Five
Ife was ready. After a healthy number of glasses of MoonShine, she carried another into her bedroom and woke Jack again.
It was nearing daylight and time to send Jack home. Their discussion had lasted for two hours and she was exhausted, heartsick, shocked, confused, and in need of blood.
Jack had been her intended blood meal when he arrived earlier, but the whole vampire hunter thing had eclipsed her plans and now, in desperate need of blood nutrition, and with so much to deal with, she had to feed. She knew it meant blood draw and sex, she was certain she couldn’t feed from Jack without sexual contact, and then she would have to do a complete memory purge.
What a fucked-up night!
“Jack, I’m going to feed now. Just let things happen naturally and don’t be afraid.”
It wasn’t uncommon in a situation like this where the blood donor wasn’t read in for the donor to be frightened and she saw fear in Jack’s eyes. Compulsion didn’t eliminate basic emotions and she could tell he had an idea what she meant when she said she was going to feed.
Moving above him, Ife lifted his hair back and nuzzled along his jawline, then dropped below it to his neck, her tongue traced a sensuous line from his ear to his throat. She could feel Jack beginning to respond already to the erotic component of a vampire feed.
“It is very sexy,” she whispered as she bit, fast, the puncture so quick, she didn’t think he would even notice, and realized how true that was when he reached for her.
“Let me inside you,” he barked, his voice raw as his emotions.
Ife pulled away from his neck and used vampire level speed to undress him, and when he was naked beneath her, she went back to the blood draw and let him do everything else.
Instantly, Jack pushed up inside her and began the ancient rhythm that brought two bodies together, the anthropological drive to mate and connect sexually, as he thrust into her, the pleasure extreme due to the blood draw as she sucked and tongued his neck, making part of him a part of her. Sensual, sexual, driven, he pounded upward as she pushed down, faster as she drew his blood faster, an explosion of sensation like nothing he’d ever experienced, even with her.
Lights flickered overhead, an auroral blaze of color as they both came with such force, they nearly rocked off the bed.
Ife drew back, licked the wounds so they would seal invisibly in very little time, so she could leave him no visual evidence that a vampire had fed on him.
Chances were this was the last time they would be together. The bitter taste of a final goodbye stinging as she lifted from the bed, Ife issued a command that would end with him walking out of her life.
“Jack, get dressed.”
Twenty minutes later, she had him at the edge of the balcony, cleaned up, no blood, holding his face, eyes locked to eyes.
“You’ve been such a pleasure, Jack Remington. You’ve surprised me in many ways and showed me that I am capable of loving. For now, go home and sleep well. Jack, the only thing you will remember about tonight is that you came here, we made love, you broke up with me, and we are finished. Go safely now, Jack. Namasté. Peace go with you.”
As expected, he turned and walked down the steps. Ife watched him until she couldn’t see him anymore, then dropped down. She didn’t cry, but moisture welled. Letting him go when he was in danger was the hardest part, but the next hardest part was bringing in more vampires to assess the hunters and see what needed to be done to resolve the problem.
Vampire hunters could not be allowed to continue killing vampires.
Lifting her fone from the floor beside her, she dialed a 2 digit number and waited.
“Ife! Hey, how’s the vacay?”
“It’s been wonderful until tonight. Cairine, how would your father handle a group of vampire hunters?”
At Jack’s home
He needed to wake, but his body refused. Somewhere in his mind, something didn’t seem right. For a second, he wondered if he was having a stroke, but finally, he got his eyes to stay open and his mind to work.
Sitting up seemed to ache, but once he was on his feet, a little unsteadily at first, he made his way to his French doors and opened them to appreciate the morning air. Was it later than he thought?
Jack looked for his fone and realized he hadn’t brought it into his room with him. Padding into his stark living room, he found it on the one piece of furniture in the room, a used sofa Buzzkill had given him.
Lifting it, he started to scroll through several messages when someone pounded on the front door.
What the hell?
Slowly making it to the door, he released the automatic locks with six words and when the door swung open, Sanquinetta, Buzzkill, and Plato zoomed in.
“What the fuck’s going on?” Jack asked, arms out in question.
Plato answered. “We couldn’t reach you, we were worried. Jack, you’re naked.”
“Oh, yeah, I just got up. Sorry. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t hurry on my account.”
“Ha, ha, San. I’ll be right back.”
Seconds later Jack reappeared with loose fitting sweat pants and a crumpled tee. “Now what’s the deal?”
