A Hunter's Challenge [The Hunters 3] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Suzy Shearer

  “No.”

  “Then how?”

  “How did we check the records?”

  Ken nodded.

  “We...we are specialists.”

  Erica looked at Anthan in surprise and gave a little grin. She guessed in a way that was true. Ken searched his face.

  “Oh.”

  “So who should we contact?”

  Ken shook his head. “I live alone.”

  His voice sounded croaky still and he looked at Amy who still held some juice in the glass. She lifted the glass and he nodded. He drank again. Amy went upstairs and came back with another glass of juice. Ken drank it greedily.

  “Who would have reported you missing?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe my boss?”

  “Okay. So no girlfriend, relations?”

  Shaking his head, he replied. “No. Parents are dead and no siblings. What was that thing?”

  Anthan cleared his throat. This was going to be difficult.

  “That creature that took you. It is called a strigoi, an immortal vampire.”

  He looked crazily from one to the other and tried to push himself back into the pillow away from them all. It was obvious he thought they were all lunatics.

  “Vampire?”

  “Yes. If you search your memories, you’ll remember it feeding off you, drinking your blood.”

  Ken paled. His face was drawn and his cheeks so sunken. He looked terrified as he remembered.

  “Fuck!”

  He began screaming again and again. Tears started rolling down his hollowed cheeks again. His hands were clenching and unclenching on the sheet. He closed his eyes then opened them again.

  “There’s so much. Fuckin’ hell.” He shook his head. “Can I have something to drink again please?”

  “Ken, if we give you some clothes, would you like to come upstairs? Maybe have something to eat. It’s been a while since you ate but if you could eat something light you should be able to keep it down. We can answer all your questions and explain some important things to you. It would give you a chance to sit for a while.”

  He nodded his head. Martin left the room and came back quickly with some clothing. Anthan knew he had fashioned from the air but was grateful he had not done it in front of Ken.

  Erica smiled at Ken. “Amy and I will leave you. The men will help you dress and get you upstairs, Ken. You’re going to be very weak.”

  “Thanks.”

  * * * *

  She and Amy left the room and went back to the kitchen. Erica got the food from the fridge and began heating it and leaving it in the oven to stay warm.

  “I wonder if he could eat some rice?”

  “Don’t know. He won’t be able to eat much after going so long but he’ll need something nutritious. Something relatively bland that won’t upset his tummy.”

  “Wish I had more stuff in the pantry, I could make a custard with eggs and the rice. Oh well. Do you think some scrambled eggs would work? Just eggs and no flavourings.”

  “Good idea. We could give him some sweetened tea as well. The sugar would help with his energy levels.”

  Erica had the eggs almost finished when the men came in. Anthan was practically carrying Ken. Erica got the impression that Ken was determined not to look weak in front of the two women. She gave Anthan a quizzical look.

  “I carried him upstairs Iubită, but he wanted to at least look manly in front of you both.”

  “Will he be okay? Don’t let him fall!”

  “Don’t worry dragostea mea, it is only his feet touching the ground. I am holding him upright and lending him my strength.”

  Anthan settled Ken on one of the couches. Sweat covered his brow, just from the tiny amount of effort he had made. He gave a wry grin.

  “Guess I’m a lot weaker than I thought.”

  “Remember you haven’t had any food for almost three weeks.”

  He nodded then blanched.

  “That... that thing. It gave me some water a few times. Why?”

  “Are you ready to hear this now Ken?”

  “I have to. I have to know what happened to me.”

  He sounded determined and Anthan nodded.

  “Anthan can you move things around so we can all sit and eat together? We can answer questions at the same time.”

  Martin and Anthan pushed a few couches around Ken’s seat. Erica set large bowls of food on the table for everyone to help themselves. Then she took the bowl of scrambled eggs on a tray to Ken.

  “Ken, I’m not sure if you can hold this. Want to give it a try?”

