Burning Days (The Firsts Book 17)

by C. L. Quinn

  “San’s right. I’m going back out, doing a foot search starting at Ben’s place again.” Plato grabbed his gun and knives and walked out the door without another word.

  Restless, Jack couldn’t stay here.

  “I’m going back out as well. Head back to that dive bar where they ambushed us. There might be someone there that knows something. If you get any intel, if someone finds him, if you need me, text me.”

  “I’ll go with you. Elias, keep us in the loop.” Letting Jack go off on his own was a mistake Sanquinetta knew better than to make. He was hurting, they all were, but Jack blamed himself, his decision-making compromised. She couldn’t trust him to make sound choices. God only knew what he was capable of now.

  “We’ll take my car.”

  “San, you don’t have to…”

  “We can’t both travel well on your bike, plus, the vampire probably knows your ride out there too. Come with me, Jack.”

  Without answering, he opened her passenger door, sat, and slammed the door closed. At least he was attempting to listen to her.

  Getting in the other side, she started the engine and moved down the lane. Jack’s fone chimed and he looked at it. “It’s Ife.”

  “Later, Jack. We have a mission. Your brother is your priority.”

  She was right, so Jack ignored the message and pulled his handgun out to check his ordnance.

  No rest until Ben was home.

  At Donovan’s beach house

  “He isn’t answering me. I don’t know if he will. I do have an idea, though. Cari, come with me to this local restaurant. The hunters apparently gather there to eat sometimes, and we might get lucky. If not, there’s a chance the owner might know where we can find them. We need last meal anyway.”

  Thirty minutes later, when they arrived at The Northern Sun, it was busy enough that several couples were already waiting to be seated. It wasn’t a problem for Ife and Cairine, who breezed into a table near the back. The host seated them and asked if they would like some wine.

  “Yes, please,” Ife responded. “Two bottles of your best. Also…” Ife pushed the compulsion so she would get a quick and honest answer. “A group of men dine here often. Jack, Ben, Plato, Buzzkill. A woman named San? Do you know them?”

  “Sure. They’re regulars.”

  “Do you know where I can find them?”

  “No, I don’t. Quesh probably would. He owns the diner and he knows them really well.”

  “Excellent. Please bring him to me.”

  “He isn’t here. Quesh left a few hours ago and said he might not be back for a few days.”

  “That’s bad timing. Can you get him on the fone?”

  “He said he would be unavailable until he returns. Left me to take care of anything while he’s away.”

  “That won’t help me if you don’t know where I can find these people. Okay, is there anyone you know of, either here or not, that might be able to tell me where I can find Jack Remington or any of his friends?”

  “Yes.” The host paused. “Quesh.”

  Cairine laughed. “You did ask.”

  “Smart ass.” Ife turned back to the host, her voice lowered. “One last question. Do you know any vampire hunters?”

  An expression of confusion crossed the host’s face.

  “In vids, you mean?”

  “Please go get us that wine. You will forget all of my questions.”

  The host gone now, Cairine reached for her fone.

  “Eras wants to know if we’re having a good time. I haven’t the heart to tell him I’m working.”

  “Smashing. Any other ideas, Cari?”

  “Yes. We have dinner and think about it. You two have a good relationship, right? He’ll call you.”

  Ife leaned back to search the room, but saw no familiar faces. She turned back to Cairine. “Hmmm. I guess. Let’s get something nice for second meal. The least I can do is feed you. I understand everything is quite good. Here’s the menu.”

  “Thank you. Gods, I’m smashed. The MoonShine we had at Donovan’s place is hitting me hard.”

  Ife barely heard anything Cari said, she was so worried about Jack and his brother.

  “What if a rogue vampire group has Jack? What if they’re torturing him?”

  “If we can’t find him, we can’t help him, so eat, drink, and we’ll get on the road and try to find the secret base of a rogue of armed men who are looking for…us.”

  “Gods, if they knew we existed, I think the game would be over.”

