Four
“So what are we going to do about this?”
Ben perched on a countertop watching Stacey slice bread to make sandwiches for the team.
Sanquinetta lounged at the one big table they used in their break room, surrounded by Jack, Jimbo, Plato, Bullwhip, Kurt, and Barkley. For this, Elias had brought in their entire hunting group.
Elias stood, resting against the wall near the door.
No one answered. Stacey continued to prepare food, Sanquinetta shook her head silently, Plato kept glancing at his fone, then up to Jack and Elias.
He had to break the silence.
“Is there anything we can do?”
Elias cleared his throat. “I have watchers on every team for the surrounding northwestern states keeping an eye and ear out. They’ll let us know if they come across anything. We’ll interrogate any vamp we discover to see what they might know. Other than that, capturing these beasts and hopefully stopping them before they do any damage, no, we can’t do anything. That’s why all resources must go to finding them.”
Sanquinetta nodded. “I’ve checked vid feeds from every business near that shitty bar and they aren’t on any of them, motherfuck us all.”
“Whelp!” Ben stood up on the countertop towering over everyone and clapped his hands. “We canvas, we stalk, we ask, we search every nook and cranny, old house and outbuilding during daylight. We find those bloodsuckers, we fry them. Damn, I wish artificial UV worked on them.”
Jack stood in solidarity with his brother, although at a significantly lower position. “All right, then. We’re burning up the day, so let’s get going.”
The director for most of their missions, Sanquinetta pushed back her seat and moved to the exit. “I’ll draw up territories and maps for each team, which will consist of no less than three. Remember, daylight is your friend. If you find them, if you can’t kill them, get outside. This is likely going to be fast and dirty.”
Grabbing one of Stacey’s sandwiches, and Stacey to help with the maps and research, Sanquinetta blew from the room.
Elias hadn’t moved from where he rested against the wall, his eyes on his sons. Plato and the other hunters nodded, did thumbs up, and left the room to prepare weapons.
Ben, still standing on the countertop, looked first to Jack and then to his father. “Dad…”
“Stop, Ben. There’s nothing to say now, plenty to do.”
Elias finally pushed away from the wall, and walked into the room, his hands clenched in front of him.
“I will not allow my sons to be outed by a fang. We stop him, that’s all there is to it. San will set up the plan and we go.”
“We’ll do this.” Jack agreed, because he couldn’t imagine allowing anything to happen to Ben, and he didn’t want to think about disappointing his father.
“Fine. Go get your gear. I’ll be on this hunt as well.”
That was a surprise. At sixty-three, Elias rarely hunted anymore, logic dictating that this kind of activity is best left to the young and strong. Jack would have protested, but he’d learned as a young boy that it was never successful to argue with anything Elias decided. Elias didn’t compromise and he never changed his mind.
“Then we suit up. Ben, get the fuck off there, you look like a frat boy.”
“I would have liked that. Drinking to excess, screwing a different pretty girl every week, having rousing battles with the guys. Oh, wait, I already live that life.”
The jump down was easy, Ben landing on his feet to follow Jack from the room.
They didn’t see Elias walk deeper into the room, facing the microwave. When he leaned on it, a sigh of frustration and worry escaped, but seconds later, his face hard set, emotion invisible, he turned to gear up as well.
The day had been crazy from beginning to end.
Since most of the population of Oregon had moved to the Skyscraper Cities that had exploded over the past forty years, there were a lot of abandoned old buildings in Florence. Searching abandoned places that may have sleeping vampires was perhaps the most dangerous thing they could ever do.
Odds were, the buildings were unoccupied, but they could always expect that at any time, they might find their quarry. Then it was on.
Even with the odds in the favor of no action, searching building to building all day was exhausting.
Sanquinetta crashed on a big ancient plush sofa when she, Bullwhip, and Jimbo arrived back at HQ.
“Fuck me,” she expelled, two handguns, two daggers, and a tazer dropped carelessly on the floor.
“Hear from anyone else?” Bullwhip, just as spent, took on the task of securing ice-cold drinks, alcoholic of course, to take the edge off rattled nerves. He handed Jimbo his favorite, a simple off-brand beer, and Sanquinetta a dark cherry wine, heavily chilled.
“Nothing.” One word was almost too much for her as she moaned and immersed herself in the pleasure and sweet taste of her favorite wine. “Thank you,” came out a few moments later.
When the door squeaked open again ten minutes later, Jack led Ben and Kurt through, then collapsed beside Sanquinetta.
Her eyes lifted to Jack’s, well aware that Team 2 had the same results as Team 1 had. Nothing. Elias, Barkley, and Plato hadn’t returned yet.
Bullwhip had already dropped into a tufted chair, but he rose to bring two dark ales to the brothers and an old-style soda called Mountain Dew to Kurt.
Finally, Jack rolled his head toward Sanquinetta.
“No word from Dad or the others?”
The glass of wine to her lips, she let him know she hadn’t. And that she was as concerned as he was.
“Nothing to worry about. Elias is one of the best hunters I’ve ever seen.”
“Before those two injuries and his age sidelined him, yeah. But he’s been in mission support for eight years, San.”
“Yeah, I know.” Her acknowledgement came out as she sighed and sipped.
Another thirty minutes passed with no contact from Elias’s team.
“The sun’s dropping,” Ben commented.
While they could have all gone home and rested, they wouldn’t until they knew every hunter was safe.
“We need to go find them. We should be using personal trackers.”
“Ben, we’ve tried them. They can be hacked and the vamps can find us as easily as we can. If they don’t show soon, we’ll coms them.”
Coms were generally not used with this type of recon. If a chirp were to be heard in a silent building with vamps present, it may put the hunters in immediate danger. In this case, Sanquinetta would make a unilateral decision to ring in.
