A Grave Hunger (3 page)

CHAPTER 5

What happened next seemed like a blur. A loud curse, from an unknown voice, made me aware that we were no longer alone.  My eyes snapped open, and through my concussed daze I saw a dark figure rush across the room towards us. The vampire looked torn. Should he defend himself against this new threat or feed? The blood lust too much to control, the vampire decided on the latter and launched towards me. Sharp pain tore through me as its twisted teeth pierced my neck. I let out a yelp as the pain heightened, and I felt an involuntary shudder rip through my body. I felt my body grow weaker and weaker as I lost even more blood. I'm not entirely sure what happened next. Everything seemed disjointed, a kaleidoscope of images flashing through my brain. I saw the mystery man pull the vampire off me and throw it to the ground, giving it a fast and powerful kick to the ribs. I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, strong, powerful arms were scooping me up, cradling me against his body as he carried me outside. Then once again everything went black...

I awoke to familiar surroundings. I was lying on Robert's sofa in his living room. I attempted to sit up, but a sharp, shooting pain flashed from my shoulder down my left arm. I tried to piece together recent events but drew a blank. My brain misfired, failing to connect the images that flashed through my skull in any sort of coherent pattern.

"Try not to move. You've lost a lot of blood, and it looks like you have a dislocated shoulder," a deep, husky voice explained.

He was sitting on the chair opposite, watching me with concerned eyes. He had an imposing build, with broad, muscular shoulders and arms. He exuded sexuality, and I wondered if this was intentional or if it came naturally to him. He looked as though he could have been a male model doing a photo shoot, apart from the fact that he was covered in blood and dirt. Then the memories came flooding back to me. It was my blood he was covered in. He had saved my life. Who was this mystery man? He must have seen me staring at his blood-soaked clothes because he continued.

"I managed to stop the bleeding, but I'll still need to pop that shoulder back in."

My right hand automatically reached up to touch the wound on my neck.

"Who are you?" I replied, stuttering.

"I'm Finlay, Robert's friend. I came down to hunt a vampire with him, but it looked like you beat me to it," he replied sarcastically.

Finlay. The name instantly registered. I promised Robert I would wait for him. Robert would be furious with me. Furious that I had been so reckless, furious that I had broken a promise, and above all furious that I had put myself in such blatant danger.

As I sat up,  a stabbing pain rolled down my left arm. He got up from his seat and sat on the sofa beside me.

"Thanks for everything," I replied, my voice trailing off. "You saved my life."

"Don't thank me," he replied gruffly. "What were you thinking, going hunting on your own? Have you got a death wish?"

That was the second time today I was asked that question. I pondered the answer.

"I--I know it was stupid, I don't know why I did it," I said stuttering, embarrassment colouring my cheeks.

There was something about the way he was staring at me with those piercing green eyes that turned me into a faltering, inarticulate mess.

His hypnotic eyes stared at me coldly for a second before softening.

"You must be in a lot of pain, let me pop that shoulder back in for you," he said in a soothing voice.

He helped me to my feet and gently pulled me towards him. A jolt of electricity sparked through me when he touched me.

"OK, after three," he said, wrapping his arms around me. "One, two..."

On the second count he pulled my arm sharply, popping my shoulder back into its socket with a loud crack.

"I thought you said on three?" I seethed, recovering from the sudden shock of pain.

"The thought of pain is often worse than pain itself. I was taking the trepidation out of it." A slow playful smile spread across his face.

"How very considerate," I said, laughing. His playfulness was infectious.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "How did you know where to find me today?" I asked.

"No one answered the door when I arrived at the house, so I phoned Robert. He told me that he had been called away on an emergency, but had left his young apprentice to entertain me until he got back." He smiled warmly, teasing me again. His piercing eyes seemed to penetrate me, and I felt my heart rate quicken. "When I told him there was nobody home, he explained your enthusiasm for the hunt." He continued paraphrasing Robert's words. I knew Robert would have added a few expletives in his conversation with Finlay. "So I broke into the house to find out where you had gone and found the laptop with the address. Then your knight in shining armour came to your rescue."

He paused, smiling arrogantly. "Robert isn't very happy with you by the way," he said. I knew this was an understatement. I hated to think what Robert would say when he saw me again. As if on cue, Finlay's phone suddenly started to shrill.

"Speak of the devil," he said, grabbing the phone from his pocket and checking the caller ID. "Robert, hey, was just about to call you." He paused while Robert spoke. "Yeah, I got her. She's ok. A bit roughed up, but she'll survive." I could hear Robert shouting and cursing over the other end of the phone. "I think she knows what she did was stupid."  Robert's voice continued to buzz on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I'll stay with her until you get back. No problem, see you tomorrow." He clicked off the phone and turned towards me.

