One
Ife watched the sea, each wave as mesmerizing as the first time she’d seen it in France over a century ago with her siblings, but this time she was alone. This time no one was by her side, nothing to interfere with this moment of serenity. It was terrifying…and freeing. The dropping moon cast silvered light on the pale sand where she sat, the air warm on her skin while sparkling water lapped at her feet.
Her dress felt oppressive and unwelcome, so she lifted it over her head and dropped it to her side. Naked now, she burrowed deeper into the sand that still held the heat of the sun, more relaxed than she might ever have been in her life.
After a rough year, she’d needed to escape for a while; she was here for one thing, and one thing only…to do nothing. There was no one here waiting for her to take care of the next issue, no one who needed something from her, not one thing waiting for her decision or to fix a problem. So many times, people forgot to stop, appreciate, breathe, and just…be.
For the next two months, Ife’s only job was to enjoy every moment, trouble free. Vampires didn’t do it often, but today she was on vacation from her life, wonderful though it was. Lying under a calm sky filled with stars, with no responsibilities at all, she realized that is exactly what she’d needed for a long time.
At first she’d been worried that she wouldn’t be able to do it, to leave behind her life’s work, to let it go, allow her mind to clear so she would be able to return someday soon ready to get back to it. It seemed she could; she hadn’t thought at all about the Amazon basin and her task to protect it since she’d arrived here.
Ife fell back into the sand with a deep cleansing breath and sighed.
“Heaven.”
Up on a hill, near a lookout designed to stop and enjoy the scenery, Jack Remington had pulled over to watch a bright full moon set over the sea and grab a sandwich. How long had it been since he last ate? Shit, there were a lot of times he didn’t remember to eat.
Lifting the paper-wrapped item, he looked at what Stacey had packed for him. Ham and provolone on wheat with mayonnaise. That would do nicely.
Leaning against the stone wall, he sighed. Not enough of these quiet, trouble-free moments. He took a bite of the sandwich and moaned. Oh, that was good. He’d have to thank Stacey for thinking about it. She might be the best assistant he’d ever had. If she kept this kind of shit up, he’d give her a trophy saying so.
“What I wouldn’t do for a few months off,” he told the surf.
When was the last time? Oh, yeah, six years ago, for a full week, he’d spent some time with a cute little hottie in Oklahoma. Grinning, he took another bite of the sandwich. His father had busted his ass for that, but it had fucking been worth it.
Nope, not too many company sanctioned days off in his business. His family had been in it for over a century, from his great-great grandfather right up to his father, himself and his younger brother.
Chinging interrupted his peaceful moment. He’d ignored the last two calls, hoping to avoid his father.
Jack lingered before he pulled his fone out. “Yeah?”
“Where the fuck are you?”
“Took a moment to take a breath. Why?”
“Ben needs you.”
“Didn’t he have the night off?”
“Got some trouble, so answer your fucking fone and go help him.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call him.”
Ringing off, Jack let his finger rest above the return call button while he watched the rolling sea and silvery sparkles dancing on the waves from the low-riding moon.
Something bright white on the sand below caught his eye. What was that? It lifted and moved like a huge white bird and fell to the sand. Laying his fone on the wall, he reached inside his car for binoculars and focused them in on the white shape.
It continued to flutter as it lay on the sand, but it wasn’t a bird. A piece of fabric maybe? Moving the binoculars to the left, he saw another shape and used the electronic zoom to move in closer.
Whoa. A woman rested on the beach, naked, full breasts lifting to the sky, a hand lazily drawing circles in the sand. He zoomed closer on the breasts, well aware it was an invasion, but he was an overworked horny guy and what guy wouldn’t look at such a spectacular body? Those were seriously lickable nipples. Moving lower, to the pale hair between her legs, he lingered on a place he liked to call heaven.
Moving back up, the binoculars showed her face, in repose, hair as bright as the moon blew around her as she tried to capture and contain it. Suddenly, she sat up and turned to face the hill where he stood.
Now he got a good look at what he thought might be the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. The light from the moon and the effective optics of the binoculars revealed light eyes, probably blue, that he thought might actually be able to see him watching her. It was impossible, of course, without ancillary optics. Still, he lowered the device and watched her as she stood and kept staring up at the hillside.
Fuck, he wanted to see her standing, that body displayed for his eyes only. Bad boy, he chided, with a grin.
Anyway, he fucking had to go and see what his brother needed. Reluctantly, he lowered the binoculars, and as he walked back to his car, he redialed the missed call.
“Yeah?”
Ben’s voice was calm. “Hey, I need you. We found part of the group that was on Barkley’s radar.”
“Aw, shit. I was heading home to crash.”
“It’s night. No sleep for vampire hunters, J. Not unless the sun is up. I sent the coordinates. See you soon.”
Shaking his head, Jack slipped behind the controls of his car and snapped his tazer back on his belt. Time to go to work again.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into an empty parking lot on the corner of a quiet street and slid out. Buckling a sleek ammo belt around his waist and sliding his long knife back into the sheath on his thigh, Jack approached his brother resting against the hood of his car.
“Shit, Jack, you look as fucked up as I feel.”
“Yeah, bro, I was going to give you the same compliment. I’m not sure when I had the last full night’s sleep, but it isn’t recent. You too?”
