Masters of the Hunt: Fated and Forbidden

by Sarra Cannon

  Rend cursed and all four men in the alley reached for me.

  Luckily, Rend got to me first. Even though he was the farthest away, he somehow got to my side and lifted me into his arms. He backed toward the door to the club.

  “Don’t you dare lay one finger on her,” he said.

  The smallest of the three vampires dropped to his knees and licked the pavement where my blood had spilled. The tall one kicked him aside so hard he went flying into a dumpster.

  “You took it all, you asshole,” he yelled.

  The two of them began to fight until the pale man lifted his fist. “Shut up, both of you.”

  Everyone grew still. The only sounds were the distant thumping of music and the occasional car passing on the main street at the end of the alley.

  Rend set me down gently, then brought his arm out in front of me, shielding me from the other three.

  “She one of your girls?” the guy asked. He brought one hand to his side where I’d elbowed him, and I wondered if I’d really managed to hurt him. “I've never seen her here before.”

  “Yes, she’s mine,” he said.

  I opened my mouth to protest, but a side-glance from Rend shut me up real quick.

  “She’s not wearing one of your shirts. She doesn’t have the mark,” the tall one protested. “How were we supposed to know?”

  That’s when I realized that these guys weren’t just listening to Rend. They were afraid of him.

  “We didn’t mean any harm,” the broad-shouldered vampire said. “We were outside the club. We didn’t break any rules here.”

  The three of them waited, barely moving a muscle. What exactly were they scared he was going to do to them? I mean, I could tell he was built, but what were muscles against mythical beings of the night?

  Unless Rend wasn't exactly human himself.

  “I’ll give the three of you a pass this one time,” Rend said. “But only because she’s new and isn’t in uniform. I haven’t had a chance to mark her yet.”

  The three vampires visibly relaxed.

  The tall one wiped dark blood from his nose. “She was being a real pain in the ass anyway,” he said, snarling. “I think she broke my nose.”

  Rend glanced back at me, shaking his head, and laughing. “She's stronger than she looks.”

  “Tell me about it,” the small one said, clutching his side.

  “We didn’t mean any disrespect.”

  “You may have been outside of my club, but you should know better than to feed less than three feet away from my back door,” Rend said. “The ones who come here have a right to feel safe whether they’re coming or going. You know that. Like I said, I’ll let you live. This time. Don’t let me see any of you around here for a while.”

  “But—”

  The tall one started to argue, but his friends cut him off. They all bowed, said their thanks, then right before my eyes, each of them turned from solid men into dark, swirling shadows.

  I reached up to hold onto Rend’s still outstretched arms, my eyes not leaving the spot where the shadows gathered and then flew away into the night.

  “What the hell were those things?” I asked, breathless. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know.

  Rend pulled his arm away from me, then walked over to retrieve my shoes.

  He glared at me as he handed them over.

  “Remember when I told you this place was dangerous and you needed to go home? What happened to that?”

  I held my shoes in my arms, clutched tightly to my chest. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”

  He walked past me and pulled open the door.

  “Hey, that door was locked a minute ago,” I said.

  “This door is never locked to me,” he said. He stood there, waiting for me to go in.

  I straightened my shoulders and took a deep breath to calm my fractured nerves.

  Demons. Vampires. Whatever they were, he wasn’t joking when he told me I shouldn’t have come here.

  But I still had a lot of questions. Especially about the woman who had led me out here in the first place. Where had she disappeared to? Was it even really my mother or was it just some trick to lure me out here?

  I was afraid that asking those questions would lead me down a path I wasn’t ready to walk.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you inside.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I walked past him and back into the neon glow of Venom.

  I wanted to do what I should have done half an hour ago. Grab Katy and get the hell out of there.

  But when I started toward the dance floor, Rend called out to me. “Hey, Franki.”

  “What?” I said, turning back to him. I didn't remember ever telling him my name.

  He motioned for me to follow him, then leaned over the top of the bar and grabbed a black t-shirt. He threw it at me and I nearly dropped my shoes to catch it.

  I held it out to get a better look at the shirt. The word VENOM was written in bright green across the chest. On the back was the word STAFF.

  I swallowed. “What’s this for?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “You’re one of mine, now,” he said, a smile playing at his lips. “You start tomorrow.”

  Episode 2: The Dream

  Chapter 1

  A Black Crow

  Large black wings rise up against the shadows. I stagger backwards, tripping over something soft on the ground.

  I look down to see a ratty old teddy bear. Something from my childhood that tugs at the edge of my memory. I pick up the small tattered thing and bring it up to my chest, hugging it close. It smells like home. My old home.

  I hear the fluttering of wings and look up, but I’m no longer in the dark alleyway. Instead, I’m in a long, narrow hallway that stretches out as far as my eyes can see. Doors line both sides. A light above flickers on and off.

  I clutch the bear to my chest and walk forward. I’m not sure what I’m searching for, but I think it must be this way. I follow the sound of the crow’s caw.

