Hunting The Past

by J. C. Diem

  I’d never seen anyone so beautiful in my life. Her face was an exotic mix of races that I couldn’t quite identify. Her skin was dark olive and her hair was long, black and fell in shining waves to her lower back. “Who? What?” I stammered, unable to articulate my thoughts.

  “Wow, she’s a real intellectual,” Mirra said mockingly.

  Her scorn helped burn away what seemed to be a magical fog from my mind. “Why are the beautiful girls always bitches?” I asked the room in general.

  Mirra’s mouth opened in shock, but Connor laughed. “That’s an age-old question that no one has ever found an answer to.” I noticed he avoided looking directly at the gorgeous woman.

  “That’s strange,” Quin said, looking from me to Mirra and back again. “I’ve never seen anyone throw off Mirra’s effect so quickly before.”

  “What effect?” I didn’t know why I bothered to ask, because she just ignored me.

  “Let’s take a seat and you can tell us your story,” she said, gesturing at the array of couches and armchairs.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to him?” I asked, pointing at the morose young man.

  His mouth dropped open and his head spun to face me. “You can see me?” he asked with almost pathetic hope.

  “Of course I can see you,” I replied in confusion. “You’re sitting right there.”

  “She can see Jonah,” Mirra said in astonishment. “How is that possible?”

  “Are you invisible?” I asked him.

  He shook his head and giggled, making him seem younger than he looked. “I’m a ghost,” he explained.

  “A ghost,” I said flatly and looked at the others to see them staring at me in shock. “He’s a ghost,” I repeated.

  “Usually, only mediums and a few monsters have the power to see spirits,” Jonah explained. “That’s why everyone looks so shocked.”

  “Can vampires see ghosts?” I asked.

  “No. Why?”

  “Because that’s what I am,” I replied.

  Mirra shot to her feet and Jonah vanished. The beauty opened her mouth to scream, but Connor strode over and slapped his hand over her face before she could unleash the noise. “She isn’t a full vampire,” he said in a calm voice. Her eyes were full of fear and hatred, but his message sank in.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Jonah stick his head through the wall. He wasn’t even alive and he was afraid of me.

  “Everyone, sit down,” Quin ordered in a tone that brooked no dissent. “Our guest is called Arienna Austin. She’s going to tell us exactly how she came to be part vampire.”

  Mirra pulled Connor’s hand away from her mouth, straightened her clingy dress and flicked her hair back over her shoulder. It was the typical ritual women used to settle themselves down. I saw Jonah creep back inside the room and felt a bit sad when he sat as far away from me as he could get. He was only a couple of years older than me, but his clothes were sadly outdated. He wore a powder blue safari suit I was pretty sure had gone out of style in the seventies. As an added touch, a fresh red rose was pinned to his lapel.

  With their expectant gazes on me, I took a deep breath, then told them my story. They listened closely as I explained hearing about the vampire nest on my way to Ray’s place. I skipped the part where I’d tied the pervert up in the back of his truck and told them about burning the cabin and then the master vampire’s attack.

  “He drained me, then carried me to an abandoned cemetery,” I told them. “He buried me in a shallow grave next to the boneyard, expecting my internal injuries to kill me. He didn’t know that I’d now been drained, or nearly drained, three times. I’m not even sure he knew I’d bitten him.”

  “So,” Quin summed up. “You’ve been drained three times and ingested a small amount of a master vampire’s blood.”

  “That’s not all,” I said. “Something weird happened after he buried me.”

  “Weirder than drinking his blood?” Jonah muttered, not realizing I could hear him.

  “Just after nightfall, I heard someone chanting,” I said. “Then I heard scratching and digging noises. I felt a compulsion to rise out of the grave and dug my way out. A man was standing in the graveyard, surrounded by a dozen zombies.”

  Mirra blinked slowly, assimilating that information. “You were called from your grave by a necromancer?”

