Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 18: 16

Aurora caught Stanton by booth arms as his legs buckled beneath him. She held on to him as best she could, trying to ease his fall to the floor so as not to hurt him. She used all her might gently, laying him out on the floor flat on his back. He stared at her with anger in his good eye, he knew she had drugged him, but he couldn’t find the strength to utter a word.

She knelt next to Stanton, lovingly caressing his jawline. “Sorry, Big Daddy, I love you too much to let that hunter kill you. This is a task best suited for me,” she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Forgive me,” she whispered in his ear as Stanton lost consciousness.

Standing up, Aurora set to work. She dug up her best streetwalker outfit. Opening her makeup bag, Aurora took out a small pack of colour contacts. She had worn them a few times in the past to help her blend in better. Tonight, they would be crucial in her plan. She took a moment to put them in. Then she looked herself over in the mirror. She looked great… blue eyes and all.

Aurora took a moment to place a pillow under Stanton’s head and draped a blanket over him. She hoped he would be ok; she’d put enough Rohypnol in his beer to knock out a herd of elephants. She hadn’t been sure how much to use on a Lycan, let alone one as big as Stanton. Lycans had fast metabolisms, so she wasn’t sure how long he would be under, so she had better not waste what little time she had.

She patted him on the chest as she stood up. “Sleep it off, big guy.”

Aurora took the keys and hopped into the SUV. She didn’t have a license, but that mattered very little to her at the moment. She drove into town and parked outside the only dive bar attached to a low rent motel. She had only caught a quick look at the hunter, but he didn’t look like the type that could afford an indefinite stay at any of Aspen’s classier tourist hotels.

Going inside, she found the place packed with tradesmen and truckers. It was late, so most everyone was good and drunk, but Aurora was sure the hunter would be keeping his wits about him knowing

there were Lycans nearby. She spotted the hunter at the bar. He was drinking alone, writing something in a small coil scribblier. Taking a minute to adjust her top to best draw the eye to her breasts, Aurora made her way over and took the seat next to the hunter at the bar.

Casually he glanced up and away and then immediately did a double-take as he looked at her again, and his smile grew. “Hello, hottie,” he groaned as his dark eyes rolled over her slowly head to toe with approval. “Look at those legs.”

“Fifty bucks, and you can get between them,” she offered. “What do you say? Want a night to remember?”

He closed his book and tucked it into his jacket's inner pocket. “Fifty bucks for that sweet ass? That’s a hell of a deal.”

Aurora stepped in, pressing her body fully against his so he could feel her soft curves. She brushed her lips over his ear. “$500, and I’ll let you ride the attraction over and over and over.”

“It’s a two-second walk to my room,” he said breathlessly.

Aurora reached over and took the half-full bottle of whisky the bartender was using to mix a drink. She lifted it to her mouth ran the tip of her tongue around the glass rim before tipping the bottle back and taking a good long drink as she headed for the door. She looked back to see the hunter pay the bartender for the bottle she took. Then he took out his room key, smiling at her as he followed her to the door.

Aurora let him lead her to the room down the boardwalk. As he slipped the key card in the lock, Aurora used his diverted attention and quickly opened the heart-shaped locket charm on the bracelet she always wore when planning a trick roll letting three tablets of Rohypnol drop into the bottle. She swirled the dark brown liquor around a few times to help it devolve. When he looked back at her after opening the door, she grinned at him. He didn’t have a clue.

Going inside, she pushed the door shut as he threw off his jacket and, too, her in his arm groping clumsily as men often did. She pretended to giggle when he nipped at her neck. Aurora pushed him back until he was sitting on the foot of the bed. When he tried to get up, she placed her hand square on his chest and stopped him. She leaned in and lifted the bottle to his lips and poured as he followed her lead and drank. When she felt he had consumed enough, Aurora took a step back and let the drug take its effect.

She saw the moment of realization on his face when his head began to spin. He tried to draw his gun to shoot her, but in his hazy condition, he couldn’t get it out of his belt before he fell backwards and passed out in an undignified sprawl across the bottom half of the double bed. Aurora smiled as she placed the tainted bottle on the TV stand.

Men…

Two heads…

No brain.

“Didn’t anyone tell you not to trust a pretty face?”

