“What time are we meeting Nevaeh?” Dylan asked as he slid down further in the bed.
“They will be here around six. We are supposed to meet them at the border of the compound then, so we need to leave here about five thirty.”
“Then I think it’s time we get some rest,” Dylan reached out and flicked the lamp next to his bed off and pulled the hotel quilt over his shoulders. “Goodnight, Karma. Hopefully tomorrow this will all be over, and we can get to know each other a little better.”
Karma didn’t say anything, but she silently hoped for a future that had Dylan in it. She drifted off to sleep with thoughts of him in her head.
A little while later, Karma woke with a start and listened intently for whatever woke her up. Dylan was snoring softly in the bed next to her, but that was a calming sound, not a startling one. She glanced at the clock between their beds and saw it was just after two and she was just about to lay back down, writing the noise off as her imagination, when she heard it again. There was a scratching sound at the window, like a sharp fingernail running up and down the glass. Before she could wake Dylan, the glass shattered and three vampire stepped through. Two she didn’t know, but the one in the middle she knew quite well.
“Karma, how lovely to see you again. What brings you and your friend here?” Vincent asked as he looked pointedly at Dylan, who was awake and standing beside Karma now.
“How did you find me?” Karma asked, ignoring his question.
“I knew you were here when you got within five miles of the compound. I can sense you just like you can sense me. We share blood, my dearest daughter, and we are linked. Now, tell me, why you are here? Do you really think you will be able to deal with me and my army alone? Two Halflings will never be a match against me and my army.”
“We’re more of a threat than you think we will be,” Karma snapped out and stepped between Dylan and her father.
“Oh, I see why you have him with you now. Going to protect him as well as you protected your Mother and brothers? Mommy’s screams were quite comical as I drained her blood. I made sure I caused as much pain as possible for her. Want me to tell you what she said with her last breath? She said, ‘Karma will make you pay for this.’. Now my question, Karma, is if you’re going to make me pay like she said you would?”
“You son of a bitch!” Karma yelled and lunged for Vincent. She had him by the throat within seconds, but he was much stronger than her and swatted her away like a fly. She crashed into the wall across the room and didn’t move.
“Stupid child. Do you really think you’re strong enough to hurt me?” Vincent laughed as Karma lay on the floor against the wall. Dylan rushed toward Vincent, but never made it because the other two vampire attacked at once and Dylan was forced to focus his attention on them. “Karma, all you have to do is agree to join me and I will let your lover live. If not, he will die. Maybe not tonight, but soon.”
“Don’t, Karma,” Dylan yelled as he snapped the neck of one of the vampire attacking him. When he staked the other one Vincent calmly walked out of the broken window and fled into the night.
Karma lay against the wall, still not moving, when Dylan finished off the other vampire and rushed to her side.
“Karma, are you okay?”
“I think my back is broken,” she said through gritted teeth. “Can you help me to the bed? I’ll be fine in a couple of hours.”
Dylan picked her up gingerly and placed her on the bed. When he went to step away, she brushed his hand with hers. “Will you lay with me, please?”
Without saying a word, Dylan crawled onto the bed beside her and laid his hand on her stomach. When he started rubbing her stomach, she whimpered a little. “Karma, are you okay?”
“Yeah. It just hurts. Have you ever had a broken bone?”
“I fell out of a tree when I was eleven, and broke my arm. I didn’t know what I was until that point. My Mom did, but I never questioned anything about myself. I just thought I was different. I liked my steak and hamburger rare, but that was the only vampire characteristic I displayed until that day.”
“Remember the pain you felt when your bones meshed back together?” When he nodded, she continued, “well, imagine that pain in the center of your back.”
“I can’t even imagine what it feels like,” he said as he continued to draw small circles on her stomach. “I wish it were me and not you who was hurt.”
“Don’t say that. I’ll be fine in a little while, then we can get out of here. I need to call Nevaeh and let her know what happened.”
“I’ll get your phone,” Dylan started to move off the bed, but she stopped him.
“No. It can wait. Just stay with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her.
“Thank you,” she murmured softly, and they lay there, him drawing circles on her stomach, talking about nothing, for the next two hours.
Chapter Thirteen
The sun was just coming up when Karma felt the last bones in her back knit back together. She moved a little and Dylan’s hand stilled on her stomach.
“You okay?” He asked, concern evident in his voice.
“Yeah. The last bones just knitted back together.”
“Thank goodness,” he said and started rubbing her stomach again. “I’m glad you’re out of pain.”
“We need to get out of here before people start waking up and find this mess. Good thing I checked us in with a fake ID.”
“Fake ID?” Dylan asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I have several. Nevaeh makes them for all the Huntresses.”
“Interesting,” Dylan stopped rubbing her stomach and leaned closer to her.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered just before his lips locked on hers. His kiss told her things he couldn’t put into words, and she returned it just a fiercely. After a couple minutes Dylan pulled away and ran a finger down her cheek. “You scared the hell out of me. I am so glad you’re okay.”
“Dylan, what is this between us? What is this connection we have?”
