Burning Days (The Firsts Book 17)

by C. L. Quinn

  Ben shocked his brother when he nodded to Ife.

  “Yes, I’ll come with you.”

  He looked from Jack to Sanquinetta, glazed across Saul, then back to Jack. “I really do think that’s the best solution. I have a lot to learn and to adjust to, and I don’t think I can do it here. I need to get away from all of this for a while. You’re leaving tonight? I’ll grab a few things and join you. Jack, I’ll be back, you know I will. But this is best.”

  He turned to hug Sanquinetta, gave her a wink, then walked out of HQ, leaving behind the two people he’d been closest to all of his life.

  Saul coughed. “Well, uh, in light of that revelation, I should be happy to take the house.”

  “Fine. Come back with me while I pack and I’ll show you everything.” Ife turned to Jack.

  “Jack?”

  “Huh? Yes, I’m coming too. I guess I’ll grab my things too.”

  Saying goodnight to Sanquinetta, Jack told her he’d see her that night, then left with Ife, aware that his life was going to change again.

  A lift-car waited on the sand an hour later as Ife put her arms around Jack’s neck. They hadn’t discussed her leaving much. Neither knew what to say.

  “I’ll miss you,” Jack finally told the woman, vampire, who had come to mean as much to him as his brother.

  Nearly every event since he’d found her on the beach had diverted the path he’d thought firmly entrenched that he would walk until, at some point, a lucky vampire would likely end him. Hunting, fighting, searching, and then that moment when he finally lost to a vampire and ended up yet another blood meal. It was the life he’d been born to live.

  Now, after a naked goddess under a bright moon stole his heart, everything he thought he knew had to be thrown away to allow for this new world of truths.

  Truths. One thing he knew. He had fallen hard for this loving gentle vampire.

  “Same here, Jack. It would be so wonderful if I could stay here with you, or you could come with me.”

  “It seems like we’re both going to be too busy to be together for a while.”

  “It is going to be crazy after I get back. When things change, I really would like you to come and see my work.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’d love to.”

  Ife looked into Jack’s eyes, her gaze locked there.

  Eventually, he laughed. “Are you trying to see into my soul?”

  Her easy smile broke the stare. “Maybe. I wonder where we go from here. How I manage without you.”

  “I’ve grown accustomed to you beside me. If I sleep tonight, I’ll be surprised. Ife, I don’t have the answer either. You’re vampire, and you have to be with a vampire. I just don’t know if that’s something I can do.”

  “Jack, it’s a huge decision. You have to give up your life, everything that you know. No one takes that easily. Don’t worry, because if the time ever comes when you are ready, it will come without hesitation or regret. We’re new, what we have, and we don’t really even know what it is. So, no promises, no worries, okay? There’s a line in something called the Desiderata that I have always loved and found to be true. No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. If we are meant to be, then we will be. Of that I am certain. For now, kiss me so that I won’t soon forget.”

  Framing a face he knew he could never forget, Jack did exactly as requested.

  Eleven

  TWO MONTHS LATER AT HUNTER HQ

  “I can’t keep doing this.” Sanquinetta pushed away from the computer desk and surged from her seat. Her eyes shot to Jack, Plato, and Saul, who surrounded her.

  “We’ve lost Ben, Xavier is gone, and I’m just spread too thin. Elias took care of all the computer shit, all the surveillance, most of the research, and while I’m good at it, I can’t do it all. We need a good computer tech.”

  “I’m sorry, San. We’ll keep an eye out for one. The problem is finding someone who knows about vampires. Next time we do a raid, we’ll see if we can relocate their tech.”

  “No, damn’t. I am actually getting chest pain from all the stress of trying to keep so many balls in the air. You guys just have to go in, do the nasty, and walk away. I have to do all that, plus find everyone, plus track down any accomplices and research their lives so we can rebuild them, and then there are the vampire clans we’re working on simultaneously. I can’t do it all.”

  “San, I’ll start looking right away. Plato, know anyone?”

