Lurking in the Shadows (Completed)

Chapter 13

Nyx

We woke up after our blissful night wrapped in each other's arms. I really didn’t want to get up, but I had to figure out how to get rid of this psycho going after us.

“Something on your mind this early in the night?” He sounded groggy like he had just woken up.

“Just trying to plan how to get rid of this psycho. What if he comes after me next?” I hear him growl at that and he pulls me closer to him.

“He won’t get to you.” I put my hand on his cheek and gave him a small smile.

“Don’t worry, he won’t. Ever since the first attack, dad has been more protective of us than normal. Not to mention your background, he'd have to be crazy to go after me.”

“Well, he still did after the security got tighter, so it’s possible.” He pulls me into a hug and holds me like I’m going away.

“Do you still have connections to some of your hunter friends?” I smirked at him as I thought of this idea. He smirks back and gives me a full on kiss.

“Why yes I do.” We both leap out of bed and make ourselves presentable. We make our way to father’s study to see if he and Jasper are there. When we got there the office was empty. Quickly closed the door and tried Willow’s hospital room. Luckily mom and dad were still here.

“How was she?” I asked worriedly. Mina didn’t take this long after her attack. Maybe because she’s younger?

“Still asleep…” Mom said without taking her eyes off of Willow.

“Dad, I think I may have found a way for us to find our killer!” I was almost bursting at the seams with happiness with this idea.

“Well it’s got you giddier than I’ve seen you in a long time, so what is it?”

“This idea comes with good news and bad news.” How do I break this to him without him going crazy is going to be tricky, but we’re already mated so he can’t do anything to Edward, right?

“Ok? What’s the bad news?” He crossed his arms out of curiosity and now my nerves were kicking in. I took a deep breath and tried to figure out a way to say this without him getting mad.

“So before we met… Edward was a hunter…” I closed my eyes waiting to hear the lecture and I did hear dad and Jasper hiss at him and I hissed back. “But! But but but that’s also the good news!”

“How in the world is that good news??” Jasper asks me angrily.

“Because he still has connections with them who can help us find our serial biter.” I smirk at them hoping this plan would work. Mom, dad and Jasper all look at each other like they’re having an internal conversation with each other.

“That may not be a bad idea… do you still have these connections with your… former life?” Dad asks him wearily.

“I may have a couple of friends who’d be willing to help. It’s not much, but maybe with the extra security and my couple of friends maybe we can finally catch this guy.” I try not to hide my excitement but holy crap this may actually work.

“While they may get in trouble with the rest of the council for hunting our kind, they may get a lesser sentence if they can help us.”

“I think they’d be satisfied with that.” Edward steps out to make a call and I let out the sigh of relief that I didn’t realize I was holding.

“You’re not mad at him?” I ask them worriedly.

“No.. he treats you well and I presume he’s stopped given his… circumstances?” Dad asks me with his arms crossed.

“Yes, he’s not a hunter anymore.” Our conversation gets interrupted when we hear Willow start to groan.

“Why does it feel like I’ve been hit by a brick wall?” Willow asks as she tries to get up, but mom lays her back down.

“Because you’ve been unconscious for almost a week.” Willow stares at her in shock and tries to sit up again.

“A week?? What happened?” She asks the room and we all look at each other wondering how to break it to her… she lets out a disappointed sigh. “The serial biter got me huh?” I nodded to her sadly and it made her lay back down letting out an angry growl.

“First Mina now me!? Why do we have to keep looking over our shoulder at every ball??” No one had an answer for her. “So what now? I don’t have a mate to sire me and dad, I don’t think you want to since you don’t feed off of us.” I sat down on the bed next to her and hugged her. I felt her angry tears fall onto my shoulder and to be honest I don’t blame her for being angry.

“We’re going to find whoever this person is, and they’ll get their punishment.” I tried to be as supportive as I could, but having gone through this with Mina it doesn’t get easier. Soon there was a knock on the door and Mina came in.

“Willow, so glad you’re awake!” She hugs her as well and her mate is close behind her.

“Mina…” Their hug lasted a little longer since they could understand what the other was going through.

“At least yours didn’t last as long as mine. I was out for a week, so I was told. Yours was only four days.” She gave her a small smile trying to comfort her. “If you need me, don't be afraid to ask. Just like you did for me…” They hugged again and Mina left the room. Probably to give herself a good cry. These past few months have been hard on Mina and with only a scent and maybe some eyewitnesses we’re not any closer to finding this biter… Soon Edward comes back from his call with a smile on his face.

“More good news, four of my friends are able to help. They’ll be able to come here for a meeting tonight out of respect for our lifestyle.”

“Well… that’s considerate of them.” Mom piped up. Hunters obviously made us nervous given what they do, but maybe we can convince them to do a different line of work.

“They’re called the Grave Shadows. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.” Dad growled at the name. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Edward rubbed the back of his neck out of nerves and again I don’t blame him.

“You were the leader!? How was this biter able to take you down when the Shadows are very highly skilled hunters?!” Dad paces the room trying to come up with a plan.

“Dear, you need to calm down or you’ll go into a frenzy.” Mom went up to dad to try to hug him. It did some but I could tell he was still mad.

“I was a little tipsy, not at my full strength and he was just better than me at the moment.” I could tell he felt guilty about that night. I tried to wrap my arms around his waist to comfort him and he leaned his head on top of mine.

“It’s ok dear… everyone has an off night.” I tried to be sympathetic since he looked rough talking about it.

“Well if I didn’t have an off night I wouldn’t be like this!” The anger rolling off him was slowly starting to fill the room.

“A vampire you mean? But then you wouldn’t be here with me…” I slide away from him and he lets out a sigh as he rubs the back of his neck again trying to figure out a way to fix his mistake.

“I don’t regret being with you…” I could tell that he was trying to back track what he said, but the damage has already been done.

“No just being a vampire.” I could feel the angry tears about to fall down my cheeks and I left the room to head to mine. I wipe away my tears as I storm off and fall onto my bed. I probably cry for a few hours and I eventually fall asleep.

Unknown

Damn it! I need to feed and I don’t want to use a blood bank! It’s too long to wait till the summer ball. We just started spring and I have to wait months till the next ball. I go into my blood fridge that I have in my study and use that for now. Not nearly as good as having someone squirm under me. Hearing their screams is the best part. There’s got to be something I can do between now and then… maybe I can at least try to sneak a peek at my creations and see how they’re squirming at their transformation. A normal boring sire would teach them the ropes of being a vampire, but to me just let them figure it out on their own and if they become rabid because of lack of training then that’s their own problem. I look at my calendar to see what moon phase is coming up and it seems to be a dark moon. Excellent so we’re near a new moon which means it’d be almost dark. Very little light so I could sneak around their precious garden and spy on them some more. This could be fun… I keep my light-weight cloak close by so I know where it is and finish this blood bag so I can hold off until the dark moon.