4-Ever Hunted_Vampires Rule

by Blake, Kasi

  Why did they hate each other so much?

  “Have you kissed her?” Dani asked.

  Heat burned his cheeks, and he turned his face away.

  Tough vampire hunters did not get embarrassed when a pretty girl liked them. He couldn’t imagine his father in this situation. From what he remembered his father hadn’t spent any time with women. No dates. No flirting. Or maybe he just did those things when his son wasn’t around.

  “Scarlet is my best friend,” he said. “I’ve never thought of her as anything else.”

  That answer seemed to please Dani.

  They began to walk again. At this rate, if Scarlet didn’t hurry, they’d be out of the city before she arrived. His hand bumped against Dani’s, and he considered taking it, entwining their fingers. But they weren’t that far along in their relationship. Maybe they never would be.

  “You’ve told me about your father,” she said, “but you never mention your mother.”

  A flash of a blood-covered wall hit him like a brick.

  Cold sweat broke out on his upper lip and underneath his arms.

  He shook off the memory before it had a chance to fully develop. “What about your mom? I think I’ve spilled my guts enough today. Your turn. How did your dad wind up with a nosy psychiatrist?”

  “Claudia is not my mother.”

  A car horn beeped twice, and a dark blue four-door car that had seen better days pulled up to the curb a few feet from where they stood. Scarlet leaned over to give the passenger door a push. She stuck her head out for a second and yelled, “Come on! My dad will kill me if he finds out I took his car without permission.”

  Dani’s smile faltered at the sight of Scarlet. “A story for another day,” she said beneath her breath.

  ♫

  They rode the first ten miles in silence. Scarlet’s jaw was clenched tight, and Dani sat on the other side of him with her arms crossed. The girls hadn’t spoken a word to each other—or to him—since they’d climbed into the car. The backseat was piled high with junk so they shared the front. At least the car had a long seat without a bump in the middle.

  Scarlet flipped on the radio and chose the loudest, most obnoxious music she could find. Pursed lips, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. When she saw him glaring at her, she bobbed around in an impulsive dance. Her head rocked side to side, and her shoulders moved back and forth. If she wasn’t totally annoying, she’d be cute.

  She grinned at him.

  Dani shouted, her voice partially drowned by the noise. “Would you mind driving slower?”

  Trick hadn’t noticed how fast they were going until Dani pointed it out. His gaze dropped to the speedometer. The needle moved up instead of down. He loved to drive fast too, but not on such a busy street. Scarlet zipped around the other cars. She changed lanes like a pro at the Indy 500, and he knew better than to complain. Last time he’d told Scarlet how to drive, she’d made him walk home. He didn’t want to have to walk from Vegas to Reno.

  Dani leaned forward and yelled, “Can you hear me?”

  “What is your girlfriend’s problem?” Scarlet asked.

  “I am not his girlfriend!”

  “Uh-oh.” Scarlet made a face at him. “Trouble in paradise.”

  He glared at her. “Shut up.”

  Dani yelled, “Hey, keep your eyes on the road!”

  “Don’t tell me how to drive!” Scarlet turned off the radio at that point. She said, “Katy Perry. ‘Hot n Cold.’ That’s your song.”

  Trick blinked, feeling like he’d walked in on the middle of a conversation already in progress. “Huh?”

  Scarlet grinned. “You asked what your theme song would be if you had one. That’s it. Fits you to a tee.”

  “Bitch... by Meredith Brooks. That would be yours.”

  “I love that song, and I would be honored for it to represent me.”

  Dani leaned forward in the seat again and stared past Trick to Scarlet. “What are you talking about?”

  Scarlet chuckled. “Someone told Trick he should have his own theme song.”

  His entire body stiffened at the same time as Dani’s.

  “Who?” Dani asked. “Who told him that?”

  Scarlet shrugged. “Probably some brain-dead loser with more stuff in her bra than in her head. She chose ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ by Taylor Swift, but that song doesn’t begin to explain the complication that is Trick Donovan.”

