The Hunted (47 page)

I cupped a hand over my mouth and wiped at the blood that was covering my face and lips.

How … when did this happen? How could I?

‘When we found you Elena, your face was covered in blood. Vânâtor blood,’ Susan continued. ‘I’m afraid that, somehow, some way, you have successfully ingested the alpha’s blood.’

I shook my head. ‘No, it can’t be. I didn’t bite him, I don’t have the teeth. It must have been something else. It tasted sweet like chocolate. It was delicious. It couldn’t have been blood. Blood smells salty and metallic.’

I was reaching and I knew it. In all likelihood, I
had
swallowed the Vânâtor’s blood.

Susan touched my cheek with her hand and shook her head from side to side. ‘I’m sorry, Elena, but the evidence is incontrovertible. It’s all over your face, lips, and inside your mouth. You drank blood tonight.’

I dropped down to my knees, my hands splaying on the pavement in front of me. ‘Jesus, what am I?’ I said, dazed, looking back up at everyone and knowing what pity looked like for the second time this week.

‘I assure you the lord Jesus Christ had nothing to do with it,’ Sarah muttered under her breath. ‘He has much better taste.’

Lucas bent down next to me and tugged at my ponytail. ‘You’re my freaky sister, that’s what you are. Blood drinker or not, Elena, I still love you, nothing will change that.’ He draped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me slowly back to my feet.

I looked up at him, my eyes brimming with tears. ‘But, Lucas … I enjoyed it.’

Sarah gagged and Vincent and Malcolm turned away to hide their disgust. I got the impression, as Susan and George looked back at me, that they had somehow expected tonight’s events would eventually unfold. Their reactions were mechanical, clinical, and observatory.

Lucas was the only one who smiled at me with any degree of warmth. ‘Of course you liked the blood, dickhead,’ he said, using his pet name for me. ‘You’re going to be a vampire, remember? It’s what you’re supposed to do. Don’t feel bad about what you are.’

I gave him a little shove and smiled weakly in spite of myself. Susan and George lingered briefly to check I was alright before they turned and started heading back towards the car.

‘Thanks,’ I said quietly to Lucas as we walked behind them. His arm was still draped casually around my shoulder. It was warm and comforting.

‘For what?’ he replied, stroking the side of my arm.

‘For trying to make me feel better.’

Lucas grimaced. ‘Hey, I never said it wasn’t gross, I just reminded you it’s in your nature.’

I punched him lightly in the stomach. He buckled over and gulped in a breath of air. ‘Geez, Elena, did you have to punch me so hard? I was only kidding you know.’

‘Don’t be a baby, I barely touched you.’

He sucked in another breath and then looked up at me in dismay, his golden hair dangling in front of his eyes like a halo. ‘Well then I’d hate to see what you could do if you were trying.’

I laughed and helped him up. ‘Come on, stop whining. We have an alpha to catch and that means no time for self-pity.’

He rubbed at his stomach and gave me a crooked smile. ‘It’s good to see that blood sucking hasn’t changed your
radiant
personality.’

I laughed with him, inconspicuously swallowing the last remnants of blood still inside the crevices of my mouth. I shuddered, remembering the sheer pleasure of its taste.

Something inside of me had changed. I still wondered exactly what that was.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

STRENGTH

T
he week had been tumultuous to say the least. Everyone, including Karina and Lisa had been avoiding me as much as possible and to say that the air was thick and fraught with tension at the IMI was the understatement of the century. My family were the only ones that treated me with any semblance of normalcy, though it was abundantly clear that Susan and George were more concerned by last Saturday’s events than they let on.

Malcolm and Vincent remained as civil as always, but both found it relatively difficult to look me in the eye. Even Vincent’s generally vivacious personality had seemed subdued after witnessing my blood drinking debacle. He’d teased me about it often enough, but obviously being confronted with the issue firsthand didn’t have the same hilarity as dangling a tetra pack of Synth blood in my face had in the past.

Peter, of course, was just as distant as always, so I was grateful that he was at least fairly consistent in his behaviour. He was the one instructor at the IMI that actually managed to remain fairly civil towards me, even if our training sessions were totally counter-productive. It was safe to say that, at present, I was learning about as much martial arts training as a five year old would watching a Bruce Lee movie. It was becoming increasingly apparent that he was avoiding any physical contact with me. But at least he was still talking to me. That was more than I could say for Karina and Kim.

Due to the buzz circulating relentlessly about my latest party trick, my job appeared to be in jeopardy too. Martha had made it clear that I was not required for work on the Saturday that had just passed and she’d made no indication about when my services would be required again either. I’d honestly thought she would be one of the last people to judge me, but it appeared that I was wrong. To every one of them now, in one way or another, I was even more of an outsider. I’d be lucky if I soon wasn’t banned from entering the IMI altogether. It was only by orders from headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, that I was still permitted entry and allowed to train.

