Chapter Eight

I decided Carl was fine under Eddie’s supervision and texted Peter to let him know I wouldn’t be back. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to deal with what might be going on with Carl. Aiden’s anger had pissed me off, but deep down, I knew he was right. It was all on me. People kept dying because I wasn’t doing my job. I had to take care of Becca, once and for all.

Once the Coyle-induced sick feelings disappeared, my anger took over and released a rush of adrenalin. Without breaking a sweat, I ran home and prepared. As soon as the vampires awoke, I would hunt.

I took as little as possible with me—my dagger, a silver chain, a silver belt I wore that was better suited to chaining up an animal. Seeing Coyle again had reinforced what I was up against. Evil. The only way to win was to fight fire with fire. I had to face my fears and turn to the one thing I had sworn not to touch. Blood. Reuben had been right about it being the thing to give me an edge on Becca. I had to grow up and stop letting my phobias get people hurt.

The bagged stuff wasn’t as good as a fresh source, and I had to admit that Reuben’s words had tormented me. I already knew fresh blood tasted good, so how amazing was blood taken from the source at the point of death? The cooled bag in my fridge had arrived, courtesy of the Council, weeks ago. I hadn’t had the heart to waste it by throwing it away—or so I told myself—so I had kept it. Just in case.

Working up the courage, I drank as quickly as possible, ignoring the slightly medicinal aftertaste. The blood was cold and thick and pretty unpleasant, but I felt the boost almost immediately. My nerves settled, my senses seemed to clear a little, and I felt stronger. If my stamina kept up, then all would be okay.

Buzzing with excess energy, I skipped around my flat, gearing myself up. Near sunset, I headed to the last place Becca had been seen and tried to follow the faded traces of her scent before the vampires awoke. Like Becca, the trail seemed to just die in the daylight. I couldn’t figure it out.

Darkness finally came, and I took full advantage of my other senses. I needed to use them more often, to hone them, to figure out how to push my limits even further. I had no idea if more was possible, but I hadn’t hit a wall yet. It all seemed too easy for me, if I ignored the nosebleeds and the part where I’d managed to get myself stuck in another plane of existence.

I thought about my earlier losses of control, with Peter, Carl, and then Coyle. I needed to get used to reining myself in, needed to embrace the things I could do, instead of running away from them. To really push myself, I had to open up. That thought scared me more than anything else, partly because I was afraid of what I might find.

I scanned the city as far as I could without passing into that sticky level again. I kept running and searching, determined to work at it until I found Becca. She seemed to wake slightly later than the vampires. I wondered if someone hid her in the daylight, but she kept her distance from the vampires, while I was watching, at least.

She was further out than usual, closer to the countryside. If she pushed too far outside Dublin city, I would lose her for good. I couldn’t see that far, no matter how useful my extra senses were. I needed to herd her back into the city, despite it meaning more possible targets. Tonight had to be her last night of killing in my home city. The rules weren’t protecting the people. Maybe it was time I broke them.

I broke into a sprint, surprising a loved-up couple in a doorway, and concentrated on Becca’s energy in my other sight. I honed in on her. I could almost smell her, and I didn’t falter for a step. I was fully prepared to take care of business, once and for all.

Every inch of my body itched to reach her, to finish it. It was as though something deep inside pushed me straight for her, desperate to reach her. People who had helped me were dead or injured. Who would be next if I didn’t fix the mess?

Spring was upon us, and that meant fewer hours for Becca to hurt people, but fewer hours for me to track her down, too. That was if she didn’t hibernate, mutate, or travel north for the summer. In every sense of the term, I was running out of time.

Becca tried to move across farmland to get away from me, but not even the stench of manure could cover her scent, or distract me from searching for her energy with my other sight. I wondered if she really could sense me coming for her.

I hoped she did.

I hoped she was scared.

When I finally spotted her, I wanted her to fight. For a split second, I wanted that confrontation. But she kept running, and I sped up, the blood filling me with the same thing that kept Becca going.

When I began to gain on her, she doubled back and tried to get past me again. She looked even more horrific than a couple of nights before. Even if I didn’t catch her, I couldn’t see how her body would continue to function. She had lesions on her neck and arms. I grinned, hoping they were from bear claws.

“It’s time, Becca,” I called. “No more running.”

She gurgled a few sounds and tried to hit me, but I ducked and lunged at her. A flicker of indecision crossed her face, long enough for me to pound my fist in her mouth, knocking her down. She scurried away on the ground, then leapt to her feet and ran again. At least she ran back toward the city. It would be easier to get transportation when I caught her.

