Hunting the Dark (3 page)

I stood uncomfortably, waiting for a break in the conversation so that I could find out what was going on and why we were meeting in Subterranean rather than at Theo’s. Not to mention who were the two strange vamps I’d never seen before  . . . I didn’t like surprises.

OK, that’s not strictly true. I like surprises if they’re nice ones. Sadly, most vampire-related surprises involve murder and mayhem.

I sighed dramatically, and was just about to start demanding some answers when a warm hand touched my shoulder. Theo brushed his lips across my cheek.

‘Would you like to dance?’

I shivered with pleasure, but still eyed him suspiciously. As usual, I hadn’t even seen him move – I’d only glanced away for a second. He was sneaky. ‘Did you invite me here just to dance? What’s going on?’

Theo flashed me his best pirate smile. ‘First, dancing. Then business.’

I gazed at him, taking in his potent brand of masculine beauty. His apparent age was mid-twenties, but he had the weight of too many decades hidden in his eyes. If you looked carefully, you could see it like a shadow. He wasn’t especially tall – about five nine to my five two – but what he lacked in height he made up for with sheer presence. If you didn’t know he was a centuries-old vampire (and most people didn’t), you’d know that something was up with him. Either he was a soldier or a martial arts expert. Or maybe a serial killer. A
hot
serial killer. He was handsome as hell, with piercing silver-gray eyes that looked right into your soul.

I know, I know: that’s a total cliché. But it doesn’t make it any less true.

‘What’s Nicole doing here?’ I persisted, refusing to be steered onto the dance floor and trying not to drown in his hotness. I mentally fanned myself. ‘Who are those two vamps with her?’

‘I said
now
, Marie.’

Maybe this was more than just dancing. Maybe he wanted to talk to me where the others couldn’t hear us. I was smart enough to figure that out. It just took me a while, that was all. The music pumping through Subterranean’s sound system would probably do enough to dissuade even vampire ears.

Something about being this close to my Maker, with the smell of moonlight in his dark hair and fresh blood on his breath, made me sigh with a mixture of desire and distaste. I didn’t want to care about him anymore, but feelings like that didn’t simply disappear overnight – no matter what I’d told Caitlín earlier.

He held out his hand and I took it, wrapping my fingers around his and reveling in the warmth that confirmed his recent feed.

Theo led me into the swaying crowd and a path opened up before us, causing me to wonder if the Master vampire of Boston had a Moses-like effect on regular humans. We glided onto the center of the floor. Well, Theo glided. I shuffled. I wasn’t exactly wearing my dancing shoes tonight.

My Maker watched me with his intense, hawk-like stare, making me feel like prey. I sighed as he drew me into his arms and rested one hand on my lower back, right where my peasant top had ridden up to expose bare flesh. I shivered, and he took my left hand in his right so that he could guide me smoothly around the floor. This wasn’t what I had in mind when he’d asked me to dance, but he was in a weird mood and I knew not to bug him when he was super-morose and thinking of the past. I was only in his life due to a twist of fate – and a supreme loss of self-control on his part – that I still didn’t fully understand. I’d learned not to expect anything from Theo, even though I secretly hoped for more than I was willing to admit.

I rested my head on his shoulder and decided not to worry about it. Not when his presence was so comforting and I felt like nothing and nobody could ever hurt me; that simply wasn’t possible. Theo had already done that enough.

The music changed again, becoming more sultry and sensuous, and he moved both my hands to his back, making me hold him so that he could do the same to me. We couldn’t get any closer if he’d tried, and I felt painted onto him like a second skin. Theo was a lean, mean, fighting machine. He might not be the tallest guy in the room, but he had the most presence. He looked like he could kick the butts of guys twice his weight, and I didn’t doubt that he’d do it – even without the fangs. He was tough by nature, a true survivor, having grown up in relative poverty in nineteenth-century Ireland.

Theo lowered his head again, speaking directly into my ear. His black curls tickled my cheek, but I didn’t move away.

‘Nicole has received information that we are to expect an attack on our Family. Possibly as a result of Thomas Murdoch’s involvement with Kyle.’

