by C. L. Quinn
Chuckling, Kwano scanned the remnants of the buffet table. “I happen to agree with you.”
“Huh. Kwano, I’d like to rejoin the team if you will have me.”
Snagging a lemon cookie, Kwano nipped off a piece.
“That’s good. A man like you is what we need. We would be honored to accept you. Now, with two first bloods, the team will be complete. Saul, welcome back.”
After they shook on the decision, Kwano glanced at him as he walked away. “The rest of the team would have kicked my ass if I’d said no.”
Smiling, Saul nodded. “We worked well together. I missed them.”
“They missed you too. They talk about you. A lot.”
That surprised Saul, that they had remembered him after he was gone. Had he found family here in this unlikely place? It was true that when he’d finished the conversion, as kind and wonderful as everyone had been in France, he’d wanted to come back here, wanted to come home.
He didn’t know what to say. Suddenly, he wished the others were here now. Jack, with his constant grin, sexy and brilliant Sanquinetta, sweet and incredibly talented Evaleigh. Even the missing member of their team, Plato, who he hoped was nearly finished healing after devastating injury in Louisiana.
“Thank you, Kwano, for welcoming me. I guess we’d better get to it, then. There’s a lot of work to do.”
“There is. As I said, it’s much like what you did before. Is this person essentially honest? Capable of empathy? Showing empathy? Do they accept that their powers come with responsibility and respect? Particularly for humans?”
Pleased, he followed Kwano’s instructions on where to start.
First, they released all the humans. One at a time, they used compulsion to find out each person’s history, how they were involved with the vampires, the length of time, decide the best way to untangle their attachment and knowledge to least interfere with their lives.
Then, Saul and Kwano purged their memories of any knowledge or time spent with vampires.
“Twenty two humans. Wow. That’s enough for tonight. We’ll put the vampires to sleep and get our own rest. Tomorrow night, we begin on this strange little nest.”
“I’m on with that. Before we turn in, someone might as well enjoy that abandoned buffet. It might as well be us.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
With the humans gone, the basement half cleared out, the first bloods sent the remaining vampires, nineteen in all, to a corner where multiple cots and mattresses had been placed. With the command to sleep until awakened, Saul and Kwano left them to do some damage to the generous buffet tables. Before he did, Saul paused to stare at Barringer, torn between hitting him and waking him to demand how he thought his behavior was acceptable. He did neither as he joined his new team member and grabbed a large plate.
Kwano already held a high-stacked plate.
“The food is quite different here in the U.S., but I’ve grown accustomed to it. Greater variety than at home in Zambia.”
“This country has always been a melting pot of cultures, and that extends to food. What it lacks in elegance, it does indeed make up for in its diverse flavors, textures, and varieties.”
“Ah, local beer. Jack introduced me to it right after Xavier assigned me to the team full time. I have grown addicted to the flavor.”
“I enjoy it too.”
Nearly an hour later, highly satiated with food and alcohol, Kwano crashed on one of the mattresses near the other vampires.
Saul found himself wandering over to where they had held Dani. Her scent lingered on the mattress that lay beside the chair he’d first seen her seated on. Extreme exhaustion driven by approaching daylight drove him to lie full-out on it, his feet suspended over the edge. He fell asleep with Dani’s scent filling his nose and mind. The image of her standing in front of him, those beautiful breasts thrust forward, defying her fate, her soft skin on his fingers, was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness.
Two
Thanking her team for the rescue, Dani had assured them she was okay, entered Jack’s house, which she had stayed in since she arrived in Oregon, headed to his big bed, and taken a Val-X tablet. She fell asleep instantly.
The sleep aid never worked completely for her overactive mind so she woke three hours later as dawn approached and walked out to the balcony to watch vermillion reflect off clouds, her favorite color at sunrise. Leaning against the railing as far out as she dared, she breathed in fresh morning air and lifted a hand to the changing sky.
