Four
“It’s time to begin. All six are finally together. Four versus six. Appropriate odds.”
Felix sighed. “God! Finally! Can we get finished with these hunters and get out of this fucking burp of a city?”
Quattro leaned from his throne-like chair, his eyes moving slowly, deliberately, from Felix to Peele to Monsta, stopping at each for long seconds. His brothers-in-arms; the other three to his fourth as the leader of the Four Horsemen.
“Fee, fee, fee,” he moaned as his eyes came back to his second in command. “Where’s the grace in that? We meet them on the battlefield at an appointed time. The universal powers will decide when and where, and they will be present to witness the battle of the ages. Have we ever had such worthy opponents? Warriors of equality to meet us on that ground? Two first bloods, to challenge the very core of our natures. Two women harnessing skills and powers they do not even understand, a human who carries within her magics bound to the earth and sky, who should not be capable. A newly made vampire that binds them all. No, Felix, we are not ready yet to leave.”
“Well motherfuck me.”
“You keep your gaze too far down the road, you miss the true journey, my friend.”
Quattro stood and addressed the lounging horsemen.
“It is a moment of glory to face those who can meet us without an assured loss. Does the cat not find greater joy in playing with his mouse than ending its life? Sport and glory, my friends, that is what we will reap when we defeat opponents who have the chance to win.”
Rolling his head to look around the long-abandoned factory they’d holed up in for most of the past month, Peele coughed as he swallowed half a bottle of beer. “So does that at least mean we get to never see this ass-end of nowhere again? Can we at least get some decent lodgings, Quattro?”
“That I cannot promise since we will be moving soon. As you know, I am tuned into the human with earth magics through my own. I still find it fascinating that we share that connection with the living planet. She is preparing to leave this area. On a hunter’s mission, I imagine. This shall begin our dance. Once I discover where they travel, there will be a fatalistic meet and greet to determine how this will unravel. I am beyond excited, my friends. Are you?”
Felix had served as his centuries-long friend. Quattro had always been the natural leader in their travels and conquests. His loyalty and devotion had been tested and proved long ago. He owed nothing to Quattro and yet followed him without question. Still…
Yet Felix nodded his agreement.
“I’m with you, my brother, but I still don’t understand the boundless nature of this battle you feel determined must happen. I mean, yes, they are a threat, and we should eliminate them, but why we don’t just go in, one by one, and kill them, I cannot imagine. You realize that with their combined talents, if we give up the element of surprise, if we take them on at once, we have a much less chance of victory. Or survival. They’re killing vampires who don’t walk their narrow line of propriety. And Quattro, we don’t.”
“Yeah, boss, if there are two first bloods like you guys in the group, what makes you think we’ll win?”
Shaking his head, Quattro caught each vampire’s gaze. “Boys, boys. The game is worth the price. How dull would our lives be if we only went for the kill, the easy way, the coward’s way. Better to face a worthwhile opponent and test your mettle than lie on our easily gained laurels, eh? Peele, yes, there are two first bloods with the hunters, but that is what makes this a challenge. We live many lives in the centuries we are granted. There must be adventures and skirmishes to fire the blood and fill the soul. This, my friends, is providence. We are meant to meet head to head, fist to fist, steel to steel, face to face.”
Quattro lifted his arms straight out to his side, raising his eyebrows up and down with a wide grin. “It’s going to be fun, huh?”
He laughed then, and searched each of the three men around him to assess if they were up to the task. Of that he wasn’t sure, but that the fight would happen was ordained.
Quattro couldn’t wait.
“I’m with you all the way.” Monsta stood, his arms out just as Quattro’s were. “Let me at ‘em.”
“That will happen, but first, we meet on neutral ground and watch our opponents in their native habitats.”
Felix snagged a full bottle of Japanese whisky bottled at the last turn of the century. “Well, then, I guess when we rise, we fly.”
As he turned away, Quattro’s hand slid down to press against the fullness of his pants. At just the thought of meeting the little earth warrior face to face, he was already rising.
In a small town outside Los Angeles
“Oh, Jack, couldn’t you have found more obnoxious rooms?”
“Hey, I tried. There isn’t anything nicer here in Bugsville. The only windowless dwellings were this or downtown L.A., which is an ungodly busy city.”
Kwano weighed in. “The hunters work out of this little city, and that’s our job, so let’s suck it up, and do the work. Besides, this isn’t that bad. I lived in a place a lot like this the first time I came to the U.S. about a hundred years ago.”
“Okay, but this is rattier than where my brother and I lived when we grew up in Louisiana, and we were dirt poor.”
“You did all right for yourself.”
“Thanks to the fact that we were both brilliant and blessed with supernatural skills.”
“And we’re thrilled with that, because it all brought you to us. Which is exactly where you should be.”
“Aw, Jack, you say the sweetest things.”
“Yeah, that will come back and bite you in the ass sometime soon, Dan.”
