The Hunted (9 page)

His eyes widened in shock and awe as George took another step closer and touched a finger to the policeman’s forehead. Light pulsed through the end of his finger and spread a warm wash of red over the policeman’s entire face. It soaked into his skin like a tide of thick, red water that consumed his skin inch by inch until he looked as red as a tomato.

‘
Defanacus
,’ George murmured, before releasing his finger and squatting down in front of the officer.

The policeman was instantly still, his eyes unfocused as if caught in a trance.

‘You will get back into your squad car, turn around and head back to the fire,’ George said quietly. ‘You are satisfied that we answered all of your questions, finding nothing suspicious or reasons to detain us. Do you understand?’

The policeman nodded. George stood up and came back to the car, lowering himself into the seat and starting the engine.

I glanced back down at the officer, who was still sitting in a daze in the middle of the road and then continued to watch him as our car pulled away. I had only seen the Defanacus charm used once, and that was purely for training purposes. This powerful spell caused memory loss and transplanted memories over others. It was not dissimilar to the compelling or glamour techniques of a vampire. I wondered briefly if it had ever been used on me before.

Probably.

It would certainly explain all of the holes in my knowledge of my own life.

‘Still pretending to be asleep, Elena?’ George asked quietly as he pulled onto the highway, the car almost rolling up onto two wheels as he turned.

Lucas snorted again loudly and then sat up. He opened his eyes as if someone had just shaken him awake. ‘What did I miss?’ he said sleepily, rubbing his fingers across his eyes. There was a small trail of drool running down his chin and he quickly wiped it away.

‘Nothing,’ George countered. ‘Elena and I are just about to discuss her punishment for tonight’s stupidity.’

Lucas grinned and looked over at me, rubbing his hands together in delight. ‘Excellent,’ was all he said. If I hadn’t been such a good sister, I probably would have

smacked him in the face right now, just to wipe away the supercilious grin he was still wearing.

What a dumb ass.

CHAPTER THREE:

SECRETS

T
he harsh Queensland sunlight streamed in through the open window and rapidly began to warm the swathes of fabric huddled around me, despite the winter chill in the air.

August was a fantastic time in Cairns. It was still cold enough to enjoy wearing jackets and jeans, but warm enough during the day that neither was exactly necessary. At least it was warmer here than it had been in Brisbane.

I pulled the blanket up over my head to shut out the light that was trying to break through my closed eyelids. I could have slept for a few more hours if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was fast becoming a sauna under all these layers, and my alarm clock was no doubt going to go off at any minute.

I groaned loudly and flung the blanket off my slightly sweaty body and reluctantly pushed myself up off the bed.

Why hadn’t I called in sick?

It was Saturday today, which meant I had to go to work. Not something I was particularly looking forward to given we’d only just arrived home again, late last night. Hunting those two werewolves yesterday had to be infinitely more exciting than fluffing pillows and arranging table displays at the furniture store where I worked. Not to mention that I was dead tired.

The trip had taken just over eighteen hours by road and my ears were still ringing from the lecture I had received from both Susan and George all the way home. I had never heard them use the words ‘irresponsible’ and ‘stupid’ so many times in the one lecture, which was odd given the fact that I was susceptible to frequent bouts of irrational behaviour. For example, if Susan said I couldn’t leave the house while they were out of town, I had a party at home. If she said I was grounded on a Saturday night, then I went out on Friday and Sunday night instead.

You get the point.

Susan and George called it blatant stubbornness.

I preferred to call it ‘spirited’.

I opened the bedroom door, waltzed down the hall and into the bathroom to wash away the incoming wave of sleepiness. The cool water coming out of the faucet was divine. I cupped my hands and splashed my face and neck with it, washing away the remnants of sleep. I also pulled a brush through my hair, straightening out the ringlets, before tying it into a loose knot. Tic Tac’s stock prices went down as I brushed my teeth with super strong peppermint paste, and Kleenex’s stock prices went up when I went to the toilet—but at least I was now suitably primped and preened, ready to face the world without offending anyone.

The house around me sounded empty as I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was empty, and a quick inspection of the rest of the house indicated that no one was at home.

What time is it?

I went back into the kitchen and looked at the clock on the microwave. It was almost eight. Maybe they went to the IMI today?

From upstairs I heard my alarm clock blaring noisily on my bedside table.

I dashed up the stairs, into my room and switched it off. I was wide awake now.