“Yep. Barkley’s had his eye on a group that we believe just came down from St. Helens. Eight, five male, three female. Tonight, he followed one of the women into Blessed Nights.”
“Full of healthy, drunk young men and women on a Friday night.”
“Touché. He said she selected two men and took them back to a hotel downtown. They haven’t left.”
“And the reason for the suspicion?”
“Bark was at a late night diner two weeks ago when the group came in, loud, obnoxious, rude to the waitress. He was ready to leave when one of the women looked up at him, flashed a tit and smiled. He says he’s pretty sure he saw a fang.”
“Whoops.”
“I was on my way to help him check out the hotel room tonight when he called to tell me that two of the men from her group arrived and went inside the room.”
“So, best case scenario, three vamps, two victims. All right, I’m ready.”
“I’ll drive.” Ben led Jack to his ordinary-looking ground car, one of the most common makes in the most common color, a vehicle that would never stand out. One that no one would remember, the same reason Ben wore a nondescript charcoal shirt with dark-colored jeans. He blended in with the locals, exactly as he was taught to do.
None of that mattered tonight. Surveillance and recon were over. They had potential victims to save and that took priority over everything. If the woman and her newly-arrived friends were vampires, the battle would be quick and the fight vicious. Someone would die, either the vampires or hunters. The hunter’s job was to make sure that the outcome was always in their favor.
In over a hundred years of hunting vampires, Remington’s group had suffered six losses, all precious, all remembered on the walls of the ersatz headquarters, which had belonged to the Remington family for much of the hunter’s history.
“Barkley’s onsite now.” Ben’s speed skirted just past legal maximum to arrive quickly but not get stopped.
“Is San still out of town?”
Ben grinned. “Oh, yeah. She broke that vamp from North Dakota. She rescued his victim, a hot young college professor. She said she was gonna have some scholarly fun, and disappeared. It’s been two days now.”
“Shit. Poor dude. Two days in bed with our Sanquinetta. He won’t be able to walk for a week.”
“That girl does have passion and stamina. Well, he might be temporarily disabled, but he’ll never forget the ride.”
“Yep, that girl gives her all. So one on one tonight. Not the best odds.”
“It’s okay. We’ll be fine.”
Fine. Jack was worried about Ben’s new dismissive attitude toward hunting dangers. Lately his brother seemed to have developed a daredevil attitude. It was one thing to be confident, but another altogether to think you’re invincible. He was afraid that Ben fell into that latter category. It was a dangerous trap for a hunter.
“Be careful, Ben. One on one makes for pretty shitty odds.”
“It’s cool, J. We got this.”
Yeah, Jack thought, we got this. You better fucking pray we have this.
“Okay. It’d just fucking mess up my day if you or Barkley become vampire chow.”
“Not happening, bro.”
Change of subject. Ben was letting his head get into the Superhero Zone. Hunters had nearly as high a chance of the hunter getting killed as the vampire; their greatest asset the element of surprise. Ideally the vampires didn’t know they were being cased. The hunter’s second greatest asset was accumulated knowledge and skilled training. Each hunter, well versed in vampire’s abilities, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, knew how to evade the devastating skill of compulsion.
Slowing the car as he scanned for a parking space, Ben finally made his own near the building. “Here we are. Hotel No-tell.”
Trailrider’s Inn was a common hotel for sexcapades, one night trysts, usually paid, and the passing vampire fuck-and-eat time.
“Off go their heads.”
Damn’t! Jack stared at his brother for a moment. Recently, Ben’s attitude toward the family business had become like a carnival barker. It was distasteful and disturbing.
“Bro, we go in, see if Bark’s right, apologize if he isn’t, and efficiently kill them if he is. No fanfare.”
“Sure, sure, but…”
“No buts. This isn’t a game. The police will be one step behind us, especially if the victims are hurt or killed. We go in fast, verify our targets and do what we need to do. No heroics, no playing around.
“Buzzkill. Plato is right, you need a time out.”
“Plato is in Canada, and it sounds like it’s a good idea if he stays there. You need to rein it in, Ben, you’re enjoying this too much. We hunt because these vampires are killing people. We hunt because no one knows vampires exist, they can’t defend themselves against them, but we can. It isn’t for glory or sport. I don’t know where your head is lately.”
“Dad kept you on too tight a leash, J. You need to let loose a little. Fuck, we are heroes. We save people, man. So what if I enjoy the hunt. That’s better than brooding all the time like you do.”
Sighing, Jack pushed his car door open. “We need to get this done.”
“Right we do!” Ben bounded past his brother and through the door of the hotel before Jack reached it.
Through the door seconds later, Jack, pissed at Ben’s attitude, just prayed it wasn’t going to get him fucking killed before he could straighten the guy out. One mistake, a second too late on a draw, the knife unsheathed too long after the vampire charged, and Ben would be number seven killed in the line of duty.
Jack couldn’t let that happen to his baby brother. No matter what kind of ass Ben was being right now, family took care of family. Always. He’d try to deal with this later without involving their father. Elias Remington had never been a patient, understanding, loving father. Shit, Ben didn’t deserve that reprimand and likely punishment.
Elias’s punishments were harsh, meant to pound a point home with brutality, although all these years later, Jack could only remember one thing about the punishments. At eight years old, tied to a wood rack in the sun on a ninety degree day, he had called out to no one, “My father is a dick!” And he’d known that if his father had heard him, it would have meant 2 more days on the rack. He hadn’t given a shit then.
