The Forbidden: A Huntress Novel (The Huntress Series Book 1) (29 page)

I gave her an apologetic smile. “I was just like you when Lucas and I started dating. I don’t particularly like what he has to do, but it comes with the package deal.”

“Are there any more blood lusting creatures expected to just pop up here? I would love to know so I can prepare myself. It saves me from having a damn heart attack.”

“No one is expected to come, just me.”

“Good, because I don’t think I will be comfortable dealing with more than one of you.”

I smacked her arm and glowered at her. “Shut it.”

“Sorry,” She mumbled.

“How is Eli? Has he forgiven me yet?”

Chelsea grabbed my arm forcing me to face her. “You are the one who took Eli?”

“Yes, but it was only to save him.”

“How is taking him off of the machines saving him?” She scowled my way as she realized what I had done. “Please tell me he isn’t a vampire.”

“There was no other way. I couldn’t let him die.”

She grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me forward as our noses practically touched. “That is not an excuse to turn him into one of them!”

I shoved her back as she struggled to gain her footing and fell on her backside.

“He is alive and that is all that matters to me. Eli is still the same person, he’s just not human anymore!”

“Stop it, both of you. Now is not the time to make enemies, Aaron is out there looking for you all and it’s best for all of you if you stick together. You will at least have a fighting chance then.”

He held his hand out for Chelsea to take. She stared at his hand, unsure if she should touch him or not. “I’m not going to bite you. I promise if you take my hand, my skin won’t infect you with my venom.”

She hesitantly placed her hand in his gasping from the contact. “You’re cold.”

He chuckled. “I’m dead.”

“As for Eli, well, he is coming around. He is accepting what he can’t change. He is worried about you, Athena, so he doesn’t hate you. Your beef with your father has brought out the protector in him, so there’s still hope for a reconciliation.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good to hear.”

Chelsea walked over to the door and opened it. “How do you feel about being inside a cabin filled with reapers?”

He shrugged. “I snuck into Athena’s bedroom knowing there were about fifty hunters in the manor, so I think I can handle a group of you.”

Chelsea narrowed her eyes as she set her sights on me. “It just amazes me with how little you tell me these days.”

I shrugged. “It was my little secret.”

“I know,” she said dryly as she exited the room.

I intertwined my fingers with his as I led the way downstairs. I wasn’t sure how everyone would act toward him, but I’m sure it will be an awkward welcome.  After all, a hunter and a vampire can’t turn into the best of friends and an ally in one night.

“Are you nervous?”

“Not really.”

“Even though the odds of winning a fight when you are outnumbered is unlikely?”

“You wouldn’t sit back and let them hurt me, so I would at least have one person on my side.”

“You would have two people on your side, actually. My friend Kyle is willing to give you a chance because you killed Aubrey, who murdered his fiancé. Maybe his thank you to you would be to protect you.”

The door to the dining area was cracked as a bunch of chatty voices flowed out into the living room. Entering the dining area, Lucas and I were greeted with an awkward silence and four glowing reaper eyes staring up at us.

Chapter Thirty-One

Livi smiled warmly as she sat a bowl of salad down on the dining room table. “I know you don’t eat our food, but you could still sit here if you want.” She said.

Chelsea snorted. “Oh trust me, he ate alright, and it was a five star meal.”

Taylor nudged her in the side with his elbow as she took a sip of her drink.

“Well, he said it first. I was just repeating it.”

“I’m sure you would taste better than my last meal,” He teased.

She scowled at him. “You can keep your fangs to yourself.”

He grinned. “If you insist.”

I sat down beside Livi and tugged on Lucas’s arm for him to sit beside me. All of the tension I noticed in him before had washed away when he started teasing Chelsea.

“So, Lukey. Can I call you Lukey?” Taylor asked.

His lips curled into a smile. “If that’s what you prefer, then yeah.”

“Okay, Lukey it is. How did you just all of a sudden appear. My cabin is kind of secluded from the rest of the cabin’s up here. Was it Athena’s blood scent?”

“No, it wasn’t. Although, she does have a very distinctive smell because she is my life mate. I can pick up on her scent if she’s not that far away. Werewolves can sniff their mates out miles away, not vampires. I used magic. My sister has witch in her and one of her potions brought me here.”

“So, is her scent stronger when she has her monthly…thing?” Taylor asked.

I choked down my food as I stared at Taylor in shock while Isaac and Kyle burst into laughter. I couldn’t believe he just asked that question.

“Taylor, that’s not an appropriate question to ask.” Chelsea chastised.

“What? I’m just curious.”

“Well zip it, curious George!”

“Oh come on, we were all thinking it.”

“Lucas, don’t answer that question. I really don’t want to know if my scent is stronger during that time, it will make me self-conscious.”