Thomas Murdoch
. Jace’s father. My stomach clenched at the mention of the Murdochs, and I tried my best to hide any reaction from Theo. Thomas Murdoch had been an experienced hunter, specializing in killing Master vampires. Last year, I discovered that he’d partnered with Theo’s Enforcer – effectively, his right-hand man in the Boston Family – to bring down Theo and open the door for new leadership. Perhaps even pave the way for our kind to try integrating into human society.

Kyle had turned out to be a traitor. Not only did he turn on his Family, but he did it by working with a man who had ended the eternal lives of way too many vampires. There had been no forgiveness. Not for either of them.

My Maker ran his hands up and down my back, crushing me against him. ‘I wanted you to be made aware of the situation,’ he said, his tone a silken threat. ‘In case the Murdoch boy is involved.’

‘Jace?’ I couldn’t help the way my voice went all high-pitched. I coughed, cursing Theo for knowing me inside and out. ‘You think Jason Murdoch is coming after the Boston Family? That would be crazy. Even for him.’

‘Indeed?’ Theo spun me in a circle, making me dizzy, then pulled me back against him so that I smashed into his rock-hard abs. I imagined myself breaking open, like a wave.

I tried to put a bit of distance between us, but Theo was having none of it. Oh well. I let myself relax against him, deciding to go with the flow. Why not? It’s not like it didn’t feel good.

Theo said, ‘What makes you think that he would not be  . . . crazy enough?’

‘Jace Murdoch may be his father’s son, but he’s
not
his father. If you see what I mean.’

‘I hope, my little Moth, that you’re not letting your  . . .
attachment
to the human get in the way of your judgment.’ This was said at a dangerously low pitch, and Theo’s eyes flashed silver, just for a moment letting me know how he really felt about my ‘attachment’ to the hunter’s son.

I nibbled my lower lip, trying to keep my temper under control. ‘Jace and I worked together for a week. That’s it. It’s hardly the basis for the friendship of the century.’ I almost believed it when I said it, so maybe Theo would too.

Yeah, I could hope.

Theo buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. He very rarely breathed these days; he was testing me in some way.

‘I can smell the lie on you,’ he said. He bent down so he could press his forehead against mine, staring directly into my eyes as we stood still on the dance floor for a moment.

Other dancers flowed past us, but I only had eyes for my Maker. ‘I hardly know Jace,’ I whispered. That much was true. Just because he was cute and had helped me out didn’t matter. Just because he’d sent me a stupid gift from his travels, after his dad died at Kyle’s hands, it didn’t mean anything at all. And the fact that he’d included a note that said, ‘I owe you one,’ meant even less. Right?

Just because he kissed me that one time.
I immediately pushed away the treacherous memory of his hard lips on mine.

Theo began to move us around the floor once more. I was grateful for the reprieve. Then I sighed as I caught Holly’s eye, from where she was watching us on the sidelines with a blatantly jealous expression that ruined her normally super-cool exterior. She certainly didn’t have any romantic illusions about Theo. There’s no way that would be the reason for her bad mood – and she had a girlfriend at the moment anyway – but Theo was important to all of us because of his role as the Master of Boston’s Family.

He was like the sun to us, and we were the planets slowly revolving around him, jostling for the best position in his orbit. Theo wasn’t Holly’s Maker. I still don’t know who Turned her, and I didn’t really expect her to tell me anytime soon. Apart from the fact that a vampire’s Maker was privileged information – a potential weakness to be protected at all costs – Holly kept most details of her pre-vampire life tightly under wraps. The very fact that Theo paid me so much attention burnt a lot of the other vampires. I was young – too young to have been Made in the first place – and Theo treated me as a precious gift. Good for me in some ways, because it meant I had his protection. But oh-so-bad for me in others, because it meant the other vampires resented our closeness.

Still, having my Maker to myself was rare these days, now that I was through the initial transition from human to vampire and had been officially introduced to the rest of the Family. So I decided that maybe there was no time like the present to ask him the thing that had been bugging me all day. It had been on my mind a lot, especially since talking to Caitlín, so I pushed aside my earlier caution.

Also, I figured it wasn’t a bad thing to distract him from obsessing over Jason Murdoch.

‘Theo,’ I began, hoping to maybe catch him off guard.

He dipped me so that my long curls almost brushed the floor. ‘Yes?’