  On each side of me, the doors are marked with different symbols. A horse. A serpent. A flower. A butterfly.

  I keep to the center of the hall, not daring to reach out and touch any of the doors. I half expect one of them to open and reveal some chamber of horrors on the other side. I can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching me. Following me.

  But when I turn to look, there’s no one there. I am alone.

  Alone except for the crow.

  I keep moving forward, my steps tentative, like a little girl. I feel small and frightened.

  The sound of flapping wings echoes around me, but I can’t see the bird. She’s here somewhere. If I could just find her, I’d be safe.

  I’d be home.

  The overhead light finally flickers one last time and then dies, dousing the hallway in darkness. I stop, unsure what to do without someone to guide me or tell me where to go.

  But then I see it. Just up ahead, one of the doors is glowing.

  I force my feet to move, feeling that if I could just reach that door safely, I would find the answers I’ve been looking for.

  The hall is long and dark, but when I finally reach the glowing door, I gasp. The symbol carved into the wood is the outline of a black crow.

  With a trembling hand, I reach for it.

  Chapter 2

  The Dream

  The buzzing of my alarm ripped me from the dream. Sweat poured down the back of my neck and my heart pounded against my ribs.

  Holy crap. Last night had really done a number on my head. It had taken me forever to get to sleep in the first place, and I must have spent the rest of the night lost in the same dream, walking down that endless hallway over and over again.

  I pushed my hair off my face and sat up. The black t-shirt Rend gave me was lying on top of my desk. I just stared at it, as if looking at it long enough might make it disappear. How could he expect me to go back to that awful place?

  I’d almost die
d last night. If he hadn’t shown up at just that moment, I would probably be sprawled out in a dumpster, drained of every single drop of blood.

  The image of that guy licking up a few drops of my spilled blood from the ground invaded my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut, begging it to go away.

  This couldn’t be real. Vampires didn't really exist, right? They were myths or make-believe, not something you actually encountered in a dark alley. Maybe I’d just gotten hold of some really bad drugs last night and went on some kind of weird trip. Maybe I’d get to the club and realize it was all just one, long nightmare.

  But I knew in my gut that it was no dream.

  I thought about crawling back under the covers and ignoring the rest of the day. What would Rend do if I didn’t show up to work? It wasn’t like he knew where I lived.

  I hope.

  Still, he struck me as the kind of guy who would know how to find people. And I most definitely did not want him to have to come looking for me.

  Random bartender or not, those guys last night had been scared of him. Terrified. So what did that make him?

  More than just a bartender, that’s for sure.

  And if he expected me to work for him at Venom, I didn’t have much of a choice but to show up.

  I forced myself out of bed and climbed into the shower, turning the water up as hot as it would go. I washed off the stench of sweat and cigarette smoke and let the hot water wash the crusted blood from my palms and my elbow. A large black and blue bruise had formed on my arm where the tall guy had grabbed me.

  I knew I was lucky to have gotten out of there without more damage done. What would happen if I had to work there now? Night after night?

  I couldn’t do it. I’d have to go in today and tell Rend that I’d work off whatever debt I owed him and then I was out of there, gone forever just like he’d wanted in the first place. I would find a way to wipe the whole experience from my mind and move on.

  When my skin had turned bright pink from the heat of the water, I turned it off and got dressed, pulling on a clean pair of jeans and the black Venom Staff t-shirt.

  The only consolation as I grabbed my keys and headed out the door was that he’d asked me to come in at ten in the morning instead of ten at night. I didn’t think I could face that place again after dark.

  Chapter 3

  The Boss

  The outside of the club looked very different in the light of day. Less dark and dangerous and more like any other rundown building on this side of town.

  I parked in a nearby lot and headed toward the alley entrance, wondering again why they didn't have a more normal entrance facing the main street. I also realized I had no idea where that back door must have taken me last night. If this was the back alley, where the hell was that?

  I shook my head. Maybe there were just some things I was going to have to let go of about this place. I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves for whatever may come. There was no doubt I owed this guy Rend for saving my life. I just hoped I didn’t have to run into anymore demons or vampires while I was there.

  I’d be good with never having to see fangs again in my life, thank you very much.

  Inside the first hallway, the green liquid still glowed as brightly as it had the night before. Were they open all day? Or did they just leave these lights on all the time?

  The tunnel-like entrance beyond was still lit up, too, but this time there was no bouncer waiting to check my ID. I went straight through to the club and looked around for Rend. He hadn’t told me exactly what to do when I got here or where to go, so I had assumed he’d just be waiting for me.

  I checked my watch. It was three minutes after ten and there was no one else in sight.

  The lights were all on at this time of morning and the place looked far less exotic. I walked over toward the bar, then flipped around as one of the doors on the other side of the room opened.

