4-Ever Hunted: Vampires Rule

by Blake, Kasi

  John shook his head. “If he has powers, the powers will kill him without anyone lifting a finger.”

  Although Trick had heard the gypsy say the same thing, he didn’t totally believe it. “I saw my father burn werewolves with his hand. He had power, and it didn’t kill him. So why would it kill me?”

  “His power was limited,” John said. “From what I’ve been told, the power started off as pure faerie power, but it became more diluted with each generation. For some reason, the stuff in your veins is supposed to be a hundred percent pure. Don’t ask me how. The group is still trying to figure that one out.”

  “The rumors were wrong,” Baxter said with a shrug. “Patrick doesn’t have any mystical power.”

  “Maybe he’s hiding it.” John glared at his wife.

  She pursed her lips. “It takes decades to learn that much self-control. We’d see some manifestation of it by now. He’d set something on fire or make someone disappear. Nothing like that has happened.”

  Matt’s worried gaze sought Trick. They’d grown up together, and Trick could read his brother like a first grade book, the ones that were mostly pictures with a few words on each page. See Trick hunt. See Trick die. Die, Trick, die.

  Trick shook his head at Matt to reassure him that the hunters didn’t know what they were talking about. Good thing he hadn’t shared the information about creating a secret door with his brother. Matt would be freaking out now, and the hunters would know the truth.

  “What happened to your necklace?” Baxter asked. “I’ve never seen you without it. In fact, I was just remarking to my husband the other day how you use it as a crutch, a lucky charm perhaps. I was planning to suggest you put it in a drawer for a while. Now it’s gone.”

  “Chain broke.” Trick steeled himself to remain calm.

  “How do you feel about that, about the loss of it? Wasn’t it a gift from your father?”

  He stiffened. “We aren’t in session right now. I don’t have to answer your nosy questions.”

  John took a menacing step forward. “Watch how you talk to my wife!”

  “It’s all right, John. I am familiar with Patrick’s coping mechanisms.” She returned her attention to Trick, and her expression soured again. “Have you given any more thought to hypnosis?”

  “Hypnosis?” Matt’s eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t say anything about hypnosis.”

  He ignored his brother, ignored the doctor’s question, and ignored her outraged husband. “What can you tell me about my father?” he asked instead. “Have you met him? Ian Carver? Do you know where he is now? Can you tell me anything about him?”

  A streak of hope made his voice quiver, and he hated himself for it. For years he’d longed to know what had happened to his real father. Now, after remembering what he believed to be their last moments together, he wanted information more than ever. If someone would just tell him why his father never bothered to contact him, maybe some of the anger would subside.

  Baxter shrugged. “All we know about Ian Carver is this. He was involved in the Great Werewolf Battle.”

  John nodded. “That man is a hero in my book. Doesn’t matter he was related to an evil monster like the Dark Wizard. He proved himself to be a great hunter, one of the best.”

  “Can you tell me about the battle?” Trick asked him. “Who else was involved?”

  “Your brothers were there,” Baxter said. “From what I hear, it was Billy and Jack Creed, some hunters from another group, and a couple vampires along with your father.”

  Matt gasped.

  Trick shook his head. “My father would never work with vampires.”

  Baxter stared at him, through him as if trying to see into his mind. “Our sources say he did. Does that bother you?”

  It didn’t make any sense. Ian Carver’s hatred of monsters was legendary without an ounce of give. It was his obsession. How often had he told Trick the only good vampire was a dead vampire?

  “Do you know who they were?” Trick asked. “The vampires?”

  Baxter shrugged again, her expression clearly saying she didn’t care about their identities.

  John muttered, “They had silly names. Sunrise and Coach or Simmer and Cowboy or Sunset and Crowbar. Something like that.”

  Summer and Cowboy.

  Reeling on the inside, Trick pretended he’d never heard the names before. Until he was certain what he wanted to do about the vampires, it wasn’t a good idea for the hunters next door to learn they were in town. He glanced at his brother. Matt looked like someone had struck him in the face with a wet towel. They exchanged a covert look, and Trick read the silent message in his brother’s eyes. Matt wouldn’t say anything because he wanted to protect Summer. Despite all of Trick’s warnings, his brother still liked the vampire girl. Trick didn’t know which of his problems to deal with first.

  chapter nine

  I Wanna be Sedated

  Changing the subject to keep the Fosters from questioning the awkward silence, Trick asked, “If I start to develop powers, how can I get rid of them?”

  “You don’t,” John said. “Power like that doesn’t just disappear.”

  Baxter added, “We have a theory about your necklace. Unless we’re mistaken, the talisman is made from faerie metal. If you have powers, it kept them in check, but you broke the chain.”

  The fact they had known what the charm did threw him for a mental loop. When were they going to stop playing games and be straight with him? He desperately wanted to tell them it had turned to dust. Maybe they could tell him why. But giving them too much information was unthinkable.

  “I don’t have powers,” he insisted.

  “Well, we’ll know soon enough,” Baxter said. “Without the talisman to restrain them, they will be uncontrollable. For your sake, I hope you’re being straight with us.”

