Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Spoil Sport

"Oh my God!" Phoebe exclaimed. All eyes immediately shot to her. She came down off her perch on the stairs with a huge smile on her face.

"Where did you get those boots?" she asked sounding like a total valley girl. I looked down and realized that I had been holding onto the boots this entire time though I could have sworn I put them on the kitchen counter.

"I know right! They're like so bubbly!' I replied hoping that going all Pretty-brain would keep me from telling her I got them off a dead body.

"You got them off a dead body?!" Zane suddenly shrieked his voice rocketing through at least half an octave. Darn! Forgot he could read minds. Silly me! I turned back around to look at Zane and his expression was so appalled it was almost comical.

"Maybe," I mumbled through tight lips. He stared at me and I felt like a small child who got caught stealing gum from their sister's secret gum jar. (I swear that's a thing!) Phoebe leaped forward and snatched the boots off my arm.

"I don't even care that they're dead boots! They're so awesome!" she cried plunking down on the bottom step and unzipping the side zipper. The boots were a size nine and even though Phoebe was a lot shorter and a lot skinnier than I was we still had the same shoe size. She shoved the boots onto her bare feet, zipped them up, and stood. She pranced around me giggling with glee. Keegan watched Phoebe hop around like a bunny rabbit on steroids and I saw something in his eyes and in the casual smirk on his face; it almost resembled attraction or lust but there was something more...he wanted to own her and there was no doubt in my mind that he could easily accomplish that.

"Keegan!" Zane suddenly exclaimed causing me to jump and Phoebe to stop her dance. Keegan turned to look at Zane and asked, "What?" The smirk on his face became slightly more lecherous as if he knew exactly why Zane had said his name like that. Zane covered his face with his hands and whined like a child who had just seen something they'd really rather forget.

"If you're gonna think things like that about my girlfriend's best friend please put up a block because I don't think I can handle it right now." Keegan's smile widened and he laughed shortly.

"Sorry, boy-o, but if my thoughts disturb you then don't listen so intently," Keegan replied nonchalantly. Phoebe glared at Keegan with one blonde eyebrow raised in stern curiosity.

"What exactly were you thinking about me, boy-o?" Phoebe asked stressing the last word severely. Keegan looked at her with an expression that made her heart skip a beat and then pick up double time.

"Would you like me to show you?" he asked her and I could see the pupils in his misty green eyes dilate slightly. Phoebe, usually always prepared with a witty retort, was speechless.

"I—uh—you..." Phoebe stuttered taking a step back as Keegan advanced on her and stumbling slightly in the platform boots.

"Trust me, darling, it was nothing bad," Keegan said his voice like that of an angel driven to sin. "And nothing that you wouldn't thoroughly enjoy," he continued. A nervous giggle escaped her lips.

"Okay well that's enough of that!" I announced clapping my hands together and hastily stepped in between Keegan and Phoebe. Keegan gave me a look like I just cock-blocked him. I shot him a sickeningly sweet smile and said, "Perhaps we should get down to business."

"Aw, Lor, you're such a spoil sport!" Keegan groused leaning closer to me. I stepped away from him and backed into Phoebe.

"Okay, we need to think of some kind of plan cuz obviously my whole 'chain-him-up-cold-turkey' thing isn't gonna work," I said loudly trying to draw Keegan's focus. He sighed dramatically and his eyes fell disinterestedly to my face. His pupils were massive and there were rosy spots of color on his otherwise ivory cheeks making him look like porcelain doll.

"No shit!" he said with a laugh which was almost immediately echoed by Zane who had been quiet for some time. I looked over at Zane with narrowed eyes and saw him sitting against the wall with the sketchbook in his lap. There was a small smile on his face as he carefully tore out the first page of the sketchbook, precisely following the predetermined line, then he proceeded tearing the picture into tiny pieces and as he did he said, "I'm assuming that if Keegan killed a girl, he drained her completely, meaning he consumed on average nine to eleven pints of blood and from the smell of whisky and vodka on his breath I'd guess he drank at least 700mL of liquor, that being about the size of an average bottle of spirits nowadays." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, flicking a piece of paper off his thigh. "He can handle his blood and he can handle his liquor, but both at the same time..." he drifted off and looked at me. "Not so much," he continued.

I looked at Keegan with a cruel expression and he shrugged adorably, a childish grin pulling at his lips and exposing his impossibly perfect teeth.

"You're not going to get much cooperation from him until he comes down a little. Should only be an hour or two," Zane said gathering all the small bits of paper into a pile. I stared at him for a moment in confusion. His words made so much sense and he sounded like himself...only not really. I felt like banging my head into the wall until all this crazy stuff made a little more sense.