Twenty minutes later, she finished off her third glass of wine. “I’m contacting them.”
The moment she reached for her coms unit, the door burst open and a laughing pair of hunters surged in. Both carried their daggers, Elias laughing so hard he nearly bent in half. He and Plato glanced around the room as he stood and tucked his dagger back into its sheath. Barkley followed them in, his face sober, rolling his eyes.
Elias noticed. “What?” he barked.
Jack, lounging on the sofa, Sanquinetta’s long slim legs lying across his, looked from his father to Plato.
“You’re late, to start with. And also, what’s the gag?”
Elias Remington lifted his eyebrows. “Late? On time, I’d say. And we were trading hunter stories. I’ve missed being in the field. This guy is a kick. The shit he’s pulled would have aged me twice as fast.”
A modest man with an incredible résumé, Plato, his naturally pale Nordic skin flushed, grinned. “He’s exaggerating.”
“No, you’re quite the wild man, and that is exactly what we need out there. Sorry, we just let loose on the ride back and started swapping war stories. Perhaps we were remiss in not calling in. I assume no luck for any team?”
“No luck for any team,” Jack parroted.
“All right then. Well, listen, we rest and begin again tomorrow. I know I am going to collapse as soon as I get upstairs. Good work. Anytime we all make it back okay is a victory. Rest well.”
With a last laugh and a hand on Plato’s arm in camaraderie, Elias left the room. He kept apartments above these offices so that at any time, someone was here to protect them.
Ben hopped off the counter he’d hopped up on again.
“Okay, I guess we’re done. It’s nine o’clock. Anyone else hungrier than shit?”
A round of tired “yes” and “fuck yeahs” meant that all the worn-out hunters would be getting dinner, and they knew where they’d end up.
An old friend of the hunters ran a local diner that catered to the few discriminating palates that still lived in this area. He’d brought unique entrees from five-star establishments around the world, and charged a pretty penny for it. Except to the hunters, who he granted special discounts.
The Northern Sun was busy when they arrived, but Quesh found a table for the hungry hunters within fifteen minutes of arrival. Located near the rear of the dining room, they appreciated the full view in front, egress in all directions, and no one to their backs. Strategic planning never stopped.
“No menus tonight? The usuals?” Quesh asked, noticing the condition of the group.
Everyone moaned yes, and Quesh nodded in affirmation as he made his way toward the kitchen.
Quesh had been aware of vampire existence for the past six years since one had taken his daughter. Rescued by Bullwhip before she had been badly injured or worse, the girl had left for college the next week as planned. Quesh had made it clear he would be forever grateful to hunters for their service, and now served as yet another cog in their machine. Trained as a watcher, he kept an eye out for any unusual behavior that might indicate the presence of a vampire.
Conversation lagged until one of the wait-staff brought each hunter the drink of their choice. The alcohol, cool, wet, a friend to most hunters who liked a liquor-softened world, refreshed them enough to enjoy an on-the-house appetizer tray put together for eight famished soldiers.
Sliding a nut-filled parfait into her mouth, Sanquinetta groaned. “Is there anything finer than chocolate? Okay, we’ve covered over a quarter of the map. We’ll continue tomorrow morning. All hands.”
“That doesn’t leave much time for dancing,” Jimbo barked.
“Dance on your down time, soldier.”
“What down time?”
“Welcome to the life, Jimmy.”
Snickering laughs went around the table as the generous tray of snacks became emptier and emptier.
Sanquinetta turned to Jack. “So have you seen your hot babe again?”
Hot babe. Normally, that description wouldn’t have bothered him, but it was uncomfortably odd to hear Ife described in that way, true though it was.
“My beautiful new friend and I are finished.”
She tried not to be pleased, she really did. “I’m sorry, Jack.”
“So am I, but after last night, I can’t be near anyone.”
“True. Except fellow hunters.” Bite your tongue, girl!
“Not even hunters. It would out you guys too.”
“We can take care of ourselves.”
“No you can’t. This could turn into them hunting us.”
“It could.”
Two of Quesh’s waitress’s brought out three trays with eight meals prepared exactly as each hunter usually liked them.
All conversation ceased as silverware, unwrapped with speed, dug into diverse meals, the smells enough to drive already needy appetites.
Jack tucked a forkful of garlic potatoes into his mouth as he glanced toward a woman entering the restaurant. The fork stilled, he watched her scan the room, ice-blue eyes land on him.
Ife? What the hell was Ife doing here?
He glanced at his crew, all still voraciously attacking their meals, and slid from his seat, he thought unnoticed.
Crossing the room quickly, his eyes moving over the other diners for anyone who might take special notice of him as he reached Ife. Everyone seemed to be engaged with their meals and companions.
As soon as he let his gaze land on Ife, her hair pulled into a high ponytail, a flirty short skirt and tee shirt showing a body he’d committed to memory, his heartbeat quickened.
“I told you I’d find you,” she commented, and lifted up on tiptoes to kiss his lips, a butterfly touch that got to him.
“How? Ife, why are you here?”
“I told you. We’re not finished.”
Taking her arm, Jack led her into a currently unoccupied private dining space.
“Yes, we are. I was serious. It’s a risk for you to be seen with me.”
Ife stiffened. “But not the people you are currently with?” She’d seen the striking caramel-skinned woman by his side.
“Beautiful lady, they are all like me. Friends, family. My brother, Ben, is one of them. We’re in the same highly hazardous business. I know you don’t know me well, you have no reason to trust me, but you have to. Ife, how the hell did you know where to find me?”
She couldn’t tell him the truth; that her empathic first blood talent had connected them, and over these short distances, it had led her to him.