  She set the tray on his lap and gave him a spoon. His hand shook as he took it. She bit her tongue watching him. He finally managed to lift a spoonful of food and get it to his mouth without spilling too much. He grinned up at her. Amy pulled a small lamp table alongside him and put a cup of hot sweetened tea on it.

  “Don’t be ashamed to ask for help. Especially here.” She gave a shiver. “We all know exactly what it feels like.”

  Everyone filled their plates then settled down in a semi-circle around Ken’s chair. There was silence for a while, while they ate then Ken exhaled loudly and lay back in the chair. He had managed to eat a little but he was so pale and looked exhausted.

  Amy took the tray from his lap and carefully gave him a mouthful of the tea. He nodded his thanks.

  “Ken I think you should sleep soon, just sit for a while longer but after what you’ve been through even sitting will be exhausting.”

  You’re not wrong, Anto…Anthan?”

  “Anthan.”

  Martin stood, he went back for seconds but he also put the jug on. He stood at the counter eating waiting for it to boil. When it had, he grabbed mugs and made tea for the others. Handing them out, he took the final mug for himself and sat alongside Amy. He looked at Ken with concern.

  “Ken, are you ready for us to answer your questions?”

  He looked at Anthan and the girls. His voice was a little stronger but still harsh.

  “I think I need to hear. Don’t want to but I need to.”

  Martin nodded.

  “What was that thing? You said it was a vampire. I...” He was shaking his head. “I can’t believe it but that fucking thing was eating me! And why did that thing give me water?”

  “I’m sorry, Ken, but it gave you enough water to keep you alive while it tortured you.”

  Ken shook his head and looked in fear at Anthan. Anthan quietly took the stage and told Ken the history of strigoi and Hunters. Ken would look in disbelief at him but at the same time, he would nod his head in agreement.

  “So these strig things, they’ve been around since the beginning of time?”

  “Yes. Yes they have. I’d imagine that’s where the tales come from. All through the centuries, there have been tales of creatures drinking blood. All Hunters refer to them by the original name. We’ve always known them as strigoi—that’s the Romanian and Hungarian word for what is now referred to as an immortal vampire. Most people believe the word ‘vampire’ came from the slavic word ‘vampir’ back in the 1700s.”

  “When Bram Stoker wrote the Dracula book.”

  “Actually that wasn’t written until 1897. There were reports in 1725 of the local practice of exhuming bodies and ‘killing vampire’ published by officials when Austria got control of Lesser Wallachia and northern Serbia in 1718 with the Treaty of Passarowitz. Lesser Wallachia is in Romania. The area was initially inhabited by the Dacians, my people.”

  He looked over at Ken realising he been lecturing.

  “I’m sorry I get carried away at times.”

  “Please go on. I need to know everything, I have to know.”

  “Okay. Well the Dacians refer to themselves as ‘being wolves.’ This stems from when the first Hunters were made and we could transform ourselves into animals. Most would transform into wolves.”

  “Hang on. You’re talking about hundreds of years ago.”

  Erica tried to hide her laugh. She looked a
t Anthan with love and lifted his hand to kiss it.

  “Actually I’m talking about the end of the Copper age and the start of the Bronze age. Dacians came from a branch of the Thracian people who were around during the fifth century BCE.”

  Ken forced himself back further in the chair, as if trying to distance himself from what he was hearing. He shook his head trying to get around the dates Anthan was giving him.

  “So if I believe you, then you’re all thousands of years old.”

  “Well not all of us. Only Martin and I are Hunters. Amy and Erica are just like you.”

  Warily Ken looked at the two girls then both Hunters.

  “Okay. So how old.”

  “Martin is a youngster compared to me, he is over nine hundred. Me? Well, I’ve seen almost four and half thousand years.”

  Erica and Anthan jumped up. Ken’s eyes had rolled back into his head, his face ashen. They could all hear his heart racing as he began to hyperventilate. Erica grabbed his hand.

