He turned away while he was still able to, and somehow he sensed she knew how vulnerable he was to her now. “Get out of here, Abigail,” he told her as he went back to his bottle of water.
She leaned in close and whispered hot against his neck. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. You are not my master.”
Gina watched as Raven’s mouth set in a firm line and his jaw clenched. Abi barely acknowledged her sister as she sidled up to Constantine, right into the crook of his arm.
Normally this would have given Constantine a much needed ego boost to rub Raven’s nose in the fact he had won over the object of his affection. Now, it was a matter of practicality. Abi was quite simply safer with Constantine, and he was willing to risk Raven’s wrath to keep her from the Creature’s grip.
He was convinced now more than ever that he had what it took to eliminate this monster and the threat it posed to their world. He hadn’t known it at the time, but this was what his whole life as a vampire had been primed for.
He was, by very definition, a hunter.
Raven turned and glared at Constantine and Constantine only. “Get her out of here.”
Constantine simply shook his head. Abi was the ultimate bait; and he was convinced he could keep her safe from the ultimate showdown.
“You can’t order him around anymore than you can order me around!” Abi snapped.
Raven shot up off of the bar stool and flared up right in front of her. His eyes were red, and his skin began to thin immediately against his bones. “You stupid little human! You have no clue who you’re dealing with!”
He hadn’t realized that Hunter also slid off of his bar stool, and was poised to intervene, but Constantine did. “Who are you?” he demanded.
Raven turned to see the hard look on Hunter’s face as he stepped forward. “Her brother-in-law. Who are you?”
Constantine lifted Abi’s hair away from the two fresh wounds on her neck. He was rewarded by the thin line of disapproval on Hunter’s face. He smiled as he replied, “Her master.”
Gina had managed not to gasp when she saw the bite marks on her sister’s neck. Maybe because she knew it was inevitable the minute she found out Abi had frequented a den of vampires. She had never had much self-control, and the power of a vampire was pretty hard to resist if one wasn’t used to saying no to one’s most primal desires.
There had been a time not so long ago when Gina herself had faced that very same dilemma.
She absently rubbed her neck as she watched with great interest, and great trepidation, as she inched toward the edge of the bar.
“I’m a little surprised by your choice of companion,” Hunter drawled to Abi, who seemed suddenly very uncomfortable being confronted about her wounds in front of her sister.
But she tipped her head in defiance. “What can I say? There was only one way to go from you. Up.”
Hunter merely chuckled. “Funny, I felt the very same way.”
That stole the smug look from her face as she darted a glance to where Gina stood behind the bar. Constantine ran a possessive hand up her back. “As charming as this little family reunion has been, I think I’d rather spend a little time alone on the dance floor – wouldn’t you?”
Abi glanced up into those hypnotic brown eyes and suddenly nothing else mattered, except making everyone, especially Raven, pay for rejecting her.
She nodded, took Constantine’s hand and led him toward the practically empty dance floor.
Raven watched with a snarl as Constantine and Abi got familiar during a slow song with a seductive beat. His hands slid over her body like the possession she now was. There was no part of her that didn’t belong to him, and he made sure everyone in that club knew it. There were deep, open-mouthed kisses that not only showed how deeply his tongue invaded her mouth – but the very noticeable growth of his fangs as his desire grew.
Worse, it was evident to all present that was what turned her on the most. Her hands reached up into his long, wavy hair as she pulled him closer, to explore the recesses of his mouth with her own tongue as well.
Constantine’s hand slipped down the curve of her back and over her ample backside, encouraging her leg to slide up his side so she could grind her bare pelvis against his growing erection. From the groan coming from his throat, anyone watching could easily believe that they would fuck right there in the middle of the room for all to see.
But even more intimate was the way he nuzzled into the crook of her neck, hovering over the old wounds, licking the skin and preparing himself to penetrate her not just in one way, but in two.
Gina couldn’t help but notice that despite himself Raven couldn’t keep his eyes off of the two of them. The angrier he got, the more translucent his skin, the redder his eyes. He was transforming right in front of her, and despite all that she’d been through the last four years of her life, she was actually afraid.
Hunter sensed it, but knew that she’d never relent to his comfort in front of all these vampires. So he did the only other thing he could do.
He cut in.
Constantine was in a heightened state of arousal when Hunter pulled Abi away from him, so much so that he couldn’t properly respond for a moment. It was all the opportunity Hunter needed to spin Abi into his arms and away from Constantine before he collected his senses.
Abi was disoriented and lost in her desire as well, so she could hardly fight against the hard body that now held her – a familiar hard body that had been the object of her desire for more years than she could remember. She looked into those icy blue eyes and then at that insufferable grin, and before she knew it she leaning in for a kiss, damn the consequences.
Hunter was stunned by the urgency of her passion as her mouth covered his and her tongue drove between his lips and ground herself against his body. She needed to be filled, needed to be kissed... needed to be fucked. Her hands grabbed his ass and pressed him hard against her, close enough to feel every curve of his body, every hard muscle as it responded to her hands, her mouth and her curves.