I ran my hand through my hair as my cheeks warmed in embarrassment. This was by far the most awkward, stressful dinner I have ever had to endure. Taylor has no filter for his mouth when it comes to asking a vampire questions.

The dining room fell into an awkward silence once again as we ate our pasta. In an attempt to get everyone engaging in conversation again, I kicked Kyle in the shin who sat in front of me.

He jumped as his startled eyes found mine. “What?” He mouthed.

“Say something,” I mouthed.

The pressure of having to start up a conversation must have got to him. He searched around the room looking lost and desperate for inspiration as to what topic he could bring up.

“Say, Taylor, that’s a really nice deer head you have there.”

Everyone stopped eating and gazed up at the deer head hanging on the wall.

“Yeah, my father and I go hunting a lot. It’s part of our father and son bonding time. We shot that deer two years ago.”

“Taylor tried to convince me to go hunting one time, but I am an animal lover and I wouldn’t be able to watch him kill a deer or even shoot one myself.” Chelsea said.

“Killing an animal shouldn’t be difficult if you can kill a person.” Lucas said.

Chelsea pursed her lips as their eyes locked. “Your kind aren’t people.”

“No fighting,” I warned.

This conversation was getting serious very fast and if I didn’t stop them the conversation would escalate into a fight.

Lucas leaned forward propping his elbows up on the table. “Could I ask you a question?” He looked over at my Uncle Nolan whose brows rose in surprise as he swallowed his food and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

“Yeah, anything.”

“What exactly is in S.H. 47?”

“You know about S.H. 47?” Isaac asked.

“Of course he does, Athena tells him everything.” Chelsea said.

“Is it confidential?” Lucas asked.

“We aren’t used to discussing our experiments with your kind.” Livi said.

I ate the rest of my pasta and pushed my plate away. “I would like to know what you have in the liquid also.”

Whatever it is did a fantastic job with preventing Eli’s change, but he got their eventually.

“There are only two things in the liquid.” Uncle Nolan said.

“Such as.” I said.

My Uncle Nolan and Livi glanced at each other before looking down as they kept quiet.

“They aren’t saying anything, which means it’s probably bad and we’re not going to like it.” Chelsea said.

“More like offensive to Lucas.” Uncle Nolan said.

“Okay, what is it?” Kyle urged on.

Livi glanced over at Lucas, hesitant to speak. “You tell them,” She said to Uncle Nolan.

He shook his head as he grabbed his drink and gulped it down.

“Livi.” I said.

She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Vampire blood to obtain super strength and werewolf blood to fight off a vampire bite.”

Lucas scowled down at the table. “Oh.”

“That’s only the main ingredients, but there’s a whole lot more that goes in it to make the liquid effective.” Livi said.

Glass came flying through the air as the dining room window shattered and in came two reapers, Roman and Jessica. It was weird to see two of my fellow hunters who used to be on my side and hunted with me was now against me and hunting me down…I was the enemy now. I was a bigger target for my father than any vampire would ever be.

I jumped to my feet. My reaper wasted no time in making its appearance.     Lucas picked his chair up and hit Roman as he stumbled backward knocking into the wall. He yanked Roman up by the shirt and bit into his neck as Kyle and Jessica battled.

Jessica swung her knife at Kyle; he jumped back as the blade just missed his neck. He shoved his foot in her stomach forcing her against the wall and stabbed her in the neck with his fork.

Hunters swarmed in on us in every direction outnumbering us. The moment my eyes locked with my father, I knew then that death was near for all of us.

****

I see nothing. I have a black blindfold tied around my head covering my eyes and rope wrapped around my wrists bounding them together. I could hear the hunters’ footsteps stammering on the ground all around me as I walked to an unknown destination.

My skin crawled as someone’s breath touched the back of my neck as they walked closely behind me, pushing me in the back with their hand urging me to walk faster.

I didn’t have a plan thought out. My father and his reapers ambushed us the moment they found our location so none of us were able to discuss the next move. I was compliant and let them take me without putting up a fight, which caught them off guard as my calm behavior was very unexpected. The chances of me taking down my father and his hunter’s outnumbered was unlikely, so I decided to make it simple for everyone and not prolong the inevitable.

I was prepared for the worse knowing I wasn’t going to make it out of this battle alive. I tried to soothe my nerves and accept the fate I was given. I gasped and stumbled backward as I came crashing into someone in front of me. As my blindfold came off, I was shoved forward and fell on my knees and arms.

My eyes widened as a samurai sword came into sight. I looked up at my father who stood in front of me glowering down at me.

I pushed myself up with my arms as I kneeled in front of him. He squatted down and yanked my arms forward as he pressed the blade to the rope and cut my hands free.

