The Hunters Series

by Shiloh Walker

  The vampire had cast one look at her and whispered quietly, “Sleep.”

  And Lori’s eyes closed as she slid to the floor, soft whimpers still falling from her lips.

  “Invite me in.”

  Sarel shuddered at the power in those words, recognizing the silent psychic command and watching as her father did so, inviting the man in while his mind frantically tried to figure out why he had just done so.

  “You did it so I can kill you,” Eli purred, stalking around the room, circling ever closer to the sweating man who suddenly stank of fear. Eli looked like a tawny gold mountain lion, sleek, deadly, predatory.

  He stopped when he was standing in front of the mortal again, flashing his fangs at him and smiling. “I’m going to enjoy killing you,” Eli whispered savagely.

  Sarel’s father bellowed and flung himself at Eli, hitting him with a blow that would have shattered the jaw of a human. Eli smiled and said, “This is going to be more fun than I thought.”

  Sarel watched as the blond vampire slowly, thoroughly, and with immense skill, pounded her father into the ground the way she had so often dreamed of doing. From time to time he would back off, allow the human to catch his breath, gather his strength and his fear, and launch another attack. Eli would take a few blows, letting the bastard think he could be beaten, and then he would whirl faster than the eye could follow and reappear behind her father, taking him, kneeing him in the kidney or smacking him tauntingly on the head.

  The final time it happened Eli simply shifted, going from his mortal form to gray smoke, reforming behind the man who had gone white and pale with sheer fear. Eli drank in the fear like it was wine but when he gripped the man from behind and sank his teeth into the human flesh he did it merely to rip it open and make him bleed. The mouthful of blood he caught he spat out onto the floor after he had used his sharp teeth to pierce and rip open the carotid so that the man fell into a puddle of his own blood and died only seconds later.

  Sarel tried to scream when she saw the man go to the sleeping child and everything inside her went cold as he reached to touch her. But he didn’t. He paused and stared at the blood on his hands and body. “That’s really going to help her mental condition, mate,” he muttered in a clipped English accent as he turned to walk around the puddle of blood.

  Sarel was still frozen where she had been, unable to follow, but she heard water splashing and when the vampire returned, the blood still stained his clothes, but not his hands or face. Dull horror bloomed inside her at what she saw on his face when he paused to stare down at her mother’s lifeless body. Helplessness, rage, disgust. The same feelings Sarel had so often felt towards her mother.

  The horror only grew when he picked up Lori with gentle hands. His touch woke the little girl and she started to scream, huge wracking sobs ripping from her between the screams, and the man’s beautiful face twisted with misery and sorrow. Sarel saw blood tinged tears trickle down his face as he rocked the grieving child back and forth. Finally, he caught her tiny face in one long, graceful hand and whispered gently, “Sleep, pretty child. When you wake, things will be better.”

  Sarel felt power shudder through the air, and her psychic abilities let her see that he had erased Lori’s memory of that night. Completely erased, not covered, or pushed back until she was older. The night simply hadn’t happened.

  Nausea roiled in her gut and she wanted to cover her mouth against the urge to vomit but she still couldn’t move. The house, the vampire and her sister faded from her sight, but she was now somewhere else, a million somewhere else, watching a million repeats of what she had just seen.

  Yes.

  Eli Crawford was a killer.

  A vigilante.

  She watched as he took the lives of drug dealers, men and women who sold children, rapists, child molesters. Not all of them were the scum of society she would have expected. Three she recognized—a hotshot movie star who was rumored to have a taste for cruelty, a politician who had used his wife’s money to aid his rise to the Senate while he kept her drugged and locked away as he raped their two children, and an NFL football player who had already done time in jail for battery. His wife had taken him back and he would have killed her that last night if Eli hadn’t intervened.

  “Not real. You’re making me see this. It’s not real,” Sarel murmured, trying to console herself.

  The woman’s sigh seemed to wrap around her. “You’ve enough of a gift to be able to tell if I were lying. I have no psychic gift to speak of, but I suspect you could see if I was lying. If you don’t believe what your eyes are showing you, then perhaps you will see what your soul and heart show you.”