  “I guess,” I said with a shrug. “My soul had almost left my body, but I think I somehow stole his lifeforce, which anchored my soul inside me again. Gerald was a bit delirious from using so much power and from me unknowingly stealing his energy. He told me he’d killed seventeen people already and that he planned to use zombies to kill a lot more. He might have been human, but I felt it was my duty to put a stop to him.”

  “So, you bit him and drained his blood?” Quin asked. Her tone was more enquiring than judgmental.

  “No. I slashed his throat with my knife. His blood was right there, pouring out of him and I found myself drinking it. I didn’t drink much, because he’d already mostly bled out.”

  “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before,” Connor said. “Retaining her soul must be the key to her not turning evil like the rest of her kin.”

  “I gave her plenty of opportunity to try to tear my throat out,” Quin said. “She was starving for blood, but she refused to kill me.”

  I’d figured that she’d been pretending to be weak and vulnerable and she’d just proven my hunch to be accurate. “I’ve answered your questions, now it’s time for you to answer mine. Who the hell are you people?” This time, I wasn’t going to be denied an answer.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  They exchanged guarded glances, then Quin reached a decision. “We work for a private organization who battle the forces of darkness,” she said. It sounded like she’d read it from a script and her lips twisted slightly, as if she didn’t quite believe the words. “We’re called the Hunter Elite, or H.E. for short.”

  “The Hunter Elite?” I repeated. “Does that mean the organization is run by real hunters?”

  “Some of the original founders were like the men and women you’ve spent the past five years training with,” she replied. “Others were supernatural creatures. One is still active within our organization and is our leader. Few know about us and we prefer to keep it that way.”

  Looking from one to the other, I realized something. “None of you are human.” Jonah ducked his head nervously, then nodded. Clearly, he was a former human, but he’d slipped off the mortal coil, so to speak. “What are you?” I asked.

  Quin went first. “I’m a werewolf, but I’m defective.” She made the admission matter-of-factly, but I still sensed her pain.

  “Defective how?” I might have become a monster, but I was uneasy at learning she was a werewolf. It explained her aggressiveness.

  “I’m a half-breed. My father is an alpha werewolf, but my mother was human. I have all the characteristics of my father, except I can’t turn into an animal during the full moon. I’m a shifter who can’t shift.”

  “She just gets extra cranky during the full moon and its best to avoid her,” Jonah said helpfully.

  I sniggered, but swallowed my laughter when Quin gave me a doleful look. “Sorry, Jonah said something funny,” I said, realizing they couldn’t hear him.

  “What did he say?” Quin asked with a glower.

  “That you’re extra cranky during the full moon and that I should avoid you.”

  Contemplating my answer, she nodded. “It’s sound advice.”

  She looked at Mirra, who sighed dramatically. “If you haven’t already guessed, I am a siren.”

  “You mean you’re one of the creatures who used to lure sailors to their deaths?” I asked. I didn’t know much about her kind and thought they were just a myth.

  “Human men are such weak-minded fools,” she said in contempt. “A few words whispered in their ears are enough to turn them into dribbling idiots.”

  “It doesn’t take
a siren to turn most men into dribbling idiots,” Jonah said morosely. “A pair of bare breasts is usually enough to do the job.”

  I burst into laughter and Mirra gave me an affronted stare. “Jonah,” I explained, trying to contain my sniggers. “You don’t want to know,” I added when they raised their eyebrows. Turning to Connor, I put my hand up when he opened his mouth. “Don’t tell me. You’re a six-hundred-year-old shapeshifter who can turn into a black panther at will.”

  His expression was stunned, as were the others. “How could you possibly know that?” he asked.

  “Wait, you mean that dream I had was real?” I said in astonishment.

  “What dream?” Quin asked. Jonah forgot his fear of me and moved closer. He looked solid to me and didn’t seem to have any trouble sitting on the furniture. He perched on the edge of a chair to listen.