‘I want to go back to school in the fall.’ I said it quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid.

Theo’s striking, predatory face didn’t even flicker with emotion, but he certainly wasn’t happy. I could feel it all through my bones.

‘I don’t think you’re ready,’ was all he said, but it was enough. Enough to stab me through the heart as surely as if he’d taken a stake and tried to end me.

I was stiff in his arms as he attempted to spin me again, causing us both to stumble.

He inclined his head. ‘You are displeased, my Moth?’

‘You could say that,’ I muttered.

‘What would you have me do?’

‘
Duh!
Let me go back to school. I’ll be ready, Theo.’

He looked away from me, and I wondered what he was really seeing when he got that faraway expression on his face.

‘Please,’ I said, trying to get through to him. ‘Don’t you trust me?’

‘It is not a matter of trust,’ he said quietly, holding me close again.

The music abruptly switched, the tempo rising and the beat pounding so loud that I could feel it through the soles of my boots.

Theo’s face twisted with distaste. ‘Let’s rejoin the others. I’ll introduce you to Castel and Echo.’

I made a mental note of the names, wondering which was which, but I wasn’t going to let my Maker distract me. He’d just denied me what I wanted most in the world like it was nothing to him. I smiled, showing just a tiny hint of fang.

‘No, I like this song,’ I said, pulling him toward me and daring him to deny me a second time in the space of an hour. ‘Let’s keep dancing.’

It had turned into quite a night.

We finally spilled out onto the street behind a bunch of humans at close to two a.m. The meeting was supposed to have been a short one, but Theo and I had danced for one song after another. Nicole had finally pulled rank and practically dragged us outside, leaving the music and warm bodies behind.

Theo was still talking about the supposed attack on Boston Family turf.

Nicole walked ahead of us, turning back and shrugging. ‘Perhaps my source was misled. There hasn’t been any sign of trouble.’ Her skin was glowing, a near-perfect reflection of the moon as we headed in the direction of Beacon Hill where Theo played house.

‘Perhaps,’ Theo replied. ‘Though I have my doubts. Your information has always been reliable in the past.’

The chic New York-based vampire tucked her sleek hair behind her ear, looking suddenly much younger. She stood on the street and sniffed the air. The booming sound of music followed us and made the night more vibrant and alive. Cars
shushed
past us on rain-wet streets, and I was glad that we seemed to have missed what looked like a heavy shower while inside the club.

Nicole’s companions hovered nearby, watching and waiting like deadly shadows. The contrast between the two of them was almost comical, but I suspected there wouldn’t be anything funny about being cornered by either one of them. The woman, Echo, was all dark curves spilling out of leather, and I had no doubt that she was carrying a weapon of some kind beneath her no-nonsense jacket. In stature, she was tiny in comparison to the wickedly handsome Castel. He stood at least six-three, with broad shoulders stuffed into a button-down shirt that he looked distinctly uncomfortable in. Faded blue jeans and well-worn boots completed the ensemble. He’d told me that his family had emigrated from Spain in the early twentieth century, and he still spoke with the hint of an accent.

Theo and Nicole had spent the first half of the evening arguing. My arrival had put an end to that – what with all the flirting and dancing – but now they seemed happy to pick up wherever they’d left off. The crux of the disagreement was the activities of the UVA: the United Vampire Alliance. Kyle, Theo’s old Enforcer, had turned out to be a member; a vampire-run organization dedicated to coordinating a gradual ‘outing’ of the monsters. The ironically-named UVA believed that it was time for all vamps to come out of the coffin and take their place in society, but they were very definitely in the minority.

Theo believed, as did the vast majority of older vamps, that the human world would never accept our existence. I was inclined to agree (not that anyone other than Theo cared about my opinion), but surprisingly Nicole seemed to be warming to the idea of stepping out of the shadows.

‘Is that what you really want?’ Theo asked. ‘Mass panic? Riots?’ His expression darkened. ‘War?’

Nicole’s eyes flashed silver, her anger bringing her true nature to the surface. ‘People wouldn’t have to be afraid. Vampires have lived among them for centuries and they didn’t know anything about it. There have been a few  . . . incidents, of course, but in the main humans are safe. We police our own. External regulations would be unnecessary.’