Six
“Ben, how are you feeling?”
Saul knew he wouldn’t answer. He’d been morose and uncommunicative since the last feeding.
“It’s over, you know. You’re finished. The pain will be completely gone within the next few days, and you’ll begin your life as a vampire.”
When the spittle shot toward him, Saul smiled.
“If you have the courage to try to.”
“It doesn’t take courage to murder people.”
“This is what I want you to know. What your hunting groups need to learn. I doubt they ever will because I doubt you’ll believe me, but you are vampire now. Nothing on this earth will change that. I would never change someone against their will, but you and your brother, your hunters, murdered three fine young people.”
Ben’s head shot up, sneering. “They were going to feed off two innocent men and murder them. Your definition of fine is pretty fucked up.”
“They were not going to murder them. They were young, and playing with them, they still had a lot to learn, but those men would have come through with erotic memories and nothing more. My makes won’t kill, they are good people who I changed because they wanted to be vampire and understood what that meant. Now I’m going to explain it to you.”
Moving close, but still outside of Ben’s reach, Saul pulled up a chair. “Vampires are exactly like any person. Some are bad, use the skills and strength to hurt others, and yes, some kill, but so do humans. Most of us are good people who have been altered on a DNA level to become something new, still human, but more than, better than, healthier, stronger, with abilities that I admit are superhuman. If you allow yourself to do so, your life from here on out will be fantastic. I should say, if your hunter friends allow you to.”
Ben had dropped back to the ground, his eyes burning into Saul’s. Saul couldn’t tell if anything he was saying was getting through, but he continued.
“Okay, here are a few things you need to know. Vampires are more powerful, physically, than humans. We do have the ability to use compulsion, you understand that, but we don’t like to circumvent someone’s free will unless we have to. You will need to consume blood, at least every few days, to maintain your health, but you also will eat massive quantities of food. It’s a gift. All the food you want and you’ll stay fit and healthy. We burn hot, Ben, and need those calories to stay energetic. Sex is more enjoyable as a vampire and you will find yourself much more sexually active than you might ever have been as human, but you’ll need to be careful not to overstep and force anyone. Sexual thralls happen, where a vampire can’t stop themselves. Most of us consider sex to be consensual only, so we don’t use compulsion to force sex from someone. Sunlight absolutely will kill you if you’re caught out in it, so don’t be. Well, that’s the introduction. I hope you get a chance to live and find out I’m telling the truth. It’s up to your brother. Ben, I’ll always be your sire, and if you ever need anything, I’ll be there for you.”
Saul stood and pushed the chair back until it fell over.
“If you can find me. Me and mine will be long gone before your brother gets here.”
Shooting to his feet, Ben raced at his maker, reaching for his throat. “Leave my brother out of this.”
“No, he’ll be here, with your crew, and they’ll rescue you. I hope. It’s up to them now. I hope you have a long life. Goodbye, Hunter.”
Saul used air displacement to disappear and, for the first time in his vampire life, left one of his makes behind to figure out how to do this on his own. He really had no idea what Jack would choose to do, but he was fairly sure the choice would be the wrong one, and Ben would be dead before the week ended.
Two hours later, the sun gone, Saul went alone to the nasty bar where he’d confronted Jack and Ben.
He had no concern about a hunter ambush, he fully expected that. Ben’s location was his safety net. They wouldn’t risk their dear companion. At least, not until they knew his fate. Sorrow followed him as he approached the bar.
As Jack entered B.B.’s Boozetown, he spoke into his coms.
“Everyone, here’s how this is going to go down. Priority is getting Ben back. If the fang is here to ransom him, I’m going to do whatever I have to do in order to assure Ben comes home. If he wants me, whatever the fuck he plans to do with me, I’m going. I order you to stand down. Don’t say it, San. I’ve thought of it all.”
After a pause, he continued. “We go after him, after Ben is safe. If I have to let him escape to get Ben back, I let him go. If that happens, I’ll get him, if not today, then someday. There is no other way this goes down. Got it?”
He knew the vampire would come to him, so he took a seat near the table where he and Ben had sat the night that this had started. His team had already taken other tables surrounding him. Eight hunters from a southern California team covered the entrances.
Jack didn’t have to wait long
Using hyperspeed that Jack had seen before, the vampire showed up seated beside him with a cocktail in his hand before Jack saw him move.
“Hello, Remington.”
Facing the vampire he considered the greatest enemy he’d ever known, Jack lifted his eyes. “Vampire.”
“Saul, if you are interested, though you probably aren’t. I’ll answer to vampire.”
“Is he alive?”
“Very much so. As a matter of fact, he’s the healthiest he’s ever been. In remarkable shape.”
Terror struck Jack. Why hadn’t this occurred to him?
“What did you do? Is my brother still human?”
Jack didn’t give a fuck about the threat of compulsion; he looked the vampire right into his disturbing amber eyes.
“Is Ben still human?”
The vampire slowly sipped his cocktail, then set it on the tabletop. “Ben is still human. We all are. Vampires are human, too, they’re just enhanced.”
Saul stood, bringing Jack to his feet too.
“Ben is at a farmhouse in Eugene on the corner of Chantilly and Old U.S. 23. Unless I’m lying. It’s up to you how you deal with it, but yes, Mr. Remington, I made your brother. He’s vampire. You and your hunters think when a human is turned, he becomes a vicious predator with no remorse, unable to reason. You think that the vampire virus makes us monsters. So, I ask you, Jack, what are you going to do with your brother?”
