MARKED (Hunter Awakened)

by Rascal Hearts

  They weren't here for me. They were after the vampire.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I was pretty sure that these were four different people than had been at the cabin although they wore the same all black attire. None of them seemed to be injured and at least one of them was female. Not that any of that mattered. I was more concerned with the weapons they were carrying, weapons that could hurt even a vampire. I took a step forward, but Elias stretched out his arm to keep me back.

  “Olivia, come to us. You're in danger.” The largest of the four spoke in a slow, deep voice. It was a voice that, under different circumstances, I would've trusted immediately.

  I wasn't sure which statement to address first. I chose a blanket statement that would cover both. “You have no clue what you're talking about.” Okay, a bit cliché, but it wasn't like I had writers.

  “You're a shit hunter, Olivia. You know that?” The female pointed towards Elias with the sword she held. “You've had a vampire working for you.”

  I knew the circumstances may have warranted that I make an exception for someone making a bad first impression, but I really didn't like that girl. My temper burned away my fear and I no longer cared that I was wearing Elias's too-big shorts and t-shirt. I ducked under Elias's arm and stepped between him and the black-clad hunters.

  “Teal,” he hissed.

  I didn't look at him. I knew he wouldn't move because he knew that whoever these people were, they wouldn't hurt me, but if he made a move, I might get caught in the crossfire.

  “Let's get a couple things straight.” I was making it up as I went, so I really hoped that this would work. “One, my name's not Olivia, so whoever you are, you're the one who's apparently shit at your job. Two, I know what Elias is and he's protecting me, so I don't really think I'm in danger from him.”

  “Dale,” the girl lowered her sword and addressed the big man. “What's she talking about? I thought you said you knew she was Olivia Harmon.”

  “Shut it, Jo.” One of the other men snapped at her. “That's not important.”

  “Do you mind?” My temper was still going so I had no problem interrupting four armed intruders. “I'd like to get this whole misunderstanding taken care of. I've had a bit of a crazy week and I'm pretty tired.” I could hear the edge to my voice. “One of you want to tell me why the hell you're attacking someone who hasn't done anything to anyone? All he's done since I met him is protect me.”

  The girl let out a bark of a laugh and I clenched my hand into a fist. Sword or not, if she didn't stop, I was going to punch her.

  “We weren't going after him, at first.” The man who'd snapped at the female hunter spoke. The other three gave him what I assumed were sharp looks. It was hard to tell with their faces covered. “We were looking for you. It wasn't until we found you and started our recon that we realized what he was.”

  “And him just being a vampire is enough to warrant all of this?” I waved my hand at them. I could sense some of the tension leaving Elias as he realized that they didn't want to hurt me.

  “No.” The big man took half a step forward and, just like that, the tension was back. “We hadn't decided for sure what we were going to do until we saw him hurt someone.”

  I straightened. “You mean those goons up at the cabin? Sorry, but they were kind of asking for it.”

  “Teal.” Elias's voice was soft, but urgent.

  I ignored him. “He hasn't hurt anyone.” I echoed my previous sentiment.

  “Tell that to Rufus Dietz.” The woman said.

  “Rufus...” My voice trailed off as everything clicked

  Rufus. The man who'd attacked me and then been beaten so badly that he was still in the hospital. The night before I'd met Elias. Elias. The man who'd told me that he'd been watching me for a while. The man who'd promised that he'd never let anyone hurt me. That he'd always protect me. The detectives had said that Rufus's injuries had been bad, brutal even, as if the person who'd beaten him had known how to cause pain without killing. Kind of the type of thing that someone who'd lived over two hundred years might know how to do.

  Our visitors temporarily forgotten, I turned towards Elias, everything written across my face. I saw him take it in and read the answer in his eyes before either of us said a word. It took only seconds and I wasn't even sure that the hunters realized what was happening.

  “Yes,” Elias said. There wasn't a hint of remorse, shame or regret in his voice. “I rescued you that night.”

  I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about that. He'd beaten someone nearly to death. That spoke of a level of violence that I didn't want to know. But, he'd done it to protect me. Rufus had been intent on hurting me, probably killing me. Elias had stopped him. If someone had been threatening Elias and I had his abilities, could I honestly say that I wouldn't do something similar? After all, Elias could've just as easily killed Rufus, but he hadn't. That showed a level of restraint. Before I could get too far into it, one of the men behind me cleared their throat and I remembered that we weren't alone.

  It was the girl, however, who spoke. “So, now that we've established that your blood-sucking bodyguard isn't actually the saint you thought he was, can we get on with it?”

  Yeah, I was definitely going to hit that girl before the day—or was it night?—was out. If circumstances had been different, I probably would have taken at least an hour to think about what Elias's actions meant to whatever this was between us. The problem was, I had a feeling that if I just stepped aside, the crazy hunter ninjas behind me would kill him, or at least try to. That meant I'd either have to watch them kill the man that I was falling for, or watch him hurt and possibly kill them. I wasn't about to make that choice. Besides, I had a feeling that there was a lot more going on than these people were letting on.

