It was odd. There was once a time in my life when the thought of someone looking at me with that kind of terror and dread would have been a blade in my heart. It would have left me feeling like a monster. Something that didn’t deserve to walk under the same sky as the rest of humanity.
Instead, his fear sent a pulse of delight through me. It made me feel indestructible. He was right to fear me. I could end him with a snap of my fingers. All it would take was a moment of carelessness on my end. A split second of inattention in regards to my strength and squish. Bye bye, human.
“You okay?” Caroline asked, a concerned look on her face.
I shook myself, her question jogging me out of the strange place I’d just been in. “Yeah. Of course.”
Caroline stared at me for a second. Long enough that it was obvious she didn’t believe my assurances.
“I’m fine, Caro. I promise.”
The harsh frown lines in her brow softened as she finally let the subject drop. “We’re going to talk about this later.”
“Uh huh. Whatever you say.”
Despite my flippancy, a part of me was hoping she followed up on her threat. Something in me had changed over the past months. The worst part was how little the change in my personality bothered me.
That lack of concern was what scared me the most.
Caroline nodded at the exit up ahead. “What do you think? North or south.”
I hesitated, putting some thought into my answer. “South takes him towards Worthington.”
There wasn’t much there that I could think of that would interest a hunter. It was a cute neighborhood, mostly geared toward families. As a result, its downtown pretty much closed by nine.
“His end goal might be further south. There’s a lot of bars just a few minutes outside of there.”
I’d considered that. The Blue Pepper, a bar owned by a friend of mine and Caroline’s, was in that direction too. It was a mecca for supernaturals. Exactly the sort of place a hunter might stake out to find new prey.
Except if that was the case, he would have gotten off the highway much earlier. There were easier and more direct routes than the one we were on. Unless his goal was to be as confusing and obnoxious as possible.
A possibility I wasn’t quite ready to discard.
“Looks like we’re wrong, he just got off heading north.” Caroline grinned over at me. “This night just gets more and more interesting.”
I’ll say.
For the life of me, I couldn’t think what could be drawing the hunter in that direction.
Caroline tapped the driver on the shoulder. “You can go ahead and speed up. We don’t want to lose him.”
The human made a high-pitched sound that could have been a moan or a mumble of agreement. It was hard to tell.
Caroline frowned in disgust as she slanted a look at me. “Tell me again why we couldn’t take your car?”
“Besides the fact that it screams ‘look at me’ and isn’t suitable for surveillance work?”
I loved everything about my Jaguar F-Type. Its speed. Its maneuverability. Even its very distinctive color. A burnt umber that stood out even at night.
Its only drawback was how noticeable it was. It wasn’t exactly the type of car that went unnoticed.
Besides, my quarry was familiar with the car I drove. He would have known the moment I started tailing him.
Though since he’d figured it out anyway, I could have saved myself some trouble.
The driver stomped on the gas pedal. The car jolted and shot forward.
“Whoa, friend. Let’s not go too crazy. This isn’t a race,” Caroline cautioned.
