In the Dark (8 page)

Car.

An engine roared
to life behind him, the way he’d just turned his back to. He
whirled in time to see the vehicle scream away, leaving a patch of
rubber in the street.

Damn!

Sebastian gave
chase, pushing himself, leaning forward so hard he would fall over if
he didn’t run. For a moment he kept up, sure his speed would
win him the chase.

The car squealed
around a corner, gunned the engine, and left him behind. Even his
unnatural speed couldn’t catch it. He stopped running, instead
straining his ears to pick its direction. It headed toward Seattle
proper. Not enough information for him to continue chasing. Sebastian
strained, listening, listening . . .

Thunder crashed,
ringing in his overly-sensitive ears until his head hummed. One
moment passed. Another. His ears continued ringing, no other sound
penetrating the racket. The car was well out of sight, too far for
him to catch on foot.

Damn.

His head buzzed.
He doubted his ears would clear before the end of the night. Jaw
tight, he turned and jogged back to where he’d left Ian.

One small
victory: he’d seen the woman’s face. Not the one Ian had
pointed out. Very different. Too different for a simple mix-up. So
Ian had not one, but two hunters on her tail. Perhaps more?

The thought
didn’t merit serious consideration. Against Ian? A waste of
resources. Even Kent shouldn’t have required more than one. No.
Sebastian did not think they would find more than those two.

Unless a pack
had taken interest in Kent and his progeny, such as Sebastian himself
had once belonged to. A group of vampires hunting together. If so,
this pack must have been small, else Sebastian would have heard of
it. He would, however, keep the idea in mind.

Keeping all his
available senses alert, he made his way cautiously back to Ian. The
house and the evergreen he had left her beside came into view, but
not the girl herself. He crept closer, searching. She may have been
taken while he chased the dark-haired woman. There were, after all,
two.

A shadow moved –
Ian. She hunkered under the tree, hugging herself and shivering. She
jumped as he came closer, flattened against the wall and held still.
She could hide, at least. Good.

“We’re
going back to the Half-Moon,” he said. “She escaped.
There’s something I have to check.” He could not hear his
own voice over the buzz of his head.

With a nod, Ian
pulled herself up and let him lead her through the rain.

W
hen
we reached Sebastian’s car, I dropped into the seat and shook.
Someone was in my house. A strange woman who could only have broken
in for one reason. I didn’t have one enemy, I had two.

Or more.

Sebastian got
in, started the car and pulled away from the curb. I stared out the
window, numb and trembling. Eventually I found the sense to wonder if
I was okay.

If you can
wonder it, you probably are.

I tested my arms
and hands, flexing them, reaching up to rub my face. I moved a little
slower than usual, still shaking, but everything acted how I
expected. That seemed like a good sign. I looked out the window,
watching the buildings go by, letting myself calm down. After a few
minutes, I stopped breathing and didn’t feel like screaming.

“Why are
we going back?”

Sebastian didn’t
answer. I frowned at him, then threw my hands up. Now he’d
stopped speaking to me.

“What?”
He glanced at me. I’d expected those blue eyes of his to look
hard and angry; instead they seemed dancing and confused.

Everything on my
mind evaporated in concern. Something was wrong with him. Had he been
attacked? Had she hurt him?

“Are you
all right?”

He paused as if
he had to think about it, then nodded and went back to watching the
road. He didn’t seem all right. I waited quietly for him to
tell me the truth. He stayed silent.

“Why are
we going back to the club?” I tried instead.

No response. I
waved a hand at him, hello, anyone home? He turned to me. “Why
are we going back to the club?” I repeated.

He looked back
at the road. “I have something I need to check.”

“What?”
I asked. He stayed quiet. I wanted to stay worried about him, but
frustration jumped up and grabbed me by the throat. I’d really
had enough shit happen to me for one night.

“Dammit,
pay attention to me!”

He looked over
at me, confused and getting angry.

Something
snapped into place in my head.

I frowned at him
and didn’t say anything. He watched me, waiting for me to
repeat myself, then looked back out the windshield when I didn’t.

