by Terry Spear
“I have changed my mind about you,” she spat.
Her father watched from the dining room. “But I have not.” He smiled broadly, then plucked an apple from a gold basket of fruit. “Since I made the announcement at dinner based on your own request, Pasha, you will honor it, unless I change my mind.”
Adonis said for her ears and Zachary’s only, “You will not court any other man, unless you have properly become his wife.”
“You can’t order me about, Adonis,” she growled low at him.
“Until Father can deal with you, I am the one responsible for you and your behavior. And since he has again said you will only see Zachary, I will keep you to your word.”
“As will I.” Zachary said.
“Let go of me!” Pasha’s cheeks grew scarlet.
“Is that any way to act when the one you love is taking you on a hunt to do your bidding?”
She quieted again. “All right. If we’re leaving tomorrow early, I need to get ready.”
“After we’ve finished our walk in the garden.”
Adonis cast Zachary a small smile.
Zachary nodded just once. If nothing else, for the time being, Zachary would ensure some other hunter didn’t take her up on her request to make love to her. He truly had no hope to win her heart, not the way she hated vampires. But seeing her with Anthony again forced Zachary to react in a possessive hunter way. Hunters were inherently covetous of their mates, so he assumed his reaction to her sitting too close to Anthony was due to his hunter instincts. But the fact his canines twitched, showed his vampire traits reacted to it too. How far would he go to protect her? To keep her?
He realized then what Adonis had discovered with Rachael. Adonis couldn’t have let Rachael go if he’d tried. They were soul mates, meant to be together forever. Zachary felt the same for Pasha. If it wasn’t for his current vampiric condition, he believed she felt the same draw. She could fight the notion all she wanted, but in the end, she’d have to give in, or find someone she’d never care about the way she did him. He just had to give her a good enough reason to want him, despite the fact he was a hunter turned.
But would that be enough for him to feel his life was worth living again?
Chapter 6
Pasha and the rest of the hunters and huntresses had flown out on the first flight to Florida the next day, their hunter swords and daggers in their checked baggage. Because of rampant thunderstorms, they hadn’t reached Pensacola, Florida until nightfall, when the vampires were sure to be out.
Pasha’s family’s home and her extended families’ homes were all along the same stretch of land, situated on the white sugar beaches that led to the emerald green waters, an idyllic place for hunters to live and raise their families. They drove by the homes and assumed the activity they saw from the lights turned on inside to the movement of figures behind curtains at the windows were vampires living there now after their bloody assault on her family.
The thunderstorms continued to pound the area. It made it a perfectly moody night for vampires of an evil nature to feed upon humans unaware that a hunter population wasn’t keeping the rogue vampires in check on this or any other night. High surf, high wind, and strong undercurrents plagued their area.
After checking into a hotel on the same stretch of beach about a half mile away, they made room assignments. Danai and Pasha were staying in a room together, though Pasha preferred to be alone. Michael and Zachary were staying together in the room adjoining theirs. And Adonis and Rachael were staying in the room on the other side of Pasha’s.
“He is an honorable hunter.” Danai stretched out on the hibiscus floral bedspread on her queen-sized bed.
“He is a vampire, like you!” Pasha stared out at the beach through the patio doors, her arms folded across her waist. They’d forced her to sit with Zachary on the whole flight out there as if she was going to change her mind about mating him.
And yet, she couldn’t help but be drawn to him, repulsed by the draw, but nevertheless, she couldn’t stop the bizarre way in which she felt. He had a magnetism that no other hunter had ever held for her. He’d been a gentleman the whole flight with her, getting her a pillow and blanket when she’d wanted to sleep and pretend he wasn’t sitting beside her, turning off the air overhead when she’d gotten cold, getting her another drink of water when she’d gotten thirsty.
He hadn’t said anything to her, hadn’t smiled, hadn’t pushed his need to show she should be his mate, and she’d almost wanted him to do all those things. Yet she knew this was strictly a job for him like any other. She had to keep her judgment clear so she could kill as many of the bloodsuckers that had murdered the rest of her family. It would all be for naught if she got herself killed right in the beginning.
“He cares for you,” Danai added.
Pasha knew he did. And she knew she shouldn’t love that he did.
“He is no longer a hunter,” she said softly.
“He is a hunter. Just as I am still a huntress. That part of us hasn’t changed.” Danai turned over onto her side and closed her eyes.
He wasn’t just a hunter, just like Danai wasn’t any longer. That was the trouble.
Pasha waited. Then she opened the patio doors, stepped outside, and closed them. The rain was pouring at an angle toward the south, and the shelter hanging over the patios on each of the balconies kept her dry.
The door opened from Zachary’s room, and she turned to see who was coming out on the patio adjoining hers. Zachary? Or Michael?
She wished Michael knew the truth about Danai. It wasn’t fair that Danai led him on without telling him she was a vampire now.
Michael. The breeze caught his blond hair, his blue eyes glancing in her direction for a second. She’d almost hoped it had been Zachary and hoped just as much that it had not been. She couldn’t quash the inner turmoil she was experiencing about the whole sorted mess.
