Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Katherine twiddles her thumbs, staring at the ceiling with a queasy look on her face. Her roommate sits cross legged, facing Katherine and watching her like a hawk. The girl licks her lips. Katherine edges a little closer to the wall.

Then the lights turn on. Katherine looks up to see a guard standing in the doorway. "Let's go," he says. He escorts her down the hallways, back into the interrogation room. Like last time, he handcuffs her hands to the center of the table, and Lester's already waiting.

"Not to complain," Katherine says. "But I'm pretty sure my roommate wants to eat me."

"Can it wait? You have a visitor."

"I have a- I didn't know I was allowed to have visitors."

"Special circumstances. She says she won't testify unless she talks to you first."

"Who-?"

Lester walks away in the middle of her sentence without a backwards glance. "Okay..." Katherine mutters. The door opens once more. A girl stands in the doorway, encroached in shadow. Her emerald earrings burn a bright green.

"Adelaide?"

"Katherine."

"What are you doing here?" Katherine says.

"I've come to testify. I'm one of the key witnesses."

"Okay."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? Okay?" Lester Crawley says in a deadly soft voice. "Aren't you remorseful in the slightest?"

"No, I-"

"Katherine is pledging innocent. She's trying to escape her punishment," Lester says, turning back to Adelaide. "She might get away with it. If you don't testify against her."

"Adelaide, he's a lying scumbag. He's supposed to be my lawyer and look at what he's doing. Darko is fine, my lawyer lied about that, too. All I did was bite him-"

"There she goes again-"

"And all you have to do is talk to a doctor. He'll drain the venom from Darko's system and you'll see I'm telling the truth."

"Trying to escape her punishment."

"All I have to do is talk to a doctor?" Adelaide repeats.

"Yes!"

"Then Darko will be good as new and you guys can run off into the sunset. Where does that leave me? Where does that leave everyone else on that bus?"

"Don't tell me you're thinking about this." Katherine smiles, as if this is all a joke. "Adelaide, I know we've all had our differences, but his life is on the line."

"It's not just about you. Where does that leave Darcy?"

"You have to stop with Darcy. It's not Darko's fault what happened. You're romanticizing something that didn't even exist. She didn't love you. Maybe she was close at one point, but not after the way you treated her."

"Darcy is dead, Katherine. She died in the crash."

Katherine freezes.

"Dead," Lester says, putting a hand on Adelaide's shoulder and facing Katherine. "Because of your lies, and your catastrophe that affected everybody else. Now all that's left to deal with is the consequences. The terrorists are in jail." He takes his hand off Adelaide to close the distance between him and Katherine. "Darko is powerless, forced to watch from the sidelines, a fitting punishment. And that just leaves you, Katherine..."

Lester reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pocket knife. Katherine opens her mouth to scream, but Lester covers her mouth. Adelaide backs away, her eyes wide.

"Now, you have to be brave, Adelaide," Lester says. "This case isn't just about Katherine. If we can get Katherine the death sentence, it'll be a landmark case. We can give all future vampires the death sentence. No one will ever die again. What happened to Darcy will never happen again."

Katherine yanks against the chains around her wrists, trying to twist her head away.

"Will Katherine get what she deserves?" Lester whispers, offering the knife to her. Adelaide stares at the knife in his hand, a bead of sweat sliding down her forehead. Then, with a shaky hand, Adelaide accepts.

A piercing scream sounds from the room.

Two guards burst in. Adelaide glances at Lester, then holds up a bloody hand, pointing at Katherine. "She bit me."

"I did not!" Katherine twists, turning from Adelaide to look at the guard. Lester had moved across the room, to stand in front of Adelaide, as if to protect her from Katherine. "That doesn't even look like a bite mark," Katherine cries. "She cut her-"

"Hands in the air!" A guard levels his gun with Katherine's head. Her mouth widens in disbelief. "They're handcuffed to the desk!"

"She's feral," Lester says. "Unsafe to appear in court."

Katherine looks as if she's about to explode. "It's my trial!"

"We'll have protection," the guard says. "An officer at each exit, several by her side at all time."

"But will it be enough?" Lester asks. "I think everyone would feel much better if she was restrained somehow. Maybe... maybe something restraining her from biting someone? Something to keep her mouth shut?"

Katherine stares at her lawyer, her eyes going wide. "You're fired!"