Gone before Jack could react, Saul disappeared almost as if he’d never been there.
Frozen, shocked, heartsick, Jack didn’t move until he felt Sanquinetta’s touch. Just the palm of her hand on his back, her voice quiet, strong.
“Jack.”
He couldn’t respond, he was lost in the vision of Ben ripping someone’s throat out.
“Jack.” San’s voice finally intruded. “Let’s go.”
It was all he could do now; go and see what this creature of the night had done to his brother.
The team followed him and Sanquinetta out the door.
No one spoke. No one tried to comfort him or assure him it would be okay. They knew it wouldn’t.
Automated, Jack got into the passenger side of Sanquinetta’s car as she started the engine and pulled out.
“He said he might be lying. We might get there and Ben might already be dead.”
“I don’t believe that, Jack. I think he said that so we wouldn’t try to kill him until we checked it out. It was smart. He wouldn’t have a reason to claim that he’d changed Ben if he hadn’t. No, Jack, I’m sorry, but I think this is exactly the kind of vengeance that asshole planned when he took him. He’s smart. He’s cunning.”
“You’re right. I just…I can’t make sense of this. How we came to this. How I let it happen.”
“Contrary to what you believe, you don’t make the world spin or the moon cross the sky, Jack. This wasn’t your fault, only that of the fang that took him. So, stop it now, or you are of no use to Ben. We’re on our way to Quesh’s home. He has a lift-car, so we’ll be in Eugene in less than half an hour. The car seats six. Quesh will drive, Elias is coming, along with Plato and one of the hunters from California.”
Jack nodded. He knew why they were taking a hunter from outside their team. Elias wanted someone who wouldn’t be swayed by loyalty or emotion. If Ben were dangerous, if they determined he had to be killed, it was best to have an impartial onboard. Just in case.
Jack thought he might throw up.
Lift-cars were rough for Jack. The idea of something flying through the sky on an engine still freaked him out. Today, it didn’t matter. His mind was on what he and his father would face shortly.
Ben was a vampire, a monster who would have to be put down. How could they? How could they kill him? At that moment, Jack had to concede that the vampire Saul had created the perfect, most painful vengeance by forcing them to do this.
It would destroy him. Right now he couldn’t imagine doing it, yet soon, he would have to.
“We’re close, buddy. Are you all right? Can you do this?”
His eyes shot to San. “Can I do this? Of course I can. San, it’s Ben. No matter what, he’s my brother. I have to be there with him, for him, regardless of what he is. If he’s violent, if he’s changed, I’ll do what has to be done.”
Sanquinetta began to shake her head, over and over, her eyes moist. “Six years ago when I was still with my team in Louisiana, we had a hunter changed by a vampire. He begged us to end him. Begged. He said he couldn’t be a monster, and the kind thing for us to do was give him a quick trip to the next world. Before he lost his soul. It was hard, but we did it. It was painless, Jack. For him. Not for us.”
“I know. San, there isn’t anything in this world that could ever be harder than killing Ben. I wish to hell the vampire had done it. At least I wouldn’t have my brother’s blood on my hands.”
“But you’ll get to say goodbye and tell him how much you love him.”
“We’re close. I see the farmhouse, Jack. We’re landing right in front.” Quesh brought the lift-car down right in front of the house, well-lit by a pivoting light under the vehicle.
A small bump later and they were on the ground.
Stepping from the vehicle on the side opposing the house, Elias had everyone check their weapons.
“This could still be an ambush.”
Plato nodded. “It could, sir. We’ll follow you in and watch your one-eighty.”
Jack took point and led the small team into the building, which was dark, no lights on, little furniture, no window coverings. Across the wood floor, a triangle of light led them to a stairwell, which Jack traveled down without hesitation until he reached the bottom and peered around the corner of the space.
In the back of the poorly lit room, a man leaned against the wall, his hands tethered to thick links that looked impossible to break. His head was down, his body lax, but Jack would have known him anywhere.
“Ben.” He stepped down into the dingy basement that smelled like blood and piss.
Ben lifted his head. “Jack. My God, Jack.”
Weak, tired, Ben’s voice was the most beautiful thing Jack had ever heard.
Standing, the chains rattling as he moved, Ben walked toward his brother, but stopped when he saw his father hurry forward and pull Jack back.
“Jack, no,” Elias snapped.
Jack shook his father’s hand off his arm. “What? It’s Ben.”
“Look at him. He’s huge. He’s changed, Jack, he’s a vampire. You don’t know what he’ll do.”
“It’s Ben!” Jack insisted. Pushing Elias back, Jack moved into the area where a dirty, nearly-naked Ben reached out his arms and wrapped them around Jack’s back, pulling him to him.
“I thought I was going to die here.”
“I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“How did you find me?”
“Your kidnapper told us.”
“Sire.”
“What?”
“Sire. That’s a person who makes a vampire. The right word. Sire.”
Jack stepped back, gently detangling Ben’s arms. He searched a face he knew as well as his own. Only it was true, this face, Ben’s face, was different. The jawline wider, more square, the eyes dark, hair filthy but thicker.
When he lifted his gaze to look at Ben’s body, he was shocked to realize that Ben, who had been about three inches shorter than Jack’s six two, was taller than Jack now. While he was covered in dried blood and dirt, it was impossible to miss his heavier muscle mass, thighs that looked like they belonged on a bodybuilder.
There was no doubt; Saul had done what he claimed. He’d changed Ben into a vampire.
