Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Good While It Lasted

I took another bite of pizza. I didn't care that those cheerleaders died at all. They didn't mean a thing to me. I only cared that Zane gave in long enough to kill them and he was being pushed farther away from me.

"Phoebe," I said softly.

"What?" she asked warily.

"I don't feel sad about the death of those girls that Anton killed," I said as if discovering a revelation. Phoebe stared at me for a moment.

"Well, if you don't feel sad then why were you like freaking out?" she asked. I shrugged, peeled a pepperoni off my pizza and stuck it in my mouth.

"I guess I was just freaked out because my boyfriend was ripping people to shreds. I mean that was a bit of a shock. He killed Nadia one night and the next night he killed fourteen people. It's a big jump from one person to fourteen," I said so coolly you'd think I was talking about the weather.

"Okay, I think I follow you," she said. I finished my piece of pizza and said, "I mean we see things on the news all the time like that plane crash a couple years ago when all but like three passengers died. We say 'oh that sucks' and we get on with our lives. We didn't know Nadia or the others so why can't we just say the same thing and get over it?" Phoebe sighed and seemed to relax into her recliner.

"Thank the Gods above! So we can just forget about it now?" she asked eagerly. I grinned at her and nodded. "Oh thank you, Lorelei. It was getting terribly tiring trying to be compassionate. You know that I am clueless when it comes to human emotion," she said. I laughed.

"Aren't we both?" I asked. Phoebe shrugged and said, "We are kind of lacking in the common sense department." I looked the pizza crust on my plate and sighed.

"I think the real reason I freaked out though-other than the big jump between one and fourteen kills-was that I knew that Anton was pulling Zane even farther away from me," I said. Her face suddenly fell.

"Do you really still believe that Anton and Zane are two different people?" she asked. I felt the tears coming again after I thought I already said goodbye.

"How can you ask that, Pheebs? Of course I still believe. I saw him change from Zane to Anton, but the line between them is blurring." I started sobbing. Sometimes I hated having emotions. Phoebe suddenly disappeared from her recliner and reappeared next to me. She hugged me tight.

"I'm sorry, Lor," she said. I mashed my face into her small shoulder. She stroked my hair gently. "It's okay, Lorelei," she murmured soothingly. She pulled away from me and glanced at the clock on the window sill. "It's getting late. Maybe we should get some rest," she said, sounding a lot like a mother. I nodded and got up off the couch. I grabbed my plate and took it to the kitchen. I rinsed it off and placed it in the dish washer. Phoebe and I trudged up stairs, she took a shower, and I went to bed. After about thirty minutes of restless tossing and turning I finally sank off into a blissfully dreamless sleep. It sure was good while it lasted.