The Bite of Winter by Bethany Helwig

Author:Bethany Helwig [Helwig, Bethany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780998124742
Google: VfiJvgAACAAJ
Goodreads: 32050060
Publisher: Brightway Books
Published: 2017-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The figure’s face, obscured beneath the hood, tilts to look directly at me in the window. My heart thunders in my chest and I freeze. We have a staring contest for a solid ten seconds before Ashley speaks up from her spot on the bed.

“Phoenix?”

Without taking my eyes off the figure below, I ask, “Where’s the backdoor?”

“At the end of the hallway just past the bottom of the stairs,” she says rapidly in a high voice, her breathing starting to hitch. I guess she’s figured out something’s wrong from the way I’ve frozen at the window.

“Call Jefferson and stay here,” I warn, then lunge for the door. I’ve already got my machete in the lining of my jacket and the bio-mech gun in my pocket. The second my fingers close around the gun, I fling open the bedroom door, fly down the stairs, and launch myself out the backdoor.

I take great bounding leaps through the thigh-high snow and move around the corner of the house to where I last spotted the mysterious figure. He’s gone but I can hear him crashing through the trees. Despite there being hardly any light to guide me, and having forgotten my flashlight in my bag, I plunge in after the noise and activate the bio-mech gun so it fits to the curve of my hand. A shadow darts between the trees and I race after between the pines and bare birches. Whoever it is zig-zags so much that I can’t get a clear shot. That doesn’t stop me from letting a few pulses fly. The shots hit trees, causing them to sway precariously and shower me with snow, bits of bark, and pine needles. I have to shield my face after one particularly bad shot lets loose a cascade of debris that nearly gets me in the eyes.

Eventually the figure trips on something hidden beneath the snow, allowing me to catch up, get a solid beam on him, and shoot him square in the back as he tries to regain his footing. His back arches from the strength of the pulse and he falls face first into the snow. I inch forward keeping my gun trained on him while taking great gulps of frigid air, and extricate the machete from the lining of my jacket.

He should be out cold, or at least stunned, but I nudge him with the toe of my boot before flipping him over to see who I managed to tag. Snow clings to his jacket as I roll him over and lift back his hoodie to reveal his face. In the darkness it’s hard to be certain, but I swear the face I’m looking at isn’t a vampire.

“Jason? What on earth . . .”

He’s out cold, his eyes closed. A thousand scenarios for why he’s creeping around outside Ashley’s house flash through my mind, and none of them are good. I still have the scar that proves he can be a monster. Jason may not recall the act but I certainly remember being bitten.

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