Easily catching Ben on the stairs, Jack grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry. You know I’m just watching your back. Reminding you to follow your training.”
Ben shrugged Jack’s hand off his wrist. “I know. I know. But fucking trust me, Jack. I’m not your six year old kid brother that you have to protect anymore.”
“Hey. You’ll always be my six year old brother I have to protect.”
With an eye roll very like a six year old boy would do, Ben pushed open the fire door to the fourth floor. “Yeah, well, don’t tell that to every vampire we meet.”
“Give it a try. There’s Barkley.”
Barkley, an oversized bear of a man that would have trouble “blending in” anywhere, perched scrunched up behind an ice and soda machine. His eyes widened with relief when he saw Jack and Ben on the floor walking toward him.
“Thank God! My legs are numb. So is my ass.”
“Got here as quickly as we could. Any activity?”
“None. No movement, no sound, no moaning, since the two men entered a while ago. The door is a single lock, old style, keyed, wood, easy to break.”
“Let’s go easier yet.” Jack walked up to the door of room 416, prepared for the fight that might happen. He faced his companions. “Ready?” he mouthed.
They were, e-sticks ready, handguns, knives accessible within a split-second.
Using the quiet rap he’d seen real hotel employees use, Jack waited, then with no response, rapped again, and said, his voice uninflected. “Room service.”
Moments passed without movement. Just as Jack prepared to signal the others that he was going to kick the door in, it opened and a beautiful woman with electric red hair stood against the frame. She was naked, dark eyes bright, a wide smile that he found more creepy than sexy, as she ran her eyes over his body.
“Ummm. I’ll say.” Her tongue slid out and made a lap around her lips, the fangs obvious. Then she glanced to each side of Jack.
“Hey, where’s your cart?”
Showtime. United, the three hunters, Jack first, surged into the darkened hotel room, eyes assessing every corner.
On the bed, naked, two men, unmoving, eyes wide open, panicked, had a trail of blood from between their thighs and the sheets.
The situation was obvious; this was a vampire feed.
Typical of a raid like this, everything happened at once. Jack turned to the female and slammed her to the floor, the blow hard enough to knock her unconscious, but he knew it wasn’t enough. She’d be awake in seconds and take him down. He barely had time to pump two bullets into her forehead before he felt a fist like stone crash into the base of his head.
Unconsciousness threatened, but he knew if he went out, it was all over, so Jack forced himself back up from the blackness and faced the vampire who had attacked him, eyes downcast. It was also over if the vampire captured his gaze and placed him under compulsion. He’d always promised himself he’d never be a vampire’s puppet.
“Look at me,” a deep voice commanded.
Nothing in this world would convince a hunter to look up at a vampire. Eyes on a thick chest clad in satin, Jack saw thick arms lift to swing at him again, vampire strength easily enough to disable him with a single punch. Using a move he’d perfected years ago, he spun and dropped, shoving the vampire off his feet to land hard enough to wind him. Jack just had time to pull his gun to finish with fatal shots that would be all too temporary for a vampire, when he heard the quiet phoomp phoomp of two bullets fired into the downed vamp.
Carefully lifting his eyes, he saw Barkley grinning.
“Appreciate it, man. My head’s still spinning.”
Both looked up to watch Ben administer a punishing roundhouse kick to the final vampire, but since he was vampire and therefore inhumanly strong, the kick merely glanced off his cheek.
“Ah, you’ve pissed him off now,” Barkley goaded.
“Just working out some aggression. Not done yet.”
Ben moved left as the vampire reached for him, but he didn’t make it. The vampire used something the hunters referred to as vampspeed, which often defeated them. The fucking creatures could move as fast as the eye could see, beyond human capacity, and this one had Ben in a head-lock in split seconds, his eyes locked on Ben’s for compulsion. He had Ben’s head twisted up before he could close his eyes, and began to compel him just as Barkley and Jack emptied their clips into him.
The final vampire killed, Jack moved to Ben. “You clear, bro?”
Slow to answer, Ben didn’t speak for a second. Had the vamp had time to compel him?
“Um, sure,” Ben finally said. “I’m okay. Fuck that was close.”
Checking the vamp to make sure he didn’t have a pulse, Jack looked up at Ben. “You shouldn’t have tried to play around with him. Ben, he nearly had you. Keep this up, I’m putting you on the bench.”
“Fuck you are! We’ll see what Dad has to say.”
“He’ll agree with me. You know that too. Let’s get these guys out of here before the vamps wake up.”
Barkley opened the door to a tiny balcony that held two cheap lounge chairs and looked over the edge.
“It’s clear down there. I’ll drive the van around and bring up the body bags.”
Clean up. The worst part. How to get the bodies out, clean the room so forensics would never find actionable evidence, and build the lie for the victims.
After they bagged and lowered the vampires to Barkley’s dark van, while Ben and he secured them for the final ride, Jack prepared two syringes.
He stood over the shocked men who had seen most of what happened from the beds they lay frozen upon. Now able to move, they sat up slowly, their eyes still unfocused as the compulsions dissipated. Squatting, he caught their attention.
“Hey, guys, look at me. You’ve been rescued. You’d say thank you, but you’ve been compelled to stay silent and it may take some time for that to wear off. Now, I’m going to inject you with something that will help you sleep and make you highly suggestable. This will all just seem like a bad dream. First, I need your names and contact info, so...wallets?”