  Feeling as though she had been ripped from her body Sarel could see her herself, clad in black camouflage, smudged with dirt and soot, as she hovered above the bed. Next to her still form she saw the vampire—pale, gray with impending death. And then she was flung into his body.

  Whatever it was that kept her helpless hadn’t blocked her sight this time. A warm, vivid blue light pulsed all around her. Warrior. She battled the unseen, unstoppable force that was propelling her straight into his soul. “Stop it!” Sarel screamed. She tried to dig in her heels, but the force that was behind her was far too strong and there was no stopping it.

  No.

  She felt Eli, felt his weak surprise, felt how he still battled against the insidious poison she had placed inside him, felt his gradual acceptance.

  Eli was aware of them, she realized. And he knew who she was, but he ignored her.

  “Kelsey, have you gone and grown up already, little girl?”

  “Yes. It’s been nearly forty years, Elijah. Did you still think I was the little girl you carried away from that house before you burned it down?”

  “Forty years? Only forty?” He laughed weakly. “A witch. How did I know that would happen?”

  Sarel felt the other witch’s impatience, and heard it this time as the woman said, “Are we going to stand here and exchange small talk?”

  “I’ve nothing better to do until I die. Rather takes my mind of the pain, actually,” Eli said.

  “Don’t you want to live, Eli?”

  Eli laughed. Sarel shuddered as the sound wrapped around her, sounding both hot and cold, hard and soft. Both a caress and a slap at the same time. “I’m not alive, Kelsey. I’m dead, a fucking vampire.”

  “You’re not dead, Eli. You’re just not human anymore. But even if you are willing and ready to die, what about Tori and Declan? You’re bonded with them. They felt pain when you were hurt, and they’re sick now.”

  “That’s a lie,” Sarel thought, startled. She could sense it, taste it. But Eli didn’t seem to notice.

  She felt his unease grow.

  “Tori and Declan will be fine,” he said finally. “Haven’t you heard? Tori is Wonder Woman. There is little that she can’t do.”

  “She fed you, too much. Now she is ill.”

  Eli seemed to shrug. “She will be all right. Both of them.”

  “I don’t think they will,” Kelsey argued. “Tori tried to feed to you and it weakened her far too much. She’s in a sleep that I can’t wake her from, and Declan’s half mad with fury. If Tori and you both die and he doesn’t, I’m afraid I’ll have to kill him. He’ll lose control, Eli. Even if he doesn’t, what of his soul-bond to Tori? Do you really think he can live more than a few months without her?”

  “NO.” The fury blazed and pulsed around them until Sarel could hardly feel anything past it, until she was suddenly the focus.

  “You.”

  Sarel felt the witch rip her soul back, felt the witch tear herself out of them both as Eli fought his way back to awareness.

  And then both of them were awake. Lying on the bed and staring at each other. Rather, he was staring at her, while she resisted the urge to run away and hide.

  “You.”

  Eli’s eyes opened. He was too fucking weak to move but he could see the woman next to him from the corner of his eye, could
smell her. It was the woman who had shot him, the woman Kelsey had brought into his soul.

  She sat up slowly, her eyes refusing to meet his.

  “Get…out,” he gasped, the fiery hole in his chest robbing him of the ability to think.

  Through gritted teeth, she said, “I can’t.”

  His eyes moved to the wide-eyed little redhead who stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at them, looking hardly more than the kid he had saved decades earlier. “Let her go, Kelsey. Get…her the…fuck away…from me.”

  “I’m not stopping her from leaving, Eli. And why are you so eager to make her leave? She can end this, here and now.”

  Eli’s eyes closed. God, he hurt. The blood in his veins pumped sluggishly and it seemed to be filled with acid, burning him from the inside out. “Tori…?” He could smell her, that subtle scent of peaches, sex, woman, and vampire.