  I hoped to see Rend, but instead, the other bartender from last night appeared. Azure. She was dressed almost the same as she had been the night before. We could have been twins except that her hair was blonde and curly and mine was black and straight as a board.

  She smiled when she saw me. “Franki, right?”

  She held her hand out and I shook it.

  “Yes,” I said. “I guess Rend told you I’d be coming in today.”

  She nodded and motioned toward the bar. “I have to tell you, I was really surprised when he told me you’d be working here.”

  “Me too,” I mumbled. I followed her to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools while she went back behind the counter and started unloading a box of new glasses onto the bar-top.

  “Just out of curiosity, what made you want to work here?” she asked. “I mean, no offense or anything, but I’ve never seen you around and you and your friend seemed pretty freaked out by the place. We don’t get a lot of newcomers around here.”

  “That’s kind of what Rend was telling me last night,” I said. “Why is that exactly?”

  Other than the whole demon vampire thing.

  She shrugged. “It’s the kind of place that caters to a certain... clientele. Most of the regulars have been coming here for years.”

  “Okay, but why don’t new people stop in all the time? I get that this place isn’t exactly on the main strip or anything, but if you guys put a sign out front, I'm sure you'd get a lot more business.”

  “More business isn't something we're looking for,” she said. “And to be honest, I’m not sure the boss would want me to explain it even if I could. At least, not until you understand more about what it is we do here.”

  Great. More cryptic answers.

  “Okay, so how do I find out what it is you do here?”

  I had obviously already figured out this wasn’t a typical bar or nightclub, but I still didn’t understand what it was that made it so different. Surely everyone who was here last night wasn’t some kind of demon, right?

  “I think it’s safer if I just wait and let the boss man tell you when he thinks you’re ready,” she said with a laugh. “In the meantime, he asked me show you around the place and get you started on some of the basic morning tasks.”

  I slid off my stool and followed her back toward the other side of the room. “So, when will I get to meet him?” I asked.

  “Who?”

  “This mysterious boss man,” I said. “Rend didn't say anything about him.”

  She stopped, a huge grin spreading across her face. “You are so adorably clueless,” she said. “You really don't know?”

  “Know what?” My cheeks flushed.

  Azure laughed and opened a black metal door just off the dance-floor.

  “Rend is the boss.”

  Chapter 4

  Don't Get Used To It

  I felt like an idiot.

  “Oh, god, I thought he was just a bartender,” I said. “No offense. I mean, I have nothing against bartenders, it’s just that, crap. I had no idea he owned the place.”

  “It’s his baby,” she said. She led me down a narrow hallway painted in all black, then opened a door and motioned for me to go inside.

  The storage room was huge. Metal racks lined the walls from floor to ceiling, stacked with boxes.

  “I’m not surprised he didn’t mention it,” she said. “He’s a real hands-on kind of boss, always working behind the bar and making sure things are running smoothly. Still, did you really think a guy behind the bar could just hire you on the spot and demand that you show up the next morning?”

  I shrugged, feeling stupid. “After the night I had last night, I didn’t even think to question it.”

  She frowned. “Did something happen? I mean, besides your friend getting sick? I saw Rend go out on the floor to dance with you and at first, I figured maybe he knew you from somewhere else.”

  She climbed up on a step-ladder and pulled down a box, handing it to me before grabbing another and climbing down.

  I didn’t know where to start. Was
I supposed to keep what happened in the alley a secret? I wasn’t about to tell her about my mom, but I didn’t really want to tell her I’d almost been eaten by vampires, either. “I’d never met him until last night,” I said, deciding to leave it at that and let her push for more if she wanted to.

  She made a face. “You guys got pretty cozy with each other there for a while,” she said. “I’ve never seen Rend do that with a customer before. Don’t get used to it.”

  Was that a hint of jealousy in her tone?

  “I’m sure it won’t happen again,” I said. “I think he’s pretty pissed at me.”

  “Pissed enough to hire you?” she said, laughing again. “Set that down over here and open it up. I want to show you something.”

  I brought the box over to the middle of the room and pulled the tape off the top. She set hers beside mine and opened hers, too. Inside both boxes were plastic shot glasses in various neon colors. Stacks of them were wrapped in brown tissue paper. Each glass had the Venom logo on it. A serpent with its fangs outstretched. I shuddered at the image, wondering if snake fangs had anything to do with human fangs.

  “This, obviously, is one of the main storage rooms,” she said. I was grateful to be talking about the job and out of the line of fire for a minute. “We keep all our merchandise-type items in here. Shot glasses, t-shirts, novelty type stuff. On this other side, are the paper products, like napkins and toilet paper. Your first job is to unwrap all the glasses in these two boxes and bring them up to the bar area for me. Sound good?”

  “Sounds easy enough,” I said.

  “Great.” She slapped her hands against her legs and looked around. “So, I’ll just leave you to it for now. I’m going back up front to work on washing the other new glassware. Come back out when you’re done and I’ll finish showing you around.”