  “Ken are you okay?”

  Anthan quickly connected with him and began to bring his breathing and heart rate back down to normal. His eyes fluttered open and a little colour returned to his face.

  “Sorry. That...well, it took me by surprise.”

  “Don’t worry Amy and I had trouble coming to terms with it, too.”

  She and Anthan sat again.

  “This is kind of hard to believe. It’s only that...that thing. I know that was real.” He thought for a while. “Hang on! I remember being badly hurt. I remember bones being broken! I was bleeding everywhere! My arm was shredded and my face felt like every bone was smashed. It was as if I’d been hit by a train. Everywhere I hurt, I know I was dying.”

  “You were. We found you a few days ago. Martin and I have the ability to heal. We were able to set the broken bones, heal the damage to your internal organs. It took a lot of work but you’re fine now.”

  Ken stretched out his arms, then his legs and really looked at them.

  “How long ago?”

  “Since we found you?” Ken nodded.

  “Three days.”

  Martin watched him then asked, “Are you psychic?”

  “What? How’d you know?”

  “By the very fact you were still alive. When the strigoi take someone, they usually drain them immediately unless they’re psychic. Then they like to torture them. The fact that you were still alive after more than two weeks tells us you have to be. You’re one of the very rare few who managed to survive that long. In fact we don’t know of anyone until you who survived longer than two weeks and a day.”

  Erica looked at Ken, she sent a tendril into his mind and he looked over at her startled as she “spoke” to him.

  “I’ve been where you are, been in the grip of the strigoi for days.”

  “You, too?”

  She grinned and nodded. Aloud she spoke.

  “Yes. Me, too.”

  “You were? How long?”

  “It was four days until they found me.”

  He looked at her with new understanding. “Then you know.”

  Soberly she nodded.

  “I know.”

  She and Ken shared a look. A look that held the terrors that both had faced. A look that told of horrors that could never be explained, horrors that could only be understood by someone who had experienced them.

  “So does Amy, she was also taken by one for a few hours.”

  Anthan pulled Erica into the comfort of his arms. Ken looked over at him.

  “What happens to me now?”

  “Whatever you want. Bear in mind the police have been searching for you. You can’t tell them what really happened. They’ll throw you in a padded cell and throw away the key.”

  “I know. But what can I do?”

  “We can help. You can report back to the police that you’d been away. We can implant a memory in your boss, he’ll think he forgot all about you telling him. We can smooth it over with the police then you can go back to normal.”

  “Normal!” Ken’s voice rose. “How can I go back to normal knowing what happened? You said you can make my boss and the police think stuff. Can’t you change my memories and make me forget?”

  “Sorry. No. You’re psychic. We can’t erase memories in those who are. We can push the horrors back into your mind and make them less painful but we can’t take them away.”

  “You did that. That’s why even though it scares the fuck out of me, it seems a little distant.”

  “Yeah I did Ken. It just helps you to deal with this. Anyway, you need to stay here for a couple more days. You have to get your strength back, you would find it hard to just walk to the bathroom. You need to get back to eating normally.”

  Ken nodded.

  “If anyone saw you at the moment, they’d know something terrible must have happened. You’ve lost a lot of weight, you have no muscle tone at all, your cheeks are sunken in and you’re weak. But all of that will come back.”

  “Guess that makes sense. So anything else you want to spring on me while my head’s still reeling?”

  Anthan and Martin exchanged looks.

  “Just one thing.” Martin caught a glance of Ken’s face. “It’s nothing bad!”

  “Thank goodness.”

  Martin then explained about mates to Hunters. How they are always psychics.

  “Not all psychics are destined to be Ones but if they are strong ones like Erica then they always are.”

  Ken nodded then looked at Amy. “So you’re psychic, too, Amy?”

  “Yes but nowhere near as strong as Erica is. I could never ‘talk’ to you like she just did.”

