by Terry Spear
The vampires’ eyes widened. “Why are you carrying a hunter’s sword?” one of them asked.
The three rogue vampires glanced at the other hunters in their midst.
“I won it in battle,” Zachary lied and stabbed the vampire in the chest, Pasha quickly taking out another while the Scottish laird leaped into the air and skewered the final vampire with his sword.
Then all the hunters, and the two vampires with them, introduced themselves. Robert and Crystal were helping to make introductions.
Crystal said, “These are my older identical twin brothers, Boniface and Victor. They are hardened vampire hunters. They never hesitate to make a kill.”
Like Crystal, they had a Scandinavian look about them with their blond hair and assessing clear blue eyes. The brothers both wore beards.
They had appeared to catalogue everything from potential hunter strengths and weaknesses to which vampires would be the first to meet their maker. “They never gave up on me, even though they had to play the game within the hunter circles while I had been fighting to make it on my own, watching my back when they could. Uncle Max told my brothers he would have come to help, but he is in charge of our clan and was needed back home to keep the vampires who would be rogues in check.
Robert introduced his three brothers who had come to fight. “They’re always eager to help out, but they knew if Crystal was coming to Rachael's aid, they wouldn't do anything less than keep Crystal safe.”
Zachary could tell Crystal loved them for it as she smiled at them. She hadn't gained just a mate, but a whole family of hunters who treasured her, despite being turned.
Robert's oldest brother, Thomas, was about six-two like Crystal's brothers, and all of his quadruplets favored him—brown eyed, brown-haired, though Robert’s was cropped short because of being in the military. Samuel, his middle brother, had slightly reddish hair, and the youngest one, Mark, had a significant amount of blond streaks in his hair, making Pasha think of him as a surfer dude. Thomas had a bit of gray streaks in his hair.
“I am Ephraim MacNeill with my mate, Elizabeth,” the Scottish vampire said, giving a low bow, “at your service. I’m an ancient vampire, but one of the good guys.” His dark hair was bound in a tail and his dark eyes had the mesmerizing vampire look about them.
A pretty redhead with sparkling blue eyes, Elizabeth smiled.
“As am I,” Daemon said, his dark brown hair hanging about his shoulders, his dark brown eyes narrowed, “with my mate, Tezra. I’m prince of the vampires, though over the years I’ve lost some control over the various regions.” He shrugged. “Let them police their own people, I say.”
Tezra was a petite brunette with entrancing green eyes.
Zachary was glad all of them were here to help them out.
“What will you have us do now?” Prince Daemon asked.
Zachary wasn’t in charge of this operation, so he deferred to Adonis in a telepathic conference call between the vampires. “Adonis, we’ve killed three rogue vampires at the Magnolia Meeting Room at the hotel. What do you want us to do with the new hunter force we have here? Well, and the two good vampires?”
Lord MacNeill and Prince Daemon smiled.
“If they’re in agreement, I want some to go to the house across from my parents’ home and monitor things, one or two can come here and join Rachael and me, and another couple of hunters or vampires can join Jeremy and Laura. We can have four stay at the hotel to help protect Danai, Grandmother, and the kids,” Adonis said.
“I’ll stay with the women and children.” Tezra was Prince Daemon’s mate, a hunter turned by choice and a had been a borderline rogue after a serial killer vampire had murdered her parents and put her sister into a catatonic state.
Crystal Anderson, a pretty blond and Robert Parker’s mate said, “Not to make this an all-girls’ party, but I’ll stay with the women and children.”
“I’ll go where you need me to,” Robert said. So did his brothers and Crystal’s.
“Okay, we’re on our way,” Daemon said.
Then Zachary explained to the non-telepathic hunters what was going on.
“I’m with you,” Pasha said to Zachary. Again, he was surprised that she would choose to be with him and not someone, anyone, else. “I’ll just call for clean-up.” She quickly did that and the police would come and take care of the bodies.
