Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5) Read Online Free Page B

for a t-shirt dress.
    I tied the knot
and stepped back, trying to see as much of my body as possible in the small
mirror over the sink. It wasn’t a great look, but it wasn’t terrible either. I
could pull it off without my mom thinking I was wearing Lucas’ clothes again. I
didn’t have a brush, so I ran my fingers through my wet hair and hoped it
wouldn’t dry in a tangled mess.
    “Any change?” I
asked Lucas as I stepped outside the bathroom.
    He shook his head.
“I gave Henry the second dose of the antidote a few minutes ago.”
    “Really?” I asked
in surprise. “It’s already been an hour?” I walked to the couch and perched on
the armrest, next to Henry. The blood on the floor was probably dried by now,
but I didn’t want to sit in it.
    “Yes, you were in
the shower for a long time,” he answered.
    “I couldn’t get
rid of the icky feeling from all that blood,” I admitted. “Lucas…” My voice
trailed off.
    “Yes?” he
prompted.
    “You’re a seasoned
hunter. Does it get better? How do you ever feel clean? Do you always come home
drenched in blood and guts?”
     “It’s true that
not all creatures die the same. Some are messier than others.” He shrugged.
“I’ve been doing it so long now, I just don’t think about it anymore. If you were to start hunting, you’d become immune to it very fast. But that’s not going
to happen,” he added quickly.
    “It seems to be
what everyone thinks I’m fated to do,” I muttered.
    “If you were out
there hunting day in and day out, I’d go crazy with anxiety. I’d probably take
a stake to my own heart,” he joked. “But you’ve proven that you can take care
of yourself,” Lucas added.
    “Except I was a
minute too slow to act,” I said morosely.
    “Hey, don’t beat
yourself up,” Lucas said softly. “Without you, Henry would be a vampire now,
loyal to Bartholomew forever.”
    I shuddered.
    “Henry will have
to stay here tonight,” Lucas said, changing the subject. “Can you text his
parents, make up something about spending the night at a friend’s house?”
    “Good thinking. My
head’s so fucked right now I would have completely forgotten.”
    I reached over and
grabbed Henry’s phone, which was sticking out of his jean pocket. “It’s locked,
and I don’t know his passcode,” I told Lucas. “Now what?”
    “That’s not a
problem. Be right back.” Lucas went into his bedroom and returned with what
looked like a piece of plastic. I handed him Henry’s phone. Lucas pressed the
device against the front of the phone for a couple of seconds. “Unlocked now,”
he said, holding up the phone to show me.
    “You have the
strangest gadgets,” I said, shaking my head. I took the phone from Lucas. It
felt a little funny scrolling through Henry’s texts, but what choice did I
have?
    The most recent
text was from Bunny. Ugh. It was unread. I forced myself not to look at
it. How annoying. What does she do, wake up on a Saturday morning and start
texting him? Planning their day together?   Henry had said he was playing
basketball. Maybe he was lying to me as much as I was lying to him.
    “What’s wrong?”
Lucas asked.
    “Nothing.” I
quickly typed a message to Henry’s mom. I’m planning to stay at Tad’s
tonight. I hesitated before hitting send. Did I have to ask for permission?
Hell, Henry was 17 now. Almost an adult. I sent the message and set Henry’s
phone down next to him on the couch, so I could see if his mom responded.
    Almost
immediately, she texted back: Thanks for letting me know. Have fun!
    Of course Henry’s
mom didn’t care. He had never given anyone a reason to doubt him. He was the
nicest, most loyal and trustworthy person I had ever known.
    I leaned forward,
placed my elbows on my legs and rested my head in my hands.
    Now, we just had
to wait.

Chapter 6
    Lucas had just
given Henry the fourth dose when there was a knock on the door.
    “Must be Nic,”
Lucas said. “He can take you home now.”
    But