Ten
Working outward geographically from their HQ in Oregon, Xavier and two first bloods from Ahmose’s village in Zambia, Kwano and Alec, had shut down five additional hunter groups, arranging new lives, new worlds, for people who had spent all or a large part of their lives chasing down vampires and eliminating what they were certain was a deadly threat to humanity.
Each night for the past four weeks, everyone, vampires included, dropped into their beds in the mornings, dog tired, and rose to start again when night came.
Only on a few of those mornings had Ife rolled on top of Jack or had he pinned her against a wall for sex that they both increasingly realized they needed. It had been quick and dirty, get the job done, orgasms welcomed, but then they’d fallen asleep wrapped together. It had felt exactly right for both of them.
As the weekend approached, when they would let themselves have a day of rest, as they dressed for their Friday night work, Ife caught Jack’s attention.
“Jack, come over here for a moment.”
Trying to slip a boot on, he hopped over. “Yeah?”
“I have to fly out for home tomorrow night.”
Luckily a chair was nearby. He dropped into it, the boot suspended in his hand. “Tomorrow?”
“I have hesitated to tell you, I didn’t want to, but I got a call from Scottie, who has been managing things since I left, and she says they aren’t sure how to proceed with the next phase. I’m needed, Jack, I have no choice.”
“I understand. I mean, you’ve made it clear you couldn’t stay here indefinitely.”
He pushed from his chair and sat on the bed beside her. “We’ll see each other again. I’ll visit. Never saw a rain forest before.”
Ife smiled, her fingers curling into his hair. “You won’t quite then either. But we’re working on it. I am going to miss you something terrible, Jack Remington.”
“I feel the same way. You’ve changed my life, Vampire. For that, I will always be grateful. And for Ben.”
Ife nodded, words trapped because her throat felt thick. It was too soon to make proclamations, but she wanted to tell him how much she loved him. Of course, he hadn’t said it to her either. Perhaps it just wasn’t time. As she’d told Sanquinetta once, her empathic connections remained blank when it came to Jack.
Jack threw his boot onto the floor.
“Hey, why don’t we stay here on the beach tonight and make up for the time we’re going to lose?”
“I’d love to, but we’re doing three tonight, remember?”
“Shit. It will take all of us to manage that many.”
“It will. Xavier has two reinforcements coming in next week, but we need to help tonight.”
“Yeah, I know. All right, let’s get to it. Maybe we can finish early. At the very least, I want to hold you as long as I can before you go.”
Ife crawled onto Jack’s lap, her kiss deep and lengthy. She enjoyed the feel and taste of his tongue in her mouth because it wouldn’t be long before it would only be a memory. Her arms tight, too tight, around his neck, she kept him close.
Jack didn’t complain. Every second with Ife so near made him smile. Would he again after she left?
Sliding off Jack, Ife felt his cock, hard, trapped in denim.
“I can take care of that before we go,” she whispered.
Split seconds later, Jack lay on the bed, naked, Ife shoving his legs aside, the tips of her teeth sliding along his thigh.
Collapsing against the sheets, Jack closed his eyes.
God, Ife did that so well. It wasn’t just her skill, that was inhuman and thank God, but it was that she held him in her mouth, pumping him with teeth and tongue, that it was her tongue on him, her eyes lingering over his skin, her bite. It was Ife. How was he going to do this without her at his side?
He came quickly after she bit, and although she didn’t feed, she drew enough blood to lick it up, which shot his orgasm into overdrive.
“There,” she laughed as she finished and lay beside him, still fully dressed. “I’ve done my job, I’ve taken care of a hunter’s needs tonight.”
He balled that full white hair into his fist, his eyes sparkling, but she could feel the undercurrent of sadness.
“And made him happy for the rest of his life. Job well done.”
“Jack, it won’t be the last.”
He believed it. He also knew that she was a vampire and he wasn’t, and life happened. Maybe they would be together, maybe they wouldn’t. No regrets.
“I hope. Well, we’d better get to HQ, they’re probably waiting for us.”
Ben had already left the beach house. He was the only other guest right now. Cari had returned to Colorado two weeks ago, and Xavier’s team had commandeered a hotel about forty minutes away with full amenities and sheltered rooms recently reinforced by local builders to Xavier’s specs.
Arriving at HQ, Ife and Jack walked into an already bustling place.
Sanquinetta noticed them as soon as they moved into the room. “Jesus! You’re late. Grab your gear, we’re moving out.”
She turned to bark orders at one of Xavier’s men, which they followed surprisingly well, then turned to see something no one expected.
Just inside the door stood Saul. Everyone stopped in their preparations.
Ife spoke first. “Well, hi. We, uh, didn’t think we’d see you again.”
“I’m more surprised than you are. So, I guess you can tell I’ve thought about your proposal to help and I guess you can see that I’ve decided to. Help. For a few weeks. See how it goes, as you suggested.”
Ife started to move toward him to welcome him to the group when Sanquinetta put a hand up, stopping her. Everyone watched Sanquinetta approach Saul, her eyes moving over his body.
He still kept the neat beard, long hair tied into a single braid down his back, his thick body covered only in snug black jeans and a tan long-sleeved button-up shirt. Ife had to admit he was a strikingly handsome man, and she could tell by the glitter in Sanquinetta’s eyes that she agreed.
Once she reached him, Sanquinetta walked a slow circle around him; front, side, back, then to the front again.
She nodded. “Okay. We’ll see how it goes.”
Suddenly her fist shot out and caught him in the jaw, hard, brutal, enough to force him to lose his balance as he danced backward to regain it. Saul’s hand went to his jaw, massaging it, his shocked eyes on Sanquinetta.