“You’re late. We couldn’t reach you. We were afraid something happened to you.”
“I just forgot to set my alarm and I left my fone out here. Sorry to freak you out. I’m late, though, I get that.”
“Jack, we can’t reach Ben either. Barkley, Kurt, and Jimbo went to his apartment and he isn’t there. He didn’t come in this morning either.”
“He isn’t answering his fone?”
“No. Any idea where he might be?”
“Fuck, no.”
The implication scared the hell out of him.
Did they have him? Was Ben in the hands of vampires?
“You’ve checked anywhere else he might be?”
Plato nodded. “Everywhere. He frequently has breakfast at Sammy’s Egg Palace, and he’s not there. Sometimes he gets coffee at Grounders, but they haven’t seen him. I don’t know where else he’d go, but he was supposed to be in this morning just like the rest of us. Ben doesn’t just no-show, Jack, you know it.”
This was as bad as it got. A missing hunter when they knew what might have happened.
“Son of a bitch! We’ll find him.”
“Elias is already back at HQ on vid feeds. Stacey’s taken a second monitor and is doing the same thing. Kurt’s stayed in Ben’s neighborhood to canvas and see if anyone has seen him or if he shows up. We need to get out and do the same thing. Someone may have seen him or the vampire…something. Unless you have any other ideas?”
“No. San, is his car still in the garage?”
“It is.”
Jack knew now. He knew it…the vampire had his brother.
Standing stone still, he stared out at the ocean, but he didn’t see the rushing water or the blue sky.
“I’ll get my keys,” he said, colder than he’d ever been, the air around him still. Walking into the kitchen, he reached for the bundle of keys and fobs on a ring lying on the table, and turned to join the others. Passing by a half filled bottle of whisky, his hand shot out, he grabbed the bottle, and hurled it against the wall so hard, it splintered into thousands of raining shards.
Expressionless, he walked to his front door.
“Let’s go.”
Mounting his bike, he looked down at the tiny silver cross, a symbol of a successful vampire hunt. But this time things hadn’t gone right. This time, they were going to lose one of their own.
He’d failed Ben.
In a farmhouse basement
“Just kill me…just fucking kill me!”
Ben, chained to a wall, spat at Saul, who had squatted in front of him as he sat sprawled on a dirt floor.
Easily able to avoid getting hit with Ben’s spittle, Saul had moved to the side. “Not in the plan, Hunter. You won’t listen to me, you won’t believe me, but I’m not a killer. It doesn’t mean you won’t be killed anyway, but that is up to your brother. You see, you assholes think you know what a vampire is, and I doubt I can convince you different, but when your people get you back, and I promise they will, well, they’ll have something to decide, won’t they?”
“They’ll do it, they’ll end my suffering. Each and every one of us knows what we want if somehow one of us gets changed. None of us will live as a murderous monster.”
“And there you have it. So, Ben Remington, brother of Jack, son of Elias, grandson of Bartholomew, this is going to happen. You will be vampire within 5 to 7 days. Good luck with that.”
Saul stood and walked to a table just beyond the reach of the chains.
“Billie, I know you like this a-hole hunter, but you keep away from him, you hear me? He’s going to be dangerous as he converts, you remember what it’s like. But he’s going to try to entice you, and he will likely hurt you if you give in, so, promise me. No contact beyond this table.”
“I promise, Saul. I love my life, I’m certainly not interested in ending it. These guys do know how to kill a vampire.”
“They do, and you are far too lovely to lose, my dear.”
“When are you going to start?”
“No time like the present. I just want to strip off this shirt. I rather like it and bloodstains can be a bitch to remove.”
Unbuttoning his burgundy shirt, Saul hung it over the back of a chair and walked toward Ben, who had pushed into a standing position.
Billie watched Saul’s strong back as he flexed his hands. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“I’ll fight you every step of the way.”
“Game on. Compulsion will keep you quiet for a while, but once you have enough of my blood in you, once it begins the conversion, I’ll have no more power over you. Please remember, though, Mr. Remington, that an older vampire is always stronger than a newer one, much like a child isn’t as strong as an adult. I’m three hundred years old, I’ve got a few on you, boy. I don’t plan to hurt you, but you might want to understand, the process of conversion, the vampire virus that will remake you, it has to tear down your human DNA first. This will be painful and there is nothing I can do to change that. Now.”
Saul walked up to Ben, held his head still, forced his eyes to his, and said, “Sit down and drink.”