He didn’t kiss or touch her in return, but for a moment he didn’t – couldn’t – pull away.
Raven glanced over at Gina, whose mouth fell open as she looked on. Of all the things she expected to happen when she got to New Orleans, this was not one of them.
Or, she thought with a sinking stomach, maybe it was.
She felt a hand grasp her arm and pull her out on the floor. It was Raven.
She could hear his skin sizzle slightly against her own. His eyes, which had now returned to the velvet brown of before, were quizzical as he looked deeply into hers. Who was this woman? Why did this always happen when he touched her?
But touch her he did as he spun her around the floor. The more he held her, the more uncomfortable it felt, but oddly the more turned on he got. He couldn’t imagine driving himself into her body, but yet his body responded to the sweet mix of pleasure and pain of having her in his arms.
Gina herself was thrown for a loop. This was the first time in a long time a vampire had taken her into his arms and held on despite how her body’s chemistry reacted to their own. That was dangerous … very dangerous.
He was the ultimate predator who was created to suck the very life from her body. The fullness of his mouth offered more than pleasure – but the most exquisite pain. She could almost taste him on her lips and in a flash see him in the throes of a passion she absolutely couldn’t indulge, because that moment could be her last.
But more dangerous than all of that was there was a part of her that didn’t want him to let go. It was familiar, this dance with death, and the most alive she’d ever felt … like lightning was dancing around them in their precarious dance. She thought her heart would burst when his mouth descended on trembling lips, and sparks flashed between them as his tongue meshed with hers.
They both groaned as they melted against each other. Their kiss was literally electric and sending their nerve endings into high alert as they reached out and cla
shed against each other.
In a blue haze she stumbled away from him, noticing only then how everyone on the dance floor had stopped to stare at what was happening between them.
Everyone’s hair stood on end and sparks still flew from the surface of their skin.
Abi’s brow furrowed as she glanced between Raven and Gina, and Hunter’s cautionary, “Gina,” was lost in the sudden hum of vampires swaying and hissing in a circle around them.
Constantine was the first to say the word all vampires ultimately feared. “Hunters!”
He advanced toward Abi to pull her back to him but Hunter stood in between, ready for battle. “I don’t think so,” he snarled.
“Hunter?” came Abi’s confused voice from behind him.
“In more ways than one,” Constantine accused.
Raven stared at Gina incredulously. “Is this true?” he asked, but she didn’t say anything. “Is this true?” he demanded suddenly as he grabbed her arm in his hand.
It burned him immediately. Just as immediately he let her go.
He’d met a few hunters before, but never had they had this reaction to the mere contact of his skin. Gina backed up toward Hunter and Abi. “We’re not here to hurt you,” she started but neither vampire was convinced.
“Likely story,” Constantine sneered. “But while we’re on the subject, why are you here?”
Gina hesitated for a long moment before Hunter finally answered, “We’re here to kill the Creature.”
Chapter Sixteen: Bella
They all sat at the booth – humans on one side, vampires on the other – in the very back of the club, away from the curious, and cautious, stares of the other patrons. Fortunately for Gina and Hunter, their great reveal had occurred when the club was scarcely full, par for the course now that there was a homicidal Creature on the loose.
Even for vampires, sometimes there were more than just hunters to fear.
Gina and Hunter drank from their bottles of water, but everyone else chose something a bit stronger.
“So you’ve followed it here from Europe,” Raven repeated, trying to digest it all.
Gina nodded. “We’ve trailed it from Greece to Italy and even as far north as Ireland.”
“What brought it here?” Constantine asked.
“We don’t know,” Hunter told him. “That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out.”
“At first all the targets seemed completely random,” Gina added. “There was no rhyme or reason. We just chalked it up to simple blood lust and carnage.”
“And now?” Abi asked.
“Now it all seems to lead to one person,” Hunter told her.
“Me.”
Everyone looked at Raven. No one could really argue.
“So I guess we need to find out exactly what your ties are to Europe,” Gina told him.
“That’s easy. That’s where I’m from.”
“That’s what we figured,” Hunter told him.
“So this Creature is after you, specifically?” Abi asked. “Why?”
“The thing is we’re not entirely convinced it is after Raven. We think it’s after everyone that Raven has touched. Which makes it highly suspect that you’ve not yet been attacked,” Gina said to Constantine.
Constantine leaned in. He regarded this redheaded huntress as a threat. It was obvious in his eyes. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Gina was undaunted. She knew enough about vampires to know that he wasn’t menacing. And even if he was, she knew how to deal with him. “You tell me.”
His eyes hardened as he tried to stare her down, but it wasn’t working.
“It could mean that the Creature is tracking both of us,” Raven offered. Constantine looked at him. “Greece is where I turned you.”
“But it doesn’t seem to care about who I’m with or why,” Constantine said. “It’s only out to punish you by taking the people you care about. And since you don’t care about me, I’m not a target.”
“At least you weren’t,” Raven corrected as he sent a glance over to Abi, who shrunk back against the seat. She instantly wanted to apologize, but she didn’t even really know why.
