“Don’t pretend you don’t know you’re a nerd,” she told him.
“I’m not sure many women consider me sexy,” he explained.
“Well, you are,” she assured him. “So, what does you being a sexy nerd have to do with you wanting to be with me?”
“I don’t want to hide behind a computer with you. I just want to be with you, and that’s never happened for me. Even when I thought you were someone I could never have a future with, I still couldn’t leave you alone. This morning, I was thinking you were human, and I was still determined to find a way to make things work with you.”
There were so many things she wanted to say to Isaiah, but she had no idea where to start. This also wasn’t the time. Isaiah needed to help Andrew, and there was obviously some confusion about Andrew’s son that they needed to clear up with his family.
“Let’s get this over with,” she said, pulling away from him, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.
After slinging a laptop bag over his shoulder, Isaiah laced his fingers through hers and led her through the house. When they made it downstairs, the room was filled with men who looked very similar to Isaiah, so she assumed they were all vampires. There were also three women.
The butterflies started to flutter in her stomach, but Isaiah seemed to sense her tension and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Just breathe with me, sweetheart,” he murmured softly. “I’m right here.”
She nodded and took a deep breath, working to keep her anxiety at bay.
“Did you get everything sorted out?” one of the men asked before turning to Phoenix with an annoyed expression. “I’m Justin, Isaiah’s brother,” he added when the tall woman with straight black hair scowled at him.
Phoenix nodded. “Can we do introductions later?” she asked. “Not to be rude, but I get the impression you’re all more concerned with how you ended up with a hunter in your house.”
“I like her,” a petite blonde with hair to her ankles chimed in.
“I might if she hadn’t abandoned her child,” a woman with brown hair and enormous breasts added. Phoenix recognized her high-pitched voice from the kitchen earlier.
“Where should we start?” Phoenix asked, deciding to ignore the comment about abandoning her child.
Isaiah was already sitting in front of the laptop he’d brought downstairs. “While I find the missing footage, why don’t you tell us why you’re hiding?”
“Is it because of Hunter?” Andrew asked.
Phoenix had no clue what he was talking about. “Who is Hunter?”
“That’s what Drew’s mother named the baby,” Isaiah explained.
“You know, the baby you abandoned with Drew’s mother, the serial killer,” the woman with the high voice snapped at her. “That ranks right up there with leaving a baby in a dumpster.”
Phoenix was beginning to understand some of what they were talking about, but before she could say anything, the woman with the high-pitched voice continued. “In case you’re wondering, you can’t just walk in here and decide you want to be his mother. You chose to give him up.”
“Wait!” Phoenix interrupted. “He isn’t my son. I’m a hunter, so I can’t even have children. Female hunters are born without Fallopian tubes. It’s like Mother Nature gave me a tubal ligation before birth.”
That was met with stunned silence. Even Isaiah had stopped working on the computer to stare at her.
“If he’s not Drew’s, then who’s his father?” Isaiah asked. “He’s obviously a Draksel.”
“I never said Andrew isn’t his father, just that I’m not his mother,” Phoenix replied, frustrated that Andrew wasn’t helping her with this explanation. He knew damn well who the boy’s mother was.
“Uh uh,” Andrew said with a shake of his head. “Sorry, babe, but you were the only woman I was banging at the time.”
“Do you need to be that crude?” Caitlin asked with her hand on her hip.
“Yes,” Andrew shot back. “I’m having a shit day, and I don’t need to hear these lies. Just fucking tell the truth about Hunter so we can move on. We boned a bunch of times. Then you disappeared, and nine months later you dropped a baby off with my mom.”
“Oh, please cut the crap, Andrew,” Phoenix scoffed with a wave of her hand. “Did you forget the little blonde you picked up at that club, Andrei? That blonde is my cousin, Shayla, and the baby was hers.” She met his eyes. It’s not that she’d been jealous of Andrew sleeping with her cousin, but finding out he’d gotten her cousin pregnant was too much, especially with all the problems it had created for them. It had been the catalyst for Hayden’s swan dive into the deep end of crazy.