“Actually, happenstance. Donovan told me that this was the finest food in this area, so I’ve come for dinner. When I saw you, I just played through. And Jack, I do trust you, but I ask you, can you trust me and let me know why we can’t see each other?”
Sure, because I’m a vampire hunter, except that now the vampires have turned the tables and they’re hunting me and my brother. They eat people, so you might want to keep your distance from me.
“What I do is classified, I really can’t. You understand that I hate this, but I won’t risk you getting hurt. You can tell I want to be with you, right?”
Yes, she could. Ife smiled, her fingers lingering at the tail of his tee shirt. “I actually really do.”
She continued to lift the shirt, and as her hands curved against his heated skin, he knew he shouldn’t let her, but he didn’t move or say a word.
Pressing closer, Jack couldn’t make himself stop Ife as her hand glided along his chest, lower, lower still, then wondered how she had somehow unsnapped his jeans, slid down the zipper, and pushed back the top so that her fingertips grazed along his pubic area just above his cock.
He turned, pushed the door closed and lifted her onto a service ledge that brought her crotch level to his.
“This is a public place,” he whispered.
“I don’t have a problem with public places,” she whispered back.
Already unzipped, his pants fell to his ankles when she pushed, releasing his penis from the denim to spring free, rigid, bobbing against her palm, wet.
“I don’t think you do either.” Ife’s fingers tightened around his cock. “I’m not wearing underwear, Jack.”
“Oh, fuck…” His hands shot beneath her skirt and slid her near so the tip of his cock pressed to her slit.
Ife lifted her skirt as both their gazes dropped to watch his cock weeping between her legs.
Jack’s resistance crumbled and he lifted her buttocks to push into her; rough, too rough, too hard.
It felt right, perfect, like he was where he should always be, like he was home. Neither had any desire to linger, the contact alone, his cock pounding into her, Ife squeezing his ass to pull him tighter, the movement in and out so quick, both their orgasms came too soon and not soon enough, he exploded into her and she squealed, slapping a hand over her mouth. Her eyes sparkling with amusement, she dropped her hand.
“Sorry. That was unrestrainable.”
Collapsed against her, holding her to his chest, Jack laughed. Ife dug in closer to feel his body shake as he did, the pleasure of just feeling him while he laughed a new sensation for her.
Was there a chance he could be a vampire’s mate?
“Beautiful naked lady, I can’t make you understand how much I needed that. Not just the sex, I needed that too, but just to touch you. Maybe it’s this ridiculous connection we seem to have so fast, but being with you, Ife…thank you.” He set her back and looked into eyes that he knew he would never forget.
“Now you have to go and not come back.”
Ife knew now, she would have to use compulsion to find out his secret, if it really was something that would keep them apart.
“I’ll go, Jack, and I’ll stay away, on one condition.”
“No conditions.”
“One. It won’t compromise my safety, I promise. I want you to come to my house one more time. Just once. Then I won’t ask again.” It was time to discover the truth.
“No. Ife, no. Let me make sure you stay safe. Let me do what I was trained to do.”
“One time. Jack. Once. Please.”
“All right. For now, please go. I’ll stay in here until you’re gone so no one will connect me to you.”
“Soon, then. Come soon. Oh, and, thank you, too.”
Ife slipped out the door and closed it behind her.
Jack waited, long enough to get his clothes back in order and let her get out of the diner. He stood wondering why he had met her when he couldn’t be with her.
“You’re fucking cruel, fates, or whatever the hell you are. I was happy enough without her.”
Now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be happy again if he couldn’t see that impish smile, that perfect body naked for his eyes on a moonlit beach.
Oh, well, things went the way they might, it wouldn’t be a problem for a dead man.
Sighing, he opened the door to join his friends and wrap up the night so they could get home and come back to do this fiasco all over again tomorrow.
The door opened smoothly, and he looked up to see Ife standing near their table beside Sanquinetta.
The word shocked didn’t even describe how he felt. What the hell…?
Ife was smiling, but she shook her head. He could see it hadn’t been her idea, so he looked to Sanquinetta.
“Jack, I saw your friend coming out of that room. She’s the girl you told me about, yeah? Your new girlfriend?”
“Jack…” Ife began to say, but she was cut off.
“Now don’t be shy. Jack’s not good at bringing around his new friends.” She tugged Ife to the table where the hunters were finishing up their meals. “Everyone, this is Ife.”
Jack watched helplessly as Sanquinetta introduced a woman he wanted to protect from his world to all the people in it.
“Scoot over, Roadkill, let a lady in here.”
Buzzkill moved his seat much closer to Plato than he’d prefer as Sanquinetta pushed a chair between his and hers.
“Right here, sweetheart. Jack, get that shell-shocked look off your face and introduce your girlfriend.”
As he looked at Sanquinetta, his expression darkened.
She knew he was pissed, had known he would be when she got up to intercept the stranger coming from the little room. She’d been shaken by how stunningly beautiful Jack’s new lover was. He’d claimed her incredible, but a man’s view of a woman’s attractiveness was often guided by how quickly she let him fuck her, and this one had done so the night they met. In this case, though, loathe to admit it, the woman was, hands down, the most gorgeous she’d ever seen.
When she’d spied Jack pull the unknown woman with him and close the door, she knew Jack too well, knew who it had to be. She also knew he’d fucked her while they were in there.
It hurt to see her, hurt to see them, but curiosity stung more. She wanted to see this woman Jack was falling in love with. He wouldn’t admit that, he probably didn’t even know it, but it was what was happening.
What did she have that Sanquinetta didn’t? This wasn’t a jealously or confidence thing, Sanquinetta was fabulous, she knew that, but Jack was falling in love with this white-haired witch when he’d never fallen in love with her.
So when she saw the woman exit alone, she’d grabbed her.