  “What’s to stop me from getting a new chain,” Trick said while wondering if he could replace the faerie metal. A person couldn’t simply walk into a jewelry store and buy the stuff. He didn’t even know what it was called.

  John shook his head and spoke to his wife. “He doesn’t get it.”

  Baxter told her husband, “Patrick is a little slow at times, but he means well.”

  “When the chain broke, so did the spell,” John said.

  There was something else bothering Trick. “What I don’t understand is, if you knew the necklace would stop working the second I took it off, why did you want me to remove it? And don’t try your psychiatrist crap with me. I want the truth this time.”

  “Watch how you talk to my wife!” John shouted.

  “John,” Baxter said in warning. “Remember your blood pressure.”

  Trick stood his ground without fear. Confidence came from knowing a few important facts. One, John wasn’t dumb enough to physically attack a minor. Two, his wife would stop him if he tried. Three, even though the guy was bigger than him and was a trained hunter, Trick figured he’d win in a fair fight. Scarlet’s words returned to him. He was like Jordan on a basketball court when it came to battle.

  “Why did you want me to ditch the necklace?” Trick repeated the question. He turned his attention to Baxter because she was more likely to answer than her angry husband. He asked, “If you knew this whole time what the talisman was for, why would you want me to get rid of it?”

  John shook his head at her.

  She admitted with a careless shrug. “We can’t babysit you forever. You’re almost eighteen. Soon, you’ll be out there on your own hunting without supervision, and our group would feel better if they knew a Dark Wizard in the making wasn’t on the loose.”

  John sighed. “If you’re going to go nuclear, we want it to happen while we’re watching. At least we can try to contain the damage.”

  Trick mulled over the information. Then he realized what they were saying. They’d been testing him. Good thing they hadn’t kept a closer eye on him, or they’d know he had used magic to escape a Shadow Faerie.

  “If y
ou’re worried he has dangerous powers, why would you want to unleash them?” Matt asked.

  Trick answered for them in a flat tone. “Because they know if I have powers like the Dark Wizard, I’ll die.”

  “You were trying to kill my brother?” Matt turned accusing eyes on Baxter. “Isn’t there something we can do to save him?”

  Baxter and her husband went to the opposite corner of the room to discuss the subject in private. They whispered in harsh, desperate tones to each other. Trick glanced at Matt. His brother looked pale and green as if he was about to puke... or give away too much information.

  Trick pulled Matt to the other side for their own intense conversation.

  “Don’t say another word to them,” Trick warned. “They’ve been pretending this whole time, playing the friendly neighbors while spying on me.” He shot them a dirty look that neither of them intercepted. “They know things. They might even know where my father is right now.”

  Before Matt got a chance to respond, Baxter and her husband crossed the room to talk to them. John didn’t look pleased. His wife, on the other hand, wore the same derisive expression she’d had since entering their home.

  Arms folded, she said, “The talisman is made from a special metal taken from the Dark Wizard himself. We think it originally came from the Faerie Realm. Dani has an enchanted charm bracelet made with a tiny bit of the material. It should put a slight damper on your powers, if you have any. That should buy you some time to figure out something more permanent. I’ll ask her to let you borrow it.”

  Trick stared at the doctor in amazement. So that was it, the reason for his clumsiness in Dani’s presence. The bracelet dampened his powers and put supernatural vibes in the air that disturbed his balance.

  He shook his head. “Wait a second. Why are you trying to help me now? I thought you wanted me to get rid of the necklace? Am I missing something?”

  “Did I ever ask you to take it off?” Baxter asked.

  “No.”

  She held up a hand. “There you go. We changed our minds, decided it would be a bad idea. If you have powers, we need to restrain them, not turn them loose. As long as you don’t use them, they won’t grow stronger.”

  “Does Dani know?” he asked. “That you’re hunters? Is she a—”

  “Don’t be stupid,” John snapped. “I’ve kept my daughter out of this crap and given her a good life.” He turned to his wife. “And I don’t see why we should put her at risk for this moron. If he has powers, let them kill him. Dani should be our top priority.”

  Baxter smirked. “How long do you think it will be before these boys tell her everything? We should do it. I’m sure she has some clue by now that we aren’t normal even if I have tried to fill every hour of her days with activities to keep her too busy to breathe.”

  Trick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The place beneath his temples throbbed, and he felt the distinct early signs of a migraine. If he wrote in a journal the way Matt did, he would mark today as a day of secrets revealed. In an hour he’d learned that his father had been involved in an infamous werewolf battle, his father had worked with vampires, and Dani had a bracelet that weakened him.

  “Does Dani have power?” Trick asked.

  Baxter smirked. “John gave her the bracelet to weaken supernatural creatures that get within spitting distance of her, and it has the added benefit of keeping you in line.”

  Now Trick understood why vampires never showed off their wicked speed when they fought him. They couldn’t. It also explained why he was able to kill them so easily. Maybe he wasn’t the great hunter he’d imagined himself.

  On their way out, Baxter said, “I’ll get Dani to lend you her bracelet until we can get you something else. Keep your mouth shut in the meantime. Don’t say a word to her about our real profession. She needs to hear it from us.”

