by Terry Spear
“All right, where are the vampires we need to kill?” one of the men asked.
As if Zachary knew where the rogues were and hadn’t done anything about it. Before he could respond, Adonis entered the lobby of the hotel. “We have to find them. But Zachary’s right. No killing the ones at my parents’ home. They’re innocent in all this. Another named Alex is helping us. Not all vampires are bad, so remember that. If they come at you with teeth bared, consider them a threat. They won’t hesitate to attempt to kill you. The others won’t fight, so don’t attack them.”
The men didn’t look real happy to hear it.
“If you can’t live by the rules, you can leave now. My family will let the police know they’re not to pay your bounties if you kill any vampires not on the terminal list. And you’ll be on a terminal list instead.”
“And if we make a mistake?” the one man said, an evil gleam in his eye.
“Don’t. For your own sake and the sake of your friends.”
“So if one of us makes a mistake, we’re all responsible?” the one man asked, incredulous.
“If you’re together fighting as a unit, figure it out yourself. Are you staying at the hotel?” Adonis asked.
“Yeah, we got a couple of rooms here.”
“The vampires have been here. Some others might return, believing that the ones we killed were eliminated by hunters staying here. Just a warning,” Adonis said.
“No need to warn us. That’s why we’re here. To take care of them.”
“Just hope that if a rogue ever turns any one of you, your friends will stand by you,” Adonis added.
They looked at each other and Zachary thought maybe the notion might have sunk in a little.
“If you have any questions, call me,” Adonis said, giving them his cell number and they reciprocated. “We truly are in this together. Zachary, if you don’t need me?”
“I’m returning to the house in a bit,” Zachary said. “We’re good here.”
“I’m on my way to mine then. Let me know how Gregory is when you see him.”
“I will.” Zachary watched as Adonis left the hotel, then he said to the men, “I’m keeping track of everyone’s whereabouts to ensure if any of us are in trouble, we can send reinforcements.”
They looked a little like they didn’t believe him.
“You think I have time to keep track of you for the purpose of spying? Think again. We’ve had our share of fights with the vampires since we got here. All we care about is evening the playing field, and then taking them down.”
The men shared their phone numbers and room numbers with him, and he told them where he was staying if they needed to drop by for some reason. He didn’t tell them how many hunters were staying there, or anything about the kids or others staying here. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them not to harm the hunters there, but he didn’t want them to be taken in by the charm of a vampire and tell all that they knew.
Zachary had halfway wanted to show them he was a vampire, to prove he was one of the good guys, and to see their reaction. If they moved to kill him, they would have to leave the city. But he didn’t want Rutherford or the others to know he was one, if he should convince the humans to talk through his vampiric persuasion. Zachary wasn’t sure he really trusted the human hunters. It was easy for the vampires to control them. And they weren’t as strong as the hunters born that way.
“See you around.” Zachary left the hotel, but then appeared in the room adjoining the one where Carissa, the baby, Grandma, and her twin charges were staying. He walked into the adjoining room and raised his brows to observe Gregory helping the boys put a sea life puzzle together.
Zachary was glad to see it. Maybe by making a connection with what was left of their clan, Gregory would be more accepting of what had become of Adonis and the others, once he learned Danai and Zachary were just like him now.
But then Gregory glanced in Carissa’s direction as she rocked her baby to sleep in her arms. Zachary wondered if the hunter thought, if he played his cards right, the newly widowed huntress might be interested in him.
He’d have to overcome one major obstacle—besides the fact she had to be grieving for the loss of her mate—Gregory had tried to kill Adonis in a dishonorable way. And he was kin to Carissa, who found it totally acceptable as to what Adonis and the others had become.
If they did fall in love, Gregory would have no choice but to accept the vampire turned hunters in the family. At least Zachary sure hoped he and Pasha would stay together and he would be part of the family.
Chapter 22
Zachary told Pasha and the rest of the gathered hunters who were watching over the kids about the Van Helsing hunters here, who planned to go after the rogue vampires.
“What about the Crichton vampires?” Pasha asked.
“Do you need me and the men with me to protect them?” Gregory asked, before Zachary could respond and his question surprised the hell out of him.
“I told them the consequences of murdering the vampires who were turned against their will and want no part of the killing of hunters, or vampires, for that matter. But I imagine if Rutherford’s vampires attack Crichton’s, they’ll fight to defend themselves. At least I hope they do. But yeah, if you want to help the others protect them, by all means, do so,” Zachary said. “As far as the human hunters? We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. I’ve heard of a few cases of them being turned, when they thought to fight the vampires, some of the hunters killed outright, a few of them eliminating the rogues, and a couple of cases where they killed vampires that weren’t rogues. Our hunter kind had to terminate the Van Helsing hunters involved in killing law-abiding vampires before the rest of the vampires were up in arms over it.”
Zachary was surprised Gregory would offer to help the vampires rather than stay here and protect the young ones and those watching over them. Maybe he felt if he offered to protect the newly turned vampires, he could prove to Carissa, and the others, that he had changed how he viewed them.