  I turned back around to face the intruders and reached behind me, hand open in what I hoped was an obvious gesture. There was barely half a foot between us, so I rested my hand against the small of my back. The moment I felt Elias slide his hand into mind, I knew that he understood what I was doing.

  “Whatever Elias did, he did for me. Protecting me.” I had a feeling that declaring how I felt about Elias wouldn't have a very positive reaction, and the ninja hunters did still have weapons. Besides, I wasn't even sure what I felt. Best to keep things simple. I squeezed Elias's hand, then released it. “If it wasn't for him...” The shudder that went through me was very real. “I don't even want to think about what that man would've done to me if Elias hadn't stopped him.”

  “That's sweet,” the girl said. I could hear the sneer in her voice. “Can we go now? We obviously have the wrong girl.”

  “I have a better idea,” I said. “How about you close the door because it's fucking cold and then you come have a seat and tell me what the hell is going on.” Only after I said it did I feel the chill in the air. I was even more pissed than I'd thought. “Because I have a feeling that you're responsible for a lot of the crazy that's been happening for the past couple days.”

  The four looked at each other and then, at some unspoken signal, lowered their weapons and pulled off their masks.

  The big man had very short black hair, and skin the color of cocoa. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties and was easily as big as Elias. His dark eyes fixed a stern gaze on me as he spoke to one of the others. “Eric, the door.”

  A tall, lean red-head nodded and headed for the door, muttering something under his breath about classic overreaction. I wasn't sure if he was talking about me or his friends. I somehow doubted that any of them would want to come further into a vampire's house, so I backed up to the stairs and took a seat on the next to last step. I really was tired. Elias stayed standing, slightly behind me, playing up the bodyguard angle. After a moment, the four took seats on the floor in front of me.

  “Who are you?” Yeah, it was blunt, but I was a bit cranky, seeing as I hadn't really gotten much sleep over the last couple days, courtesy of being chased by thes
e morons.

  “Who're you?” The girl shot right back.

  She looked like she was close to my age, maybe a little older, though it was hard to tell since she had one of those eternally youthful looking faces. Her hair was jet-black and pulled back from her face. She was petite, barely over five feet tall, and wore a scowl that I immediately recognized. I'd been seeing it on Summer's face ever since we started filming.

  “That depends.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Who did you think I was?”

  The large African-American man held up his hand before the girl could speak. “My name is Dale Cummings.” He gestured towards the girl who was glaring at me. “She's Joanne Cohen.”

  “Jo,” she grumbled.

  I had a feeling she would've snapped if anyone else had called her Joanne. I made a mental note to do it as often as possible.

  “That's Eric Stewart.” Dale continued without acknowledging Joanne's interruption.

  The red-head gave a little wave. His green eyes were much friendlier than Joanne's almond-shaped brown ones.

  “And Lucas Jacobs.”

  I'd barely noticed the fourth member of the team until now. With pale blond hair and cornflower blue eyes, he was definitely striking. His expression was serious, but I didn't sense any of the hostility I was getting from Joanne or the disapproval from Dale. He inclined his head as his name was said, but otherwise gave no indication that he was participating in this discussion. I reserved my judgement on him. I didn't have a gut feeling either way.

  “Now that you know our names, may we have yours?”

  The question was casual enough, but Dale's eyes said that my answer was important. I found that very strange. I mean, I wasn't arrogant enough to think that everyone in the world knew my name, but the chances of finding four people in my key demographic that didn't at least recognize me, even if they didn't know from where, well, those were some high odds.

  “Teal Rhines.”

  “Told you it wasn't Olivia.” Joanne apparently couldn't help herself.

  Dale didn't acknowledge her again, supporting my theory that Joanne just didn't know how or when to keep her mouth shut.

  “Is that the name you were born with?”

  Most people would find that question surprising, but I grew up in Hollywood where half of the people around had changed their name for one reason or another. While my name change wasn't completely common knowledge, it wasn't a secret either.

  “No,” I said. “When I was adopted, my parents changed my name.”

  I watched the posture of each of the four change slightly. They all sat up a little straighter, leaned forward as if now on high alert. This was bordering on creepy.

  “Your birth name, it was Olivia Harmon, was it not?” Dale asked.

  I shook my head. “I don't know what my birth name was. My parents abandoned me at church when I was two months old. The priest who found me named me Annie Snow.”

  Apparently, something about that struck a chord with them because they all exchanged knowing looks that were infuriatingly superior.

  “Look.” I could hear the anger growing in my voice and fought to keep my temper under control. Usually I was level-headed, but I hadn't had normal circumstances for a while. “I'm tired and I've had a really stressful couple of days. Let's stop with the runaround and someone tell me what the hell is going on or I'm going to call the cops and have you arrested for breaking and entering. And good luck getting them to believe your vampire story.”

  “She's got attitude.” Eric grinned at me. “I like it.”

  “Were you the ones who broke into my house and my trailer?” I was tired of them playing games.

  “Yes,” Dale answered.

  Finally, a straight answer. Now to see if I could go two for two. “Why?”