For the first time, I was able to chase her without feeling winded. She ran for miles without stopping, even through sprawling housing estates, without her getting distracted by the many beating hearts. It was the first time I had ever seen her focus for so long, and I wondered what her thought processes were like, if there was any humanity left in her at all.

I caught up with her a couple of times, but they just resulted in our tumbling around for a few seconds before she managed to slip out of my grasp again. I didn’t care. I wasn’t tired, and I fully intended on following her until daylight. She couldn’t run forever. Not in the sun.

Closer to the city centre, a heady yeasty smell filled my nostrils as Becca made a dash toward the Guinness factory. I could never have climbed the flat-surfaced gate without having to use my less than stellar climbing skills on the adjacent walls and buildings, so I sped past the neighbouring church, wishing I could drag Becca in there where there was bound to be at least one gigantic cross.

I reached Becca as she leapt, grabbing her hair and slamming her down on her back. She pulled out of my grasp with an inhuman shriek, alarming a gang of teenage boys out past the curfew. Their shouts distracted me, forcing me to let her run in the opposite direction so they wouldn’t see what would surely be a bloody fight.

She raced away, running on the tram tracks and down a long hill toward the train station. Still determined, I followed, slowly gaining ground. She ran along the River Liffey, making weird howling noises all the way, and as I caught up to her, she made as if to jump straight into the murky waters.

Thankful for the curfew that caused the streets to be uncommonly deserted, I slammed her into the bridge, then pulled back when I saw a homeless man watching us. His eyes widened with surprise as he focused on Becca’s mangled features. She knocked me down as she sped away.

“Alright there, love?” the man asked, peering after Becca.

I waved at him and hurried after her. I wasn’t about to lose her. I kept on her tail, albeit from a distance, passing straight through the city centre. From southside to northside, we ran together, and as she ran an almost straight path, I had to wonder if she knew where she was going.

Finally realising we were heading toward the beach where she had accepted a shipment of the formula, I tried to close the distance. She might have been leading me to more vampires, or straight into the sea, but I wasn’t planning on stopping. I couldn’t let her hurt anyone else I knew. I’d been moping around for long enough. It was time for me to snap out of it.

My breathing still easy, I pushed harder than before, and Becca kept glancing behind her, looking panicked. She had to know what I was doing, that I was changed. It was the first night I had kept up with her for so long. Baring my fangs, I couldn’t stop grinning at how she reacted. It made me feel powerful, as if nobody could stop me. That was the problem with blood. It gave me a sense of invincibility that took a long time to wear off.

By the time we got onto the sand, I had a serious amount of bloodlust. My heart pumped loudly, and I felt more alive than ever. I was ready for her.

Until she jumped into the water.

She dove under the waves and didn’t rise back up again. I dropped my jacket and boots on the sand to swim after her, but I had to turn back. I wasn’t a strong swimmer, and unlike a vampire, I had to breathe. Never mind the fact the water was absolutely freeing. I swore loudly and sat on the shore, wringing wet, just in case she came back. Then, I realised dawn was about to break. She couldn’t come back.

“Where the hell are you?” I muttered. The sea puked something small onto the sand, something that caught my attention. Scooping it up with some water and sand, I gazed at Becca’s fang, feeling horrified and fascinated in equal parts. The tooth was at least four times the size of my own fangs, of which I had only two. Becca had a whole mouthful. The fang looked ancient, pocked with decay.

I rang Gabe to tell him what had happened as I watched streams of pink and purple cross the sky.

“Stay put until someone gets there.” He hung up before I could say another word.

I still sat there, shivering, preparing myself for more conversations I simply didn’t want to have. I had learned a long time ago how to fake it, how to get by, or how to be so abrasive that even the chattiest of people stopped trying. Didn’t mean I had to like it. Didn’t mean it ever felt natural or comfortable. And Gabe was definitely on the list of people I didn’t enjoy being around.

“You’re wet,” he said when he finally turned up.

I gave him a look that silenced him. “She hasn’t reappeared. I don’t know if she kept going or just moved down the shoreline. Or even if she’s still under there. This is all I have of her.” I handed him the fang and shrugged, feeling painfully inadequate.

He examined it carefully. “How can this be?” he asked, turning it over in his hand. “I have people coming. They’ll search underwater for her, just in case. If I had to guess, I would say she’s gone. We’ll figure out where when the body count starts racking up again.”

I nodded, then flinched when he threw his coat around my shoulders.

“Good job,” he said, still staring out to sea.

“I lost her,” I said, my teeth chattering.

“She didn’t feed last night. Not even one person died. You might have driven her out of the country. How did you keep up with her this time?” He sounded innocent enough, but I knew what he was getting at.

