“No.”
“The vampire who sired you. He told you.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Who was it, Kim?”
“Hank, get out of my fucking house.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Who sired you? Was it the vamp you’ve been hunting? Huh? What happened, little bitch? Did you get too close? Did you try to stake him, but he bit you instead?”
“Get OUT!” I yelled. I shoved him hard and he flew across the room and fell against the wall. I needed to leave. I needed to get out of the apartment building. No matter what happened next, I couldn’t stay where I was. I had to get away. I needed to find my way back to Liam, and I needed to tell him that I was sorry.
I shouldn’t have run off. I definitely shouldn’t have come back home. It was just that I needed some time and some space, and I needed to clear my head. There had been a part of me that believed if I could just run far enough, that somehow, the answers I was searching for would come to me.
As it were, I ran straight into the arms of someone who wanted to kill me.
I ran, hurrying past Hank. He grabbed, reaching for my ankle. His hand wrapped around me and even though I was faster and stronger than him, I also went down harder. I tripped, falling, and landed on the floor. My downstairs neighbor didn’t like this much. They hit the floor and yelled for us to shut up.
“See?” Hank said. He was still gripping my ankle. “Nobody likes you.”
“Fuck you,” I said, and I kicked him hard. The motion was enough for him to loosen his grip on me, and I pulled, freeing myself again. This time I made it almost to the end of the hallway before I felt something hit me in the back of the head. It was sharp and tiny, and it pricked right through my hair and into my skull.
The sensation was enough that I paused, reaching back. I grabbed whatever it was and pulled it out.
A needle.
He’d gotten me with a fucking needle.
I was so close to the door of the apartment. If I could get to the door, I could make it to the hallway. If I could do that, a neighbor would take pity on me. They’d realize that something was wrong, and they’d call for help. Oh, I didn’t think the police would do much to save a vampire, but it would be better than dying along at Hank’s hands.
I fell forward. I turned as I did so I landed on my shoulder and not my face, but it still hurt. The floor shook again, and I heard my neighbor from downstairs yelling once more.
“Stop with the noise!” He shouted.
“Please,” I whispered, begging him to hear me. “Help me.”
“Help isn’t coming,” Hank said. He appeared above me then. “You know, when I installed cameras in your apartment, they were to make sure I knew exactly when you were and weren’t here. After I moved out, I just happened to forget to remove them.”
Somehow, I knew he hadn’t forgotten anything.
Cameras?
Really?
How hadn’t I known?
“When I realized that you hadn’t been home in a few days, it got me thinking. I started to wonder where you could have possibly gone and who you could have possibly been talking to. You weren’t going to be on a date, were you? No, you could never get over me,” he said.
Hank was so close to me that it made me feel physically sick. I hated how gross he was. How had I ever dated such a freak weirdo? I used to think he was sexy and fun and wild. I thought he was dependable. Apparently, I’d been totally wrong.
“You cheated on me,” I whispered.
“Yes,” he said. “And you were very easy to cheat on. For someone so hell-bent on revenge, you were very distracted when it came to anything that wasn’t hunting that stupid vampire. I cheated on you many times, my vampire. You just only found out at the end. Pity,” he said. “We could have made a good pair.”
“Let me go,” I said.
I was dizzy, and I was suddenly very, very tired. I had no idea what he’d given me, but I knew it was some sort of vampire tranquilizer. I realized that Hank was obviously involved in the same shit my previous roommates had been. Was that how he’d found me? Had he known them? Had it been his job to keep an eye on me after they were gone?