Sanquinetta had just come back from scoping the area and plopped a box of beer and six large bags of processed chips onto an old wood table with scarred paint that she assessed was at least 50 years old. “Here’s second meal. They don’t have a food printer in this lovely backwater hotel, and the nearest restaurant is ten miles from here. How about we have these chips and beer and then when we wake tonight, we’ll go to a bar I saw and get some good old-fashioned junk food?”
Everyone was tired enough to agree. They’d arrived with six hours of darkness left, so after they checked into the hotel, stashed their items safely (Kwano had spelled their rooms so they were invisible to anyone other than first bloods), had scouted the hunter’s headquarters, cementing their plans, and returned to the safety of their three interior rooms for shelter and rest.
Evaleigh was already on her bed, a light blanket pulled up. She hadn’t joined the crew on their recon of the area since she stayed behind to set up her computer system to provide support for the mission.
She lifted her head. “Chips and beer? Bring me some, please. I’ve got all my work done for the night. All the profiles are cataloged; I just need your onsite interviews and updates. I did find someone we’d missed. It appears that Raoul had a two year affair with a woman who runs a medical dispensary downtown L.A. She isn’t a physician, but manages the day to day operation. It is very likely he’s told her about his work.”
“Good job, Eva. Send the specs to my tablet and I’ll check her out.” Kwano loved wandering through the outrageously busy streets of Los Angeles. Now that he had spent so much time in the U.S., the dynamic nature of people here captivated him. In Zambia, in their village, they saw the same people every day, and while he loved his family and friends with all his heart, everything here seemed brighter, more intriguing, deeply visceral to the core of his human nature. He immersed himself in people, his nose in their business, his ears perked up to listen to those wonderful snippets of other people’s lives as he passed them on the streets.
“That’s settled.” Sanquinetta caught everyone’s attention again. “The bags are all different flavors so I’m going to place them all in the center of this table and you just choose whatever you want. Then we’ll retire to our rooms. Kwano, did you spell all three?”
“Of course. Let me know when you’re ready to return to yours.”
Once spelled, only first blood or someone with a special amulet could find the rooms, so Kwano, and now Saul, would be able to guide them inside their spelled rooms.
Dani glanced at Saul, who she had greeted with a smile before they left tonight and had not looked at since, until now. Straddling a cheap wooden chair, Saul looked like a much better meal to her than the limited buffet San was setting out. His position exposed the thick muscles on his arms, leaning over the back of the chair facing everyone, his big legs spread wide to span the chairs seat. It took every ounce of willpower not to let her gaze drop between them. When he looked at her and caught her staring, Dani abruptly shifted her eyes toward Sanquinetta.
“All right, my friends, here’s dinner!”
Before anyone else got to the table, she’d already filled a plate with some of each of the different chips and grabbed a bottle of cold beer. “Somehow I knew I’d still be eating like a kid when I was all grown up.”
Dani kept her attention on the table. “My brother and I used to say the same thing. We would dream of the day when we’d crawl into our beds with packages of cookies, cakes, and candy, and no one would stop us.”
“The great dream of all children. And here we are.”
Saul watched this unlikely mix of humans and vampires prepare to change the lives of humans who hunted vampires. As bizarre as it seemed, he’d blended so perfectly when he was here earlier this year, a place where he’d found family for the first time in his considerably long life. Having been away for four months, now, it felt a little like he was starting anew. Their experiences were vastly different than his had been. Even the close relationship he had been developing with Jack and Sanquinetta felt strained. Kwano had joined them just before he left so he and the African first blood had never had a chance to bond. Dani hadn’t been part of the team at that time. He hated feeling like an interloper.
Fingers curled over his arm, and Saul looked up. Jack stood near, his touch comforting, not only because he was a good friend, but because the sire connection was strong and he sensed Saul’s unease.
“Saul, it’ll come around. Give our new dynamic time.”
Jack’s gaze followed Saul’s to Dani, now filling her own plate with San’s offering of chips. “Her too. She’s an incredible hunter. You’ll come to enjoy her charm and sense of humor.”
That’s the problem, Saul thought. I already do. If Jack had any idea…
“I can see that. Thanks, buddy. Hey, can you bring me a plate when you grab one?”
Nodding, Jack headed toward the table. Saul couldn’t help himself, he kept watching Dani as she laughed at something Eva said. It was up to him to control this situation and make it comfortable for her, which meant keeping it cool and casual. Which was a problem his cock continued to struggle with.
After rising at sunset, Kwano bid everyone goodbye and good luck as he prepared to take the local tube to the business district downtown L.A.
Eva stopped him before he left them.
“Her name is Sophi Martin. Well, you’ve all the details on her profile. If she’s left the clinic by the time you get there, her home address is listed. Jack will ask Raoul about their relationship to concur with my assessment, but I’m pretty sure I’m right. We may as well be prepared. Even if he didn’t reveal anything purposefully, you know how hard it is to keep this from someone you’re with. Since they had a two year relationship, we need to vet her anyway and design the memory.”