  “Not off hand. I’ll think about it too. I can help some, though.”

  “You suck with a keyboard. I think I remember you couldn’t even figure out how to do a simple background check.”

  “You could teach me.”

  “I ain’t got time for all that. Seriously, I need help.”

  Quiet, in the corner of the room he usually retreated to as he worked, Saul finished the list he usually liked to prepare before they started on a mission. When the others had stopped talking, he looked up. “I know someone.”

  Three heads swiveled in his direction.

  “What?” Sanquinetta barked.

  They got along fairly well when they worked together, but after the missions, he had never been included in their camaraderie. Accustomed to isolation, Saul didn’t complain. He knew his introduction to this team had been highly contentious. Still, it stung sometimes to see them laughing, going for a drink or dinner, and leaving him behind without even looking at him.

  He would have left long before now except that they really were making a difference in eliminating the hunters who’d plagued vampires for a century, and stopping vicious vampires from making humans think it was necessary to kill them.

  Sanquinetta walked closer to his corner.

  “I mean, who?”

  “Her name is Evaleigh. I don’t have a last one. She’s brilliant, exactly what you need, and she’s well versed in the supernatural community. I don’t know how she came to be, but she’s been around for about eight years, available for a price. If we can pay her, she’d be perfect.”

  “Xavier can make that arrangement. Can you contact her?”

  “I can. No one knows her full name, but that isn’t necessary. When do you want her here?”

  “Yesterday. But I’ll settle for Monday.”

  “I will make the arrangement.”

  Hesitating, her eyes on Saul’s back as he turned, Sanquinetta glanced at Jack and Plato. Plato nodded, although Jack didn’t commit to anything.

  “Um, Saul, we’re getting some dinner at The Northern Sun later. Uh, you want to join us?”

  If it was possible for him to have responded slower, Sanquinetta didn’t know how. He slowly lifted his head without looking back at her, then, what had to be sixty seconds later, he nodded.

  “Good. Okay. We’ll let you know when we’re ready to go.”

  An invitation to join them. He’d learned that the lovely Louisianan didn’t do anything she didn’t want to, so the invitation was offered in earnest. He could go home tonight to the beautiful beach house he’d temporarily inherited and fone his family, or make an attempt at bonding with these people he worked with.

  He already knew what he wanted to do.

  The Northern Sun was busy, the table that used to hold Elias’s hunting party filled now with young people celebrating a birthday.

  With just a small group of four, the rag-tag remaining hunters took a table near the front of the diner, their conversation rarely about work anymore.

  Ife had purged all of Quesh’s vampire memories, his involvement as a watcher, all of it down to the knowledge that they existed at all. She’d let him maintain his memory of being close with the hunters that remained.

  “We gotta eat,” Sanquinetta had complained.

  Now, watching her longtime friends and an extremely unlikely ally in the stoic vampire she’d hated at one time, Sanquinetta ordered her favorite meal and promised herself that she would find a way to make this work. Her eyes lingered on Saul. Somewhat surprised that he’d accepted her invitati
on to join them, San wondered if he had an agenda. Ife had taught her methods to direct her talent, so she pushed the skill from deep inside her and focused on the vampire who now studied Quesh’s menu.

  What she received surprised her much more than his presence. He was grateful. She read loneliness and gratitude for a chance to find common ground with the hunters he unexpectedly found himself working with. He was a good man, she realized, and they’d been awful to him.

  “Jack, Plato, we are in this together, all four of us. I want to share everything evenly from now on with Saul, who, I can assure you, has our backs. We’ve let our prejudices slip in again. Saul, we have your back too.”

  Sanquinetta raised her glass of wine. “To our special partnership, may we finish quickly and may we finish well.”

  Plato was onboard immediately, tipping his glass to Saul, but when Saul and Jack looked at each other, eyes locked, the moment tense, it broke only after Jack smiled and lifted his glass too.

  “To teammates.”

  There, Sanquinetta, thought, finally, we’re musketeers.

