by Terry Spear
"Like he hated huntresses with a passion but wanted to turn us and leave us as one of them. Maybe he thought our own people would shun us and so would the vampires," Eliza said. "I was out late, making a run to the grocery store. I was already a member of the border town here, but the closest grocery store was in League territory and near a vampire club. I was supposed to make a cake for an event the next day. As soon as I left my car, I was attacked."
"But you were both near a vampire club, by yourself." Selena explained what had happened to her. "Did you have any indication why he would go after you?" Selena figured he had to have some motivation. Or maybe not. He just wanted to build a huntress army for himself. "Did he ever tell you to do something?"
"He just said he'd tell us what to do when he was ready, otherwise, just go about our business. I suspect he wanted us to be part of a community before he had us doing his dirty work for him and giving huntresses a bad name," Brittany said.
"We killed his triplet sister, Feather," Eliza said. "She wore black feathers on the collars of her outfits, black feathers in her hair and when she was strolling down the street, five young men, early twenties, we guessed, taunted her, ridiculed her. We were just coming into the area, looking for a hunter club when we saw the scene begin to unfold before our eyes. We raced to stop her—wishing we had vampiric movement like the vampires do because we couldn't get there soon enough before she had killed all the humans. We reached her and killed her. She was the worst sort of rogue. She was on the League's list to terminate, but we weren't League hunters. We were also in League territory when it happened."
"I remember Feather being on a list of rogue vampires to take down. No one could ever locate her, and she'd killed humans before. She'd always left her signature black feather behind to mark the kill. So you didn't report it," Selena guessed.
"No, since we weren't members of the League and sanctioned to put her down, but we'd actually witnessed her murdering the humans, so we knew, as huntresses, we had to do it. She had two brothers. The one bit us and turned us, two weeks apart, like we had told you," Brittany said. "We figured it was payback for killing their sister."
"And the other brother?" Selena asked.
"He wanted to kill us, but the one who turned us was in charge. If the other could have, he would have killed us," Brittany said.
"But you killed the bastard who bit you?" Eliza asked Selena.
"It doesn't sound right to me," King said.
"What if someone else killed the rogue vampire?" Brittany asked.
"Like who?" Selena asked.
"The wolf. What if he, shifted, grabbed up your sword when you were passed out, and killed the vampire for what he had done to you?" her brother asked.
"That could be. The wolf didn't attack me when I was trying to make my way to the vampire club. He was steering me that way. Maybe he had killed the rogue vampire." Selena hoped that was what had happened. That the rogue was truly dead and the other one? Hadn't been a rogue at all. But if that was the case, there had to be another—the one who had said she should have died. "How are you feeling about what has happened?"
Eliza sighed. "I never thought that this would happen to me in a million years. Die at the hands of a vampire during battle, sure. But be turned? Never. I've found acceptance. It has been a learning curve for me. The teeth extending, hearing telepathic conversations when I shouldn't be able to when I'm near vampires. At least when I'm with hunters, I don't hear any of that."
Brittany agreed. "Same for me. I've been turned a little longer than Eliza, but I was so glad when we were able to commiserate with each other about it. I had known her as a huntress first, so it was a shock to learn she'd been bitten also. And we were certain it was the same vampire who had bitten both of us. The problem was we couldn't report it to the League. They wouldn't help us when we live in the border towns. It didn't matter that it happened in their territory. Idiots."
"I agree with you there," Selena said. “And it’s wrong.”
"But you're not with a border town, are you? You're with the League," Eliza said.
"I was. We don't have any hunters turned working for the League, so I don't know how effective that will be." Selena figured she would be teamed up with the vampires not the League anyway.
"You can join us," King said again.
Selena smiled. "I'm with the vampires."
The women looked shocked. King shook his head.
"They took me in, protected me, cared for me when I was so badly injured. My own kind wouldn't help me."
King glanced at her brother as if accusing him of being worse than a rogue. But her sister hadn't helped her either. Still, her brother should have been there for her, and she still was irritated with him for kicking her out of the hunter club when she hadn't had her car and she was still recovering from her injuries. Then again, if he hadn't kicked her out of the club, she might not have seen Atreides again. So she had to give her brother that.
"I love one of them," Selena said.
That surprised all of them. They were hunters and that still probably didn't sit well with them.
"If that makes you both happy," Rosa said, "then I'm happy for you. It's Atreides, isn't it?"
"The prince of the vampires? Brother to the leader of the clan?" King asked, still looking astonished to hear the news.
“Yes.”
The turned huntresses looked astounded.
Selena wasn't surprised at their response. If anyone had told her she would have fallen in love with a vampire? No way. And for him to be the sub-leader of the vampire clans in their area? Really, no way.
King sat back on his chair. "Well, his brother does have a huntress turned mate also. So I guess it runs in the family."
Except his brother didn't know anything about it.
"Wow," Eliza said. "I don't know how I would feel about being with the vampires after one nearly killed me and because of all the training I’ve had in hunting down the rogues."