While he spoke, Jack searched through one of the vic’s pants pockets and found the slim wallet that held the three things most people carried with them now. State issued ID cards that included all licenses granted to the individual, money card, and car fob for access to their vehicles. He took images of their ID’s, replaced them, and then injected each. As they fought to stay alert, they listened to Jack’s voice.
“You were attacked by three psychos who get off on hurting people. When you wake, you will remember nothing other than the detail that they attacked you and brought you here. You’ll realize you’re okay, that you’re lucky to be alive, you’ll get dressed and leave without saying anything to anyone. When you get home, because you don’t want any trouble, you’ll forget this happened, put it behind you, and go back to your life. Remember mostly this. You’re okay, and don’t go home with strange women anymore.”
A few minutes later, Jack verified they were unconscious, checked to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, that the small amount of spilled blood had been chemically erased, then closed the door behind him as he left. He verified no surveillance cameras, which weren’t common in these low-rent hotels, and moved around the corner to take his brother’s car.
Half an hour later, he parked beside the van in an isolated quarry that Elias’s family had owned for decades. Jack lifted the woman from the van while his brother and Barkley handled the two men.
Pressed and held by Jack, a round orange button started a massive fire inside the facility.
“God, let’s get this finished. I really need to go comatose.”
“We all do.” Barkley groaned as he hoisted the heaviest vampire up onto the slab. “You know what I’d like? Four good weeks of sleeping at night and seeing the sunlight. Like normal people.”
“Except we’re not normal people. You come from a long line of hunters just like me and Ben. Could you give this up? Just walk away?”
“For a month, yeah. Fuck, people who cook hamburgers for a living get a freaking vacation. Why not guys who save an uninformed public from monsters?”
“I agree with you, my friend. No one’s ever created time-off for the good guys.”
“I’m doing that right now.” Barkley worked while he outlined his plan. First, he used a specially designed ax to cut through the neck on his vampire, easily severing the head. “Here’s my proposal. For every vamp a hunter captures and kills, they get a day off; so, capture 35 in one year, you get 35 days off. With perks.”
Ben laughed as he disconnected the second vampire’s head from his body. “Perks? Like?”
“I don’t know. A hot escort for maybe a few of those days?”
Jack snorted. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Yeah, you two, you never have any trouble. I don’t know why, but the ladies find you irresistible. Now, me, they find scary.”
“It’s because you’re so fucking big. Once a girl gets to know you, she falls for you, you asshole.”
“How often does that happen? That we are around long enough for a woman to get to know us?”
Ben shrugged. Barkley was right. Hunters rarely spent much quality time, even at their home base.
“Yeah, training and tasks like this…” Ben gestured toward the three decapitated bodies they were preparing to incinerate. “…kind of kills the mood.”
Jack agreed. He pictured the angel of perfection he’d seen on the shore tonight. Wouldn’t she be shocked to see the culmination of his night’s work?
No. Hunters tended to hang with hunters. Sex was loneliness and libido on the road, sudden hook-ups, quick orgasms, done and thanks kind of affairs. It was all he and his family had ever known.
Was this enough to base a life on? He thought about his father.
Elias Remington had fathered two sons, each with a different mother. Jack’s had been a hunter from Louisiana who hadn’t any interest in raising a child, so when the baby was born, she’d looked Elias up, drove to see him, said “This is yours,” and walked away.
Ben’s mother had been the outcome of a night in a bar. Elias hadn’t even known that the boy existed until he’d ended up back in that same bar three years later. When the woman recognized Elias, she’d been thrilled, thinking that he’d returned for her and his son. When he’d made it clear that wasn’t true, she’d beat the shit out of him with a broom handle, and he’d let her. Once she’d finished, she’d left the bar. Later, in conversation with a bartender, Elias discovered that she was a heroin addict who neglected the boy. That night he went to her apartment to find a skinny two-year old covered in filth, no food in the apartment, and a lot of spent hypo glides lying on the floor.
Elias hadn’t hesitated, he’d picked up the kid, said, “I’m your daddy,” and took him. He’d checked two weeks later and found that she hadn’t even reported him missing.
While he’d been a good parent, the boys always well cared for, Jack couldn’t remember any tender father and son moments. Honestly, Jack wasn’t even sure Elias had it in him. An older female hunter who’d known Elias for decades told Jack that Elias had been raised by hunters without hugs or kisses, so he’d never known what it was to be held and loved. Jack had come to accept that his father had done the best that he could. He’d stepped up and raised his boys to the life he knew.
“Well, that’s it.” Barkley smacked his hands together after he’d pushed the third body into the furnace. Beheading the vampires was to assure they didn’t “come back to life” before they could properly dispose of them and eliminate the evidence that could implicate a team of hunters. Locally, Elias had developed a good relationship with Florence’s law enforcement, and even three police precincts between Florence and Seattle, but beyond that, legally, hunters usually broke any number of laws on a nightly basis.
“Good. Great work in discovery and execution, Bark.”
“Thanks. Five more in the clan.”
“We’ll get them, but not tonight. We’re all exhausted, so home, showers, bed.”
Palming his keys, Ben slammed the door to the oven closed and turned. “You’re singing my song. I’ll drive you back to your car, bro.”
Nodding, Barkley stowed his handgun and grabbed his keys.
