Chapter 22
Addison
It had been hours since Hunter and I had been trapped, and the silence was wearing on us both. What was left of Hunter's usual ease was slipping into something... frantic. Her movements were sharper, more restless. She kept her distance, pacing back and forth at the opposite end of the room. Her gaze would flick to me occasionally, then away, fighting some internal battle I couldn’t see.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked eventually, even though I already knew the answer.
Hunter just gave me a tight smile, hands clenching and unclenching. Her usually steady expression was strained. For some reason, she was unraveling. And she looked... hungry, in a way I couldn’t quite place.
“Well.” I let out a shaky breath, stretching my legs out where I sat on the floor. “I’d rate this experience one star. Wouldn’t recommend it.”
Hunter let out a soft huff of laughter, though it sounded forced.
“The ambiance is lacking,” she agreed, tone dry as she scuffed her boot on the floor. “And the service is garbage.”
“Oh, absolutely.” I shifted again, leaning back against the wall. “Not even a complimentary snack. What kind of establishment is this?”
Hunter finally looked at me. “Do you want to encourage them to bring in food? Because I have a feeling it wouldn’t be your standard cheese platter.”
I shuddered, though I appreciated her attempt at humor. “Good point. Maybe I’ll stick with the fine dining we’ve got going on here – stale air and ominous vibes.”
She smirked faintly but didn’t respond, her gaze drifting to the floor as her fingers twitched at her sides. Despite the banter, her agitation was palpable. I watched her for a moment. She looked wound tight, on the verge of snapping. The tense silence settled over us again.
“We were so close to finding Penelope,” I murmured, staring at the floor, at my palms, at our dismal situation. “Why did I have to fuck it up and get myself caught?”
Hunter stopped pacing abruptly, sighed, and then sat on the floor across from me. “On that note – do you know why they took you?”
I shrugged, thinking back to Cathrine Raine’s cryptic words. “Cathy mentioned something about my scent. Said it was special. I don’t know what that means, but I’ve been thinking… it has to be connected to the A-gene, right?”
“It’s possible.” Hunter groaned, rubbing a hand down her face. “But all our speculations won’t mean shit if we can’t get out of here.”
Her words hit harder than I wanted to admit, and I stared at the floor. “Do you think your friends will come looking for you?”
Hunter leaned her head back against the wall, her expression grim. “I’m sure they’ll try. But no one knows where I am or where to start looking. And I didn’t exactly leave a detailed itinerary.”
“What about family?” I asked tentatively, shooting her a glance. “Anyone who’ll be worried about you?”
She laughed, low and sardonic, and there was a definite bitterness in her tone. “Definitely not.”
“Why not?”
Hunter hesitated, biting her lip, debating whether we were doomed enough to swap tragic backstories. Finally, she exhaled, slumping back against the opposite wall. “Let’s just say my childhood wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy. My parents were kind of… afraid of me. For reasons I’d rather not get into.”
The words hung heavy in the air, but I couldn’t stop myself from pressing. “Afraid? Why?”
Her jaw clenched and for a moment she didn’t respond. But then she spoke, her voice quieter than before. “I could do this thing – charm people, I guess? I was – am – very convincing. My parents didn’t like that. They didn’t trust me.”
I frowned, skeptical. “I don’t get it. You were born a saleswoman and they wanted you to have a future in the arts?”
That got a genuine laugh out of her and she shook her head, a smile creeping across her features before disappearing again. “Sure, something like that. Anyway, it all came to a head one day and my dad tried to drown me. In the bathtub.”
All at once, the air seemed to leave the room.
I stared at her, horrified, my mind struggling to process the words. I remembered her confession back at the spa, her fear. The way she’d brushed it off like the topic was a hot poker, too painful to grasp with both hands. “Hunter…”
She shrugged, though the haunted look in her eyes betrayed her. “Yeah well, they’re long gone now and I’ve learned to deal with it.”
“That’s not something you just ‘deal’ with.” My voice trembled slightly, a touch of sympathy, and a touch of fury tinging my every word.