"I don't need a babysitter, you know," I said, annoyed that I was being treated like a child.

"You have a concussion and have lost a lot of blood. I'm staying. Anyway, Robert would be crushed if anything happened to you. He sees you as the daughter he never had." His words struck a chord and a feeling of guilt swept through me. I had never considered how Robert would feel if I had died in tonight's fight.

Finlay's eyes suddenly became serious. "You nearly died today. You can't underestimate a vampire, and a novice certainly should never go on a hunt alone."

The patronising tone of his voice hit a nerve. "A novice? I've been training every day for eighteen months to be a slayer. If I wasn't ready now, tell me when would I be?" I replied, my voice as cold as ice. However, even as I was saying the words, I knew that he had a point. I knew that if it hadn’t been for him, I would be dead right now.

What he did next surprised me. I expected another patronising rant, or for him to snap back at me, but he did neither. A grin spread across his face and he roared with laughter. I watched him, dumbfounded for a few seconds, failing to get the joke.
 

"A slayer, ha. What will we call you? Buffy? God, what has Robert been teaching you? A slayer... hilarious," he said between laughs.

I couldn't work this guy out. He completely confused me.

"What would you call what we do then?" I asked, confusion colouring my voice.

"Well I don't know what you do," the patronising tone was back, "but I'm a hunter."

He saw the blank look on my face.

"You know, a hunter? Saving people, hunting things that go bump in the night?" he explained.

"Same thing," I replied, failing to see the difference. "You slay/hunt vampires. What's the difference?"

"I do a lot more than that," he explained. "Robert hasn't told you, has he? Typical. He's that obsessed with vampires. He just pretends nothing else exists."

I'm sure the confused look was back on my face again. "What do you mean pretend nothing else exists?"

"I hate to break it to you, but there is more to worry about out there than just vampires."

"What are you trying to say? That there are ghosts, ghouls, witches and werewolves out there?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Of course there are. You think that it's only vampires that are causing all the problems in this crappy world?"

"Ghosts and witches exist? I suppose aliens and UFOs are real too." I scoffed. What was this guy about?

"Don't be ridiculous. There is no such thing as aliens," he answered. Those piercing green eyes stared right at me with no signs of mocking.

"You're being serious?" I asked incredulously.

"Afraid so. I hate to shatter the soft and fuzzy view you have of the world, but there are a lot of evil sons of bitches out there."

I suddenly felt woozy, not sure if it was the injuries I had suffered, or the realisation of what he had said. I sank back down on the sofa before I embarrassed myself any further in front of Finlay by fainting. He had to be winding me up. Then again, if I could accept the fact that vampires walked among us, why not other creatures?

"I can't believe Robert didn't tell me about any of this," I said. "Why wouldn't he tell me?"

"Robert has always been pretty focused on vampires," he explained. "Did he tell you about his wife?"

"Yeah, she died in a vampire attack, years ago," I replied.

"Well he never really got over it. He is still obsessed with killing vampires into extinction. I don't think he can think about anything else until that happens. He knows these things exist, but just has another priority," he murmured.

His words struck a chord. It was as if he were describing my life. I chastised myself for putting my revenge mission above my own safety, above Finlay's safety. I was silent for a moment while I thought about what he had said.

"I'm going to make us something to eat. I'll have a rummage in Robert's fridge to see what he has," Finlay said over his shoulder, walking to the kitchen. Popping his head around the kitchen door, he added, "I'll have something ready in half an hour. It will give you some time to, erm, freshen up," he said, snickering.

Mortified by the realisation of how I must look, I darted to the bathroom. I gasped as I saw my reflection in the mirror. A pair of sunken blue eyes stared back at me. I looked pale and battered. To say that I looked worse for wear would be an understatement. I had a large gash on my forehead, just above my left eye where I hit my head against the wall. I ran my fingers tentatively over the wound, evaluating the damage. Crusted blood and a lump the size of a golf ball burned beneath my fingertips. My eye was puffy and a bluish-purple tinge had started to appear around the socket. My hair was tangled and caked in dried blood, and my white T-shirt was ripped and covered in blood and dirt. I looked at the large raw bite mark on my neck, and again thought about how close I had been to death today. Dismissing the dark thought from my head, I switched on the shower, undressed, and then stepped into the cubical. I winced as the warm water stung my wounds. Thoughts again swirled around my head. There were other creatures out there. The world had just become an even more dangerous place than I already thought it was.