“Let’s go then. We can show you the way,” Zachary said, and then Crystal and Tezra went up to the room to be with Danai, while Robert and his brothers and Crystal’s brothers went with Zachary and Pasha.
“So what’s the deal with the two of you?” Robert asked. “We heard Zachary was turned, but, Pasha, you’re still a huntress.”
“Yeah, that’s the truth of the matter,” Pasha said. “Zachary was trying to rescue me and my parents. We understand Crystal was turned.”
“A vampire believed he could start a whole new race of hunter vampires he could control. Except it backfired on him. Crystal can infiltrate their lairs before they even know what hit them.”
“And you stood by her,” Pasha said.
“Against our better judgement,” one of Robert’s brothers said. “But he had already fallen hard for the huntress before she became a vampire. She…was unusual to say the least. She had an aversion to fighting vampires. A couple of ancient vampires were after her and we were afraid she’d get our brother killed. She no longer has an aversion to killing the rogue vampires now though.”
“A huntress with an aversion to killing vampires?” Pasha asked.
Zachary was as surprised as Pasha to hear it.
“Yeah, it’s rare, but it happens,” Robert said. “I thought she was a vampire at first because she wouldn’t fight them and because two rogue vampire brothers wanted her so badly. But I was just as attracted to her and I had to protect her in the end. Now, she protects me.” Robert smiled.
Pasha looked at Zachary. He was glad there were more of the hunter turned vampires that hunters fell in love with and mated, and found the situation worked well for them.
“Are you going to blood bond with Crystal?” Pasha asked Robert.
“Yeah. The family has accepted that she’s one of our best hunters. Even so, I don’t like the risk she takes ever time she crashes a vampire bash, pretending to be one of them to learn how many of them there are. I want to be there with her when she does it, to protect her.”
“But you have to be a vampire to pull it off,” Pasha said.
“Correct. What about you?”
She glanced at Zachary and smiled. “Some of their abilities really come in useful, like the telepathic communication. I feel left out when I know Adonis, my sister, or Zachary are talking to each other, or to vampires and I want in on the conversation.”
“Same here. And moving from place to place like they do is really handy. The longevity issue is really the biggest one. We can’t live with the idea that one of us will age and die so much earlier than the other. We agreed we’re going to do it when we return home.”
“Well good luck with that. It’ll be a brand-new world for us, and I hope none of us will regret it.” Zachary was hoping that Robert’s decision to be turned would help convince Pasha that they could be together like that. Once they were finished with their conversation, he explained what they were doing concerning the houses they were monitoring.
“Crichton is going to figure this out sooner than later and begin turning more people,” Robert warned.
“Yeah, but we haven’t located where he’s staying so we can stop him,” Pasha said.
“I think we need to set up bait and draw him out,” Robert said.
“He sent one of his men to check out a house where we eliminated the vampire threat at a bash and didn’t go himself. He’s seems super cautious, not about to put himself in harm’s way,” Zachary said.
“I can’t believe the vampires aren’t warning him of the trouble they’re facing with the hunters hunting them,” Robert said.
“Like one of the ancients said, they’re not his men. So they don’t feel an obligation to treat him like he’s in charge,” Pasha said. “That doesn’t explain why his newly turned vampires don’t warn him.”
“Maybe he didn’t turn them. Or they’re told to get the job done and not bother their master over it,” Zachary said. “There was a man named Rutherford mentioned.”
“Someone else who is charge maybe? Unless Crichton gets wind of what we’re doing to his minions, we still might be able to take him down before he turns anyone else,” Robert’s brother Thomas said.
“Yeah, but that’s a big if,” Zachary said.
Adonis called and they put the call on speakerphone so everyone could hear what was going on. “We have a battle on our hands at my house. If you can get here quickly, we’d appreciate it.”
“We’re on our way. Just minutes from there.” Zachary was thinking they needed some sleep tonight. He hoped after this was done, they could get some sleep, taking turns watching each other’s backs. He was just glad they had more help to do it now.
