Chapter 8

Anais

The true-blood vampire had come into the room and overpowered me so quickly that I'd not been able to react. I tried to suck in air, but his grip was tight. At the same time I tried to reach for my blades, but he'd also pressed his body against me and his leg was in the way of one and he had my arm pinned on the other side.

He was in the way of me doing anything. And he was far stronger than me. There was nothing I could do. No room to move and barely any air to breathe.

I was sure I was about to die, devoured. This vampire looked at me with nothing in his eyes but pure hunger and leaned in toward my throat.

Although I tried to wriggle again and fight the grip, he was far too strong and there was nothing I could do. He was going to kill me and solve all my problems.

To my surprise, he took his time, being far more restrained than I had ever seen a vampire being as he leaned in toward my neck. I closed my eyes, no longer even attempting to struggle or break free. He could do as he pleased.

At the same time, I could feel his manhood bulging, pressing against me. I had turned him on. The thought gave me a grim satisfaction. I was at least attractive to him. Or he got off on taking hunters. He had to know that was what I was.

He didn't bite me, instead leaning in against me, inhaling against my skin. The grip around my throat made it so hard to breathe that my body began to tingle and I had to gasp.

"You know I could snap you in two and it wouldn't even be difficult," he said as he relaxed his grip a little and let me breathe. I gasped for air, sucking in huge lungfuls as I tried to recover. "It would be so easy and you would die so quickly."

"I don't doubt you could," I replied, each word making me aware of his hand still around my throat. He'd grown even harder, his cock almost throbbing against me now. His desire was so obvious and firm it was almost painful. "But if you were going to do so, I think you'd have done it already."

"You don't think I'm going to kill you?" he asked, his fingers tightening a little again. "You don't think I want to?"

I had to concentrate to speak, moving my body almost painful under his grip. "I don't think you want you. Hurt me, maybe. Possibly even teach me a lesson, but you wouldn't be pressing your hard cock against me and breathing me in like a fine wine if you didn't want something else more than to kill me."

He let me go and took a step back. I panted, still up against the wall, my own hand going to my throat to try to rub away some of the pain. I had no doubt that he'd have left bruises and I was going to have a sore throat for a few days.

Although I'd said what I did with a certain element of truthfulness to it, I hadn't expected it to work. I might have been thinking about it, but I had expected him to kill me either way and just get off on it, or, as I'd said, have some very different plans for me. Right now he was looking at me as if I had slapped him and he didn't know what to do about it.

His anger didn't return, but he sat down on the end of the bed. I still didn't dare move. Despite my words I just didn't seem to feel unsafe with him. I knew I ought to. This was a vampire and I was fairly sure he knew I was a vampire hunter. We were enemies.

He should almost certainly want me dead. And I was nervous. There were still different options. But the words had been the first thought I'd had and the most honest to say at the time.

"You came here to kill Ludis," he said, the first to break the silence.

"I did. That was the role the guild assigned me. But I've not succeeded. I couldn't get close to him and the task will be near to impossible now." I sighed, knowing that this vampire would make it far more than impossible. I wouldn't stand a chance at all. I was done. I wouldn't be a vampire hunter a moment longer.

"Did they tell you why they wanted him dead?" the true-blood asked.

I shook my head. "They rarely do, not unless it's important to the mission."

"And you never thought to ask?" He growled as he spoke, but I knew the anger wasn't directed at me.

Shrugging, I tried to put into words what it was like. "The academy don't explain a lot. And they don't need to. Any entity that preys on humans and eats us for pleasure and sport only deserves so much respect. We might understand that the Brethren aren't as bad and you try to keep your killing minimal, but you still take humans as sort of drugged up pets and you still kill because you enjoy it."

"Some of us don't kill at all." His voice remained deep and menacing and I briefly considered how wise it was to antagonize him further, but I also knew that it didn't matter right now. If he was going to kill me, he was going to kill me and there was little I could do about it.

"Whatever you do. There's a reason we hunt your kind."

"That much I can believe. Some of my kind are worth hunting. But not all of us. And you'll never convince me otherwise. Now, what about the rest of your team? Would any of them have been told why Ludis was wanted dead? The shooter perhaps?"

He paused as I frowned, seeming to notice that I wasn't okay with the questions and he was bombarding me with them. "I wasn't in a team."

"You mean that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, there was no team. I used to have one, but not anymore. My last mission went sideways and I had to rescue it, but my team didn't forgive me for it. Reported me to the academy and I was forced to take this suicide mission to try to get back in their good graces."

"So you knew this wasn't going to be easy?" He lifted an eyebrow and sat down on the chair opposite me.

"It was a punishment. Pretty sure they're expecting me to fail so they can kick me out of the academy." I exhaled, knowing that it was all my own fault.

"It might be more than that." He coughed to get my attention and pulled a couple of photos out of his jacket pocket. "I found this in here before you came to check out the scene. Whoever the shooter was, I'm guessing they dropped them."

I took the photos as he held them out, our fingers brushing against each other in passing. His skin was cold, but not like ice as some people assumed vampires would be. Another sign that he wasn't a half-blood. He wasn't turned, but born the way he was.