In any event, Zachary hoped Gregory truly felt that way and wasn’t just pretending to have a change of heart. Then again, sometimes living the lie could help to make it come true and he would be behind them all the way in the end.
Pasha couldn't believe it when Gregory wanted to protect the Crichton vampires, though she hoped he really meant it and would be a great help to them. She knew just why he'd offered though. Everyone in the family knew he'd tried to kill Adonis for being a vampire and "stealing" Rachael away from him, but she also saw the interest he had in Carissa. Mourning the loss of her mate came first, though. Carissa was still so bent on revenge and avenging her mate, that even thinking about taking another, especially a hunter who had nearly murdered her cousin, wasn't going to be easy for Gregory to overcome.
At least Gregory was taking the first step toward showing he could change. Still, Pasha wondered how Carissa would view how Gregory was so hung up on Rachael. Would he be just as devoted to Carissa, or was she just another huntress to him, when there were too few of mateable age? Pasha had every intention of protecting her cousin if Gregory made a nuisance of himself regarding her. She was surprised when he started to put together a puzzle with the twins. They were eager for some hunter attention, and Grandma was glad to relinquish her role and take a break.
"So what do we do now?" Pasha asked Zachary.
"We go back to the house. I guess we'll go with Gregory and his men to the other house first, just to ensure they know all is right and he's wanting to help them, Pasha.” Then Zachary said to Carissa and the Grandma, “Call us if you need any further assistance."
"We will, thanks," Carissa said. "Be safe."
"You as well." Then Zachary, Pasha, and Gregory returned to her parents' house and Zachary explained the situation. "We'll return with Gregory to Adonis's house to get the rest of his hunter party and bring them here."
Pasha agreed. They needed to stick together. She couldn't believe how Carissa had been taking out
a vampire or two at a time and hadn't been killed over it herself as many vampires as there were here.
When they arrived at Adonis's house, the men looked surprised to hear Gregory's plan, but they went along with it. Pasha thought it might have to do with Zachary and Michael’s recommendation that Gregory and his friends should be allowed back into the hunter circles in Dallas, if they helped out with protecting the newly turned vampires and they helped Adonis to rid the city of the rogue vampire threat too.
Then Pasha and Zachary, Gregory and his friends all moved over to her parents' home.
Alex was highly agitated, pacing the floor, and Daemon said, “Rutherford is nearly to full strength, Alex thinks. The vampire keeps asking where he is. Alex is fighting telling him what’s going on.”
Gregory frowned, appearing as though he didn’t trust one of the rogue vampire’s blood bonds, for good reason. It wasn’t Alex’s fault the vampire was still alive and could control him to an extent, though Rutherford should have been able to really control Alex fully. That made Pasha wonder how Alex could fight it, if he was telling them the truth.
“What makes you so different, Alex?” Pasha asked.
“Nothing.”
“Maybe you’re an anomaly, or maybe there’s a really easy explanation,” Pasha said.
Alex’s face was red with frustration as he shook his head.
“Maybe he should be away from here so he doesn’t lead Rutherford and his minions here,” Gregory said.
“I agree that maybe this isn’t the best place for Alex to hang out,” Ephraim said.
“But he could tell Rutherford who was here anyway,” Zachary warned.
Zachary was right. “How can you fight Rutherford’s commands, Alex?” Pasha asked again.
“My mother was a hunter, okay?” Alex practically shouted. “And ostracized by the hunter clan when she took up with a human and had me. You know what happens to hunters who are banished?”
Everyone glanced at Gregory, but at least he had friends who had stuck with him.
“The rogue vampires killed them when I was seven. They killed my father who was unable to protect my mother, and they killed her. The reason I survived? I was staying with a babysitter at the babysitter’s parents’ home while my parents were celebrating their eighth anniversary. Maybe that’s why,” Alex said, furious.
Pasha suspected he’d been an outcast, adopted by a human family, and had hidden the fact he had a hunter mother because it had brought only death to his parents. “I’m so sorry about your parents, and it’s shameful what hunter families will do to one of their own when they stray from what the hunter clans’ rules dictate.”
“I couldn’t be either a hunter or a human, but something in between,” Alex said.
“But Rutherford thought you were strictly human,” Pasha said brightly. “What if you can be like Adonis and can be out in the sunlight?” She was careful still not to mention Zachary or her sister.
Alex’s jaw dropped. Then he shook his head. “What if I can’t?”
“What if you can?” Pasha said again.
“But the test to prove it one way or another would mean it could kill him,” Ephraim said.
Alex perked up. “I’m willing to try.”
“Okay, but just a little sun. Just some that is filtering in through the blinds. Nothing really intense. And only on a small spot of skin. If it begins to burn, we’ll know you don’t have enough of the hunter genetics to protect you from the sun. Or, it means that some sunlight won’t bother you, but intense rays might. So we’ll have to test the theory carefully.” Pasha smiled. “But you’re able to resist the vampire’s orders to an extent. Like Adonis, you probably can’t kill your maker, but you can fight him.” Then she frowned. “You also can’t let him know you can be out in daylight, if you can. He might try to terminate you.”