Most shocking of all, though, was that Ben was still the soft-spoken man Jack had always known. He wasn’t angry, or hungry, or violent. He wasn’t a monster.
Jack looked at Sanquinetta, who stood just out of Ben’s reach like Elias, but after he glanced to her, she surged forward and hugged Ben too.
“Thank you guys for coming for me. I don’t, uh, know what I am. I know I’m different, I know something happened to me. But I don’t feel any desire to hurt anyone, or to kill. I guess that’s still to come.”
“We’ll get through this together, bro. We’ll figure this out. First, I want to get you home, get you cleaned up, some food, some beer, sleep in a bed instead of on piss and shit.”
“God, Jack, you are reading my mind.” Ben’s eyes went to Elias. “Dad?”
Elias maintained his distance, but his eyes were shining with unshed tears and his smile was one of gratitude. “Son. We’re going to take care of you. I’m glad he didn’t… Well, I’m glad you’re still alive.”
Plato decided to follow Jack and Sanquinetta’s lead and came up to Ben. “Boy, the shit you’ll do to get attention, right?”
“Worked, didn’t it? I bet you guys could think of nothing else for the past week.”
“Aw, for about a minute a day, then I was all about the booze and girls. Different girl every night, you know me.”
“I do know you. Different girl every night means you bought your girls online and jacked off on your couch.”
“Ouch!” Plato turned to Jack. “You can leave him here.”
“Okay. Dad, can you go get me another baby brother?”
Elias nodded and looked around for something to cut the chains. He found a laser cutter and, after hesitating, he finally moved close and cut the chains. When the final link hit the dirt, he pitched the cutter back into the corner of the room and issued a command.
“Come on. We need to get Ben back before the sun rises.”
That comment sobered all six who had arrived to try to save Ben. Jack sighed and reached for Ben’s hand to lead him out of the basement where he lost his human life.
The trip back, overloaded with an extra passenger they hadn’t been wise enough to account for, felt labored and dangerous.
As Quesh landed his vessel, Ben stepped out onto his lawn, and Elias moved back to his sons.
“Ben, we need to chain you up after you clean up. Jack, don’t argue with me about this. Here’s the facts. Ben is vampire, and as such, considered dangerous until such time we can confirm that he isn’t. Ben, you cannot be allowed free run of the HQ anymore. You’re the enemy now, my son, I’m sorry.”
“That isn’t happening, Dad. Ben is staying with me.”
“In your glass house? No he’s not. I had Barkley prepare the area in HQ’s basement to secure him. It will be decent once I’ve added a sofa and a vidscreen with a remote within his reach.”
Elias turned to his youngest son. “Ben, you know I’m right. Jack is speaking from emotion, but you know how you feel. You know that you are different, and we all know what that is. Plus, you cannot allow sunlight to touch you, so the basement of HQ, it’s the only place for you. You’ll be secured, I’m sorry.”
Ben watched Jack’s furious expression. “Dad is right, Jack, I’m sorry. I’ll go to HQ. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt any of you, and, I admit…”
He stopped, his head down, then he looked up, before he faced everyone. “I admit that I crave blood.”
The admission stung, and Jack knew that in most hunter’s eyes, Ben was lost, but Jack still wouldn’t accept it. He did accept his father and Ben’s decision. Caution was wise, and he wasn’t an idiot.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
The flight back seemed longer, but that was only because Jack’s mind had taken a much harsher turn. Ben was alive, and thank the universe for its grace, but for how long?
“Comfy?”
“Quite. You forget how I’ve been living for the past week.”
Nodding, pleased, Elias handed a disposable cup to Ben filled with dark ale. “You look much better.”
“A long hot shower, lavender scented soap, and clean clothes will do that for a guy. Thank Plato for donating these clothes. It’s pretty obvious my own won’t fit anymore. And thank San for bringing me that frou-frou girly body wash.”
Taking a long draw from the cup, Ben licked his lips.
“That’s exactly what I needed. Thanks. Um, can you have someone bring me some food? And Dad, by that, I mean a lot of it. Saul told me I have to eat so much more than I ever had to before. I think he’s right. Jack brought me a large milkshake, two double-burgers piled high, a massive order of potatoes, and I’m still starving.”
Eyes moving over Ben’s newly oversized body, Elias slowly nodded. “Sure. Ben. Are you certain that’s what you need? Just food? That it isn’t blood?”
Elias was afraid it was starting. That his son might become driven to seek blood. That he would tear out the throat of any person he could reach. That he or someone in the group would have to put Ben down like a rabid animal. There was no doubt that Ben was now built as a predator.
Ben moved close to his maximum range, chains much like he’d worn in the basement with Saul wrapped around his wrists and ankles. He wondered how the compulsion thing worked. Saul hadn’t taught him, but he figured he’d eventually work it out. Not that he was interested in using it, but things were strange, and he knew that, at least for now, he was considered a threat to every human he came into contact with. How the hell was this going to work out? Even he had no idea if he would eventually become homicidal and want to feed on Jack and San.
“For now, Dad, I’m just hungry. For food. Maybe some sweets. No, strike that, definitely sweets, and a lot of them. Please, I’m tied up like a BDSM fantasy. I’m not going to feed on any one.”
Elias didn’t believe a word. Even if that was true, for now, if or when might it change? For the moment, he’d take care of Ben’s needs. It was the least he could do.
“Of course not, son. I’ll arrange for your meals.”
“Is Jack coming back?”