"I feel the same way," Brittany said.
"We're looking for hunters who have been killing vampiresses indiscriminately," Selena telepathically told them, realizing that she had the advantage here. That she could connect with the women on some level because they'd been hurt by the same vampire. She believed. Maybe the hunters on the fringe wouldn't care anything about the murdered vampiresses, but maybe Eliza and Brittany could help her convince them that it was a just cause and to turn over hunter rogues if they knew anything about them.
King was asking her brother about why he hadn’t helped his sister, berating him for being with the League and not being there for family in the meantime.
Which helped Selena conceal that she was speaking telepathically with the women. She noticed Rosa watching her and she smiled a little. Her sister knew what she was up to.
"You want us to learn what we can from the hunters living in the border towns?" Eliza asked Selena.
"If the rogues are here." Selena explained about the one she killed and that the rogues might be League members, but if they weren't, they needed to cover all bases.
"We'll try to," Eliza said. "We don't want to be kicked out of our home here."
"Are you seeing hunters?"
"Not right now. Brittany and I moved in together. We just felt more comfortable doing that after all the changes we've been facing."
"I know what you mean."
Rosa touched Selena's shoulder, to bring her back to the current discussion. She said to her, "I'm sorry for not telling you where I was going to be. And I'm sorry for not being there for you when you had to kill the hunter."
"I know. That's why you're here with me now, helping me." And Selena was grateful that her sister was aware enough of what was going on that Rosa helped her to hide the fact she was having a private conversation with fellow huntresses who had been turned.
"We can't broadcast what we're doing," King finally said. "If the hunters are hiding among my people, we don't want them to know we're looking for them. Brittan
y and Eliza will be my eyes and ears and report anything to me that they learn. Everyone respects them and they haven't been members of the community long enough to be part of the problem. And since they're also vampiresses, they have a stake in this should these rogues decide to kill huntresses turned."
Selena wondered if the women, or one of them, had compelled King to capitulate. She hadn't thought he would.
"Thank you and we'll continue to look for the hunters in League territory," her brother said. "We'll let you know if we find them."
"Same here," Brittany said.
Selena was glad they were working together on this, probably the first time the fringe hunters had worked with League hunters.
"Keep in touch with us," Eliza said.
"Yes, do," Brittany agreed.
Selena was glad she had two new friends that were like her to visit with. "I will. We'll have to get together and visit."
The ladies agreed and Selena realized she had been feeling a little on the outs. Not all vampire, not all hunter. These ladies, and Tezra, would be the same. All of them would have to visit with each other socially.
Jacque brought the van around to the border town to take them to Atreides's house, and Selena telepathically communicated to Atreides, "I've made a couple of new friends in the fringes." Then she explained about the women being bitten, probably by the same vampire who had bitten her, and she told Atreides about what her brother had come up with concerning the wolf.
"That would make more sense," Atreides told Selena.
“So why not just tell you—forget it. You wouldn't have listened to him, figuring he was a rogue or something. But if the wolf did kill the vampire, I want to know this and thank him."
"Then a vampiress he was close to was murdered. Why wouldn't he come out and just tell you? Doesn't he believe you would want to know about it? Everyone knows you've been to the League about the ones you know of," Atreides asked.
"Unless he's in trouble with us for something he's done and doesn't believe we would do anything for him. Maybe he's on a vampire's hit list."
"So he could still be a rogue."
"Yes."
"Okay." That wasn't good. If he was, then he couldn't really get help from the vampires or hunters, unless— "What if he's on a hunter's hit list because he killed a hunter involved in the killings?"
"Then we would have to clear him of the crime. Why not come to me then with the problem?"
"Because the League wouldn't believe him. That's why a hunter needs to deal with these hunters. Vampires who kill them will just be seen as rogues. We still have the issue of the other vampire’s voice you heard."
“Right.”
Basil telepathically communicated to Atreides, "We found Selena's car. It was at a mall. Tara Green came through for us. She saw it and immediately knew it was Selena's. Selena had a little stuffed baby Yoda hanging from the rearview mirror, and of course it's a red Firebird."
Atreides shared the information with Selena.
"I'm going to get it," Selena said.
"We've got some of our hosts watching it now. If someone comes out for it, the hosts will stop him," Basil said.
"Don't show your fangs," Atreides warned Selena.
"I'll try not to. I'm suddenly really tired."
"You need blood."
"I want my car back and my brother and sister and his friends are going with us. I'll let someone else drive it home for me, I mean to your house—"
"Our home, you're right."
"I love you," she said. "Unequivocally. I should have said so before I had to meet with King."
"The fringe hunter calls himself a king?"
"No, that's his last name. Don't worry. He's not about to try to take over the League and usurp the princes’ powers with the vampires." She was glad she'd told Atreides she loved him back, despite having said it to him before. She'd meant to, but so much had been going on she couldn't say it at the time. She hadn't wanted to leave him hanging.
