Hunting Tess by Kathryn Summers (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

of awkward silence, I hear him attempt to clear his throat. The grating resonance louder with my heightened senses.

“Who were those men?” Nathan tries again, keeping the sass in check.

Placated enough, and knowing there won’t be much time for talk once we arrive at Leo’s, I continue, “The ones sent to tip the balance to evil. They arrived my final year, brought in from Europe, to break apart the group who fought for the light.”

I remember seeing them that first day, trailing down the hall after Hillbrook’s headmaster and another man who didn’t look more than thirty. There was something odd about them. They smelled too sweet, like rotting fruit.

“What happened?”

Coming back to the present, I try to give him an abbreviated version. “They were clever. By the time I realized their plan I had to make a choice. So, I did the only logical thing and faked my death.”

Silence follows my big reveal but I don’t look at his reaction. It doesn’t matter anyway.

“You . . . faked . . . your death. Isn’t that illegal?”

“Yes, and I ask for your discretion.” A sprawling ranch house comes into view nestled among the trees and I get ready for action.

“And those men?”

“They aren’t men. When I tell you, jump out of the car and run for the door. All you need to do is get inside and you’ll be safe.”

“Won’t they just follow?”

“No.”

“Wait, what do you mean they aren’t men. Then what are they?”

My eyes track the movement among the trees, shadowed figures darting in the darkened tree line far too fast for any human to run. Hostile eyes reflect in the night and I can feel my nails trying to extend.

“Vampires.”

Unable to have much of a reaction, I shove Nathan from the car as I yell for him to run. Jumping out of my barely opened door, I vault over the roof to tackle a short vampire aiming for Nathan. My nails extend to their sharpened razorblades and make quick work of the one most impatient for blood.

Barely touching the ground, my foot arches backward to connect with a second vampire sneaking up from behind. A wooden stake flies past my ear and finds its sickening mark in the vampire’s chest. Leo stands on the front porch reloading his crossbow as I backhand a third into my car which likewise makes a sickening thud, but the metal holds under his weight.

Spinning around I prep for the next ambush only to find the large driveway empty. Enhancing my eyesight, I can make out three others standing off in the trees as if beckoning me to cross the line into darkness. The scuff of a foot slides against a roof shingle snapping my attention to the two-story home. Another stands at attention with something that looks like a mix between crossbow and firearm.

The ping of a trigger gives me the warning I need for a brave, or stupid depending on how you see it, vampire, to sprint right for me. Feigning left when he is only a few feet from me, I jump, leaping over his head to decapitate him before landing.

Beelining up the stairs, another stake whizzes over my head but I’m through the front door before I hear it find its mark.

The door slams behind so I assume the brothers have returned into the safety of their home. Nathan stands by the living room window, a witness to the mini massacre that happened outside. His mouth hangs open and he has yet to shift his attention from the bodies strewn outside. I hope he doesn’t call the cops. Maybe I should take his phone.

My hand throbs from the force it took to cut through that last vampire’s neck as I walk down the hallway in search of the kitchen, trying to catch red droplets from falling to the floor. Leo brings me a towel as I make my way to the kitchen sink, washing away the blood. The clear water swirls, mingling with the red liquid until it disappears down the drain.

“Busy night?” Leo asks. His brown eyes are wide and his hands unconsciously flex from the pent-up adrenaline that results from this kind of fight. Taking the offered towel, I pat my hands dry.

“There are at least three, maybe four more hiding in the woods.”

“Cowering more like it,” Leo’s older brother declares, walking down the stairs before crossing the kitchen to get a glass of water. He must have been the one on the roof. My attention flicks to Nathan who wanders into the room. His eyes are slightly glazed and I worry he’s going into shock.

“Good shot, Caleb! I’m pretty sure you pinned it to a tree.”

“That was some impressive fighting,” Caleb says, leaning his hip against the counter. He takes a long inhale and I know what he is looking for. No human, no matter how much training they put themselves through, can move as quickly as I can. Or are as strong, or agile.

“You won’t smell anything dressed like that,” I hint. His eyes marginally narrow at the statement, displeased with the amount of knowledge I possess. He glares at Leo who just looks back in naïve confusion. Wolves are so touchy. “It’s your business anyway. Do you have my order?”

Leo nods his head distractedly before disappearing from the room. Nathan looks like he is about to drop on his feet so I guide him to a giant couch, lightly pushing his shoulder to sit.

“Not that I’m against taking out some vamps,” Caleb declares, following us to the open family room, “but we don’t have many enemies making an all-out assault on our home. We generally go to them.”

“Sorry to break up your routine,” is all I say, more focused on Nathan. I shouldn’t have agreed to a date. He looks like he was put through the ringer.

Girlish laughter comes from stairs leading to a basement before two figures emerge.

“Parker, I didn’t know you two were still here.” Caleb tries to keep his voice light