“Yes. In fact, I’ll have your brother pick your food up and the two of you can chat. Goodnight, Ben. I, uh, am thrilled that you are still with us.”
“So am I, Dad, and no one is more surprised that I am.”
“All right. Sleep well, Ben.”
Ben watched his father go up the steps, and gratefully, because he knew without fail that Elias Remington was ready to say goodbye to the little boy he’d rescued so long ago from his drug-addicted mother. Sorrow hung around everyone he saw tonight.
“This isn’t the future I was hoping for,” he commented aloud as he polished off the beer in one long gulp.
He really was starving. Ben looked at the plastic cup Elias had given his beer to him in, his lips curled in a crooked smile.
“They think you can’t be trusted with a glass bottle or something you can use for a weapon. This will be interesting for as long as it lasts.”
An hour later, Ben groaned when Jack came down the stairs with three large bags hanging from his arms, the smell of hot food filling the small space.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, bro! If you hadn’t shown up soon, I was going to have to break out of here.”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t Ben. Uh, our father has four sharp-shooters positioned on the door.”
“What? Fuck, Jack, I haven’t made one move that could be considered threatening. Dad’s willing to kill me?”
“Ben, remember, a bullet isn’t going to kill you. Not for long, anyway. We’re muddling through this, just like you are. We don’t know what to expect. So far, you seem fine, normal, like yourself. We don’t know whether to trust that or be fucking grateful that you’re okay. We are all going to have to give it time to see how this conversation affects you.”
“Okay, I get it. It feels weird, though, because only a week ago, we were brothers.”
“Ben, we’re still brothers, nothing can change that. Blood will always be blood. But you are not the same man you were last week, and you know it.”
Sighing, Ben reached for one of the bags. “Yeah, I do. But I feel incredible. I don’t feel anything bad, or like I want to hurt someone.”
“Good, keep that up.”
“Jack, you have to know that if it comes to that, if it becomes necessary, I’ll go gently into that good night. I’ll make it easy. I promise. The last thing I’ll accept is becoming a monster.”
“That’s all I want to hear. So Dad said you wanted a motherfucking load of food, eh?”
Ben chuckled. “Dad said motherfucking?”
“Well, no, but that’s what I said when I ordered enough for ten guys.”
“You’d be surprised, bro, but I actually think I can eat all of this.”
“You’ll share. Here. I got more beer. Now, what vid do you want to watch?”
Shocked that the night had gone so well, Jack watched as Ben yawned.
“It’s nearly dawn. I’m losing consciousness. Vampires apparently are geared to sleep during the day. Fuck, Jack, I just called myself a vampire. I still can’t believe this. I still don’t understand what I am.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“We kill vampires, bro. We freaking kill them on sight.”
“I don’t have any answers either. Just get some sleep. I’m going to get out of here and go home for a while. I’ll be back tonight when you wake up. Need anything?”
Blood, please. But Ben just shook his head. “I’m good.”
Ben had said he didn’t understand what he was.
“Join the fucking crowd,” Jack hissed into the steaming water, the first good relaxing shower he’d had since Ben was taken. Although relaxing was the last thing he could do.
Even though he was dead on his feet, yawns breaking every few minutes, Jack didn’t think he’d sleep. What he wanted, what he really wanted, needed, right now, was to go to Ife, slide inside her, and just stay there.
Although they weren’t seeing each other anymore. He remembered clearly telling her that he didn’t want to see her. To protect her.
But that wasn’t an issue anymore. The vampire had exacted his revenge, he’d probably taken his brother from him, so why couldn’t Jack be with Ife?
Still damp, the French doors open, cool air flowing into the room, the waves roaring against the shoreline, Jack dropped onto his bed, yawned, rolled over, tapping his filling cock down with his fingers, and fell into deeply-needed sleep.
Fresh air curled around Jack, still asleep, lost in exhaustion that wasn’t ready to let go its grip. The sun dropped and still, he slept.
Somewhere in the night he felt warmth on his face, and started to crawl up from blessed unconsciousness to feel caressing fingers slide across his chest, down, lower, along his belly, and lower yet, around the tip of his cock. He didn’t want to open his eyes in case this was a dream.
When he did finally ease his eyes open, he knew he was dreaming, because Ife lay beside him on his own bed…and she couldn’t possibly be there.
“I have the best dreams,” he whispered to the vision who held his cock in her hand, and when she smiled and leaned over to nip him, let her tongue move over the tip, he threw his head back into his pillow, eyes closed, groaning.
“God, I need you, Ife. More than at any moment of my life, I need my perfect beach woman.”
“I’m here, Jack, for as long as you need me. Any time you need me.”
“Until I wake, then, dream lover.”
He opened his eyes again when he felt the bed give. Wakefulness came to him as he lifted up, rubbing his eyes.
Ife stood beside the bed, sliding off a flowered dress.
“Ife?”
She looked up at him when he said her name. “Ah, you’re finally awake. You were sleeping so well when I arrived, I hated to wake you, but you looked so delicious lying there naked, I had to taste you. Sorry. Good evening, Jack.”
Confused, he pushed off the opposite side of the bed, his eyes focused on what he now realized was real, not a dream, Ife was here, in his home, in his bedroom. Why? How?
Supporting the heavy cock in his hand, Jack stared at Ife, his eyes moving over her from the wild, breeze-tossed hair he loved, to that luscious body made to make love to, to where the cock in his hand was begging to be.
But…
“How did you get here? I mean, how did you find this house? There are no records to connect it to me.”