“Can you
hear me?” I asked. No answer. I waved a hand at him to get his
attention. “Can you hear me?”

His eyes
darkened. “Not for the moment,” he said. Reading my lips.

Not for the
moment. So that meant he hadn’t been deaf all this time.

“What
happened?”

His eyes got
darker. “She got into a car. I tried to listen to which way it
went, and the thunder deafened me.”

“Thunder?”
I’d been out in the weather the same as him and I could still
hear fine. But he’d turned back to driving. I decided to save
the questions for when he could hear again. Or at least when he
didn’t need to watch the road.

We reached the
Half-Moon. Sebastian parked his sporty little thing in the same lot
as my car and got out. I couldn’t help glancing at my own car –
still locked, waiting for me or a tow truck to come and get it.

He walked around
the back, quick. I had to stretch my legs to keep up. He rounded the
corner a few steps ahead of me. I paused and opened my mouth to ask
what the hell he was after – but I knew he wouldn’t hear.
He wouldn’t find anything back here but garbage and puddles.
And I was getting rained on. Mouth shut, hair dripping into my eyes,
I sighed and followed.

As I rounded the
corner, I saw him kneel next to something that looked like garbage.
Coming closer, what looked like garbage at first resolved into a
person. Someone huddled against the back wall. I paused while rain
trickled down my face. Then hurried to catch up.

“Ian,”
Sebastian called. The person jerked away from him, pushing closer to
the wall. Crying.

The person
became a woman, dressed in club clothes, not rain clothes. She looked
up at me hesitantly, one hand pushing wet, honey blond hair away from
her makeup-smeared face.

It was her. The
one who took Kent. I froze.

“Come
here,” Sebastian said.

I shifted my
weight from foot to foot.

“Come
here,” Sebastian repeated, his voice flat.

I forced my
trembling legs a step closer, making sure to stay out of her reach.
Her mascara must have started running a while ago, the rain had
matted her hair to her head and she shivered in her little sequined
top.

My eyes popped
wide open. Watery tears. Shivers from cold, not emotion. She was
mortal.

“Is this
the woman you saw with Kent last night?” Sebastian turned to me
so he could read my lips.

Her terrified
silver eyes flicked from one of us to the other. Not a gesture I
would have expected from the cool, mean way she looked at me last
night.

“Y-e-e-e-s?”
I said. “I mean, I think so. It looks like her.”

“This girl
is human,” Sebastian said. Like I couldn’t tell.

“Yeah.”
I shifted my weight. “I don’t think . . . I don’t
know, but I don’t think the one last night was. She looked
different last night – more like you. I mean, she moved like
you, had the same kind of eyes . . . you know?” I bit my lip
while Sebastian waited for me to finish. “Could a mortal . . .
could a mortal even hurt . . .” I paused, not really wanting to
say it.

“It is
possible.”

We stared down
at her, silent. She whimpered.

“Twins?”
I asked out loud, dubious.

Sebastian’s
eyes glittered as he took in the idea. “One a vampire, one not?
Or both human, perhaps, one some sort of vampire hunter.”

I nodded as if
this all made sense.

“Don’t
hurt me,” the woman pleaded. “Don’t hurt me
anymore.”

I frowned.

“What did
you do to her?” I asked. Then, “Why did you leave her out
in the rain?”

“I fed
from her,” Sebastian told me. “And I told her to wait
here. The rain started while I followed you home.”

“You left
her here that long?”

“I told
you to wait for me in the club. If you had, she would only have been
here a moment.”

I ignored the
jab. “Feeding isn’t supposed to hurt. What did you do to
her?”

“She’s
frightened. Wouldn’t you be?”

“Why are
you scaring her?”

His eyes turned
impatient. “Enough, Ian. She will live.” He focused back
on her. “You have a twin?”

She shook her
head, wet hair trailing into her eyes.

“You have
a sister?” he asked.

She shook her
head again.

“Do you
know anything of Kent, or Ian?”

She shook her
head miserably.

Sebastian hissed
to himself. “Do you know anything of vampires or other
supernatural creatures?”

