by Terry Spear
"I'm in here," Selena said telepathically to Atreides. "I've been hit."
Chapter 19
Selena would kill the men. Cliff and Perry Rochester had shot her because she'd moved in front of her sister and Atreides, to invite him in and to protect her sister. She'd never expected the men to be armed with guns. It was unheard of in the history of their kind.
She was in pain, bleeding, but the bullet wounds hadn’t hit fatal spots. Thankfully, she managed to transport into one of the bedrooms where the men weren't at and they must not have realized it. She was afraid to invite Atreides in. The hunters needed to do this, but she also didn't want anyone else to get shot. Then she thought of her brother. What if Daniel had been hit also? And Eliza and Brittany? She invited Atreides in. "Don't let my sister enter the apartment."
"Are you badly hurt?" Atreides asked Selena.
"Yes. I'm in a back bedroom, first one on the left down the hall. Cliff and Perry sound like they're in the kitchen."
"I'm on my way."
"Don't get yourself killed. I would never forgive you."
Then he was in the bedroom, appearing next to her, and she was lying on the floor, holding her wounds. "Hell, Selena," he whispered. "I've got to get you out of here."
"No way. We've got to end this now. Not only for the vampiresses they’ve murdered but for the future ones if we don't stop them. No telling where they'll end up."
"We've got hunter reinforcements coming. Let me take you out of here." Atreides sounded desperate to move her and get help for her.
"No."
"You can't fight like this."
"Watch me. I'm healing." Not instantaneously, but she could do this. "Just give me a few minutes."
"We've got to make a break for it. We killed Selena. There are two others out there, her sister, and some other guy I didn't recognize," Cliff said.
"Yeah, the other guys want to leave too. We're hemmed in here. If they call for reinforcements, we're dead," Perry said.
"Okay, they didn't expect us to be using guns so they can't win against us. Let's do this," Cliff said.
"I still can't raise Lonnie."
"He may be dead."
Selena told the other huntresses turned to go after the men in the other room.
"Will do," Eliza said.
Selena heard Cliff and his friend running out of the kitchen and she suddenly appeared before them and thrust her sword into Cliff's heart, if he'd had one. His expression was one of shock and he dropped his gun. She couldn't pull her sword out of Cliff’s body fast enough to kill Perry.
But Atreides was there for her, taking out the other hunter, "For all the vampiresses you murdered and for attempting to kill Selena."
The men were still not dead, but they looked up at them in shock as Rosa ran into the room. She yanked Atreides’s sword out of Perry’s chest, handed it to Atreides who sheathed his sword, and Rosa shoved her sword into the hunter. "For being a rogue and giving hunters a bad name." Then she saw Selena barely standing, but Atreides grabbed her up before she collapsed. She needed a vacation after this.
Her sister retrieved her sword and they headed to the other apartment as hunters slammed the fire escape door open and rushed down the hall to the apartment where gunshots were being fired again.
"Take care of Selena. Harry Canton and Lonnie Wilson are dead," Bernard said. "We've got this."
Atreides inclined his head. “Cliff and Perry are dead.”
"I'll join you as soon as I can," Rosa said.
Then Atreides took Selena to his home to the room where they ministered to wounded vampires who didn't have fatal injuries and called for their doctor. "Selena's been shot twice. She's bleeding bad." In the meantime, Atreides was binding her wounds as his housekeeper ran to get blood for her. Selena would need a transfusion, but within minutes, the doctor was there. Selena looked ghostly pale and she'd lost consciousness as soon as he'd transported her to his home.
"How is she doing?" the doctor asked.
Atreides was afraid he would lose her. But could he? Would her vampire half win out? Her huntress side could have been dead. "She has lost a lot of blood."
"Have someone available to give her blood. Drinking it won't help in this case."
Atreides began pulling up his sleeve. "I will."
"Humans did this?" the doctor asked as he put Selena under.
Only humans fired guns at each other. Sometimes at vampires, but it was rarely fatal. He hadn't heard of them trying to kill a hunter in that way, which was why these bastards had resorted to using guns.
"Rogue hunters."
The doctor shook his head. "I hope this doesn't lead to a trend among their kind and ours." He began to remove one of the bullets, his nurse showing up unexpectedly to help.
She started a blood transfusion from Atreides to Selena.
"Are these the men who killed the vampiresses?" the doctor asked, working on the second bullet.
"Yes. We got three of them for sure. Other hunters were at the scene to take down the others." Atreides was about to telepathically ask Eliza if the other men were dead, but he hadn't wanted to interfere if they were in the middle of a fight.
Then he got a call from Daniel. "How's Selena?"
"In surgery. Is everyone all right there?"
"Eliza killed one of the hunters. Bernard was going to take the credit, but she said she would go down as a martyr if she had to because she was claiming the kill of a rogue hunter. I managed to kill the other but got shot."
"How bad?"
"Not bad, but Eliza took me to a hunter facility to have a doctor remove the bullet."
"And you're still talking to me?"
"I'm just along for the ride. I'll be there shortly. Rosa is headed your way. Colt's taking her. I'll see you all as soon as I'm out of surgery."
