Vampire Redemption (Heart of the Huntress Book 5)

by Terry Spear

  “See you tonight,” Pasha said.

  “Good night,” Zachary added.

  When Daemon went to bed, Pasha helped Zachary clean up the dishes from breakfast.

  "We have to find their lairs while they're sleeping. At least that's one good thing about you being part vampire, but also a hunter, you can be out in daylight." Pasha finished loading the dishes in the dishwasher.

  "We'll have to have someone take our places here to watch the other hunters' backs while they sleep."

  "I'll call Adonis and see if he can get someone over here to stay with them." Pasha got on her phone and called her brother, then put it on speakerphone when he answered. "We want to hunt for the vampire lairs while it's daylight."

  "Rachael and I have discussed the very same thing. We're realigning our numbers and a couple of men will take your places, and then we'll do the same over here. We're going with you. We started this with you. We're ending this as a family," Adonis said. "We'll meet you at the place you're staying. I've also contacted the police to have them pick up all the bodies. They should be done with it by now."

  "Okay, see you in a few minutes then." Pasha ended the call and reached for Zachary's hand. "Will you tell Adonis you're staying with us from now on?"

  "Yeah. I need to tell my father also, though I suspect he'll realize what we'll be doing. What about your parents?"

  She was so glad Zachary wanted to stay here with them. "I think they need the time to reflect and get over this after their long, terrifying captivity. I'm sure they'll want to return once things are more settled here."

  Zachary nodded. "Good. It's important to have the older hunters' wisdom and the young hunters' thirst for knowledge, while the rest of us continue to hone our skills and fight the good fight."

  "I couldn't agree more."

  A car pulled into the drive, and she saw it was Adonis. Two of Robert's brothers, Thomas and Mark, had come to replace them on guard watch.

  "Tomorrow, we get to do the hunting," Thomas said.

  Adonis agreed. "Whoever hunts today will swap out with the ones who guard today. Let's go."

  "What about Danai?" Pasha asked. She was certain she'd want to hunt with them. She had to be going batty taking care of the children all this time.

  "We're picking her up at the hotel. Carissa wants to stay with her baby for now. She's had her fill of fighting. Tezra and Crystal will remain there with our Grandmother," Adonis said.

  "Okay, that's good."

  When they finally reached the hotel, the parking lot was half empty, most travelers leaving for fun activities at the beach, others continuing on their trips. Some were still getting breakfast at one of the hotel's restaurants. Zachary immediately went to talk to one of the clerks at the check-in counter, and she suspected that he was making sure that the clerk, and any others who were new on the front desk, knew to only obey the hunters' orders.

  In the lobby seating area, a couple of kids were talking to each other while their mom and dad checked out. No one else was in the lobby.

  "I'll go up to ensure everything's fine, that Carissa arrived okay, and that Danai is ready to go with us," Adonis said.

  "We'll be waiting for your return." Pasha felt the urgency to hunt, hoping beyond hope they'd find a bunch of rogue vampires sleeping in one of the houses, maybe near where Carissa had found them before. They might have moved from there now. But at least they had the addresses so they could check them out. It wasn't the same as when Carissa was on her own and couldn't go into one of the houses to destroy all the vampires there. She had to use the tactic of stalk and ambush like a jaguar predator would.

  Adonis and the group of hunters would be more like a pride of lions encircling the vampires and eliminating them.

  Pasha glanced at Zachary who was still diligently speaking with each of the hotel clerks, one after another, waiting his turn before going to the next one. He was thorough and kind enough to let everyone go about their business and not using his mind control on guests needing assistance.

  She was proud of him for taking on this new world that had been forced on him and making it work for the hunters' benefit. Not once had he complained about the inconveniences, as soon as he'd left his father's home to come here and stamp out the vile rogues, but he'd accepted his fate and moved forward. She guessed that was what she would have done. Maybe not though. Maybe she would have been like Danai. Then again, Danai felt she'd lost her whole family to Piaras, so it wasn't exactly the same. Now she had a support group and Pasha was glad for that. She wanted to be part of that too.

  Danai and Adonis joined them, and they loaded into the car again.

  Pasha asked, "What about the security cameras on everyone's homes?"

  "Destroyed. I'm certain the vampires didn't want the hunters who had left the vicinity to see what was going on," Adonis said.

  "What about the camera in the baby's room?" Pasha asked.

  Adonis was driving and he shook his head. "Maybe it's intact."

  Pasha called Carissa right away and put the call on speakerphone. "Hey, is the camera in your baby's room still working?"

  "Yes, but I haven't seen anyone up there since the battle. A couple of men checked the room out, found no one was in it, and left. Even if they had a vampire bash at the house, there wouldn't be anyone who wanted to use that room for anything. But you know, that's a good idea. We could put cameras up again. Somewhere new and see if we could monitor any new activity there, other than our being there."

  "Okay, yeah, thanks, we'll do that." Pasha turned to Adonis. "We need to go shopping. We have to get this done before they wake."