Another successful vampire hunt, three vamps eliminated, two victims saved, and no hunter loss.
“Good night,” Jack whispered as he followed Ben from the building and engaged the security and intruder alerts. Finally, time to go home and sleep until the sun dropped again.
He’d crashed. Jack woke startled, lying flat on his back, one eye popped open as he rolled his head to see scarlet streaks through his floor-to-ceiling balcony doors. The colors told him the sun was nearly gone and it was time to rise. Sitting upright, he swung a single foot to the floor, but that’s as far as he could get.
What the fuck? One eye didn’t want to open, his head felt like he’d been hit by a…oh, fuck, yeah...a vampire!
“Ahhhh…” His groan ended in a sigh of resignation. Massaging the swollen skin around his eyes, he rose and made his way to the bathroom. “Not exactly the first vampire right hook I’ve taken.”
Kicking the water to hot, just shy of too hot, he stepped in and let the heat pour over his head. Not for the first time he wondered what it would be like to work a “normal” job. And not for the first time, he laughed at the idea of Jack Remington, raised with a gun in his hand, wearing a conservative business suit or service shirt that said Hi, I’m Jack on the pocket.
Hardly. Still, although it was part of the job, the injury hurt like a mother. Lathering up, he ran the scrubby over his chest covered with old scars, down to his belly, which sported the remains of a deep slice, and further, to his cock. As his hand curved around the thickness, the image of the beach temptress returned, the memory of full breasts and pale eyes. His fingers closed around the girth and started to move up and down, faster and faster the more he let his mind build a fantasy image of her soft hands cupping those breasts, her fingertips squeezing erect nipples, his mouth moving toward them. His moan muffled, Jack came, pumping into the streaming water, the release the best thing he’d felt in a long time.
It would have been nice not to be alone, but he appreciated the dream woman’s erotic assist in the pursuit.
Fifteen minutes later, dried off, he slipped on his typical attire, army green tee shirt and stone-washed jeans, grabbed a reheated slice of pizza and headed to HQ. At his side, Jack carried a 10 inch dagger, 8 inch knife, and a rapid-fire Hi-Q 200 handgun, the newest on the market. His bike carried three high-voltage tazers and extra ammo for the gun.
On one handlebar hung a tiny silver cross, representative of the old idea that vampires could be repelled by religious artifacts. The idea was silly and untrue, but the cross had been hung there by a sweet little hunter in Maine five years ago. She’d been a bright light in his dark career; two days of hunting and sex, so anytime he saw it dangling there, it made him smile.
Headquarters was thirty minutes down the Pacific highway and ten minutes deep into a wooded area owned by Elias. Jack walked in to an office filled with monitors and keyboards on one side and an obscene number of weapons on the other.
Elias Remington, at one of the terminals, looked up.
“Ah, you’re here. Good job last night.”
“Thanks. It was Barkley’s catch.”
“I’m aware. Still, I give credit to any hunters who take the monsters. None of us does this alone.”
Jack glanced at the screen his father had been perusing. Uncomfortable with praise from his father, Jack changed the subject. “True. So what are you after?”
“Surveillance for a small band reported outside of Portland. Joey found a kill in an alley three days ago he’s certain is a vamp kill. He’s been watching a foursome that seems suspicious.”
“He’s alone?”
“For now. Dado is heading to him. He’ll be there by tonight.”
Nodding, Jack joined Barkley and two other hunters already there, greeting them with a salute.
A booming feminine voice from the entrance of the building made them all jump, except Elias.
“What the hell are all you lazy-ass hunters doing hanging around here when there are fangfaces to kill?”
A whirlwind blew into the nearly airless charmless room. Sanquinetta was back from her loan to a hunting group in North Dakota.
Uniquely striking, the vivacious woman brought five feet ten inches of womanhood into what was a mostly masculine hunting group. Large breasts often encased in leather led her through the door after her loud entrance that basically announced Sanquinetta is in the House.
Whenever any hunter was given a choice for a partner, most of the time, if she was available, San was their choice. Not only was the nickname her preferred address, but it was also her nationwide hunter’s handle.
“Oooh, I can see how much you all missed me!”
“Welcome back, San. I’ll be upstairs,” Elias commented quietly before he picked up his keys and bounded up the stairs to his chambers on the top floor.
Jack moved forward to tug on one of several long purple braids that entwined through Sanquinetta’s naturally curly black hair. He noticed that even though she’d been on the road for two days, she still wore her signature glitter eyeshadow.
“Hi, San. Glad you’re back. And since you are, and I don’t see any new holes in you, I assume the hunt went well.”
“Oh, yeah, it did. Then, I had me some fine intellectual stimulation with the intended victim whereupon he thanked me repeatedly for several days following my service.”
Shaking his head, Barkley grinned. “I’m sure it was a hardship for him.”
“It was, very hard. He’s a teacher, college level, and he is not used to what Sanquinetta brought. Let’s just say I got a great big A plus, and teacher’s gonna need a few weeks to recover.”
Jack took a mug of steaming coffee from the FP unit.
“You’re a force of nature, like a hurricane.”
Sanquinetta turned to him. “I’m a hunter. I take it where I get it. We fight hard, we play hard, and when we’re lucky, we love hard.”
She moved up to him, her natural perfume enveloping him. Huge dark, pink-glittered eyes looked into his as she enveloped his face in hands with bright scarlet fingernails.
