Arctic Fire 2 by Erica Stevens Page A

what she looks like. He will spread the word. We can make a stand in this town. If we run, we’ll never know when they might catch up with us. If we stay here, he may not believe Quinn is the vampire of the prophecy. She won’t be able to reveal what she can do until we know he’s going to die. Unless you revealed it tonight?”
    “I never got a chance to use my ability on him,” Quinn replied to Luther’s questioning look.
    “And if he comes back here with a group of vamps?” Julian demanded.
    “Yet another reason not to leave this town unprotected. Did you recognize him?” Luther inquired of Julian.
    “No.”
    “Then he probably doesn’t know who you are either, or that you’re an Elder. He certainly doesn’t know there’s also three Hunters in this town. I bet his interest in Quinn just became a lot more intense now that he knows she’s a vampire. He’s going to try to satisfy his curiosity about her, and we’ll be able to get him when he does.”
    “Clint and Hawtie are the only friends I’ve had for years. I can’t turn my back on them,” she said.
    Julian bit out an explosive curse before swinging away from her and pacing over to the kitchen once more. She could feel his hunger and need to destroy radiating from him. “Julian—” she started.
    He held his hand up before glancing at the window. “I have to feed.”
    “The sun will be up soon,” she protested.
    “I’ll be back before then. Stay with her,” he commanded the others. “Don’t forget that vampire was able to get into Quinn’s house and at her family because he has the ability to control minds. Don’t go outside until it’s daytime, and no one goes anywhere by themselves anymore.”
    Lou scrambled to get out of Julian’s way as he strode toward the door. He didn’t look back before slipping outside. They stared at the closed door before the others all turned to look at her. “He’ll be okay,” she said. “He has to calm down a little bit.”
    “Yeah,” Melissa agreed.
    Quinn ran a hand over her face. “Clint must think I lost my mind or something tonight.”
    “I told him you got sick and had to go home,” Melissa replied.
    “Or he’s going to think I’m pregnant,” she said with a half-hearted laugh. She slumped tiredly onto the couch and dropped her still-throbbing head into her hands.
    ***
    Julian prowled through the desert, going from one animal to the next as he tried to ease his need to murder with a glut of blood. What he really wanted was to sink his fangs into someone’s neck and tear out their throat. In the two years since he’d stopped killing, the urge to murder and destroy had never been as strong as it was now.
    None of the animal blood was going to be good enough tonight. It would never satisfy his need for death the way actually killing someone would. The wind howled across the open land as he stood amongst the shifting sand, staring at the homes across the way. Curtains and blinds shaded the windows; some had sparkly decorations hanging from the windows that reflected the night-lights within the rooms. There were so many unsuspecting people within those homes, sleeping soundly, unaware of the predator lurking in their backyard.
    He could so easily walk up to one of those homes, manipulate an invite from someone within, and destroy them before they realized what they’d invited into their home. The prospect was entirely too tempting for his liking.
    You’re a better man now, he reminded himself, but the reminder was doing little good right then.
    Killing someone was not the answer to his problems. It wouldn’t make Quinn any more willing to leave this town. It wouldn’t destroy the vampire who had tortured and unknowingly turned her, but damn if it didn’t sound like one of the most pleasing ideas he’d had in a while.
    His fangs tingled. He ground his teeth together as he stared at the shadowed windows. Just slip inside and feel a little better. Unleash the monster within that’s