Deal with it, Jack, she thought.
“So go ahead.”
Jack didn’t respond to Sanquinetta’s request, but Jack’s woman smiled and took a moment to connect her gaze to each man around the table, then came back to Jack. Her smile widened when she saw the stricken expression on his face.
Sanquinetta approved. The woman was no milquetoast.
“My name is Ife. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. Jack and I are, as this beautiful woman said, new friends. Very new, but we find we enjoy each other. I came here for dinner tonight unaware that he would be here, so that’s all this is. I’m trying to get to know Jack, but he’s very secretive, so if anyone would like to share any tales with me?”
Each man leaned closer, popped off quick greetings to her when she was finished, but no one answered her final question.
A handsome man younger than Jack that reminded her of him must be his brother, she realized.
“You’re Ben?”
“I’m Ben and I apologize for my insensitive brother, hasn’t told any of us about you.”
“He doesn’t have much to tell. We’ve only seen each other two times before today.”
“Shame on him.”
“I don’t know what you all do, but I am to understand it’s less than a safe occupation?” Ife posed her comment as a question, but received an unsatisfactory answer.
Plato was the one who responded. “Sometimes. Often.”
“Huh. Well, be careful. Even at the best of times the world can be dangerous.”
“Truer words, honey,” Sanquinetta agreed.
Up until that moment, Jack had remained quiet and still, but he pushed his chair back hard and fast, the legs screeching against Quesh’s tile floor.
“Ife needs to get home. Excuse me while I walk her out.”
Sanquinetta stood, squaring off with him. “But we’re just getting to know each other.”
Jack stared her down. “Some other time. She understands that we’ve all had a hard day and we’re heading home now to rest.”
Ife had moved between them before either realized she’d moved at all.
“Jack’s right. Sanquinetta, all of you, it’s been great to see that Jack works with such fine people. I hope we can all get together sometime.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you out.” Jack touched Sanquinetta’s sleeve. “There will be a conversation.”
“I would expect so.”
Taking her hand, Jack led Ife through the small dining room, out the door, and back into the night.
“Ife, what the hell?”
“It was your girlfriend, Jack. She was both curious and jealous.”
“Girlfriend? San? Hardly.”
“You might want to have that discussion you mentioned with her about that. Jack, I admit that I was curious too, and when she pulled me over to your table, I didn’t resist.”
Ife captured his eyes with hers. “I can’t help but want to know more about you. I like you, Jack.”
His hard stance fell and he pulled her into his arms. His fingers tangled into the strands of her ponytail, tugging on the satin smoothness over and over. “I like you too.”
As he stroked her hair, he wished he didn’t like her so much. Life was much easier to lose when there was no one left behind.
She pulled away. “Jack, you’ll come as you promised?”
“I’ll come.”
“Soon.”
“Soon. Go home, beautiful.”
“I will, and Jack, I want you to imagine this. It’s warm tonight so I’m going home to swim naked in the ocean.”
With that, he watched Ife walk away, slide into the seat of a pricey classic gas-powered convertible, and drive into the dark.
She didn’t hear the deep groan she left behind.
Returning to the table, meals skeletonized, Jack caught his brother’s eyes. “I’m going home. All of you, get there too. We have another long day waiting for us in the morning.”
Moving quickly, Jack was out of the diner again, surprised when Ben grabbed his arm.
“Wait a minute.”
“Ben, let’s do this tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure, but, Bro, why the hell wouldn’t you tell me you have a girlfriend?”
Facing Ben, Jack folded his arms. “Hunters don’t have girlfriends, that’s why. And right now, if we did, they’d be targets. That’s why I didn’t tell you, tell anybody, about that woman. We were together one time, and you can see she’s too good for me. It’s over. Ben, I can barely think right now, and neither can you. Let’s go home.”
Ben nodded. “I’m with you, Bro.”
He was. As they walked to their vehicles, Ben thought about the waitress at a busy breakfast bar in Eugene he frequented. The pancakes were exceptional, but they weren’t why he went so often. Polly was slight and sweet with huge amber eyes that he fell into every time he looked into them. That had been his secret; that he’d been getting up at three a.m. every morning to travel to another city because he was falling in love.
He’d already decided that he wasn’t going tomorrow.
IN EUGENE, DOWNTOWN
The late seating at Applebee’s was packed, not unusual for a Friday night. Eugene’s Skyscraper City, the largest in Oregon, housed over 300,000 people. The wait was about an hour for most new arrivals.
When a six foot four walking sex god pushed through the waiting room with a small woman on his heels, all he did was whisper to the host and they were seated immediately at a prime table on the balcony overlooking elaborate water fountains.
Gracious, Saul thanked him.
“Your waiter will be right with you.”
“Please.” Saul glanced at the tables around them. “Oh, kid, can you get us a couple of bottles of wine?”
He looked at the woman. “I assume you like wine?”
“Sure. Yeah, whatever you want.”
His look of surprise and disdain lifted to the host.
“The wine will be fine.”
Saul glanced back at the young woman. “We can speak freely. These people won’t pay us any attention.”
“It’s your funeral.”
Her voice was pleasant, he thought, but her manner verbose and aggressive. He found it grating, but this was business, not pleasure.
“So you were successful.”
Her eyes, an odd marbled gray, bore into him.
“Of course.”
“Of course,” Saul repeated, amazed that anyone thought this attitude appropriate for conducting business.
She finally spoke up without prompting.
“With the images you provided and recognition software so exceptional and accurate, I could probably track those two men back to when they were in diapers.”
“Impressive, but that won’t be necessary. I just need the addresses and affiliations I requested.”
“On this c.t. is everything you asked for.”
She handed him a small information device which he pocketed. “I guess you really are as good as I’ve been told.”