I looked around rubbing my wrists as I searched for my friends and Lucas in the crowd, but I was the only one they took. I knew they were dead, there were too many hunters to fight against to be able to survive. None of them had a fighting chance. Guilt and sorrow settled in my heart shattering any hope that maybe one of them escaped the wrath of my father, but I knew better than to hope for something that was highly unlikely.

“Stand on your feet,” My father demanded.

My legs shook as I obeyed his command. He looked around the woods at the dozens and dozens of hunters and huntresses that surrounded us.

“Bring the boy to me.” He said.

Two hunters came from out of the crowd, each of them holding one of Isaac’s arms as they dragged him over to my father.

My mouth fell open as tears dripped from my eyes. His face was beaten so bad that he was unrecognizable. I knew my father’s game. He kept Isaac alive to punish me. I knew exactly what he was planning to do and I had to try and prevent it from happening.

“Isaac,” I cried.

His head snapped up, both of his eyes were swollen shut. He couldn’t see me, but he could hear me.

“It’s okay, Athena.”

“No, it’s not. I’m so sorry.”

My father grasped my hair. “Look at him. Look at what you did to him. This is all your fault.”

“Please, don’t hurt him. I’m begging you not to hurt him,” I cried.

Isaac dying was never something I wanted to happen. I still care for him despite all of the fighting that went on between us. Adam can’t lose him, Isaac is all he has.

“He betrayed me when he decided to help you. He must pay for turning his back on me.”

“It’s my fault. I deserve all of the punishment, let him go.”

“He didn’t mean anything to you before.”

My father pressed the sword to Isaac’s throat.

I gasped. “No!”

His lips twitched with a smile as he locked eyes with me. “He’s going to die because of you, Athena.”

My father backed away as I crawled over to Isaac and wrapped my arms around him.

“How sweet. A goodbye hug.” My father said.

“Let him kill me. I traded my life for yours. You’re safe.”

“No, you can’t die. Adam.”

“Has you.”

“No, he needs you.”

“Promise me that you will take care of him,” His voice was shaky and low.

He was holding back his tears. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave Adam behind. He was doing it for me, thinking he was protecting me, a traitor whose friends paid for her betrayal.

“I promise.”

If I made it out of here alive, then I would keep my promise, but surviving the night would be unlikely.

His tears dripped on my shoulder. “Tell him that I love him,” He cried.

I was dragged away from Isaac, fighting against the huntress that held me back as my father sliced his throat open.

“No!” I screamed.

Isaac’s mouth fell open as blood poured from his neck. His face bared so much pain as he tried to catch a breath of air.

I tried to pull my arm from the huntress’s grasp, but she tightened her hold. I needed to get to Isaac and I wasn’t going to let her stop me. I elbowed her in the face and ran over to him.

I held him in my arms, rocking him back and forth, as I applied pressure to his neck. “Don’t die, Isaac. Come on, keep breathing.”

I needed Lucas. He had to come and save him just like he saved Eli. “Lucas!” I screamed.

I didn’t know whether or not he was dead, I hoped he wasn’t. Violet, she would be able to sense my calling. She could save him. I screamed her name, hoping she would hear my calling and come, but she didn’t show.

I looked down at Isaac, he laid so still in my arms and I knew he was gone.

“Okay, that’s enough.” My father dragged me away from Isaac. “All of you leave. This is my fight.”

The hunters and huntresses all looked around at each other, slowly and reluctantly backing away as they cleared the woods. They didn’t trust that my father could easily end my existence. They didn’t know that he was a reaper who was older and stronger than I was and had the agility and strength to outwit and end me.

I think I may have just met my match.

My father threw the samurai sword down at my feet as he took out his dagger, the one that electrocuted my insides.

I couldn’t let him win, I had to try my hardest to kill him. He killed Isaac and he had to pay. I couldn’t let my father get away with his death. I had to take vengeance against him for me, Isaac, and Adam. I picked up the sword and ran my finger over the blade, splitting my skin open.

“Father, daughter showdown.” I said.

Before he even had time to respond or even blink, I swung the sword cutting him across his face. He stumbled backward holding his cut as he looked at me in shock. I swung my sword once more, but he caught my arm and shoved his foot in my stomach. His kick had no effect on me. I didn’t wince, I didn’t feel any pain and my feet didn’t move from their spot. My reaper was stronger than his human side.

He wiped his blood on his pants.

“What am I too much to handle?”

I balled my fist and punched him in the jaw. His head snapped to the side as blood spilled from his mouth. I used all of the strength that I had in that punch. I wanted to make him hurt. I want to break his damn jaw. As he slowly turned to face me, his eyes opened showing his reaper eyes.