“I have my ways,” she commented playfully, but he’d had enough of things that didn’t make sense.
“Uh, don’t think I’m not thrilled to see you, but I don’t know how you’re here. I don’t like mysteries, Ife.”
Suspicious, partly because of what had happened to Ben, but mostly because of San’s supposition, Jack kept the large bed between them.
“Quesh,” Ife said suddenly. “I stopped at the diner and he told me where to find you. He’s worried about you too, Jack. I didn’t get to ask him why, there were so many people there tonight, and I wanted to see you, so I came straight here. You never responded to my texts or calls.”
“I told you.” Jack finally moved around the bed to intercept her, eager to touch her, now that it made sense how she’d found him. He surged forward onto his bed, pulling her with him, the skin to skin contact erotic and desperately needed.
Quesh should never have told her anything, but right now, all he cared about was that Ife was on his bed and he had the mother of all erections.
“I need to fuck you.”
“Oh, you will. Jack, you said you told me. Told me what?”
Ife shoved him onto his back, tugging on his penis, her fingernails scraping the skin, and Jack tried to remember what she’d just said. Oh, yeah.
“I told you I couldn’t come to you. That you were at risk. That we were over.”
“We’re not over, Jack, unless you really don’t want to see me again. Do you want me to go away?”
He looked up into Ife’s crystal clear blue eyes, and saw eternity in the depths. He saw his eternity, where he wanted to spend his life.
“No. I never want to wake up without you smiling at me, without that hair wrapped around me. Never. But that’s not my life, it never will be. So, yes, I want to be with you, and even if it can’t be forever, yes, I want to make love to you right now.”
“Make love to me. That’s better, Jack. I’m going to taste you, I might bite you, and then I’m going to feel you come inside me. In that order. You okay with that plan?”
While she waited for his answer, Ife was already nipping along his thigh.
“I’m okay with that plan. I love a woman who plans.”
“Shhh. I’m busy.”
He tasted like heaven on her tongue. The nipping wasn’t enough, Ife wanted to bite, to feed, to really taste him. She couldn’t do this without Jack’s blood on her tongue, so she lifted her head and saw he lay back, eyes closed, and knew she had only two choices.
One was to stop. The other was to use compulsion after she fed to wipe the memory. After all, she was going to have to use compulsion at some point tonight in order to discover what had happened that sent him off the deep end. So why couldn’t she feed? She would satisfy them both.
It was poor justification, but she felt driven, almost insatiably, to taste Jack’s blood again. Never in her century of life had there been anyone she craved to the point of uncontrollable desire. Was there meaning in this? Did fate have a hand?
Her libido shot beyond her ability to refuse herself, so she made her decision. If it meant that he was a possible mate, then so be it.
Destiny, write your story, she thought.
Ife licked along Jack’s thighs, one, then the other, then journeyed to his cock, tasting, nipping, and fed him into her mouth to use vampire skills to bring him to orgasm. Just as he started to come, she lowered herself to his side and bit into the femoral artery to draw blood, her fingers pumping his cock as he shot forth, the blood draw pushing his orgasm to a level Jack had never known. She could feel the extreme ecstatic groan well from deep within him as she sucked, pulled blood that she now knew belonged with her, and felt her own sex respond to Jack’s orgasm. Her groan matched his as she mirrored Jack’s orgasmic release, her own body twisting as if he was at her core too.
Ife continued to suck blood until she realized she’d taken too much, forced herself to stop, repaired the tears from her fangs, and rolled onto her back, her hand still on Jack’s thigh.
He was addictive and that wasn’t something she was accustomed to. Turning onto her side, she noticed the look of euphoria on his face, but in his weakened state because of her higher than wise blood draw, he almost seemed inebriated.
Moaning, he opened his eyes and slid a hand into the white hair that covered his chest.
“You can’t possibly understand how much I needed that...needed you. Ife, I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for coming.”
Her smile was gentle. “Thank you for coming too.”
Jack laughed, rolling into her. “I couldn’t have stopped that thunderstorm. I don’t know what you do to me, and I don’t need to, I just want you to never stop.”
Ife couldn’t believe how she answered him. “That’s good, because I never want to stop.”
The admission shocked her all the more because she realized after she said it how true it was.
“You’ve crawled into my soul, Jack Remington.”
“That’s me. Like a snake.” He was silent then, his sparkling eyes in the low light moving over Ife’s face, studying her, before he leaned closer and kissed her.
“If I crawled into your soul, I think you blasted into mine. What are we going to do with this?”
She hadn’t purged the memory of the blood draw, but the hyper-sexual stimulation hadn’t worn off enough yet for him to question it. Once it did, he would begin to remember that strange act and, being a vampire hunter, he would put it together in seconds.
“Jack, look at me, handsome.”
Lazily, still tired, he lifted his eyes and she had him.
“You will remember every second of our sexual pleasure, but forget that I drew blood from your thigh.”
His only reaction was to pull her closer and tug a sheet up over them. “Let’s never leave.”
Ife slid an arm around his waist, burrowing in. “Sounds good to me.”
At the gates in front of Hunter HQ
“You understand that there isn’t any choice.”
Elias stared at his old friend. Barnaby had flown in from Seattle after Elias called him to tell him what had happened to Ben. He couldn’t respond. Shoving himself from his car, he walked away, his mind reeling, pain in his chest like he’d never felt.