Eva tilted her head. “I truly hadn’t realized until I said that. We do play God with people.”
“We use our abilities and power responsibly to help people, Evaleigh. That’s not the same thing.”
“It’s close, Kwano. It’s close.”
“I’d better go. Keep in contact.”
With Kwano gone, the rest of the crew piled into Sanquinetta’s new lift-car, provided by Xavier for the team, and they headed south toward Raoul’s hunting group.
As the car touched down, it didn’t surprise Jack when they were met by an armed group outside the main entrance of the HQ. Headquarters for hunting groups were usually isolated and secret, so unexpected arrivals were rare and automatically met with suspicion and weapons.
Raoul moved in front of his armed guards when he saw Jack. “What the fuck blew you into town?”
The coarse greeting delivered with a wide toothy grin was followed by a quick hug.
Jack hugged back, aware that this was the final time he’d greet his old friend in full awareness of their years together hunting.
“Just had an urge to shoot the shit with another asshole like me. You got a moment?”
“Sure. Stand down, crew. Go back to work.”
Raoul led Jack into the underground chambers cut into the side of a hill, completely hidden from above and nearly impossible to see even from ground level. The entire way he kept scanning his old friend.
“Holy fuck, buddy. Look at you! You’ve been pumping enough iron to hold up the state of Oregon. Shit, I’d almost mistake you for a vampire.”
Jack was careful to control his strength when he lowered a hand onto Raoul’s shoulder. Raoul was no fool. Even as close as he had been with Jack, there was a tinge of suspicion in his eyes. Jack didn’t think he’d really believe that his old hunting buddy was a vampire. Most hunters believed vampires were little better than rabid dogs. Hell, he and his family had believed that and hunted with that same belief for a century.
Still…caution was a good idea until they could begin compulsion.
“You got it, my friend. They’re big, so I’ve been trying to even the playing field by getting as strong as I could. It’s been working.”
“I’ll say. So, who do we have here?”
Raoul had already lost interest in Jack as his eyes moved over the pale-skinned Evaleigh and darker-toned Sanquinetta behind him.
“Aw, chiaroscuro. Dark and light. My favorite kind of art. Hello, ladies.”
Shoving Raoul back, Jack held up his hand.
“Off-limits, dude. You go through women like you do Scotch. These are professionals, and friends.”
“Of course, of course. I’m just saying that they are a lovely addition to this hole in the ground. I’m Raoul.”
Sanquinetta moved forward to shake his outstretched hand, using power to convey strength and crushed his fingers. “Sanquinetta. Glad to meet you. And yes, I’m hot, but I’m also lethal.”
Massaging his crushed fingers, Raoul nodded.
“Yeah, got that.” His eyes moved to Evaleigh, smiling. She hadn’t moved up to greet him. “And you, pale perfection. You feel the need to emasculate me too?”
“No need. I can see all I need to see. You keep it on display. I’m Eva.”
Reluctantly leaving Evaleigh, Raoul looked at Saul.
“Another giant. What the fuck are you guys eating up in Oregon?”
Jack smacked Raoul on the back. “Iron and bullets. Raoul, can we talk?”
“Sure. My team is busy setting up a stakeout. We heard a group of four male vampires may have come directly into our town last night, so we’re arranging surveillance.”
“Vampires? Here in Durrey? Pretty small interest for vampires.”
“That’s why I’m concerned, but my source is reliable. We’re on it. So, what really brings you here?”
Jack lifted his eyes to Saul. Saul nodded, indicating he thought they should continue. If a group of vampires were here in this small town, it likely meant trouble. While they were here to dismantle this hunting group, they would have to investigate this possible cadre as well.
“Yeah, Raoul. Look at me for a second.”
Once Raoul lifted his eyes, humor and trust in them, Jack smiled, a little sick at his stomach, as he spoke.
“Raoul, you will do all I tell you to do. Sit down.”
His focus now a little fuzzy, Raoul did as commanded and dropped into a nearby chair.
Jack pulled one up next to him and straddled it.
“My friend, how many of your hunters are in this building right now?”
“Eight. Three working on weapons for the group as they get ready to go out.”
“Good. Where are they?”
“Down the hall to the right. The weapons vault is to the left off this corridor and around the corner.”
“Good. Stay here. You will obey everything any member of my team tells you to do and answer any questions they ask.”
Nodding repeatedly, Raoul watched Jack walk around the corner, confused, and somewhere deep inside, scared and angry. He looked up at the two beautiful hunters who had arrived with Jack as a third beautiful darker-skinned woman entered the room.
“Who are you?” he found he was able to ask.
“Hi. Dani. I work with Jack. I scoped the landscape around this facility. It’s a nice area. You must be Raoul.”
Her soft gaze stayed on his eyes as she squatted to place her hands on his. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Okay.”
