Immortal After All (Vampire Hunter Book 3) (6 page)

I kept looking at my phone, expecting to hear from Lucas, but all I had was a missed call and some text messages from Henry. I hadn’t read them yet, or called him back. I felt bad ignoring Henry, but as the hours ticked by, I was becoming increasingly worried that something was wrong with Lucas.

And besides, I knew Henry would want to know what happened with Lucas sleeping at my house. I didn’t want a barrage of questions that I couldn’t answer.

When Lucas finally called me, I almost dropped the phone in my rush to answer it.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“I’m almost at your house,” Lucas replied. “Meet me outside and I’ll explain.”

I grabbed my purse and snuck a look in the mirror. I’d asked my mom to French braid my hair for me, and I was wearing a black tank top and cut off shorts. I’d told Mom that Lucas and I were planning to hang out today.

“Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?” she’d asked, smiling.

“Mother!” I had wailed, deciding not to answer her question.

“But what about Henry?” she’d asked. “I saw the way you two looked dancing together last night.”

Lucky for me, Mom had finishing braiding my hair by then and I was able to make my escape. Much as I loved my mother and valued her advice, she couldn’t help with this situation. No one could.

I stepped outside just as Lucas was pulling into the driveway. It was nice to have the luxury of doing things out in the open – before we’d always had to switch up the meeting place, so as not to make any nosy neighbors suspicious.

“Hey,” I said coolly, sliding into the passenger seat.

“Hey yourself,” Lucas replied, shooting me a smile. “I like your hair,” he added.

“Thanks.” I turned my head to stare out the window so that he wouldn’t see my ear-to-ear grin. 

“Why are you so late?” I questioned.

“There was a bit of an incident,” Lucas said grimly.

“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”

“When I got back to my house, it had been broken into,” Lucas continued. “Ransacked, totally trashed.”

“Oh no!” I wailed. “Did they take anything?”

“The blood.” Lucas glanced at me briefly, then turned his eyes back to the road.

“That’s all?” I was confused. Sure, Lucas’ house was pretty bare bones but he still had some valuables: TV, DVD player, computer.

“It was the twins,” Lucas said in a low voice. “Thomas and Bartholomew. They came for me, and when I wasn’t there, they destroyed the only thing in the house that mattered.”

“How much did they take?” I moaned.

“They opened all of the containers, poured everything onto the floor, on my bed, on the rest of the furniture.” Lucas laughed bitterly. “It was over a month’s supply they ruined. They also left a message on the bathroom mirror.
You’re next
was written in blood. Synthetic blood, that is,” he quickly corrected himself.

“Oh, Lucas,” I said in a distraught voice, “I’m so sorry.”

Lucas turned to me. “No,” he said seriously. “Don’t be sorry. If I had stayed at my house like I originally planned…well, who knows what would have happened. I might not be here.”

Impulsively, I reached out and squeezed Lucas’ hand. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I told him. “I know it sucks, but nothing else
really
matters.”

“I agree,” Lucas said solemnly. He squeezed my hand back, then turned his attention to the road. “I just didn’t think they could find me so quickly,” he added. “I really underestimated them.”

“I know you don’t like to talk about it,” I said, “but what are you going to do? Don’t you need blood? To survive,” I added, gulping.

“That’s what took me so long.” Lucas looked tense. “I had to call my, um, dealer, for lack of a better word.”

“Where’s the blood now?” I asked.

“I put it in storage. I spent all morning cleaning up the mess, then getting the blood and buying one of those fucking storage units,” Lucas swore.

“I’m glad you got more,” I whispered. I wanted to ask him what would happen if he didn’t take the synthetic stuff, but I didn’t dare. I had a feeling I wouldn’t want to know the answer. If all of the synthetic blood was gone, did that mean Lucas would have to start hunting
humans
again?

“What if they follow you?” I asked worriedly, pushing the thought of Lucas killing people out of my mind.

Lucas shrugged helplessly. “I’m not going on the run again. I just need to be better prepared.”

“How?”

“Sleep with one eye open and two stakes under my pillow.”

I couldn’t tell if Lucas was joking or not. I shuddered. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”

Lucas pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. He turned to me. “Please don’t worry about me, Rory,” he said seriously.

“How can I not worry!” I was exasperated.

“I’m going to find a way to stop them, once and for all, if it’s the last thing I do,” Lucas said grimly. “Just watch out for yourself. Don’t take any risks.”

“Risks? I don’t follow you.”

“Like walking outside alone at night,” Lucas said pointedly, referring to when he found me wondering around aimlessly after my colossal fight with Henry.

“I won’t,” I promised.
If I can help it.
I should have told Lucas about my blackout, but I couldn’t. Even if it meant I was putting myself in danger. I would get a hold of this, on my own.

Lucas pulled the hood of his black coat over his head. “I hate having to do things in the sunlight,” he muttered, getting out of the car.

The first place he had stopped was a large apartment complex a couple of miles from my house. From the outside, it looked like your typical high-rise apartments: stacked units spanning twenty or so floors.

We headed into the leasing office. “May I help you.”

I stifled a groan. Sitting behind the desk was that twit Bunny, the one from Henry’s party. She was filing her nails and hadn’t even bothered to look at us.

“I’d like to tour an apartment, please,” Lucas said politely.

Upon hearing a male voice, Bunny immediately sat up, dropped her fingernail file, and leaned forward.

“I’m Bunny?” she batted her eyelashes at Lucas, totally ignoring me.

Apparently, today Bunny was channeling her inner cowgirl. She had on a plaid button down shirt with the ends tied together so that her midriff was exposed. It was so low cut, she might as well have not bothered to button it at all.