"I know."
She chuckled. "I just hope this doesn't get you into trouble with your brother."
"It better not. I'm serious about us leaving the area if he doesn't want me in the clan for what I've done."
But she didn't want to leave her family behind. She dreaded telling her parents she'd fallen in love with a vampire though. She wasn't sure if they would be okay with it or not. She was sure Tezra would back them though.
"You have me to work with the women who are living in the border towns though. Maybe I can help us with fringe hunters in the future if we have trouble with them since the League won't help." And maybe she would have more influence with the League since she wasn't just a vampire explaining what was going on with the hunters who were rogues. She had been and still was one of them, in part. She, or someone like her, needed to represent her kind on the League Council.
Chapter 16
When they reached the mall, the hosts directed them to her car, and Selena saw it. She was thrilled. It looked just like she had left it the night the wolf stalked her, and she’d been attacked, except that the people who had used it had smoked joints in the car, which irritated her to the max. Because of her hunter's heightened sense of smell, smoke irritated her. And they'd left hamburger wrappers, french fries, and empty beer cans all over the floor.
Even so, she was thrilled to have her car back, no dents or broken windows or anything.
"We wait for whoever stole it to return, right?" her brother asked.
"Yes, they have my car keys." She had the spare keys at home, she realized, but she didn’t want them to have the other set of keys any further. And she wanted them arrested for stealing her car.
Daniel shook his head. "I can't believe you left your key in the ignition."
"Tell me about it." But at least by doing that, they hadn't broken a window to get into it and hotwired it to steal it anyway.
They hung around the parking area for about an hour, the sun out, clearing away the clouds and she was glad only hosts and hunters were here, waiting for the car thieves. The vampires would have had to leave, like Jacque had to do.
"You're feeling all right?" Rosa asked.
"Tired. But I'm fine." Selena wondered if that meant she needed to drink some blood. Ugh.
They kept seeing people headed toward their cars near hers and thought they were the ones, though none of them had looked like beer-guzzling, pot-smoking, hamburger-eating car thieves.
There were families, a couple of young women, three older teens, more families, but nobody who approached her car. Maybe the thieves had figured her stolen car was too “hot” and left it at a crowded mall so no one would find it soon.
Then three males and two females in their late twenties headed in their direction. They set off a car alarm, walking too close to another vehicle and one of the men slammed his fist down on the car hood in irritation. Which made her think these were the right people. She had smelled that three males had been in her car, so maybe because the women were with them, they weren’t the right people after all. But she suspected they were, and they'd just picked up the two girls at the mall. Wouldn't they be surprised when they learned they weren't going to drive the car they had stolen anywhere, if these were the people who had done so.
Selena couldn't help glower at them. They were so busy cursing and laughing about stealing stuff from a couple of stores, one of the girls bringing out a necklace from her purse, the price tag still attached to it, another slipped a pair of earrings out of her pocket, still attached to the display card—they didn’t notice the hunters or vampire hosts hanging around the cars, texting people, trying to look unobtrusive. But to anyone who was observant, Selena thought she and the others looked like danger—for them.
Selena hadn't planned to extend her canines. So far, she had kept them sheathed the whole time, trying not to get angry.
She was moving closer to her car though. She didn't want them jumping into it and driving off and losing them.
They we
re almost to her car, three of the people splitting off to the right of it, the guy bringing out Selena’s car keys and the other girl heading to the driver's side. The hosts and hunters ran toward the thieves then, but Selena just vanished and reappeared in front of the would-be driver. "Hand over the keys." She held out her hand.
The guy's mouth gaped. He glanced up at the sun, which was spilling all over her car, nearby cars, and the parking lot in general, only a smattering of clouds blocking it for seconds as the clouds continued to move along.
"Do you want to see the fangs?" she asked. "Hand over the keys and take your trash out of my car."
"You…you're dead. You were supposed to be dead.”
The two girls with them started to back away, but Rosa and a couple of hosts stopped them. Even though they weren't usually in the business of dealing with human crime, if they had the opportunity present itself, they helped the police out.
Rosa was on her phone already, her sword out, the girls staying put.
"Hunters?" the man with her keys said, sounding just as shocked.
Rosa called in the theft of Selena's car and of the girls stealing at the mall.
"We didn't help steal the car," one of the girls said.
"No, we don't even know these guys," the other said.
Her brother was standing beside her, his sword out in case the driver had a weapon. His friends were on the other side of the car apprehending the other men.
"I don't look dead. Why do you think I should be dead? Because the car was abandoned, and I wasn’t anywhere in sight? Ohmigod, you saw the vampire attack me?" Selena couldn't believe her luck if that was the case.
"Uh, yeah. We saw the car first, and it was just sitting there with its headlights on and the engine running, keys in the ignition." Ripe for the taking.
"And?"
"We saw, uh, you, walking away from the car and some vampire suddenly—"
"Wait, wasn't there a wolf?"