Disappointed in her ragged, uneven respiration, she sighed, and, as she often did when stressed, she talked to herself.
“I’m all right,” she whispered. “Unmolested and still alive. It’s a win.”
The vampires in that nest who knew she was a hunter would no longer be a threat when the first bloods finished with them. Kwano, she fully trusted. Saul, her team had told her, and even more so from what her own talent had revealed to her, deserved her trust as well. They would protect her and the hunters she loved. The bad guys would just disappear into shadows.
Good. The motherfuckers were irrelevant now. How tough would it be to know they were still out there and could abduct her again?
Smiling, Dani lifted the vanilla infused chocolate she’d made earlier and took a sip, realizing that her normally steady hands were shaking. Just a little.
“I’m okay,” she repeated aloud. “Shaken, but not stirred.”
When she’d joined this team months ago, she’d told Evaleigh that she had fought a volcano to save the earth.
“I can handle some randy vampires.”
But she couldn’t. If Saul hadn’t found her, things were going to get truly ugly. She would have been raped, multiple times, and…
“Stop it. You’re home and no one’s hurt.”
Sanquinetta had told her not to come in to HQ today.
“Let yourself deal with this. They didn’t injure you, but it might not have gone that way, and that’s mentally unsettling. Deal with this, come in when you’re ready.”
She was ready. After this mug of hot chocolate. After a stack of maple syrup smothered pancakes. After she dealt with the thought of seeing Saul again.
“What a way to meet. Compelled to stand there while he undressed me. Girl, you really have a knack for odd relationships.”
Because of the Val-X tablet, she’d crashed right away hours earlier, but when she’d awakened this morning, it had been in a half-aware state. As she’d opened her eyes, she had seen Saul standing in front of her, felt his hand on her breast, watched his pupils dilate and his pants fill, part of her unafraid and part wanting him to continue.
“You bizarre little heathen.”
Finally giggling about the situation, because her emotions were so raw and crazy right now, it seemed the sane thing to do, Dani dropped onto a slingback lounge chair.
No, she wouldn’t let this bind her up. She wouldn’t give her power away by letting these assholes make her afraid.
“Off to work, then.”
Pushing up, she entered the galley and went to the FP unit. “Pancakes, three. Maple syrup, ten ounces.”
Even after all these years, Dani still found these food printers to be the best tech ever created. Nearly anything you wanted, almost right away. Damn. Life was sweet.
Which is why she was pinging a little this morning. Near misses with death made the idea of losing a treasured life too real. San had been right, she did need to deal with this, and the way she was going to do it was to get right back to work. Not let it derail her from living just as she wanted to do.
Her eyes lingered on the stack of syrup-buried pancakes. “First, though…”
Taking the plate out onto the balcony, Dani carefully set up a nice place setting, and facing the brightening skyline, she enjoyed every bite of her over-sweet pancakes. One thing she’d learned from her time living with the first bloods was an intense appreciation for the joy of food. She’d learned to
savor flavors, to slow down and truly taste her food. It was funny how cathartic these simple moments of appreciation and immersion in pleasure were. It even helped to calm her libido at the idea of seeing the sexy vampire again.
“You’ll handle the situation perfectly, like you always do. He’s just a vampire.”
There. She’d dealt with him. It was as simple as it had to be. He might be working with them again, which made him off limits.
Her eyes on the magnificent plate of sweet gooiness, she picked up her fork and put her attention where it needed to be.
Once finished, dishes stowed in the autowash, dressed carefully in her proper gear, she left the house, ready to work.
At Hunter HQ
“Aw, shit!’
Jack tossed his newest stun gun onto a tabletop with more force than he intended. It didn’t matter, the thing didn’t work.
“We don’t have the funds to keep dealing with these sub-standard weapons.”
“Don’t worry about it. Xavier has open accounts for us. We never have to worry about money.”
Shooting his eyes to Sanquinetta, currently working on a plate filled with icing covered donuts, Jack shook his head.
