Revelations (2 page)

“We’ll get you what you need, Nora.” Hunter brushed her hair back from her face. “You just have to trust me.”

“I do trust you.” Nora lowered her head, repulsed by her cravings, but knowing the deprivation was keeping her weaker than she’d be otherwise.

“I know you do.” He slipped his hand around the small of her back and led her back to their camp. “For now, though, you need to get some rest. You’ll be better tomorrow morning after you sleep, and we’ll travel hard again.” Hunter still hadn’t felt the urge to sleep since taking Vassiz blood, but Nora slept heavily and deeply every night. And her dreams – her
real
dreams, not the ones in the dream realm – had been dark and foreboding. She woke up every morning knowing she’d had nightmares, but was utterly unable to remember them.

Hunter sat down at his spot by the tree, and Nora lay down beside him. She put her head on his lap, and closed her eyes.

The gentle strokes of his hand through her hair lulled her to sleep.

Chapter Two

~ To Feed ~

After waking the next morning, Nora and Hunter continued through the woods. They journeyed north and east, moving toward the Canadian border. It was in the evening, when the sun had started to fall, that Hunter stopped mid-pace and became very still.

“What is it?” Nora stopped and turned to him.

“Wait,” he whispered. “Can you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Nora strained her ears, again becoming all the more aware of her improved hearing. Aware of the breeze rustling the leaves, of the birds singing in the distance, of the faint, crunching footsteps of movement through the undergrowth.
Wait
. Footsteps?

Nora closed her eyes to focus completely on her sense of hearing. It was nothing she’d done before, but it just…came naturally. Somehow, using only the sound waves moving through the air, Nora was able to distinguish the source of the movement. She could tell how far away it was, down to the nearest few meters, and – more shockingly – could even estimate the size of whatever was making the noise. And…the shape.

“A man,” she breathed. “Close by.”

Hunter nodded and gripped her hand. “Try not to breathe through your nose.”

Nora wanted to listen, but she couldn’t resist. She took a breath in and sensed the faintest hint of something tangy, something sweet and unknown. Immediately her heart started beating faster, and her adrenaline kicked in.

“Don’t let go of my hand.” The tension in Hunter’s voice made her heart hammer against her ribs. “You can’t feed here. It would give us away.”

Nora gripped his hand tightly, but there was no mistaking the unmistakable scent of humans. Close by.

Her breathing became hard enough to cause an ache in her chest. “Focus on my grip,” Hunter reminded her urgently. Nora nodded and gritted her teeth as she stared at his hand entwined with hers. She focused entirely on feeling the strength of his grip, the size of his hand enveloping hers. But the feeding instinct pulsed deep within her.

She fought down a wave that threatened to overcome her, breathing harder, straining with the effort to suppress her natural instincts. It was too much. The desire to feed completely overwhelmed her. The
need
for blood. Another wave shook her body, and she very nearly succumbed to it. But she once again fought it down. Barely.

An intensity unlike any other gripped her, and she started to lose control, to surrender to the feeding instinct that now pulsed through her veins. Just as she was about to collapse under the pressure…the feel of Hunter’s hand gripping hers tightly penetrated the haze.

She looked down at their hands, fingers interlocked. Hunter was right there, right beside her. And
he
was containing himself.

She studied his face. It was the image of pure composure. Nora gritted her teeth and willed the instinct to subside, determined not to let the hunger take over. If Hunter could do it, so could she.

She forced herself to inhale deeply, careful to breathe through her mouth, and held the breath before releasing it very slowly. Consciously, she began to slow her breathing, keeping it shallow enough to dull her sense of smell.

Anxious seconds passed, and she teetered on the edge of losing control.

But then her heartbeat lessened, and her body relaxed. She focused on Hunter’s hand gripping hers. He was there beside her, and she could finally relax.

“Well done.” A sense of pride shone in his eyes. “The first containment is always the hardest. Especially once you’ve caught the scent. You’re learning control.”

Despite herself, Nora smiled. Hunter had over four hundred years of experience with this, while she was just starting out, and she had matched him completely.
Despite
not having fed once, yet.

“Wait.” Hunter tensed. “There are more.”

Nora strained her ears again, listening for the movement. He was right. Three more humans trampled through the brush. “Who are they?”

“A hunting party, I’d bet.”

“But what are they doing so far out in the woods?”

Hunter looked around and scowled. “We must be closer to civilization than I thought.” Then his tone changed to one of greater urgency. “They’re coming toward us. Quick!”

He took off, and Nora ran after him. He ran gracefully and silently through the vegetation, while Nora had a bit more trouble. Still, she didn’t think she made enough noise for the humans to notice.

“Here.” Hunter pointed to a massive growth of a tree. He thrust Nora into a cranny in the protruding roots, then crawled in after her.

“Why can’t we just run? It’s not like they could catch us.”

He was shaking his head before she’d even finished voicing the question. “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve been able to control yourself so far, which is good, but running will make your hunting instinct kick in.” He looked her dead in the eye. “That would be disastrous.”

Nora gulped. She hated being scared of herself, of what she might do, and she equally hated feeling helpless about it. She still remembered what it was like being human – in fact, even now, she still
felt
human – and couldn’t imagine taking someone’s life. But her morals and ethics would mean nothing if the feeding instinct took over.

“We can stay here until they leave,” Nora said, and Hunter nodded. He took her hand again and held it tightly while they waited.

Nora studied the scenery, watched birds fly overhead, examined the small cramped space they crouched in. Anything to distract her from reality. A bear walked across the small clearing in front of them. A large brown bear, strolling leisurely though the woods.

