Page 4 of Bloodhunter

“I need you to listen to me,” he said, from the other sideof my car.

Once again I whirled, frustrated tears clouding my vision.“Amias,” I screamed.

As though that scream might hold him in place while I ran astake through his black heart.

I caught a spark of pity in his eyes before he blanked them.“Please, Trinity. Listen to me.”

“Never again,” I swore.

I was ready when he disappeared, and I whirled, stake up,and caught him not in the chest, but in his shoulder.

He looked down, surprised, then met my stare. “Better.” Thenhe yanked the sharpened stick from his flesh and was gone.

The stake hit the pavement where he’d stood a millisecondearlier, his blood climbing halfway up the wood.

I leaned over with my hands on my knees, trying to breathethrough the agony. I’d never been able to physically injure him before, and Iwas pretty sure it had hurt me more than it had him.

“Ow,” I whispered, waiting for the waves of pain to recede.“Shit, that hurts.”

Heavy footsteps sounded, racing across the parking lot, butI didn’t bother to turn. The footsteps didn’t belong to Amias. He was gone.

“What is it?” Angus Stark roared, racing toward me with ashotgun in his fist. “The fuck is it?”

“Amias was here.” My energy faded with the pain, and Ileaned over to retrieve the bloody stake. My voice was as dead as the vampirewho’d just left. “You’re too late. He’s gone.”

Angus stood beside me, his head swiveling, eyes narrowed,searching the shadows for a vampire he’d never catch.

None of us would.

I watched, for a few seconds, the strange fog that spread inmuted colors and orderly trails close to the ground. The most vivid fog trailedin the direction Amias had just gone. It was a dark blue, swirling with lighterblues and white, and was actually quite beautiful.

No one else ever saw it. When I’d remarked upon it, onlyonce and only to my doctor, all I’d gotten was a worried look and thesuggestion that I discuss it with my psychiatrist.

So mostly, I ignored it, and I never spoke of it again. Therewas something wrong with my mind, or with my eyes, or both.

Half a dozen of the Stark kids gathered around us, smellingof pizza sauce and warmth and innocence. “Are you okay, Trinity?” one of themasked. He was a skinny eight-year-old named Cory. He was trying hard to bebrave, scanning the dark like his daddy, his eyes narrow, his small handscurled into fists.

Lydia, Angus’s six-year-old daughter, took my free hand. “You’llhave some pizza,” she decided. “Let’s go in.”

“What’d he say?” Angus continued holding the shotgun in awhite-knuckled grip. “What’d he say?” His voice was a low growl and he turnedhis angry glare on me, as though it were my fault Amias had gotten away.

I wasn’t the only one who wanted a piece of that vampire.

I’d told Angus before that if I got to Amias first, I wasn’tsharing.

“Nothing.” With Lydia still holding my hand, I turned and beganwalking toward the long office building that held not only Stark’s Pizza, but BayTown Real Estate, Bay Berry Accountants, Bay Town Daily Times, Clary SageCoffee, and…

Miriam Crow, necromancer.

The woman who’d introduced me to Bay Town and the nonhumanswho lived there. The supernaturals weren’t exactly invited to live in the citywith the humans.

“Nothing?” Angus raised an eyebrow.

“He said he needed to talk to me. Told me to listen. That’sall.”

Angus snorted with derision. “Go inside.” He was finishedwith the conversation. “It’s not safe for a girl out here.”

“I’ve told you to keep your orders and your opinions toyourself, you sexist, condescending bastard,” I said, but mildly. I had bigger,bloodier things to worry about than the chauvinistic bull shifter.