Ben did as commanded, all the while terrified inside, aware he would be a monster when this was finished, that he would want to kill and drink from humans, even his own family, and that he would have to be killed. His life was over.
At Donovan’s house on the beach
Cairine sat, still, quiet, immersed in the crashing waves, the motion of water, the beauty of sea and sky she’d missed.
Ife brought a tray of goodies and some of her considerable stash of MoonShine.
“Oh, my friend, I’ve missed the ocean. I hadn’t realized how much until this moment.”
“I know. When Donovan offered me this house, I couldn’t say yes quick enough. Up until last night when I found out Jack’s secret, I was having the most restful, glorious vacation. I lounged and enjoyed good music, the sound of the ocean, good food, and then the best sex of my life when that man suddenly intruded on my beach one night. I can’t believe this, Cari.”
“It doesn’t surprise me. Now that I think about it, someone mentioned a few years ago that they thought some humans might have gotten wind of the existence of vampires and that there might be some trouble. I haven’t heard anything since then, but I guess now we know. Something wicked this way comes.”
“And how. Like I told you, these are good people, not evil vampire-murdering assholes. Jack explained that vampires are people who have been supernaturally changed into monsters who crave and eat human blood. He believes, all of his hunters believe, that vampires have to be killed to protect the public. He has no idea that a vampire is only what he truly is. A bad, mean person will be a bad, mean vampire, and a kind, good person will be a kind, good vampire. They kill vampires when they find them, period, because they think it is a noble cause.”
“Whew. What a freaking mess.”
“Did you tell Eras?”
“Oh, hell, no. He wouldn’t have let me come alone, and I wanted him to stay with our daughter.”
“You think the two of us can handle this by ourselves?”
“They’re only human. I’m kidding, but yes, I think so. First, though, we need to captivate your Jack and, without compulsion, show him what we are and prove to him that we are not killers.”
“I agree. It will help that there are two of us. Once we gain their trust, we can move forward to find out how far this reaches and slowly begin to shut down the entire hunting party system.”
“We’ll then bring in Xavier’s vampire justice team to deal with the vampires who are killing to feed. First bloods will be able to root out those who are hurting people. It’s become his mission.”
“I think we should bring Jack in tonight. I believe that he and his brother are in danger from a rogue vampire group.”
“Okay, let’s go get him.”
“I don’t know exactly where he is. We never got to the point where we exchanged addresses.”
“You exchanged other things, yeah?”
Ife smiled. “Did we ever. I was falling for him, Cari, before this went to shit. I do have his phone number.”
“Text him and ask him to come right away, then join me. We can catch up. I still haven’t heard the entire story of what happened with the caves in Brazil.”
“It’s astounding. Okay, let me send this.”
At Hunter HQ
“We have searched every local feed during non-daylight hours and there isn’t anything at all. Nothing of the vampire that took your images, nothing unusual, no Ben. You men did a good job of staying away from any cameras, so now there is no record of where you’ve been. Kurt just checked in. Not one person in Ben’s entire neighborhood or anywhere between there and here have seen him. He’s disappeared.”
Elias watched Jack nearly explode.
“God damn it, Dad. What can we do?”
“We keep searching, we have other hunters search, we don’t stop. I’ve already engaged all of our watchers for three states, so they’re out there covering as much territory as possible, our eyes and ears. If they hear or see anything that might be a lead, or even suspect something, they’ll call into me at once.”
“I can’t believe this is happening. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight once I knew we were endangered.”
“We didn’t act quickly enough to pull you out of the field. No, son, it’s entirely on me. I trusted that we would have time to fix this. I was wrong.”
Sitting on the counter like Ben often did, Sanquinetta slammed her fist down. “Stop the blame game. Everyone made a bad call. It happens. Now we figure out how to find Ben and bring him home. Stop complaining and get back to it.”
“San’s right. I’m going back out, doing a foot search starting at Ben’s place again.” Plato grabbed his gun and knives and walked out the door without another word.
Restless, Jack couldn’t stay here.
“I’m going back out as well. Head back to that dive bar where they ambushed us. There might be someone there that knows something. If you get any intel, if someone finds him, if you need me, text me.”
“I’ll go with you. Elias, keep us in the loop.” Letting Jack go off on his own was a mistake Sanquinetta knew better than to make. He was hurting, they all were, but Jack blamed himself, his decision-making compromised. She couldn’t trust him to make sound choices. God only knew what he was capable of now.
“We’ll take my car.”
