Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER SEVEN

They walk out of the club and on to the quiet sidewalk, each with a lukewarm bag of blood in their pocket.

"How did you hear about this place?" Darko asks.

"I was hanging out under a tunnel, about to eat a rat when this old, homeless guy stops me. Points me in the direction of Club Red." They cross from the sidewalk onto a bridge.

"Why don't you just keep eating the rats for free?"

"Convenience, mostly. Most nights I had to choose food or sleep."

"Didn't you have practice? Back in your hometown?"

Katherine looks away. "I prefer buying blood. Instead of getting it directly from animals. Never, uh, people."

Darko snorts. "I don't eat people, either. Where's my fucking medal?"

Katherine takes one look at him and shoves him off the bridge.

Darko emerges from the lake and spits out a mouthful of lake water. "Katherine!" he yells. She leans over the bridge, smirking down at him. "Better safe than sorry."

"I didn't have a fucking recorder!"

"Oh." Katherine giggles as Darko climbs out of the lake and rings water out of his shirt. "Then sorry."

"You're not sorry," Darko says, jogging up the hill that separates the bridge from the lake. "But you will be."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, when you're soaked in lake water."

Darko breaks into a sprint. Katherine shrieks and runs only for Darko to catch her by the waist, lifting her up. His wet shoes screech against the ground. Katherine's shriek turns genuine as Darko loses his balance, and they crash to the ground.

There's a crunch.

Katherine's eyes widen. "Darko?"

"I'm fine. It was my-"

Their eyes widen and they both make a grab for Darko's pocket, but Katherine gets there first, pulling out a recording device. "Katherine..." Darko says.

She bursts out laughing.

...

"Why did you bring me along, Katherine?" They're a block away from campus when Darko asks the questions he's clearly been holding on to all night.

"To show you I'm not a killer," Katherine says.
"What about Josh?"

"What if I wasn't the one who killed him?"

"You're still a vampire."

"I deserve to die for what I am?"

"Don't act like it's your fucking race, Katherine. Being a vampire means you're blood thirsty."
"I'm not."

"It means you're a killer."
"I'm not."

"Look me in my eyes and tell me you had nothing to do with Josh's death. Tell me you didn't kill him."

Katherine meets Darko's stare.

"I..." She looks away, frowning. "It's getting late. We should go to our rooms." She starts to walk away, prompring Darko to say, "Goddammit, Katherine! Answer the question."

Katherine pauses. Her back is to Darko so she doesn't worry about hiding the sick look on her face. "You wouldn't believe me, anyways."

"Is that your answer?"

"Just leave me alone. You know I'm not hurting anyone."

"At the moment. Who-"

"I didn't kill your brother."

"Are you just saying that to get me to go?"

Katherine starts to walk away.

"You're right," Darko calls after her, "I don't believe you!"

Katherine keeps walking.