Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Darko takes her hand and they step on to the dance floor. As they sway to the beat, Katherine moves closer to him, putting her hands around the back of his neck. His breath catches when her cold hands graze his skin.

"I'm never giving up," he says quietly. "You'll have to kill me, because the moment you let your guard down, I'm going to-"

"I didn't kill your brother, Darko." She looks him flat in the eyes. "But I am the reason he's dead."

Katherine pulls back and begins to walk away, but before she can take more than two steps, Darko grabs her waist, spinning her back into his arms. "The hell? You don't say a thing like that then just leave."

"What do you want from me?"

"You can start by telling me what happened."

"I just- I'm done. I'm done playing this ugly-"

"Tell me what happened to my brother. Please."

Katherine looks into his eyes. "Alright. Remember in the beginning of the year, our first field trip?" Katherine says.

"That was only the juniors."

"Right."

"Then how was Josh-"

"I'm getting there. We had an assignment: hike up the mountain, find a cave, and take a picture of what we found inside."

Katherine stared into the darkness of the cave, listening closely and only hearing the steady patter of rain and heavy breathing echoing back at her. She wiped the rain out of her eyes, then reached into the waist of her skirt and pulled out a camera. The flash lit up the rock walls, revealing a shadowed man sitting in the middle of the crook, staring right at her.

"There was ..." The man who plagues her sleep; the reason she looks over her shoulder and wakes up in cold sweats. "A vampire in the cave. He attacked me."

Staggering back, Katherine screamed when she hit something cold, solid. Her scream was cut off by a bony hand wrapping around her mouth. Another hand yanked the camera out of her hand, throwing it against the wall of the cave in a flash of sparks. She saw a flash of his face before he grabbed the side of her jaw, forcing her head back. Katherine twisted and pushed, but his grip only tightened.

There's a pinch on her neck, which morphs into a burn, like she's being torn open. Katherine tries to scream again but chokes on his hand instead. Red creeps into her vision, fire burns in her throat, his fingers dig into her skin...

"I lost consciousness." Katherine's voice cracks. I don't know what happened while I was out. I don't know what he did to me. Sometimes I stay up all night, wondering what else he took. She swallows the lump in her throat. "And then he wakes me up and threatens me."

As soon as she sat up, a rough hand covered her mouth. "Scream and I'll snap your neck," he hissed. He removed his hand.

Immediately, Katherine tried to stand, but her legs wobbled and gave out, and she fell, back flat, against the dirt. A dull pricking sensation began to work its way over her body, covering every inch of her, like a thousand invisible hands pinching her skin.

"Bastard," Katherine rasped. She struggled to get the word out. Her tongue felt like sandpaper.

The vampire knelt down so they're eye to eye. His face is shadowed so only the brightest colors of his face can be seen: the whites of his eyes, his fangs. "This is the part where I kill you." His eyes trailed down to the Mabry crest on her shirt. "But I can't have a group of students and teachers searching for the missing girl and stumbling upon me. I'm not hungry enough."