Burning Days (The Firsts Book 17)

by C. L. Quinn

  “I’m a vampire hunter.”

  “I know that. Is this because of a vampire?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. We, Ben and me…the hunters became the hunted. We’d taken care of three vampires recently, aware that there were five more in their group. Last week, one of them lured us into an ambush, vid recorded our faces and voices, told us they would spread the word to the entire vampire community, which would then track us down and kill us and anyone we cared about.

  Jack’s smile was hard, bitter. “Vampires don’t like vampire hunters. That’s why I told you I couldn’t be with you. It put you in danger, Ife.”

  “It didn’t, but I’ll explain later. What happened to Ben? Did they kill him?”

  “No. Worse.”

  “Worse?”

  “They, uh…” Jack stopped to shove the wetness away from his eyes with the palm of his hand. “They changed him. Into a vampire.”

  Ife couldn’t help relief that at least they had not killed Jack’s brother. “Oh.”

  Had she found his comment amusing? Stunned, he shot up. “Oh? It means I might have to fucking kill my own brother.”

  Ife lifted as well and slid her hands into his, wondering if he knew how tightly he gripped her.

  “Jack, listen to me. It isn’t a death sentence. You will not kill Ben. Being vampire isn’t evil. He isn’t any more dangerous than you are. Right now, probably less.”

  “Don’t. I know what he is, I know what I’ll be expected to do.”

  So did Ife. She pushed compulsion once more. “Jack, trust me.”

  “Okay. Please sit down.”

  He did so at once.

  “Where is Ben?”

  “We’re keeping him in the basement at headquarters until we…” He stopped, even under compulsion, he was having difficulty telling Ife what she demanded. “Um, yeah, until we do what we have to do.”

  “Is he in danger right now? Will they kill him without you present?”

  “No. Elias and I have agreed to see what happens. So far, Ben seems normal. He isn’t violent. He isn’t trying to hurt anyone. He seems to be extremely hungry, but other than that…he’s Ben.”

  “Jack, he is Ben. He has a long road of adaption ahead, and it will be easier with vampire guidance. You said his sire is gone?”

  Even under compulsion, Jack knew this conversation had taken a strange turn.

  “What do you mean? Sire? Vampire guidance? Ife, what do you know about vampires?”

  Yes, she’d let him know more than she intended to about her own knowledge on this subject, but Ben’s life was in danger now, so there wasn’t any time to screw around with Jack.

  “Sire is the vampire who made Ben. I know a great deal, and again, we’ll talk about that later.”

  “Sire? Made him? His name is Saul, and yes, he took off. He made my brother into a vampire as revenge for what we did to his friends, and left him to us, knowing that we would likely have to kill him.”

  “It wasn’t a kind thing to do, and it isn’t our way. Forget I said that. Now, we need to go and get your brother just in case other hunters get another idea.”

  In the basement at Hunter HQ

  “Damn, Dad, that was fantastic. I feel stronger already.”

  He watched Ben moving around, the chains that held him the heaviest available.

  Stronger. A massive dump of calories fueled his energy level. Interesting. Then did it fuel all the functions of the vampire mind and body? How much in control of his own behavior did Ben have? Would Ben continue to have?

  Elias pulled a chair near to Ben’s manacled limit.

  “Son, sit down, we need to talk.”

  Ben grabbed the last bag of candied nuts Plato had brought him along with the clothes before he pulled a chair as close as possible to his father. “I figured.”

  “Son, I want honest answers, okay? It’s the only way we’re going to understand this.”

  “I get it. Yes, I promise, I’ll be completely honest.”

  “Fine. Okay, Ben, honestly, how do you feel?”

  Elias watched Ben consider the question, then nod.

  “All right. I feel incomparable. Unbeatable. Physically, more powerful than ever. Mentally, sharper than I could have imagined. It’s like I’m looking at the world through different eyes. I’m remade, Dad, I am not the same Ben I was a week ago. I was furious when Saul did this, when he force-fed me to change me, but now. Now I get it. This transcends ordinary humans. I’m superior now to what I ever was as human.”