“San, you don’t have to…”
“We can’t both travel well on your bike, plus, the vampire probably knows your ride out there too. Come with me, Jack.”
Without answering, he opened her passenger door, sat, and slammed the door closed. At least he was attempting to listen to her.
Getting in the other side, she started the engine and moved down the lane. Jack’s fone chimed and he looked at it. “It’s Ife.”
“Later, Jack. We have a mission. Your brother is your priority.”
She was right, so Jack ignored the message and pulled his handgun out to check his ordnance.
No rest until Ben was home.
At Donovan’s beach house
“He isn’t answering me. I don’t know if he will. I do have an idea, though. Cari, come with me to this local restaurant. The hunters apparently gather there to eat sometimes, and we might get lucky. If not, there’s a chance the owner might know where we can find them. We need last meal anyway.”
Thirty minutes later, when they arrived at The Northern Sun, it was busy enough that several couples were already waiting to be seated. It wasn’t a problem for Ife and Cairine, who breezed into a table near the back. The host seated them and asked if they would like some wine.
“Yes, please,” Ife responded. “Two bottles of your best. Also…” Ife pushed the compulsion so she would get a quick and honest answer. “A group of men dine here often. Jack, Ben, Plato, Buzzkill. A woman named San? Do you know them?”
“Sure. They’re regulars.”
“Do you know where I can find them?”
“No, I don’t. Quesh probably would. He owns the diner and he knows them really well.”
“Excellent. Please bring him to me.”
“He isn’t here. Quesh left a few hours ago and said he might not be back for a few days.”
“That’s bad timing. Can you get him on the fone?”
“He said he would be unavailable until he returns. Left me to take care of anything while he’s away.”
“That won’t help me if you don’t know where I can find these people. Okay, is there anyone you know of, either here or not, that might be able to tell me where I can find Jack Remington or any of his friends?”
“Yes.” The host paused. “Quesh.”
Cairine laughed. “You did ask.”
“Smart ass.” Ife turned back to the host, her voice lowered. “One last question. Do you know any vampire hunters?”
An expression of confusion crossed the host’s face.
“In vids, you mean?”
“Please go get us that wine. You will forget all of my questions.”
The host gone now, Cairine reached for her fone.
“Eras wants to know if we’re having a good time. I haven’t the heart to tell him I’m working.”
“Smashing. Any other ideas, Cari?”
“Yes. We have dinner and think about it. You two have a good relationship, right? He’ll call you.”
Ife leaned back to search the room, but saw no familiar faces. She turned back to Cairine. “Hmmm. I guess. Let’s get something nice for second meal. The least I can do is feed you. I understand everything is quite good. Here’s the menu.”
“Thank you. Gods, I’m smashed. The MoonShine we had at Donovan’s place is hitting me hard.”
Ife barely heard anything Cari said, she was so worried about Jack and his brother.
“What if a rogue vampire group has Jack? What if they’re torturing him?”
“If we can’t find him, we can’t help him, so eat, drink, and we’ll get on the road and try to find the secret base of a rogue of armed men who are looking for…us.”
“Gods, if they knew we existed, I think the game would be over.”
“Warped people aren’t daunted by impossible odds. Ife, if these hunters truly believe they are right, there’s likely little we can do to change their minds. Unless we use compulsion.”
“Let’s not rush to any decision until we meet them and open the conversation. Controlled by compulsion, of course, I’m not suicidal.”
“We just need to realize that there are serious questions and answers needed, and the chances are high we’ll need to bring in Xavier’s team.”
“I do. So, let’s eat and get to finding our vampire hunters.”
An hour before sunrise, tired, ready to finish and get their rest, disappointed, but not surprised, the two first bloods dropped into their beds after closing the house and securing it for safe sleep.
“This might have a small town feel, but folks don’t really know much about their neighbors here.”
“No. I think, Cari, that these are the fringe elements that live here because they like privacy and isolation. Most people live in the tower cities now like you. Of course, I suppose even in small towns, vampire hunters keep their occupations secret. Even vampire hunters know that letting the public in on the existence of vampires isn’t a good idea.”
“I hope. You would think by now, though, humans, supernaturals, vampires, we could all live in peace together.”
“That’s a Utopia I don’t think will ever happen. You have met the human race, haven’t you? And vampires? Within all races, diversity of personality and ideas won’t ever let us create a place of safety and peace. It would require a global collective of respect and love, and I just can’t see that happening.”
“I agree, but I think I’m going to hope for it anyway.”