  “Warped people aren’t daunted by impossible odds. Ife, if these hunters truly believe they are right, there’s likely little we can do to change their minds. Unless we use compulsion.”

  “Let’s not rush to any decision until we meet them and open the conversation. Controlled by compulsion, of course, I’m not suicidal.”

  “We just need to realize that there are serious questions and answers needed, and the chances are high we’ll need to bring in Xavier’s team.”

  “I do. So, let’s eat and get to finding our vampire hunters.”

  An hour before sunrise, tired, ready to finish and get their rest, disappointed, but not surprised, the two first bloods dropped into their beds after closing the house and securing it for safe sleep.

  “This might have a small town feel, but folks don’t really know much about their neighbors here.”

  “No. I think, Cari, that these are the fringe elements that live here because they like privacy and isolation. Most people live in the tower cities now like you. Of course, I suppose even in small towns, vampire hunters keep their occupations secret. Even vampire hunters know that letting the public in on the existence of vampires isn’t a good idea.”

  “I hope. You would think by now, though, humans, supernaturals, vampires, we could all live in peace together.”

  “That’s a Utopia I don’t think will ever happen. You have met the human race, haven’t you? And vampires? Within all races, diversity of personality and ideas won’t ever let us create a place of safety and peace. It would require a global collective of respect and love, and I just can’t see that happening.”

  “I agree, but I think I’m going to hope for it anyway.”

  “I’ll join you in that desire and hope, may I prove to be wrong. Goodnight, my friend. Again, thank you for coming.”

  “Always, Ife. Always. You’re family, and when family calls, we all rush in.”

  “That’s what I call respect and love.”

  At Sanquinetta’s apartment

  “Let me get you something to drink. Something with a healing touch. After today, after this whole fucking mess, we need it.”

  “It won’t help. Nothing will. Not until my brother is safe.”

  “I know, Jack, but we’ve canvased until we can’t stand up anymore. Tomorrow, we’ll be back out, but tonight, sleep.”

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “You’re beyond exhausted, mentally and physically, you’ll sleep. Here. Ninety proof.”

  “Thanks.” Jack downed half the glass of whisky in one gulp, bringing Sanquinetta’s eyebrows up.

  “Lord, buddy, it’s a good thing you’re sleeping on that sofa. Otherwise, I’d never move your drunk-ass body after you pass out.”

  “I don’t even feel it. I can’t imagine life without him. And I don’t believe they haven’t killed him. You should have seen that asshole’s face. He was really pissed we killed his clan. All he wanted was to avenge their deaths, and now he has. He’ll still come after me, but San, he’s going to let me suffer before he does.”

  “He won’t have a chance. Our full team and several beyond this area are searching for him now, and there is no place he can hide. We’ll get him, don’t doubt it. And Ben very well might be alive.”

  “I hope to fuck you’re right. I just…”

  Jack took another long drag from the glass and laid his head back, eyes closed. “I am done with this life if we get him back. And if we don’t, I’ll never stop
looking for him, even if it takes the rest of my life.”

  “Don’t offer me the big words like never and forever. You have a life ahead of you regardless of the outcome here. But you’re right, you need to get out of here if you hope to have one.”

  “Yeah…” he sighed, his body giving in to his fatigue.

  “I said goodbye to Ife last night. She’s been trying to call and text me and I’ve put her on ignore. If I had a normal life, I’d be in her bed right now.”

  She knew he wasn’t aware that his comment stung. Had he been fully alert, she was certain he’d never said that.

  Sanquinetta knew this wasn’t the time. Knew she should let him rest, but her protective instincts pushed her, especially since he’d brought her up.

  “Jack, about Ife. After we met, I went home and did some checking. There’s no vid captures in the U.S. on her. I didn’t have a last name, but I searched for Ife’s in the database in Zambia, and there is exactly nothing that matches her. A beach house in the area you described belongs to a man who, on record, is twelve decades older than her. He was the head of Gualtieri Global, and he disappeared from public view over a hundred years ago. Sound familiar? I’m tellin’ you, Jack, you always trust my instincts. Your girl…there’s something whacked out there.”