  “To understand that, you must first understand who we are,” Dale said.

  The others settled into more relaxed positions and I got the feeling that we were about to head into story time. I wasn't wrong.

  “In the early fifteen hundreds, a plague of vampires ravaged Europe.” Dale's deep voice took on a rhythmic quality that told me he'd told this story many times before. “Village after village was decimated and sickness blamed. Survivors were few and far between, but a handful from different villages across the continent sought vengeance against those who had killed their families. Six came together at the start. Edward, Amelia, Anne, Charles, Patrick and Joseph. They banded together to become the first hunters. As they married and had children, they trained their spouses and children in the art of vampire hunting.”

  There was an eerie quiet over everyone, as if Dale's words were weaving a spell that no one wanted to break. I, too, found myself almost holding my breath as I listened.

  “For centuries, each generation has protected the world from the threat of vampires. Over the last century, our numbers have dwindled as fewer and fewer children were born, and as more chose to leave this life to find another. Leaving behind our way of life used to be as uncommon as one in two generations, but it became two or three in each generation as we entered the twentieth century, and soon, more were leaving than were staying. Many no longer believed the vampire threat to be real. Even the last remaining descendent of one of the founding families abandoned the mission, fleeing from us, and taking her newborn daughter with her.”

  Now I was finding it hard to breath for another reason altogether. My heart was pounding in my chest and I heard Elias shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and I knew it was because he could hear the change in my pulse. I suddenly needed to feel his touch, a reassurance that my world wasn't being turned upside-down again. It was all I could do to not to reach for his hand.

  “Olivia Harmon was only a month old when her mother left.” Dale leaned towards me again, his dark eyes nearly black. “Philip Harmon charged the hunters with finding his wife and daughter. Six years passed and a pair of hunters claimed the body of a Jane Doe they later identified as Stephanie Harmon. There was no sign of her daughter. The trail went cold, and though hunters would occasionally follow a lead, no one believed that Olivia would ever be found. Even Philip himself lost hope.”

  I was barely aware that I was digging my nails into my palms. This couldn't be possible, could it? After all these years, was this finally how I discovered what had happened to my family?

  “A rumor reached the ears of the hunters six months ago, a chance that Olivia was alive. Seven of us were chosen to track down the lead.” An unmistakable look of pain crossed Dale's face. “While we were gone, a coven of vampires found and attacked our home. There had been a hundred and twelve of us. Now, seven hunters and five children are all that remain of a legacy over five hundred years-old.”

  I didn't know what to say. I had thousands of questions, about my parents, about hunters, about what had happened, but I could also see how near the grief was for these four. How was I supposed to get answers without disrespecting their loss?

  “Now, more than ever, we must find Olivia Harmon,” Dale finished.

  Okay, now I knew how to direct my questions. “Why? Why is finding her so important?”

  “When the founders began their quest for revenge, they knew they would need help.” Surprisingly, it was Lucas who spoke now. “No one knows how they did it, so we can't duplicate it, but somehow they managed to alter their biological make-up so that they were faster and stronger than everyone else, healed more quickly. It wasn't as drastic as a vampire, but it was enough to give them an edge over everyone else. Of those six, Edward and Amelia married, as did Anne and Charles.

  “Patrick married an outsider. Joseph remained single until his death. Whatever they did to themselves, they also did to Patrick's wife, Deborah. Their children all inherited the same abilities. Over the generations, however, at some point, the hunters lost the ability to alter the genes of the people who married in or joined the cause for other reasons. As marriages to outsiders continued, the hunters became more and more normal, until most ha
ve only a small fraction of an advantage over a regular person.”

  My head was spinning. This was all too much. First vampires, then hunters and now genetically enhanced hunters? What was next? Leprechauns?

  “However, there were still those whose families were still closely linked enough that the genetics were able to stay dominant. The last of these were Philip Harmon and Stephanie Bryant. Philip could trace his line back to Edward and Amelia, Stephanie to Anne and Charles. Everyone else was at least three generations removed from the founders, meaning that their furthest back ancestor had joined the hunters when the founders' great-grandchildren were in charge.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked. I felt Elias brush his hand across my back, a quick movement that I doubted the hunters could have seen. Still, the fact that he would risk such a gesture told me how worried he was about me.

  “Olivia Harmon is the only surviving descendent of the founders and, as such, she is the only one who has a pure line of genetics,” Lucas said. “We are far too few to continue on the work alone, without the benefit of the founders' abilities.” He glanced at Dale who nodded. “And we think there's a chance Olivia's blood could hold the key to rebuilding the hunters.”

  “And you think that I'm Olivia Harmon.” I forced myself to say the words. I didn't believe them, of course. How could I? There was no way I was descended from some super warriors. Right?

  The four hunters exchanged another one of those looks and then Dale took a hold of the conversation again. “When a child is born to hunters, they're... marked. They started doing it in the late fifteen hundreds so that if the group was scattered, any hunter would be able to identify a child who wasn't old enough to know who they were. We continued doing it through the centuries.”

  I swallowed hard, hearing the dry click of my throat.