  So that was the next priority, buying the equipment, and securing it where the vampires wouldn't think to look. She wished they'd been able to see the original videos because they could have identified how many vampires were coming and going from their homes, maybe figured out who they'd killed, and who was left to kill. And they could maybe find the hosts and brainwash them so they wouldn't help the vampires any longer. That would have been great. She just wished they could have done it.

  "What about the security videos on the other homes? The ones that are across the street from our homes?" Pasha asked.

  "Easily checked." Zachary called Thomas and asked him if they had any video security set up in the home he was staying at.

  "I'll check." A few minutes later, he returned and said, "Yep, they've got them still up here."

  "Good. See what you can learn from them. I'll check at the other homes. The vampires got rid of the ones on the hunters' houses, so we're setting them up again."

  "That sounds like a plan. I'll get back with you on the video," Thomas said.

  They ended the call and Pasha was beginning to feel they might get somewhere with this. If she'd been a private detective, she would have checked with social media sites. But vampires often didn't bother with that. Oh, sure, an occasional one had a Twitter account or was on Facebook, unless they had their own secret social network sites. If one of the ancients, like Daemon or Ephraim were awake, she'd asked them if they knew of anything like that. Then again, they were the good guys. So if the bad guys had a social media network, Daemon and Ephraim might not be aware of it.

  Chapter 16

  After they reached the homes, they all worked together to set up the security cameras, one home at a time, some watching the others' backs, though they knew the hunters in the homes across the street were watching them too.

  Once they were done with that house, they moved onto the next until they'd finished the work. Now they not only had their hunters on the scene, they had video security they could monitor also. Zachary had asked if the hunters at the various homes had security cameras, so once they had found they did, they forwarded the videos to Zachary and he forwarded them to everyone else so whoever had the time could go through them and see if any of the ones they had killed were featured in the videos.

  Then it was time to get something to eat, and they decided on pizzas after they had s
uggestions of Chinese food, Mexican dishes, Italian, and pizza.

  The pizza parlor had an old-world charm with black and white tiles inlaid in the pattern of carpets, and the aisles in between featuring white tiles with little black diamonds connecting them. The tables had red tablecloths, and long poled lights hung from the ceiling, giving a nice lighting, yet providing ambience. The lower half of the walls were brick and the top of the shelves were lined with a variety of fancy wine bottles. Each of the booths had window-framed scenes of Italy, and the chairs at all the tables were covered in green vinyl. Flowers surrounded a water fountain at the entrance, a lion's head sitting front and center, lights highlighting him and the water flowing from three spouts into the basin. The water pouring into the basin was pleasing to the ear while Pasha listened to the sound of music playing overhead, and people's conversation and laughter filling the air. The aroma of freshly baked pizzas and pasta, of cheese and pepperoni, Italian sausage, and tomatoes, all added to the great fragrance of the place. Pasha's stomach rumbled with interest.

  A waiter hurried to seat them in the busy restaurant, one whole wall filled with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the Gulf. The waiter had another help him move some of the tables next to the windows so they could all sit together.

  Pasha asked Zachary, "Did one of you help convince the waiter to set that up?"

  Zachary smiled. "I told you there are some gifts with being what we are now that can be extremely helpful."

  "I'll say. I know of a lovely Irish pub nearby that we'll have to go to one of these days. You can get us the best seating in the house."

  Zachary raised a brow. "Even if I have to make some guests leave their meals behind so that we can take over the table?"

  Pasha sighed. "I guess that's what a rogue would do. But I still think it's a great gift." When here before she thought it was just a curse.

  All the hunters looked over each of the patrons, the three men in the kitchen area tossing pizzas in the air as they prepared them for more customers.

  "I've never been here before," Pasha said. "It sure is nice." And she sure hoped they wouldn't have to create a scene if hosts were in the place and gave them trouble. Then again, if any were in here, maybe the vampire hunters could change their minds about helping the rogues.

  "This is great. When Adonis suggested it, I hadn't expected anything this nice," Zachary said.

  They finally took their seats, some of them sitting facing the waterfront and the boardwalk out front, others sitting with their backs to the windows so they could watch the action inside. Even though all of them were vigilant in watching for trouble, she wanted to see out the windows more. Danai was sitting with her back to the window while Zachary sat next to Pasha to watch out the window with her. She suspected he chose that seat more than the one by Danai and Michael because he wanted to be nearer to Pasha, not because he was more interested in the view of the Gulf.

  "If we return to Dallas, I'll have to take you to some places I know of that are my favorite spots to eat," Zachary said, and she realized, for the first time, they were talking about courtship, about going on dates.

  "We will. So we can see your family. You don't have to be cut off from them forever just because you'll be staying with us in Pensacola." That was unless the other hunters in the Dallas clan couldn’t live with what Zachary had become. If not, his family might have to come out to Pensacola to visit him. “I…didn’t say it, but I’m glad you’re staying with us.”

  Zachary smiled at her. “You had any doubts?”

  She sighed. “Yeah, maybe.” She did wonder what had become of Gregory, the hunter who tried to kill her brother. She hoped they'd never have to deal with him again, but if they did, they would. Permanently. He wouldn’t get away with trying to kill Adonis for a second time.