Andrew’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. “Fuck!” he shouted before slamming his fist into the bright yellow wall hard enough to put a hole in it.
A distinguished looking vampire with the same dark brown hair and icy blue eyes as Andrew and Justin stepped forward, and Phoenix got the impression he was much older than he appeared. “Are you sure Andrei was the name of the man who impregnated your cousin?” he asked with a slightly accented voice.
“Yes. That’s what she told me,” Phoenix replied before turning to Andrew. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
Andrew shook his head, “Sounds like my father hooked up with your cousin.”
“Phoebe never knew about any of Andrei’s infidelities, so she must have assumed the baby was Drew’s,” the distinguished vampire added.
“That mistake saved Hunter’s life,” Isaiah mused.
“You’re right. My mother would have slaughtered him had she known he was my father’s child.” Andrew paled with that realization. “I have a fucking brother.”
“You sound more excited about that than you did when you thought you had a son,” Justin accused.
“I’d suck as a father, but I think I could do this older brother thing,” Andrew mused. “I just can’t believe my father was that careless. Sure, he cheated, but I always figured he was careful to avoid having any extra children. The only reason he even agreed to have me was so my mom wouldn’t grow old and die. Where is your cousin?”
Phoenix shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. I helped hide her while she was pregnant and after the baby was born. Her brother would have killed her. He’s always been violent and cruel, and he hates all things vampire. In fact, when he first found out about the pregnancy, he tried to kill her. I managed to convince him I was the one who was pregnant, which gave us time to run before the local hunters heard about Shayla getting pregnant with a vampire’s child. We don’t talk often now, and at the moment, I have no way of getting in touch with her. I spoke to her a few days ago. After our call, she shut off her phone, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
“Got it!” Isaiah said, turning the screen toward the distinguished looking man and another man who looked related, but had lighter hair with blond streaks. Andrew moved forward to watch the video of what was probably his father’s murder.
“You shouldn’t see this,” she argued, putting a hand on Andrew’s arm. His eyes warmed, and he reminded her of the friend she’d had all those years ago, but that warmth was gone in the blink of an eye.
“I’m a killer,” he told her bluntly. “My mother raised me to kill from the time I could walk. If I hadn’t killed her, she’d be doing the same with Hunter.”
Phoenix sucked in a sharp breath and released Andrew’s arm before taking a step back. It was in that moment that she caught a glimpse of the screen and she froze, watching in horror as the last moments of Andrew’s father’s life played out. Her chest tightened, and she stepped back, bile rising in her throat.
Once it was over, Isaiah closed the laptop and ran a hand through his hair. Most of the people in the room hadn’t been watching, but those who had looked sad and shocked by the brutality of the killing. None of them were paying attention to her, which was good since her guilt was probably written all over her face.
“I didn’t have any luck ge
tting the audio, but I’ll try again later,” Isaiah told them.
“My father disabled it,” Andrew explained.
“Then we’ll just have to hope we can figure this out without audio,” the distinguished vampire stated. “Does anyone recognize the killer?”
“I do,” Phoenix’s voice was just above a whisper.
“Who is it?” Andrew asked in a dead voice.
“My cousin, Hayden,” she replied.
“Is Hunter the reason he went after my father?” Andrew asked.
“I guess so,” she admitted. “There’s a possibility he found out about me sleeping with you. Maybe he still believes I was the one who was pregnant. I always figured he’d realize that was impossible once he calmed down, but Hayden’s never been good at letting go of his anger or thinking clearly.”
“How many people know about what happened between us?” Andrew asked.
“Shayla knows, and she confronted me when my mom was around, but I don’t honestly know if my mom ever told anyone. We aren’t close.”
