The Hunter Chronicles

Chapter 10

     I woke up in a stark, white room. The sound of beeping machines told me that it was a hospital room, and I was one of the patients. Pain lashed through my head as I slowly blinked and tried to get my bearings, “Julie? Are you ok?” I saw Darius leaning over me, and fear shot through me. But when I blinked, it was my dad, and Darius was nowhere to be seen, “Is James ok?” I asked quickly. My dad sighed and put his hand over his eyes, “I’m sorry Julie, he didn’t make it.” A pang of sorrow struck my heart. Darius killed James?

     “Julie listen, the police are coming in here to question you. Answer all your questions honestly. We need to know what happened there. I’m not sure if you got knocked out before or after James was attacked, but he was a bloody mess. If this was some sort of animal we need to know so the police can hunt it down and kill it.” I flinched away from my dad. Was Darius an animal? He had sure acted like one. The way he snarled and viciously tore at James’s throat. There was nothing remotely human about that. But I would never be able to tell the police about what really happened. What if they killed Darius? Even after what he had done I still loved him.

     Two officers walked into my room and gave me a friendly smile, “Are you feeling better sweetheart?” One of them asked me kindly. I shrunk away, the light was too much for my eyes and I was still scared senseless about what happened, “Not really.” I croaked. The officers exchanged worried glances, “I’m sorry to hear that, we won’t take that long than, so you can rest.”  They each pulled up one of those plastic chairs that you often find in hospitals. The sound of the plastic sliding across the tiles was enough to trigger a massive wave of nausea.

     I doubled over, arms wrapped around my stomach. My fists blindly tore at the hospital garment, needing something to hold onto, “Miss?” A worried voice queried. Sitting up was one of the hardest things to do. The onslaught of bright walls and harsh lights assaulted my consciousness. But maybe everything was so harsh because the only thing I was seeing was Darius draining the life from James.

     “Did you see what attacked the boy that was with you?” One of the officers asked. I slowly shook my head, “No, I was knocked out before he even got there.” I was praying that they couldn’t hear the edge of despair in my voice, “Was anyone else with you before you were knocked out?” I shook my head again, afraid to speak. But in my current condition they didn’t ask me to elaborate, instead, they threw a curveball at me with their next question, “What about Darius Caro? Your parent’s said he was with you yesterday afternoon. Images flitted through my mind like the falling orange leaves of Darius before the attack. Smiling, laughing, acting like any normal human. But his dark secret said otherwise.

     “He- he had to go, before it happened. His dad called him.”I was surprised at how fluidly I was lying now; even I was beginning to believe what I said. After all, that creature couldn’t really have been Darius, could it? The officer’s nodded and told me that they would be back in a few days to ask some more questions once my condition improved.

     But it didn’t. The pain and confusion I felt was something that modern medicine couldn’t repair. I knew that being involved with Darius was a dangerous thing, but I had never imagined that it would have gone up in flames so quickly. My headaches began to fade after a few days time, but the nightmares did not. Each night I would wake up in my room gasping for breath. In all of them Darius was there, either killing James, or me. And that was where the real horror set in. Darius had killed James in front of me.

     I kept wondering about what had happened after Darius had knocked me out. Did he go and finish James off? Or did he run, leaving James to bleed to death, with me knocked out, lying in one of our carefully constructed piles of leaves. My grades began to suffer as I lost more and more sleep. Some nights I wouldn’t go to bed at all. I would sit by my window and gaze out onto the lawn. Jumping at shadows and imagining that Darius had come back to kill the last witness of what had happened.

     My fears grew when one day the police arrived on my doorstep, “Could we talk to you for a moment Julie?” Concern masked their usually jolly expressions. One held a newspaper in his hand. It was the Sunday paper that my dad had always insisted was a waste of money. They followed me to the dining room where they slapped the paper down on the table. The main headline read, Another Teen Found Dead in the Forest. Upon further reading I learned that this young girl, a freshman at my school, had been found in the same state as James, except he still had some blood in him, the girl was a hollow shell, “Are you sure you didn’t see anything the day James died?” They pleaded. I wanted to help them so badly, but Darius would know the leak was me, so I shook my head and sent them away.

     On the last day of school before winter break my car broke down in the school parking lot. My parents were at work and couldn’t come to get me, so I was stuck with walking home. The frosty ground crunched as my boots stamped down the frozen leaves and pine needles. Ten more kids had been found dead since the incident with James and the other girl that followed shortly thereafter. And plenty of others had disappeared. I didn’t know what Darius was trying to prove. Maybe that he was back and badder than ever, but either way he had the whole town hiding behind closed doors.

     As I walked home every sound sent my heart racing, and each shadow made me double take. However the real fear set in when a cool hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me into the thick underbrush. My books were scattered amongst the bushes as I prepared to let out a terrible shriek. But the another cool hand clamped over my mouth and Darius hissed, “Julie, don’t say a word unless you want to die.” For some reason hearing his voice awakened something inside of me. Darius was alive. But at the expense of twelve others.

     But that’s when a flicker of movement on the road caught my eye. There was a girl walking down the sidewalk, casting nervous glances into the trees. Darius pulled me back a little, obscuring us entirely from her view. Before I could utter a warning someone was upon the girl. In a flash her neck was arched and exposed and the vampire was sinking his teeth into the girl’s neck. Darius released me and I fell forward on the soft pine needles, snapping a branch in half on accident. The vampire looked up, wary dark eyes swimming under a frock of brown hair. The killer was not Darius. It was James.

**Thanks for reading again! J Well there were no comments on my last chapter, so no shout outs today, L but if you comment on any chapter from now on you will get one, J Comment?? Vote?? Fan??