  “I dreamt I was in an old village that looked like it had come from medieval times,” I explained. “I saw a nest of vampires breaking into the houses, stealthily slaughtering everyone they came across. Someone woke up in the last house and shouted an alarm. I saw a boy escape and turn into a panther. He killed two of the vampires, but ran when the others came after him.” Looking into Connor’s anguished eyes, I saw that this was more than just a dream. “You had longer hair back then, but I’m pretty sure it was you.”

  “Aye, it was,” he confirmed with a pained nod. I noticed his accent had deepened. “The vampires slaughtered our entire village of shapeshifters. I was the only one who survived.”

  “How could you have possibly dreamed about that?” Mirra demanded.

  “I think I was seeing Alakay’s memories,” I said.

  Connor went pale and he gripped the armrests hard enough for the wood to groan in protest. “How do you know that name?” he asked in a hushed voice.

  “He was the master who killed my family. He’s the one who drained me twice. I heard him say ‘Tell the Devil that Alakay sends his regards’ when he left me in the grave to die.”

  “I have been searching for Alakay for five centuries,” Connor said, accent growing even thicker with his rage and despair. It was hard to understand him now. “If he had been within my grasp, I would not have failed to kill him.”

  I flinched beneath his accusing glare and Quin put her hand on his arm. “She did her best, Connor. Remember that she was just a human when she went up against him and his entire nest. She survived his attacks twice and now she’s linked to him through his blood.”

  That made my spine stiffen in horror. “He’s not my master, is he?”

  She hesitated before answering. “I’m not sure. He didn’t drain you all three times, but you did drink from him. The fact that you still seem to have your soul might protect you.”

  I shuddered at the possibility that the master bloodsucker might be able to command me to do his bidding. No vampire could withstand their creator’s power. If he ordered me to turn on the people I’d spent the past five years living with and learning from, I might not have any choice but to obey. “I can’t be around normal hunters now,” I said in despair, remembering the master who had tried to persuade me to give up my human life and to join him. He hadn’t even turned me and I’d still almost been swayed by him. That meant I was vulnerable to the leaders of his kind.

  “You’re right,” Quin said, adding to my misery. “You’re far too dangerous to be allowed to run loose. We will have to monitor you to make sure you have full control of yourself.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, fearing they were going to lock me up in a cell forever.

  “It means, welcome to the Hunter Elite,” Jonah said with a glum smile. “You’ve just joined the team.”

  “You want me to be part of your unit?” I said to Quin.

  “Essentially, but you’ll be on probation at first,” she replied, realizing Jonah had spilled the beans before she’d been able to tell me herself. She sent a scowl in his general direction, missing him my several feet. “One of us will remain with you at all times when we go out on a mission. That will continue until you can prove you won’t be a danger to humans.”

  Mirra didn’t seem happy at the thought of being paired up with me and I wasn’t thrilled about it either.

  “Ari could be useful when we have to deal with vampires,” Connor said and drew everyone’s attention, including mine. I felt a strange glow that he’d used my nickname. “She can sense them,” he explained.

  Quin looked at me for confirmation. I nodded reluctantly, remembering the coldness I’d felt in the old farmhouse and my certainty that the leeches were still there. “I knew some vamps were hiding out in a basement when we were on a hunt,” I told her. “I could feel them like a cold spot.”

  “I thought spirits were the ones who gave off cold spots,” Jonah muttered. He was so used to being ignored that he was startled when I snorted out a laugh.

  “Jonah?” Quin said, striving for patience.

  I nodded, then asked a question. “How do you know about Jonah if you can’t see or hear him?

  “We didn’t know he existed when we first moved here,” Mirra said. “After a year or so, it became obvious that we weren’t alone. We’ve been here for a decade now and we still don’t know much about him.”

  Quin took up the story. “We hold séances to speak with Jonah. We think of him as a member of our team, even if we can’t communicate with him very often.” He sniffed and wiped away a ghostly tear, sending her a grateful look that she couldn’t see. While their leader was gruff and antisocial on the surface, I had a feeling she was softer on the inside, even if it was only slightly.