  “Stop the car,” Dani said in a dead-flat voice. “Let me out.”

  “Seriously?” Scarlet asked.

  Dani turned on him, jaw tight and eyes blazing. “You read my diary! You freak! That was private. How did you even get your hands on it? Did you take it when you were supposed to be in therapy with my stepmother?”

  “Oh my gosh!” Scarlet struck the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. “It was you. You put it into his head that he should have a theme song?”

  “I didn’t say anything to him.” Dani glared at them both. “He stole my diary and read my private thoughts.”

  “Wow.” Scarlet shook her head, an incredulous expression on her face. “Well, thanks for that. As if he wasn’t hard enough to live with, let’s give the boy a theme song. He already thinks the entire world revolves around him.”

  Trick didn’t know which argument to join first. He did not think the world revolved around him, and he hadn’t spied on anyone—not on purpose.

  “I didn’t read your diary,” he told Dani.

  “Liar,” she mumbled while staring out the side window. “How else would you know?”

  “Yeah, Trick,” Scarlet chimed in. “How did you know?”

  “You, shut up,” he said while pointing at what might become his ex-best friend if she didn’t watch her step. “This has nothing to do with you.”

  Scarlet disagreed. “It has everything to do with me. You’re in my dad’s car, and I dropped everything to give you a ride home, when maybe I should have just left you on the street. Your girlfriend could have helped you find your way home.”

  Dani shouted, “I am not his girlfriend!”

  They began to argue in earnest, talking so loud over each other that their words ran together. Didn’t matter. Neither of them was listening to the other. He’d give anything for a pair of earplugs. Better yet, he wished he was somewhere else.

  He needed to track down a couple crazy vampires. Cowboy hadn’t told him about his father yet. More than anything he wished he was with Cowboy right now.

  The girl’s voices cut out like a dropped call, and the car disappeared.

  He fell.

  ♫

  Falling.

  The car disappeared.

  His cushioned seat along with it.

  He landed hard on a cold marble floor, and the breath got knocked from his lungs. Flat on his back, he stared up at a crystal chandelier in awe. Confusion tied his thoughts in knots. Cars didn’t simply vanish, and people didn’t pop from vehicles to houses unless...

  The vampire known as Cowboy hovered over him. “You can do it too, huh?”

  Cowboy reached down with both hands, grabbed Trick by the front of his shirt, and hauled him to his feet.

  Trick opened his mouth to ask what the vampire meant by ‘too,’ but piercing pain hit him between the eyes. The pain was followed by a sickening lurch in his stomach. He wobbled on unsteady legs.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Cowboy glared at him. Then he started to pace and talk to himself. “You can’t have the same problem Jackpot had. You’re mortal, and you didn’t drink faerie blood. You were born with it, I guess.”

  Trick stood tall even though he felt like passing out. He refused to show weakness in front of the vampire. If he gave Cowboy an opening, the creature would kill him without hesitation. Trick didn’t have a single doubt about that.

  His father’s repeated warning returned to his mind, loud and clear. “Vampires can be charming, but they are evil. Remember that. The second you let one get close, you’re as g
ood as dead.”

  The pain in his head intensified. Blood spurted from his nose. He cupped his hands around his lower face and yelled, “Bathroom!”

  Cowboy pointed to a door beneath the staircase.

  Trick hurried to the small room and leaned over the sink. The blood dripped unhindered. Bleeding in front of a vampire was never a good idea. Didn’t the sight and smell of blood drive vampires crazy until they couldn’t restrain themselves?

  “You gonna live?” Cowboy asked from the doorway.

  “Stay back.”

  He just needed a minute. Then he planned to beat the truth out of the vampire. If his father was dead, he wanted proof.

  Blood splattered the shiny white porcelain and made an interesting design. Trick turned on the cold water. He splashed his face a few times and tried to banish the nausea. The vampire spoke over the sound of rushing water.