“I guess I am. That’ll be 10 thousand.”
Lifting his fone, Saul pressed a few numbers. “I’ve had it ready since we arrived. Thank you, Evaleigh. You’ve helped justice prevail. These hunters think it is okay to kill us, that it isn’t murder. It must be addressed.”
She didn’t say anything following his declaration, so he continued. “This is a good start.”
Curious about this tiny slip of a girl, he watched her perusing the menu. She was perhaps thirty, couldn’t be higher than five-three, thick blonde hair pulled into a single braid that reached to her waist. No makeup, but it wasn’t needed with her strikingly smooth cream-colored skin. Human. Obviously brilliant.
She dressed like she’d had no choice in her clothes; a shirt and pleated skirt that didn’t match, knee-high boots in 80 degree weather. Tattoos circled her wrists, delicate vines on one and on the other what looked like a tattooed charm bracelet. He couldn’t make out what was on the charms.
“You’re a fascinating woman.”
Evaleigh looked up sharply from the menu she’d been immersed in. “Don’t even think about taking a bite. You’ll choke on me.”
Saul lifted his eyebrows. “Ah, well, then I suppose I’d better order the salmon tray.”
“Yeah, I guess you’d better.”
He noticed her attention on the menu strayed to him and then her flanks. So she was watching for possible trouble. Smart.
Evaleigh kept glancing at this vampire she’d been contracted to help. One of her trusted regulars had signed off on him.
He was hotter than hell, but most vampires were. What intrigued her was the quiet demeanor, a gentlemanly-like manner that made her think of an old phrase her grandmother used to say—Still waters run deep.
His hair was dark blonde, which was unusual, as well as the full beard kept neatly trimmed that looked like it hid a strong jawline.
She’d never been with a vampire; never crossed that line from human to anything else. Never wanted to. Still, he made her wonder… No!
That was a dangerous thought. No vampires. Ever.
“Good,” the sexy vampire seated across from her said, and she had to think back to their conversation to remember what he meant.
He continued. “We’ll have a nice meal, I’ll take my intel and you can run along and do whatever it is you do. Everyone is happy. Order anything you want. It’s on me.”
She scoffed and got a strange look from him.
“Sorry, uh, yeah, thanks.”
Like he was going to pay for it or something. Vampires didn’t pay unless they had to. She always kept someone nearby who couldn’t be compromised by compulsion to verify payment. Malcolm had just texted her that the payment was valid.
Either way, she ordered the most expensive items on the menu, beginning with a rare wine.
“Excellent choices,” the vampire she was dining with commented. What was his name? Oh, yeah, Saul. She rolled the name on her tongue a few times. Saul, Saul, Saul. Not bad.
“Yeah, a girl’s gotta eat.”
Once the appetizers arrived, she’d ordered four, they began to eat, conversation at a minimum. Evaleigh was certain they looked like an ill-chosen mismatched blind date…the elegant cultured man and the off-the-chain generational throwback with bad taste.
When their meals arrived, conversation resumed.
She tasted the ridiculously priced wine she’d ordered and found she enjoyed it. He showed her how to appreciate the flavors on her tongue and the importance of drawing in the bouquet. She finally got some of the subtleties of wine appreciation she’d missed.
He turned out to have a clever, wicked sense of humor. After three full glasses of the dark wine, she laughed at several stories he told, and more disturbing, she found herself looking into his cinnamon eyes, dangerous as fuck, she knew that.
They turned out to have quite a bit in common, which surprised the shit out of her.
On the way home on her jetbike an hour later, Evaleigh would have to admit to herself that she’d enjoyed his company more than she would have believed possible.
“Saul!” she yelled into the wind. “Figures!”
At Hunter HQ
“Are you as whipped as I am? Thank God we don’t have any other vampire clans to chase down right now.”
Jack stopped in front of Sanquinetta.
“What the hell was that last night, San?”
She had the grace to look regretful.
“A lapse, my friend. Please forgive me. A lady gets a little nonplussed when she realizes that a woman is so much prettier than she is. I got a little jealous, okay?”
“I don’t get that. Jealous? We’re not…I mean, you aren’t…are you?”
Sanquinetta looked around the room, grateful they were the only two there. “Look, you know I like you, right? I mean, we have a special relationship. Right?”
“We do, I’ve always valued how well we get along, how perfectly in sync we are. But…are you saying that you want to…”
“No! No. I mean, yes, but we work together and that would never be a good idea, but damn’t, Jack, yeah, I would go down on you in a heartbeat if it weren’t. You turn me on, you never got that? And why the hell haven’t I ever turned you on? What does she got I don’t?”
This conversation was off the rails. Holy shit, he’d had no idea. San and him? It just never occurred to him. She was a hunter, one of the best, like one of the guys, and he did really care about her.
“San…”
She walked away. “Uh, uh. No pity compliments. I get it, you like ‘em looking like they just flew down from the sky.”
“It isn’t that…”
“She’s hot. Fuck, I’d do her. I get it. Only, Jack, and this isn’t sour grapes. Be careful. Sometimes when something seems too good to be true, is.”
“I’ve broken it off with her. San, we can’t do normal boyfriend-girlfriend shit anyway, you know that. And I’m sorry if I missed the cues, I wouldn’t hurt you for anything in this world. You get that, right?”
Her eyes rolling, she looked into his. Damn, she loved his eyes, his face, that hard body…shit!
“I do. I know that. Forgive me for acting all the jealous ex when I wasn’t ever even the present. You’re just fucking gorgeous, Jack. I want you. Give me some time to crawl out from under your sway.”
“Aw, crap, that’s wrong. We have to get past this, I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
“Never, my buddy, I promise. This girl ain’t got no shortage of hot bods to mount.”
