The Jaded Hunter

by Michelle M. Pillow

  She pressed her lips firmly together, pinning her mouth closed with her fangs. The salty tang of blood ran into her mouth. She ignored it. She didn’t answer as her eyes turned to follow his. She was scared of facing them. Who knew what heartless beings they might be? And why should they show her mercy? She was their enemy, the killer of their benighted children.

  “Tyr, I have to explain.” As she spoke a thin trail of her blood passed over her lips, dripping off her chin. “I have to explain to you about the photographs you found. It’s not what you think.”

  Tyr glanced down to her and was about to answer, but he suddenly stiffened and slashed a hand to order silence. Jaden blinked, startled. She absently rubbed the blood from her chin as she followed his gaze over the distance. There was no boat. She looked for Shiva in the shadows, but the vampire had disappeared.

  A battle cry went out over the beach. Jaden’s eyes widened in horror as she spun around, turning her back on the water. An army clad in black rushed forward over the sand. Jaden instantly recognized their attire and detected their mortality.

  Glancing fearfully at Tyr, she saw his body postured for a fight. She had to choose—and fast. Loyalty to the humans surged within her, but her heart beat for Tyr. She was no longer mortal, but she didn’t feel like a vampire. She’d never belonged in either of their worlds. Now it was time to choose a side. What should she do? But the choice had been taken from her. She knew that. Hadn’t Shiva said she needed to choose a new alliance? Would her uncle’s men accept her, knowing what she had become? Would Mack?

  She closed her eyes. Her fang bit again into the tender flesh of her lips as a reminder. There was no going back to mortality. She chose Tyr.

  Tyr stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. A dozen men circled around them. One carried at net, others menacingly brandished stakes and swords.

  Jaden growled, darting past his side to lunge at a man in the forefront. She thumped against his chest, tackling him to the ground. Her hand snapped to his throat in a choking hold.

  “Jade,” the man gasped in terrified surprise.

  Jaden recognized the voice. Ripping the mask from the man’s head, she threw it aside. She saw the fair locks of Tom’s hair drifting in the breeze before she focused on his sharp features. The man gasped, panicked by her sudden assault. His fingers clawed the backs of her hands, digging into the flesh of her knuckles. Again, she pressed her hand around about his neck.

  “Jade,” he whispered again, desperate to get her attention. An overly relieved smile came to his face when she lessened her hold. “Thank God you’re alive. We’ve come to save you.”

  “Save me,” she said, her eyes glowing hotly with her immortal powers, “or kill me?”

  Tom saw her undead face and squirmed. Her skin was flushed with a ghostly pale beauty. Her lips were tinged with the subtlest shades of blue and crimson. When she spoke, she displayed sharp white teeth that glinted in the moonlight. Kicking his leg around, Tom knocked Jaden in the back of her head. Her body jolted, falling to the sand. Tom sprang to his feet. Jaden was quick to follow. Her eyes narrowed dangerously on his retreating back. She could smell Tom’s fear—not only of her, but of all things unknown. She detected intolerance and savagery and she hated him, more so than when she was human.

  Jaden flew at Tom, empowered by the endurance of her rebirth. His fist met her jaw, her stomach, her temple. His feet kicked at her legs, knocking them out from under her. Jaden jumped right back up. A smile played over her features. Tom froze, knowing she toyed with him. A demonic light had entered her eyes as she studied him. Jaden pounced, tackling him to the ground. She pinned his body beneath her. Her mouth opened to bite him.

  “No, Jade,” Tom wheezed. “You don’t want to do this. We’re friends.”

  “Friends?” Jaden’s lip curled. The beast inside of her took over. She had been feasting on rodents and fish for so long that her body instinctively craved a real meal. Her mouth opened. Her head sank.

  “Jade!”

  Jaden froze. The sound of childhood broke through the fog in her brain. Her eyes darted to see her uncle standing on the dock above. His arms were widespread for her. The fire and blood in her eyes lessened to see him there, waiting for her, calling her. Her eyes tilted, seeing the smile on his face as he sought her in the darkness. He was relieved. He was calling to her, but she couldn’t hear the words as blood rushed in her ears. Beneath her, Tom sighed in relief.

