On the Hunt

by Alexandra Ivy

  Ready to leave, he strode toward the doorway only to find it blocked by Marcus.

  “Got a minute?” the British immortal asked.

  “Yes.”

  Marcus nodded in the direction of the basement stairwell.

  Yuri followed him downstairs to the quiet room Marcus shared with his wife, Ami.

  Marcus entered, held the door open, then closed it behind Yuri.

  Yuri glanced around. This room was larger than his own and included a crib for the baby they all hoped would soon safely be born, as well as a rocking chair. He looked at Marcus and found him scrutinizing him a little too carefully. “What?”

  “Are you insane?”

  “No. Why? What’s the word on the street?”

  Marcus failed to laugh at the jest. “Why didn’t you tell me you can see ghosts?”

  Yuri shrugged. “I saw no purpose in it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you can see that ghost? Her ghost?”

  “I didn’t see any reason to. You seemed uncomfortable around her—”

  “I’m uncomfortable around all of them. As should you be.” Yuri shook his head. “Normally, I am, but—”

  “You’re talking to her.”

  “Yes.”

  Marcus shook his head. “There is always a catch, Yuri. I know I’m three hundred years older than you, but you’ve lived long enough to have learned that lesson many times over, I’m sure. There is always a downside to talking to them.”

  Yuri couldn’t deny it. “I know.”

  “Then why did you do it? Why are you doing it?”

  No point mincing words. “I enjoy her company.”

  The reprimand left Marcus’s expression. His brow furrowed.

  A long moment passed.

  “Really?” he asked, his tone perplexed.

  “Yes.”

  “So . . .” Marcus backed away and leaned against the crib, his expression no less concerned. “You . . . what . . . converse?”

  “Converse. Watch television. Listen to audiobooks together. Sometimes I read to her. I’m even teaching her to play chess.”

  Marcus’s frown deepened. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Not long. A few weeks.”

  Another minute dragged by, encapsulating them in heavy silence.

  “Did she tell you who she is?”

  Yuri nodded. “Catherine Seddon.”

  “And?”

  “And what? You asked me who she is. She’s Catherine Seddon.”

  Marcus straightened. “Yuri, haven’t you ever wondered why she is the only spirit Seth and David haven’t banished from this house?”

  Yuri frowned. He hadn’t really thought about it, but now that Marcus had mentioned it, it did strike Yuri as odd. Seth and David maintained homes all over the world, inviting immortals and their Seconds to visit whenever they wished to as David did here, doing their damnedest to foster a family atmosphere amongst them. This was the first time Yuri had ever encountered a spirit in one of the elder immortals’ homes.

  Why had they allowed Cat to stay?

  “Is she the spirit of a deceased Immortal Guardian?”

  “No.”

  “A fallen Second?”

  “No.”

  Unease suffused him. “Who is she?” he forced himself to ask, almost afraid to hear the answer.

  “She’s Bastien’s sister.”

  Shock tore through him. “The one Bastien thought Roland murdered?”

  “Yes.”

  Bastien had raised his vampire army and pitted them against the Immortal Guardians a few years earlier for the sole purpose of avenging his sister’s death, unaware that his sister had actually been slain by the husband she hadn’t known had turned vampire.

  Marcus sighed. “She didn’t tell you?”

  “No.” Yuri had avoided asking her how she had died. He’d thought it a rather morbid question. And he certainly hadn’t wanted to bring up painful memories.

  Painful. He cringed as details of her murder swam through his head. He had only heard little snippets here or there since his arrival, but it had been enough. “She was with child when he killed her,” he whispered.

  Marcus nodded. “That’s why she’s so interested in Ami’s pregnancy.” His brow furrowed. “I don’t mind telling you . . . it makes me nervous as hell when I see her touch Ami’s belly. But I feel so damned sorry for her that I can’t bring myself to tell her to keep her distance.”