“That I know, gorgeous. You heard Ife tell you that you were gorgeous?”
“Yeah, I did. She’s lovely, nice, smart, sexy as all comers, so she’s good for you.”
“She is. And it’s still over.”
“Now, Jack…”
“What is it with you women? I mean it, it’s over. Get used to believing me. Now, where am I going to spend my day?”
Elias entered, pulling on a vest built to carry extra clips for his handgun.
“Good morning, team. I assume we are well rested. I believe I went out the moment my head hit my pillow.”
Sanquinetta approached him with a small tablet.
“Yeah, me too, sir. I have the revised territories for today’s searches.”
“Excellent. The others haven’t arrived?”
Jack looked from Sanquinetta back to his father.
“To be honest, Dad, we had kind of a late night. We went to Quesh’s for dinner before we turned in.”
His back straight, Elias pulled the vest down even though it was already positioned. “Ah, well, there must be time to play. Let me know when they arrive.”
He left swiftly, his eyes on the tablet.
With a low whistle, Jack stood up and tugged at his shirt the same way his father had. “Wait, what? I thought he was going to chew me out. Dad being reasonable? It’s a new day.”
“Or, he was hurt that we didn’t invite him.”
That was a new thought.
Ten hours of blood, sweat, and tears later, everyone returned from the search, unsuccessful, but with one deep wound that they would treat themselves. Medical kits were pretty complete and could handle a lot of injuries. Theirs could handle a lot more than most.
Helped into HQ by Buzzkill, Jimbo landed hard on a wood chair, as Sanquinetta moved to place his left leg on a second chair.
“Hairline fracture?” she said to Elias.
“I don’t think so. The puncture is deep, though, so we need a Cassin to make sure he doesn’t get an infection. Clean it, wrap it, you know the drill. We’ll monitor you closely, boy, and if you need to go to hospital, we’ll take you.”
“You’ll be fine,” Buzzkill offered, while preparing the cleaning solution. “I just wish I’d seen that hole before you fell through it.”
“It isn’t your fault, Buzz. I’ve always been clumsy. That’s why my father didn’t want me to become a hunter. Maybe he was right.”
“Bullshit. There’s a huge learning curve to fighting supernatural monsters. You’re doing fine. Also, anyone can fall down a hole. Including your asshole father, who, by the way, was a mediocre hunter himself. Just get better and get back to it, James.”
Jack noticed Jimbo sit a little higher after San’s statement. She was good for the team in every way. He really did love her, not the way she apparently had hoped, but as a lifelong friend he would always trust with his life.
Assuming he had any days of that life left.
Ben dropped his weapons on the countertop he liked to sit on. “Damn, you think they might have left the area?”
“They don’t need to be here to do some serious damage to you two.” Plato laid his stash next to Ben’s. “If he gets your images out to vampires and identifies you as hunters, I don’t know how we protect you.”
“They go to ground.” Elias looked around the room.
“Boys, we change your identities, your looks, and you go to ground somewhere far from here. That’s the only way to survive once they know who you are.”
No fucking way, Jack thought, but he kept it to himself. And yet, at the same time, the idea of disappearing, of living a new life somewhere far from here…appealed.
“We’re not crossing that bridge yet,” is what he said instead, his eyes on Ben. His face expressionless, Ben leaned against the counter listening to the discussion about his possible future. Jack couldn’t read anything. Was it possible Ben liked the idea too?
They weren’t born for leisurely lives, for easy jobs, for burying their heads in the sand. They knew what was out there, and although the idea seemed nice, Jack knew he couldn’t just walk away. As he’d said, they weren’t at the point where a decision needed made.
There was a chance it would still be all right.
He did, however, decide to make good on his promise to Ife tonight. He would visit her one last time, and although he shouldn’t make love to her, he knew he would. It was a gift to himself, one last moment with a woman he thought he might, as San had blurted out earlier, fall in love with.
“You guys got this?”
Her head shot up as Sanquinetta stared at Jack.
“You got somewhere you gotta be?”
“I got somewhere I gotta be.”
After a sigh, she returned her attention to her injured soldier. “Yeah, we got this. Have a great night.”
Smiling, Jack punched her shoulder on his way out. They were going to be just fine.
For equal measure, he punched Buzzkill and Ben as well.
His path to the lookout where he’d first seen Ife was feeling well traveled by now. Anxious to see her, he hurried through the unforgiving sand and stopped just shy of her house.
Clouds still covered the sky as Jack watched Ife on the balcony just as he had a few nights ago. She wore the simple wrap as she had before, but this one was covered in pale blue flowers, the fabric so thin it barely covered her at all. He approved. God, she was so enticing.
His hunter instincts as well as that of a man protecting his own, guided him to look around and noticed that she had few options if someone wanted to assault her out here. Small, delicate, Ife wasn’t really safe alone in her friend’s isolated beach house. From vampires or ill-intentioned humans.
As he approached, he saw her rise from the lounge she’d been reclining on and walk to the railing.
“Jack,” he heard her whisper. Every part of him responded; his heartbeat picked up, respiration quickened, a sense of joy wrapped with sexual need curled through him. This night would be magic that ended in sorrow.
Moving closer, Jack stopped just below her.
“Hi, beautiful naked lady.”
“Hi, noble stalker.”
“Is tonight okay for my promised visit?”
“Any night is okay.”
As he hopped onto the deck, Jack’s eyes dropped to where the satin wrap split open below her waist. His eyes lifted back to hers.
Ife shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
All she wore was the wrap, her charms revealed when Jack dropped his eyes again, then onto his knees to push the wrap further aside as he curved his hands around her bottom and tugged her closer. Ife had to steady herself, her hands on his shoulders, where her nails dug in, deep, and he liked it.