  “Go to Mack,” Tom urged. “He will help you. He has a plan.”

  “He will kill me,” Jaden said. “I am not like you, not anymore. I won’t be a part of it anymore.”

  “No, Jade,” Tom eased, growing empowered. “You don’t understand. It will be fine. Mack will understand. He’ll take care of you.”

  “Like he took care of the others?”

  “Go to him,” Tom insisted. “Please, Jade.”

  Jaden ignored the advice. Feeling a strange pull, her eyes darted to Tyr. She detected something was wrong. A net was cast over his back. Ten men held him down. Rick wielded a stake. It was aimed at Tyr’s turned back. Tyr flung an attacker off and then another.

  * * *

  Mack watched his niece from the road, puffing quietly on his cigar. He clutched a phone in his hands, ready to call the gunman he had waiting in the trees. Why wasn’t she running towards him?

  Jaden let Tom go. Tom waved frantically over his head. Mack’s arms fell to his sides at the signal. His smile faded. Jaden left the man on the beach and dashed with all her speed to rescue Tyr

  He lifted his phone and pushed a button. The call was immediately answered.

  “What is happening? Can you see her?” Mack demanded.

  “She is helping him,” the gunman whispered. “The creature is almost free. What do you want me to do?”

  There was silence as Mack watched his niece’s figure dart over the sand to help Tyr. His gut tightened and his heart sank. Matter-of-factly, he ordered, “Take your shot.”

  * * *

  A shot rang out, whizzing past Jaden’s shoulder, causing her to pause in her progress across the beach. In the distance, she heard a man scream as he was tossed down from a tree. She knew instinctively that the gunman was dead.

  Tom crawled along the beach towards Mack, his face hanging low to the ground. All of a sudden he stopped, a heavy boot appearing before his face. The silver buckles gleamed in the moonlight. Tom looked up into the motionless gaze of the undead. The creature shot forward, his pale hands grabbing Tom’s throat. The vampire hauled him up to his waiting mouth. The vampire at his neck tore, sucking before tossing him to the ground like garbage. Tom wheezed in dying horror, his eyes focusing forward to the back taillights of Mack’s car as the man abandoned them.

  As Tom died, a small horde of dark beings come out from the shadows. They swooped towards the soldiers around Tyr, grabbing their victims to drink.

  “No!” Jaden yelled, throwing herself at Rick. Rick swung down, his stake hitting her in the shoulder above her heart. Jaden gasped with the pain of it. Rick’s eyes cleared from the battle haze. He paled, pulling his mask from his features. Reaching out, he caught her to his chest.

  “Jade?” Rick eased her tenderly to the ground. Desperately, he tried to stem the flow of her blood. “What have you done?”

  Tyr felt the stake inside Jaden as if it had been his own body. The hands of the ambush weighed in on him only to be suddenly lifted by an unseen force. Tyr tore the net from his back. He scanned the distance. Before him was Shiva, leading Ares, Osiris, and Aleksander into battle. They fought the mortals, killing them easily, littering the beach with the dead. The battle was won before it really started.

  The echoing pain in his shoulder drew his eyes down to Jaden. Rick was next to her, cradling her head in his lap. Tyr growled, sensing the blood coming from her wound.

  Rick glanced around in horror. He’d seen Mack abandon his niece, abandon them all. He’d heard the shot and saw the bloody streak of it across Jad
en’s arm. Leaning protectively over Jaden, he silently swore not to let her get taken again by the undead monsters that surrounded them.

  “Pull it out,” Jaden demanded, her voice hoarse with pain.

  “No,” Rick whispered, glancing down at her in surprise. “You might bleed to death.”

  Jaden chuckled bitterly. The sound caught his attention and he looked fully at her. Her eyes glowed up at him. Rick froze, seeing the truth of what she had become. He pushed her from his lap and scrambled away.

  “Oh, no,” he murmured, desperate, pleading at the injustice of what she had become. “No, Jade.”

  “Pull it out,” she demanded again. When he didn’t move, she grabbed the stake herself, weakly trying to paw at it. A hand reached from above, lifting it from her skin. The wound began to close.

