Hunted

Chapter Nine :: Blue

**Dedicated to Fairbeauty16 for becoming my first fan. Thank you :)**

*** A/N. Hey all. So sorry for the delay in this chapter. I have had serious writers block and am still not happy with this chapter but decided I have delayed you all long enough so just decided to whack it up and hope you don't all hate it. I have also been super busy with work. But hey ho I'm back now and here is chapter nine. See you on the flip side. ***

** Nicholai POV **

I could not believe my own stupidity. I ran away from her. I left her in that hotel room alone in a foreign country. My still heart had forced me to leave her there. I could not bear to put her through anymore pain and heartache than she had already endured. That kiss, that most amazing and earth shattering kiss. My heart felt like it was alive again as her perfect lips crushed with mine. That was the moment I knew I could not place her in danger, to forcefully take her back to Romania not knowing what my father had in store for her. How could I possibly do that to the woman I was now falling in love with. My phone rang in my pocket and I knew before I had looked at the display that it would be my father.

“Hello.” I spoke into my phone dreading the conversation.

“Nicholai. I have not heard from you. Am I to understand you are making your journey home?” My father spoke sternly into the phone.

“Yes.” I replied.

“Are you nearing Romania yet?”

“No. not yet.”

“How long will it take you to get here?”

“I don't know.”

“Hurry son, there will be other hunters following, they will of tracked your journey by now.” I decided against telling my father of our run in with the two hunters yesterday. “Stay safe son.”

I felt a pang of guilt towards my father knowing I was betraying him by becoming emotionally attached to Madison. “Okay...goodbye.” With that I hung up the phone. I warred with myself internally, my loyalty to my father and my feelings for Madison battling with one another. I knew I must bury my human thoughts and feelings and stay true to my father by taking Madison to Romania. I told her we must go, that I must take her to Romania. The look of fear in her eyes. The disappointment and distrust etched on her face sliced through me like a thousand knives. I had failed her.

I ran from her, knowing I had to leave, I had to give her the chance to survive, I could not be the one to sentence her to death or whatever was waiting for her in Romania, I cared for her too much. How could I allow myself to fall for this woman. I had hunted her for so long and she had encaptured my heart within minutes of meeting her. I was weak. I did not deserve the title of hunter, of Vampire.

I rested against a car in the hotel car park, and considered my next move. I had planned to steal a car and drive as far away from here as possible. How would I explain to my father that I had left her. He was my father and he loved me but disloyalty such as this would not be tolerated. I deliberated running, running away from it all, but he would find me. I couldn't run, I couldn't leave her. I sifted through my thoughts for some time, silent arguments running through my addled brain. Her scent, her touch, her taste, everything about her changed me, made me feel human. I could not walk away, I had to go back, I could not bare to cause her this pain. The pain etched on her face when she told me she thought I had cared, it tugged at my dead heart begging it to beat once again. I did not know what I would say, where we would go from here or how I could keep her safe but I knew I had to try. Her very being had become imbedded on my heart like a carving on a tree. I could not walk away from her now. I caught a strange scent as I sat atop the car hood. It was not human nor Vampire but something different. I knew that scent...Elders.