Lowering his head, he nipped beneath her breasts, then followed the nips with an active tongue. Lowering his head further, he trailed the nips across the top of her thighs, suddenly lifting her in his arms. The galley right off the balcony featured a wide granite counter. Perfect.
He set her on it, pulled a chair up to it, grabbed Ife’s bare feet, and drew her to the edge.
Sitting up, breathing hard, Ife watched Jack push her wrap off and spread her legs, then all she could see was the top of his head as he dived in with his tongue to pull on the tender folds with his teeth.
“I’m dining in tonight,” he said, and, showing his skill, Jack pushed his tongue deep while his fingers kneaded Ife from her waist to her buttocks to her upper thighs, igniting her entire body. She began to shake, the shaking revving up when he bit and tongued her. His hot tongue returned to her center, deep again, moving in and out, nipping, tugging, until she succumbed and her orgasm stilled the shaking as she lifted up, pressing into Jack’s still moving tongue as he held her.
“Oh…” She could barely speak. “…Gods. Ummm…”
She lowered herself down until she lay on the countertop, her legs caught around Jack.
Eyes closed, Ife still felt like she was floating.
“I thought you weren’t going to do that again.”
“So did I. Guess I lied to both of us. I want you, Ife, every part of you, but I’m a threat to anyone I care about. To my enemy, you would be the perfect hostage.”
Sliding off the counter, Ife pulled her wrap tight and faced Jack. “Hostage?”
“That’s probably the wrong word. He’d brutally kill you just to piss me off.” Jack pulled her into his arms. “To hurt me.”
He was already hurting, she could feel it. She tried once more to get him to tell her.
“Jack, what do you do that is so dangerous?”
Ife knew he wouldn’t tell her as he shook his head again. “Again, I can’t say, it’s class…”
Yes, he could.
She caught his eyes and pushed the compulsion she didn’t want to use. “Jack, tell me what you do for a living.”
Typical of human response to compulsion, Jack’s eyes, unfocused, didn’t move from hers.
“I’m a hunter. It’s a family business that goes back almost a century.”
Hunting. Distasteful, but hardly dangerous to anyone but the prey.
“Jack, how does that endanger me or your friends?”
“Because of what I hunt. Something you won’t believe, but they’re real and deadly. They feed on us and kill us.”
Heart thudding now, Ife’s eyes searched his, the balcony to her back to support her. He couldn’t mean…
“Jack, what do you hunt?”
“I kill an abomination of nature designed to live off of human blood. They used to be human and they’re smart. Right now, one of them has gotten a bead on me and Ben. I’m a vampire hunter, Ife.”
Blood was life, especially for a vampire, but at this moment, this terrible moment, hers surged through her body, cold, tingling.
Jack hunted, killed, vampires?
No, no, no…
Jack continued without prompting.
“Ife, if he finds you, discovers that I’m falling in love with you, he’ll take you, he’ll rape you, feed from you. He’ll kill you.”
Trying to process what Jack told her, what he and all those people she’d met, and liked, around that table a few nights ago, that they killed her kind, was too much. She needed to know more to understand. But not right now. Not yet.
In the heat of the moment, blood running cold through it, she almost missed Jack’s declaration. Under compulsion, he admitted he was falling in love with her.
Falling in love with a vampire. A laugh escaped as she thought about how shocked he would be to find out that she was vampire. And that she felt the same way; that she’d wondered if he could be a vampire’s mate. And that now she had no idea what to feel.
Ife touched Jack’s face, which she loved to look at, to kiss, to see his slightly crooked smile, her eyes sliding lower to appreciate his heavily muscled body.
He was such a beautiful man, she knew that, she’d read his aura. Kind, loving, generous, protective, he’d mentioned that he’d been raised to be noble, so she assumed that his family thought that what they did was right.
She let her fingers linger on his jawline. “Jack, I’m going to have you tell me more, but I need a moment. Go lie down in my bed and sleep until I wake you.”
Without hesitation or a word, Jack did as asked.
Sighing, Ife walked onto the balcony to the railing seeking air and distance from Jack’s revelation.
“He’s a vampire hunter,” she blurted out to the sea, the thirtieth time the phrase ran through her mind since he told her.
What the hell was she supposed to do with this information?
Logically, what?
“Okay, I need more details. Who, why, how? Then, he said that he and Ben were being hunted. Okay. Same questions. Who, why, how? Third, what I am to do? I can’t do nothing, not now that I know there are vampire hunters out there killing vampires.”
She turned to lean against the railing. “But these are not bad guys. These are not evil men like we’ve run into before. Ugh.”
Actually, she knew what she had to do. She had to call in reinforcements to deal with it.
First, what to do about Jack and Ben.
Walking to her bedroom, she shook her head at the folly of her plan. Tonight, she had thought to reveal her nature so that she could feed, see what Jack’s reaction was, and use compulsion to purge him before he left.
“Obviously I won’t be revealing myself to you now.”
He looked so perfect lying there next to where she lay her own head. If only he wasn’t a murderer.
Stop. That wasn’t fair and it wasn’t true. She hoped. Only one way to find out.
“Jack. Wake up.”
Eyes opening, he rolled over to see her above him and smiled. “Beautiful naked lady. In my bed. I must be dreaming.”
“You’re not.” Her voice sounded harsh, even to herself. Well, this was an interrogation, so it was appropriate.
“Jack, sit up.”
Once he had, she got comfortable on the bed, lifting her face into a refreshing breeze.
“Tell me about your hunting, about your family, and about the threat against you and Ben.”
“Okay.” Under Ife’s compulsion, Jack told her the story of his life.