"Take it easy, and thanks, Daniel, for helping us with this."
"Of course. Thanks for helping us and taking care of both my sisters." Then they ended the call.
Atreides saw the doctor remove the last bullet. "How is she?"
"She's beginning to heal already. She'll be fine. But I still can't believe that the rogue hunters would resort to using bullets."
They heard Colt outside of the room talking to Rosa. "I'm sure she's fine."
Rosa rushed into the room to check on her sister. "How is she?" She took hold of her hand and squeezed.
"The doctor said she's fine, but she might not be able to fight for a while, right, Doc?" Atreides didn't want her fighting any more battles for now.
"Yeah. I need to check on her again before I can declare her fit for fighting." The doc said, "I'll return if you need me in the meantime. Just let me know."
"Thanks, I will."
"I know we got all the rogue hunters, but would you mind if I stay here until Selena has recovered?" Rosa asked.
"Absolutely you can." He had planned to take care of her himself, but he wouldn't deny her sister's request to stay with them to watch Selena recuperate. If he needed to be away for clan business, he would leave some of his men with Rosa and Selena.
"Bernard said the other hunters saw a wolf chasing one of the rogue hunters and that's when the League hunters caught up with him," Rosa said.
"The wolf?" Selena said, stirring from her sleep.
"Ohmigod, Selena, how could you just run into the room and get shot up like that!" Rosa scolded her.
"I didn't realize they had guns until it was too late. Was it the wolf? Quail?" Selena asked, sounding drowsy.
"That's what Colt said. He saw him too when he was still in mist form and thought he was the same one that you had described. I wonder why he likes to show up as a wolf," Rosa said.
"Then he helped us at the last," Selena whispered.
Atreides kissed her forehead. "Sleep, Selena, we can talk about this later."
"Did we get all of them? Are Daniel and the two huntresses turned, and the other hunters all right?" she asked.
Atreides smiled at her. "Th
ey are all fine."
But Rosa was frowning.
"Who isn't fine?" Selena asked her sister.
"Daniel was shot, but he's going to be good. He wasn't hurt as badly as you. He was talking all the way to the car the other hunters carried him to. They figured they would meet a hunter ambulance on the way. It would be quicker that way."
"Okay, good."
"But naturally, he's worried about you." Rosa took a video of Selena. "Tell him something so he won't worry about you when he gets out of surgery."
"Hey, Daniel, thanks for coming to help us with this. Sorry you got shot too. Love you."
Then Rosa sent the video to their brother. "Now another for our parents. They are frantic, once they heard you were hit twice. And of course they wanted to know why I didn't protect you better, being the older sister."
Selena offered a sleepy smile.
"We should let you rest after this," Atreides said.
Selena said to her parents as Rosa recorded the video, "Love you, Mom and Dad. I'll be fine in no time. They gave me anesthesia so I'm a bit groggy, but I'll snap out of it soon."
Then Rosa sent the video to their parents. "They said they went to see Daniel at the hospital since I was with you."
"Tell them they can come to see Selena any time they want." Atreides wanted to make sure they understood that even though they hadn't had the official break-the-ice dinner with them, he wanted them to be part of his extended vampire family. He supposed it was time to tell his brother that he was mated and how that had all come about.
"We could do dinner with them tonight," Selena said.
"No way," Rosa said. "You need to rebuild your strength." Rosa got a call and smiled. "Uh, yes, she'll be fine. Okay, she just got out of surgery and is still a bit sleepy. All right, thanks. We're glad too." She handed the phone to Selena. "The president of the Council."
Chapter 20
"Well, you did it. You and the rest of your vampire and League hunter team," the president of the League Council said to Selena.
Selena hadn't expected the president to think of this as her team. They were just a bunch of vampires and hunters who had come together to fight the worst kind of evil. "Thank you. It was a joint effort on everyone's part."
"We heard about the other huntresses who had been turned and how they had helped to turn the tide against these men. We want them to join your special team. Since you're in charge of it, it's up to you if that will work for you. Just let them know if you want to 'hire' them and we'll make it happen. Full pay and allowances."
"Thank you.” She couldn't believe the League would set up a team that she would be in charge of, or that the women would even consider working with her. Not when they were happy to live on the fringe. But they had more in common with her than not, and she thought they might have changed their minds about living on the fringe once they were fighting the rogue hunters. Here, she'd thought she would have been a virtual outcast. She couldn't believe it.
She was glad Rosa was sitting beside her when she woke again, and she was now in Atreides’s bed. "Where is he?"
"Taking care of business. Mom and Dad want to see you tonight. He has invited them over for dinner, even if you can't eat with us. He couldn't wait to meet them, and they couldn't wait to check on you and see how you're doing."
"What about Daniel? How is he doing?"
"He's doing well. If you can believe it, three huntresses are at his bedside at the hospital, mooning over him."
Selena chuckled. She could just envision it, and then the huntresses being miffed with each other if he decided on one to date. But then she was thinking of how—when she had killed Cliff's brother—a rogue just as much, she wasn't treated in the same way at all. The vampires had to come to her aid. "Atreides, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to locate the wolf vampire. I want to thank him for helping us eliminate the last rogue hunter and killing the two rogue vampires. Are you feeling better?"