“Hell, I wish I had that ability,” one of Crichton’s vampires said.
Pasha wished they did too, but only as long as they remained good vampires, otherwise they’d have rogue daylight vampires to contend with.
“You know what this means,” Zachary said, “if Alex can be in the sunlight and not get burned?”
“Hunters can mate with humans and still keep our line going,” Gregory said.
Pasha was surprised he’d think diluting the hunter line was a good thing, even if this worked.
“There’s a huntress shortage,” Gregory said, as if what he was saying wasn’t sinking in.
“Didn’t you hear about the vampires targeting them because the hunters ostracized my mother and she was on her own with a human who couldn’t fight the rogues?” Alex sounded exasperated with the hunter.
“Not here. Not with a hunter clan that’s openminded enough to have a vampire turned hunter in charge of the family,” Gregory said.
Pasha couldn’t believe Gregory had changed so much since arriving here. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
She did wonder about Alex too. Did he have the notion of turning a human himself if he couldn’t find a huntress mate? The problem was, what if the huntress genes protected the baby more than the hunter’s genes? Or what if he and she were more at risk because they didn’t have each other’s back?
But that was something to think about at a later date. First, they needed to learn if Alex could even survive direct sunlight.
“We’re heading back to the house across the street if you don’t need us any further,” Pasha said, taking hold of Zachary’s hand.
He smiled down at her.
“We’re good,” Daemon said.
Everyone else agreed, and then Pasha and Zachary returned to the house across the street.
"You know, you're very good at leading," Pasha said to Zachary as soon as they were inside the house.
"With Michael around, I usually didn't get much of chance, him being the older brother. I had to do whatever he said, until he was in trouble with our dad and forced to hunt on his own."
"That's so dangerous."
"I know. At first, he liked working like that, out from under our dad's orders, getting hunting contracts where he could, but he really is family-oriented and coming back to the family worked for him. I could see a big difference in the way he looked at leadership. He's even fine with Adonis being in charge. Which I was a little surprised at. Not because Adonis is a vampire too now, but because Michael is very much an alpha."
They saw Victor and Boniface waiting for them to return and told them what had happened.
“We’re off to bed,” Zachary said.
“Night all. Hopefully it will be quiet,” Boniface said.
“Night,” both Victor and Pasha said.
“What do you think about Gregory and his big turnaround?” Pasha asked in the master bedroom as she closed the bedroom door.
“I hate to say it, but I think he might be interested in Carissa. Hopefully, he’ll hold off on trying to court her.”
“You think he’ll want to stay here with us?”
“Hell, yeah. My dad might not welcome him back to the clan in Dallas, and here, he can get a fresh start, and try to make it up to Adonis. As to the business with hunters mating humans as in Alex’s parents’ case? I don’t know. It might work. It might help us to have a little bit of an edge when we’re at a disadvantage in the lack of huntresses and that means hunter offspring. But only if we can protect those who mate with hunters or huntresses.”
“There’s still the sunlight issue for Alex.”
Zachary sighed. “Yeah, possibly. But I think you might have a real point here.”
“Or I opened up the proverbial can of worms,” she said.
“True. Now, about us…” Zachary took Pasha into his arms and gave her a hug.
She was ready to make love to the hunter as she hugged him back. She kissed Zachary’s mouth, thinking how much she would miss being with him if Zachary had decided to leave and return to Dallas.
“Hmm.” Zachary kissed her back with a hot-blooded, searing kiss. He nuzz
led her face, then kissed her jaw.
He pulled up her black shirt and slipped it over her head and tossed it to the floor. He swept his hands up her sides, then leaned down and kissed her breasts, one, then the other through the black lace bra.
“Oh…yes.” This was what she really wanted to focus on. Them. Together. Making hot, sizzling love.
“I want you to be my mate.”
She looked up at his darkening blue eyes and wondered if his teeth had extended yet. He didn’t seem to be getting any more control over them when they made love. “Yes.”
He smiled at her, then frowned and nuzzled her neck, which made her think again about his canines. “But there’s a little issue of me living for many years beyond your lifespan, if I don’t get myself killed on a hunt, of course.”
“I can live with it.” Anything to stay with the hot-blooded hunter.
“I’m not sure I can.”
She licked his lips. “You mean you don’t want a mate who looks like your grandmother at some point in time? I wouldn’t want to be your grandmother either. I’m”—Pasha took a deep breath—"I’m willing to be turned, but not right away. I want this to be resolved—the business with Rutherford and his rogues. Once that’s happened, I want to be just like you. You have the advantage in so many ways over all of us. I want that too. I want to be able to protect you too, in a way that really helps. That’s not to say I care for the fangs and blood issues, but everything else, I’m ready for.”
She pulled his shirt off over his head.
“Just because you want to be with me,” he was trying to confirm.
She smiled up at him and then kissed his chest. “Of course. Don’t believe for one second I’d want to…wait, if you turned me, would that mean I would always owe allegiance to you?” She hadn’t considered that part.
Zachary chuckled. “As headstrong as you are? No way. Just think of Adonis. Piaras couldn’t control him. You just can’t kill me if you ever want to.”