Chapter 13
As soon as Zachary and the others joined Adonis and more of the hunters, Pasha suspected they wouldn’t be able to keep this under wraps any longer.
After killing two newly turned vampires, she pinned a third against the wall, her sword at his chest. He could have vanished. She should have skewered him right then and there. But it was as if he wanted to end this life as a vampire, not having been turned by choice and he just waited for her to finish him.
He bared his teeth at her, a natural reaction to being threatened, but she wished she could let him go, if he’d leave the city and become one of the good vampires. He couldn’t think for himself until Crichton died, if he’d been the one to turn him in the first place though.
“Who turned you?” Pasha asked the vampire.
The vampire’s eyes widened, looking astonished that she’d ask him about that, instead of just finishing him off. She poked the blade at his chest again. “Who turned you?”
“Rutherford. He turned all the vampires you see here. The ones who aren’t ancients, that is. He wanted to start his own army.”
“Not Crichton?” she said, frowning. An army of rogue vampires? Sounded like he had wanted to start more of a war than just with her hunter family. Maybe this was a test, to see how well the outcome would be and then progress from there. Though she recalled that was the name Zachary had mentioned before.
“No. Rutherford. Crichton knew him back in the old days, but Rutherford was in charge.”
“Was? Where is he? Rutherford?”
“Crichton thinks he killed him.”
“Crichton killed him? A hunter didn’t do it?” This was a surprising turn of events. The word the family had was that Crichton had been in charge and responsible for the massacre. “You think Rutherford’s still alive?”
“Yeah. I…I hear Rutherford’s voice in my head sometimes. Faint. We haven’t seen him since the big hunter battle, but I sense him since he turned me. The others do too.”
“How do you know that Crichton killed, or attempted to kill Rutherford?”
“I saw him take up a hunter’s blade and stab Rutherford. Rutherford vanished. Crichton had to fight another hunter then, so he was distracted. When Rutherford didn’t return to the fight, we thought he must have died. We didn’t hear from him forever, but yesterday, we began hearing his voice. Faint, like he was nearly dead.”
Great. Now they needed to look for Rutherford too. They often weren’t injured so severely that they couldn’t heal themselves. Crichton must have injured him badly.
“I guess that means I can’t let you go so you’d become a good citizen of wherever you’re from,” she said to the rogue vampire.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll leave.”
“You can’t if Rutherford’s controlling you. Unless, you could kill Crichton. You should be loyal to Rutherford and eliminate the vampire who tried to murder him.” Though Pasha really didn’t trust the vampire to go after Crichton.
“Rutherford hasn’t given me the order to kill Crichton.”
“Just us hunters. Fine. Have it your way.” Or…Rutherford’s way.
Pasha stabbed the vampire in the heart and pulled out her sword, watching him fall to the floor, sorry that the vampire who controlled him still lived and that the dead vampire hadn’t been able to choose another way of life.
Zachary hurried toward Pasha and took hold of her arm. “What did he say?”
She glanced around the room and realized the hunters, and law-abiding vampires, were still standing and everyone had been watching her. Rutherford’s minions and a couple of ancients were all dead.
“An ancient who knew Crichton in the old days named Rutherford is the one who led the massacre against our families. He’s the one who turned all these humans into vampires. Crichton tried to murder him, but Rutherford survived. He must be weak and in hiding. I imagine if he could, he’d order his minions to kill Crichton, who thinks Rutherford is dead. But this newly turned vampire”—Pasha motioned to the dead one on the floor—“says he’ll only kill hunters since that’s the last order Rutherford gave them.”
“Too bad one of us couldn’t influence Rutherford’s minions,” Ephraim said, “but unfortunately, it won’t work on vampires who were turned by another.”