“Pasha,” Michael said in greeting, then shut his door and leaned against the wrought iron barrier and studied the Gulf, the storm, lightning spearing the churned-up waves.
With all her heart she wanted him to know the truth about her sister. He deserved to know. She looked away from him and studied the storm like he was doing, his thoughts most likely focused on the hunt, vampires, meditating some before the hunters went into battle.
“My brother has asked me to kill him,” Michael said, still not looking at her.
She was so surprised Zachary would ask him to do such a thing. How could he think his brother would kill him? Despite not liking what had become of her sister and brother, she would never harm them in any way.
“He has also asked Adonis.”
Her jaw dropped. “He said no, didn’t he?”
Michael smiled a bit. “Adonis wants to live with the family a little longer.”
Of course.
Michael turned to her then, his eyes narrowed. “Has Zachary asked you to kill him?”
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t kill Zachary. He had saved her life and forfeited his own in doing so. He loved her.
She glanced back at the churning water.
“So he has,” Michael said softly.
They stood there in silence for what seemed like forever, and then Michael said, “Don’t do it.”
She scoffed. “What kind of a person do you think I am?”
“Someone who is angry with the world. Angry at what her brother has become. Angry with what Zachary has become. Someone who has reason for hating the vampires who kill for blood. Maybe you believe you would be doing Zachary a kindness. How do I know?”
She sighed. “I would not kill Zachary.”
“Good. Because I might not have time to watch his back where you’re concerned. I’d prefer watching Danai’s.”
Unless he knew what she had become.
“Do…do you really not mind what Adonis is?” she asked. Maybe Michael wouldn’t mind about Danai. Maybe Pasha had him all figured wrong.
“Oh, hell, yeah, I mi
nd. But he would never have been able to save my life had he not been one. He risked his own identity by using his vampiric abilities. I owe him my life and my unending gratitude. Not just for me, but also for what he has done for Rachael and our family by helping her to rid us of the worst vampire in our region, who had claimed her when she was a child.”
But would Michael mind mating a huntress turned?
“Zachary’s always been a great hunter. But I worry that if you’re in danger, he’ll risk his own life to protect yours,” Michael said. “Like he did already.”
“Are you saying he shouldn’t have come?”
“I don’t think he’s ready for his new way of life. And I don’t think he’s ready to let you go. Or maybe you should have stayed with our family instead and he should have come. I think the two of you hunting together might be a disaster.”
“I’m certain each of us will do our part to take down the vampires who killed my family just as we always do,” she said, but she had worried, too, that Zachary may risk his life over her yet again, only this time not live through the ordeal.
And yet wasn’t that what he wanted? What she wanted?
She shook her head and went back inside. Danai was gone. Her heart skipping beats, she hurried back outside and caught Michael before he walked back inside his room. “Danai is gone.”
Michael climbed over the connected balconies and stormed into their room. “Hell.” He glanced back at Pasha. “Where would she have gone?”
“To the house, maybe? I don’t know.”
“Get Zachary and I’ll tell Adonis and Rachael.” Michael headed out of the room and pounded on the door down the hall.
Pasha called Zachary on the phone. “Danai is gone. We’re not sure where she’s gotten off to, but she’s not in the room. I was thinking maybe our home. Crichton took over the house. I’m not sure if he’s actually living there or one of his minions is.”
“I’m ready.”
“What did you say to her?” Adonis asked, entering her and Danai’s room, furious with Pasha.
“Nothing! I was looking at the storm and talking with Michael for a moment on the balcony. And when I returned to the room, she was gone.”
Adonis looked like he didn’t believe her. And that totally pissed her off.
“Zachary, you were to go there first, since the vampires will realize you’re one of them as soon as you bear your teeth at them, but they won’t know that you’re a hunter. If Danai has gone there first, they will kill her, realizing she’s a huntress there to avenge her family,” Adonis said. “But I will have to invite you into our house for you to have access.”
“The vampires will invite me in,” Zachary said, looking ready to do this.
Pasha had known this was the plan they had worked out and then Michael, Rachael, and she would arrive after the fight began inside. Well, and Danai. She was not supposed to be there already.
And that changed everything.
“I will take you with me,” Adonis said to Zachary. “The rest of you drive two of the cars. Park down the road like we planned. Be careful. For all we know, they might have taken over all the homes in that vicinity. One telepathic communication with the others, warning them what we’re up to, and we’ll be sunk.”
The rest of them headed for the vehicles.
“Why would Danai have left us?” Rachael asked, sounding genuinely upset.
Maybe because Danai did not want to tell Michael the truth of what she was. Maybe because she still wanted to die because of what she had become.
Pasha realized that Rachael seemed to care for Danai as if she were her very own sister. Which made Pasha feel even more guilty.
When they finally reached the subdivision, they parked four houses down from her parents’ home. If vampires were in the area, they appeared to be staying out of the bad weather. Maybe because the humans were also.
Everyone was quiet, watching for any sign of trouble as Michael was in the car in front of them.
