The Hunters Saga #3: The Hawthorn Pearl

Chapter 12: Forgive & Forget

A/N: Chapter 12 is here, folks! :D Ready?? :P Sorry it's so short, but it's worth the length ;) Okie dokie, hope you all enjoy! ^__^

Chapter 12: Forgive & Forget

   Before I could make a run for it and escape, Blake had shut the door completely, locking it in the process.

   Great... I let out a frustrated noise, and sent a glare at the sadistic bastard before me. Gabriel merely chuckled in response. "I take it you're not happy to see me? I thought that's why you came here to Chicago." His smile quickly faded as I remained stubbornly silent.

   When neither of us spoke, it gave me spare time to think and, of course, panic. Did Henri know what trouble I was currently in? Gabriel was unpredictable; a genuine enigma who'd escaped my memory of the past. It unnerved me, in a way. He seemed to know more about me than I did of him...

   Eventually, the silence had to be broken, and Gabriel sat forward in a crouch, his dark eyes searching my face. "Why did you come here?"

   "To see my werewolf friend, Micah Kane."

   Gabriel's mouth twitched with humor, and he shook his head slowly. "That's a lie. Why did you really visit?"

   "Micah-"

   "-Is a werewolf. Our natural enemy," he pointed out, as if lecturing me on such concepts. "He didn't seem to be your friend. Maybe an acquaintance who doesn't know our kind very well, but not a friend." His voice had lowered considerably, and I shuddered uneasily at his tone.

   "What of it?" I questioned with an anxious chuckle. "Why I'm here shouldn't be important to you." I paused. "Why are you here?"

   "You first."

   Damn it! "I came looking for answers."

   "Answers?"

   I nodded firmly. "And it looks like I've given up on them. A real waste of time, if you ask me. And even if I had found the person who might know the answers to my questions, they'd never give them up for free."

   "Everything comes with a price," Gabriel muttered, running a pale hand through his midnight hair. It reminded me of Henri's. "Especially immortality. Our very existence isn't natural."

   I scoffed. "I didn't choose this."

   "I know."

   My frown deepened. I'd lost a lot of patience here and now, and it was about to become prominent. "Your turn," I quipped harshly, expecting an absurd answer or reaction. Gabriel's jaw clenched in irritation. "You came looking for answers. I came looking for my dear sister. Looks like we've been successful in our searches."

   I swallowed hard, ignoring the joking lilt in his smooth voice. "W-why were you looking for me?"

   "Don't you want to join the clan? Stand beside your only family?" He leaned closer; so close that I could smell the faint scent of human blood on his breath. "Join us, sister. You can be with Elizabeth again. Don't you want that?"

   "Henri... " I mumbled. "Henri will still be executed, won't he?"

   "You really care about him, don't you? So much so that you'd abandon your own blood family."

   I bit the inside of my cheek, and the bitter taste of my own blood flowed, preventing speech. Gabriel frowned again, and took my shoulders, drawing me closer until my head was resting on his wide shoulders.