Barnaby followed his lifelong friend. “Elias, there isn’t any wiggle room. You have to do this for Ben as well as for the good of the community. He’s dangerous.”
“He doesn’t seem to be. Bar, he seems to be fine. Goddammit, he’s just Ben. He’s my boy, straight up, normal except for the physical changes.”
“They’re clever, we already know that. The perfect alpha hunter. They look like us, they can pretend they think like us, but in the end, they have to feed. They have to kill. Fuck, buddy, you know this. I am not telling you anything you don’t already know!”
His handgun at his side, Elias fingered the smooth metal, trying to figure out some way to change all of this. To have protected his son before that creature made him one of the undead. His sigh was long. “I can’t do it, Bar.”
“Of course you can’t. No one would ask you to. It’s just one bullet, my friend, painless, and then Ben is at rest. He wouldn’t want this, either. I’ll take care of this for you.”
Elias couldn’t answer. At this moment, he wasn’t capable of giving the order that would end Ben’s life; would send him to the oven. When he’d first arrived at HQ tonight, Ben had smiled at him and asked if he could have three dozen scrambled eggs and about two pounds of bacon. He seemed okay!
“I’m telling you, he seems normal.”
“I bet he does. Take the night. Spend some time with him, be careful. But come morning, when he’s sleeping, call me and my boys. You two leave, and we’ll take care of everything. El, you’d do it for me.”
Yes, Elias would. Twenty years ago, he had done so for another hunter who had been changed. This wasn’t different, it was just heartbreakingly personal.
Barnaby’s hand landed on Elias’s shoulder. “It has to be done.”
Nodding, his finger still sliding along the butt of his gun, Elias knew it did.
Jack was going to be the problem.
Ife led Jack to the sand that lined the back of his house. She was pleased with the Tiki torches and used her magic to light them as they passed each. It didn’t matter that Jack noticed, she’d already used compulsion to soften his reaction to her nature. He’d noticed the blood on his thigh when they rose from bed, so she’d stopped him, caught his eyes, and did what she had to do.
“Jack,” she’d said, “You will notice things that confuse you tonight, just relax and let nothing concern you. When I ask you questions, you will answer as completely and as honestly as you can.”
At the end of the night, she would have to purge his memory anyway.
This was going to be a question and answer session. It made her sick to do this, but she and Cairine needed details, and Jack was the only source.
She saw his eyes widen as the torches seemingly lit spontaneously, aware he likely didn’t even connect the event to her.
At the beach, she lit several torches he’d previously placed around a circle of benches.
“This is nice, Jack. Please, have a seat, we’ve much to discuss.”
The compulsion had kept him from speaking, although at no point had she told him not to. Once he was down, he faced her.
“Jack, you know I care about you, so this is necessary. A few nights ago, you revealed to me that you and your brother were vampire hunters. I need to know more about what you do and how you find and choose your targets. I need to understand how widespread your hunting groups are and what we face. Please give me a thorough rundown. How long have you been hunting? Why do you hunt? Who is involved? Where we can find your associates. Any details.”
Jack did as asked. He explained his long family history.
“My great-great grandparents were hunters. It’s like that with several of the hunters that I’ve met over the years. About a hundred years ago, it became apparent that vampires exist. Creatures with animal-like fangs that can and do drink human blood. They kill their victims, often have sex with them, usually brutally, before they rip their throats out. Someone had to step up, protect people, and when it became apparent that the authorities couldn’t or wouldn’t do it, hunters were born. My brother and I were raised in the business, and we never expected to do anything else with our family legacy. Hunting teams exist in about twenty of the states, but we travel where we are needed. Vampires can be difficult to flush out, they have crazy skills you would not believe. The worst is the ability to force humans to do exactly what they want them to do. It’s horrific.”
“Jack, you hunters believe that anyone who is vampire is a monster? That they are all killers?”
“Absolutely. It’s been shown over and over through the past century. We don’t know exactly how it happens, but a human being is changed from human to vampire, and when that happens, well, they’re not only no longer human, they’re nasty monsters who kill to feed. Someone has to protect the unaware innocents.”
“It has never occurred to you to find out if you are right about this?”
“Ife, it’s always been accepted that they are monsters. To our knowledge, they are.”
“Your knowledge, sir, is wrong. But forget about this part of the conversation, we will revisit it at a later time. Where do your associates meet?”
“Our headquarters. My father runs our part of the effort.”
“I’ll take the address. We will need to pursue this, my dear Jack.”
His manner changed as he looked toward the rushing waves. Quiet now, he suddenly spoke. “It doesn’t matter anymore. None of it does.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Jack, you must confide in me. Not just because I’ve compelled you to, but because, whatever is wrong, I can help you.”
Tears welled and stayed pooled in Jack’s eyes, which surprised Ife. He was closed off emotionally, and with compulsion overriding most of his emotion responses, they should be pretty neutral.
One tear slipped over the edge of the lower lid to slide down his cheek and it broke her heart. Her voice soft, Ife touched the tear. “Jack, what happened?”
Sorrow almost overwhelming now, he finally answered.
“It’s Ben. I’ve lost him.”
“What? What do you mean? Begin at what happened that has made you so upset. With why you told me you were dangerous for me to be with you.”
“I’m a vampire hunter.”
“I know that. Is this because of a vampire?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We, Ben and me…the hunters became the hunted. We’d taken care of three vampires recently, aware that there were five more in their group. Last week, one of them lured us into an ambush, vid recorded our faces and voices, told us they would spread the word to the entire vampire community, which would then track us down and kill us and anyone we cared about.