“I went against my religion. So you’re saying she’s someone else’s problem now?”

His lips twitched. “If she isn’t here, then she isn’t my problem.”

“What about the tests you wanted to run?”

He waved his hand. “Not my idea. I didn’t think it was necessary. Here are my people now. Need a lift?”

“Nah.”

He acted as though he didn’t hear me. He moved to meet the Guardians who had turned up, some wearing wetsuits. I couldn’t help taking another look for Becca, but I left the sand before any of the Guardians went underwater. The pull of the hunt was over, leaving me shaky with the after-effects of adrenalin. More than a little anti-climatic.

I left Gabe’s coat on his car and began the long trudge home. At least my boots were dry, but my jacket had gotten wet from lying on the sand. My clothes felt as though they weighed a ton, and I was in the middle of an enormous yawn when Gabe’s car pulled up next to me.

“Get in,” he said.

“I’m wet. And sandy.”

“Just get in.”

I obeyed, mostly because my adrenalin had peaked and exhaustion had taken its place.

“Your house?” he asked.

“Yeah. I need sleep. I’ll take care of… everything else later.”

“How are you feeling?”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “Tired. It’s been a long day and night.”

“Of course.” After a few minutes, he continued, “Eddie tells me he hasn’t seen much of you lately. How’s your grandmother?”

I gritted my teeth. “I’ve no idea.”

“Family is important. To people like you, I mean. The people around you keep you on the right path. Have you learned any more about the circumstances of your birth?”

He just kept on pushing with the reminders of everything that bugged me about my life.

“No,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“Any new skills?”

I sighed loudly and twisted in my seat to look at him. “This your idea of small talk? You don’t have to make bullshit conversation with me. I’m quite capable of sitting comfortably in silence.”

To my surprise, he pulled over and turned off the engine. He didn’t say a word, which was unsettling.

“Do you… do you want me to get out or something?” I hated how confused I sounded, but the angel/man baffled me. I could read most people by their eyes, but he had no emotions at all in his blank orbs.

“I thought you were capable of sitting comfortably in silence.” He grinned, and I couldn’t resist smiling back.

I cocked my head to the side. “Wait. Are you the angel equivalent of my creepy uncle or something?”

He rolled his eyes and turned the key, then seemed to change his mind. He stared at me for a few seconds as if debating something internally. “Are you loyal to the Council, Ava?”

“No.”

He shook his head, smiling again as he started the car. “Next time a Council member asks you that question, say yes.”

“I’ll try to remember that. So, what now?”

“You sleep, remember?” He checked the mirrors.

“I meant with Becca.”

“Keep an eye out for her. Other than that, it’s a waiting game.”

“Gabe…” I bit my lip to stop its trembling. “Can you see her? The way I do? Is it… an angel thing or a vampire thing… or something else?”

“What else could it be?” He sounded bored. “You see her energy, rather than a physical body, yes?”

“That’s pretty much it.”

“That’s an angel thing. You’re bypassing the normal planes of existence. I wonder what you would see in Hell.” He brightened at that thought.

“I hope you’re joking.” My stomach tightened at yet another mention of a place I refused to believe existed. “But you can see her the same way?”

“Probably not exactly the same, but close. Your range seems to be a lot better than mine right now. And clearer.” He sounded frustrated, and I wondered what kind of power he had lost out on by being on Earth.

“Can you see what’s wrong with Coyle?” I asked.

Gabe’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Do I see what’s wrong? Do you?”

“He makes me sick. I can’t look at him. If he touches me, I want to run away screaming. There’s something dark in him.”

“You’re from the light. You naturally react to those that are unlike you,” he said, but it sounded as though he was trying to brush me off.

“It’s more than that. It’s not like with the vampires or anything else I’ve come across. It’s vile, and it’s like the thing that was in the shifter who stabbed Esther that time. The one who killed himself in your bar.”

“You think something was in that shifter?”

“No need to sound so condescending,” I said, but I couldn’t stop myself from carrying on with the story. “I saw something, or felt it, I don’t know. But it was in Peter, too, afterward. He was acting weird, and I saw it. Like black shadows trying to get into his soul.”

“Really. Peter has a soul full of black shadows.” His mocking tone pissed me off.

“No. I burned them away. But thank you. Now I remember why I can’t bloody well stand you.”

He looked entirely unconcerned, and I didn’t say another word until he pulled up outside my home. I barely thanked him and hurried inside before he could annoy me further. I could hardly stay awake long enough to shower and ended up falling asleep with wet hair. My last thought was of Gabe’s annoyingly smug face, and that he hadn’t given me back my souvenir fang.