“I’ll join you in that desire and hope, may I prove to be wrong. Goodnight, my friend. Again, thank you for coming.”
“Always, Ife. Always. You’re family, and when family calls, we all rush in.”
“That’s what I call respect and love.”
At Sanquinetta’s apartment
“Let me get you something to drink. Something with a healing touch. After today, after this whole fucking mess, we need it.”
“It won’t help. Nothing will. Not until my brother is safe.”
“I know, Jack, but we’ve canvased until we can’t stand up anymore. Tomorrow, we’ll be back out, but tonight, sleep.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“You’re beyond exhausted, mentally and physically, you’ll sleep. Here. Ninety proof.”
“Thanks.” Jack downed half the glass of whisky in one gulp, bringing Sanquinetta’s eyebrows up.
“Lord, buddy, it’s a good thing you’re sleeping on that sofa. Otherwise, I’d never move your drunk-ass body after you pass out.”
“I don’t even feel it. I can’t imagine life without him. And I don’t believe they haven’t killed him. You should have seen that asshole’s face. He was really pissed we killed his clan. All he wanted was to avenge their deaths, and now he has. He’ll still come after me, but San, he’s going to let me suffer before he does.”
“He won’t have a chance. Our full team and several beyond this area are searching for him now, and there is no place he can hide. We’ll get him, don’t doubt it. And Ben very well might be alive.”
“I hope to fuck you’re right. I just…”
Jack took another long drag from the glass and laid his head back, eyes closed. “I am done with this life if we get him back. And if we don’t, I’ll never stop looking for him, even if it takes the rest of my life.”
“Don’t offer me the big words like never and forever. You have a life ahead of you regardless of the outcome here. But you’re right, you need to get out of here if you hope to have one.”
“Yeah…” he sighed, his body giving in to his fatigue.
“I said goodbye to Ife last night. She’s been trying to call and text me and I’ve put her on ignore. If I had a normal life, I’d be in her bed right now.”
She knew he wasn’t aware that his comment stung. Had he been fully alert, she was certain he’d never said that.
Sanquinetta knew this wasn’t the time. Knew she should let him rest, but her protective instincts pushed her, especially since he’d brought her up.
“Jack, about Ife. After we met, I went home and did some checking. There’s no vid captures in the U.S. on her. I didn’t have a last name, but I searched for Ife’s in the database in Zambia, and there is exactly nothing that matches her. A beach house in the area you described belongs to a man who, on record, is twelve decades older than her. He was the head of Gualtieri Global, and he disappeared from public view over a hundred years ago. Sound familiar? I’m tellin’ you, Jack, you always trust my instincts. Your girl…there’s something whacked out there.”
“I can’t think about this now…”
“All I’m saying is, tread carefully. She’s all hell and gone hot, I admit that, but from the first you told me, things just didn’t seem normal. First, you haven’t fallen in love all the years we’ve known each other…”
“I haven’t fallen in love…”
“Second, something about her, I don’t know, a vibe I guess. You know I have uncommon intuition. Her confidence is unreal, her poise and presence supreme, her beauty, well, yeah, beyond human.”
“San, what the hell? Beyond human?”
“Yeah, Jack, it is. All I’m saying is, and this isn’t jealousy speaking, be careful if you see her again.”
“God, just let me go comatose. I can’t take anything else. Give me another glass of whisky and let’s just go lights out.”
“Good plan. Here, give me your glass.”
In the farmhouse basement
It was tearing him apart. Why the fuck didn’t he die?
Something had entered him, something alien, evil as hell itself, he knew it, to turn him into a monster that his family would have to…fuck, they better!...kill on sight.
His clothes were gone, and thank God, because he was on fire, inside and out, still shocked that he could live through this. No wonder they were such fucking monsters…look what it took to make them!
The obnoxious squeaky hinge of the basement door creaked as it swung open and the motherfucking vampire who was force feeding him blood walked in, clean, smiling, pleased.
“Good evening, my little hunter. How is it going? Feeling the burn?”
Saul laughed, and that, more than the bloodfest, more than the fact that he was killing him, pissed Ben off. The asshole’s amusement as he turned Ben into the very thing he hated and hunted. The fact that because of this, his own father or brother would likely be forced to put a bullet in his brain and burn his body until he was no more than memory and ash.
He couldn’t stand giving satisfaction to this monster.