  “I couldn’t do that either, Amy.” He thought for a moment. “So you’re trying to tell me that somewhere in the world there might be a person who I am the mate for?”

  “Yes. Exactly that. In fact I would say it’s a certainty.” Anthan nodded his agreement to Martin’s words. “Especially as you are taking this exceptionally well, we’ve found that’s a trait mates have in common.”

  “Man this just gets fucking weirder and weirder.” He tried to hold back a yawn without success. The Hunters could “hear” how tired he was, as could Erica.

  “I think we should get you back to bed.”

  He looked at them all and muttered. “So much to comprehend, so much to try to believe.”

  Anthan stood. Ken tried to push himself out of the chair but had no chance. Anthan picked him up. Ken blushed but all could see he was incapable of even sitting straight. They all wished him a good-night as Anthan carried him from the room. A few minutes he was back.

  “I sent him a command to sleep dreamlessly until the morning when he will wake naturally.”

  “That poor man. I thought the days I was held was hell but to exist for weeks while being tortured.” Erica shivered. “I think I’d be nuts!”

  “Yes it’s weird how well he’s taking this all, even for someone destined to be a Hunter’s mate.” Anthan looked at her thoughtfully. “Something’s definitely in play but I just can’t put my finger on it. Something is bringing us all together, in this place and at this exact time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Who wants another cuppa?”

  Everyone agreed, so Amy made tea while Erica rummaged in the cupboard for biscuits.

  “The removalists will be here at eight. Will you be able to let me know where they can stash things?”

  “I’ll be awake. We can sort things as they come in. Do you want to use your bed or mine?”

  Erica grinned.

  “I like yours, it’s bigger than mine, too.”

  “We can put yours in the fourth bedroom, its empty at the moment.”

  “Is it big enough for the two singles as well?”

  “We can jamb them in there for the time being, or somewhere. What else is there?”

  “All the stuff from my kitchen and pantry, my fridge, TV, microwave.”

  “So you’ll have more than one pan.”<
br />
  Erica shook her head at him. “And then there’s all my photography stuff, some books and a couple of boxes of junk.”

  “Junk?”

  “You know, stuff you gather but don’t want to part with.”

  Anthan laughed at her.

  “Well, your fridge is better than mine. This old one has seen better days. Good that we’ll have a microwave, too.” Wistfully he asked, “Any more biscuits in your pantry?”

  “Maybe a pack or two. I usually just make them when I want some.”

  Martin and Anthan exchanged glances. They were both thinking of homemade sweet treats. Even Amy caught the thought. To change the subject Amy asked about strigoi.

  “Do you think there are any left, Anthan, in the area.”

  “Not sure, Amy. I did have a quick look at the police sheets. There was one death that looked a little like the work of a strigoi. We’ll know for sure in about a week.”

  Martin finished his tea and pulled Amy to her feet.

  “Let’s go home. Nothing much to do here and I can think of much better things to do than talk about strigoi.”

  * * * *

  Amy was quiet on the drive over. She and Martin reached the house a short while later. They sat together on the couch, Martin had his arm across her shoulders.

  “Do you think Ken will be okay? I mean, he seems to be taking this rather well.”

  “Which is another reason why I would say he is destined to be a Hunter’s mate. There is something in a mate’s DNA or whatever the gods did that not only makes a mate fall in love almost instantaneously, but accept what they’re told about immortals easily.”

  “Unless they have been brainwashed like Erica and me.”

  Martin laughed and kissed her ear.

  “Even then. Think back, nîcimos, even though you were resisting you weren’t able to stop yourself falling in love.”

  Laughing, she said, “True. I did try but I just couldn’t help myself.”

  She looked thoughtful. “Do you know that Erica told me she felt a connection to Anthan even before they met. It was when you were telling us about him. She said all she wanted to do was find him and hold him. She even told me that she can remember dreaming about a man as a child.”