“Yes,” the vampire answered.
“Well, you’re going to be facing three very pissed off Huntresses,” Johnson told him and grinned. “Personally, I would rather face Crompton.”
****
“What’s your name?” Crompton asked the young redhead he’d plucked off the beach a little while earlier.
“Regan,” she answered slightly breathlessly.
“Well, Regan,” he said as he stroked his hand up her leg to the edge of her bikini. “You and I are going to have some fun.”
“What kind of fun?” She asked, flirtingly.
“The kind that ends with you drained of all your blood and me completely sated,” he responded as he slipped his hand under her bikini bottom and stroked her cleanly shaved lips.
“Huh?” She asked, as he slipped a finger into her folds and stroked her hard.
“Just enjoy it, and I promise it won’t hurt,” he responded as he shifted her and ripped the thin material covering her. “Or maybe it will.”
“Oh God,” she cried out as he quickly brought her to completion with his fingers.
“Oh no,” he said as he removed his pants and hovered over her. “I am not God, but I will be the one to send you to heaven.”
When he slammed into her with his cock, he also bit into her neck with his fangs.
He filled his mouth with her blood as he filled her with his cock, and the combination nearly sent him over the edge before he was ready.
Holding back, he slowed his hips and listened to her heart begin to slow as her blood filled him.
When she cried out weakly, he thrust deep, spilling himself into her as he pulled the last of her blood from her body.
Pulling his fangs from her, he licked his lips before sliding out of her lifeless body and fixing his pants.
Rising to his feet, he looked at the little shack he was in and grinned. He would be long gone from this area before her body was discovered.
Looking at her one more time, he licked his lips and walked from the shed.
It was time for him to leave this area, and he knew just where he was going to go, but first, he needed to take care of a few loose ends.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he called his contact at the VEB.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he said as soon as the phone was answered.
“They have the girl,” his contact responded. “And one of your vampire.”
“Fuck,” Crompton responded. “Take care of them both.”
“I can’t,” his contact responded. “They have them in a house somewhere here in the city, and I cannot get to them.”
“Find a way,” Crompton ordered then ended the call before throwing his phone into the ocean.
Fuming, he started running. He needed to get the boy and get out of Orlando, and he needed to do it now.
Chapter Sixteen
“What’s your name?” Delanie asked the vampire once he was secured in the basement of the rental house.
“Suck it, bitch,” he answered.
“His name is Hunter,” Caia said from the door. “He’s the one who took me from the warehouse. He’s the one who took me away from Jackson.”
“You little bitch,” Hunter said, struggling against the silver binding holding him to the chair. “I’ll kill you.”
“Mighty tough talk for someone who can’t even get out of a chair,” Caia retorted. “Where’s my brother?”
“Dead if he’s lucky,” Hunter shot back, and Dylan snarled.
“He’d better not be,” Delanie said, nearly silently.
“What are you going to do if he is, little human bitch?”
“I’ll show you,” she said and walked to the bag sitting on the table. “Caia, you may not want to see this.”
“I’ve watched him, and others, brutalize people who were in that damn warehouse with me,” she snapped. “For months I wondered why they kept me alive. For months I wondered when they would take me off to do the things they were doing to the others who were brought in. I can handle this.”
“What were they doing in that warehouse?” Analia asked her.
“Breeding,” Caia answered and looked away from the others. “I overheard one of the others saying they were all there to carry Halfling children, and those who didn’t were used to sustain Crompton.”
“It’s as bad as we suspected,” Baxter said and shook his head.
“Maybe worse,” Nevaeh commented and looked at Delanie. “Let’s see what he knows.”
“Bring it,” Hunter said and looked at Delanie. “Whatever you do to me will be a cakewalk compared to what Crompton will do if I return without the girl.”
“Oh, sweetie, I’m about to make what Crompton would do seem like a wet dream,” Delanie told him and winked. “Let’s see, what do I want to start with?”
As she pulled a variety of silver instruments from the bag, Hunter’s eyes turned to slits.
“Silver?” He asked, shaking his head. “Silver won’t kill me, you know?”
“Why do vampire always tell us this?” Delanie asked, looking at Karma and Nevaeh. “I mean, do they think we’re stupid?”
“I have no idea,” Karma answered with a chuckle.
“Maybe you should show him just exactly what he can live through,” Nevaeh said and shrugged.
“I think I will,” Delanie said and grinned at Hunter. “Ready to play?”
“Do your worst,” he told her.
“Oh, no, sweetie. I’ll save my worst for Crompton,” she told him as she walked toward him carrying a long, thin silver stake. “Let’s see if you like pain as much as you like running your mouth.”
Not wasting time, she tapped his chest with the silver stake and looked into his eyes.
“Ready?” She asked, applying a tiny bit of pressure to the stake.
“Bring it,” he said and hissed when she pressed the stake a little harder and broke the skin.
Blood trickled from the small hole, and he grinned a little.
“Was that supposed to hurt?” He asked, and she grinned.