She stood up and walked around the desk to stand by Lucas. I’d thought
my
denim shorts were short but her cut offs practically exposed her butt cheeks!
How can they let her come to work looking like that?

As a finishing touch to her ridiculous ensemble, Bunny was wearing her long blond hair in two annoying pigtails. Her outfit was so over the top, I couldn’t help but think that it almost looked like a
slutty cowgirl
Halloween costume.

“I’m Lucas,” he was introducing himself to Bunny now.

“I’m Aurora,” I cut in. “Remember? We met last night.”

Bunny stared at me, looking confused. Finally, she snapped her fingers. “That’s right? How are you darling,” she said in a sugary sweet voice.

I looked at Lucas. Surely he wasn’t buying this garbage. But then again, I would have thought Henry was smarter than that, and he’d obviously been enamored!

But to my relief, Lucas looked like he was trying desperately not to laugh. Surely he’d had centuries of women throwing themselves at him and had stopped being fooled by this kind of behavior ages ago.

Bunny had pulled out a sheet of paper with pricing information and floor layouts. She was standing next to Lucas, her arm touching his, going over each option as though he wasn’t capable of reading by himself.

I could feel my anger rising again. Bunny really knew how to push my buttons.

What nerve! How can she throw herself at him like that? Shouldn’t she assume we’re a couple? After all, we are out apartment hunting together!

“Can I see?” I interjected, not even caring if I sounded rude. “I plan on helping
my boyfriend
with the decision.”

For the first time, Bunny actually focused her attention on me. “Boyfriend,” she questioned. “I thought you were there last night with Henry.” Bunny looked at me triumphantly.

So she’s not as dumb as she acts – or looks.
I tried to think of a good comeback. I had said Henry was my date! How could I have forgotten that?

I looked at Lucas, hoping he would help me out. He seemed to get my silent message.

“Aurora is my girlfriend,” he confirmed. “It’s a new development. We haven’t really announced it to anyone yet.”

“Oh?” Bunny looked disappointed.

Ha! Serves you right, you stupid cow.

“Well, you can’t rent an apartment together?” she said. “You have to be eighteen to sign a lease?” She looked at me triumphantly.

“I’m old enough,” Lucas said quickly. “My girlfriend is just helping me make the decision.”

Annoyance registered on Bunny’s face but she didn’t comment further. Still with the same flirty demeanor towards Lucas (I had a feeling hearing some guy already had a girlfriend didn’t do much to deter Bunny) we walked around and looked at the different apartment options.

Lucas decided to rent a one-bedroom apartment. It was small; it looked more like the suite we stayed at when my family went to Florida for a week than an apartment! But as Lucas pointed out, he didn’t need or want much space.

And he can’t risk the twins showing up, hiding here and ambushing him.
You would pretty much know immediately if someone was in the apartment, which was a good thing.

I wasn’t too keen on him being so close to Bunny, but once school started back who knew if she’d even keep working here. And besides, it wasn’t like she was going to cast a spell and suddenly make Lucas attracted to her.

Lucas finished filling out the paperwork and we left. After the credit and background check cleared, he’d be free to move in.

“You can stay with us until then,” I told him as we got back into the car.

“No, we know for sure that the twins are here, looking for me. It will be safer for everyone if I rent a hotel room.”

“But you said they won’t come after you if you’re around people. It’s why you’re renting this place!” I argued.

“Aurora, it’s not responsible of me to put your entire family in that kind of danger! I don’t care if it’s
probably
safe. This is what I’m talking about; we can’t take any risks!”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly, knowing Lucas was right. But I was still going to suggest we figure out how to
get to the twins before they tried to attack Lucas again. I just had to think of a foolproof plan first.

Lucas had dropped me off back at home. I invited him to come inside but he declined, saying he had to find a hotel and also wanted to get in touch with Nicholas. I wished he’d invited me to go with him, but the truth was I’d been ignoring my phone almost the entire day and I needed to touch base with Henry.

“You should invite your friend to dinner,” my mom said when I got home.

I stifled a laugh. “He decided to drive back home,” I told her. “He said to tell you thanks for your hospitality.”

“So where did you two go today?” my mom asked me.

“Uh, just the mall,” I fibbed.

“Well, you might want to call Henry; he texted me earlier and asked if everything was okay. He’s been trying to get in touch with you all day,” my mom said lightly.

“You didn’t tell him I was out with Lucas, did you?” I asked shrilly.

“Calm down.” My mom laughed. “I was your age once, too, you know. I’m not stupid.”

“What did you say then?”

“Just that I’d try to get a message to you to call him. I guess you didn’t read my text, either, huh?”

I laughed guiltily. “I must have accidentally turned the ringer off.” Truth was, I had
purposely
put my phone in silent mode.

“I’ve got to go call Henry back,” I said, heading for the stairs. “I hope I didn’t cause you guys too much worry.”

“After what Lucas has done to help you, I didn’t expect you’d get into any trouble,” my mom said.

Only because you’ve got no idea what’s really going on with Bartholomew and Thomas and Henry’s father.
I just smiled, glad that someone wasn’t worried 24/7.

“But please check your phone when you’re out,” she continued. “I’ve always trusted you, and I know you’re technically supposed to be seventeen now, but I still want to know where you are, and that you’re okay.” Mom
paused. “And, please, Rory, be careful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she said, “that both Henry and Lucas seem like nice boys and I’d hate for either of them to get hurt.”

“They won’t!” I said a little more harshly than I meant to. I turned and kept walking up the stairs. Secretly, I wasn’t so sure.