Lycan Blood (Alex Vane: Demon Stalker #1)

Suspect

He tried to hide his feet but it was too late. We spent the rest of the lesson in an uncomfortable silence until the bell finally rang out. I practically leapt out of my desk, keen to get as far away from him as possible. I knew now. He was the werewolf, he had to be. Which meant he had been in the forest last night. And since he had lied, then he must have seen me.

My window of time had just gotten a hell of a lot shorter.

Relax. He won’t risk doing anything until he’s in his wolf form I tried to convince myself, but the truth was I had no idea whether or not he’d risk hurting me. After all, I was a special case. For an ordinary human it was doubtful he’d risk getting caught, but I was a threat to him. We’d be hunting each other now, each of us wanting to be the first one to strike. Each of us wanting to be the survivor.

There was no time to lose. Perhaps I could catch him off guard tomorrow night, maybe find out where he lived…

Damn. A memory stopped that idea in its tracks. Tomorrow was Friday, the night of my supposed sleepover. I cursed silently, wondering just how annoyed Jacey would be if I bailed. Well, she’d just have to accept it. This was a matter of life and death, my life and death. Not to mention the countless victims the wolf would claim if I gave it the chance to live. I had to strike soon.

Hang on The voice in my head piped up again, annoying persistent You don’t know for certain that he’s the werewolf yet.

Yeah, because perfectly normal guys skulk around the woods for no reason and then lie about it. I tried to dismiss the voice but it refused to go away. I suppose there was a small chance he wasn’t the werewolf. There could be some innocent explanation for him lying to me. Perhaps he saw me with my crossbow and it freaked him out. Then again, perhaps I was just keen to clear his name because of this…attraction I felt for him. I couldn’t take risks though. If there was any chance it wasn't him, any chance at all then I knew I couldn’t kill him. I had to be certain. Killing demons was one thing, but I didn’t want the blood of the innocent on my hands.

Now if I could only think of a good excuse for tomorrow…

Speak of the devil and they shall appear. I tried to avoid Jacey but it was no good. The second she spotted me her mouth split into a smile.

“Hi!” She pushed through the crowd until she was stood in front of me. When she saw my expression her forehead wrinkled into a frown, “Are you okay? You look a bit weird.” Tact, as usual, was not her speciality. Normally I would have loved to kill a few minutes of time between lessons with her (anything was better than having to do work) but right now I was keen to get away. Not that Scott could really do anything with so many people around, but better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately Jacey was blocking my path. I tensed up as he strolled past, relaxing when he didn’t so much as glance at me. He was good. Worryingly good.

“Naw, I’m fine thanks. Mr. Shepard just chewed me out again.” I rolled my eyes, a gesture which seemed to satisfy her. She tilted her head sympathetically.

“He really is a jerkbag. Oh well, at least it’s Friday tomorrow! This sleepover is going to be so awesome.” Uh oh. Well, I had to try to get out of it at least.

“Listen, about that-”

“Oh no, no way!” Her shriek was loud enough to make me physically wince, “You are not bailing!”

“But-”

“I don’t care! Jenna’s a really nice person, and while you might enjoy being on your own all the time, other people don’t find it as easy to settle in. She needs us. This sleepover is the perfect thing to show her what good friends we can be.” Her arms were crossed, her expression firm and practically daring me to argue. I stayed silent, reluctantly defeated. There was no use protesting, no use in pointing out that I wasn’t a good friend and never intended to be. The demon killing would have to wait. I could try telling her that people might die if she forced me to come, but I suspected that wouldn’t go down all that well. I was stuck like a rabbit in a trap. And now the wolf had my scent.