“Huh.” Drew looked like that answer had solved some great mystery. “I always figured you’d stopped meeting me because your parents had found out about us.”
“Obviously, Hayden discovered there was a link between you and the Draksel family,” Isaiah remarked.
“At the very least, he knows your cousin is involved with our family,” Drew added.
Phoenix nodded.
“Is Hayden a hunter?” Isaiah asked.
She shook her head. “His older brother was the hunter in their family.”
“I still don’t understand why you ran,” Justin said. “He’s one breeder. Couldn’t the hunters in your area have helped you?”
Phoenix shook her head, not sure it would be possible to explain the complex social structure among the hunters. “I was planning on running to avoid training as a hunter before everything started to fall apart. Going to the hunters meant being forced to start my training.”
“Why didn’t you want to be trained as a hunter?” Justin asked.
“I don’t want to be brainwashed into hating an entire group of people for their genetics,” she explained.
“You’d also suck in a fight because of the panic attacks,” Andrew added, and she glared at him for revealing that to a room full of vampires.
“Now, I’m being hunted by the hunters, and by a monster who may believe I had a baby with a vampire. The hunters may also think I killed Hayden’s parents. His parents were killed within the last couple of weeks, but I don’t know exactly when.”
“Where are your parents?” Isaiah asked. “Why aren’t they with you?”
“I figured the hunters would be most concerned with finding me,” Phoenix explained. “There’s also the fact that I’ve never trusted my dad not to turn on me.”
“Is that why you were so upset the other day?” Isaiah asked. “Do you think the hunters from your area know you’re here?”
“Hayden is in the area questioning local tattoo artists,” Phoenix replied in a tired voice.
“Why would he question tattoo artists?” Justin asked.
“A witch did her tattoo so other hunters wouldn’t find her,” Isaiah explained.
“So, you’re hiding from all hunters?” Andrew asked. “Not just the ones from your area?”
“I don’t know who I can trust,” she admitted. “From what I’ve heard, the hunters in other territories aren’t as rigid as in the Seattle area, but I’ve been afraid to try contacting any of them for fear they’d just hand me over to the Seattle hunters.”
“You said Hayden was the one questioning the tattoo artists,” Justin began.
“That’s right,” she confirmed. “Based on the description the witch who did my tattoo gave me, it was Hayden. He had two hunters with him.”
“We need to find Andrei’s killer, and that may take away the threat to Phoenix,” the man with the lighter hair told them. “It seems strange that the hunters in your area would allow a breeder to be involved in looking for you if they’re as traditional as you say they are. I may not be an expert on hunters, but I’ve heard that breeders are considered weak.”
“That’s true,” Phoenix agreed. “There is a possibility that Hayden hired humans to pretend to be hunters, but I’m still not about to go to the hunters in my area for help. That would probably end very badly for me if they believe I killed Hayden’s parents. I have no idea what other lies Hayden may have told them.”
Andrew snorted. “The truth isn’t likely to go over very well with the hunters.”
Letting out a defeated sigh, Phoenix nodded. “You’re right.”
“We’ll figure this out,” the distinguished vampire stated with confidence. “Now, we can move on to introductions, and Isaiah can arrange to have Phoenix’s things moved here.”
“What?” Phoenix asked, thinking she must have misheard him.
“The security is better here,” Isaiah explained. “Apparently, Roman likes you and doesn’t want you getting killed.”
“He’s bossy if he likes you,” the woman with the Rapunzel hair added. “I’m Lydia. The bossy vampire is my husband, Roman. The grumpy doctor with the stick up his ass is Justin. The tall bitchy chick is my friend, Caitlin.”
“She’s also my wife,” Justin added.
“No one asked,” Caitlin told him. “Why do you feel the need to tell everyone we meet that I’m your wife?”
“It took a lot of stalking to get to that point,” Andrew added, and Phoenix was pretty sure she’d misheard him.
