Status: Slowly Active.

I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

Chapter Twenty-Three

It took a few days, but eventually the guys began to trust and warm up to Hunter.

Firstly, Patrick had to clean up Hunter’s bloodied arm and head, checking for any serious injury. Hunter had a concussion at first, but after he threw up a bit and went to sleep everything seemed like it was going to be alright. He seemed to make a good impression on Patrick, and when Pat approved Joe and Andy gave him a chance too.

I liked him. It felt good to have someone new around, someone who I could relate to. Although the other guys are my friends, they’ve all been friends long before I came along. Sometimes I feel a little like the fifth wheel. With Hunter around, I didn’t need that. He was very… human, is the only way I can think of to put it. The other guys spend all their time working on hunting techniques or plotting. Hunter wasn’t like that. During the day, he was just like any other human. Come nightfall, however, and you wouldn’t want to come across him in a dark alley.

As for Pete? Yeah, he didn’t like him.

Big surprise there.

Pete wasn’t necessarily horrible to Hunter, per se, no more horrible than he used to be to me. But it was clear that he didn’t think of him as a friend or ally. It was different as to what mine and Pete’s relationship used to be like. We used to fight all the time, bickering over nothing just to entertain ourselves. The way he acts, Pete would never endure such frivolity around Hunter. He refuses to talk to him, refuses to acknowledge him, unless the frustrated furtive glances count as acknowledgement. He was still very cautious, and to be honest I couldn’t blame him. Not after what happened to him.

One night, as we were ready to go hunting, Pete came into my room. I was kind of surprised; we hadn’t really spent much time conversing or even much fighting since Hunter’s arrival a week before.

“Umm, hi?” I asked, eyebrow raised at him as I shoved a third stake into my belt.

“Hey,” he said, looking away from me and out the secured window.

His voice was strange; quiet but determined, and touched with awkwardness. Very un-Pete-like. Seeing that he didn’t yet intend on meeting my gaze, I looked away and got back to equipping myself for the night’s hunt. I was looking forward to it even more than I used to; Hunter had a way of making killing fun. Instead of the tension and suspense that usually clung to the air, Hunter was constantly making jokes and lightening the situation, but not enough so that we wouldn’t lose focus. I really liked having him around. Once I was fully prepared, Pete was still standing awkwardly just inside my doorway. He still looked like he was internally debating whether or not to say whatever it is he had come in for. I sighed audibly, but didn’t ask him or force anything out of him. Instead I just moved a few small steps toward a plain square mirror that I had placed in the room, found the other night in a pile outside some suburban house. I watched my reflection vaguely as I concentrated on scraping my blonde hair up into a high ponytail.

“You should keep it in your room,” Hunter had said, lifting the mirror off an old, broken, pink armchair and passing it to me so that I was forced to look at my reflection.

Sweat beads glistened on my forehead, my hair was greasy, and my make-up was smudged from the hunting we’d just done. But my eyes were shining a bright blue that I had found after so many years of grey.

“That way you can always see how beautiful you are.”

I smiled a little in spite of myself, chuckling as I hit Hunter’s arm.

“That was so cheesy.”

“I know,” he grinned guiltily. “But it’s true all the same.”

I looked down at the floor but I couldn’t stop my grin from growing a little bit as I walked beside my new friend.

Pete stormed off in a huff.


I finished fixing my hair and saw Pete’s reflection in exactly the same uncertain stance. This was getting ridiculous.

“Did you want to say something?” I asked him finally.

I couldn’t very well just stand in this weird nothingness all night. We had a job to do. I looked over at Pete and still he hadn’t moved; his mouth still set in a grim line. I rolled my eyes. Really, this was just kind of annoying.

“Fine then,” I muttered as I began to leave the room.

“Wait, Elle…”

I spun around to see him still standing awkwardly in my room from where I was at the door. I had never seen him look so… vulnerable. It’s hard to explain, certainly without reason, but he just looked so lost.

“Yeah?” I prompted, trying not to sound annoyed.

He stopped speaking again, and I kind of wanted to punch his face in for wasting my time. I rolled my eyes and began to leave again, but this time I was stopped by his fingers closing around my arm. I spun around to see those dark eyes much closer to me, not so emotionless and guarded anymore. This time they were too full of emotion, an overload, and I was unable to decode it all.

“I…” he started. “I can’t read Hunter’s mind.”

I blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t read his mind. I’ve never met anyone – any human – whose mind I couldn’t read. At least not without severe practice and effort on their part. You’re really the only person who’s come close.”

My expression was surely puzzled, and he sighed before continuing.

“You really don’t want me to read your mind. Sometimes you try so hard, you focus so damn intently on not letting me in. And sometimes, just sometimes, my vision into your mind flickers. But this isn’t about that. This is about Hunter. When I try to read his mind, I get nothing. It’s so weird. It’s as if I’m trying to read a vampire’s mind; completely and utterly useless.”

“Are you trying to say that you think Hunter is a vampire?” I asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“No! I’m not stupid. I know he’s not a vampire, but there is definitely something strange about him.”

“Have you told Pat?”

“Yes.”

“Well what did he say?”

“He said that there’s probably nothing to worry about, but he’ll look into it just in case.”

“Okay… so why are you telling me?”

He paused, and hesitance flickered over his eyes again before he answered slowly.

“Because I want you to be careful, Elle. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

It was my turn to freeze. Who knew that Pete Wentz was capable of actual empathy and emotion other than disgust and negativity towards me? I had no idea how to respond. Was he joking? His eyes, now so raw and revealed, told me otherwise. I wondered if he could read my emotions in mine; god knows I couldn’t. We remained in our silence, the strongest eye contact to ever exist, for stretched moments of time, undecipherable, until Joe’s voice broke through as he yelled from the main room.