“Ugh. Compulsion. No, I mean, really, don’t be afraid. We are not here to hurt you, Raoul. In fact, we’re here to give you back the life you should always have had. You won’t remember this soon, but I want to tell you anyway. Vampires are not bad. They aren’t evil. This whole vampire hunting subculture is confused and just wrong. We’re here to fix it.”
“I don’t understand what is happening. Is…fuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…is Jack a vampire? He couldn’t have made me just sit here and do what you guys want if he wasn’t. Right?”
“I’m afraid so. And he hasn’t changed at all from the silly guy you used to hunt with. Not at his core. In his heart.”
Dani stood. “Relax. I’m going to check in with my girls and get this process rolling.”
As she walked away, Raoul realized he could turn his head, but he couldn’t get up, he couldn’t say anything, he couldn’t warn his team. The vampires had gotten him.
“San? Eva? Where are you?”
“In here, Dani. We’re setting up Eva’s equipment.”
“Hey, San. Are we starting with Raoul?”
“Since Jack’s already compelled him, yes, I think we will. I have all the details here. He has a casual girlfriend, so we’ll bring her in and weave her story in with his. Other than that, anyone he’s close with is in his crew.”
“Good. That’s one thing we can be thankful for. Hunters tend to hang with hunters, so it lessens the numbers of people we have to manipulate. It’s fine, I get it, but I still feel guilty. Raoul just looked at me like I was a monster.”
“Right now, to him, you are. Okay, Dani, you want to take him? Here’s the script.”
“Sure.”
Dani read the script through three times from beginning to end so that when she began the compulsion, she would deliver it correctly in a smooth fashion that would take at once. On the rare occasions when one of their targets fought them, some of the implanted changes wouldn’t imbed and she would have to build a workaround. Her eyes on Raoul’s big frame, she felt certain that he would be one of those exceptions.
Sitting on a chair opposite him, she caught his eyes to deepen their connection. While it was Jack’s vampire ability to use compulsion to change Raoul’s memories and experiences, Dani’s earth magics created a powerful one-on-one bond between herself and Raoul.
“Raoul, close your eyes and listen to everything I tell you.”
Once he did exactly as commanded, Raoul’s breathing slowed and his body dropped against the chair, relaxed, receiving Dani’s words.
“You own a business…”
As usual, Dani weaved Raoul’s new life, building memories and details that would fit closely with his lifelong experiences and skills. She would carefully mesh his relationships with those he had been close to within the hunting groups, as they would do with the other members soon. They would build an intricate web so that his new life wouldn’t present too many flags or oddities that didn’t make sense to him.
At the end, as first blood, with power to seal those new memories in permanence, Saul would complete the compulsion by addressing anything that they might have missed to allow Raoul to adjust to those unrealized changes.
Forty minutes into Dani’s compulsion, Jack came back into the room, sliding up on a desktop to wait patiently for her to complete the job. While she carefully continued, he watched Raoul.
This was one of the hardest things he would ever do in his life. He and Raoul had a rich history, a lot of incredible moments of adventure and friendship. Tonight, they would have to destroy most of those memories to rebuild his experiences to fit the new life design. There was a potent tragedy here, in stealing his past, in altering his worldview, in remaking his reality. Even though he would be fine, he would be happy, and it was necessary, Jack found the process distasteful. Less so when he didn’t know the person, he didn’t know what they were taking away from them, but still an ugly, indefensible thing to do to someone.
Finally, Dani pushed out of her chair. “I’m finished with my part. It’s up to Saul, and then we’ll put him in the lift-car and take him home.”
“Okay. I’ve secured the others. Hopefully we can try to get at least three more finished tonight.”
“That’s a lot, Jack.” Sanquinetta had entered the room behind him, her arms folded, her stance aggressive.
Jack turned to her. “With Saul, you, and Dani, the four of us should be able to pull this off if we focus.”
“It rarely goes this smoothly. We know a great deal more about Raoul than we do about his crew. I’m sending Saul to the home of one of the men I don’t have enough details on. That could take half the remaining night.”
“Okay, I hear you. Well, let’s do what we can. I’ll have Saul wrap up Raoul, then take him home while you and Dani begin the next two.”
Shaking her head, Sanquinetta walked toward the rear of the building. “We’ll try, Jack. Get started.”
He looked at Dani, who lounged in her seat, watching him, her eyes amused. He could see she agreed with Sanquinetta. “Hush. San is so protective of her missions.”
“Someone has to be fully engaged in these people’s lives. It’s how we do right by them. Right?”
“Completely. Okay, lady, I’ll let Saul know he’s up.”
They finished two of Raoul’s crew in addition to sending Raoul home with his newly reorganized life. When he first began the compulsion a few hours ago, Jack had known Raoul was pissed. Once Dani had changed Raoul’s long held core beliefs, he’d noticed how she lingered. Her earth-born abilities and natural inclination of emotional attachment showed in everything she did. God, Jack prayed that this team hadn’t brought anything dangerous into their lives.