Pasha didn’t want to wait. She was dying to leave the car and start skewering some bad-ass vampire hearts. But she knew she had to wait for Adonis’s signal that the fight was commencing.
Still, it was killing her to have to wait.
Then she saw Crichton, the murdering bastard, leaving one of her cousin’s homes, two houses farther away. She instantly called Michael. “Crichton’s getting into that black Camaro.”
Her fingers were on the keys in the ignition. She was ready to tear off after him.
“We wait.”
She fought the urge to do what she knew she had to do and knowing that Zachary and her brother and sister could need her.
Then she heard a scream inside the house, and Crichton drove off. Pasha was out of the SUV and headed for the house, not waiting for anyone to give her permission to kick vampire butt.
Adonis entered the house and invited Zachary in. Three vampires immediately appeared before them and questioned them.
“Crichton didn’t say we’d have any more guests arriving late,” the one vampire said.
“How many of us does he having working for him now?” Adonis asked, aggressively, baring his teeth, not about to be cowed by an underling.
“Fifty-six, at last count.”
“Newly turned vampires, sure,” Adonis said, sounding less growly now.
“And fifteen ancients. I didn’t think you meant those,” the vampire said.
“How many are here?”
The vampire glanced around the living room. “I don’t know how many exactly.”
“Right. We’re late. While you’ve been having fun, we’ve been trying to track down the hunters that escaped the battle.”
The vampires’ eyes widened. “Just the two of you? Crichton said there were eight of the Cameron adults that escaped, plus a baby, and twin boys,” one of the vampires said.
Zachary was glancing around at the vampires feasting on willing hosts. Which reminded him of the vampire biting and turning him, and that made him feel all growly inside. He couldn’t believe he could just appear inside a house with Adonis, bare his teeth at growly vampires questioning them as to who had invited them to the bash, and be accepted as one of them. As much as he despised the notion.
But he could see the advantage in being one when he needed to hunt them down.
He focused his attention on the vampire who had spoken and hoped he was right. If he was, some more of Adonis’s family had escaped the killing spree. Thankfully, when they saw Adonis’s fangs, no one seemed to think of him as anything other than just another vampire. No one seemed to realize he was the son of the hunter family who had lived here.
“We’ve eliminated some of the hunter family,” Adonis said.
For now, Zachary was letting Adonis do all the talking, since he’d been a vampire longer and would know better how to play the game.
“Yeah, but just two of you against eight?” one of the other vampires said, his mouth curled up in a smirk as if he believed they weren’t able to handle those odds.
“Yeah, we’re used to going up against big odds.” Adonis slapped Zachary’s shoulder in camaraderie, and he truly felt like a brother to the turned hunter who was more like him than not now. Adonis’s plan was to discover where Crichton was holing up for the time being, other than at the house, though he also intended to clean out his parents’ home. They planned to stay at the hotel and kill any vampires who were working for Crichton.
Zachary had counted fifteen vampires. With Pasha, Michael, Rachael, and him and Adonis fighting, since Danai was missing, they definitely were going up against bigger odds.
He thought it might be better to take a few out, not at the house, but randomly, so they’d have more of an advantage at first. With almost sixty overall to deal with, he knew taking these fifteen or so vampires out would help a little. But it could also alert Crichton hunters had returned, and they couldn’t fight that many vampires that were left all at once.
“Come on, Zachary, let’s see if
we can find an acceptable couple of hosts to feed off.”
The vampires moved out of the way and Adonis led Zachary through the house.
They checked the five bedrooms and four baths, living area, sunroom, kitchen, utility room, and den and found a total of fifteen hosts and seventeen vampires, three definitely newly turned, but no sign of Danai. A lot more than they thought they’d have to deal with.
In the living area, a woman screamed when a vampire had gotten rough with her while taking her blood, and Zachary had to curb the urge to kill the vampire on the spot.
Then one of the vampires in the den off the living room where three hosts were feeding five of the vampires saw Adonis, her eyes widening and she hissed, her fangs unsheathing in an instant. Before Adonis could react, Zachary quickly moved to eliminate her, pulling out his hunter’s sword. He half flew to her location, surprised when he did it. And plunged his sword into her heart, exclaiming, “You killed my favorite host!”
She screamed out in agony and then her body began to shrivel.
Adonis didn’t attack anyone else, the other vampires looking on with surprise and fascination. The hosts looked at the shriveled vampire lying on the floor with apprehension.
Zachary hissed at the wizened remains and put on a good show of being a pissed off vampire. He hadn’t thought he could do this. But he rather liked this charade of being able to infiltrate one of their lairs and then help to determine numbers and their whereabouts so he could inform his people and hopefully they would be in better shape to fight the rogue vampires.
Adonis was smiling, showing off his fangs in a nice display that said he was in total agreement with what Zachary had done if anyone objected.
One of the male vampires rose from one of the couches where he’d been feasting off a female host’s neck and said to Zachary, “You have a hunter’s sword.”
“Yes. Is it not a nice one? It’s a souvenir from the hunter I killed in Dallas,” Zachary said.
“Dallas?”
“I’m from there, originally,” Zachary said.
“How…how did you get into this house?”