I sucked in my breath at the contact, finding myself wanting to reach out and touch his skin again. As I looked up at him, I found his gaze was as focused on me. Heat flushed through my body and pooled between my legs. Under his gaze I felt like I was some sort of prey, but I felt so much more than that.

"It's you," he said.

Blinking, I tried to take in what he meant. Did he find me attractive too? It took me a couple of seconds to remember I was supposed to be looking at the photos in my hand and then I gulped. One of them was Ludis. But the other was me. Whoever had tried to take a shot at Ludis, they had also wanted me dead.

"I'm sorry." He reached out and gently took my hand. "I don't know if they were from the academy, but they were after you as well."

After shaking my head, wanting to deny it, I realized how much sense it made. Not that they were necessarily from the academy, but the actions of a shooter now made sense.

They hadn't fired at me, but at Ludis and almost seemed to deliberately miss him. Of course, he'd then wanted to kill me. If this vampire in front of me hadn't intervened then I would be dead right now.

My hand was still in his and there was something about it that seemed right. I didn't want to pull back. As I looked up at him, I noticed he was closer than ever. He was still staring at me, as if he couldn't get enough of taking me in, his eyes gently roving over my body, taking their time, drinking in every feature.

I shuddered, both in delight and heated desire, but also in fear of what these photos meant.

"I don't know why anyone would want me dead," I said, frowning.

"Sometimes people do strange things for strange reasons. If you're a hunter and have been for a long time, you might not let yourself be kicked out of the academy quietly, for example. I know hunters have gone rogue just as vampires do."

Looking down and away from the intense gaze from his deep dark eyes, I nodded. "My uncle. He was an academy hunter, but after my parents died..."

Why was I telling him all this? I couldn't say for sure, but I knew there was no gain in hiding it anymore. He appeared to want answers and by giving them to him, I appeared to be gaining some measure of affection.

"Were your parents hunters too?" He didn't let go of my hand, his placed over the top.

"Yes. They began my training but they died before I finished it. My uncle sent me off to the academy and told me they would complete it, but they sent me on my first mission long before I felt ready."

He let out a strange noise and studied me again. "How long ago was that?"

"They died seven years ago, when I was fourteen. I was in the academy from sixteen."

"And your first mission?"

I frowned as I followed his line of thought. "Two months later."

After growling again, he got to his feet. I shifted back, wondering if he was going to finally kill me now. He knew what I was and I knew about him. It was clear he had been pretending to be a turned, even if I had no idea why. He was investigating Ludis as well, that much was obvious.

I wanted to ask him why he had saved my life. Even went to huge lengths to claim me as his enthralled instead of letting Ludis eat me. Yet he had implied that he knew what I was from the beginning. No question came out of my mouth, however.

He was deep in thought and pacing back and forth like some caged animal. I didn't dare disturb him. While I knew I had a chance in a fight against a turned that wasn't too strong or old, I knew this vampire wouldn't be bested. The last thing I wanted to do was make him angry.

Eventually he sat down again, but by then I was almost crying. Although I didn't know what the academy had planned, someone wanted me dead as well, or they had been told to muck up my plans at least. Someone who didn't know me and needed a photo to go by.

It was all confusing, but it made it clear, I was done as a hunter and I didn't have anywhere to turn.

"What's your name?" he asked, taking me by surprise again.

"Anais." I saw no reason to lie about that either.

"I'm Leandro. Though my friends call me Leo. Ludis knows me as Drew."

"Because he doesn't know that you're a true-blood?" I asked, wondering if he would be as open with me as I had been.

"Something like that. We have people who regulate what the turned do as well." He finally sat down again.

"Well, thank you for saving my life today, Leandro." I tried to give him a smile, hoping I could go and cry in my own room now and put an end to this chaos. I needed to figure out what came next.

"Please, call me Leo. I'm pleased to meet you, Anais. Even if you're a hunter." He gave me a rueful smile and I found myself blushing. How was this vampire so charming? And was this exactly the sort of thing the academy was afraid of? What would my have parents said if they'd thought I would one day be flirting with a true-blood?

Despite wanting to be alone to figure out what happened next, I couldn't bring myself to move. I didn't want to face what came next. After living my whole life with vampire hunters or being one, I was going to be out on my own.

"You don't seem pleased to meet me," he added, almost as if he was trying to make a joke.

"Leo," I said, liking the sound of using his nickname and aware he had said that his friends called him Leo. Was he inviting me to be a friend? it was sweet if so, but it barely mattered. "It's not exactly the best of circumstances."

I reached into my pocket and held out the chips I had won while sitting beside him. "This is all the money I have left, pretty much. I have nowhere to go and no job if I'm not a hunter. If I don't kill this vampire, I don't actually have a future. I will be homeless and friendless."

Leo sat down beside me and put his arm around my back, once again pulling me close. "I think I screwed up your mission. I promise I won't let you end up homeless."

"You can't promise me that. We're meant to be mortal enemies or something," I replied. He chuckled and the sound had my heart racing again. I might have wanted to do more than sit beside him in that moment, but I held back. It didn't solve my long term problem and I certainly wasn't about to start trusting a vampire. No matter how hot he was.

This mission was a failure and I had to figure out how to salvage it still. If Leo would just let me think, and not keep trying to seduce me, I might be able to focus on a solution. After all, it wasn't as if he was offering to keep me as an enthralled or anything anymore.