  “Thank you for that,” Yuri murmured, understanding now the sadness that claimed her in such moments. “Why did her husband kill her?”

  “We don’t know. He managed to convince Bastien he was lucid for several years afterward, so the madness had not yet claimed him. Maybe he simply meant to feed from her and lost control.”

  Yuri’s heart hurt for her. “Does Ami know?”

  “That Catherine touches her belly?”

  “Yes.”

  Marcus shook his head. “She’s having a hard enough time with this pregnancy. I don’t want to throw in phantom hands touching her without her knowledge on top of everything else.”

  “She doesn’t feel anything at Cat’s touch?”

  “No. If you do, your gift must allow you to feel it.”

  “What about Bastien? Does he know?”

  “That his sister’s ghost is hanging around? No.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him?” Yuri sure as hell would want to know if he were in Bastien’s shoes.

  “At first I didn’t tell him because I hated his ass. Ewen was a friend of mine.”

  And Bastien had killed Ewen when the Scottish immortal had attacked him, believing Bastien a maddened vampire preying upon an innocent woman.

  “Seth wouldn’t punish the bastard,” Marcus continued, “and—I don’t know—not telling him about his sister seemed a sort of punishment to me in my anger.” He sighed. “Then I found out how kind Bastien had been to Ami, helping her recuperate from the torture she had suffered and boosting her confidence when those bastards who hurt her left her with almost none. He tested the antidote on himself so none of us would be hurt if it went really wrong. He helped us hide Ami’s pregnancy in the beginning and has proven helpful in taking her mind off her worries.” He shook his head. “I doubt we’ll ever be best buddies, but I don’t hate the guy anymore.”

  “So why haven’t you told him about Cat?”

  “It just seems cruel to me now. I mean, Bastien has probably assumed all this time that, although she suffered a tragic death, his sister found peace in the afterlife. Isn’t that what we’re always told? Yes, she suffered, but she’s at peace now.” Marcus frowned. “Don’t you think it would pretty much kill him to find out that instead, she’s been stuck here—existing, but not really existing—for two damned centuries? That she’s likely had no one to talk to in all of that time? That she was there with him the seven or eight years he continued to pal around with her husband, not knowing he was giving his loyalty to her killer? Or that she was there with him throughout his entire crap-hole life with the vampires, witnessing every atrocity they committed? She was born in the eighteenth century. She lived an incredibly sheltered life, then spent what must have felt like an eternity with psychotic killers, seeing all of the sadistic shit they hid from Bastien. And she still hasn’t found peace.”

  Yuri recalled again the way she always vanished when he encountered vampires.

  What she must have seen during those two centuries.

  “I just thought it kinder not to tell him,” Marcus finished.

  Yuri had to agree.

  Cat must also, because she had not once asked Yuri to let Bastien know she was there or to convey a message to him.

  “Seth and David see her?” Yuri asked after a time.

  “I’m sure they do.”

  “Do they speak to her?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. At least, I’ve never seen them do it. Probably for the same reason I don’t talk to spirits. Because there really is always a
downside.”

  “Why do they let her stay?”

  “I think they feel sorry for her. I mean, even though he can’t see her or hear her, Bastien is all she has left. What would she do if they banished her and took her brother away from her?”

  Yuri swallowed. And if they had removed her from this house, Yuri would never have met her.

  “So,” Marcus spoke after a pause, “have you found it yet?”

  “Found what?” Yuri asked absently, his mind a maelstrom.

  “The catch. The downside to speaking with her.”

  Yuri responded with a slow nod.

  “What is it?” Marcus asked curiously.

  Yuri tried and failed to force a smile. “I’m falling in love with her.”

  Marcus swore.

  Yuri encountered no more of the unusually skilled vampires in the nights that followed, though slacker vamps continued to proliferate. Sometimes he hunted without Stanislav and asked Cat to accompany him so they could speak freely and enjoy the night—or most of it—together. Sometimes he hunted with Stanislav and counted the hours until he could end his hunt and return to David’s to spend time with Cat.