“That’s it for tonight. We’re all hungry and tired, so it’s time to hit the bar Stetson Saturdays on our way home. I guess the locals just call it Saturdays. We’ll all get some grub and alcohol, then drop into what I can only call glorified cots until we get up to do this all over again tomorrow.”
“Whew. Please. I feel like the words creature comforts don’t apply to anything around me at the moment,” Eva commented before she closed down her computer tablets.
“Has anyone heard from Kwano?”
“Not yet. He’ll check in when he has something to say. All done here for tonight?” Sanquinetta answered Dani’s concern as she looked around the rooms along with Jack, Evaleigh, and Dani. “Beat ya’ll out the door.”
It didn’t happen, and she knew it wouldn’t with two vampires in their group.
As they approached the lift-car, Saul barked, “Fuck!”
He had everyone’s attention immediately.
“I need to go back to Tish’s house. He has a neighbor I meant to check in on who may know his secrets. I was so focused on his extended family, I didn’t follow up on that.”
“Go do it. Jack, go with him since this is his first time doing redirects on his own. Not being disrespectful Saul, but Jack will make sure you don’t miss anything else. When you two are finished, join us at Saturdays. We’ll be half-baked by the time you get there if we’re lucky.”
As if she pulled them behind her on a chain, Sanquinetta led Dani and Evaleigh from the odd building and mounted the shiny new lift-car that she’d come to love. It was sporty, high-end, and sexy, thank you Xavier, and she loved every second behind the wheel. Even if the state-of-the-art vehicle pretty much drove and flew itself, taking the wheel to guide it after switching to manual made her smile more than a lot of things these days.
The trip took only twenty minutes, landing silently outside the busy nightclub she’d scoped out when they arrived here last night. It had been highlighted on her tablet, and looked like it would live up to her expectation of a happening local club.
“Ladies, start your engines.” Sanquinetta passed through the door of Stetson Saturdays to thumping music, a wonderful variety of people, and heavenly aromas of cooking meat.
“Over here.”
Dani spied a table just vacated and swooped in to claim it. They’d have to round up two more chairs when the guys arrived, but that wouldn’t be a problem with vampires.
“Gods, Dani, grab a menu. Saliva is going to start dripping off my chin if someone doesn’t feed me soon.”
“Oh, hell, San, what an image! This place actually has digitals. I see one on that table.”
“Hallelujah.” Pulling her chair closer, Sanquinetta pushed one button after another as Evaleigh laughed.
“Well that might take a while.”
Digital menus placed the orders directly to the kitchen, so with their desired food already on its way, the three women relaxed and let themselves enjoy the company of other patrons. The room was filled to capacity, a small dance floor tight with dancers rocking out to a tune that would be defined, appropriately, as rockabilly. Dani loved the ambience which reminded her of home.
“Ummm. This takes me back to the old days when my brother and I grew up outside of New Orleans. I can’t believe that’s been over a century now.”
Evaleigh’s head spun back to face her. “A century? What? How? Dani, you’re human, aren’t you?”
“I am, but my earth magics protect me. Keep me from aging normally. I don’t think I’m immortal like vampires, but apparently, I am very long lived.”
“Wow. You know, when San hired me to do the hunter’s IT, I had no clue how fascinating this entire supernatural world would be. At the time, I found it suspicious and frightening. Thank God I met you, San, or I would have never agreed to the job, and would have missed meeting you guys, and discovering this incredible secret.”
“You fit at once, love. From the moment you walked in, all attitude and defiance, I knew we were going to blend into a perfect team. Then Dani, when you came along, I felt like between the three of us, we were complete.”
Dani nodded and reached for her drink. “Let’s raise a glass to the universe for bringing us together.”
“To the universe,” they called out, their voices lost in the swelling music as the frenetic beat slowed, and although it still had a country feel, the melody was romantic and inspired several couples to dance pressed tight together.
“Aw. I’ve never done that.”
“Wait. What? Eva, you’ve never slow danced?”
“Uh-uh. Never found a guy I wanted to make faux sex with on a dance floor.”
“You’ve missed out, my dear. It’s a wonderful beginning to the mating dance. The moment you first discover if you might have a spark with a stranger. I recommend it. You should find some sexy cowboy and wrap yourself against his warm bod.”
“Ugh. Maybe. Let me get another few drinks in me first.” After downing half her glass, Evaleigh smiled. “I’ve considered Saul, on more than one occasion, but it isn’t a good idea to fuck someone you work with, right? Besides, he’s a vampire and I don’t know if I want to go there. They still spook me a little.”
Saul? Evaleigh? Dani was surprised. Glancing back to the dance floor, she cleared her throat. “Saul, huh?”
“Yeah. I know. Brooding, muscles knotted up the ass. I suspect. There’s something broken in him that makes a gal want to plunder his depths.”
Evaleigh snorted as she started to laugh. “Oh, hell! Plunder his depths? Someone better take this bottle away from me.”
Plunder his depths. Dani felt a tug between her legs as the memory of her dream…Saul there, ready to plunder hers. Just when she had forgotten he was with them, Eva brought his image back, and there she was, aroused again.