Headed right toward the hunters.

Oh, no.

However hypocritical it might be, however utterly stupid, all the leftover human sentiment in her heart went out to the bear as he walked right toward the hunters and to his death.

Another small blur of motion behind the bear caught her eye. She looked over – and saw a much smaller bear walking behind the larger one. Then Nora realized something; the larger bear was no
he
, rather, it was a
she –
a mother bear! And the cub looked very young. She watched as he continued along with his mother, unsure of his footing and stumbling all over the place.

“We have to do something,” she whispered to Hunter, motioning to the bears. “They’re going to get killed!”

He shook his head. “We can’t do anything for them, Nora.” The mother bear stopped and looked back, waiting for her cub. The little cub saw his mother ahead and started to gallop toward her. He fell, but got up quickly, and ran again toward her. When he reached his mother, she nuzzled the back of his neck a bit, before they continued on in the same direction.

“George!” The whisper came from her right. “Over here!” Nora’s breath caught. “This one’s mine, guys. Back off.” Everything was silent for a few moments, and then she heard more movement. The hunters were moving away, except for one.

“Hunter,” she whispered urgently, “let me hear their thoughts.”

Hunter looked at her, puzzled. “Why?”

“I need to,” she said. “Let me listen, please.”

Hunter shrugged and took her hands in his. Abruptly, her mind opened, and the thoughts of all five hunters rushed in. It wasn’t exactly a flood of thoughts, like had happened back at school, but more of a steady, though somewhat jumbled, stream. She focused on the thoughts of the voice she’d heard whispering earlier.

Come on, you stupid bear, come to papa. That’s right…stay right there. Steady, and…
A sudden crash broke the silence around her, ringing loudly in her ears. A moan immediately followed, a very human cry that could only be of pain. Of death. She started to get up, but Hunter held her back.

“No,” he said. She sank back. But he took her hands again, and let her into the mind of the hunter.

Ah, this one’s going to look great above the fireplace. Lisa’s going to love it. What a stupid thing, walking right toward us. This bear deserved to die, with that kind of instinct. Hah! Wait until the boys back there get a good look at this one. Jesus, it must be the biggest one we’ve got yet. Damn, but I’m good – wait.
The thoughts cut off as the hunter’s mind went silent. Nora thought she could feel him focusing.
What’s this? A cub! Ha, this bear was a bitch! Well, no use sparing the little one. The baby will make a great matching piece.

Nora couldn’t take anymore. The cruelty of the hunter was too much. She ripped away from Hunter and ran toward the bear and the hunter. They came to sight quickly, the mother bear lying in a pool of her own blood, moving her head weakly. The little cub kneeling beside his mother, nudging her with his nose.

And she saw the hunter. He was a big man, with a huge round stomach that stood out above all else. His face was round and pudgy, and he was sweating profusely. He was kneeling with one knee on the ground. She slowed, allowing herself to walk out in front of him.

A look of bewilderment crossed his face when he saw her. Bewilderment, quickly supplanted by confusion, and then irritation.

“Girl,” he growled, “what are you doing out in the woods?” He started to get up. “Who are you? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to walk alone around these parts?”

Nora continued toward him without answering. Or slowing.

“Where are you going?” He frowned and took a better grip on his rifle. “If you think you’re going to interfere…”

In a single burst of speed, she stood right beside him. Before he even had time to react, she picked him up by the shoulders and threw him to the side. He flew through the air and landed with a loud thud a dozen feet away.

Anger colored his face beet red. He moved his hand toward his rifle…and stared in shock when he found it missing. He had dropped it on his flight. Nora turned slowly toward him.

“Run,” she told him coldly.

The man looked to his rifle, lying six feet away from him, and back at her. She could see him sizing her up in his head. She moved quickly, again, and stepped on the rifle.

“I said,
run
,” she whispered. The feeding instinct started to come over her, and this time she did nothing to stop it.

The man’s gaze quickly turned to fear. It was like he caught something about her, something…unnatural. With a strangled yelp, he scrambled up. And he ran.

Nora watched him go and laughed.
Let him run, far away where his friends wouldn’t find him
. She started jogging after him. He ran with all he had, pushing through bush and low branches to get away. But he wasn’t in the best of shape. Nora slowed so she would match his pace. She wanted him to be far from where he started when she finally caught up.

He ran, looking over his shoulder, always finding her right there. He gave it all he had, but his breaths soon became ragged. Nora pitied him. He was a pathetic excuse of a man. She would have no problems taking his blood.

The man tripped, stumbled, but caught his feet at the last moment and kept going, trying desperately to get away. Nora kept pace, not increasing the distance between them but not closing it, either. He was breathing hard, and his ragged gasps rang loudly through the air. Nora didn’t slow her pace this time.

He glanced back, and his eyes went wide with horror as she closed in on him. His breath gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Nora approached him and rolled him to his back with her foot. He squeezed his eyes shut. Nora inhaled the unfamiliar but immensely tantalizing human scent. Her mouth watered with anticipation.

The man’s eyes popped open to find Nora standing right above him. Fear, mixed with bewilderment, crossed his face. “What…what are you going to do to me?” he said between gasps.

“What you did to that mother bear,” Nora whispered unkindly. She leaned in closer, slowly, teasingly.

The man desperately scrambled away. He pushed himself away from her, using his hands and feet to push against the ground. She let him go a short distance. He didn’t see where he was going, and his back hit a tree. He was trapped.