Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,64
way to tell what I’d encounter, so I was loaded for anything at all. The closer I got, the more confusing my intuition became. The prime energy signature was nothing I had ever seen before, and it was splashed all over. I could practically see it in my mind’s eye, like blood detected under Luminol at crime scenes. The auras of its victims were shattered like glass, spread in a huge radius around the bodies. I know for certain these victims I sensed were humans…innocents. None of them were supernaturals, which told me two things.
First, the attacks weren’t a result of the vampire clan fights.
Second, I was certain something else was hunting humans in Anchorage.
“What the fuck happened here?” I whispered. “What could do this?”
In my pocket, my phone vibrated. I ducked behind a tree to check it, just in case.
“I thought you’d never answer,” Lian said. “Whenever works for you.”
“Give me a rain check,” I told her. “Something came up.”
And then, at the same moment that I tucked my phone away again, I became abruptly aware of a presence nearby—a living one.
I had company.
Chapter 21
Logan
I followed Veronica at a distance, the falling night concealing me as I puzzled over her actions. As a slayer in close contact with any number of supernaturals, including us, why was she speaking to the police? She knew firsthand that Orion’s relationship with law enforcement couldn’t be great—not if he was disposing of victims off the bank of an icy river. It seemed like an unnecessary flirtation with trouble to be interacting with the officers at all.
But they didn’t think of detaining her, and she managed to slip away unnoticed by anyone other than me. I tracked her deep into the trees, closer and closer to the imprint of death that stained the atmosphere. Could she feel that heavy shroud? I sensed the unusual energy from her back in Cain’s house. There was something very different about her, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. Which was strange in itself.
If she had any misgivings, they weren’t reflected in her smooth, confident stride. She appeared to be a woman on a mission.
I didn’t have to speculate about how grisly the scene would be. I could smell the thick, metallic stench of blood on the cold breeze. Currents of violent energy whipped around me, strong enough to rival Seth’s demonic rage. At first, I thought it could have been him visiting destruction on whoever happened to cross his path. It wouldn’t have been the first time a random stranger bore the brunt of his fury.
This time, however, the aura that remained was foreign to me. I paused for a minute to try and identify its distinctive signature, without success. When I looked up to resume tailing Veronica, she was gone. Softly, I cursed myself for looking away in the first place. She might have been mortal, but she was crafty. She knew better than most how to disappear.
I stepped forward along the same trajectory she’d been traveling, all senses open. Unless she had used some type of magic, she couldn’t have gotten far. Sure enough, in a matter of yards, I saw her pop back out in front of me. Then she stopped in her tracks and glanced around.
I’d gotten too close. The game was up. Veronica turned.
“Logan?” Her tone registered more surprise than anything; maybe I’d caught her more off guard than I thought. She stared at me with bald curiosity. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same,” I replied. “Do you know where you’re going?” What I really wanted to say was, Do you know what you’re about to see? Intuition told me it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Sort of.” She shrugged. “Something tells me it won’t exactly be hard to miss.” Her gaze sharpened and turned searching. “You know something about this, don’t you?” Immediately, all of her walls went up. I saw her body tense, flight or fight response kicking into gear. It was funny, in a way, that she was so prepared to fight me. As if she stood a chance.
“Not as much as you think I do.” I held up my hand, moving forward so that we were almost standing beside one another. “Relax. Let’s go.”
Veronica hesitated initially. She didn’t want to fall into step with me, which was fine. Once she saw me proceeding forward without her, she changed her mind very quickly. “Wait. Is this you helping me?”