“I have no idea, but after we destroy your Father and his army, we will explore it and see what happens.”
“Shit. We need to go. Nevaeh will be here in less than thirty minutes and, if my feelings are correct, Vincent is gone.”
“We will find him again,” Dylan promised as he stood up and held a hand out to her.
She took his hand and let him help her up. When she was on her feet, she did a couple of stretches and when nothing hurt, she straightened up and smiled. “We will, and this time he will not catch us off guard.”
“Karma, he will never hurt you again. Not as long as I live anyway,” Dylan vowed. “Now, we have to go before this disaster is found,” he grabbed their bags and kissed her forehead.
“Yeah, we need to get to the clearing we’re supposed to meet Nevaeh and the Huntresses at anyway,” Karma started out the door when something on the floor beside the window caught her attention. She bent down and picked up a small vial with a blue liquid in it. “Dylan, look at this. I think Vincent dropped it earlier, but I have no idea what it is.”
“Let’s figure that out later. Look,” he pointed to the parking lot where two police cars had pulled in.
“We have to go,” he said, and they both ran at vampire speed to their bikes parked at the other end of the parking lot from the cops.
They waited for the cops to go into the lobby before flipping both keys to neutral and pushing them to the road.
****
“Shit. I knew they’d be gone, but seeing the compound empty makes it real,” Karma said after she stopped her bike in the clearing. “Call Harrison and have him take Jackson into hiding. Vincent may figure out he told us everything, and if that happens, Jackson is in danger.”
“I’ll call now. You need to talk to them,” he said and pointed to the vans coming down the road.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Karma said dryly as she started walking toward where Nevaeh stopped the first
van.
“Karma, what’s going on? Where are all the vampire we’re supposed to be fighting?” Nevaeh asked as soon as she stepped out of the van.
“We have a problem. Vincent found me earlier this morning. He crashed through the window of the hotel Dylan and I were staying at and broke my back. While I was healing, he apparently moved out, and took his newbies with him. I’m sorry I didn’t call, but I was incapacitated for a couple of hours while I healed. He snapped my back in several places.”
“Are you alright? Have you healed completely?” Nevaeh asked, concern filling her words.
“I’ve healed. Dylan stayed with me while I was healing and made sure I was alright.” Karma looked back to where Dylan was standing and smiled. “There is something I want to show you. I think Vincent dropped this while he was in the room with us earlier. I have no idea what it is, but I was thinking you may want to take it back to the lab and analyze it. I’m sure he dropped it intentionally because Vincent doesn’t do anything by accident.”
“I have to agree with you there. Everything he does has a purpose behind it. I’ll send it back with Nikki and have her run an analysis on it when she gets back to the lab. I think I’m sending all but a few back to the warehouse. I know other hunter organizations across the country and if we need help, I can contact whomever is closest to our location. I’m not leaving you alone again.”
“She’s not alone,” Dylan said as he walked up beside Karma and took her hand.
“Yeah, cause you did a hell of a job keeping her safe earlier.”
“That isn’t fair, Nevaeh. Dylan was in hand to hand with the two vampire Vincent brought with him. I’m certain he brought them because he knew I wasn’t alone.”
“It’s okay, Karma. I did fail to protect you earlier. If I had been more alert, I would have heard the scratching on the window and been awake when they busted through.”
“What difference would that have made? We were both unarmed and unable to take on Vincent,” Karma told them all. “I let my guard down, and it almost got us both killed.”
“But it didn’t. You’re both alive and I intend to keep you that way. Karma, maybe you should wait until you hit maturity before you try to hunt down Vincent again. You’ll be stronger and faster after, and you will stand a better chance against him,” Nevaeh suggested.
“That could be years,” she said in frustration.
“Or days. You’ll be eighteen in about two weeks. Who knows what will happen then?”
“Yeah, who knows?” Karma said. She was apprehensive about meeting up with Vincent again, but she knew if she didn’t, she would regret it for the rest of her life. “For now though, I say we use today for training and see where tomorrow leads us.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan. I would love to train with these fine ladies,” Dylan said with a cocky grin.
“Sounds great,” Nevaeh said and turned to her warriors. “Nikki, I want you to analyze this and get me the results as soon possible. I’m sending everyone except a few back to the warehouse. We have a mission to finish, and we cannot fail. If we do, we’re possibly all goners.”
As Nevaeh told her Huntresses what was going on, Karma and Dylan walked back to their bikes. “Dylan, please don’t think you failed me. I should have been able to control my temper. If I don’t learn how, then I’m never going to be able to defeat Vincent.”
“I can help you with that,” Dylan offered, and Karma smiled.
“I would love for you to help me with that.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Karma, we need to talk,” Nevaeh said when she walked up to where Karma and Dylan were sparing.
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“That vial you found contains a serum that will bring the human inhabitants of Earth to their knees. It’s a mind control serum, and if someone drinks it, even just a few drops, a vampire or Halfling will be able to control their every movement. It isn’t perfected yet, but it is strong enough that the person can be controlled for several days. It looks like Vincent has bigger plans than just creating a vampire army. It seems like he’s wanting the vampire to control the world.”
