Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“Bobby?” I mumbled. The familiar tired haze I got after eating settled in on me. My inner thigh tingled and itched like crazy, meaning it was healing.

“You nearly killed him, Alice!” Milo yelled at me.

“She had to do it, or she would’ve died!” Jack shouted. He was still holding me in his arms, but more gently. He just wanted me near him.

I wiped Bobby’s blood away from my mouth and tried to sit up. We were sitting on black top next to a white building, and when I looked up, I realized it was the Basilica of St. Mary, a massive cathedral a block away from the park. Jack had carried me over here, away from the police, and then tried to fix me up. I felt like passing out, but I was fighting it. We weren’t safe here, not with the lycan after us, and I had to do something.

“I never should’ve let him come with.” Milo stroked Bobby’s hair. I could hear his heart beating, and it was still strong, so I knew I hadn’t killed him, but he had completely passed out. Not to mention the fact that he belonged to Milo, and vampires hated sharing their humans with other vampires.

Even though he loved me, it had to be driving Milo crazy to let me bite him.

“That is why I let him come with,” Jack admitted sourly.

“What?” Milo glared at Jack. “You brought him along to feed her?”

“He saved your sister’s life, didn’t he?” Jack countered.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized weakly. I tried to sit up again, but that was all I had in me. Jack’s arms were strong and warm, and I finally gave into them. Darkness rolled over me, and I passed out.

I awoke on the floor. After everything I’d gone through, I felt surprisingly good. When I opened my eyes, all I could see were the beautiful gold and white ceilings of the cathedral. Bobby was lying next to me, sound asleep himself, and I felt this strange pulling in my heart for him. Not like love or even a crush, but just a connection. He had shared himself with me, and in return, he’d gotten some of me as well.

I had never fed on a human before, and I was surprised to find that I felt anything for him afterwards. I didn’t have time to ponder the details of our relationship, though, because I heard voices talking.

I got my feet, still feeling kind of dazed and drunk. We were in the balcony of the church, surrounded by pews and crosses, and Jack, Milo, Peter, Ezra, and Olivia were standing at the other end.

They had been trying to let us sleep, which was ridiculous. I needed to be awake and strong for this. Their voices were hushed, and I tried to sneak over to them, but I stumbled and bumped into a pew.

“Oh good. She’s awake,” Milo muttered dryly, so apparently he wasn’t ready to forgive me yet.

“What’s going?” I asked when I reached them. They were standing in a circle, making some kind of plan, and I squeezed in between Jack and Ezra. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We called them,” Jack said, and I couldn’t believe that he’d called Peter. Ezra, I understood, but I was pretty sure he hated Peter now more than ever. But here they were, standing in a circle, and Jack wasn’t trying to kill him. “We couldn’t get to the car because of the police, and we didn’t want the lycan to follow us back home anyway.”

“I called Olivia because she’s the only really equipped to deal with them,” Ezra said.

“And I’d do anything for you, sweetheart,” Olivia winked at me, and Jack moved a little bit closer to me. She wore leather pants and a tiny leather vest with nothing underneath it. On top of that, she had donned some kind of crossbow apparatus. The leather satchel on her back was filled to the brim with metal arrows.

She saw me admiring her weaponry and smiled. “Titanium is strong enough to break through a vampire’s sternum and go right through the heart. The old wooden stake would never work, and even this isn’t fool proof, but it’ll at least slow them down.”

“Great,” I sighed, and looked around. It suddenly dawned on me that someone was missing.

“Where’s Jane?” Jack pursed his lips and nobody said anything. “Jack? What happened?”

“The lycan took her with them,” Jack said quietly.

“Oh my god.” I ran my hands through my hair. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

“We’ll get her back,” Peter promised fiercely. His green eyes met mine, and I felt Jack bristle, but he did nothing. “We’ll make the trade, me for her. They can’t deny it.”

“We are not sacrificing you,” Ezra said firmly.

“Why not?” Jack scoffed. “It’s his fault we’re in this mess! He almost got Alice killed, and who knows what’s happened to Jane!”

“We’re not giving them anybody!” Ezra roared, looking at Jack sternly. “We will stop them.”

“What if we can’t?” Peter countered. “We should all die for my mistakes? No. I won’t let that happen.

This is my fault. This is my war.”

“We’re all involved in it now,” Ezra said. “Do you think they’ll really just let us walk away if we give them you? That would be too easy for them.”

“You should’ve just let me die in Finland!” Peter shouted, his face raw with pain. “I told you to leave me there! Why wouldn’t you listen?”

“I’m more than happy to let you die here,” Jack offered, glaring at him.

“Nobody is dying here today!” I held up my hands to silence them. “We’ll figure something out! I don’t know what but… We’ll do something.”

“See? Firecracker,” Olivia smiled at me.

“We need a better plan than arguing with each other,” Ezra said. “The lycan will track us soon.”

“Maybe sooner than you thought,” Olivia said, and she started reaching back for her crossbow.

As she set her crossbow, I peered down over the balcony. A dirty, disheveled lycan was walking down the down the center of the aisle of the church. I heard the click as she set it, and then he looked back up at us, his brown eyes were wide and innocent. I can’t explain it, but as soon as I saw him, I knew he wasn’t with them.

“Stop!” I shouted, my voice reverberating off the ceilings, and I held my hand up in front of her crossbow. Leif just stood in the center of the church, staring up at us. He would willingly take whatever fate we dealt him.

“What? Why?” Jack looked at me like I was crazy.

“No, she’s right,” Peter agreed. “He’s not like the rest of them.”

“Leif!” I leaned over the balcony, as if I thought that would help me speak to him.

“I’m not with them!” Leif yelled back. “I came here to warn you! It’ll be harder for them to find you without me. I’m the best tracker they have, but you’re so close. I’ve beat them by a matter of minutes.”

“Why would you help us?” Ezra asked, looking at him skeptically. Leif looked at Ezra for a moment, then looked back at me.

“Really?” Milo scoffed. “Does every vampire in the whole world want to tap my sister?”

That wasn’t it, and I knew that, but I couldn’t explain it. There was nothing sexual about the way he looked at me, and I wasn’t even remotely attracted to him. It was something else entirely.

“She is pretty hot,” Olivia said, and both Peter and Jack gave her an uneasy look.

“No, I don’t want to … ‘tap’ anyone,” Leif looked unsure of the word. “I’ve just had enough. They are cruel and sadistic, and I’ve seen that vampires can live another way. I don’t want to stay with them anymore. They shouldn’t even be alive. They are abominations.”

“How do you propose we stop them?” Ezra asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Leif admitted sadly. “But I will help you anyway I can. Even if you just want me to bait them. If I can save you, I will do it.”