On the other side of town, Ben stopped for a couple of bottles of whisky. The guys had helped him kill his home supply last week, and he was pretty sure that he might need a glass or two to get to sleep tonight. Things were just so fucked up.
Elias had warned him and Jack to stay clear of camera feeds, which nearly every business had, especially downtown, but he was hitting a tiny convenience store near his apartment. The clerks knew him well, and while the little market had vid feeds, he knew that they weren’t tied into the city system, so no one could track him from there.
Either way, he was getting the whisky. He needed rest if he was going to fight this vampire and survive. While he needed a better fucking attitude, too, that wasn’t going to happen.
Ben had been trying to decide for several months what he wanted to do. Needed to do. It was true that he was a good hunter, trusted, a great partner, but he hated what he did. He hated killing, living with a gun strapped around his waist and a dagger or two on his thighs, burning vampires before they came back to life. A person had to be cut out for this, and he wasn’t. There had to be a better life waiting for him out there, he prayed, and it was past time to find it.
This situation, being outed by a vampire as a hunter, was the best thing that had ever happened to him. It forced the decision, he didn’t have to agonize over doing the right thing, and while he wanted his father to be proud of him, he couldn’t stay for him.
Finally, he’d be free to live the life he wanted to live. If all went well, since his brother was outed too, Jack would come with him and they could find easy, normal jobs. They could marry and have families with kids that wouldn’t be expected to grow up to be hunters.
He wouldn’t have to wash blood out of his clothes every other night, or worry that he or one of his friends wouldn’t be coming home some night.
Honestly, he was okay if they never found this vampire. First, he had a bad feeling about this one, just like Sanquinetta had, only his was based on what he saw in the vampire’s eyes that night. Something that shook him to his core; he didn’t know what to think of it. These creatures were supposed to be feeding machines that killed without remorse. Ruthless killers made from innocent people. Yet that night, he’d seen vengeance in his eyes, but beyond that, pain. That they had killed his friends, members of his clan…had Ben seen grief in a vampire?
Either way, he was done. He would join the search one last day and then let his father know he was leaving; hope that his brother would come too. It was the sane choice.
Ben thought about Polly. It was too late to nourish that possible relationship. He would have to leave Polly behind, a thought that twisted his gut. This life ripped the heart out of hunters.
“Fuck, I’m glad I’m gone.”
“Where are you going?”
A soft voice behind Ben, close behind him, made him whirl, a habit born of training, but when he saw the tiny woman, he let his hunting instincts drop.
She was hot, liquid oil-colored eyes luminous, dark lush hair pulled into a messy bun with tendrils escaping in all directions. The tee shirt she wore had been stretched well beyond its endurance as it struggled to fit around extremely generous globes. He couldn’t help it, his eyes dropped to where her nipples peeked above the top of the torn neckline.
Sexy as hell, she leaned against the shelf that held a wide variety of whisky. “Hi. I’m Billie. Just heard your comment. So, where are you going handsome?”
“Um, nowhere yet. Hi. I’m Ben.”
Billie slid her hand into Ben’s, enjoying the warmth. Damn, he really was handsome for a human. Too bad about his fate. Saul’s plan wouldn’t fail, so this young man’s fate was sealed.
With calculated charm, she tilted her head and lifted a sandaled foot to tap his calf. “I just settled in here, and I’m looking for someone to hang with. It’s lonely in a new town, right? It can be tough to make new friends. I gotta say, you look friendly.”
He wasn’t about to turn her down. The man should know better, but she’d already sent his libido into high gear. Most men couldn’t see past full breasts exposed in tiny white tees. Hell, they made her horny.
As expected, he forced himself to look up from her nipples into her eyes.
Easing into it, Billie leaned close, eye contact solid, and pushed her will.
“Ben, you will follow me out of this store to my car.”
She took a bottle of top shelf Irish whisky, walked up to the clerk and caught his gaze too. It took a few seconds to get him to look up from her chest. “I’m taking this whisky. You will purge the camera from this shop immediately and if anyone asks you if you’ve seen this man, tell them you haven’t seen him. Tell them nobody’s been in tonight. Thank you, lovie. Come Ben.”
Oh, fuck, she loved compulsion, almost as much as she loved sex.
At her car, a nondescript ancient thing Saul chose so no one would notice them, she popped open the bottle of whisky and handed it to Ben.
“Get in and start drinking. Darling, you’re going to need it.”
An hour and a half later, she pulled up to an old farmhouse that still smelled like horseshit to her.
“Okay, Ben, hop out.”
Reaching for the bottle of whisky, which was close to empty, she laughed. “Oh, shit. I mean get out if you can.”
Saul, Hazel, Jamie, and Jeffro came out of the house at almost the same time.
Saul’s eyes moved over the drunk human trying to rise from the passenger side of Billie’s car.
“Aw, my beautiful temptress, success. No complications?”
“None. He likes breasts. I’m sure he likes pussy.”
“No cameras? You were careful.”
“Saul, that old place had old-style vids, nothing connected to the net. I had the guy wipe them. The dude won’t even remember we were there.”
“Perfect.”
Pausing as she helped Ben from the car, she glanced up at Saul. “You’re not gonna kill him are you? He’s prime vampire meat, Saul, and he’ll have excellent hunter intel.”
God, she hated if Saul was going to kill this guy to avenge the other three he and his friends had killed. He was just so fucking sexy and they could use some new blood. So to speak.
“No sweetcheeks, of course not. You know I’m not a violent man.”
“I’m glad.”
“We’re going to change him.”
“Good!”
“Don’t get too excited. After we change him, I’m going to send him back to his brother.”
Saul stepped close to Ben, who stood quietly, weaving. He put his hands on either side of Ben’s head and smoothed his hair down, petting him like he was a child.
“Then, if I’m right, his brother is going to kill him.”