“If we could kill Rutherford, then maybe one of us could do that,” Daemon said. “I suspect that’s why the newly turned vampires are not informing Crichton that we’re here. They owe allegiance to Rutherford.”
“I agree. If the rest of you are ready, it’s time to get some sleep…in shifts,” Adonis said. “We can divide up houses. We’re staying at the ones across from the families’ homes on the beach.”
“All right,” Pasha said. “Zachary and I are taking the house across from our parents’ place.”
Robert’s brothers said they’d watch Adonis and Rachael’s backs.
Crystal’s brothers went with Zachary and Pasha.
Everyone else divided up from there, but they all moved the bodies to the shed out back first.
“We’ll have to get the police on this in the morning to pick up the bodies,” Adonis said. “Until then, those who are monitoring the houses, give us a heads-up if you see any activity at any of the homes. Any. One person entering a home is enough to alert the rest of us.”
Everyone agreed.
Pasha was surprised that some of the vampires, like the prince, and the Scottish lord, wouldn’t have any trouble taking orders.
Then they all split forces and Zachary and Pasha went with Crystal’s brothers to the house.
“Why don’t you both get some sleep first,” Victor said.
“Yeah, we’ve got first watch,” his brother said.
Pasha felt a little uneasy, thinking she didn’t want to sleep in the same room as Zachary, but tactically, she knew it was a good idea to stay together if any vampires came into the house to fight them.
She motioned to the master bedroom. “Come on, Zachary. Let’s take the big bed.”
“Are you sure?” Zachary asked.
“Yeah. For safety sake.”
In the bedroom, she began stripping out of her clothes, unfastening her boots first. Then removing her socks.
Zachary watched her as if she was doing a striptease for him. She cocked her head and frowned at him, telling him nonverbally they were supposed to be getting ready for bed and that was all.
She swore his ears turned a little red.
He began pulling off his shirt and she glanced at his abs, greatly defined from all that sword play. The same with his biceps. He sat down to remove his boots and socks.
“You know, the only way to make any of this right is to take out the two head honcho vampires.” She unfastened her black cargo pants and pulled them off.
“Yeah, I agree.” He pulled his cargo pants off and she thought his muscular legs were drool-worthy too.
She climbed under the covers wearing her
bra and panties. He joined her in bed wearing his boxer briefs.
“I guess we should have brought a bag with us with a change of clothes,” he said.
“I’m sure we can swap off with others tomorrow and pack some things to stay here, if we stay here longer.” She laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling.
He turned on his side and looked at her. “I want you to know I don’t feel any differently about you. I still can’t stop thinking about you when we’re apart.”
“Or when we’re fighting? You need to concentrate on your own battles.” She turned her head to look at him. “You’re doing a great job, you know. You tend to put yourself at risk when I don’t think you should, but maybe that’s the vampire in you taking charge.”
“It’s the hunter, though I’m sure the vampire part of me has something to do with it too. I just…well, see things differently. A way to deal with the battles as a vampire that I couldn’t do before. I have to admit I like the vanishing and appearing business.”
“And the flying? Not that I’d want to be a vampire for anything, I do think that would be one of my favorite things to do. What about blood? Don’t you have a craving for it?”
“No. Adonis said with the transfusion I had, I won’t be needing any more for quite a while. I don’t feel a craving for blood. I hear it pumping through your veins, smell it, but it doesn’t make me want to bite you to get at the source.”
“Good thing. Your brother was worried I might eliminate you, per your request.”
Zachary sighed.
“I wouldn’t do it, you know.” She shrugged. “You’re a valuable asset.” She closed her eyes. “We need to get some sleep, in case we have to fight again later.”
She knew she should keep her distance from him, but she wondered what it would be like with a hunter turned vampire and she moved over to him and snuggled against him. “This doesn’t mean anything.”
He pulled her close and smiled. “That’s all right by me.”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” she insisted, but she needed this.
“I can deal with it.”
She smiled at him and kissed his chest, then rested her head against it.