“We have to stop him. If he gets this serum perfected, the world won’t be safe for humans or vampire. He will want control, and he will kill anyone who stands in his way. Isn’t there some sort of vampire government? Vampire who are stronger than him who can stop him?” Karma asked. She should know this, but the subject just never came up.
“There is a group of elder vampire who call themselves The Senate and they try to govern the vampire community, but there are only eight of them. They are the oldest, and most powerful vampire I have ever heard of.”
“How do you know about them?” Dylan asked suspiciously. He didn’t really trust Nevaeh, but he knew Karma did and he trusted her judgement.
“Demetri, one of the elders, has hired us in the past to take out rogue vampire. We need to get a meeting with him.”
“I agree, and the sooner the better,” Karma said as she grasped Dylan’s hand. She knew he didn’t trust Nevaeh and the Huntresses, but she did. They had to stop Vincent, and they had to do it quickly.
“I’ll send a message to him right now. It’ll probably take a couple of days to get a meeting with him, but I will let them know that it’s urgent.”
When Nevaeh walked away Karma turned to Dylan. “I know you don’t trust her, but she really is the only one who can help us. She’s smart and fearless and cunning, but she’s also loyal to her friends. She’s the one who helped me the most when my family was murdered. Please trust me.”
“Karma, I do trust you. I trust you with my life, and if you say she can be trusted then I will do my best to trust her. It just seems like she’s helping you because she wants something.”
“She wants me to join the Huntresses, but she knows that isn’t what I want anymore. I was going to train and work with them for a while after graduation, but that all changed when my family was murdered. Now, after this, all I want is to start over. I want a quiet life somewhere.”
“Come home with me. After this is all over, come back home with me. Let’s see where this thing between us goes.”
“I’ll go home with you, Dylan. We will see what happens after that.”
A wide smile crossed Dylan’s face as he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips. “That’s all I want.”
The moment was broken when Nevaeh walked back to them. “You have a meeting with Demetri the day after tomorrow in New Mexico. That’s about a nineteen-hour drive from here so we better get on the road.”
“Sounds good. Let’s move out,” Karma responded and started gathering her gear.
Once they had everything loaded, Karma and Dylan hopped on their bikes and started the long journey to New Mexico.
****
Two days later Karma, Dylan and Nevaeh walked into an office building in Santa Fe New Mexico. Karma hated cities, so she was anxious to get this over with and head back to where there were open fields and fewer people.
“I hate cities,” Karma said softly, and Dylan grinned.
“Me too,” he agreed.
“You two are perfect for each other,” Nevaeh told them. “Dylan, I know we got off on the wrong foot, and that was my fault. I did not like the fact that Karma allowed you to go with her, but never asked me to go. After spending the past week with you, seeing you two together, I feel the need to apologize for how I reacted. You two are good together, and I can see why she wanted you with her.”
“He would have come even if I didn’t ask him,” Karma said softly. “He wasn’t going to let me come alone.”
“I’m tenacious like that,” Dylan said and grinned when Karma cut her eyes over at him.
“More like bull-headed,” she murmured, causing both Dylan and Nevaeh to chuckle.
“Demetri will see you now,” the receptionist told them with a smile. She was human, and Karma wondered if she knew she worked for one of the oldest vampire in existence.
“Nevaeh, how wonderful to see you again,” Demetri rose from his desk as they walked in.
Karma wasn’t sure what to expect, but it sure wasn’t the man standing before her. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with dark blond hair and sparkling green eyes. His smile was broad, and his teeth were straight and brilliantly white.
“Demetri, I would like you to meet Karma Black and Dylan Collins. They’re the Halflings I told you about.”
“Welcome, young ones. I know both of your Fathers and I have to say, what Vincent is doing doesn’t surprise me. He always has been a loose cannon.”
“Then why haven’t you stopped him before now?”
“We’ve had no cause to stop him. He wasn’t doing anything to endanger or expose our race, until now. Now we must stop him.”
“He murdered my entire family almost seven weeks ago, and you didn’t see that as a problem?” Karma was furious.
“Calm yourself, child. We did not know about that until Nevaeh told us of it two days ago. Since that time, we have been tracking Vincent. We know where he is, and we will be sending a team in to eliminate the threat. If you would like to be on that team, I can arrange it.”
“I’d be there whether you said I could be or not. I’m going to be the one to bring him down.” Karma’s eyes burned with hatred for the man who helped give her life. “He took everything from me, and for that, he will die by my hand.”
“Do you think you can bring him down? You haven’t even reached maturity yet,” Demetri asked with a tilt of his head. “Although, if my suspicions are correct, you’ll be there any day now.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Dylan asked with a note of skepticism in his voice.
“Her scent. It’s more vampire than human, which leads me to believe she’s almost to maturity. Tell me, child, how old are you?”
“Seventeen, I’ll be eighteen tomorrow. Why?”
“You’re the one.” Demetri sank into his chair.
“The one? What one?” Nevaeh asked in confusion before Karma could.
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