Only Vampires Cry Blood (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #3)(39)

After hitting up a shower, I rushed around to get ready in the hopes that I would catch Arys before he left his house for the night. I didn't bother with any makeup other than some lip-gloss and a stroke of blush. Since forming the blood bond with Arys, I'd grown considerably pale. It made me a little self-conscious.

My hair was damp, and I left it loose. Slipping into a pair of black leggings with a matching halter-top, I felt both comfortable and practical. The slightest bit of snow fell outside the window so I brought a jacket that was a combination of faux leather and fur.

The moment my butt hit the seat of my car, I was wracked with nerves.

Doubt plagued me as I drove, and more than once I was tempted to change my course. No. We had to get to the bottom of this. In the privacy of Arys' house was better than a parking lot outside The Wicked Kiss.

The radio captured my attention when the DJ gave a news update about bodies that had been found near downtown in the city. The details were minimal but the word

“massacred” was enough for me. I’d bet money that Arys had something to do with it. It wasn’t like him to leave a body where it could be so easily found. This was all kinds of bad.

Arys lived in a quiet neighborhood that was primarily populated by older citizens.

He felt that it allowed him to stay low key and be left alone. His neighbors didn't pay him much attention other than Mrs. Olson, whom he was strangely protective over. I attributed that to the fact that he'd slaughtered her dog in a fit of werewolf rage he'd acquired from me. He still felt guilty about the whole thing.

The moment I drove up in front of his house, I knew that he wasn't inside. It made no sense. The sun had just disappeared from the sky. He couldn't have left already, not without being fried to ashes, and I would have felt that. No. He hadn't even come home.

That realization was startling. If Arys hadn't come home in time for sunrise, then where the hell was he?

I went up to the door and rang the bell anyway. I could feel the emptiness of the house. It created a hollow ache inside me. Where was my dark vampire?

Returning to the car, I tried to talk myself out of what I was about to do. Something warned me away, but I refused to listen. I was going to tap Arys' mind. It couldn't show me anything worse than it had last night, could it?

I turned the car on so that the heater blasted warm air all around me. Then I turned my focus inward and projected it to Arys. I fully expected that disorienting sensation I always got when I fell into his mind. It never came.

Instead, it was as if a brick wall barred my entrance. I felt the slightest resistance at the edges, as if I could shove my way through with enough force. It would take more than I had in me. The bastard had blocked me out. That hurt. He was hiding something, obviously.

The fury that filled me was scorching. It seared a path throughout my entire body until I was resonating with red-hot energy that ached to maim and destroy.

I put the car in gear and hit the gas. The Charger slid on the ice and snow but quickly regained traction. I took deep breaths, trying to calm down before I did something really stupid. I felt like I couldn't breathe, like I might start hyperventilating. Panic accompanied the rush of power that crashed through me like a lightning storm. I had to get some air.

Thinking it might be a good idea to park near one of the walking paths and take a stroll to calm down, I turned down Brown Street. There was parking space right beside the path that ran beneath the train tracks. I could be alone there to get control of myself.

The emotions and thoughts attacking me was more than I could take. The sting of Arys'

rejection hurt on every level. How could he do this?

As I made a right onto Oatway Drive and then another onto Brown Street, I noticed the car behind me did the same. Could it be that I was being tailed? Putting it to the test, I took a few other turns, some without signaling and the car behind followed suit. Great, just what I needed.

I couldn't make out the driver with the glare of his headlights in my rear view mirror, but I didn't have to. With the angry energy soaring high in me, I could feel his werewolf aura, just one, and it wasn’t the Alpha, either. So, he'd sent one of his lackeys to tail me.

How pathetic was that?

That was fine with me. I was ready to unleash the pain and rage I was feeling all over someone deserving. He would do just fine. It hadn't taken them long to make their way from the city to my small town. They were going to find out that I was more than a little wolf with big words. I was happy to start with this guy.

I drove along at the speed limit, watching him attempt to follow me without getting too close. I was purposely leading him to the outskirts of town. Since he wasn't from Stony, I doubted he realized that I was taking him straight to the old graveyard that very rarely had visitors these days. One of the town walking paths led to the edge of town and cut off. It was just beyond that point that I pulled over at random.

He continued past me, but I knew he was looking for a spot to ditch his car. Getting out of the Charger, I locked the doors and crossed to the walking path. I could see the end of it and the cemetery ahead, nestled in amongst an old abandoned house and a patch of trees. I couldn't see his car, but I knew he wasn't far. He had to be watching me.

I walked casually, as if I had a purpose. Alive with power that fed off my emotional upheaval, my fingernails lengthened into savage claws. My fangs appeared next, and I knew that my eyes were all wolf. I didn't think they'd be Arys' vampire blue, but I wasn't entirely sure. All I cared about was luring my prey into that graveyard and adding him to the bodies there.