CHAPTER 6

The shower had a calming effect on me. I felt refreshed, and the swirling thoughts in my head had calmed. I changed into the spare clothes I had left here from my training sessions, and I made my way down to the kitchen. Finlay had also freshened up, he had changed out of his blood soaked clothes, and had washed the dirt from his face. He looked good in the tight T-shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and muscular arms. I chastised myself for drooling over him. After the day I had, this should be the last thing on my mind.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Starved," I replied, sitting down at the dining table. I realised that it had been hours since I last ate.

"Well don't get too excited. It's not exactly a Michelin star meal. Robert's cupboards were pretty bare, well apart from the alcohol cupboard. That he keeps well stocked." He chuckled.

He sat an omelette in front of me and a glass of water. I devoured it immediately.

"Thanks, that was delicious."

He smiled cheekily at me. "You have the sexiest accent. Where are you from?"

I felt colour tinge my cheeks as I answered. "Scotland. I moved over here eighteen months ago."

"Scotland, huh. I've always wanted to go there. It's meant to be beautiful." He smiled again, his eyes smouldering. "What did you do in Scotland?"

"Yeah, it is really beautiful," I replied, suddenly feeling a pang of nostalgia. "I was a teacher. I lived in a small town outside Glasgow."

"You gave up a job like teaching to do this?" he asked incredulously.

"I had to..." I trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

He seemed to understand. The curiosity in his eyes turned to sympathy.

"How are you feeling? You were knocked about pretty good," he said, changing the subject. He was smiling, but his eyes were serious.

"I'm fine," I lied. In truth, my head was throbbing and my shoulder still ached, but I was alive, so I thought it selfish to complain about a few knocks and bruises.

He looked
sceptical
, obviously not believing a word I said.

"So how did you get into hunting?" I said, changing the subject again.

"You said hunting, not slaying. You're learning," he teased. His demeanour changed as he started to answer my question. "How did I get into hunting? I suppose you could describe it as the family business. My mother was killed by a demon when I was four, and my father, like most hunters, got into the profession to avenge her death." He looked at me with eyes full of emotion.

"That couldn't have been easy, growing up in that environment," I whispered, feeling for him.

"It was what it was," he replied, his voice almost inaudible. "My dad moved around a lot, living in motels, following the jobs where ever he was needed, so he dumped me for weeks at a time here, with Robert." His voice brightened at the mention of Robert's name. "Robert basically raised me, took me to my first football game and taught me how to ride a bike. When my dad was killed on the job when I was fifteen, he took me in permanently. He's a good guy." He smiled at me, but his eyes still looked troubled.              

He stood from his chair and collected two glasses from the cupboard and a bottle of whiskey.

"If we are going to have this depressing conversation, then we'll need some alcohol," he said, filling the two glasses.

"Your turn," he said, handing me a glass. "How did you get into this job?"

I took a large mouthful of whiskey before I started talking.              

"My family was killed eighteen months ago by a vampire, so I moved out here to find out what happened to them. That's when I met Robert. He sort of adopted me too, and taught me everything he knew about vampires and hunting them." I couldn't meet his eyes. I was afraid if I saw the pity, I would break down. I traced the pattern on the glass with my finger as I continued. "I suppose I am the quintessential hunter. I got into the job to avenge my family."

"You haven't had a chance to avenge them yet. Is that why you pulled that stunt today and rushed into that hunt half-cocked?" His eyes smouldered when I eventually looked at him.

"You don't think I should be a hunter do you? Are you against women hunters or something?" I replied defensively.

"I have nothing against women hunters. I've worked with a few over the years. What I do have something against are amateurs that put themselves and others in danger," he seethed.

"You're right, going in alone was stupid," I conceded. "But I don't think I'm an amateur. I know my stuff, and I'm a good fighter. I just made a mistake, that's all."

He stared at me intently for a few moments before speaking.

"You're sure that hunting is the life you want? Once you are in, very few people get back out again. That's you until you're dead. There's no relaxing retirement in your old age sitting in front of the T.V. In fact, most hunters are killed long before they reach old age. You sure that hunting is the life you want?" he said intently.

After a short pause, I spoke. "Yeah, I'm sure. I need to do this. I've thought about it constantly over the last year or so."

"All right then, if you're sure you want to do this, I will train with you, and if I think you are ready, we can go hunting together, but I have some rules," he explained.

"What are your rules?" I asked, intrigued, subconsciously leaning forward closer to him.

"If I think you aren't ready, you accept it. No running off by yourself for another hunt. Agreed?" he said, his eyes burning into mine.

"Agreed. But what about Robert? He isn't going to be happy about this." I desperately wanted this. Finlay was giving me another chance, but a part of me still felt guilty about letting Robert down.

"Don't you worry about Robert. I'll deal with him."

I wished I had Finlay's confidence, but I knew convincing Robert wouldn't be that easy.