Hunter’s lips quirked in a faint, humorless smile. “It would’ve been the end of me if Jordan hadn’t shown up when she did. She poked her nose where she wasn’t supposed to, swooped in and saved my life – and that was that.”
Her words were so matter of fact, but the pain behind them was impossible to miss. I wanted to reach out, to comfort her, but I wasn’t sure if she’d even accept it. If I wasn’t convinced this gorgeous woman needed therapy before, I sure as hell considered recommending it then.
“Hunter, I–”
“Don’t.” She cut me off, the words harsh and biting. “It’s done. I made it out, and I’ve been fine ever since.”
I wanted to get closer, to comfort her the way she’d comforted me so many times before. But the moment I got to my feet, her whole body tensed up.
“Stay there,” she muttered, her voice muffled through her hands as she lifted them to her face. “Just… stay over there.”
I frowned, ignoring her warning as I took a tentative step toward her. “You’ve been acting weird since they threw you in here. What happened?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled, shaking her head. Her hands clenched tighter against her mouth as though they were the only thing stopping her from saying something she’d regret. “Addison, please, just don’t come any closer.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” I muttered, crouching in front of her. “Now is not the time to act all dark and mysterious. Just tell me what’s going on.”
She flinched when I reached for her hand, smacking mine away with a speed that startled me.
“Addison, I’m serious,” she snapped, voice raw as it burst from her throat. “It’s not safe.”
That was when I noticed it, the faint gleam of her teeth as her lips parted. Her canines, longer and sharper than they had any right to be, caught the light, and my breath hitched. Her eyes met mine then and I saw something raw and feral in them – something unmistakably hungry.
I froze, and all at once the disjointed puzzle pieces that made up the woman before me clicked neatly into place.
“Hunter.” I spoke quietly, my voice trembling despite my best effort to stay calm. “Are you… are you a vampire?”
Her entire body went still.
For a long moment I thought she might deny it, that the confinement was getting to me, that I was dead wrong. But then she lowered her hands, dropping them in defeat.
“Yes.”
I swallowed hard, my pulse pounding in my ears. “Are you… hungry?”
Hunter’s jaw clenched, her hands balling into fists at her sides, the single word drenched in acidic self-loathing. “Starving.”
Fear bubbled up in my chest but I shoved it down, forcing myself to focus. Hunter stared forward, so controlled, yet so obviously teetering on the edge. She’d had plenty of opportunities to hurt me before now – more than enough. She’d fought for me, risked everything to help me. If she’d wanted to hurt me, she would have done it already.
My throat tightened and I made a decision.
“Hunter.” I spoke carefully, inching closer. “You can take it. My blood, I mean.”
“No!” She said it immediately, pupils blown wide in panic. “Absolutely not. I’m not in control right now, Addison. I could hurt–”
“You need it,” I insisted, reaching for her hand. “You said you’re starving. You need your strength if we’re going to get out of here and save my sister.”
“Addison. Stop .”
The word hit me like a physical force and I felt my body freeze in place, as though my muscles had locked up against my will. For a brief, horrifying moment, I couldn’t move.
Then the sensation faded and I stumbled back, my heart racing. “Oh my god – what the hell was that?!”
Hunter looked just as horrified as I felt, lips parted as the command – the coercion – faded on her tongue.
“Fuck, Addison – I’m sorry,” she stuttered, her voice cracking. “I didn’t mean to–”
Her words cut out abruptly and she buried her head between her knees, tangled hair flowing over her face like a veil.
When she spoke again her tone was resigned, like she’d sealed her fate with a single, potent word. “We should never have gotten in this deep. If we make it out of here, you need to forget about me. All of this. It’s better that way.”
I stared at her, every memory of that charismatic smile of hers rushing through my mind. She had turned it on everyone who had wronged me, and even some who hadn’t; the drunk guy on the night we first met, the guys who attacked me, the janitor, Esmerelde’s assistant.