“We never have to worry about money. It’s taking me some time to adjust to having a wealthy benefactor.”
Snorting, Sanquinetta reached for another weapon to check its performance. “I’d think you’d be used to having anything you want anytime you want by now. Your mate is daughter of the vampire leader in Africa.”
“True, but Ife isn’t given to excess. We have all we need in Brazil, but anything extra goes to the locals. She’s a beautifully generous soul.”
“Hush. You know I’m still jealous, don’t you?”
“You’ve adjusted to it, little brat. I say that with love. Destiny and fate excelled when they brought Ife to me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna puke.” Sanquinetta fired the shock pellet gun at the effigy and watched it barely singe the thing. Damn. Honestly, she supported Jack and Ife’s loving relationship entirely. Not really jealous anymore, she admitted that they showed her what she wanted in her own life. A partner and lover to travel this path with. Before these first bloods came into their lives, that could never happen.
Now…perhaps?
“Ugh. Fate. Destiny. Too big of concepts for this small mind. Shall we order some new weapons?”
Nodding, Jack joined Sanquinetta at one of their large computer displays as she pulled up a site that sold state-of-the-art weaponry.
A low screech drew their attention to the office entrance as Dani hurried through. Huge eyes swept the room and found the two hunters seated at one of the far desks.
Both Sanquinetta and Jack watched as she approached, both assessing her.
Head tilted, Dani’s eyes swept back and forth between them. “Stop looking at me like I’m an alien. I’m here to do my job. So what are we working on today?”
Hesitating, Jack sent a glance to Sanquinetta, who shrugged, both aware this might be sensitive, yet both aware that Dani was a powerful, headstrong woman. It might be a mistake to try to talk her out of something she insisted she wanted to do.
Jack took point. “Right now, we’re just checking out our arsenal. Dani…” He couldn’t help himself, he considered himself protector to these women he loved.
He stood. “You shouldn’t be here today. You should be resting and…”
“Jack. San. If either of you had been abducted and held captive, neither one of you would have taken ‘time’ out.”
Exchanging glances again, Jack and Sanquinetta had to acknowledge that was true.
“You aren’t wrong, but since…”
“End of discussion. I’m good. Really. Where are the others?”
Watching Dani scan the empty desks, almost nervously, which wasn’t her norm, Jack figured she’d be embarrassed if she knew he and San noticed it.
“Kwano and Saul are still working the site. Eva flew out to pick up supplies for the office and to drop Saul’s pack at my place. He’ll be staying with me for a while.”
“Ah. Okay. So. How can I help?”
Sanquinetta stood and walked over to the counter where an FP unit sat. “Three coffees, spiced, hot.”
After taking a sip that generated a smile, she handed one to Jack, then Dani, her concerned eyes on Dani’s.
“When we finish ordering new weapons and ordnance, we’re going to prepare specs on our trip to L.A. Remember that small hunter’s team we found there? It’s grown. Latest information says they’ve added six more hunters so they can aggressively eliminate the threat. We’re going in to purge next week. Because of its size, we’ll need the whole team. You can begin intel and set up the trip if you want.”
Obvious at once that Dani was relieved to have no more conversation about her presence, mirroring her friend, she sipped the coffee and took a seat at Evaleigh’s empty computer station.
“Perfect. Thanks, I’ll have it ready in no time.”
Pulling up the location of the hunting team they would engage soon, Dani began a file of names and addresses. Pausing, she turned to Sanquinetta. “San, is, uh, Saul going to be there?”
“Yes, include him. He’s rejoining our team. With two first bloods, things will go much quicker and smoother.”
“All right. Thanks.” Dani made sure she sounded detached and casual. No reason to let anyone know that he left her unsettled. Probably because she found it embarrassing to be rescued by someone. As a child of destiny chosen to protect the earth, it felt humiliating to be in a situation where a mere vampire had been able to overcome her and abduct her. That Saul had come in to rescue her stung.
