The Immortal Hunter(70)

Leonius grinned at her expression and gave a little shiver. "I can hardly wait and only wish I'd thought to get a camera to film it for you to watch afterward." He sighed. "All this talk of food has given me the munchies. Those two gals from the restaurant weren't very filling yesterday, and I'm afraid in all the excitement today I neglected to feed myself."

His considering gaze turned back to the farmer's wife. As the woman shrank back into her chair, Dani said quickly, "You said she was mine."

Leo turned back, eyebrows rising again, but this time a wry smile joined them. "You're only saying that to try to save her, but you'll understand the irony of that in an hour or so. I, at least, have a knife. You will be tearing into her with your teeth."

When Dani shook her head again, he smiled and shrugged. "However, I did say she was a gift to you. Besides, I'd just have to run out and grab you another. You'll need at least two to get through the turning. So..." Swinging away, he headed for the arch and the stairs beyond. "I guess I'll just have to run out and pick up some fast food. I do want to be back in time to watch the fun when it starts, and, unfortunately, Lucian did choose a spot to hell and back for this new headquarters of his. I might take a bit of time, but I promise I'll get back as quickly as I can. Do try to wait for me so I can watch, won't you?"

Leonius paused at the stairs and turned back. When she merely stared, face expressionless, he let his eyes slide over her and added, "Perhaps I'll find myself a nice plump little blond like yourself." He smiled. "Watching you and Decker earlier today has put me in the mood for some fun and games, and I haven't bothered with that in a very long time. But I promise I'll save that until I get back so that you can join in too if you like." Turning away, he continued upstairs, calling, "Back soon."

The door closed behind him, but Dani waited, listening to the footsteps cross the floor above. The moment she heard the yawn of the screen door opening, then the clack of it slamming shut, she got swiftly to her feet and moved to the farmer on legs that were a bit shaky. Kneeling beside the unconscious man, she examined him quickly, assuring herself that nothing seemed to be broken. Other than a head wound, he appeared uninjured, though he would no doubt be bruised and battered by the abuse he'd taken.

She set his head gently back on the floor and started to glance toward the wife, but paused and raised her hand to her forehead as a wave of dizziness swept over her. The smell of blood immediately overwhelmed Dani and she stiffened and pulled her hand back. The shallow cut on her wrist was no longer bleeding; Leonius had sucked every bit of blood out of it that he could. However, a stain of fresh red liquid covered her palm from her examination of the farmer. The blood glistened on her skin in the fluorescent light in the room, its smell oddly sweet and rather pleasant.

Horrified as that thought wafted through her mind, Dani pushed herself to her feet. The room spun, but, desperate to get away from the bleeding man, she stumbled across the workshop and up the stairs to try the door. It was locked, of course.

Panic immediately overwhelmed her, but Dani leaned her head against the wooden panel, forcing herself to take deep breaths in an effort to calm down. She was panicking about nothing. The dizziness was the result of stress and the wound on her wrist. She couldn't be turning this quickly, Dani assured herself, and then Leonius's words whispered through her head. It will take less than an hour for the need to get so bad they start looking like a couple of big juicy steaks on legs... Not long after that you won V be able to control yourself The pain and hunger will be so strong you 'II start gnawing on them.

She closed her eyes on a moan. She had to escape and get the couple as far away from her as she could, Dani thought, and turned away from the door to start back down the steps, alarmed at how shaky her legs had grown in so short a time. Doing her best to ignore it, Dani glanced around the laundry room, but since there didn't appear to be anything she could use to pick the lock, she moved into the workshop.

The husband was still unconscious and the wife was looking at him with worry, but one glance at the woman's bloody lip made Dani avoid her and instead head toward the pegboard with its lined-up tools. She grabbed a hammer, then a pry bar, and started to turn back, her eyes running over the archway into the boiler room as she did.

A glimpse of what appeared to be the corner of a door made her pause. Dani peered at it for a moment, then set the tools on the corner of the workbench and moved to the archway. Sure enough, there was a door there, half hidden on the other side of the boiler. She moved closer before opening it, and found herself staring into darkness.

There was a light switch on the wall and she flicked it up, blinking as a bare light bulb winked on overhead. It was a strange room. Two feet deep and running the length of the basement. It smelled damp and felt chilly. A pump and water softener were at one end, and empty shelves took up the other, suggesting that it had at one time been used as a cold storage room, but the wall across from her was covered with sheet after sheet of hard Styrofoam insulation boards. There was no exit.

Disappointed, Dani stepped back and closed the door, then turned away, only to sway and grab for the boiler as the room spun around her. She closed her eyes, assuring herself yet again that this had to be because of the blood Leonius had taken. Surely the turning couldn't start affecting her this quickly?

Then why are you avoiding the couple? Why haven't you dared get close enough to untie the wife? some part of her mind asked tauntingly, and Dani moaned unhappily as she acknowledged that they were in real trouble. Leo had forced her to drink his blood and presumably she was turning, becoming like him.