“You’re actually doing well, Ben. Most conversions are on the floor in a puddle of blood, sweat, and piss by now. They’re barely coherent, and their pain level is so high, if they do speak, they babble and beg. I’m impressed. I hope your family’s prejudice allows them to consider letting you live, but with the narrow apelike minds of so many humans, and I imagine especially hunters, it’s unlikely. That saddens me, because anyone that I make, I treasure. You are going to be an extraordinary vampire. Anyway, you know why I am here. Let me remove my shirt.”
As he always did, Ben backed away, prepared to fight, prepared to snap Saul’s neck if he could, but when Saul moved in close and slit his wrist, Ben looked at the dripping scarlet and dropped to the ground to pull it to his mouth. For the past two days, it was true…he wanted the blood, needed it!
Saul sat beside Ben, a hand on his hair, moist from days locked in this basement, and wished he didn’t have to do this. But the message had to be sent, and the hunters had to suffer.
After they finished, he backed away, well aware that his new make was getting stronger. Tomorrow, he would return him to the hunters, ending the vile choice he’d made to avenge the death of three of his own. Even now, he knew it would be an empty victory.
As a hunter who believed vampires were all bad, Ben hated the idea of becoming vampire, and Saul hated the idea of sending him back to his death. It really wasn’t fair that his new make had to die for vengeance.
But life wasn’t fair, was it?
At Hunter HQ
“I think I have something.”
Everyone in the room hurried over behind Stacey’s computer.
“What, girl?” Elias barked.
It had been five days since Ben disappeared. Jack hadn’t been back into HQ since then, but Sanquinetta had maniacally gone back and forth between HQ and helping Jack in his desperate attempt to find something, anything, someone, who could lead to him finding Ben or Saul or a lead of any kind. He’d returned to San’s apartment every night with no intel and no chance.
“Here, on this vid, last night, at that shitty bar where they first met him, could this be the vampire? I mean, he meets the description perfectly, but more than that, he’s holding up a bottle of one of Ben’s favorite beers right at the camera. It has to mean something.”
Elias studied the security vid from B.B.’s Boozetown.
“It does. Stacey, thank you. Get Jack in here, San. Immediately.”
On her fone, Sanquinetta texted Jack, receiving an instant response.
Thirty minutes away. Will be there in twenty.
She looked up. “He’s coming.”
Jack flew to the intel station at H.Q. like Satan was on his ass, and stopped, breathing hard, in front of Stacey and Elias.
“What? What did you find? Where’s the vid?”
No one commented on Jack’s heavy stubble, his loose, uncombed hair, and clothes that looked like it was time for their annual wash.
“What?” he barked again.
Stacey, momentarily distracted by his appearance, came out of it. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, Jack, is this your rogue vampire?”
Riveted, his eyes locked on the images in the dark room, he nearly shook when he saw the tall, vampire-handsome, bearded man he’d been seeking for almost a week. The man grinned as he held up the local beer that Ben had ordered in a pitcher that night they’d been ambushed.
Staring as if it might transport him into the scene, Jack memorized every line of the vampire’s face, every scrap of clothing, the way he moved.
“Jack, is it him?” Elias finally barked.
Joy and hope surged in Jack, and he began to shake again. It was a moment before he could respond.
“It’s him. He wants me to come to the bar. Tonight, when it gets dark.”
“Not alone.”
“No, not alone. But the team has to stay back until I speak to him. I won’t be in danger. If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead. So he wants something else. I think Ben’s still alive or this cunt wouldn’t be playing with me like this.”
For the first time in three days, Jack felt like there was a chance he would see his brother alive, a chance to get him out of this fucking mess, a chance to behead that vampire. And behead him, he would! He needed to feel that monster die forever.
Jack lifted his eyes to his father’s. “I’ll bring him home.”
Did he see moisture in Elias Remington’s eyes? Public display of affection for one of his sons?
I’ll be damned, Jack thought.
“I’ll get everyone ready. Plato, Bark, come with me.”
Before she led them away, Sanquinetta laid a hand on Elias’s shoulder and gave him a smile, then turned to Jack and repeated her supportive gesture. “We’ve got him, guys.”
“I’ll bring him home,” Jack repeated.
He felt a hand on his arm suddenly, and looked back at his father. “I know you will. I’ve always had faith in you, Jack. That’s why I placed your brother in your care all those years ago. Bring him back, boy.”
Strange how things happen, Jack thought, as he mounted his bike. He knew his father cared for his sons, but this kind of emotional attachment? That, he hadn’t known.
Tears welled again.