  “She’s down the hall. We can’t get her to feed, Eli,” Kelsey said, her eyes closing. She had to close her eyes, never having been much of a liar, if he looked dead at her he’d see the lie. Right now, he was probably too weak to sense it, but he might still see it. “Declan’s tried and she won’t respond to him. I don’t know how to reach her.”

  Desperate energy suddenly flooded him as the rage broke open inside. Eli rolled, pinning the woman beside him, staring down into her slanted green and gold eyes. He was so fucking tired, and it wasn’t such a chore to let it all be over after three centuries of walking alone. He would never have Tori and there was no other woman.

  But he could not let them die. Tori and Declan meant more to him than his own soul. This bitch in his bed could save him and then he could save Tori and Declan. Afterward he could go right on being lonely, but what the fuck else was new?

  “You owe me blood, darling,” he purred with menace, his muscles trembling with the effort it took to move and hold her even though she didn’t resist him at all.

  Those rather amazing eyes closed and she turned her head, offering her neck, saying quietly, “I know.”

  Sarel couldn’t believe she was doing this.

  Eli was as weak as a fucking kitten, his entire body quaking with the effort it took just to move. She could have thrown him off easily. Whatever bonds had prevented her from moving had been lifted and she could have tried to flee. No magic, that was still being held deep inside her, and would most likely reflect back on Sarel anything she tried to do.

  But she didn’t try to run, didn’t even move away when the vampire covered her body with his.

  His heart beat against hers, but weakly. He was dying. She felt sick. Her magic had done this. Her magic and her hate.

  Sarel braced herself for the pain, remembering how he had mauled her father. Granted, her father had been a murderer and a child molester, but Sarel had just tried to murder Eli, and he didn’t know that she didn’t know and…and…and…she tried to slow the panicked flow of her thoughts as his golden head lowered to her throat.

  It was going to hurt and hurt bad. And the awful truth was, she deserved it. If she had just looked, she would have seen the truth, right there in front of her, close enough to bite her on the ass.

  A strangled gasp left her throat when his teeth pierced her skin, quickly, sharply, a sudden burning pain that was there and then gone, replaced by heat.

  Her mind still ran in confused circles—how much would he take? Would she live through it? Would he let her leave? Would he turn her into a vampire?

  Then she felt a soft brush on her mind.

  A gentle shush that calmed the chaos in her brain and turned her body into mush, a seductive warmth chasing away the fear that held her body stiff and cold. The brush turned into a caress that drew her body tight once more, this time with need, and she cried out, arching up, desire she had never known racing through her body as he fed from her, his cool body growing warm, his trembling, weak muscles stilling as strength flooded back into him.

  Eli groaned when she moved against him, crying out. Still weak, he knew he wasn’t up for aught but feeding. However, his cock didn’t seem to understand that as the blood he took instantly raced down to his shaft and he couldn’t keep from rocking his hardening cock against the notch between her thighs as he fed.

  Eli’s hazy thoughts were slowly clearing and his strength was returning. Confused and distracted by the witch’s thoughts, he absently reached out and calmed her while he fed. She was sweet—hot, rich with youth and magic and power. The power that had damned near killed him was restoring him almost as quickly as he could swallow. He understood enough of her chaotic thoughts to recognize the grief and the sorrow, the guilt.

  The hot young body was another thing he understood, driving his cock harder against her as he fed, swallowing more, her hot blood splashing in his belly, sending fiery strength out through his body.

  He pumped his hips against her covered mound once more as he pulled away from her neck, pausing to lick the neat little puncture wounds, savoring the final few drops of blood before he pushed away, licking his lips and staring down at his almost murderer.

  She was young. She was pretty. She was a witch. And she looked…oddly familiar.

  Sarel’s lids fluttered. One hand lifted and she reached out for him, a weak moan falling from her lips. Beneath the sturdy cotton of the black shirt she wore, her nipples were hard and stiff. Eli could smell her arousal and he was tempted. If he was certain he had the strength, he just might rip her clothes off and give her a good hard fuck before throwing her naked ass out.

  But he’d rather know why she had tried to kill him.

  Even now she didn’t strike him as a nutcase.

