Lycan Blood (Alex Vane: Demon Stalker #1)

Doomed

At first I didn’t respond. No movement, no words, nothing. My heart was still racing from the fight, the elation of victory still pumping through my veins. Scott’s words wouldn’t sink in. I couldn’t let them.

“No I’m not,” I said finally. My voice sounded so faint it was like hearing another person, “It’s just werewolf blood. I’m covered in it. So are you.” That was true. We were both caked in the stuff, not to mention ectoplasm and god knows what else happened to be lying around this forest. There was no way he could have seen whether or not I was bleeding. That’s what I told myself anyway.

“Alex-” Scott broke off suddenly, tearing his gaze away from my side to look at something behind me. Glad for the distraction, I turned to see the frail outline of Adam.

“You came back.” I exclaimed, not without surprise.

“I never left,” he sounded weary and strange and about a hundred years older, “I saw everything. That...that.”

“That was a werewolf.” I explained, knowing there was no point trying to deny it now. People are usually willing to accept any ridiculous story in lieu of something supernatural but this was different. The horror had been too real.

“I know,” he replied, surprising me again, “That’s why I came out here. I knew something was up with those deaths. At first it was like a game I guess. But then I started finding out things, weird things and-”

“Wait,” Scott frowned, “So you’re not a Demon Stalker or anything? You’re just normal?”

“That’s not really how most people describe me,” he smiled thinly, “But yeah, I guess so. What’s a Demon Stalker? Is that what you are?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said bluntly, “You should forget all about this. It’s over.”

“No way!” He looked indignant, “You can’t just fob me off! I’m not an idiot you know. I figured out it was Anna. Not at first maybe-actually, I thought it was you for a while.”

“Great,” I muttered, “Is there anyone at this school who doesn’t think I’m a werewolf?”

“But then I realised it had to be someone close to the cheerleaders,” Adam continued, “And you didn’t fit. Plus there was the nest.” That got my attention.

“What nest?”

“The one in the forest with all the animal bones and stuff. It’s what werewolves do when they’re planning to mate.” I was dumbfounded.

“How did you know that?”

“I looked it up,” He said it so matter-of-factly that I was actually embarrassed. Not as embarrassed as I was about to be though, “That’s why I thought it was you actually. Because of Scott.” Even in the darkness, I could still see Adam’s blush. I was rather glad of all the grime coating me because it hid my own.

“That’s why she was so protective over Luke,” I realised, “She was planning to change him.” I flinched at the thought. Granddad had never really educated me about the intricacies of demon mating for obvious reasons, but one thing was certain-it was never pleasant. If Anna had meant to change Luke tonight then he would have been dead by morning. If he was lucky.

“Yeah,” Adam nodded, “I came out here to kill her but when she changed…that was awful. I didn’t think it would be like that. I couldn’t do anything.” Although the last thing on my mind was reassuring Adam right now, he sounded so bitter that I felt the need to at least attempt it.

“You shouldn’t feel bad. There’s not much you can do against a werewolf. This is what we’re meant to do and even we were lucky.”

“No, you were amazing,” he said, speaking with such intensity that it was almost scary. His gaze flickered between me and Scott with an expression I can only describe as awe, “I knew there was something different about you. I thought it was bad but I can see now that was stupid. What you did just then, normal people can’t do that. What did you call yourselves, Demon Stalkers? Is that like some chosen group or something?”