She ordered another two glasses of Scotch.
Fifteen minutes from Saturdays in a roadside hotel
“Why do we have to stay here?” Monsta had a tendency to whine, which bothered the hell out of Quattro.
“Because I believe she can read a vampire’s life signal. Felix and I can block ours, but she would read you two as vampire and I don’t want her on alert. Get something to eat and take it easy. I just need to get a closer look at her. All of them.”
Quattro’s eyes glowed the way they did when he was angry or excited. Monsta thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen, and wished like fuck he could do it.
Pacing now, Quattro sighed. “I can barely contain myself. From the distance we’ve always maintained, she fascinates me, ignites me. Her magic calls to me. With proximity, I hope I can keep my composure.”
“You want to fuck her,” Peele barked, as pissed as Monsta that they had been ordered to stay behind.
Quattro was on him instantly, hard fingers biting into his neck. “It isn’t nearly so simple as a fuck, my friend. This is a dance of magic, born in the bowels of the earth. I will learn more when I am close to her.”
Eyelids tight, Quattro lifted his hand as if his unseeing eyes beheld the human woman who obsessed him.
“When I touch her.”
Even Monsta and Peele felt the waves of erotic energy flowing off Quattro. They knew that Felix and Quattro had been born vampire; had never been human like Monsta and Peele. First blood’s power was beyond anything they’d ever known.
“You think she’s that special? She’s just human, Quattro.”
“Peele, buddy. We are all human. We all possess powers within us, even those who do not have vampire blood flowing through our veins. This girl, though, has been reaching for me since I first saw her. She doesn’t know it, but I believe it is our destiny to fight. And to love.”
Reaching for a leather vest, Quattro pulled it over pumped arms and buttoned it, taking his time.
“So now I go to meet my fate. Felix, attend.”
Watching his friends discussion quietly from the corner of this dirty shithole they currently occupied, Felix stood and stretched. Off to begin a true battle. This would ultimately be a war between first bloods, perhaps the first time it had ever happened. He was stoked, thrilled, worried, ready to kill.
At Saturdays
“Yep, it’s official, I’ll eat anything.”
“You’ve been eating meat replacements since I’ve known you, Dani. I generally like to as well, but here, it’s real beef, and it’s staggeringly good.”
“Obviously I agree. Eva, these burgers are addicting. I’m going to have to eat another one.”
“Go for it, girl. You can return to your clean food when we get home. Damn, I love these small American towns. The locals are friendly, it’s not crowded like the tower cities, and we do meet some interesting folks.”
“I’ll say.” San laughed and buried her amusement by putting a bottle of beer to her lips as she watched a group of two men and three women gyrating out of control to the pulsating beat of an instrumental gone wild.
Dani nudged her hand with her own bottle.
“I love it! Reminds me of the wonderful people in a little bar we used to haunt back home.”
She paused, her eyes glossy. “I miss those simple days sometimes.”
“But you and your brother knew you were different even then, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. We both could read people. And Dylan is much bigger than me, yet I could pin him in seconds. I’ve always been unnaturally strong. Just not strong enough to beat that nest of vamps the other night when I believed you guys had been taken too.”
“I’m so thankful Saul came back when he did.”
“So am I.” Dani’s memory returned to Saul that day, standing in front of her, his fingers against her bare chest, and, un-permissioned, her mind drove her to imagine how she could repay him. Ugh. She needed to stop this; get her mind off Saul.
“So, Eva, look around. Which guy appeals to you? We are going to get you on that dance floor.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I do.”
“You first.”
“Okay.”
“Really?”
“Really. Let’s see.” Dani scanned the men wandering around, but no one caught her interest. She was going to choose someone, though, and get out on that floor so she could get Eva out. And it was the perfect distraction for her.
She continued to peruse the occupants of the room when her eyes stopped at a table across the dance floor from theirs. Two men sat at the table, one side filled with bottles, the other clear. Both men were large, vampire large, but they weren’t vampires. She would know.
Her gaze locked on the biggest man, drawn to him at once, and stayed on him. It startled her to realize he was locked in on her too, but neither dropped their eyes.
Evaleigh watched the strange connection, her eyes wandering to where Dani stared across the floor.
“Oh, wow. If that isn’t the very definition of male hotness. He looks like he could chew glass and enjoy it. Dani, is he vampire?”
“No.”
Eva was right. The man exuded raw sexuality and textbook masculinity. Tuned in to him now, Dani let her talent travel across the floor, reaching for him, and received back overt sexual interest. In her? His eyes hadn’t left hers since she noticed him. She sensed he was assessing her as she was him. Okay then…
Every aspect of him looked to be torn from the pages of ancient history. Long dark hair pulled back into a single braid surrounded the classic definition of handsome, square jaw, deeply tanned skin, rugged, sexy. His tan leather vest showed heavily muscled arms he was obviously proud of; he wore no shirt. Intricately patterned tattoos wrapped both forearms and continued over hard biceps to disappear beneath the vest at the top of his shoulders. The artwork was accomplished, beautiful, and begged for explanation.
