Frozen Tears

Chapter Seventeen

His hair is a dirty blond mess from running, and his hazel eyes match perfectly into his tanned face. I should seriously stop checking my attacker out. But hey - his muscles are practically jumping out from his tight black t-shirt, pants and boots.

"Enjoying the view?" He says lowly, tilting his head to the side with contemplation and a small smirk. His voice holds a hint of mock but otherwise it's completely flirty. He fails.

-Let me go!" I scream again but he plants his hand over my mouth, whispering things to my ear, but I'm to busy screaming against his hand and kicking in every direction to actually hear what he's saying.

-Emma?" Jay's voice echoes through the room and hope floods through me. The man behind me stiffens and throws me against the cabinet, and I'm grateful that I tied a knot on my towel because otherwise it would have slipped right down. I fall to the floor and groan as pain laces through my body, and try to get up again on trembling legs.

The hunter glares at me and picks up his weapon, the famous black wooden lance thingy. I hadn't seen it before in reality but now that I have, I can see that the silver swirls are actually drawings, getting closer and closer to my shivering body.

"Jay!" I scream out for him again and my attackor groans in annoyance, swinging his arm back and letting the lance fly behind him. The weapon flies right into the wall next to Jay's livid face. He growls and tackles the hunter to the ground and I watch in disbelief as the first flash of red appears in my vision.

"Emma!" I look up as Drake enters the room and picks me up effortlessly, carrying me towards the door in seconds and placing me down gently. "Run. Go get Hunter, if you don't find him get someone else. But don't come back alone okay?" He spins around towards the fighters and I'm about to run when I piercing scream rings through my ears. And it's not just any scream.

"Jay!" I run towards them again as the man stands up, knocking Drake out the same way as he did with Jay. He smiles fiercely and bends out of the window.

"I'll see you soon Emma." He whispers lowly, threat visible in his words. My name lingers in the air and he jumps out, disappearing into the grey sky. I run over to the window and look down, watching with wide eyes as he hits the ground with his feet and crouches into a ball, rolling back up into a standing position. As he feels my gaze on him, he turns around and offers me a taunting wave, before disappearing into the thickly lined trees of the dark forest. 

I turn around again and run over to where Jay's immobile form is resting, falling to my knees beside his body. Beside me, Drake is moaning in pain as consciousness drifts back to him. But Jay remains silent and knocked-out. I bring him onto my lap and cradle his face, brushing away a dark strand of hair from his closed eyes. Even with him being severely injured, I can't bring myself to cry. I try to force out a single tear, a single drop, but nothing comes. 

I hear the door opening and slamming against the wall with a boom. I raise my eyes between chocked hiccups, and look as Hunter's shocked face comes towards me. "Jay, please, please wake up..." I whisper to him, ignoring Hunter's voice above me. Roughly, he pulls me away and I scream again, kicking him once in the shin and hoping to get a groan of pain from him, anything. I get nothing. I close my eyes and let my body be pulled limply away by Hunter's strong arms, tired of fighting, and I'm only semi-conscious of what I'm wearing.

"They'll wake up soon," Hunter says then, "vampires heal quickly." I nod at his words understandingly, and then something comes to my mind. 

"Hunter...?"

He looks down at me, concern filling his eyes as he nods.

"Yeah?

-You're being hunted." I force out my lame joke and chuckle at my own humour, and Hunter just shakes his head in disbelief, dark eyes zoning in on my face to detect any sign of hurt.