  “I can’t think about this now…”

  “All I’m saying is, tread carefully. She’s all hell and gone hot, I admit that, but from the first you told me, things just didn’t seem normal. First, you haven’t fallen in love all the years we’ve known each other…”

  “I haven’t fallen in love…”

  “Second, something about her, I don’t know, a vibe I guess. You know I have uncommon intuition. Her confidence is unreal, her poise and presence supreme, her beauty, well, yeah, beyond human.”

  “San, what the hell? Beyond human?”

  “Yeah, Jack, it is. All I’m saying is, and this isn’t jealousy speaking, be careful if you see her again.”

  “God, just let me go comatose. I can’t take anything else. Give me another glass of whisky and let’s just go lights out.”

  “Good plan. Here, give me your glass.”

  In the farmhouse basement

  It was tearing him apart. Why the fuck didn’t he die?

  Something had entered him, something alien, evil as hell itself, he knew it, to turn him into a monster that his family would have to…fuck, they better!...kill on sight.

  His clothes were gone, and thank God, because he was on fire, inside and out, still shocked that he could live through this. No wonder they were such fucking monsters…look what it took to make them!

  The obnoxious squeaky hinge of the basement door creaked as it swung open and the motherfucking vampire who was force feeding him blood walked in, clean, smiling, pleased.

  “Good evening, my little hunter. How is it going? Feeling the burn?”

  Saul laughed, and that, more than the bloodfest, more than the fact that he was killing him, pissed Ben off. The asshole’s amusement as he turned Ben into the very thing he hated and hunted. The fact that because of this, his own father or brother would likely be forced to put a bullet in his brain and burn his body until he was no more than memory and ash.

  He couldn’t stand giving satisfaction to this monster.

  “You’re actually doing well, Ben. Most conversions are on the floor in a puddle of blood, sweat, and piss by now. They’re barely coherent, and their pain level is so high, if they do speak, they babble and beg. I’m impressed. I hope your family’s prejudice allows them to consider letting you live, but with the narrow apelike minds of so many humans, and I imagine especially hunters, it’s unlikely. That saddens me, because anyone that I make, I treasure. You are going to be an extraordinary vampire. Anyway, you know why I am here. Let me remove my shirt.”

  As he always did, Ben backed away, prepared to fight, prepared to snap Saul’s neck if he could, but when Saul moved in close and slit his wrist, Ben looked at the dripping scarlet and dropped to the ground to pull it to his mouth. For the past two days, it was true…he wanted the blood, needed it!

  Saul sat beside Ben, a hand on his hair, moist from days locked in this basement, and wished he didn’t have to do this. But the message had to be sent, and the hunters had to suffer.

  After they finished, he backed away, well aware that his new make was getting stronger. Tomorrow, he would return him to the hunters, ending the vile choice he’d made to avenge the death of three of his own. Even now, he knew it would be an empty victory.

  As a hunter who believed vampires were all bad, Ben hated the idea of becoming vampire, and Saul hated the idea of sending him back to his death. It really wasn’t fair that his new make had to die for vengeance.

  But life wasn’t fair, was it?

  At Hunter HQ

  “I think I have something.”

  Everyone in the room hurried over behind Stacey’s computer.

  “What, girl?” Elias barked.

  It had been five days since Ben disappeared. Jack hadn’t been back into HQ since then, but Sanquinetta had maniacally gone back and forth between HQ and helping Jack in his desperate attempt to find something, anything, someone, who could lead to him finding Ben or Saul or a lead of any kind. He’d returned to San’s apartment every night with no intel and no chance.

  “Here, on this vid, last night, at that shitty bar where they first met him, could this be the vampire? I mean, he meets the description perfectly, but more than that, he’s holding up a bottle of one of Ben’s favorite beers right at the camera. It has to mean something.”

  Elias studied the security vid from B.B.’s Boozetown.