Everything about him, including his smoky gray aura, said bad boy. Not to be messed with. Not to be engaged.
Even from across the room Dani could feel his erotic need. Pheromones, yes, this man was built for sex and she had no doubt he was an aggressive lover, but there was something else; indefinable as yet, powerful.
Almost not human…
But that couldn’t be. He read human, not supernatural, and her talent wasn’t flawed. Yet she sensed…magic? No. Couldn’t be.
Without realizing she’d done so, Dani stood, still locked to his gaze as he was to hers.
“Eva, pick a guy. I’m going to ask that one to dance.”
Her track across the dance floor was slow as she weaved through other dancers. Closer now, Dani approached him, and he stood, his height, his size, presence, overwhelming at first.
For a split-second, she considered aborting what was probably a bad idea, but more than anything right now, she wanted to touch him. Needed to? None of this made sense to her.
The decision was taken from her when he stepped forward to pull Dani’s hand up to rest against his chest, smiling, welcoming. She couldn’t help but respond. Where he touched her hand felt like electricity sparking against her skin.
“Finally,” he said, his voice just as she had imagined, deep, quiet, melodic, a promise.
Promise? What promise? Dani leaned closer, pulling in his scent. Pheromones, definitely, powerful, more than human. How? She said what was on her mind.
“You don’t make sense.”
He laughed and urged her closer, then leaned down to place his lips near Dani’s right ear. The touch sent sensual sensations to her core.
“I will. We must dance.”
Taking her other hand, Dani’s bad boy led her to the dimly lit dance floor and slid his arms around her, too close, too intimately, but she couldn’t pull away. Warmth, power, sexual energy, enveloped her, the infusion so fierce, she lost her balance and stumbled.
His arms tightened, one hand sliding just below the waistband of her jeans, fingers lingering on her bare skin.
“I’ve got you. Never worry when I am near, I will always have you.”
This was too bizarre, but Dani needed to sort it out. She should push him away. She should listen to her talent that revealed this man was no ordinary man. Her recent experience had left her cautious and protective, yet she let him hold her and push the limits of accepted behavior.
His voice interrupted her scrambled thoughts.
“My name is Quattro. Please, tell me yours.”
She had his name. That could be helpful.
“Um, Dani.”
“Dani. Elegant, strong. Like you.”
She couldn’t play at this any longer.
“You know nothing about me. But I have a question for you. What are you?”
Amused further, his eyes glittered. “I am a man holding a woman he was destined to hold.”
More bizarre yet. Destined?
Dani pulled from his arms and moved off the floor.
“Bullshit.” She grabbed Quatto’s forearm and dragged him against the wall out of the path of the other patrons, grateful her strength still worked for her.
“What are you? Don’t act like you don’t understand me, I know better.”
Quattro folded his arms, forcing her eyes to the curved muscles as he leaned against the wall. “You’re incredibly bright, I know that. Don’t question how I know, I just do. I’ll tell you what. You return to that dance floor with me and I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Let me have one dance, and I’m yours.”
One dance. Dani didn’t move, she just kept her eyes on this enormous vampire-sized man and wondered what the hell he was. Could she trust that he’d keep his word? It didn’t matter. If he didn’t, she’d be no worse off. Besides, her fingers were begging to touch him again.
A full three minutes later, she granted his request with a nod. “Fine. One dance, then you spill.”
“I keep my promises, beautiful.”
“All right.” Although she agreed, she failed to keep the suspicion from her tone, and noticed that Quattro had no concern about it. Gleefully, he led her back to the dance floor and firmly pulled her tight against him again.
She would have shoved him back for his boldness, but Gods, she liked how he felt, loved how he smelled.
After holding her breath too long, she expelled it sharply.
“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”
“No.” Knee-jerk answer. “Well. Maybe. Dancing with you isn’t…hateful.”
“Damned by faint praise. Now, if I could get you to my bedroom, some day, I don’t mean now, don’t bite my head off, but if I could…you and I would rock the earth.”
Rock the earth. Odd choice of words. Did he know…could he know…that she was an earth warrior? It was impossible to guess at this point. Besides, he’d just made the ultimate pass at her, suggesting that she sleep with him.
“Sorry big guy, that isn’t happening. Ever.”
“I don’t appeal to you?”
No safe answer. Certainly not the truth! Best to lie than deal with the fallout from telling him he did.
“You’re, uh, attractive, but no, sorry, you’re really not my type.”
Quattro laughed again. She already knew that he laughed a lot, that he enjoyed himself completely in everything he did. It seemed that life amused him.
“Dani, I’m completely your type. You don’t realize it, do you, that your hands have slid from my waist to my back, then to my buttocks while we’ve danced. I want you just as much. More. If you agreed, I would have you beneath me, writhing from the greatest orgasm you will ever feel.”