Jack’s smile was hard, bitter. “Vampires don’t like vampire hunters. That’s why I told you I couldn’t be with you. It put you in danger, Ife.”
“It didn’t, but I’ll explain later. What happened to Ben? Did they kill him?”
“No. Worse.”
“Worse?”
“They, uh…” Jack stopped to shove the wetness away from his eyes with the palm of his hand. “They changed him. Into a vampire.”
Ife couldn’t help relief that at least they had not killed Jack’s brother. “Oh.”
Had she found his comment amusing? Stunned, he shot up. “Oh? It means I might have to fucking kill my own brother.”
Ife lifted as well and slid her hands into his, wondering if he knew how tightly he gripped her.
“Jack, listen to me. It isn’t a death sentence. You will not kill Ben. Being vampire isn’t evil. He isn’t any more dangerous than you are. Right now, probably less.”
“Don’t. I know what he is, I know what I’ll be expected to do.”
So did Ife. She pushed compulsion once more. “Jack, trust me.”
“Okay. Please sit down.”
He did so at once.
“Where is Ben?”
“We’re keeping him in the basement at headquarters until we…” He stopped, even under compulsion, he was having difficulty telling Ife what she demanded. “Um, yeah, until we do what we have to do.”
“Is he in danger right now? Will they kill him without you present?”
“No. Elias and I have agreed to see what happens. So far, Ben seems normal. He isn’t violent. He isn’t trying to hurt anyone. He seems to be extremely hungry, but other than that…he’s Ben.”
“Jack, he is Ben. He has a long road of adaption ahead, and it will be easier with vampire guidance. You said his sire is gone?”
Even under compulsion, Jack knew this conversation had taken a strange turn.
“What do you mean? Sire? Vampire guidance? Ife, what do you know about vampires?”
Yes, she’d let him know more than she intended to about her own knowledge on this subject, but Ben’s life was in danger now, so there wasn’t any time to screw around with Jack.
“Sire is the vampire who made Ben. I know a great deal, and again, we’ll talk about that later.”
“Sire? Made him? His name is Saul, and yes, he took off. He made my brother into a vampire as revenge for what we did to his friends, and left him to us, knowing that we would likely have to kill him.”
“It wasn’t a kind thing to do, and it isn’t our way. Forget I said that. Now, we need to go and get your brother just in case other hunters get another idea.”
In the basement at Hunter HQ
“Damn, Dad, that was fantastic. I feel stronger already.”
He watched Ben moving around, the chains that held him the heaviest available.
Stronger. A massive dump of calories fueled his energy level. Interesting. Then did it fuel all the functions of the vampire mind and body? How much in control of his own behavior did Ben have? Would Ben continue to have?
Elias pulled a chair near to Ben’s manacled limit.
“Son, sit down, we need to talk.”
Ben grabbed the last bag of candied nuts Plato had brought him along with the clothes before he pulled a chair as close as possible to his father. “I figured.”
“Son, I want honest answers, okay? It’s the only way we’re going to understand this.”
“I get it. Yes, I promise, I’ll be completely honest.”
“Fine. Okay, Ben, honestly, how do you feel?”
Elias watched Ben consider the question, then nod.
“All right. I feel incomparable. Unbeatable. Physically, more powerful than ever. Mentally, sharper than I could have imagined. It’s like I’m looking at the world through different eyes. I’m remade, Dad, I am not the same Ben I was a week ago. I was furious when Saul did this, when he force-fed me to change me, but now. Now I get it. This transcends ordinary humans. I’m superior now to what I ever was as human.”
Remade. Unbeatable. Transcends human. Superior.
Terrifying words. Elias’s heart squeezed in fear.
“And the blood, Ben. Do you crave it?”
The time it took Ben to answer already told Elias the truth. He did.
“I said I’d be honest. Yes. In fact, Saul says I need it. My body survives on food and frequent blood feedings.”
“Can you control that urge?”
“I don’t know. I doubt it, once the need becomes too strong. If someone is starving, and someone else near them has a plate filled with food, they’re going to try to get it. It’s survival, Dad. You ought to understand that.”
“I do, Ben. I’m just trying to understand what now drives you. Where your control ends and the blood-need begins.”
“It’s new to me, too. Saul and his group are gone, so I don’t have anyone to ask. Curious, isn’t it, that we’re killing vampires, yet we don’t really know enough about them.”
“We know they kill, Ben. That’s all we need to know.”
“I don’t think so.” Ben stood and stretched.
The chains around his wrists broke and clanged to the concrete floor. “I think we’re going to, though. Dad, I don’t feel violent or homicidal. I still care about everyone here, I still love you and Jack. In that, I haven’t changed.”
Elias’s gaze went to the shattered chains, then up to Ben’s face. “Are you sure about that?”
With all the changes that had happened to his body, Ben couldn’t answer. Would he yet develop the tendency, the unstoppable desire to feed and kill?
“Honest answer? I don’t know. I tell you what, though. Obviously, you can’t restrain me, but I’ll stay here, I’ll stay put in this ugly, smelly basement until you and the others are satisfied that I’m not a monster. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.”
“Son, if you start to show…”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m the first to agree. If I start to feel aggressive, or like I want to rip someone’s carotid out, I demand that you end me. Give me mercy, Elias Remington, but only when you know that you have to.”
“All right, then. Well, on that statement, I’ll leave you. Jack should be here soon, and San said she would be by as well. You know Plato, he’ll be back. Have a good night, Ben.”