  Two weeks later in Kansas City

  Finishing up closing a hunter’s group with seven hunters actively working, the four hunters from Oregon arrived back at their hotel room and dropped onto their beds.

  “Fuck, that was five days of one nightmare after another.”

  “Shit, you can say that again, dude.” Plato glanced at Jack, fully prone now.

  Jack groaned. “Fuck, that was…no, that’s all I can get out. I can’t believe that those hunters had so many people in their confidence about fangs. Sorry, Saul.”

  “Fair enough. I don’t see a problem with that term. It’s accurate enough. And the ones who kill, that term perfectly fits. Although. Fuck. Yeah.”

  On a long sigh, Sanquinetta moaned. “Well it’s finally done. We can head home tomorrow night.”

  “Fuckin’ A.” Jack turned and looked at a half full bottle of ale on the counter. “Shit, too far away. I guess I’ll…”

  The bottle was in his hand before he could blink. Jack took a long swig and glanced to where Saul lay across his bed on his stomach. “Thanks, buddy.”

  Without answering, Saul lifted a hand to acknowledge Jack’s comment.

  “We need food. Lots of it.”

  “Plato ain’t wrong,” Sanquinetta agreed.

  “There’s an FP down the hall,” moaned Jack.

  “No, Jack. Kansas City is the home of the Cheeseburger Queen. There’s a kiosk half a block from here in the Food Arcade.”

  “The food in those arcades are printed too, just like the food printers here in the hotel.”

  “Not the same. Now, any chance one of you handsome heroes would go get a girl her dream burger?”

  Saul looked up. “I would, San, but the sun is too close to rising.”

  “I know, sweet vamp. Which leaves two capable human heroes. Boys?”

  Jack rolled over onto his back. “Ahhh…like I could ever say no to you, you Cajun witch. I’ll go.”

  “No, I’ll do it,” Plato moaned without lifting his head off his pillow.

  “I got it. Cheeseburger Queen, huh? What should I get everyone, San?”

  “Double cheeseburgers, loaded. Large orders of Sanche’s fries. He’s the owner of the kiosks, the fries are named after him and they are to die for.”

  “Fine. Food to die for. Guess it’s worth a walk.” Jack hauled himself off the bed, tucked his gun back into his holster, hunters felt naked when unarmed, and pushed into his boots.

  Just before the door closed, he heard Saul’s voice.

  “Triple for me.”

  “Already know that.” Closing the door, Jack yawned and bounced down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Six flights would give him the energy jolt he needed if he was going to make it there and back. Half a block was near enough he didn’t need to call a taxi.

  “Seven of everything.” Jack repeated the phrase several times as he moved down the well-lit street toward the Food Arcade present in most big cities. They featured food printers that dispensed high quality entrees from favorite restaurants twenty-four seven, luckily for the hunters who often came off shifts very late at night or early in the morning as they had today.

  Dozens of kiosks with bright, eye-catching signage struck him as he moved around one of the residential towers. The area was deserted, no surprise, since just before sunrise most people were asleep or preparing for their work day in apartments in the sky within this tower city.

  “Seven of everything.” Jack easily found the Cheeseburger Queen kiosk, his mouth watering all the sudden, as he tucked his credit chip into the machine. Five minutes later, behind a transparent panel, two large bags lowered into place, and funnels dropped foil-wrapped sandwiches and paperboard packs into them. A slim rack came down, folded and sealed the bags before the transparent panel lifted to dispense the hot food.

  “Smells amazing,” Jack commented as he lifted the bags, yawned for the fifth time, and turned to head back to the windowless hotel room they would crash in until night came again.

  Now roaring hungry, he moved quickly down the sidewalk to get the food back to his friends. He was considering tearing one of the bags open to snatch a French fry when Jack’s hunter sense went on alert. He heard a sound, low, behind him, near…a footfall? It was odd.

