Stalked By The Game

Chapter 16 - Hiding Out

::MICK::

               ‘Absolutely not. You’re out of your mind.’

               That didn’t surprise me at all, either one but I was going to keep pushing the subject until Alex gave in. What safer place to hide out than with my good old buddy who blended into the human world? All I had to do was convince him to put up with Nicholls as well and it wasn’t going very well.

               ‘You know I don’t ask you for much,’ I told him, ‘and I promise I won’t ask you for a favor ever again.’

               He snorted. ‘Bullshit. You’re always hounding me for something. Money, a place to stay, back up. Don’t you ever get tired of all the gung ho adventures you run around having?’

               No. I never did and doubted I ever would. I hated staying in one place for too long. In fact, I had been having itchy feet for days and would have taken off long ago except for that pesky deal. I was a vampire of my word and that was the only thing keeping me here. The deeper we got into that damn little cult, the more my gut was telling me that it was something I needed to help blow wide open. No one should have to live under the rule of thumb of one person.

               That didn’t include what they obviously planned to do on the other side of the coin either. Okay, I was no fan of any vampire hunter but really what was the fun in wiping them all out anyway? Sure, it made life a breeze, especially for morons who would be taken out in the blink of an eye because a dog had more brains but there was no skill to it the way they wanted to. When they’d gone into the safe house, it had been overkill. There was no tact, no intelligence to it, just bloodshed.

               ‘Would you be surprised if I said no?’ I asked him, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head. ‘Well, if you won’t do it for me, think about them then.’

               ‘Them who? I don’t owe any of those hunters anything, especially one like Ari Nicholls. She’s trouble and we both know it. What the hell possessed you to think you could make a deal with the devil and get away with it? When it’s all done, she’s just going to stake your ass anyway.’

               Well, that was a risk I was going to have to take and if she tried, it would be on for young and old. Something told me though that despite her attitude and ability to reach for a gun quicker than I could draw blood, she kept her word. Without your promises and honesty, what else did you have in a world like ours?

               Alex downed his second drink and poured another. I was about to start hounding him again when we both heard a key turn in the lock and I noticed his muscles tense. I recognised her smell before she was inside the room. Jaynie, his long time girlfriend. That’s then what gave me a new angle to push and exploit like the bastard I always was.

               She was sweet, innocent and how the hell she’d got herself hooked up with Alex in the first place, I still didn’t know. Either way, the weakness I could use was that she was human. She was the type of woman that would cry if she saw a dead cat by the side of the road so getting her to help hide Nicholls should be a breeze.

               ‘You’re home early,’ he told her, clearly wishing she wasn’t there.

               ‘I bought all my paperwork home with me instead of slaving away at the school. I think I spend more time there than home during exam time.’

               Emphasising her point, she dumped a stack of papers onto the side table that was almost as tall as she was. Yep, that would keep her busy. She asked me if I was staying. Alex said no, I said yes. He was staring at me, making it clear that I was not to over stay my welcome and hit the road without any more discussion.