  Remade. Unbeatable. Transcends human. Superior.

  Terrifying words. Elias’s heart squeezed in fear.

  “And the blood, Ben. Do you crave it?”

  The time it took Ben to answer already told Elias the truth. He did.

  “I said I’d be honest. Yes. In fact, Saul says I need it. My body survives on food and frequent blood feedings.”

  “Can you control that urge?”

  “I don’t know. I doubt it, once the need becomes too strong. If someone is starving, and someone else near them has a plate filled with food, they’re going to try to get it. It’s survival, Dad. You ought to understand that.”

  “I do, Ben. I’m just trying to understand what now drives you. Where your control ends and the blood-need begins.”

  “It’s new to me, too. Saul and his group are gone, so I don’t have anyone to ask. Curious, isn’t it, that we’re killing vampires, yet we don’t really know enough about them.”

  “We know they kill, Ben. That’s all we need to know.”

  “I don’t think so.” Ben stood and stretched.

  The chains around his wrists broke and clanged to the concrete floor. “I think we’re going to, though. Dad, I don’t feel violent or homicidal. I still care about everyone here, I still love you and Jack. In that, I haven’t changed.”

  Elias’s gaze went to the shattered chains, then up to Ben’s face. “Are you sure about that?”

  With all the changes that had happened to his body, Ben couldn’t answer. Would he yet develop the tendency, the unstoppable desire to feed and kill?

  “Honest answer? I don’t know. I tell you what, though. Obviously, you can’t restrain me, but I’ll stay here, I’ll stay put in this ugly, smelly basement until you and the others are satisfied that I’m not a monster. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.”

  “Son, if you start to show…”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m the first to agree. If I start to feel aggressive, or like I want to rip someone’s carotid out, I demand that you end me. Give me mercy, Elias Remington, but only when you know that you have to.”

  “All right, then. Well, on that statement, I’ll leave you. Jack should be here soon, and San said she would be by as well. You know Plato, he’ll be back. Have a good night, Ben.”

  “I will.

  Elias hurried up the stairs without looking back.

  “Well then,” Ben called out. “The watcher becomes the watched.”

  Pitching himself onto the cheap used sofa Elias had supplied, Ben stared at the water-stained ceiling for a long time.

  He wasn’t a monster. Was he?

  Elias slammed the door that led to the small office he kept. What the fuck should they do?

  Wait this out? Give his son a chance to…to what?

  The Remingtons, along with hundreds of other hunters, had been destroying the vampire threat ever since they had been discovered. They were proven killers.

  Vampires drank human blood, and they killed their hosts. There was nothing he knew more. He’d devoted his life to the hunt and protecting his race.

  Chirping interrupted and he looked at his fone.

  Barnaby.

  “Answer. Hi, Barn.”

  “Elias, meet me at the Coffee Cart. There’s something you need to see, and I don’t think it should be on the grounds.”

  Getting out of there, away from this, was the best idea of the night. “I’ll meet you in twenty minutes.”

  Nine
teen minutes later, he walked into the little sandwich and coffee shop often visited by his team. Barnaby waved him over to a table in the back corner of the dining area.

  “Hey, buddy. I got your favorite brew for you.”

  “Thanks. I needed a break from this shit. Ben’s been good, but he broke the chains we used to hold him in the basement.”

  “I believe that. Well, my friend, I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to make you feel better, but you need to see this, Elias.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a vid feed from Massachusetts. Four weeks ago, a hunter got captured and changed by a particularly nasty clan. It’ll be hard for you to see, but you have to. You are a man who understands duty and always does the right thing. Watch.”

  Elias let his eyes drop to the tablet Barnaby set on the table.

  “Here, use the earbuds. No one else needs to see or hear this.”