“M-my
roommate has a Ouija board,” she offered in a tiny voice.

I threw my hands
up. Worthless. I got the wrong one, I had to have. Different posture,
different expression, different attitude . . . she looked less and
less like the woman I’d seen by the second.

“Ouija
board?” Sebastian asked. He didn’t know what she meant.

“It’s
a game,” I said. “A stupid game where you’re
supposed to talk to spirits. It doesn’t work.”

He nodded
slightly. I got the feeling he’d just cataloged that.

“I can see
no reason to further detain her,” he said to me. “She has
no information. She is apparently not the one we seek.” He
cocked his head at me, waiting for me to agree or not.

I glanced down
at the woman against the wall. She looked at me like she was waiting
to be beaten. I looked away.

“I’m
sorry Sebastian,” I said. “It might have been the
lighting . . . or something. I really thought this was her.”

“Are you
satisfied of your mistake? Do you no longer believe this woman to be
the one we want?”

I snuck one more
look at her. She kept shivering. “I – I don’t think
she’s the right one.”

Sebastian nodded
once, then turned to the girl. “Leave.”

She scrambled up
and ran down the alley as fast as her high heels would take her. I
watched her, wishing I could apologize for the mistake. As if it
would mean a whole lot – “sorry my friend here dragged
you off and drank your blood. We thought you were someone else.”

As her back
vanished around a corner, I shifted my weight again. “Won’t
she remember some guy biting her?”

Sebastian
shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“But what
about hiding? Staying secret?”

“Who will
believe her? And if they do, who will think to look for monsters?”

I kept watching
after her, even though I couldn’t see her anymore. “You
didn’t have to hurt her. Or scare her.”

His eyes
flashed. “She is still alive. That is enough.”

I knew what he
meant. I wanted to forget what he’d said about killing anyone,
though.

“She won’t
lead anyone to us. No one ever has.” Sebastian turned to go.

“What do
you mean, no one ever has?” I said to his back. “You do
this to a lot of people or something?”

I expected him
to whirl back and yell at me, tensed for it, ready to yell myself. He
didn’t turn. Of course, he couldn’t hear me. I stalked
after him out to the car. He had his hand on the door by the time I
reached him. He turned calmly, eyes curious.

“No one
ever has? You’ve done that before?” I gestured toward the
alley.

He blinked.
“I’ve done worse, Ian. Much worse. You didn’t
bother to question that when I told you.”

“Yeah,
well, I’m questioning
that,”
I snapped, pointing.
“You don’t just go around scaring the daylights out of
people or forcing them to sit in the rain or making them feed you!”

“Why not?”

My mouth
flapped. I sputtered a few incoherent starts at a sentence, then
stopped. He waited patiently for me to answer. I didn’t have
one. Or rather, I didn’t have words for what was obvious to me.

“You just
don’t!” I finally came up with.

He smiled, a
nasty, skin-deep fake smile. It seemed angry. “
You
just
don’t. I will do as I please.”

“Does
being a monster please you?” I snapped out before I could edit.

It hit him. I
could see it. His eyes turned light, sky blue, then dark and
dangerous, suddenly, like he’d been rocked back on his heels.
He stared me down, eyes boring into mine, wordless.

I stared back,
wondering what he would do to me. Because I knew. Something was
terribly, terribly wrong with him. Inside. And he knew it – he
was in pain. I suddenly felt sorry for him. And here I stood, pushing
his buttons. I might as well have asked him to lop my stupid head off
for me.

But he won’t.

He stared at me,
eyes hard. “Get in the car.”

I started
shaking again, scared – afraid of him, afraid of what he must
feel to make him glare at me like that.

He didn’t
move. Staring me into submission. I swallowed once, then turned and
went to the passenger side and got in. He followed suit, not looking
at me now that he had me cowed. Dead silent, he pulled into traffic
and headed for his apartment. He wasn’t going to hurt me, just
stare me into obedience. I felt kind of bad for snapping, so I
supposed a little submission on my part was a fair trade.

Halfway there, I
reached out and touched his arm. When he glanced my way, I met his
eyes. “I’m sorry.”