Aurora pulled a thin spare blanket from the closet by the door and proceeded to shred them into long strips. She then used the strips to gag and restrain the hunter. She couldn’t leave him here. She had to take him with her. She would wait until it was quiet outside, then she would drag this sorry bag of bones to the SUV and take him to Gordon’s shop. She couldn’t kill him here. There would be far too much evidence.

While he slept, Aurora packed his things and took them out to the SUV, which she moved closer to the room so she wouldn’t have to drag him too far. She cleaned up the room so it would look like he skipped town without checking out. She would make sure no one came looking for him.

***

Stanton groaned as he came to. He opened his eyes, but things were still blurry, and his eyes fell closed once more. He was doing his best to fight the drug in his veins as his body quickly metabolized it filtering it out of his system. It took a few minutes, and then Stanton found the strength to roll onto his side. After the exertion, he had to rest a moment. Once he could muster the will to try again, Stanton placed both hands on the floor and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.

Unsteady and still feeling the effects of the drugs, Stanton hauled himself up onto his feet. He stumbled a few steps catching himself on the table to stop from falling over once more. What the hell had she given him? Stanton took a few minutes to collect himself. He needed to wake up. He had no idea what time it was. How dare she drugs him. He was livid.

Finding his center, Stanton stood on his own two feet without the aid of any nearby furniture. Once he was sure he was good, he staggered out of the house and onto the porch to find his SUV missing. God damn it, she had stolen his vehicle. The pack was probably wondering where he was. He was going to have to run to get to the shop. He sure hoped they were still there. Stanton took off into the woods, running as fast as his unsteady legs would carry him. He was faster on all fours, but he wasn’t going to wolf out until he knew the pack’s plan. Aurora had better be at the shop. He hoped she was safe because he was going to kill her.

By the time he reached the Blood Moon Studios, Stanton had gone around the back to the clearing next to the tattoo shop. The pack was all gathered… all fifty of them. Gordon was laying out the game plan when he noticed Stanton join them. “Where the hell have you been?” Gordon demanded in front of everyone. “And where is Aurora?”

“I don’t know. She drugged me, and I have no idea where she is now.”

“We will deal with her later. Right now, we need to track down that hunter. I want him dead by dawn.”

Stanton had seen the man up close. He knew the man’s scent. “I can track him,” he offered.

“Alright, everyone follows Stanton, and when we find him, I want no fuck-ups. No evidence. This hunter needs to disappear with no trace. Any evidence will only attract more hunters. Alright then, let’s go hunting.” Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“No need,” Aurora’s voice came loudly from behind the group. Everyone turned to see her carrying a lagged blue duffle bag in one hand while dragging the hunter bound and gagged behind her with the other.’ The pack parted as Aurora hauled the half-unconscious man into the middle of the group and dropped him at Gordon’s feet. “Here is your mighty hunter,” she then tossed the bag on the ground next to him. “And his bag of tricks.”

Gordon looked down at the man at his feet, and he seemed to be drug and unaware of his surroundings. “You captured him all by yourself?” Gordon asked with interest.

“It was easy enough.”

“What did you do to him? Why does he look so out of it?”

“Rohypnol,” she confessed. “I used to use it to knock out johns so I could rob them,” a surprised look passed around the pack, and Aurora sneered. “Why does that surprise you? It’s not like I was a Saint before I came here.”

“Is that what you gave me?” Stanton growled, drawing her attention to him.

She looked genuinely sorry about her actions. “I didn’t want to, but it was the only way I knew to keep you safe. You would have never allowed me to go alone.”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t have let you go alone,” he snapped. “You could have been killed.”

“I knew what I was doing. He is not the first man I’ve seduced.”

Seduced. The word was like a knife to the heart. Did she allow this man to touch her? The thought of another man caressing or kissing what was his made him angry. Furious and hurt, he turned and walked away. There would be no hunt, so Gordon would not need him. The rest of the pack could kill the prisoner alone.

He walked around to the front of the old building, where he found his SUV. She must have used it to bring the hunter back to the pack. As strong as she was, it would have been impossible for Aurora to carry a man that size all the way back from Aspen by herself. Walking over the driver’s door, he looked in through the window and spotted the keys in the ignition. He opened the door to get in when Aurora came running after him. She pushed the door closed and positioned herself between him and the driver’s door.

“Hear me out, Big Daddy.”