Then there was the fact that he’d been forced to undress her to protect her. That his warm fingers had slid against her skin…and the fact that she’d liked it. Gods! Insult to injury!
Embarrassing on both counts!
Now that she knew he was joining their hunting party, she would have to deal with him. There was no reason for this sensitivity; they had both merely done what they had to in order to survive the dangerous situation. They’d done their jobs.
Focusing, Dani keyed in the next subject to prepare a file on him. She’d always been good at adjusting to changing dialogues in her life. Saul was just another first blood, another fighter alongside the others she’d come to care for here in Oregon. He was no complication.
Twenty minutes later, making good progress on preparing files so they could find and purge the members of a growing hunter’s group, she spun around in Evaleigh’s nice high-dollar chair when Sanquinetta spoke.
“Hey, I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning. How about bringing in some lunch?”
“Splendid plan.”
“It is. Jack, go get us something delish.”
Jack grimaced at Sanquinetta’s outstretched hand that contained Xavier’s expense card he’d left for anything unrelated to fighting.
“I just want to know when I became your gimme-getme boy.”
Flashing those deep brown eyes up at him, Sanquinetta winked. “You’ve always been my gimme-getme boy, and you’ve never refused me anything. At least, until that gorgeous first blood vampire sunk her sharp teeth into you. So the least you can do is our lunch run.”
Sliding off his chair, Jack stood, his height overshadowing Sanquinetta’s considerably shorter stature.
“Like you thought I’d refuse. Tell me what you ladies would like and it’s yours.”
“Pizzato,” Dani and Sanquinetta said simultaneously.
Unsurprised, he nodded. A favorite of all three women he worked with, the variation on the classic pizza was a savory dish of sweet and spicy perfection.
“All right. I’ll return soon.”
Once he’d left, Dani continued compiling details on the current file she was working with when she felt Sanquinetta slide against her side as she slipped onto the desk.
“Talk to me. The truth this time. You’re a strong woman, but I feel a vibe. I think yo
u’re struggling to maintain normality, and you should be. If things had gone differently, you might be dead right now. So, Dan, tell me. You know you can be completely honest without fear of judgment or betrayal of confidence.”
Continuing to type, Dani didn’t respond at first. Finally, several lines later, she stopped and pushed into her seatback. She sighed, then looked up at Sanquinetta.
“I do trust you. It’s just that…”
Dani wasn’t sure what to say. Sanquinetta had become one of her closest friends, an ally and warrior she’d trust with her life. “How do I explain to you how I feel when I’m not even sure about it myself? I really am okay, I know that, but I’ve some lingering moments when I can’t move past certain things.”
“Your mind is ghosting back. It’s normal, Dani.”
“Is it normal to be in a situation of dire danger, and yet turned on?”
After a pause, Sanquinetta whistled. “Um. It could be. I guess. Did this involve the vampire who abducted you?”
“No.”
There was only one other possibility. “Saul? We had coms on and heard some of what happened. I know he had to undress you partway.”
“Look.” Dani leaned back, her eyes lowered. “Yes, I seemed to have a strong response to Saul’s touch. For some reason, I can’t talk myself out of its significance. I mean, there was really nothing sensual about the moment. The asshole who abducted me meant it to be humiliating, and it should have been. But Saul’s fingers, moving against my skin, the places he touched sparked something in me that I still don’t understand.”
Her head tilted, Sanquinetta moved closer and linked her fingers through Dani’s. “You don’t get why?”
Dani shook her head as Sanquinetta continued.
“You’re empathic, you felt him through that contact. You read his nature, his lifeforce. He’s a beautiful man, Dani. Sexy as hell, yes, but he’s more than that. He has a huge heart and caring soul. All that together, for a human woman with magic, well, it’s a lot. Add the heightened drama of the situation, that he was your lifeline to safety, you might have bonded over that experience instantly. You think?”