  Trick nodded in agreement.

  John stormed out the house, and Baxter followed.

  Now all Trick could do was wait for Dani to give him her bracelet and pray it worked.

  Otherwise, he was a dead man.

  chapter ten

  Dream On

  “If you don’t relax, it won’t work.”

  Baxter glared at him over the notepad in her hands. She was sitting in the chair next to the couch, ready to hypnotize him. Morning light peeked through the blind’s downward slats, and dust particles danced in the air near the window. Distractions became the enemy.

  Trick took a deep breath, focused on the dust, and loosened his fingers on the couch cushion beneath him. Breathe in. Breathe out. He silently reassured himself that he could handle anything he remembered under hypnosis.

  Baxter had explained that hypnosis wasn’t like what they showed in the movies; it was simply a form of deep relaxation.

  “Are you ready?” Baxter asked.

  He shook his head.

  She added, “We don’t have to do this today.”

  “I’m just not sure I... what if I learn something I don’t want to know?”

  “Maybe it would help to narrow the perimeters of your search. What would you like to learn about your past? Focus on a specific question you want answered.”

  He turned his head to look at the window again. Baxter knew how to ask the hard questions, but he wasn’t sure how to answer them. Truth was, his father had abandoned him. Didn’t matter if his reasons had been pure or malicious. The outcome was the same. Trick had grown up without biological family.

  Thinking about it rekindled his anger towards the man. For five years Trick had purposely blocked out that part of his past. The last thing he wanted to do was face those memories, good or bad, but now he didn’t have a choice. He’d remembered too much to walk away.

  When it became clear he wasn’t going to answer, Baxter said, “I can see you’re conflicted. Let’s start with something easier. What’s the last memory you have of being with your father? I want a clear memory, not a dream or a fuzzy picture. It has to be a complete memory with vivid details.”

  A memory slipped in before she finished her sentence.

  “I remember waking after a dream, a nightmare really, and he wasn’t there. Most of the time we slept in the car or got a motel room for the night. I was used to him being close by, but we were staying at a friend’s house. It was some guy my father had hunted with, and the man had a big family. There were six kids under one roof. We had a blast chasing cows, shooting BB guns, swinging from a rope in the hayloft, and a bunch of other stuff I never got to do before.”

  “Do you remember the nightmare?”

  He shook his head. “That part wasn’t important. I just remember he wasn’t there when I woke up, and I started hyperventilating.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You had a panic attack? Did you have them often?”

  Once again, he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Have you had any panic attacks since moving in with Sean and Laura?”

  In the beginning he’d suffered several, always at night. He’d wake to find himself alone in a strange bed, confused and scared. Something like that was normal, wasn’t it, after all he’d been through?

  The horrible, panicky feeling had subsided after several months, after he got used to living in a house with regular people. “I knocked over something next to the bed, and I guess my father heard. He came running.”

  Baxter leaned back in her chair, looking totally at ease. He envied that. She rested the tip of her pen against her chin and declared, “You hate your father.”

  “No.” The denial came automatically. He jumped off the couch and paced around the office. The irony wasn’t lost on him. Usually, she was the one pacing while they were in session. “Sometimes. Maybe.”

  “Now I want you to answer this next question without thinking.” She took a deep breath before asking, “What do you want to remember?”

  “I want to know what I did to make my father leave.”

  “You think he left because of you?”

&nb
sp; “He did. I feel it in here.” He thumped a closed fist against his chest, feeling emotionally raw. “I just need to remember what.”

  “Why? Why do you need to know? What are you hoping to change? Information won’t bring your father home to you.”

  That was harsh. He bristled under the weight of her words and her visual scrutiny. Because he needed her help, he forced himself to respond the way she wanted. “Unfinished business. That’s why I need to know. I just do.”

  “Fair enough.” She nodded. “Sit down and relax so we can begin.”

  He retook his seat and did as instructed.

  “You can either close your eyes or focus on something comforting in my office,” she said.

  Comforting? He allowed his gaze to drift from one of her possessions to the next. Framed diplomas on the wall, psychology books on shelves, none of them brought him anything close to peace.

  “Shouldn’t you spin a crystal or something in front of my face?”

  She blinked. “You watch too much television, Patrick. This isn’t a carnival act. It’s a matter of relaxation.”

  “Just don’t make me cluck like a chicken.”

  “Again, Patrick. Too much television. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. Find something to stare at or close your eyes. We don’t have all year. Sometimes it takes several sessions for a person to learn to relax enough for hypnosis to even work.”

  He was on the verge of giving up on finding anything relaxing in her office when he caught sight of the picture on the edge of her desk. Tilted at an angle, it was in the perfect place for him to see Dani’s smiling face. She was wearing her cheerleader outfit and had the brightly colored pom-poms in her hands. Seeing her happy, knowing she was safe, that brought peace to his heart and calmed his emotions.

  Baxter cleared her throat as if disturbed by something. If she noticed what he was focused on, she let it go. She spoke to him in a soothing tone. “Now take deep breaths, nice and slow, in and out. Listen to the sound of my voice. That’s all you have to do. Follow my voice and relax.”