“Jack, babe, we’re good at what we do, but what we do is dangerous. Any job could be the end of you so you need to get out and play all you can. Take some risks with people, babe, not just vampires.”
She ran one of those long fingernails over his crotch.
“There’s a whole lotta man here just waiting for Disneyland.”
Across the room, Barkley nodded, only it was on his own behalf. He needed more than just battles and beheadings too. “San has the right idea, Jack.”
After a long sip of the highly caffeinated coffee, Jack lowered his gaze to meet Sanquinetta’s. “No, you’re right, I agree. If I had been you last night, I’d have joined this vision of perfection I saw on the beach. I’d stopped to eat a sandwich Stacey made for me and saw something moving down there. After I grabbed the binoculars, I saw a woman that had to have been a dream.” He took another long sip, smiling after he lowered the mug. “And she was naked.”
Sanquinetta whistled low. “Jack Remington, you go back to that beach tonight and see if she comes back.”
“She won’t. She saw me. No woman is going back to a place where she catches a perv staring at her.”
“Take a chance, Jack. If she was that hot, you ain’t gonna get her off your mind until you check it out. And when you do, if she’s there, you get your hunky ass down to the sand and meet her. You wanna spend your days all alone in that big beautiful house you bought?”
“San, I think we all are.”
“No way, buddy. Just because my pappy raised me as a hunter doesn’t mean that’s all I am. Someone will come along someday and when he does, I’m gonna become a housewife with a kid and a dog.”
“Bullshit. You’d be bored within a month.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I still plan to give it a try.”
Reaching for some cookies that looked homemade, Jack shrugged. Damn, these cookies were homemade. It had to be Stacey.
“I hope you do. I hope it’s all you ever dreamed of. You deserve that life, safe, happy, and God knows, you shouldn’t let this DNA die.”
“You know it. I’m gonna go enter my report.”
As she walked past Jack, she touched his palm.
“Jack, go back to that beach tonight, or tomorrow night, but if that woman’s there, take the leap. Go talk to her. Honey, she ain’t gonna turn down all this pure bottled-up manhood.”
“Lady, you could almost make me believe day is night.”
“Wouldn’t that be interesting? Leap, Jack. I’m off to finish my job, then get some sleep.”
Jack helped Barkley search surveillance video for the remainder of the vampire group he’d discovered.
An hour later than everyone else, Ben showed up, tardy, which was getting common lately, and hungover.
“Coffee, dudes.” Wheezing his order into the FP, Ben took a huge gulp as he joined Jack and Barkley. “So, what are we on? Looking for the other five?”
“Yes, with no luck,” Barkley answered.
“They’re camera shy.” Jack watched Ben struggling to focus. Something was going on. His brother had binged after they broke up last night? That didn’t make sense. Ben had been running on empty, just like Jack and Barkley; he should have gone straight home to bed. It seemed to Jack that another surveillance was needed. He had to find out what his little brother was up to.
Suddenly, his life felt overwhelming.
“Barkley, Ben’s going to help you finish this. I need a little fresh air.”
Ben and Barkley stared wordlessly as Jack, usually the last to leave, headed out the door.
Back in the cool night air, Jack perched on the seat of his bike. He hadn’t been lying about that; he really did need some air.
Last month had been an especially bad month. Over those thirty days, they’d identified and eliminated sixteen vamps, over twice what was typical in a month’s time. Twice the battles, twice the beheadings, twice the guilt and stress. Twice the deaths.
They were vampires, killers, so he didn’t carry any regret for them. The attempt to keep the executions humane made the task less awful, but in the end, they were all aware that they were killing vampires who used to be people. It left a hole in his spirit that an argument could be made that he was a justified murderer.
Innocents would die if the hunters didn’t do what they did, every hunter knew that and accepted the reality without question…it had to be done.
Starting the engine, Jack moved slowly down the hidden lane that led to HQ, back onto the Pacific highway, his mind busy with concern for Ben, his need for a break before pursuing Barkley’s new vampire group. Approaching the overlook he’d stopped at last night, he slowed, smiling. Perhaps Sanquinetta was right. Perhaps his moon goddess would be there again and perhaps he should follow his orders to go down and meet her.
“You’d probably scare the shit out of her,” he whispered out loud as he slid into the graveled spot above the beach. Staying on the bike, the straddle pushing against his cock, he spoke again. “She won’t be here.”
Finally, he slipped off his bike and walked to the stone wall to look over the edge. It was earlier than it had been last night when he’d stopped, the moon higher in the sky tonight, the waves a little wilder. But the beach was empty. No beautiful naked woman.
It was just as well. In his pragmatic world, dreams didn’t come true. A man did his job as well as he could and hoped to have a little peace at the end of the day.
Jack hopped up to sit on the wall, his legs dangling over the side, and watched the waves break against the shore. It sure was pretty here.
His own house he’d bought six months ago sat elevated much like this with a great view of the sea below. He had yet to fully furnish it. Hell, there weren’t even any coverings on the windows. The house was over a hundred years old and featured no tech updates, which he found comforting. If he wanted hot coffee, he actually had to heat water on a stovetop. That, he found satisfying.