  “It does. Stacey, thank you. Get Jack in here, San. Immediately.”

  On her fone, Sanquinetta texted Jack, receiving an instant response.

  Thirty minutes away. Will be there in twenty.

  She looked up. “He’s coming.”

  Jack flew to the intel station at H.Q. like Satan was on his ass, and stopped, breathing hard, in front of Stacey and Elias.

  “What? What did you find? Where’s the vid?”

  No one commented on Jack’s heavy stubble, his loose, uncombed hair, and clothes that looked like it was time for their annual wash.

  “What?” he barked again.

  Stacey, momentarily distracted by his appearance, came out of it. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, Jack, is this your rogue vampire?”

  Riveted, his eyes locked on the images in the dark room, he nearly shook when he saw the tall, vampire-handsome, bearded man he’d been seeking for almost a week. The man grinned as he held up the local beer that Ben had ordered in a pitcher that night they’d been ambushed.

  Staring as if it might transport him into the scene, Jack memorized every line of the vampire’s face, every scrap of clothing, the way he moved.

  “Jack, is it him?” Elias finally barked.

  Joy and hope surged in Jack, and he began to shake again. It was a moment before he could respond.

  “It’s him. He wants me to come to the bar. Tonight, when it gets dark.”

  “Not alone.”

  “No, not alone. But the team has to stay back until I speak to him. I won’t be in danger. If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead. So he wants something else. I think Ben’s still alive or this cunt wouldn’t be playing with me like this.”

  For the first time in three days, Jack felt like there was a chance he would see his brother alive, a chance to get him out of this fucking mess, a chance to behead that vampire. And behead him, he would! He needed to feel that monster die forever.

  Jack lifted his eyes to his father’s. “I’ll bring him home.”

  Did he see moisture in Elias Remington’s eyes? Public display of affection for one of his sons?

  I’ll be damned, Jack thought.

  “I’ll get everyone ready. Plato, Bark, come with me.”

  Before she led them away, Sanquinetta laid a hand on Elias’s shoulder and gave him a smile, then turned to Jack and repeat
ed her supportive gesture. “We’ve got him, guys.”

  “I’ll bring him home,” Jack repeated.

  He felt a hand on his arm suddenly, and looked back at his father. “I know you will. I’ve always had faith in you, Jack. That’s why I placed your brother in your care all those years ago. Bring him back, boy.”

  Strange how things happen, Jack thought, as he mounted his bike. He knew his father cared for his sons, but this kind of emotional attachment? That, he hadn’t known.

  Tears welled again.

  Six

  “Ben, how are you feeling?”

  Saul knew he wouldn’t answer. He’d been morose and uncommunicative since the last feeding.

  “It’s over, you know. You’re finished. The pain will be completely gone within the next few days, and you’ll begin your life as a vampire.”

  When the spittle shot toward him, Saul smiled.

  “If you have the courage to try to.”

  “It doesn’t take courage to murder people.”

  “This is what I want you to know. What your hunting groups need to learn. I doubt they ever will because I doubt you’ll believe me, but you are vampire now. Nothing on this earth will change that. I would never change someone against their will, but you and your brother, your hunters, murdered three fine young people.”

  Ben’s head shot up, sneering. “They were going to feed off two innocent men and murder them. Your definition of fine is pretty fucked up.”

  “They were not going to murder them. They were young, and playing with them, they still had a lot to learn, but those men would have come through with erotic memories and nothing more. My makes won’t kill, they are good people who I changed because they wanted to be vampire and understood what that meant. Now I’m going to explain it to you.”

  Moving close, but still outside of Ben’s reach, Saul pulled up a chair. “Vampires are exactly like any person. Some are bad, use the skills and strength to hurt others, and yes, some kill, but so do humans. Most of us are good people who have been altered on a DNA level to become something new, still human, but more than, better than, healthier, stronger, with abilities that I admit are superhuman. If you allow yourself to do so, your life from here on out will be fantastic. I should say, if your hunter friends allow you to.”