“The squeaky little spitfire with the great rack is Trish, and the hot surfer boy is Alek. They’re raising Hunter,” Lydia finished, doing some funky neck and hand move that looked like she might be trying to flip her hair. The move ended up looking more like she was twitching. “Do you have any questions?”
This day had turned out so different from anything she could have ever imagined. While she should have many questions, only one came to mind, and she giggled at the insanity of it all.
Isaiah seemed to catch on that she was upset because he was immediately on his feet and by her side. “Are you okay?” he asked, leaning down to speak close to her ear as if the other vampires wouldn’t still be able to hear him.
“Apparently not,” she told him. “Of all the things I should be worrying about, the only thing that comes to mind is how Lydia manages to wash her hair.”
Andrew laughed. “Damn, I’ve missed you.”
Phoenix felt Isaiah tense, and she knew it was because he didn’t like Andrew very much, but Andrew had been her friend. “I’ve missed you, too,” she admitted.
“Why don’t you show me how much you missed me, babe?” Andrew asked with a leer, and his characteristically crude question actually made her feel better.
Pulling away from Isaiah, she hugged Andrew. “Behave and I promise not to tell them any of the secrets you shared with me.”
Andrew’s face paled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
She gave him a sweet smile.
“Fine, I can behave,” he promised.
Justin snorted. “Not likely, but that’s okay since I want to hear those secrets.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Hayden hadn’t been able to shake his suspicions regarding the witch by the name of Brian after interviewing him, so he’d decided to come back here to have a less civil chat. His backup was perfect for this kind of interview. Kevin and Reese were hunters with a hatred of not only vampires, but witches. Sure, the hunters used witches for many things, but that didn’t mean most hunters liked them.
Kevin and Reese were both tall and solidly built with brown hair and blue eyes. Despite the fact that they weren’t related, they could easily pass as twins. Hayden had known both since childhood, but he wouldn’t say they were friends. Hunters weren’t friends with breeders, and the assholes constantly reminded him that they believed him to be somehow inferior. The condescending way they looked at him made him want to brag about his kills. Neit
her of them had ever killed anyone, let alone a vampire.
Both had been annoyed that he’d been the one questioning the witches. It was part of the agreement he’d struck with the Seattle hunters, in exchange for giving them information on how to find Phoenix. First, he’d had to convince them that Phoenix should be considered a suspect in his parents’ murders. Reese and Kevin were stupid enough that they didn’t realize they were dead as soon as he located Phoenix. Handing her over to the hunters was not part of his plan.
“Fuck!” Hayden shouted when he looked into the window of the tattoo parlor. If it weren’t for the sign stating that the shop had closed due to a family emergency, one wouldn’t be able to tell it was deserted. Everything looked the same, from the register on the counter to the sample designs hanging on the walls. The witch hadn’t wanted people to know he was leaving until it was too late to stop him. Even the sign made it seem like he’d be back. Hayden was so enraged that he was tempted to torch the entire building. “I should have tortured the truth out of that fucking witch the last time I was here.”
“That wasn’t your call to make,” Kevin reminded him, which only made Hayden angrier because the stupid hunters were the ones who’d insisted there was no reason to distrust this witch.
“Maybe he left something in there to clue us in on where Phoenix is hiding,” Reese suggested. “She has to be in the area.”
“Good idea,” he told Reese, deciding it was best to offer praise.
They made their way around the back of the building, into the dirty alley where a homeless human slept in a pile of his own filth. Breaking in was easy enough, making it less likely the witch had kept any important information at the shop. If he had, it might be spelled and harder to access. Then again, Hayden had no idea how powerful this witch was. Some could only cast one type of spell, while others could cast many.
What they found in the back room came as an even bigger surprise. There was a dead guy, his throat cut. Crudely tattooed across the guy’s forehead was a single word, traitor.
Kevin snickered. “Looks like we aren’t the only people the little fucker pissed off. I guess someone else decided to kill him first, but got the wrong witch.”
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