“So if you guys are tracking this Creature, does it know about you?”
Hunter shrugged. “This thing is a ruthless killing machine, it doesn’t really pay much mind to humans or vampires, hunters or not. It’s like it’s got this one track mind. If you’re not part of the agenda it barely acknowledges your existence at all. We’re just speed bumps.”
“Speed bumps it can’t touch,” Raven pointed out. His mouth still tingled from the electrifying kiss he and Gina had shared on the dance floor.
Hunter just smiled. “Consider it our little insurance policy.” He toasted them with his bottled water.
Raven’s eyes opened wide. He grabbed Gina’s bottle before she could stop him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she warned him but Raven opened it anyway. He poured a very small drop on the back of his hand, and it sizzled almost right down to the bone.
Gina retrieved the bottle while Raven writhed in agony. “I told you.”
Raven’s face distorted with pain and with disbelief. “You drink holy water?”
Hunter chuckled. “Call it Vampire-B-Gone. The human body is made up of like 70% water. We just replenish with holy water and it means we’re virtually untouchable.”
“And it’s worked until tonight,” Gina commented. “That was the first time any vampire has tried to hold on despite the burning chemical reaction.”
“What can I say?” Raven quipped. “I’m not your usual vampire.”
“Neither is this Creature,” Hunter said. “Which is why what happened tonight was so dangerous. It outed us as hunters, yes, but the only ones who care about that are vampires like yourself. This Creature only cares that Raven singled Gina out for a conquest.”
“I’m not scared,” Gina spoke up immediately, even though both vampires and even her hunter partner could see that she was lying – if only to herself.
“Always your downfall,” Hunter said under his breath.
“You’re not fighting him alone,” Raven told them. “If this thing is tracking the people I care about,” he briefly hesitated while he glanced at Abi, who sat silently trying to take it all in, “then I have to confront it myself.”
“You don’t have the knowledge it takes to fight him,” Constantine told him, and immediately caused Raven’s fur to rise. Constantine held up his hand. “You’re not a killer, Raven. Admit it. I have a lot more experience with the hunt and the conquest. I came back here because you need me.”
Raven said nothing but clenched his jaw in barely subdued anger because he knew that Constantine had a point.
“Okay, so we’re all in this together,” said Hunter. “Where do we go from here?”
“My house,” Raven said with a resolute tone that invited no argument. “We hold up together, safety in numbers.”
Hunter nodded, and Gina sent him a surprised glare. “He’s right. This thing uses the whole divide-and-conquer approach. Until now it’s not had to deal with a group of people organized to defeat it.”
“You’re talking about a war,” Abi finally spoke up.
Hunter’s blue eyes bored into hers. “That’s because it is.”
“And the enemy of my enemy is my friend?” she asked him.
“We’re not enemies,” Gina told her sister, forcing her to look away from Hunter. “We all have the same objective. To kill this Creature, and to survive. Since that’s going to be a lot easier with us intact as a group, it serves all of our purposes to keep each other safe.” Gina glanced over at the vampires across the table. “Right?”
They nodded, Raven quicker than Constantine, and then all proceeded to Raven’s old plantation named Bella, in grand old Southern tradition. It was immaculate and Raven had been dedicated to its upkeep, making sure it was restored to the original condition he had enjoyed when he first came to New Orleans a cent
ury ago.
Everything was a step back in time, right down to Raven’s manservant Bernard, who seemed surprisingly unaffected by the horde of people to show up at the door of his ultra-private master.
At a very spry, and permanent, 60, Bernard looked as though nothing really surprised him anymore. He worked for a vampire – what else could possibly happen to him?
“Good evening, Bernard,” Raven greeted warmly. “These are my guests. They are staying with me for an indeterminate period of time. I trust you will make sure they are made to feel at home.”
“Of course, sir,” Bernard said with almost a slight bow. He was old school and treated his job and his master with ultimate decorum. “Any preferences in the sleeping arrangements?”
Hunter stepped forward and put his arm around Gina. “My wife and I would like to stay together.”
Constantine was quick to stake his claim too and take Abi’s arm in his. “And we would like a room together as well.”
Though neither came as a surprise to Raven, he wasn’t all that pleased by either. Yet he understood the logic behind it. The women had to stay with those who could protect them, and both Abi and Gina would be at far greater risk to share his bed.
“Very well,” Bernard said as he gathered the bags they had stopped to collect along the way to the plantation. “This way,” he said to Gina and Hunter. With just a small backward glance over her shoulder at her sister, Gina followed, seemingly reluctant to leave Abi alone with the two vampires.
“You do realize having them here is like juggling dynamite.” Constantine said to Raven once they had gone out of sight. “Are you sure you trust them?”
“I trust them about as much as I trust you,” he said, sparing Abi only the briefest glance. “Besides,” Raven headed toward his ornate cherry wood bar in the corner of his main sitting room. “Can we afford not to?”
He pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “It does make your choice a little more difficult now, doesn’t it?” he asked Abi.
“What do you mean?” she asked with a tip of her chin.
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