Stalked By The Game

Chapter 15 - The Little Black Book

::ARI::

The week had been a nightmare and not just because every time I shut my eyes I tended to see broken bodies. I was feeling like a tiger trapped in a cage, not able to make a move without someone watching me and it was driving me insane.

               The morning after the safe house massacre, I rang Carlos because I couldn’t deal with the clean up. As far as I knew, I was the only hunter alive in town and someone had to do it but every time I thought about stepping back in that house, I felt like I wanted to throw up. I had an excuse for getting out of it too. Physically, I couldn’t do it. I’d be moving dead bodies for weeks if I did it. Much better for everyone involved for me to show that little bit of weakness and call in the others.

               They arrived just before dawn, Carlos bringing with him Antonio and a handful of other hunters he knew were up to the job. Although he had the job on his mind, he was also concerned about me. It wasn’t safe for me to stay here, he told me. I’d better pack up and return with them. No way, I argued. It didn’t matter where I went, I’d never be safe until I hunted out that damn vampire. That was what I was telling Antonio anyway.

               No way could I give him the second part of that answer. I wasn’t sure whether he’d be more angry or disgusted if I dared tell him about McConnell. Probably both and because I couldn’t he kept nagging at me the whole week. I was too stubborn, I wasn’t indestructible he kept telling me. He should have known better than to keep pushing at me. It ended with one of the biggest arguments we’ve ever had, him calling me a selfish bitch and me punching him in the face.

               I was pacing the room, more worked up than a dog listening to fireworks when as usual, McConnell invited himself in. Sure, why not I thought sarcastically. It wasn’t as if my day was going to get any better. I’d had no time to hit the streets and hunt down any new leads, not that I could have been bothered. For the first time in my life, I had just spent the week lazing around between the time I’d spent with the others.

               ‘You handle all your men with violence?’ he asked me as he made himself at home.

               ‘Like you care,’ I snorted. ‘What the hell do you want anyway? I’ve been busy burying my friends in case you haven’t noticed.’

               Course he did, but I doubted he cared. I may still have been breathing, untouched so far but that didn’t mean more than a dozen dead hunters wasn’t a good thing as far as he was concerned. I stood where I’d been the moment he walked through the door, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed. So far, I’d tolerated him but today, he was getting on my nerves. I had a feeling that a huge chunk of that was because of what he was but I figured I had a right to feel that way after the other night.

               ‘I was there, remember?’ he pointed out.

               ‘And what did you do to help? Bloody nothing.’

               ‘Yes, cause I could really afford to break cover with Vincent there and a half dozen vampires, some of them older than me. Don’t be stupid.’

               I think he was struggling to be polite which irked me. I didn’t need him to coddle my feelings about what had happened. I also didn’t need a reminder about who or what had been there. That night, I didn’t see any of the other vampires so I’d just have to trust his word about them. The only one I knew for sure had been there was Benny, little prick.

               Despite everything, I felt my mind wander back to what they had been there for. A book, that was all McConnell had told me. I was of two minds. Part of me wanted to tell him to piss off and the other half wanted to know more about it. Whatever it was, I couldn’t let the others die in vain so despite my better judgement, I wanted to know.