  Once he slid the earbuds in, they drowned out everyone else’s conversations around them. Barnaby pushed the button to begin the vid.

  At first, the screen held the image of a solitary figure, a man at the center of the screen, shadowed, until the camera zoomed closer. Elias didn’t recognize him, but he saw that he was large like Ben was now and chained in much the same way he had been.

  His eyes were bloodshot, savage, his manner maniacally agitated, rocking back and forth on his bare feet.

  “Do it! Do it! Do it! I can feel it scratching at me! If you don’t, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill every fucking one of you! My wife, my daughter, I want to taste them worst of all. You gotta do this, or I will murder everyone I know and love before I go on to strangers. It’s your duty! You are fucking hunters! Kill me! Kill me!”

  Barnaby reached for the tablet and closed it as Elias pulled the earbuds out and threw them on the table.

  “The vid ends there. The hunters in his group killed and smoked him within the hour. The thing is, El, this vampirezed hunter was right. If they had waited, he might have torn them all to pieces. We all know how strong they are.”

  “You don’t think I know that, Bar?”

  “Well, thank the heavens. Listen, you’ve known me since we were baby hunters together. We’ve always had each other’s backs. I still do, even in this godawful situation. Bad things happen. I’m not telling you to kill your son…I’m telling you to kill the thing he will become.”

  Elias couldn’t forget the sight of the converted hunter begging to be mercied. Was he making a mistake by asking everyone to accept the risk of letting Ben live? If this was someone else’s son, would he have given the order? The answer was clear in his mind. He would do what he had to do. He nodded to Barnaby.

  “Will you send a copy of that vid to my fone?”

  “Of course. Let me do what I offered to do. Let me take care of this so that neither you or Jack has to.”

  “I will consider it.”

  “Jack is going to be the problem, isn’t he?”

  “He is. We may need to leave him out of the decision.”

  “I thought so. Just call me when you’re ready. You shouldn’t do this alone.”

  Nodding, Elias stood, almost frozen where he couldn’t move, grief climbing up him like a suffocating vine. Finally, he walked from the dining room, head high.

  Back at HQ, Elias move down the stairway into the basement one halting step at a time.

  Ben stood as he watched his father move through the entrance.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hey.” His eyes moved over Ben’s unshackled legs.

  “Oh, yeah, I got rid of all of those chains. Wasn’t any reason, they can’t hold me. Nothing can. I can open any lock, and I can make you do anything I want with compulsion. So you might as well understand that I’m your God now.”

  Elias’s eyes shot to Ben’s, shocked.

  Laughing, Ben moved closer. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, have a sense of humor. I’m not going to use compulsion on anyone. I don’t even know how to do it. Yet.”

  But he would. Soon, Ben would be able to control every one of the hunters. Any one he wanted.

  It was too dangerous. “Ben, how’s the blood thing going? Still have it under control.”

  “I have it under control, but I will have to feed soon. Someone needs to volunteer to let me feed. If not, I really don’t know how my body will react.”

  But Elias did. Barnaby was right. He was letting his emotion make a bad call. Letting himself save someone who was already beyond saving. And Ben wouldn’t want to become a killing monster.

  The training kept people alive. Step outside of it, and people die. He couldn’t be responsible for innocent deaths if he let his son live because he loved him. It was true, if it were anyone else other than one of his sons, he would have done what had to be done.

  “I’ll check into that. Has Jack been in?”

  “Not yet. I’m surprised at that. You think he’s okay with me? Maybe you should check on him.”

  “I’ll do that. Ben, you’ll do what you promised, you’ll stay quarantined down here until we agree you can come up.”

  “I promise.”

  “Well, I’ll go check on Jack and see if I can find you a blood donor.”

  Once he cleared the building, Elias dialed Barnaby.

  “Come. Bring your guys. We need to do it and be gone before Jack arrives.”

  Seven

  “Thank you for coming.”

  “Always. I am here for whatever you need. We’re in this together.”