I pulled my nightshirt over my head and tossed it onto the side of my bed. I padded over to my dresser, pulled out a bra, and slipped it on. Then I yanked down my black dress pants from the hanger and the unironed cotton T-shirt that were my uniform, a dress requirement of my job.

I stepped into my black slip on shoes after I had secured on the pants and pulled the ugly pink T-shirt over my head. I straightened the collar around my neck and then glided over to the dresser to apply some lip balm. All in all, the beautifying process took no longer than a few minutes.

I glanced at the clock—still plenty of time to have some breakfast. At least that was something I was still allowed to do without asking permission.

As expected, after eighteen hours straight of lecturing, I was grounded.

For a month this time.

It was definitely a little longer than usual, but nothing I couldn’t handle or hadn’t already anticipated. Needless to say my window was going to get a work out this month. I may have been grounded and had received explicit instructions that I was not to step foot out of the front door without prior permission, but no one said anything about the window.

I smiled. It wasn’t really my fault if they left giant gaping holes open to side step their punishment.

My mobile phone trilled on the bedside table and I ducked around the edge of the mattress to answer it. It was Kayla.

‘What’s up?’

‘Are you allergic to calling me back or something?’

‘What? Not even a hello for me?’ I said grinning.

She harrumphed. ‘I only say hello to friends who call me back.’

I laughed. ‘Sorry. We were on the road, I couldn’t get very good cell coverage and it was really too late to call you back.’

She snorted. ‘Bad cell coverage? Are you serious? You were travelling on Highway One. There’s cell coverage everywhere. At least if you’re going to give me a lame excuse for not calling me back, make it a good one.’

‘Okay, truth?’

‘Yes, the truth.’

‘I was getting my ass chewed out by a couple of werewolves. One of them slashed my shoulder and the other one nearly chewed my arm off. That’s why I couldn’t get to the phone.’

She snorted again and then laughed begrudgingly. ‘At least the other story sounded more believable.’

I grinned. Kayla was human through and through. She had no idea about my heritage or what my ‘family’ did, and I was hoping to keep it that way.

‘You still want me to pick you up for work this morning?’

I almost began groaning all over again. ‘Yeah thanks, that would be great. My family appears to have gone AWOL.’

‘Righto, well I guess I’ll see you in about twenty minutes then,’ she said, sounding bored.

‘Hey Kayla?’ I asked, just before she hung up on me.

‘Yeah?’

‘What were you ringing me for anyway? It couldn’t have been just to scold me.’

‘Nothing in particular. I just wanted to tell you about this really hot guy that came into the store yesterday.’

‘That was it?’

She huffed. ‘Can you think of anything more important than a hot guy?’

I laughed in spite of myself. I could think of a million things actually. Boys weren’t exactly high up on my list of priorities right now. I had had one boyfriend in my whole life—his name was Stephen, and that turned out to be a total mistake—a waste of my time. The guy was a paranoid, possessive, delusional jackass.

Enough said.

‘Okay. I guess you’ll tell me all about it when you pick me up then.’

‘No doubt,’ she said, giggling as she hung up the phone.

I smiled as I slipped my mobile into my back pack and threw it over my shoulder before heading back downstairs.

I grabbed the Coco Pops from the pantry and a clean bowl and spoon out of the dishwasher. I made light work of my breakfast as I waited for Kayla to turn up.

I hated this time of the day on a Saturday. It meant that I still had eight hours left before the end of my shift. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my job. In fact, working in the little boutique homewares store was actually quite nice compared to other jobs out there. I certainly couldn’t see myself handing out burgers through a drive through window or checking groceries at the supermarket. That meant far too much customer interaction for my liking, and a lot of unnecessary smiling.

It was bad enough that for eight hours on a Saturday I had to make believe that scented candles, vases, platters, furniture, and scatter cushions were the most important elements to making a house a home. Not only that, I had to lie to Kayla in every conversation that we had about everything that I did and about everyone that I knew.

She was a good friend, probably my best. But since she was pretty much my only friend outside of the IMI, I treasured her dearly, and hated the fact that she had to remain ignorant.

But it was safer for her this way. Besides, if she ever knew what I actually was and the things I was trained to do, I couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t scream and run for the hills.

I took my empty bowl back over to the sink and washed it up and set it on the draining board. It wouldn’t be long before Kayla got here.

I grabbed my back pack from the dining room floor and wandered into the living room. I plonked myself down onto the sofa, grabbed the remote for the television and switched it on.