  Tyr threw the bloody stake aside. His eyes bore angrily into her. She had taken the stake meant for him. “Damn it, you fool. Do you think to get out of your judgment so easily?”

  Rick backed away. The undead victors gathered silently around Tyr and the fallen young one. One by one their eyes turned to the mortal man.

  “What of him?” Aleksander asked with a sneer. His straight, black hair blended perfectly with the night. His teeth parted, ready to bite on command.

  “Take him,” Tyr ordered. “He is one of MacNaughton’s leaders. The council might want to question him.”

  Rick tried to protest, but his lips never opened. Aleksander swiftly moved forward, knocking the mortal over the head with his fist. Rick’s world went black. Aleksander tossed the man over his shoulder as if he weighed no more than a child’s rag doll.

  “The boatman,” Shiva said, his chin jutting down the coast. “His throat is slit.”

  “There is another,” Ares said, coming forward. His dark blue eyes glittered with the light of battle. “Come. We will reach the council tonight.”

  “And what of this one?” Aleksander whispered, motioning down to Jaden. Her eyes were closed, but she was still awake. Hearing the words, she blinked, looking up at them.

  Tyr lifted his hand over Jaden’s face. Her eyes rounded in horror as the others did the same. They leaned over her, blocking out the stars with their unsympathetic expressions.

  “She will sleep,” Tyr stated, “so that she may never find her way back here.”

  * * *

  Mack frantically paced the length of his immense hotel suite, marching to the dresser and then back to his suitcase with an armload of clothing. Feeling a presence on the balcony, he stiffened and turned to the thin glass door. He saw movement through the white gauze of the curtains. The lock unlatched in the breeze, the door coming slowly open with a measured creak.

  Pietro glided forward, his eyes taking in the suitcase and Mack’s agitated frown. Lifting his hand, Pietro shut the door behind him without touching it, leaving them alone in the room.

  “All my men are dead.” Mack went to the dresser for another load of clothing. “I am getting off this island.”

  “What of your niece?” Pietro questioned.

  A wave of guilt racked Mack, forcing him to close his eyes. Sniffing, he wiped his nose. “She’s dead. I kno—”

  “She lives,” Pietro broke in.

  Mack gasped in surprise. Shaking his head, he said, “There is nothing I can do for her. She is within that fortress. She’s as good as dead.”

  Pietro didn’t argue. “It is likely she will be tortured and killed.”

  Mack stiffened. Turning his hateful gaze on the old vampire, he scowled, “How did this happen? I did everything you told me!”

  “The Dark Knights interference was an unfortunate—”

  “Unfortunate?” Mack demanded in ire. “It was more than unfortunate! Why didn’t you warn me? I could’ve been killed and then our plans ruined. Why did you betray me?”

  “I had no time to warn,” Pietro said, his lifeless eyes stating that if Mack died, his plans would go on without him.

  “Then you did know.”

  “I was told, yes.” Pietro watched Mack slam his suitcase shut and begin to latch it. “You are not leaving. Jaden might be lost, but our plan continues.”

  “What about Tyr?” Mack cried. “What about the others? You never warned me of them. They slaughtered my men within seconds.”

  “Yes,” Pietro said calmly. “I imagine they would have.”

  Mack fumed. Falling wearily, he sank onto the bed and abandoned his packing. He realized he had no choice. If he defied Pietro, he wouldn’t last the night. It was only with the vampire’s warnings that he had lasted so many years.

  “What will they do to her?” he asked, thinking of Jaden.

  “They will judge her,” Pietro answered. “And they will more than likely kill her.”

  “Will you help her?” Mack asked in dejection. “Can you bring her back to me?”

  “I’ll try,” Pietro promised coolly. “When it becomes time to decide, I’ll vote for life. I cannot say what the others will do. Now, prepare yourself. I’ll come back for you, but for now I must join the council. They will be expecting me.”

  * * *

  The boat rocked on the choppy sea as the knights made the passage to Delos. The bound boatman stood at the helm, used to the vampiric passengers. The human servant ignored them, though they were an imposing sight—standing stock still on the uneven water. Their vampiric eyes glittered in the silver of the moonlight, their hair lifted gently in unison on the breeze, and their black clothing clung to their bodies like second skins to hide the tell-tale paleness beneath.

