But as soon as our eyes met, I knew who it was, and he knew me. Jonathan began to run, and I pressed my feet to the pole so I could jump off. I landed right behind him. Pain reverberated through my legs, but I was running the instant my feet hit the ground.
I only gave chase for a second because then I was on him. I grabbed his shoulder and threw him into the wall. His skull cracked back against it. He tried to push at me, but I was stronger than him. I’d barely stood a chance against him the last time we tangled, but now I had the strength and I knew how to use it.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I growled. Pressing my arm to his chest, I held him against the wall. Jonathan could keep fighting, but he knew he couldn’t win.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He glared down at me, his eyes as cold and emotionless as ever.
“Jane was my best friend! And you killed her!” I shouted, and I kneed him in the groin. He grimaced, but only for a second.
“I didn’t kill her! She belonged to me, and I want to find out who did kill her!”
Jonathan shouted back, and his breath smelled of rotting meat. He’d eaten recently, but smelling it on him was disgusting. Everything about him made me feel gross, and the blood in my veins burned.
“Liar!” I kneed him again, harder this time, and his face twisted for a moment.
“I’m not lying! Why would I kill Jane? She tasted delicious.” Jonathan smiled at me, and it took all my restraint to rip out his throat.
“You hated her. You used her, and you treated her like meat. Why would you be loitering outside her apartment unless you killed her?”
“For the same reason you are,” he said. “Somebody stole her from me, and I want to find out who it is. Nobody takes anything from me. You know that.”
I eyed him up, deciding whether or not he was telling the truth. He was the sort of bastard that would kill Jane, but return to the scene of the crime to get his jollies on remembering killing her. But even if he got some thrill off it, what good would standing outside her window do?
Unless he was telling the truth. He didn’t like being stolen from, I knew that much. If he wanted revenge, he had to find out who the killer was, and I’d ended up here because I was running out of places to look.
“You better not be lying to me,” I warned him, pressing my arm harder to his chest.
“I’ll rip out your heart with my bare hands.” His dark eyes searched mine, and he saw I was telling the truth, so he nodded.
“I’m not lying.”
“So what do you know?” I asked.
“You don’t need to pin me here. I’m not running, and you could catch me if I did,” he smirked.
Reluctantly, I dropped my arm and took a step back from him. Whether he killed Jane or not, I still didn’t like him. He straightened out his clothes and cocked his head at me.
“How did you get so strong?” Jonathan asked.
“Practice.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“But you shouldn’t be stronger than me, not yet. You’re still a baby.” He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a read on me, and I didn’t like it. “There’s something… different about you.”
“Yeah, well, we’re not here to talk about me,” I snapped. “What do you know about Jane?”
“Not that much.” He shook his head. “Not anything at all, really. She was murdered, and when I find out who did it, I’ll kill him.”
“Do you think it was a vampire?” I asked.
“Doubtful. We conform to human rules.” His voice dripped with venom when he said the word human. “We don’t like to draw attention to ourselves more than need be.” He pointed over to the streetlight. “On the subject of which, weren’t you worried that you’re theatrics would catch some attention?”
“It’s dark and cold. Everyone’s inside.” I glanced around after he said it, realizing he had a point. I’d been lucky that nobody had seen me jumping out of a five-story window and landing unscathed.
“Yes, god forbid a human realize what we are,” Jonathan said sardonically. “Then we’d have to answer to their ‘higher’ authority.”
“Yeah, whatever.” I ran a hand through my hair and ignored his tirade. “I’m around the clubs a lot, and I’m keeping my eye on you. If you find out anything about Jane, you better tell me.”
“Of course,” he smiled, and I’m not sure if I believed that either.
I heard Bobby panting behind me, his heart pounding like mad, but I didn’t turn around until Jonathan was long gone. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him.
“Who was that?” Bobby asked, working to catch his breath.
“That’s Jonathan. You remember? He used to ‘date’ Jane, and he tried to kill you,” I said.
“Oh yeah.” Bobby rubbed at his side and nodded. “I just never got a really good look at him.”
“Well, now, you have,” I said and turned to walk back towards the car.
“What was he doing here?” Bobby asked.
“He says he’s doing the same thing we are, but I don’t know,” I shook my head. “I’m not sure if I can believe anything he says.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him then?”
“Because.” I stopped and looked at Bobby. “I don’t know if he did it. And even though he’s a bastard, I’m not gonna kill him if I’m not sure. I don’t want innocent blood on my hands, even if it’s a vampire’s.”
“I understand,” Bobby said, and we started walking again.
“What did you tell Jane’s parents when you left?” I asked.
“Nothing. They were too busy yelling to notice me, so I just ran out the front door. And then I ran all the way down here, and I couldn’t find you for a minute.” He took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m so short of breath.”
“We should hurry home before Jack and Milo realize we’re gone,” I said. “Then we’ll both be in deep shit.”
Neither of us said much on the car ride home. I think Bobby was still trying to catch his breath, and I told him he needed to start training with me if he wanted to keep going out like this. I didn’t want him getting hurt or killed.
The rest of the time, I was lost in thought. Jane knew her killer. But that didn’t mean that much. She’d been running around with all sorts of vampires, and while Jonathan had been her main squeeze, that didn’t mean she didn’t know other vampires. And if she relapsed and wanted to get bitten again, she would’ve been desperate to get in contact with anyone.
Or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it wasn’t even a vampire, like Jonathan said. A human is just as capable of murder.
“Have you decided if you believe Jonathan yet?” Bobby asked as I pulled into the garage at the house.
“No. I don’t know if I ever will,” I sighed and shut off the car. “I might never know what really happened to her.”
“We’ll find out who did it,” he reassured me, looking at me seriously. “We can do this.”