“That’s for what you did to Ben. Now, we’ll see how it goes.”
A hunting group that worked out of Carmel California with six hunters, three of which were siblings, was their current target. Ben and Plato knew the members fairly well, and felt it would be best to purge all three of the siblings together. It was critical that the new story for their lives kept them in sync together as siblings. Since Xavier and Ife were still with them, they had four first blood vampires, and now unexpectedly, Saul, along, they were going to try to tackle all six at once. After the first five successful missions, everyone was getting comfortable with the method, compulsion, and physical purge of any vampire references in their lives.
The mission proceeded like clockwork. Everyone worked well together by this point, and even Saul’s input fit perfectly. He had good instincts and Ife was pleased to see his caring touch in dealing with the hunters. It couldn’t have been easy for him.
At one point, she laid a hand on his to help him deal with what must have been concern that he was doing this, driving a sense of comfort with his decision. He calmed right away, as expected, but he was well aware that magics had been used on him, and he still didn’t understand how.
With sunrise threatening, they arrived back at HQ for high-fives all around. Xavier and his group hit the skies so they would make it back to their hotel in time.
Saul lingered. “I don’t have safe dwelling here yet. Would you mind if I stayed in the basement?”
Ife nodded just as Jack shook his head. Her eyes struck Jack’s. “Um, he’ll be okay.”
“I don’t want him here.”
“Jack, the choice is here or at my house. Where do you want him?”
Not at Ife’s house with her, no fucking way!
“Here, then, I guess.”
Ben hadn’t taken his eyes off Saul during the mission. Sanquinetta had kept hers on both of them, worried about the animosity and fascination Ben bore toward his sire.
She’d felt his sense of attachment to Saul, even from that first night when they’d hauled the vampire into the basement to judge his guilt.
Having Saul around all the time now might pose a problem, but when Ife spoke next, it helped her accept Saul’s presence easier.
“Saul, I’m returning to Brazil tonight. I live in a beach house already prepared for vampire dwelling. You may have the house until you find other lodging.”
She looked at Jack. “I assume you’ll return to your home after I’ve gone?”
“Yes, I will.”
“Perfect. Ben will be coming with me, so the house will be empty.”
“I am?” Ben said, simultaneously with Jack’s “He is?”
“Yes. Ben, Xavier and I were speaking tonight and we both believe you will benefit from being with a group of vampires to learn your skills and become accustomed to vampire life. Now that Saul is back, the team has a local vampire to work with then, and it might not be healthy for you two with such proximity given the circumstance of your conversion. You’re free to live wherever you want, but I’d like to take you to Las Vegas, to vampire friends you’ll learn so much from. Your choice.”
Ben shocked his brother when he nodded to Ife.
“Yes, I’ll come with you.”
He looked from Jack to Sanquinetta, glazed across Saul, then back to Jack. “I really do think that’s the best solution. I have a lot to learn and to adjust to, and I don’t think I can do it here. I need to get away from all of this for a while. You’re leaving tonight? I’ll grab a few things and join you. Jack, I’ll be back, you know I will. But this is best.”
He turned to hug Sanquinetta, gave her a wink, then walked out of HQ, leaving behind the two people he’d been closest to all of his life.
Saul coughed. “Well, uh, in light of that revelation, I should be happy to take the house.”
“Fine. Come back with me while I pack and I’ll show you everything.” Ife turned to Jack.
“Jack?”
“Huh? Yes, I’m coming too. I guess I’ll grab my things too.”
Saying goodnight to Sanquinetta, Jack told her he’d see her that night, then left with Ife, aware that his life was going to change again.
A lift-car waited on the sand an hour later as Ife put her arms around Jack’s neck. They hadn’t discussed her leaving much. Neither knew what to say.
“I’ll miss you,” Jack finally told the woman, vampire, who had come to mean as much to him as his brother.
Nearly every event since he’d found her on the beach had diverted the path he’d thought firmly entrenched that he would walk until, at some point, a lucky vampire would likely end him. Hunting, fighting, searching, and then that moment when he finally lost to a vampire and ended up yet another blood meal. It was the life he’d been born to live.
Now, after a naked goddess under a bright moon stole his heart, everything he thought he knew had to be thrown away to allow for this new world of truths.
Truths. One thing he knew. He had fallen hard for this loving gentle vampire.
“Same here, Jack. It would be so wonderful if I could stay here with you, or you could come with me.”
“It seems like we’re both going to be too busy to be together for a while.”
“It is going to be crazy after I get back. When things change, I really would like you to come and see my work.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’d love to.”
Ife looked into Jack’s eyes, her gaze locked there.
Eventually, he laughed. “Are you trying to see into my soul?”
Her easy smile broke the stare. “Maybe. I wonder where we go from here. How I manage without you.”
“I’ve grown accustomed to you beside me. If I sleep tonight, I’ll be surprised. Ife, I don’t have the answer either. You’re vampire, and you have to be with a vampire. I just don’t know if that’s something I can do.”
“Jack, it’s a huge decision. You have to give up your life, everything that you know. No one takes that easily. Don’t worry, because if the time ever comes when you are ready, it will come without hesitation or regret. We’re new, what we have, and we don’t really even know what it is. So, no promises, no worries, okay? There’s a line in something called the Desiderata that I have always loved and found to be true. No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. If we are meant to be, then we will be. Of that I am certain. For now, kiss me so that I won’t soon forget.”
Framing a face he knew he could never forget, Jack did exactly as requested.