jace and folded my arms across my chest.

‘You shouldn’t have come here,’ I repeated. ‘Why didn’t you just call me like a normal person?’

He held my gaze, an extremely trusting thing to do considering what I was. ‘Because I wanted to look you in the eyes when we talked. I wanted you to believe me when I told you that I had nothing to do with that vampire lady’s death.’ He sighed, leaning back in the chair and clearly trying to relax. His left foot tapped a steady beat on the floor.

‘And—?’ I prompted.

He smiled, but the expression looked pained. ‘And I wanted to see your face too. See if you looked like you might give me up to your boss. To Theo.’

‘Why would I do that when I
warned
you about him?’

‘He has influence over you. That trumps everything, when it comes down to it.’

‘I wouldn’t betray you,’ I said quickly.

‘Really?’

‘Really,’ I repeated. ‘Like you said, things change.’