“You are a tough guy,” she responded before pulling her hand back and slamming the stake through his chest.
His scream echoed through the basement and Delanie’s grin widened a little.
“How about now?” She asked as she pulled the stake from his chest.
“Bite me,” he coughed out as the opening the stake made started to heal.
“No thanks,” she responded as she slid the stake into his stomach. “I’ll leave the biting to the blood suckers.”
“Wait a second,” Harrison said and grinned at her. “You’re in a room full of blood suckers.”
“I know,” she said and winked at him before focusing on Hunter again. “Tell me where Jackson is.”
“Don’t know,” he choked out. “Wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
“Okay,” she said and shrugged. “Let’s see if I can change your mind.”
Leaving the stake in his stomach, she walked back to the weapons bag and rummaged through it for a second before looking at him and grinning.
“Maybe this will change your mind,” she said and walked back to him holding one of the icepicks Karma liked so much.
“Oh, those are my favorite,” Karma said with a grin.
“What are you going to do with that?” Caia asked, watching the Huntress intently.
“I’ll show you,” Delanie answered and lifted the icepick to Hunter’s eye level before moving it closer to his face. “You see, a vampire not only has incredible strength, but their senses are also heightened to a point us mere humans can only dream about.”
“Get on with it, already,” Hunter said, and they could all hear the pain in his voice from the stake still sticking out of his stomach.
“As you wish,” Delanie said and tapped the point of the icepick against the corner of his eye. “I wonder if a vampire eye is as sensitive as a human eye.”
“I don’t think I can watch this,” Dylan said and tu
rned away just before Delanie slid the icepick into Hunter’s eye.
When the vampire screamed, Delanie laughed.
“Still think Crompton would be worse?” She asked, close to his ear. “Where’s Jackson?”
“Don’t know,” he panted.
“Where’s Crompton?” She asked.
“House on the beach,” he answered.
“Where?” Delanie asked, pushing the icepick in a little further.
“Cocoa Beach,” he responded.
“That’s where we were when we found Caia,” Karma said, instantly alert.
“And where we found him,” Baxter told her, nodding at Hunter.
“Is it the house I was in?” Caia asked him.
“Yes,” he answered just before he lost consciousness.
“Kill him,” Neveah said as she rose to her feet. “I doubt he knows anything else.”
Grabbing her Kunai, Delanie stabbed the vampire through the heart, ending his suffering.
“That was awesome,” Caia said as they walked up the stairs to the small office in the house.
“It’s not awesome, kid,” Delanie said as she looked at the younger girl. “But it is necessary at times.”
“Jackson asked me to stake him if what Crompton said was true and he can control him,” Caia told them. “I don’t think I could though.”
“I couldn’t either,” Delanie told her.
“Speaking of that,” Karma said as they walked into the kitchen. “I talked to Eduardo. He said he’s never heard of anything like that, but he also said Crompton is the oldest vampire in existence, and may know something he doesn’t.”
“He actually admitted he may not know something?” Nevaeh asked, slightly shocked.
“I was surprised, too,” Karma said and shrugged. “They’ll be here sometime tomorrow, and Ramsey said if Crompton somehow had managed to figure out how to make Jackson do his bidding, we only have two options.”
“Let me guess,” Dylan said as he looked at his lifemate. “Kill Jackson, or kill Crompton?”
“No, but good guesses,” she said and grinned at him. “Ramsey said Jackson drinking the blood of a relative could break it.”
“So, let him drink from me?” Dylan asked, frowning. “And what was the second option?”
“Him drinking the blood of his copula,” she answered. and all eyes snapped toward Delanie.
“What?” She asked, not liking the way they were all looking at her.
“Ramsey seems to think you’re Jackson’s lifemate,” Karma told her.
“What?” She asked again. “Jackson and I just met. We barely know each other. How can I be his lifemate?”
“Karma and I knew each other for less than a day when I knew she was more than just someone passing through town,” Dylan said and smiled at Karma.
“And I knew as soon as I met Nevaeh what she was to me,” Harrison admitted for the first time. “Not that I admitted it to anyone, even myself, until months later.”
“Okay, say I am his lifemate,” Delanie said and started pacing. “How the fuck will he be able to drink from me without killing me?”
“Instinct,” Baxter answered. “As soon as your blood hits his tongue, he will be calmed and be unable to hurt you.”
“How do you know that?” Gina asked, looking at the vampire who intrigued her.
“Because I’ve tasted my mate,” he responded and walked from the room without another word.
“We will address that later,” Karma said, looking at Baxter’s back. “Right now, though, we have a house to locate.”
“I know where it is,” Caia spoke up again.
“Can you show us on a map?” Jensen asked. “If we show you where we found you at?”
“Maybe,” she said and smiled at him. “Jackson said there were good vampire, but I didn’t truly believe him until now.”
“Most vampire are good,” Karma told her as she pulled out the map of the area they found Caia. “But, like with everyone, there are some really bad ones too.”
“Here’s where we found you,” Jensen pointed to the smaller structure on the map.