His thoughts returned to Ben. What the hell could he have gotten himself into? Why was he secretive about it? Ben should know he could tell his brother anything. Whatever it was, Jack would find out and deal with it. He was closer to Ben than anyone else in this world, so it was his job to protect him. Had been, from the moment his father had brought the two year old boy home and stood him in front of a ten year old Jack.
“This is your brother, boy. It’s our job to take care of him now. You look out for him, you hear me?” Elias had told him. Since that moment, Jack always had.
An hour earlier down the beach
The same waves that crashed against the shore that Jack watched, also crashed against the shore in front of Donovan’s beach house, long ago refitted for vampire residence, where Ife rose from bed.
Stretching, her arms over her head, she yawned.
What a beautiful evening! Being a child of the moon, she could tolerate brief exposure to late and early sun’s rays, so, rising, Ife slipped on a white sari wrap and wandered from the fully shielded bedroom to a balcony beyond to watch the final fingers of magenta paint the fading blue.
Since she’d been here, she loved the morning and evening skies, which had been consumed by trees most of her long life. In Zambia, their village buried in the forest, and now in the Amazon on low lying ground bordered by trees and mountains, she’d rarely been somewhere she could see to the horizon. Here, at sea level, so near to the place where land and sea and sky met, her heart and soul felt at home.
“This is like a dream world,” she announced aloud, sad to see the last bright colors fade as the moon, so high in the sky already, pushed toward the same place as the sun. Her feet ached to feel the warm sand again, so after preparing her first meal, Ife filled a large wine glass to the rim with MoonShine and bounded down the balcony steps to sink her bare feet into the soft grains.
She’d been surrounded by so many people all of her life, it was taking some adjustment to the quiet stillness. The waves never stopped, nor the roar they created, but other than that, she felt strange. Not lonely, never that, but just unsettled without other people nearby. It didn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying the unusual peacefulness.
Taking a generous sip of the wine, she smiled as she slid a hand down her throat to linger above her nipples. Not that she would mind the company of an attractive man. She’d been horny as hell for the last several days. Looking up to the steep incline that shadowed the road behind her house, she thought about the masculine presence she’d felt last night.
He’d watched her as she lay undressed on the sand. When she realized that someone was there, she’d pushed up to search the cliffs, and she’d seen his shape, but he was too far away and it was too dark to make out his appearance. Her empathic skill, though, so isolated out here, had zoned in on him and it had caused an unexpected sexual response.
As she’d lain in bed trying to sleep this morning, she found herself wondering who he was, curious to see his face and eyes. She could tell a lot about a person from their eyes.
Maybe it was time to head into town tonight. Past due for her blood meal, she needed to attend to it and resupply her food stock. Donovan had directed her to a restaurant that served wonderful local fare, and she had yet to try it.
Finishing off the wine, Ife meandered down the beach, and decided to go into town shortly.
“Maybe I’ll find someone interesting there.”
Brigitte would laugh at her and tell her to “just fuck some guy.”
Ife had never had the easygoing attitude toward sex most of her siblings and companions did. And sex, while pleasurable, had never driven her like her sister. Bridge couldn’t go two days without sex. Many times, Ife had been envious of Brigitte’s comfortable addiction to sex.
“I need to learn to relax and enjoy myself more. Yes, my sisters, I know I work too hard. Uh, oh, I’m talking to myself too much. It really is time to go into town and meet some people here in Oregon.”
Racing up the stairs, Ife refilled the glass with wine, still in a mood to embrace the sea air surrounded by only rushing waters and an occasional seabird. Her eyes went to the stretch of beach that led to where she’d seen the man who, just by his presence, fascinated her.
“Well it couldn’t hurt to take a stroll once more.”
Up on the stone wall, his whisky flask in his hand again, Jack sipped slowly, because at some point, he was probably going to go back to HQ, and one thing Elias did not tolerate was a hunter on the job drunk. A few more sips, a moment more to try to find some solace, and he’d head in. The calm grace of the moonlit night and the idea of his female vision of perfection brought a smile to his soiled soul.
The disappointment stung. If she’d been here, he was going to take San’s suggestion and go down to meet her. Boldness had never been a problem for any of the Remington men. It came with the job. Besides, she was a hell of a motivation.
But she wasn’t here and it was unlikely he’d ever see her again. Wind driven, the waves continued to crash against the shore, the caps illuminated by satin-glazed light. Before he left, though, he wanted to go down there.
Recapping the flask, he found the access trail beside the lookout to move down the hillside. Just before he hit the beach, Jack slipped off his boots, sliding his knife from a pocket in the right boot into his hip pocket, and walked onto the shifting sand, wiggling his toes into the mushy surface. He remembered a few days by the beach about ten years ago and how good it felt to walk barefoot on loose sand.
Just standing still while the cool water sluiced over his feet, Jack watched the lazy waves, and released a long breath.
“God, I really need this.”
“I sense that you do.”
He must have conjured that sexy breathy voice he heard. He must have, right?
Turning to look behind him, the answer was no. His vision from last night stood so near he could hear her dress flapping in the heavy breeze.
She looked like his memory, perfect, lovely, except that last night that dress had covered the sand and not those breasts his eyes dropped to for just a split-second before he lifted them back to hers.
“Hi.” What else could he say?
“Hi,” the vision responded. She stared at him for a few seconds before she laughed softly. “I saw you last night, on the hill, watching me.”
She had? Fuck.