“Elle! Pete! Hunter! Get your asses out here, we got some vampire butt to kick/kill!”

Pete wanted to hold the eye contact for longer, I could tell that. He tried to, and I was more than willing until a warm hand brushing my shoulder drew my attention. My head snapped around to see Hunter standing there, small smile on his lips.

“You guys ready?” he asked, addressing us both but looking only at me.

I gulped down some sort of dry lump in my throat and managed a smile for him.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Hunter took my hand in his and he tugged me down the corridor, leaving Pete where we’d been eye-reading only moments before.

***

After a good, successful hunt, we returned to the warehouse wearily but happily. Well, except Pete, who was about as moody as ever. I chuckled at something that Hunter had said as he departed off the corridor and into his room, tiredly yawning and walking into mine as I ignored the slam of Pete’s door further down. I shut my own door gently in contrast.

I slowly got myself ready for bed, not bothering to brush my teeth because I was just too exhausted, and my ribs hurt from laughing so much at Hunter’s really lame attempts at jokes. I sighed to myself as I pulled back the covers on my small bed, completely ready to slide into it and let sleep take over me.

Before I could do just that, I heard a tapping noise at the window.

My eyes flung open wide, but the sound had stopped and I decided to ignore it. I shook my head to myself and sat down on the edge of the bed, before I heard it again.

Tap tap tap.

I frowned, picking up my silver dagger from beside the bed and holding it behind my back as I slowly edged towards the window. It may not be able to kill any vampire, but it could certainly hurt them. When I eventually got close enough to the window, I gasped harshly at the sight I saw and the dagger dropped to the floor with a blunt thud.

Coffee skin, curly dark hair and wide pleading eyes were all I could process before my concentration turned to putting a scowl on my face. I could see him mouthing ‘let me in’, but there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen. But I knew more know. I knew he could read my mind. He didn’t need to be inside; he was in the shadows as the sun began to rise.

“Fuck off, Travis.”

I hoped my mind’s voice was as bitter as I wanted it to be.

“Please.” The sound of his voice resonated through my head. “Please let me explain, Elle.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Please…”

“What is there to explain? Seeing you with them explained everything.”

“It didn’t explain how sorry I am.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever. If you were sorry then you wouldn’t have betrayed me to Beckett.”

“I can’t just say no to William Beckett. No one can.”

“So you said no to me instead? Well fuck you, Travis. I don’t need you anymore.”

“But… wait, anymore?”


Shit.

“Yes, Travis!” Oh no… someone please shut me up… “Who were we kidding? We weren’t ‘in-betweens’, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. We were friends. We were friends and you were fucking working for him all along.”

“But…”

“Don’t you dare try to fucking deny it!”

“I’m sor…”

“I don’t want your apologies. You’re sorry? Then you can make it up to me by leaving now and never coming back.”

“Elle, don’t make me force you to listen to me.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Fine then…”


All of a sudden, my head began to throb. It was so painful. Thousands upon thousands of images and thoughts pounded against my brain, hurting me. It hurt so much… I needed to scream… I tried to… It wasn’t working, but I kept trying… I didn’t care how much my voice hurt. And only one word, one long scream, was pouring through, fighting and slicing through everything in my mind; “Pete…”

My vision was blurred as someone burst through my door, taking one look at me writhing in pain on the floor, head in my hands, and started towards my window. Everything else was too blurred, all the sounds too slurred for me to comprehend. Black splotches obscured my vision and I felt warm arms wrap around me, maybe the sound of shattering glass but it was so distant now.

I couldn’t hold out any longer.

As soon as the weight lifted off my mind, I fell into black.

***

“Hey, you okay?”

I blinked the blur from my eyes and squinted up at Pete, who was looking down at me almost worriedly as he flicked his black and red hair from his eyes. I made a gurgling noise from somewhere along my throat, which probably didn’t sound like confirmation.

“Elle!”

Before I knew what was happening, Hunter had stormed the room and tackled me in a hug; I was struggling to breathe. He’s a great guy and all, but I seriously needed some more time to get used to consciousness. Pete probably read my mind, and didn’t bother to hide the annoyance at Hunter on his face.

“Would you mind leaving?” he hissed. “She just woke up and needs quiet. You can’t take care of her right now.”

“What, and you can?” Hunter shot back.

“Get out,” Pete growled through gritted teeth.

My eyelids had drooped shut again, but I heard the swish of Hunter’s clothes as he began to leave the room, and I swear I also heard him viciously jeer ‘vampire’ in Pete’s direction before kissing me lightly on the forehead and leaving. Then again, I had just woken up and felt like shit, and I thought that the sun was shining brightly in the background of what was happening as cartoon birds tweeted, so I was probably just imagining Hunter’s jeer too.

I shifted my position, curling in to Pete as my head rested in his lap and fatigue began to wash over me again, regardless of the fact that I’d just woken. He sat stiffly at first; neither of us completely used to the other acting so comfortable in the same small vicinity, but he eased up after a few moments.

“Hey, Elle?” he whispered softly.

“Yeah?” I mumbled.

“I… I’m sorry. For that fight the other week about Travis. I should have made sure I knew all the details before getting pissed at you.”

I paused, not wanting to answer ever, but I knew that I’d have to eventually.

“That’s okay. You would have gotten pissed anyway.”

He let out a cautious chuckle.

“I guess. But let’s put it in the past now, yeah?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Neither of us spoke after that and I fell back asleep to the rhythm of his cool fingers running through my messy hair.