  The chaos of her mind hadn’t made much sense to him, but one thing had been clear. She’d come seeking vengeance for something.

  Giving her a light mental slap, he cleared the feeding-induced lust from her mind and turned to look at Kelsey who stood smiling broadly at the foot of the bed. “Thank you, Kel—”

  A movement, a scent caught his attention. Turning his head, he saw who had been standing in the corner. Apparently the whole fucking time. Tori and Declan. “Dying, brat?” he said, his voice still hoarse.

  If she answered, he never heard it as Tori flung herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and swearing at him, laughing at the same time. His own eyes stung as Tori buried her face against his naked chest, tears dampening his skin as she cried.

  “Aw, sweet. Do not cry,” Eli said roughly, stroking her tumbled curls. “Your mate will finish the job if he thinks you care enough to be crying over me.”

  “Shut up!” she hissed, smacking him in the arm with her hand as she pulled away to stare at him. Then her eyes widened. “Damn it, Eli. You look terrible.”

  “Well, that is exactly the thing I needed to hear, thank you very much, sweet,” Eli muttered, shoving a hand through his tangled, matted hair.

  Declan asked roughly, his voice thick, “How are ya feelin’?”

  A wave of weakness washed through him and he pressed his palm to his brow. Tossing a look over his shoulder, he said, “Weak. Starving. Hot. I feel sick. How long will I feel like this?”

  The stranger on his bed opened her mouth but he coldly said, “I was not asking you, girl.”

  Color flushed her face and her eyes gleamed, but to Eli’s amazement, she remained silent. He would not have expected such…wisdom from her.

  Kelsey suppressed a smile as she said, “It will fade within a few days, I think. If you feed again now, it will help a lot. You didn’t take much from Sarel.” Her eyes flitted to the silent girl on the bed. “If you fed from one of your people, or from me or Declan—”

  “I can feed him,” Tori said softly.

  “No,” Declan said, shaking his head. “You just fed him yesterday. Too much. This is too soon even for you, wonder girl.”

  “Declan, I—”

  “No,” Eli said, interrupting her. Her wide blue eyes swung his way and he shook his head, silently backing up his friend.

&nbs
p; “I’ll feed you,” Declan offered, casting him a silent thank-you when Tori turned away and walked to the window to sulk. She hated when she wasn’t able to help. Pulling a knife from his pocket, Declan made a neat little cut in his wrist, just deep enough to provide a decent feed, and offered his wrist to Eli.

  Eli accepted gratefully. As weak as he was, he didn’t feel up to feeding from a female. The sexual call a vampire exuded was always stronger when he or she fed, but only if he or she was feeding on their particular sexual choice. Eli didn’t feel any sexual draw toward a man and could feel from a male from now to doomsday and never feel aroused.

  Oh, he could raise lust in men, if he was so inclined…but the inclination wasn’t there. The only inclination he had right now was to collapse in exhaustion. He did not feel up to the drain it would put on his system to fight the sexual arousal that would come with the women, no matter that he was near death’s door.

  And besides, if he had to take blood again, it would have to be from Kelsey or one of his people—mostly werewolves, some humans. Kelsey seemed too much like a kid sister to him. He couldn’t feed from her.

  And between an Inherent wolf, like Declan, and a werewolf…well, hell, that was like choosing between French wine and wine that cost two dollars. No contest. Closing his mouth over Declan’s wrist he fed, groaning silently when Tori decided to return at that moment and curl up against his side, bringing her scent and her sweet body.

  “Little bitch,” Eli thought fondly as her hand slid down to stroke his thigh.

  * * * * *

  Sarel felt like she was watching a fucking peep show.

  Well, no. Not exactly.

  They weren’t exactly putting on a show. The brunette was curled against Elijah Crawford, who sat at the edge of the bed feeding from the long, lean blond who had tackled Sarel outside the house. The blond, Declan, didn’t seem the least bit disturbed when his wife—at least, Sarel thought it was his wife—started to stroke and caress Eli’s chest, his arm, his face, not sexually, really, more as though reassuring herself.