  The boatman’s old knobby fingers ran over the smoothed wood of his boat, his thin legs planted unfalteringly on the deck. He knew better than to ask questions of the strangers at his back, having ferried them on the water most of his life. During the day, he was allowed to ferry humans to the sacred island, and at night he was roused from bed to do the same for his vampiric masters. It was the lot of his family line to serve the dark ones, and they did so without complaint for they had been well rewarded and taken care of in return.

  The Dark Knights in turn ignored the loyal servant. They rode noiselessly over the short distance, each keeping their thoughts in their own heads. The dhampir and mortal captives laid quietly by their feet. Their bodies were for the most part motionless, though they rolled and swayed quietly on the deck with the waves.

  Tyr let his eyes drift downward. Jaden’s face was turned away from him, pressing close to Rick’s side. Tyr didn’t need to see her features to recall every detail of her fine appearance or the legendary jade of her gaze—a gaze made all the more potent by the accursed gift he had given her. Rick’s arm arched over her head. The waves rocked the two prisoners intimately together until they looked to be resting peacefully. He wondered for the hundredth time why he hadn’t let the mortal man die.

  Tyr had seen Jaden fighting Mack’s soldiers. He grudgingly respected her skill, having recognized moves she’d used against him while they sparred. Tyr had half expected her to help the mortals. He never imagined she’d take his side in battle.

  The wound on her shoulder was healing, the worst of it over. Tyr stared at it and felt his stomach tighten. Instantly, his companion’s heads turned to him, sensing his torment in a brief anguished moment he forgot to hide. Tyr forced all feeling out of his chest, leaving in it a cold numbness. He lifted his passionless eyes to the approaching dock emerging out of the night, refusing to answer their unspoken inquiry. He didn’t look at her again and his quiet companions turned their curiosity away.

  * * *

  Jaden awoke with a start from the strange sleep induced by the power of the Knights. She was surrounded by stone walls. Her lungs softly panted with breath out of human habit until she realized they didn’t need the air. She stopped breathing, sitting in the surreal shadow casting of light coming dimly from a narrow slit at the bottom of the door. The tiny edge allowed a thin beam to illuminate within. She was again in a prison cell, a dark dungeon in the vampire council hall.
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  Her vampiric eyes cut through the darkness with ease. She still hadn’t grown used to trusting them. Her vision focused too quickly and she shut her eyes to stop it from wavering. Her other enhanced senses had been easier to handle, since being a dhampir had given Jaden a lesser degree of them her whole life.

  Peering into the door, she knew the tribal council was close. She felt the concentrated energy of the tribes thumping all around her, pumping in her veins, flowing like electricity from the old stones. It made her shiver with the coldness of it and she was very afraid.

  Tyr was gone. She couldn’t detect him beyond the thick metal. Her body contracted with a sob that found no release. Her limbs quivered violently. Death was all around her, had become part of her. All she wanted was one last smile from Tyr, one last gentle touch of his hand, the press of his body.

  Hearing someone else’s breath in the darkness, Jaden paused. Her eyes closed. She realized a mortal shared her cell. The smell of blood curled in her nose with a predator’s accuracy. A faint heartbeat unfurled in her head. Her lips parted with newfound instinct, begging her to eat, to bite, to drink. The meals of rats and fish swam inside her. The borrowed life in her blood was painfully inadequate.

  Jaden cracked open her eyes. She wondered if a meal was left for her. Turning her attention to the ground, she saw Rick. His body was still, his chest falling in even sleep. She forced the bloodlust to subside and her fangs back behind her lips.

  Going to the immobile man, she touched his cheek lightly. Rick jolted awake as if burned. His eyes darted open. Seeing her, he weakly scrambled away.

  “Rick,” she began softly, unaware of how her eyes glowed with an eerie green light.

  He shook his head, squinting. “Stay back, Jaden.”

  “Rick,” she continued with a soft plea. She moved to reach out to him, but pulled back when he flinched. “Don’t be scared of me.”

  “You’re one of them.” Proudly lifting his chin, he knew he could never fight her. He saw her eyes and knew he could never hurt her, not even now. “You’re dead.”