Heartless

Heartless - Chapter Twelve

HEARTLESS

CHAPTER TWELVE

We followed Zane Richards at a distance, weaving through the streets behind him. We’d spent almost an hour sat down outside the Rockefeller, waiting for him to make his move as he waited for us to make ours. It had been like a silent stand off – Zane had been watching us and we’d been watching him. The only question had been who was going to give up first. It had been Zane, in the end, obviously deciding that there was nothing to see after watching Hunter and I sat on a bench talking and eating our way through as many sandwiches as we could buy from the store next to us, pretending not to notice his unwavering gaze on us.

Finally, he’d straightened up from where he’d been leaning against the wall and started to walk away, not even pausing to glance back at us. We’d given it twenty seconds or so, and then got up ourselves. It was easy to follow him, keeping a discrete distance and blending in to the pedestrians that crowded the streets despite it being Christmas.

“Where do you think he’s going?” I murmured to Hunter. I still didn’t feel safe enough to speak any louder in case the vampire would hear us.

“Hopefully somewhere isolated,” Hunter murmured back, leaning down slightly so he could speak into my ear. “Or to meet another vampire, which would be just as good.”

I thought about that for a second. I imagined following Zane to some quiet street, where Chris would be waiting for him. I found myself wishing for it to be true. My hand unconsciously reached into my pocket and my fingers curled around the stake there. I felt reassured by the smooth wood, confident that if I met Chris I would be able to finish him off.

“Ideally we’ll be able to find out more about the supernaturals’ plan,” Hunter continued. “We might be able to work out where those vampire covens you heard about are meeting next week. Did you ever find out an address for that?”

“No,” I replied, reluctantly loosening my grip around the stake and taking my hand out of my pocket as I snapped out of my reverie. “All we know is that there are three more covens moving into the city tomorrow, and that Hardy set up a meeting for them in about a weeks time, so I’m guessing that means about January second.”

“So we need to get him to talk,” Hunter said, smiling slightly.

My thoughts were still on Chris. Maybe Zane would know where he was. Not even Joseph knew where Edric Hardy, the vampire who had sired Chris, was hiding, but maybe someone would know Chris’s location.

“What if he’s heading back to his coven?”

“Then we’ll get him before he reaches it. I don’t think you want to go back to Garranza Avenue in a hurry, especially considering what a warm welcome you’d get.”

“You’ve got that right.”

Zane paused at a zebra crossing, looking around impatiently as he waited for the lights to turn green. I grabbed Hunters arm and pulled him to the side so that we were straight behind a hot dog stand, hidden from the vampire’s line of sight.

The man on the stand looked as us curiously, surprised by our sudden appearance; he raised an eyebrow as if to say are you actually going to buy anything?

“Merry Christmas!” I said to him, smiling widely. He took a step away, eyeing me warily, probably thinking me insane.

Hunter peered around the stand. “Quick, he’s moving again,” he said. It was his turn to grab my arm as he dragged me out from our hiding place and back down the street. The traffic lights were flashing green now and a rush of people was crossing the road, Zane somewhere amidst them.