  Seth had suggested that younger immortals hunt in pairs until the Immortal Guardians discovered the source of the new vampire uprising. Yuri had seen five hundred years and Stanislav four hundred. Both had no difficulty holding their own in battles with multiple slacker vampires. And Yuri felt confident they would also have no problem defeating any of the more skilled vampires they might encounter.

  But something about this uprising left Yuri uneasy. And he found himself worrying about Stanislav when they hunted separately. The two had lived near each other and hunted either together or in the same area pretty much since Stanislav had been transformed and Seth had dropped him on Yuri’s doorstep, naming Yuri Stanislav’s mentor and trainer. Yuri loved Stanislav like a brother. And even though he knew his friend could handle himself exceedingly well in battle, Yuri just felt better hunting with him while this unknown army thrived around them.

  Yuri opted to hunt with Stanislav again tonight. Cat didn’t mind and hied herself off to haunt network headquarters, where her brother and his wife, Melanie, spent most of their nights.

  Damn, he couldn’t wait to get back to her.

  It ended up being a good night. Yuri and Stanislav slew two different sets of vampires before the psychotic bastards could attack the humans they stalked. All were swift, clean kills. Neither immortal suffered more than the most inconsequential of injuries. And they managed to return to David’s earlier than usual only to discover that many of the other immortals in the area had also ended their hunts early, having had an easy night.

  No immortals had suffered serious injuries.

  No more skilled vampires had made an appearance.

  Laughter and conversation flowed freely.

  Yes, it was a good night.

  The only thing that would make it better, Yuri thought as he followed Stanislav into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator, would be Cat’s return.

  Dmitry and Alexei joined Yuri and Stanislav and helped them heap two huge platters high with fruits and breads and cheeses.

  When the two Russian immortals carried their bounty into the living room, immortals and mortals alike pounced.

  Over their heads, Yuri saw Cat appear on the opposite side of the room.

  A moment later Bastien and Melanie entered through the front door.

  Yuri gave the couple only a fleeting glance, his interest drawn to Cat.

  She wore a pale yellow dress tonight, as demure as the others he had seen her wear, and looked as innocent as a girl in the first flush of womanhood. Her gaze searched the many immortals, humans, and gifted ones present until it fell upon him. Her face brightening with a smile, she offered him a little wave.

  Yuri’s spirit lightened. Grinning, he winked and hurried to set his platter on the nearest coffee table so he could wade through the throng to sit with her. He might not be able to speak to her without raising eyebrows and prompting unwelcome questions, but he could enjoy her presence. He would have motioned for her to follow him down to his bedroom so they could be alone if he didn’t know how much she enjoyed the camaraderie these men and women shared. And all and sundry appeared to be in high spirits tonight.

  Yuri found a love seat on the fringes of the room and claimed it for his own, his heart thumping madly as it always did when Cat seated herself beside him.

  “Did your hunt go well?” she asked.

  He nodded. Those delightful little tingles shot up his arm where it brushed hers, and he wished for the millionth time that they could truly touch. That he could hold her in his arms and feel her slight weight against him.

  Laughter erupted, but Yuri missed whatever joke Darnell had cracked.

  Cat watched it all with an envious smile.

  As far as Yuri could tell, every immortal in the area was present save Lisette, whom he hadn’t seen very often of late. Even Seth and David had taken some time off, relaxing amongst the others and watching Ami with affectionate indulgence.

  Yuri shook his head when Ami’s baby began to hiccup in the womb. He had never heard of such before. But then, he hadn’t spent any time around pregnant women since acquiring preternatural hearing.

  He glanced at Cat, wondering if she could hear it, if seeing Marcus smooth his hand over his wife’s round tummy would spark that familiar sadness.

  But Cat wasn’t looking at the couple. She was staring at the bay window that graced the front of the room. Unease swept her features as her throat moved in a swallow. She reached for his hand, forgetting she couldn’t grasp it.