  “If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you during our first meeting. What is it with hunters? Mistrustful lot, the bunch of you.”

  The blood finally stopped dripping. His head didn’t hurt as much as it had right after the unexpected trip. Trick washed the sink before turning to face the vampire. Curious, he asked, “How many hunters have you known?”

  “A few.” Cowboy shrugged. “You really hate vampires, don’t you? Did you know your brother was one of us?”

  If the polished hardwood floor crumbled beneath his feet, Trick wouldn’t have been more shocked. He remembered Cowboy saying something about faerie blood and Jack in the foyer. Listening had been hard with pain shooting through his head. Now the words returned, and he made the connection.

  Trick wandered into the large living area off the foyer, and the vampire followed.

  Growing up in the Donovan household had given Trick insight into the mildly wealthy, but the vampires were residing in a mansion. The living area had about as much square footage as the entire downstairs of his home. One thing he was sure about: the vampires hadn’t decorated it themselves.

  The room was split into three separate areas including a reading nook with two full bookshelves, a conversation area with ample seating, and a place to watch television. Neutral colors like creams and browns were used generously throughout with a touch of green. Thanks to Laura and her professional interior decorator, he knew the pillows on the couch were sage and that the painting over the fireplace was meant to tie the room together.

  His jaw tightened. It wasn’t at all embarrassing for a hunter to know such things. Sure. If he could, he would erase every bit of useless information from his mind. A hunter needed to be focused.

  “My brother was a vampire?”

  What a ridiculous thought.

  Cowboy shrugged. “I don’t like to talk about him. In fact, we try not to use the J word around here. But, yeah, he was my immortal buddy for years.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Ask Summer if you don’t believe me.”

  “I wouldn’t take her word if she said it was raining.”

  Trick moved to the open terrace doors in case he needed to make a quick exit.

  Cowboy gestured to the looped red leather around Trick’s wrist. “Does that have meaning? Every time I see you, you’re wearing it.”

  “None of your business.” Trick took a moment to think about the situation. If the vampire was telling the truth, his brother had been turned. That brought up an interesting question. “Did my father know Jack was a vampire?”

  “Ian moved in with Jackpot for a while and protected him from werewolves.”

  Trick couldn’t imagine his father being in the same zip code as another vampire and not staking him, let alone sharing the same house. This vampire had to be lying.

  Cowboy stayed on the other side of the room, giving his unexpected guest space. Hands on hips, he chuckled. “I’m surprised your father didn’t have a stroke dealing with us all in Nebraska.”

  “Why would he work with vampires? He hated them.”

  “You don’t have to tell me. I saw it in his eyes every time he looked in my direction. I think Ian was more interested in wiping out werewolves than in killing us. His name will go down in the history books. I mean, if people actually knew about hunters.”

  Cream-colored furniture and several feet separated them. Trick took a step in that direction, wanting to sit down. He still felt weak from using previously untapped power. Which brought him to his next question.

  “What sort of powers did my father have?”

  Cowboy took a step. “Thousands of years ago a faerie possessed a man in your family. Mortal bodies can’t hold that much power, so when he burned through that person, he moved on to the next. Generation after generation, the faerie stayed in your family, and the power became a part of your DNA.”

  “What powers did my father have?” Trick repeated as he took another step. “What could he do?”

  “He could burn a werewolf to death with a touch.”

  That was old news. “What else?”

  Cowboy took that last step to reach the couch. Instead of sitting, he stood next to the arm and traced a finger over the fabric. “He bellowed in a superhuman voice one time to get rid of some wraiths.”

  Trick didn’t know which piece of information to focus on first, how his father had a weird vocal power or the fact wraiths existed.

  He swallowed before asking, “Could he do what I did, pop up somewhere just by thinking about it?”

  “No. But... Jackpot could.”

  Well, that made sense. If he’d inherited power from the Dark Wizard, his brothers probably had too.

  Cowboy added, “Jackpot wasn’t born with the power to teleport. He got it from drinking faerie blood.”