  Before he could turn to see if someone was around, a rush of air he recognized, he knew, oh, fuck, he knew that sound. Vampire. Moving fast. With the sun cresting on the other side of the tower he passed, a vampire risked immolation to be out?

  The answer was clear when Jack, grabbed from behind, hands brutal, the fingers biting into his arms, realized he was right, and that he was fucked. His assailant pulled him between two kiosks out of the increasing daylight. As he fought to get to his gun, hot breath steamed the skin on his neck.

  “Tell your hunter friends they’re next.” A coarse laugh brought more hot air against Jack’s face. “If you can.”

  Sharp pain blinded Jack as fangs bit holes in his neck, not like Ife, not feeding, but deep, bleeding tears in his skin. He knew he was losing blood, too much, as consciousness started to fade. Jack watched the precious bags of food collapse to the pavement as he followed them down, aware enough to feel the explosion on his cheek as he hit the pavement full force. Stickiness covered him where his blood pooled around his face.

  “Arrogant assholes.”

  As Jack lost his fight to stay conscious, he heard the vampire’s final statement and thought, I’m done.

  Sanquinetta crawled off her bed to grab one of the beers they’d bought after they arrived five days ago.

  “If he doesn’t get back soon, I won’t have enough energy to eat. Plato, Saul, thirsty?”

  Both men nodded, so she opened two more bottles and handed one to each.

  Plato swallowed several healthy sips, but she noticed that Saul was already struggling with the vampire imperative to sleep during daylight.

  “Here.” She slid beside him to rouse him so he could drink.

  “Gods. Thank you, my lady. I’m parched, but almost too exhausted to care.”

  Moments later, he upended the bottle and pulled down most of it. He looked around. “Jack’s not back yet?”

  “Nope. It’s been half an hour, He should have been.”

  Sanquinetta stood. “I’m going to check on him.”

  Plato killed the rest of his beer. “We’ll both go.”

  They knew Saul couldn’t go with them, it was too dangerous. “Keep the place for us, Vampire. I’m sure Jack’s fine, but he should have been back, so it makes sense to check. We’ll see you shortly.”

  Plato followed her from the room, both choosing the stairs as Jack had. “Damn, I’m glad we’re finished here. This has been a fucking marathon. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this tired. Fuck, San, I forgot my gun. I never forget my gun.”

  “I got your back, buddy. I’m fully armed. Hell, I was too tired to disarm when we got back. I fell righ
t into bed with my gun and my Bowie.”

  Leaving the building, Sanquinetta pointed. “We go left here. It isn’t far.”

  As they continued toward the Food Arcade, Sanquinetta’s gut began to clench when they didn’t see Jack as they walked.

  “Plato.”

  He nodded. The situation was wrong. Jack would have gone straight there and back. They should have met him by now.

  Both hunters scanned the streets, Plato to the rear and right, Sanquinetta to the front and left. On the ground and buildings, colorful streetlights cast what Sanquinetta had always found to be warm and festive, but now they just looked ominous.

  They stopped when they reached the Food Arcade. It was completely deserted.

  “Fuck, Plato, where is he?”

  Just ahead the brightly lit sign for the Cheeseburger Queen illuminated the pavement around it but no one was there.

  In full hunter mode, they scanned quickly for any movement, any evidence that Jack had been there or where he might be, keeping their back together. Sanquinetta held her gun in her hand, her knife in Plato’s.

  “San!”

  Plato moved to a dark corner between two of the kiosks where he noticed an odd shape on the ground.

  “Jack…” he hissed when he saw the dark figure lying on the pavement, a bag from the Cheeseburger Queen near the head.

  “No…!” Joining Plato, Sanquinetta dropped down. They had already known the figure was Jack, had to be, Plato shining the light from his fone on Jack’s face.

  “It was a vampire.” Plato hissed.

  “God. He’s dying.” Sanquinetta pulled her fone out and hit a button.

  “Yeah?” came a sleepy voice.

  “Saul. A vampire has torn out Jack’s throat.”

  “Fuck. Is he alive?”

  “Not for much longer.”