  Yuri frowned.

  When she met his gaze, she looked terrified.

  Alarm bells rang. “What is it?” he asked softly, uncaring if the others heard.

  “Something’s coming.” Rising, she shook her head and began to back away, placing more distance between herself and the window. “Something’s coming, Yuri,” she repeated.

  What the hell?

  Before Yuri could ask her what was coming and why it frightened her so, Seth spoke.

  “Marcus, Ami has spent too many days and nights cooped up inside. Why don’t the two of you go for a ride? Roll down the windows. Get some fresh air. Enjoy the night.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Marcus replied. “Are you up to it, sweetling?”

  Yuri kept his gaze on Cat, wishing like hell they were alone.

  “Absolutely!” Ami said.

  Cat glanced at the eldest immortals. “They know. They know something’s coming. They want Marcus to take Ami to safety.”

  Yuri followed her gaze and saw David toss Marcus his keys.

  “Take my car,” David said. “More room for you both to stretch your legs.”

  Everyone called cheerful good-byes as the couple left through the back door.

  Silence fell as the others in the room began to glean that all was not well.

  Tension rose as all eyes went to Seth and David.

  Outside, David’s car started and tore off down the drive, accompanied by Ami’s fading laughter.

  The two elders rose as one. Their faces turned to stone.

  “Everyone out,” Seth ordered.

  “What’s going on?” Roland asked, rising.

  Yuri rose, too.

  Everyone rose.

  But none left.

  The air began to crackle with static electricity.

  Cat wrapped her arms around her middle, her anxiety ratcheting up enough that Yuri could damn near feel it himself.

  Yuri glanced down as the hair on his arms rose. The hair on the back of his neck did the same.

  Thunder rumbled on the night.

  Seth shook his head, his eyes beginning to glow. “No time. Just go.”

  “Use the escape tunnels in the basement,” David instructed beside him, his eyes glowing a vibrant amber.

  Yuri had known David, one of the most even-tempered immortals, for five centuries.
It took a hell of a lot to spark the kind of fury he now saw in that one’s eyes.

  “Don’t return until we summon you,” David finished.

  “Fuck that!” Bastien blurted. “I don’t know what the hell is coming, but we aren’t going to leave you to face it alone!”

  Yuri silently agreed and curled his fingers around the hilts of the daggers he always carried, even after disarming at the end of a night’s hunt.

  “Just go!” Seth snapped. “Get the Seconds out while you can. They—”

  The large bay window exploded inward. Shards of glass rocketed through the living room, finding purchase in mortal and immortal flesh, as something catapulted inside as though it had been shot from a cannon.

  Instinct driving him, Yuri spun around, dove for Cat to protect her, and ended up passing right through her. As he hit the ground, he saw the married immortal men all do the same for their wives, trying to shield them from the threat.

  The coffee table near Seth and David splintered as a bloody body struck it. The unconscious male who had been tossed through the window hit the floor and rolled twice before coming to a halt near Yuri, lips parted to reveal fangs. A second body flew bonelessly through the bay window, knocking more shards free as it went. It hit the floor just beyond the first. Another vampire. Unconscious. His face and form shredded and bloody.

  “There!” a voice bellowed outside as wind whipped the curtains.

  The word shook them all from their shocked paralysis. Everyone lunged for the weapons they had removed earlier, rose, and braced themselves for a fight.

  Everyone except Seth and David, who glared into the night through the broken window.

  Drawing his daggers, Yuri peered into the darkness outside and wished he had his katanas.

  Cat stepped up beside him, her fear palpable.

  Lightning streaked across the sky, momentarily illuminating a figure who strode toward the house, still yards away, a black silhouette with . . . wings? . . . carrying something or someone in his arms.

  “There’s your fucking proof!” The male, damned near seven feet tall by Yuri’s estimate, leapt through the gaping hole in the window and faced them with furious defiance.