That charm she wielded, the way she could get people to do whatever she wanted – it wasn’t just charisma. It was something else. Something supernatural. After experiencing it first hand, I understood that it was something dangerous too.
I considered what she’d let on about Selene, that untold catastrophe that had doomed their relationship. If Hunter had done to Selene what she’d just done to me, she considered it something unforgivable.
But it wasn’t the full picture. Beneath the sharp edges and the layers of guilt, I could see the Hunter who had risked everything to save me. The Hunter who had been at my side all along.
In the end, the choice was easy. It always had been.
“No.” I said it firmly, something both fierce and fragile taking root in my chest. “We don’t have time to mope. Drink my blood and we can talk about this later.”
Hunter lifted her head slowly, plain shock written on her features.
I took advantage of the moment, reaching for her hand and holding it firmly in mine. “If I have to choose between being someone’s test subject or being drained by a vampire I’ve come to care for, I’m choosing the vampire.”
Hunter’s fingers trembled in mine, her sharp features shadowed with disbelief. She stared at me, her jaw tight, her eyes flitting between my face and the wrist I slowly raised toward her. Her eyes were full of conflict, her hunger warring with her resolve.
“Addison, I don’t think you understand,” she whispered, her voice tinged with both warning and a flailing desperation. “I’ve gone too long without blood. I don’t know if I can stop.”
I ignored the plea, keeping my gaze locked on hers. “You’re starving, and we’re trapped in here. If we’re going to get out and find Penelope, I need you at your strongest. This is the only way.”
Her lips parted, but no words came. I could see her throat working as she swallowed hard, her fangs gleaming faintly in the light. But she didn’t move. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t lean closer either.
“I trust you, Hunter.” I spoke quietly, offering her my wrist. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
“You’re insane,” she muttered, though the words held no bite. “You should be running as far away from me as you can.”
“Can’t,” I said simply. “We’re locked in, remember?”
The corner of her mouth twitched, almost like she wanted to smile despite herself. But then her expression darkened again and she whispered, “This isn’t fair to you.”
“Life’s not fair,” I countered. “But you’ve done nothing but protect me, Hunter. Let me do this for you.”
She exhaled shakily, her gaze dropping to my wrist. Her hand came up slowly, hesitating as though the mere act of touching me would break whatever fragile restraint she was clinging to. When her fingers finally brushed against my skin, I felt her shudder.
“Addison…” she murmured again, her voice trembling. “Please. Just pull away.”
I didn’t. I leaned closer instead, pressing my wrist gently to her lips. Her breath was cool against my skin and I felt her flinch, felt her fighting herself every step of the way.
“Do it,” I urged softly, somehow not even slightly surprised to find that my next words were entirely true. “I’m not scared.”
Hunter’s shoulders slumped and she let out a low, resigned sigh.
“You should be,” she muttered. But then, with infinite care, she tilted her head and pressed her lips to my wrist.
The first bite stung, a sharp, searing pain that made me gasp. My body instinctively tensed, but Hunter’s other hand came up to steady me. The initial pain ebbed quickly, replaced by a strange warmth that spread through me like liquid fire.
Hunter drank slowly, carefully, and as the moments passed, the tension in her body seemed to ease. Her hand slid up my arm, her touch growing gentler like she was afraid I might crumble under her fingertips.
I found myself relaxing despite the situation, my free hand lifting almost unconsciously to thread through her hair. It was soft beneath my fingers and I stroked it gently, losing myself to the moment – to her.
When Hunter finally pulled away her lips were stained crimson, her breathing heavy. Something in her expression demonstrated a quiet devastation. I reached up, cupping her cheek in my palm. Her skin was cool to the touch and I felt her lean into it slightly, searching for a comfort she didn’t know how to ask for.
“I trust you,” I said again, my voice steady despite the whirlwind of emotions inside me.
Her eyes searched mine, and finally she nodded, almost imperceptibly. “I’ll keep you safe. I swear it.”
I smiled faintly, letting my thumb brush over her cheekbone. “Good. Because I have a plan.”