  “Now I understand why you seem like a crotchety old man sometimes,” I said to Connor. “You are a crotchety old man.”

  “For your information, I’m only five hundred, not six hundred, lass,” he said archly. “Our kind ages far more slowly than humans after we reach puberty. How old did I look in your dream?”

  “Only a few years younger than you look now,” I admitted.

  “For our kind, I am roughly the equivalent of a twenty-year-old man.”

  Shaking my head that he was so ancient, I turned to Quin, but I didn’t quite have the guts to ask her how old she was. Reading my curious expression, she told me what I wanted to know. “Werewolves can live for several hundred years, if they don’t get themselves killed sooner. I’m a hundred and fifteen.” She didn’t look a day over thirty-five.

  Mirra waited until my gaze was on her, then preened. “I was born three hundred years ago.” She appeared to be in her mid-twenties to me.

  “Aren’t all sirens female?” I asked, searching my memory.

  “Yes.” Her mouth turned down in a frown. “We have to mate with humans in order to procreate and we only ever have one child. Some never conceive at all. My mother has been urging me to give her a grandchild for the past two hundred years.” She rolled her gorgeous eyes at the thought.

  “Why does it have to be a human?” I asked. “Can’t you get a werewolf, or a shapeshifter to knock you up?”

  She flicked a look at Connor and I saw the speculation in her eyes before she shook her head. She’d apparently toyed with the idea of using him, but must have rejected it. “Most supernatural creatures can’t inter-breed,” she explained. “Humans are weak and pathetic, including their sperm. They aren’t strong enough to destroy our eggs like most paranormal creatures can.”

  I screwed my nose up at her clinical explanation, thinking it would be a long time before I had eggs for breakfast again.

  “You must be hungry for real food,” Quin said and stood. “Follow me and I’ll show you to your room while Connor prepares our dinner.”

  Standing, I obediently followed her from the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Quin gave me a whirlwind tour of the house, showing me through the ground floor. There was another, less formal living space with a huge TV and plush couches that didn’t look like they belonged in a museum. I was particularly interested in the
small library with a pair of worn brown leather recliners, a long matching couch and a working fireplace. I could already see myself curled up in front of a fire during winter, reading one of the many books that were packed on the shelves.

  A dining room adjoined the kitchen, but I only had a brief look before Quin led me to the foyer. Like the rest of the house, dark wooden boards covered the floor. I gaped up at the grand staircase that swept upwards in a long curve to the upper floor. “I see you’re impressed with the house,” Quin said with a near smile. “It’s a bit ostentatious, but we needed somewhere remote to use as our base.”

  At the top of the stairs, there were two hallways to choose from. We took the one on the left that led to a wing of bedrooms. She pointed out hers and Mirra’s rooms on our way past. When we reached a hallway at the back of the house, she pointed at the dangling rope that could be used to lower the stairs to the attic. “There’s a bunch of junk stored up there from previous owners that we haven’t tossed out yet,” she said, then we entered the hallway to the right wing, passing stairs leading downwards. “This will be your room,” she said, stopping at the last door on the right. “Connor’s room is at the end of the hall,” she added.

  I nodded in understanding, realizing she’d placed me near Connor so he could keep his eye on me. I’d read in the Archives that all shifters had heightened senses. His hearing, sight and sense of smell would be even more acute than mine. He could probably see in the dark, too, which explained how he’d been watching Barbara and Wayne during the blackout at the Archives.

  “I’ll grab your gear from your car,” Quin said, holding out her hand for my keys expectantly. I handed them over, knowing she wasn’t going to trust me with the key to the garage door. While they hadn’t outright called me a prisoner to my face, I wouldn’t be leaving here anytime soon. At least not without an escort.

  Pushing the door open, I entered my bedroom. It was large enough to hold a queen size bed, nightstand, chest of drawers and a huge walk-in closet. I even had my own bathroom. It had been modernized and I had a choice of a bathtub, or a shower.