In Plain Sight (A Hunted Rose)

Chapter Sixteen

I saw Liam's eyes widen about a millimeter as he saw me, but he gave no other outward signs of recognition. I winced internally, because although right now he was stuck in here, I just knew that I would get yelled at very soon. He tilted his head to the side, as if curious.

"Oh, you saw him, huh? He's new. We just brought him in a few days ago. Found him feeding on some poor girl just a little bit outside of town." Seth asked as he stood next to me. Judging from the spark of anger in Liam's eyes, he didn't appreciate how close Seth was to me.

"Yeah."

"Hard to believe he's a vampire?"

I shook my head and played along. "He just looks so human."

"Don't let it fool you," Seth said. "They can drink your blood and then make you forget they were ever there. It's what they call compelling. They can erase or alter a human's memories. Luckily hunters have a natural immunity to it. And, from the way you reacted to River, you do too for some reason. His power works pretty much the same as a vampire's compulsion does."

"Well that's nice," I mumbled, stepping a little bit closer to Liam. My eyes ran along the walls near his window. I saw a set of buttons near the door and shifted my eyes to them, Liam and back.

"This one hasn't been talking," Ryder said. "He's only said about two words since he was brought in."

"Is that unusual?"

"Normally, when the vampires figure out that we can kill them without any hesitation they start to talk. Pretty boy here hasn't."

Liam snorted through the window and shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Can he hear us?" I asked while looking toward Ryder.

"Yeah, and if he decided to talk we can hear him as well."

Liam picked that minute to speak to us through the window. "Má tá túan oiread sinmarleaganmhéar ar abeidh métú a mharú. Másmianleatabrúigh ancnaipedeargar an mballa, lassie, go mbeadh sé gomór mhór." He easily slipped into the Irish that he had taught me when I had begun living with him. I didn't know very much of the language, but I knew enough. Roughly speaking, he said he would kill the guys if they touched me and asked if I could press the red button on the wall.

"What the hell?" River said with a thoroughly confused expression on his face.

"It sounded like another language," I said as I moved toward the panel of buttons. "Hey," I said as I pushed the red button, "what does this do?"

The door to Liam's cell opened and Liam swiftly ran out, only stopping to stand in front of me for a few seconds to say in English, "Thanks for that lassie. Call me if you need any help, I'll owe you for that." He gave me a flirty smile and a wink before he disappeared out of the room less than a second later, and I knew he was on his way to safety.

"Rose! You just let him go!" River yelled at me. I leaned away from him and sucked my lip into my mouth, trying to look slightly scared of him.

"I'm sorry! I was asking you what the button did, and he got out." I widened my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"You could have asked before you pushed the button!"

"You could have stopped me when I was raising my hand to push it. Didn't you tell me that you had better reflexes than humans? So shouldn't you have been able to yell at me to stop before I pressed it?" I sucked in a breath and looked at them. "I'd like to go home now. Can one of you show me where the exit is so I can get back to my car?"

"I'll take you," Jason said as he approached me.

We walked in silence until we walked through the door into the main practice training room they had shown me. When we passed the sparring mat Jason started to speak.

"River didn't mean to yell that loudly at you. I think he's the one that wants to impress Verdis the most. For some reason Ryder has always seemed favored; he has a rarer power, and that, coupled with the fact that River's power is so basic, and the usual sibling rivalry... you have a stressed teenage boy. That vampire was an amazing capture; he was close to three hundred years old. Most of the time vampire that old are either able to get away without breaking a sweat, or they kill all of the hunters on the team. He was the first one that old we had ever captured."

"If he was the first vampire that of that age that you ever captured, do you think he planned it?" I asked him.

Jason cleared his throat and looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you said a vampire that old and or powerful usually kills all the hunters, or finds a way to get away unscathed. Did he somehow find a way to get out, or did he plan the whole thing?" I continued walking next to Jason.

"Well, from what I heard about the capture, he came in pretty easily."

"See. Maybe it was his plan all along that some stupid kid would come in and let him out."

"Maybe," Jason murmured. He led me out of the building and walked me to my car. As I got into the driver's seat, he put a hand on the roof of the car, and another one on the door as he leaned forward.

"That vampire is dangerous," he said in a low voice. "He could easily find you and try to hurt you. I think I should follow you home and just hang out at your house to make sure he doesn't try anything."

"I don't think he will," I whispered back. "He said he owed me. I don't think he'll hurt me after saying that. Even vampires have honor, right?"

"You would be surprised. And, he can still find you," Jason pointed out to me. His face was only a few inches from mine now. "Please," he whispered. "Just let me do this. You're my friend. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Fine," I relented with a sigh. "Do you want to ride with me or follow in yours?"

"I can follow you, its fine with me."

Jason followed me in his silver car all the way back to my house. I parked in my garage while he was in the driveway. He entered the garage and walked up next to me while I unlocked the door. When we entered the house, I felt the familiar pulse of Liam's power at the same time he spoke.

"Rosie-girl, before you start yelling, I had a plan the entire time."

Jason stiffened as I muttered, "Shit."

Liam entered the room with a curious expression on his face, "Why did you just... oh."

"Rose, that's the vampire," Jason stated the obvious.

Since it seemed I would be screwed no matter what I said, I decided to say what I had planned in the beginning. Let's just hope nobody died.

"Yeah... Jason, meet my brother, Liam."

Authors Note:

Evil. It is what I am. :)

P.S>  KInd of like this guy as Jason, but not perfect....  sigh.