Hunted Predators✔️

Chapter Thirty-two

Darko takes off running at the sound of a gunshot. He rounds the corner to see Lester approaching Katherine, firing as he walked. Red pools to the surface of Katherine's prisoner uniform and stains her hands. Her legs shake, but Darko reaches her before she can fall, catching her by the waist. Lester strides forward, aiming the gun at Katherine's forehead.

"Move aside, boy. I wouldn't want to shoot you by mistake."

"Allow me." Darko holds out a hand. It's shaking. "For too long she's plagued me. I want to be the one to finally close this chapter of my life."

Lester stares at Darko, his eyebrow raised. Then he lets out a startled guffaw. "You think I'm stupid, boy? After you helped her in there, I'm going to give you my gun? Now give me back my folder."

"What?"

"I want the folder shoved down your pants. And I want your phone, too."

When Darko doesn't move, Lester sighs. "Either give them to me now or I can take them from your bloody corpse."

Darko reaches into his pocket.

"Slowly! Drop it on the floor and slide it over." As soon as Darko does so, Lester grins. "Perfect." He shoots the phone, then raises the gun level with Darko and shoots.

Nothing but smoke comes out of the gun. Lester squeezes the trigger again. And again. He looks up at Darko with a sheepish expression on his face. "Let's not be rash. Let's talk this-"

Darko swings. His fist connects with the side of Lester's head, and Lester crumbles to the ground.

Darko drops to his knees beside Katherine, placing his wrist to her mouth. She shakes her head. "Lester," she rasps.

"You don't know where he's been."

Still, Katherine shakes her head. "I believed you. I thought you were gonna kill me."

"And here I am, saving you," he says. "Maybe I should find a new hobby. I'm kind of terrible at-"

"I'm dying, remember?"

"Right."

He raises his arm. Katherine presses her lips softly against his wrist, with the tender touch of a lover. Then she sinks her teeth into his skin.
...

Lester stirs, coming to slowly. He pulls himself up to his elbows to see a girl and a boy sitting on the curb of the road. He blinks, rubbing his eyes. Surely enough, there's Katherine and Darko on the curb, engaged in a tense conversation. Lester mutters a string of curses.

He draws himself off the sidewalk, dragging himself over to them in slow, labored steps. Katherine and Darko look up. For a moment, the only sounds are distant crickets.

"Boy, what are you doing? Your brother was killed by a vampire, and now you're helping one?"

"I'm beginning to think there's more to it than that. An apartment full of secrets, in fact."

Something changes in his demeanor when the lawyer meets Darko's eyes, as if he's realizing Darko's may be harder to manipulate than an average highschooler. "Playing by the rules doesn't accomplish anything," he snaps. "Think about what you do from here on out, because your actions today will impact the years to come."

"Does someone have a phone I can borrow?" Katherine snaps. "I'd like to call an Uber before one of you revolutionaries decides to kill me again."

Lester glances at Katherine. She pulls her lips back in an imitation of a smile, showing her fangs. They're stilled stained with blood. Lester grits his teeth together, and while he's about to pop a blood vessel, Darko takes out his phone and hands it to Katherine.