“I will.
Elias hurried up the stairs without looking back.
“Well then,” Ben called out. “The watcher becomes the watched.”
Pitching himself onto the cheap used sofa Elias had supplied, Ben stared at the water-stained ceiling for a long time.
He wasn’t a monster. Was he?
Elias slammed the door that led to the small office he kept. What the fuck should they do?
Wait this out? Give his son a chance to…to what?
The Remingtons, along with hundreds of other hunters, had been destroying the vampire threat ever since they had been discovered. They were proven killers.
Vampires drank human blood, and they killed their hosts. There was nothing he knew more. He’d devoted his life to the hunt and protecting his race.
Chirping interrupted and he looked at his fone.
Barnaby.
“Answer. Hi, Barn.”
“Elias, meet me at the Coffee Cart. There’s something you need to see, and I don’t think it should be on the grounds.”
Getting out of there, away from this, was the best idea of the night. “I’ll meet you in twenty minutes.”
Nineteen minutes later, he walked into the little sandwich and coffee shop often visited by his team. Barnaby waved him over to a table in the back corner of the dining area.
“Hey, buddy. I got your favorite brew for you.”
“Thanks. I needed a break from this shit. Ben’s been good, but he broke the chains we used to hold him in the basement.”
“I believe that. Well, my friend, I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to make you feel better, but you need to see this, Elias.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a vid feed from Massachusetts. Four weeks ago, a hunter got captured and changed by a particularly nasty clan. It’ll be hard for you to see, but you have to. You are a man who understands duty and always does the right thing. Watch.”
Elias let his eyes drop to the tablet Barnaby set on the table.
“Here, use the earbuds. No one else needs to see or hear this.”
Once he slid the earbuds in, they drowned out everyone else’s conversations around them. Barnaby pushed the button to begin the vid.
At first, the screen held the image of a solitary figure, a man at the center of the screen, shadowed, until the camera zoomed closer. Elias didn’t recognize him, but he saw that he was large like Ben was now and chained in much the same way he had been.
His eyes were bloodshot, savage, his manner maniacally agitated, rocking back and forth on his bare feet.
“Do it! Do it! Do it! I can feel it scratching at me! If you don’t, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill every fucking one of you! My wife, my daughter, I want to taste them worst of all. You gotta do this, or I will murder everyone I know and love before I go on to strangers. It’s your duty! You are fucking hunters! Kill me! Kill me!”
Barnaby reached for the tablet and closed it as Elias pulled the earbuds out and threw them on the table.
“The vid ends there. The hunters in his group killed and smoked him within the hour. The thing is, El, this vampirezed hunter was right. If they had waited, he might have torn them all to pieces. We all know how strong they are.”
“You don’t think I know that, Bar?”
“Well, thank the heavens. Listen, you’ve known me since we were baby hunters together. We’ve always had each other’s backs. I still do, even in this godawful situation. Bad things happen. I’m not telling you to kill your son…I’m telling you to kill the thing he will become.”
Elias couldn’t forget the sight of the converted hunter begging to be mercied. Was he making a mistake by asking everyone to accept the risk of letting Ben live? If this was someone else’s son, would he have given the order? The answer was clear in his mind. He would do what he had to do. He nodded to Barnaby.
“Will you send a copy of that vid to my fone?”
“Of course. Let me do what I offered to do. Let me take care of this so that neither you or Jack has to.”
“I will consider it.”
“Jack is going to be the problem, isn’t he?”
“He is. We may need to leave him out of the decision.”
“I thought so. Just call me when you’re ready. You shouldn’t do this alone.”
Nodding, Elias stood, almost frozen where he couldn’t move, grief climbing up him like a suffocating vine. Finally, he walked from the dining room, head high.
Back at HQ, Elias move down the stairway into the basement one halting step at a time.
Ben stood as he watched his father move through the entrance.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey.” His eyes moved over Ben’s unshackled legs.
“Oh, yeah, I got rid of all of those chains. Wasn’t any reason, they can’t hold me. Nothing can. I can open any lock, and I can make you do anything I want with compulsion. So you might as well understand that I’m your God now.”
Elias’s eyes shot to Ben’s, shocked.
Laughing, Ben moved closer. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, have a sense of humor. I’m not going to use compulsion on anyone. I don’t even know how to do it. Yet.”
But he would. Soon, Ben would be able to control every one of the hunters. Any one he wanted.
It was too dangerous. “Ben, how’s the blood thing going? Still have it under control.”
“I have it under control, but I will have to feed soon. Someone needs to volunteer to let me feed. If not, I really don’t know how my body will react.”
But Elias did. Barnaby was right. He was letting his emotion make a bad call. Letting himself save someone who was already beyond saving. And Ben wouldn’t want to become a killing monster.
The training kept people alive. Step outside of it, and people die. He couldn’t be responsible for innocent deaths if he let his son live because he loved him. It was true, if it were anyone else other than one of his sons, he would have done what had to be done.
“I’ll check into that. Has Jack been in?”
“Not yet. I’m surprised at that. You think he’s okay with me? Maybe you should check on him.”
“I’ll do that. Ben, you’ll do what you promised, you’ll stay quarantined down here until we agree you can come up.”
“I promise.”
“Well, I’ll go check on Jack and see if I can find you a blood donor.”
Once he cleared the building, Elias dialed Barnaby.
“Come. Bring your guys. We need to do it and be gone before Jack arrives.”