  Ife led Cairine down to the beach where Jack waited, compelled. He looked up as Ife and another woman equally as stunning stopped in front of him.

  “Jack, this is my friend, Cari. She’s come to help us protect Ben.”

  Compelled, confused, Jack nodded, doing the best he could to smile, but he could feel the edge of his mouth tug downward, so he knew he failed. He just didn’t know what was going on.

  Ife turned to the gorgeous redhead.

  “Cari, I want to bring Jack into our confidence, without interference from compulsion. I may need your help to convince him of our nature and that we are only here to help him and his brother. I expect it to be a great challenge.”

  “I expect you’re right. You realize you go against the training of a lifetime. How do you want to proceed?”

  “Simply, I think. The truth, uncloaked, exhibited so he’ll understand what we are.”

  “Whenever you are ready.”

  “Thank you. After we make sure Ben is safe, I want us to all sit down and unwind the world Jack and he have been raised to believe.”

  “Then let’s go get his brother.”

  “It should be easy. Jack will introduce us to the other hunters as friends, we’ll smile, say hi, and freeze them all. Once that’s done, we’ll get Ben, purge memories, and release them. We’ll bring Ben and Jack back to the beach house and tell them both who and what we are. Ben has a new life to build.”

  “Indeed he does. I have my lift-car, it will be quickest.”

  Jack stood and tried to assert himself. “What is going on? I don’t feel right. Ife, did you give me something in that wine?”

  “No. Jack, this will all make perfect sense to you soon. Right now, we need to go get Ben. He’s in danger as long as he’s with your hunting group. You told me you can’t trust that someone might try to kill him now that he’s vampire.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Then our priority is to get him out of hunter’s hands. You will guide us to your headquarters, lead us in to where Ben is being held, and if anyone sees us, just introduce us as friends. You must act normal, Jack, so that this goes well. And Jack, you’ll see things that will seem odd, but don’t let them bother you. I promise, we’ll explain everything later.”

  “Okay.”

  Ife took Jack’s hand and looked at Cairine. “Let’s do this. Let’s go bust a vampire out of hunter jail.”

  At Hunter HQ

  “Do you want to stay here? Elias, you don’t want to see th
is.”

  “No. Even though he knows you, Barnaby, if you go down there without me, he’ll know something is wrong immediately and he’ll escape. I have to lead you there, but you’ll want to do it fast. If he suspects anything, it’s over.”

  “I get that, you know I do. So does my team.”

  He was going to throw up. Or pass out. As Elias walked into headquarters, and led the three men down the stairs, he knew he’d never be okay again. Not after doing this, even if it was critically necessary. A man didn’t survive this type of betrayal. He didn’t survive being responsible for choosing a death sentence for his son.

  Forcing a smile, he stepped off the last step to look up at Ben. Standing at the back of the basement room, Ben was scrolling through programs on the vidscreen. He looked up to see Elias, smiled, then his eyes went to Barnaby, who they could see he recognized. Barnaby smiled and as Ben set the control dot on top of the vidscreen, he started forward to greet him.

  Barnaby and the two men beside him opened fire, Barnaby going for the center of mass in Ben’s chest, his crew going for the head. Seconds later, the big new vampire lay on the concrete, dead.

  Elias couldn’t stop himself, he moved close to drop down and pull Ben’s head into his lap, oozing blood be damned. This was his boy. The child he’d rescued and brought here to share in the family mission.

  “I love you, son. Be at peace. Know that I did this for you,” he whispered.

  Someone came up behind him.

  “El, we need to get out of here. If Jack comes, he’ll stop us.”

  “Yes, I realize that, Bar, but I needed to say goodbye.”

  After moving his hand across Ben’s face and into his hair, Elias nodded. “All right. Take him.”

  Cairine brought her car in for a smooth landing right in front of HQ, in spite of a dense copse of trees nearby.

  Cutting off the engine, she smiled. “I’m that good.”

  “I know you are. Jack, lead us in.”