He waited, his eyes pinned to her face.
Dani, aware that what he said might be true, determined that she’d never find out, promised herself that he’d continue to wait. She had no answer for him.
Stepping back, pushing him from her, she lifted her eyes to his again.
“Tell me what you are. You promised.”
San watched Dani with a great deal of concern. Even from her human standpoint, she couldn’t miss the obvious sexual connection between Dani and this great big mystery man. Her eyes moved to Eva, dancing several inches apart from the cute cowboy she’d asked to dance. They seemed to be having a nice conversation and enjoying the dance, but that was all it was. All it should be.
Looking back to where Dani was practically enveloped into the body of the man she’d claimed couldn’t be vampire, although it looked for all the world to San like he ought to be, the situation was anything but normal.
He was hotter than shit, though. She’d been hornier than ever since Jack chose Ife over her.
“It’s time to look for my own sexy vampire to do the nasty with,” she murmured.
“Who is Dani dancing with?”
Saul’s voice directly behind Sanquinetta made her jump. She twisted around to see her three vampires lined up behind her.
“Fuck, guys, warn a girl. I could have ended up on the ceiling. Hi, Kwano, glad to see you’re back.” Her eyes returned to the dance floor. “I don’t know, but they’re getting pretty familiar.”
Saul took Dani’s chair and sat beside Sanquinetta, his eyes frozen on Dani and her dance partner. Jack grabbed Eva’s chair as Kwano took one from another table and pulled it over to sit beside Jack.
“I think he’s vampire,” Saul suddenly commented, his voice quieter now.
“She says he isn’t. That he doesn’t read as vampire.”
“No, he doesn’t, but he could be first blood.”
“What do you mean? You guys read as vampire too.”
“Yeah, but we don’t block our life signals.”
“You can do that?”
“We can do that. We rarely do. It isn’t necessary, unless you have a reason to hide your vampire nature.”
Sanquinetta’s heart pounded, suspicion surging. “And he might.”
“He might.”
Kwano shook his head. “But why is a first blood here at all, and covering his life signal? That is of concern.”
Exactly my first reaction, Sanquinetta thought. She leaned in. “Guys, they got awfully close pretty fast. I wonder if he’s working her? Us? Fuck. You think he has her under compulsion? She can’t protect herself if he does.”
Saul started to rise. “I’m going to get her.”
Jack held a hand out to Saul. “Let me. You’re pretty agitated. It won’t go well.”
“He’s pawing her!”
“Maybe she likes it, we don’t really know. Relax, Saul, I’ll check it out.”
Jack stood and headed around the edge of the dance floor to intercept Dani and the massive man that he agreed was likely a vampire. His spidey sense was firing now too. As he approached, he wasn’t surprised to see that Saul had used air displacement and was already approaching the too-close couple.
Dani pulled away, ready to force this man to tell her what he was, when she felt a vampire presence near, and then a hand on her lower back.
“Are you all right?”
Saul? She turned to see him close behind her, his eyes targeting Quattro. Then her head swiveled back to Quattro as he laughed again.
“The hero. I should have known. I felt all of you when you entered. As a trio, you create quite a wave of power.”
“You’re first blood.” Saul’s hand remained on Dani’s back and his other came up to gently encircle her wrist. He had no doubt that this man meant trouble for them.
Jack arrived behind Quattro just as Saul proclaimed him vampire, and immediately felt the threat as well. His eyes went to Dani. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She locked onto Quattro. “So you’re vampire. First blood. Why didn’t I know that? You didn’t use compulsion.”
“We have abilities you apparently need to be acquainted with, my beautiful lady.” Suddenly he bowed, which seemed incongruous for the situation. “Thank you for the dance.”
Dani felt Sanquinetta and Eva come up beside her as Kwano took the space between the women and Jack.
Stepping back, Quattro joined Felix who had just moved forward. He scanned the six people now standing on the side of the dance floor, on guard, all ready to face this unexpected situation. United.
His smile was warm with no malice when he announced his presence to the Remington hunter’s team.
“We are all together at last. This is a legacy moment, although you don’t realize it yet. My name is Quattro. Felix here is my lieutenant. With two who are not here tonight, we are the Four Horsemen. You likely have never heard of us?”
Unmoving, expressionless, the hunter’s lack of reaction told Quattro he was right.
“Ah, well, that has changed. We were hired to eliminate a serious threat to vampires, and I see that it has never been more true. Vampires hunting vampires…with humans. Fascinating. Hideous. Inevitable. Tonight, go rest, finish your mission, but know. At some point, we will meet on a battlefield of honor. We’ll see who the universe will choose as victors. I, for one, cannot wait.”
His gaze went to Dani. “We will fight, but we will love as well. Be ready. The Four Horsemen will ride soon. I wish you all a good night.”
They were gone on the air leaving six stunned hunters in their wake.
Finally Sanquinetta spoke.
“What the fuck just happened?”