What did he want a hunter for anyway?
“I’m never letting you go,” he said. “Don’t worry. The drugs will wear off soon enough. The buyers don’t like harvesting organs from a drugged-up vamp, anyway. Where’s the fun in that? It’s when you creatures get mad that you get really wild and fun. That’s what they want. The people want a mad, angry vampire, and I’m going to give them one.”
“I don’t want you,” I said.
“You don’t have a choice.”
I closed my eyes, and I felt something cover my body. Maybe it was a blanket or even a bag of some sort. I couldn’t tell. I remembered my training. You were never supposed to let someone capture you alive. You definitely weren’t supposed to let them move you to another location, but he was doing just that.
And I was letting him.
I hadn’t fought as hard as I should have.
Then everything really did go black.
10.
Liam
“WHERE IS SHE?” I ASKED, marching into the kitchen. The sun was setting, but Kimberly wasn’t in our room. I’d slept poorly: tossing and turning all night. When I woke, I realized that she’d never actually fallen asleep. Sometimes she got up and wandered around the mansion when she couldn’t sleep, but I thought there was something else going on: something horrible.
“I’m sorry,” Helena said, looking up. She was sitting at the table with Raven, Lex, and Michael. It looked like they’d been talking about something. “We don’t know.”
“What do you mean?” I snapped. “How can you not know?”
“I mean,” she said, rising. “We don’t know where she is.”
“She’s not here,” Michael added.
“I gathered that,” I said, choking the words out.
Where had she gone?
Was something wrong?
Something had to be wrong.
“Sometimes she goes out when she needs to think,” Raven said quietly. We all turned and looked at her. Of course, Raven would have the best idea. Raven was the one who knew her better than anyone. Raven was the girl who knew Kimberly better than Kimberly knew herself. Raven had been there for her always.
“Did you two have a fight?” Helena looked at me. It was a bold question: a personal question. It was also something I felt obligated to answer.
“Sort-of.”
“What happened?”
She wasn’t judging me when she asked. I knew that Lex and Michael weren’t judging me, either. Raven...well, I wasn’t so sure about Raven. The others were pretty calm, though.
“I told her the truth about her roommates.”
“You told her about the organ harvesters?” Raven asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Michael asked. “Was that really necessary?”
“It seemed like it. She deserved to know the truth about our world.”
“We talked in the kitchen,” Lex said. “Very briefly. Then I left and she stayed behind to eat a cupcake or something.”