"I am. Wait, two rogue vampires?”
“Yeah, he found the twin brother of the one who had turned you. His brother wanted to turn huntresses, like we suspected, to have them do his bidding. His brother thought the huntresses turned could be real trouble so he was following him this last time to end you before you could be turned. He got away before Quail could eliminate the vampire, but now he’s dead.”
“Oh, good. I’m so glad. I was afraid that would be our next mission. You had invited my parents for dinner, Rosa said." She was glad he had. The sooner they met him and accepted him in the family, the better it would be for all of them. And it would validate, with the other hunters, that what Selena had done was acceptable.
Atreides appeared in the room. "Yes. I want to meet them. I knew they wanted to see you. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to do all three."
"All right, well I'm coming to dinner." She wouldn't miss this for anything. And she did have the notion, if her parents were uncomfortable around Atreides, maybe she could make them feel better about him.
"If you are feeling all right. I don't want you to relapse and neither do your parents."
She loved how protective Atreides was of her. "I won't. I'll be fine." Though she felt like staying in the bed forever and never moving from it. Hopefully, she would heal enough by the time it was dinner, that she could get her lazy bones out of bed. "We did it. We eliminated the rogue hunters. How do your people feel about it?"
"Elated. Grateful to you and your kin and the hunters who came to help. I've talked to them about the two huntresses turned who want to work with you. They are eager to meet them. I talked to them about how you were feeling, and they want to meet with you as soon as you're able to. They realize that they won't be going on missions always, but it looks like they're moving out of the border town."
"Why? They haven't been ostracized by the fringe hunters, have they?" She'd been hoping they could have someone to contact in the border towns if they had trouble with the fringe hunters. But now they wouldn't. Though if it were something they truly wanted to do on their own, she would be happy for them. They deserved happiness, like she did, after all they had been through.
"They've had several hunters interested in dating them. League hunters. It's pissed off the fringe hunters."
"Oh." She hadn't expected that, but she was glad for them!
"And there are some vampires, like Colt and Renault and Basil, who are interested in dating them. So that doesn't help their status on the fringe either."
That she hadn't expected either! She smiled. "I'm glad they are seen as valuable additions to our worlds—both in yours and mine."
"Mine is yours as well."
"Are you going to tell Daemon then about what has happened?"
"No. Not until he returns home. He would most likely cut their trip short, not trusting that everything was wrapped up neatly in a bright red bow."
She sighed. She wished Atreides would just get it over with so they could deal with the repercussions, if there were any. "All right. I hope he's not too shocked by all that has happened. You know, he might not like it that a new vampire to the clan has a contract with the hunters to work within the clan."
"If it helps our people, that's all that will matter to Daemon. Oh, it's time to work on the meal."
"What are we having?"
"Grilled steaks. I've got to get them started."
"You? Grill steaks?"
"Colt taught me. It's raining, if you didn't notice, but the grill is under the large patio cover and I want to make this myself."
"Rare for me."
"Are you sure you're coming to the dinner?"
"If you don't cook a rare steak for me, I will be showing you my extended canines."
He smiled. "Rare for you and your parents and sister said medium rare for them. Your brother is coming too. He didn't want to. He was getting so much attention for his injury that he wanted to stay and enjoy it, but your father said this was a family dinner with your new mate, and a celebration for
the mission we accomplished."
"Thank you for saving my life, Atreides. I can't remember if I told you that."
"You were pretty out of it, but I love you too."
She smiled. "Okay, I'm going to close my eyes for a little bit longer. But don't you dare let me sleep through dinner."
"All right." But the way he said it made her think that he would do just that if she were sleeping heavily.
She knew he would only have her best interests at heart, but she wanted to be there to celebrate her mating and see just how receptive her parents were toward Atreides. She hoped he charmed them as much as he had won her over.
Rosa said, "You look sleepy. Go to sleep and we'll wake you when everyone is here, and dinner is ready. I'll stay with you just in case you wake and need anything."
"I'll just close my eyes and rest them," Selena said, not intending anything more than that. She was going to dinner no matter what, though she might have to retire early after eating with her family and her mate.
He kissed her and she kissed him back, then closed her eyes and hoped he would wake her and if he didn't, she hoped she wouldn't be too angry with him.
As soon as Selena's family arrived for dinner, Atreides greeted Daniel and Selena’s father and mother for the first time. "How are you doing, Daniel?" Atreides asked.
Daniel smiled. "Really good." Because of the huntresses' interest in a heroic, wounded hero?
“Selena is sleeping, and Rosa is watching over her for now. I'll go check on her." Atreides would have just transported to the room to see if she was awake and wanted to join them for the meal, but her parents and Daniel decided to come with him to see how she was faring for themselves. So far, everything had been cordial between them.
Selena was sound asleep. Atreides had mixed feelings about it. He was glad her injuries weren't keeping her awake, but he knew how much she wanted to be with the family right now.
Rosa stood when they walked into the room and whispered, "She fell asleep right away after you finished talking to her, Atreides. She's worn out."