Sarah had made good on her promise to report me. She’d made it perfectly clear that night that I was an aberration in her eyes. I’d always known that any amiability she had displayed towards me was gone the second I’d ingested blood. Detesting me came easier now than before. I had to give her points for consistency.

Her latest pastime, besides wearing mismatched fluorescents and sporting more chins than a Chinese phone book, was to constantly quote passages from the Bible at me and make the sign of the cross every time we accidentally crossed paths. This was followed by a kiss to the tiny gold crucifix that hung around her neck which sat somewhere, lost between the mountainous watermelons she dared to call breasts. The tableau wasn’t complete, however, until she‘d finished the entire production off with a good dousing of holy water straight in my face. The woman was a complete lunatic. She had even suggested to Susan that an exorcism be performed by the church to consecrate my soul and rid me of the evil demon within.

Thankfully, Susan concurred that the woman was totally crazy. Otherwise I would have been strapped to a gurney right now with a creepy old priest touching my head and chanting: ‘
The power of Christ compels you’
. I may not have been a saint, but I certainly wasn’t possessed.

Sarah, despite the rocks rolling around inside her head, had been right about one thing. I had changed. There was definitely something different about me, I just hadn’t pinpointed any notable physical difference yet. But I did feel stronger at least mentally, and more capable than I had been in a long time.

Despite my protests to everyone that I was feeling completely fine and totally normal, it was requested by headquarters that I was to undergo immediate testing. They wanted confirmation as to whether or not the Vânâtor bite and the blood that I had consumed had re-structured my DNA. George had taken a vial of my blood and posted it to Romania to have it tested the night of the incident. We still hadn’t received any results back yet as far as I knew and I figured that everyone would remain distant until there were some definitive answers about my supposed developing condition.

It was growing clear that no one felt safe around me at the moment, and everyone would have been more comfortable if I didn’t turn up at the IMI at all until the results were in. Susan and George, however, were adamant about life continuing on as normal, and as George was the leader of this faction, the others had no choice but to follow along. I was pleased to say that even Sarah’s complaints about my presence had fallen on deaf ears in Romania.

In the meantime, while everyone took their time deciding whether or not to associate with me, I was free to ponder just how deeply the effects of my blood drinking had run.

I had enjoyed it, for one, which was totally grossing me out in so many ways that I couldn’t even list them all. And, two, there was a light thrumming in my veins ever since the night in question. And finally, I’d also spent a good portion of my time contemplating what could have happened to William.

So, in between meditating on why I was suddenly drinking blood like it was creaming soda, obsessing over just exactly what headquarters had install for me, and debating about whether or not William was still alive, I hadn’t had time to consider whether or not I cared that everyone detested me right now.

The whole scenario, despite some minor setbacks such as the recent twenty-four hour a day parental guard duty, proved to work out brilliantly well for keeping both Sarah and Kim as far away from me as possible.

I saw Karina coming towards me in the passage. She gripped her spellbook tightly to her chest and tucked her head down to avoid eye contact. It was amazing how their fear made them all forget that they could pin me down in an instant with just one simple spell.

Lucas was right about one thing—I was going to have to watch my back, but not around vampires or werewolves. I’d have to protect myself from the very people I had spent my whole life surrounded by and had grown up with.

I thought about yelling ‘
Boo!
at her as I walked past, but decided against it when I saw an asthma puffer curled tightly in her left hand.

Damn shame.

She ignored me completely as she walked on by, even after I greeted her politely. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. She never really liked me all that much before I started chugging down the blood.

When I got to the junction, I shifted my backpack to my other shoulder and headed towards the first training room. Lucas was just finishing up with Malcolm for the day. I’d already had my ‘supposed’ training earlier in the morning, and since then I’d spent the rest of the afternoon trying to wrap my head around the English assessment that Susan was expecting from me by the end of the week. The IMI’s library was fantastic if you were researching the supernatural or anything remotely paranormal, but when it came to studying Shakespeare or Robert Frost the reference material was inadequate. Later on this week, when I could be bothered and the deadline drew nearer, was when Google and I were going to get better acquainted.

Lucas waved to me as I entered the training room. He was packing up the last of his floor mats while Malcolm, Vincent, and George huddled together in the corner discussing his progress.

Sarah, who had been sitting on the grandstand watching, decided to split the second she saw me. She stood, made a hasty exit towards the door and, as she passed, began to recite the Lord’s Prayer and flick at me with her vial of holy water.

Having already been doused three times today, I wiped the droplets from my eyes and then sucked on my fingers. ‘Thanks Sarah, I was kind of thirsty.’