“When I went out the window, I ran left,” she said and started scanning the map.
“How long did you run for?” Jensen asked, trying to figure out how far she’d run.
“I don’t know,” she responded without taking her eyes off the map. “But I remember crossing the railroad tracks, and passing this thing.”
She pointed to an oddly shaped building on the map.
“Okay,” Jensen said as he looked at the map. “When you were on the beach, did you pass this cove?”
“No,” she responded. “But I passed these rocks.”
“Perfect,” he said and smiled at her. “We have an area to search.”
Chapter Seventeen
“There are five houses in the area between the cove and the rocks,” Jensen told them after they got out of the SUVs.
“I say we all stick together,” Karma said and looked at the small group. “We cannot go into an occupied house without being invited anyway.”
“Well, some of us can,” Dylan said and looked at Delanie. “If we come across Crompton’s house, Delanie and I could go in.”
“If we come across Crompton’s house, we will tear it down around him,” Johnson said as his thoughts went to Maggie.
“That’s a better plan,” Karma said and grinned. “But I don’t think he’s still around.”
“What makes you think that?” Baxter asked.
“If someone within the VEB is feeding him information, he knows we have Caia and Hunter. Do you think he’d hang around knowing one of them could lead us to him?” She asked, and Baxter nodded.
“You’re right,” he said and sighed a little. “If he isn’t occupying the house any longer, we should all be able to go inside.”
“Let’s find this son of a bitch,” Delanie said, and they all started walking down the beach.
When they reached the first house, Karma walked close and sniffed before shaking her head.
“It’s not this one,” she said, and Delanie looked at her for a second.
“Do you know Crompton’s scent?” She asked.
“No, but both Caia and Hunter were inside Crompton’s house, so their scents would still be there. Plus, Caia left the house through a window, so hers may be outside it as well,” Karma explained.
“I didn’t think about that,” Delanie said and shrugged. “I guess I still have a lot to learn.”
“We all do,” Martin said and looked at Karma. “She has honed her senses better than any vampire I’ve ever met.”
“I’ve had the vampire senses all my life,” Karma reminded them. “I never knew what life was without them, so it came easy for me.”
“Maybe, but you’re only eighteen,” Jensen said and looked at the group with them. “All of us turned vampire, with the exception of Nevaeh, have been vampire longer than you’ve been alive.”
“So?” Karma asked and looked at him. “All of you can remember a time when you didn’t have the vampire skills. I can’t, Analia can’t, Dylan can’t. We were born like this, and it’s always been a part of our lives. We didn’t have to practice, we didn’t have to adapt to the sights and sounds we could suddenly see or hear. It’s always been who we are.”
“True,” Dylan said once she stopped talking. “But, even though I was born with the abilities, you’ve always been more attuned to everything than I am.”
“Maybe it’s because of who my Father was? Or because of who turned him,” Karma said and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter though. What matters is finding Jackson.”
“Agreed,” Dylan said and took her hand.
As they walked toward the next house, Karma thought about what Jensen and Martin had said. Was she different than the others? Of course she was different than the other turned vampire because she’d always had the vampire abilities, but was she that much different than Dylan or Analia? It was something she’d have to t
hink about after they found Jackson.
“This is the place,” Dylan said, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Jackson hasn’t been here though,” Nevaeh commented as she sniffed the air.
“And no one is inside,” Karma added.
“Let’s see if we can go in,” Johnson said and stepped to the front door. When he turned the handle, the door opened, and he took a deep breath. Taking a step forward, he was able to cross the threshold and walk inside.
“Looks like he’s left,” Baxter said and followed Johnson inside. “Search everywhere.”
“Look for anything that could lead us to Jackson,” Dylan said, and Jensen nodded his agreement.
“Anything he left, he most likely left it intentionally,” Karma told them. “So, even if something leads us to Jackson, it’s also leading us, most likely, into a trap. Not saying we won’t go, but I want everyone to know what they’re getting into.”
“We know,” Baxter told her. “And we will be right beside you no matter what we’re walking in on.”
“We’re family,” Jensen said and slung his arm around her. “And we know you’d do the same for us.”
“I would,” she responded and grinned. “And I am so glad both of you dropped the ma’am shit.”
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Baxter said, and Karma punched him.
“Let’s get this place searched so we can get back to the house,” Karma said, shoving all humor aside. “We have a couple of humans we need to get somewhere safe before we can follow Crompton to wherever he may have gone.”
“Speaking of the humans,” Baxter said and grinned at Johnson. “What’s going on between you and the little human we rescued from that first warehouse?”
“Maggie,” Johnson said and shook his head. “I have no idea, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about her, and worrying if she’s okay.”
“Copula,” Dylan said softly as he walked into the bedroom.
“What?” Johnson said, following him.
“Something isn’t right,” Dylan said, and looked over his shoulder at Johnson. “Do you smell that?”
“Yes,” Johnson said and sniffed harder. “But I have no idea what it is.”
“Smells like something burning,” Karma commented from behind Johnson.
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