  His brother had bitten a faerie?

  Cowboy sat on the far end of the couch. “I drank some of the blood, and that’s why I can walk in sunlight now. Faerie blood has so much power it’s ridiculous. You have no idea. It’s this incredible rush when it first enters your system, and you feel like you can fly. Thanks to that stuff, Summer and I enjoy sunlight, teleport anywhere we want, and we don’t need as much human blood to stay alive.”

  “But stakes still kill you, right?”

  “Maybe.” Cowboy grinned. “Maybe not.”

  Trick sank down on the other end of the couch; his legs couldn’t hold him any longer. “I didn’t teleport here on purpose. I was in a car with some friends. All I did was think about you, that I needed to talk to you about my father, and I was here. Happened that fast.”

  Cowboy nodded. “And you get sick when you use these powers?”

  “Obviously.”

  “Mortal bodies can’t contain that much dark magic. That’s why the faerie in your family had to jump from body to body every twenty years or so. Magic wore them out. When your grandfather used too much power, he needed energy from faeries. He sucked their lives out of them. Doing that enabled him to restore the body he was using until he was ready to move on. Guess that isn’t an option for you.”

  Trick admitted, “If I keep using these powers, even if it’s unintentional, they will kill me.”

  Cowboy grinned. “I know how you can use them and still live a long, long life.”

  “How?”

  “Join us.” The grin widened. “Our bodies don’t wear out. Become immortal, Trick. Become a vampire.”

  chapter fifteen

  Runaway Train

  Trick gaped at the sadistic vampire. A sour taste filled his mouth, and his stomach rolled over. Words failed him as he searched for one strong enough to convey the rising anger in his heart and the twisted dread in his gut. Become a vampire? He’d rather die.

  His father’s voice called out from the past. “All vampires are monsters.”

  Why would he or any other reasonable human being want to become one?

  His hand went beneath his jacket to grab the stake hidden in an interior pocket. “If you even think about biting me, I will turn you to dust.”

  “Relax.” Arms in the air as if he was
being held at gunpoint, Cowboy said, “No one is biting anyone. I am simply making a suggestion that will benefit us both.” He lowered his arms. “Give it some serious thought, and you’ll see it’s the smart thing to do.”

  “Smart?” Trick’s eyes narrowed. “Are you high?”

  Could vampires do drugs? He knew they couldn’t drink. Alcohol made them violently ill. His father used to joke about throwing a party for vampires and getting them drunk to make killing them easier.

  Cowboy wore a tight smile. “Your problem is, you have no imagination. Guess I’ll have to show you.”

  “Show me what?”

  “What an incredible life I have.”

  Never mind the fact the boy was dead... un-dead. Rather than argue philosophy, Trick decided to change the subject. The vampire had dangled information about his father over Trick’s head. Time for him to deliver. “What happened to my father?”

  “I told you.” Cowboy sighed. “Ian Carver died.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I was there when it happened.”

  Trick shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “That’s your problem.”

  A muscle throbbed to life in Trick’s cheek. If the vampire was lying about his father being dead, Trick vowed he would stake him on the spot. Seemed odd that this vampire was the only one to say the hunter had been killed. Vampires lied more often than not. Wasn’t that another lesson his father had taught him? But how could he be sure? How could he wring a confession from Cowboy if he had made the whole thing up?

  “How did my father die?” he asked.

  Cowboy’s eyes narrowed. “If you want information, you need to give me what I want first.”

  Here we go. Trick held the stake tighter, ready to turn the creature to dust. “And what is it you want again?”

  Cowboy shrugged. “For now, I want to take you on a little trip, show you what life is like when you’re indestructible.”

  Trick’s jaw tightened. He didn’t care if the vampire had the secret to becoming the greatest hunter in the world; he wasn’t going anywhere with him. He was interested in one thing and only one thing: his father. He needed to know why his father hadn’t returned for him like he’d promised.