Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series #3) by Tim O'Rourke

correct and that we will be able to utilize her whether she is delivered to us dead or alive.
    The treaty we have struck with
     
    The email ended abruptly, and sat waiting to be finished by whoever had started it. Isidor was now standing beside me and reading the e-mail over my shoulder.
    “What’s that all about?” he asked.
    “It’s about us,” I said.
    “I can’t see my name in it,” he said, scanning the email.
    The chair creaked as I swivelled around, looking-up at him.
    “You’re a half-breed, right?” I asked him.
    “So I’ve been told,” he said back.
    “What else were you told?” I asked, wanting for so long to have this conversation with him, and feeling disappointed that now the subject had been breached between us, we wouldn’t have time to finish it.
    Isidor looked at me, went to open his mouth, then closed it again.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping that I hadn’t upset him by raising the subject of being a half-breed. He came across as being okay with the idea. He seemed pretty confident in his abilities, the use of his wings and he could definitely hold his ground with someone as cocky as Potter. So I couldn’t understand the look of confusion that had suddenly masked his young-looking face.
    “I’m sorry, Kiera,” he said softly, his voice just above a whisper. “Can we talk about this another time – just me and you?’’ Then glancing back over his shoulder at Potter, he added, “When there is no one else around.”
    Standing, I rested my hand on his arm, and said, “I know what you mean. Maybe this is a conversation that we should have in private.”
    “Thanks, Kiera,” he smiled, and turned away.
    “Anytime,” I smiled and looked over at Potter who was still inspecting the security panel. I understood Isidor’s reluctance to talk about something so personal to him. And I remembered the hurt in Kayla’s face as she had told me how she had been bullied at school because she was different. Despite Isidor’s confident manner, perhaps he’d had similar experiences and felt unable to talk about them for fear of Potter belittling him. I was struggling to come to terms with the changes that I’d experienced within myself, the bleeding eye, the visions, the knowledge that I had those creepy black fingers curled around my ribcage, and how I’d panicked the other night when I had thrown that vampire down the tunnel.
    I was twenty – an adult – and I was struggling to understand what was happening to me, so guessing how Kayla and Isidor must have felt going through such violent changes at a young age made me heart ache for them. So, I decided to wait until the time was right to talk to Isidor and in the meantime I would tell Potter to give the guy a break – to back-off.
    Then turning my thoughts back to the email I’d read, I called for Luke and Murphy to come and take a look at it. I wondered if the girl and boy that the email referred to were the two teenagers that had been taken from the makeshift hospital at Hallowed Manor. The fact that the unfinished email spoke of me being delivered dead or alive did scare me, but not as much perhaps as it should, because what really scared me about that email was the mention of a treaty . Who had the Vampyrus struck a treaty with, and why?
    “Have a look at this,” I said pointing to the screen.
    Peering over my shoulder, Murphy and Luke read the email.
    “What boy?” Luke whispered. “What task?”
    Shrugging his shoulders, Murphy shook his head as if he had no idea. Then pointing at the screen, he said, “Treaty? What treaty?”
    “That’s what I was wondering,” I told him.
    “What else is on that computer?” Murphy asked, and I noted fear in his voice.
    I clicked on to documents and a whole series of files flashed up on the screen. I scanned the files and looked for anything that might refer to DNA, treaties, Kayla, Isidor, or me. As I quickly scanned the list of files, I heard Potter say from across the