  The waiter brought menus, and everyone was trying to decide on the size of pizzas to order and the toppings to include. Since most liked the same things, they agreed on three large pizzas with a variety of toppings, including three kinds of meat—pepperoni, grilled chicken, and Canadian bacon, double the cheese, two tomato-based sauces, one white sauce, and several different vegetables—some spinach, dried tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives, and green and red bell peppers.

  For drinks, they all wanted water, to keep a clear head for any fights they might get into this afternoon. Though if Pasha had been on a date with Zachary, she would have enjoyed some red wine with her pizza.

  "Pasha might have asked you if you want to stay here for good, once we clear out the vampire threat, Zachary," Adonis said.

  "She has, and I accepted." Though Zachary glanced at his brother to see what he was going to do, Pasha figured.

  "Danai asked me, and I'm staying," Michael said.

  Pasha was glad. Though she noted that neither Michael nor Danai had said anything about mating. It looked like it was going to take them some time to decide this. She wondered who was the one holding things up. Her sister? Or Michael? Maybe both were seeing how things would go. Pasha didn't have the patience for waiting. She was more apt to jump in with both feet once she had decided something. But she was trying really hard to hold off until everything was taken care of as far as the vampires in the area were concerned.

  She and Zachary were a good hunter-fighting team. But would living with each other be as great as a mated couple? She thought so.

  She knew everyone was frustrated with the lack of intel that would tell them if they had taken care of most of the rogues or still had way too many to terminate. She would be glad when this was all over and they could get back to their—well, they would never be normal lives again—but more normal than spending every waking moment thinking about the fight ahead of them.

  While they placed their pizza and drink orders, Pasha and the other hunters glanced around at their surroundings again. No vampires would be there during the day, but hosts could very well be there. No one seemed to be watching them as if they were worried or afraid the hunters had shown up.

  She did think about asking Zachary if he could talk to the staff there to control them instead of the vampires, but the vampires probably wouldn't come here or to any of the restaurants. Instead, they'd send their hosts to pick up meals or whatever else they needed.

  Pasha suddenly had an idea as the pizza was delivered, but she waited for the wait staff to leave before she mentioned it. "What about blood banks? The vampires often have bloody cocktails at bashes, even if they have hosts to feed off. Maybe we could check with the blood banks and convince them not to give blood to vampires."

  "That's illegal," Zachary said.

  "Yeah, but—"

  "If the vampires can't get enough blood legitimately through a blood bank, they’d have to resort to feeding off humans. They wouldn’t have a choice then. It’s not illegal for vampires to feed on hosts, if they are agreeable. But if they can’t find hosts that are, they could kill them instead, to avoid being considered a rogue if the host squealed on them, or they could take more than what they need to prove humans can’t dictate to them," Zachary said.

  Pasha frowned. "All right."

  "After we eat, we're heading to the first apartment complex close to here where Carissa killed the two vampires. I suspect the vampires moved on because they wouldn't want to stay in a place where the hunter was targeting vampires. Unless they'd wanted to leave a few as bait to catch the hunter. Since Carissa didn't return there, they might have given up on the notion, if that’s what they’d had in mind," Adonis said.

  "Or figured she wasn't coming back, and they would continue to watch for her just in case," Pasha said.

  "True. Maybe we can get some security video there to look at and see if we can again match up any we've killed and who might be left," Adonis said.

  Everyone agreed that would be a good idea. They enjoyed their meal, keeping their voices low so that no one else would overhear them, if any of them were hosts who were loyal to the vampires.

  "Do you think any of them are here?" P
asha asked, pulling off another slice of pepperoni and cheese pizza.

  "Hosts?" Adonis asked.

  "I don't think so." Michael was taking his mushrooms off his pizza and giving them to Danai. She smiled back at him.

  Pasha was beginning to really hope the two of them would become a mated couple. Danai seemed so comfortable with Michael and he seemed to know her well enough that he knew what she liked to eat even.

  Once they were done eating, they paid for their meals and started to head out. A party of five men were coming into the pizza parlor at the same time and they paused to look at them. Or particularly at Pasha, Danai, and Adonis, the three hunters from this area. Which made Pasha wonder if they were hosts and knew them from pictures they'd seen of them. Zachary and the rest of the hunters noticed the interest right away. The hosts couldn't telepathically communicate with the vampires. And the vampires normally had willing hosts, so they came when they contacted them.

  Pasha asked one of the men, "Do I know you?"

  His face reddened. "No...no, I don't think so."

  "You're from around here, aren't you?"

  "Uh, yeah, but I don't know you."

  Adonis focused his attention on another of the men. He was nodding, even though Adonis wasn't saying anything. Not out loud, anyway. Then Zachary and Danai each did the same to two more men. Michael and Rachael made sure the others couldn't escape the pizza parlor if they had any notion of trying to do so before the hunters could convince them not to tell the vampires they’d seen them. At least that’s what Pasha assumed they were doing.

  "What are they... What...?" the man she'd been talking to said as he saw the three hunters act in a very vampire way.