“Sorry. It’s just… I’d stopped to take a break and eat a sandwich. Once I saw you…”
Jack let his eyes drop and then looked back into hers, which he found more mesmerizing the longer he stared into them. She was smaller than he was by six or seven inches, but that body, so near, the curves, barely hidden by thin fabric pushed against her by a willing wind…damn!
“Look, there wasn’t any chance I could look away.”
Jack’s grin widened, like that of an unapologetic boy being scolded for doing something he shouldn’t. “I’m a guy and you’re, well, stunning.”
He thought she might chastise him, but she shook that cloud of hair back from her face while the wind tore at it.
“I’m not offended. The naked body is a beautiful thing.”
Tit-for-tat, Ife let her eyes move over the stranger’s form. Human, but extraordinarily fit. Jeans too tight, but she liked that, his tee shirt looser, but still showed powerful arms. “I’d look too. Care to reciprocate?”
Naughty, she thought. At first she meant it as a joke, but the moment she said it, she realized she’d quite like to see him take her up on it.
Jack stepped back, his eyes locked on Ife’s face. “Um, that would be a bad idea. It’s been some time since I… Let’s just say it isn’t wise.”
“I’m not your type?”
“Oh, fuck, gorgeous, you are any man’s type. You’re a goddess, and I don’t use words like that easily. I don’t mind saying you’re way too good for the likes of me, but you are all kinds of my type. I do apologize, though, for letting my eyes linger on you so long. I invaded your privacy. I don’t apologize for enjoying it.”
Ife kicked the water as she moved closer to the surf, her arms out to her side to feel the early evening air.
“It’s all right. I really don’t mind.”
Jack watched her wading like a child, the bright white hair flowing around her. It had looked white from above, but he’d thought it would really be blonde. It was, though, a brilliant cotton-cloud white. Everything about her seemed surreal.
“Ah. Well, I still took advantage.” He followed her. “It’s peaceful here.”
“Very.” The wind strengthened, whipping her long hair enough that she finally corralled it with one hand. She turned to face him and Jack received what he thought was the full force of her charm.
“I’m Ife.”
“Jack.”
“Nice to meet you, Jack. Do you live here near the sea?”
“I live outside of Florence, although I travel a lot on business, so I’m not home much.”
“That’s sad. I understand, though, I’ve done the same.”
Jack couldn’t take his eyes off her as she wandered deeper into the water.
He was certain he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. Her eyes were so pale, he wondered if they were white too.
When he realized she was looking at him again, he couldn’t help it, he moved nearer. “It is lovely…here.”
Ife kept her gaze on Jack, forcing self-control. Relaxed, happy, the presence of this erotically-charged man in front of her so unexpectedly, she wanted to push him down and crawl on top of him. Unaccustomed to urgent desire, she wasn’t sure what to do. She knew what her sister Brigitte would say…go ahead, fuck the guy!
What was it about this man that made her want him so? Probably her blood need and the fact that she hadn’t had sex in eight months, maybe a year? Plus, he was extremely attractive, and it was obvious he found her so as well.
Still, Ife often hesitated at the idea of sex with a stranger. She let her empathic talent roam toward him. His aura was pale, with broken edges and a charcoal smokiness.
He was a good man who lived a hard life. He loved what he did, but she sensed sorrow, hurt, a tenderness in him that he constantly stomped away to do what he needed to do. A gentle soul where gentleness had no place in his life.
This man needed something to hold onto so that he didn’t lose himself. Before she let herself understand the consequences, she told him what she felt.
“You need to seek solace. Jack, you’re fighting on two fronts against your own nature, because you feel you have to. You must pay attention to the man you truly are inside.”
She shouldn’t have told him, she knew it, but it just flew out. What was he supposed to do with that kind of odd statement from a woman who didn’t know him at all? She watched his expression shutter, his eyes lift to the ocean to break his gaze.
“That’s, uh, kind of specifically non-specific. Are you psychic or something?”
Ife moved closer to place her hand on the big man’s chest, partially to gain a better connection, but mostly because she really wanted to touch him. Her fingers slid against his smooth cotton shirt, but it wasn’t enough, so she curled them around the V of the neckline so that her fingertips slid beneath to touch his skin.
Instantly, she knew it was exactly what they both wanted, and a mistake. Her libido shot into hyperdrive. She wanted him, and based on his rough breathing, she knew she could have him. It wouldn’t require compulsion to take him to her bed. The problem was, she also wanted his blood, and this kind of desire, an inescapable need to taste a particular person’s blood, had never happened to her before.
Snatching her hand away, she reconnected their gazes. She should use compulsion to send him away. The moment she looked into his eyes again, the impulse to do so died.
Why shouldn’t she enjoy him? He wanted her too, so where was the harm? Her siblings and friends did it all the time, sex for pleasure, blood for food, then send the darlings on their way. For vampires, sexual needs were ingrained in their DNA.
He’d asked her if she was psychic or something.
“I’m something. Jack, would you like to join me at my house? I have some exceptional wine and food. Whisky if it’s your preference.”
She could have knocked him over with a breath. Was she asking him to come to her place? Was she…? It didn’t matter, he was in. All the fucking way in with anything she wanted.
“Uh, yeah. I’m a fan of whisky.”
“Then you will enjoy my stock.”
Nodding, Ife started toward Donovan’s house when she felt his hand on her arm.
“Just in case you didn’t know, you had me long before you offered the whisky.”