“Don’t!” Stanton barked at her as he lifted his finger to scold her but stopped himself. “Don’t Big Daddy me? Now, after what you have done.”

“I get it. You are upset that I drugged you. It was for your own good,” she tried to explain.

“I don’t give a fuck about the drugging me,” he sighed. “Scrap that. I am furious that you drugged me. That’s not what I’m pissed off about right now. You let another man touch you.”

She scoffed. “You are annoyed about my methods?”

“Yeah.”

“This coming from the man who asked his best friend to seduce his girl to test her loyalty? You have no right to judge me. I was protecting you.”

“I don’t want your protection,” he said, forcefully moving Aurora out of his way so he could get in his vehicle. Aurora stepped aside, allowing him the space he required to drive away, leaving her behind.

***

Aurora watched as Stanton left her standing in the gravel parking lot outside Gordon’s shop. She understood Stanton’s anger. She would have felt the same way were the situation reversed. She didn’t give a shit if he was angry with her for what she had done. She had done what she had to in order to keep Stanton safe, and she would do it again in a heartbeat to keep him out of harm’s way.

“Hey, Aurora,” she turned back to see Gordon near the side of the building. He nodded his head for her to follow him back to the events taking place behind the building. Aurora walked back, rejoining the pack. “Everything alright?” Gordon asked.

“He is mad at me.”

Gordon grin sympathetically. “He will get over it. I’ve known him from when he was a child. Stanton is a stubborn man, but he loves you. He will forgive you,” she certainly hoped so. They came to stand over the hunter. Gordon nudged the drowsy man on the ground with the toe of his leather riding boots. “Hey, Shit Head, wake up.”

The man wasn’t awake enough to acknowledge him. “We should untie him,” Charlotte suggested. “Give him a fighting chance.

“Let him run blind in the dark,” Darrell snickered. “I could use a good run to work off dinner,” he said, running his hand over his flat belly like he had packed on a few pounds despite how trim and fit he really was.

“They are right, Daddy,” Aster spoke up. “Doesn’t seem sporting to tear him apart when he can’t defend himself.”

“Then let’s cut him loose,” they were out in the middle of nowhere. Even if he ran, there was no way he would outrun all fifty of them. Gordon took a switchblade from his pocket and bent down, cutting away the fabric that bound the hunter at his feet.

Suddenly the hunter was wide awake. He swept Gordon’s legs out from under him, dropping him on his back as he snatched the switchblade from his grasp and shot to his feet. He grabbed Aurora, pulling her in front of him, pressing the blade to her throat, using her as a hostage.

“Holy fuck, look at all of you. This is a bigger pack than I was expecting to find. I’m going to need backup.”

Gordon hauled himself back up onto his feet and dusted the dirt off his pants. “You can run if you want to,” Gordon told him. “You won’t get far.”

The hunter pressed the blade harder against Aurora’s throat, drawing a little blood as the knife cut her superficially. “I think I’m just going to borrow one of your cars and leave. If you try to stop me, I will kill your familiar.”

Everyone started to laugh. It was the colour contacts that still threw him off. He still assumed Aurora was human that she was a familiar, a human that knew about Lycans but aided them, not hunted them.

“Shut the fuck up,” he yelled, aggravated by the pack’s laughter. “I’m telling you I will kill this little bitch.”

“You can’t kill me,” Aurora grinned.

“You keep thinking that, Sweetheart, they can’t protect you.”

Aurora laughed evilly as her fangs descended, and her eyes began to glow. “You think I need protecting,” she twisted in his arms, and a look of horror claimed his face when he realized she was one of them. Aurora grabbed his shoulders, knocked him to the ground as she sat on top of him.

Leaning in, she clamped her jaws down on his neck, sinking her teeth deep into his flesh, then ripped his jugular out.

He coughed and spat up mouthfuls of blood as his wide eyes stared up at her. Aurora slowly stood up his blood-covered her lips, chin, and throat. Her dress was a mess with blood, and she turned around to face the pack who had just watched her murder a man, but not one of them flinched.

Gordon looked at Aurora with a sly smile. “Remind me never to get on your bad side,” he then looked at Darrell and the other young male pack members. “Boys, take the body and burn it. I want nothing left of him. Burn his possessions too. Then go back into Aspen, find his vehicle and burn it them push what remains into a lake. No one can find anything. Everything is destroyed, no trace.”