On the Hunt

  Summoning her power, she bounded back to the place where she'd stood in the aisle, released the mirage that she'd kept in place, and grabbed the gift bag.

  One enemy down, all in a day's work for a vampire's guardian. Now to make sure that Kate didn't suspect a thing, which was always the trickiest part of the job.

  "So let me get this straight. You want a vampire to spend New Year's at our house." Jamie Angel looked at his younger brother, Mason, who, just like Jamie, was committed to hunting and destroying all creatures of darkness. Vampires included. At least until very recently.

  "That's the idea," Mason agreed, his expression pure innocence as he raised the newspaper just high enough to avoid Jamie's sharp gaze.

  In a city the size of Savannah, the paper was still relevant, especially in their line of work.

  Checking out the obits, reading about unsolved local crimes, even scanning the business section—all were important in pursuing leads regarding paranormal activity.

  At the moment, however, Mace was using the newspaper as a shield, which pissed Jamie off, seeing as how he had every right to be worked up. The Angel family had spent generations battling demons and vampires, and now Mason's marine buddy, Dillon Fox, had gone and gotten engaged to one. A vampire. That was bad enough, especially since Dillon was part of the Shades, their elite paramilitary group of hunters. But no, apparently it wasn't bad enough: Now Mason had invited Dillon and his bloodsucking fiancee over to watch bowl games on New Year's Day.

  Jamie took a long sip of sweet tea. "You know where I stand on Dillon's upcoming marriage to that . . . that . . . Oh, good God, I can't even say it, much less imagine her on our property. Daddy's probably rolling over in his grave as it is."

  Mason lowered the paper just enough to give him a pointed look. "Don't be a vampist, Jamie."

  "Political correctness doesn't extend to vampires, brother. Nor do social invitations, at least not from me. Isn't it enough that I've called off the hunt for the Rabineaus?"

  Mason sighed. "It's a party. Everyone's coming."

  "Everyone," Jamie repeated, and then cursed under his breath.

  "Everyone who matters, at least to me. I'll have Nik. Shay'll have Ajax. The rest of the Spartan brothers are coming. And you can invite whichever skanky chick you're seeing right now. Who is it this week again? Tori? Tawny? Titty?"

  Jamie flipped him off. "Her name is Terri Lynn Sweeney, and she's a nice girl."

  "Just like all the women you date. Natch. Met her at a strip club, did you?" Mason snickered, his green eyes filled with mischief.

  "I've only been out with her a few times," Jamie said. "And it was a bar, thank you very much."

  "Okay, well, shit yeah, you bring your girl, I bring my guy, Shay brings her husband . . . and Dillon Fox brings his fiancee. No biggie at all." Mason resumed reading the paper as if they were discussing the latest shift in stock prices.

  Jamie stepped forward and yanked the newspaper out of his brother's hands with an irritated gesture. "I'm not gonna sit back and let this house get desecrated by a vampire, not even a supposedly 'friendly' one. Not on my watch, bro."

  Mason scowled at him. "This isn't a church, Jamie."

  "No, but it's something just as sacred to me. My home. Our family's home for six generations."

  Jamie stalked over to the credenza, where Shay had laid out Sunday brunch, and began loading a plate with biscuits and cheese-grits casserole and scrambled eggs. "Color me impolite, but I just don't like the idea of your pals eating hoppin' John and lounging around on Mama's favorite settee."

  "Jesus, you're the one who recruited Dillon for the Shades. Hasn't he done good work since joining the team?"

  "Of course," Jamie acknowledged softly. Blind or not, Dillon Fox had turned out to be one hell of a hunter, with an almost uncanny sixth sense for tracking demons. "But he loses points for his choice of spouse. He was supposed to investigate her, remember? Not fall in love and get engaged to her."

  Mace sat back in his chair. "Kate Rabineau's a good woman. If you spent any time with her . . ."

  "I've known her since I was eight years old!" Jamie bellowed. "And I've known she was a vampire and to be avoided at all costs since then, too. Your battle buddy's got some piss-poor judgment with his choice of a mate."

  Mace leaned back in his seat and stared at Jamie for a long moment. "Do you even realize how many times Dillon had my back while we were in combat? He saved my life more than once, just so you know, and that means I give him the benefit of the fucking doubt. In all regards. If he's in love with Kate, if he says she's to be trusted, then that's good enough for me."

  Their sister, Shay, whistled as she walked in the dining room. "Plus, he's hotter than Sunday pancakes."

  Mason got a gleam in his eyes at that observation. "Yeah, well, there's a reason I nicknamed him Foxy."

  Since Mace had come out to them two months earlier, he'd become more forward and vocal about his sexual orientation—including how hard he'd fallen for one of the Spartan immortals, Nikos Dounias. Lately Nik spent almost as much time at the plantation as he did over at the warriors' compound, and just as many nights in Mace's room.

  No wonder Mason had so much sympathy for Dillon's falling in love with someone unexpected, someone otherworldly to the extreme. His own lover was a good twenty-five hundred years old, hardly the girl—or even boy—next-door type.

  Jamie sank down into the chair again, spreading a starched napkin on his lap. Since their mother's death nine months earlier, Shay had worked hard to fill the void she'd left behind, and that included upholding their family traditions: Sunday brunch, fine linens, pimento-cheese sandwiches, antique china, the whole nine yards. This while she was emerging as one of the best demon fighters Jamie had ever seen. Which meant that Shay, in a very real sense, had become the lady of their family home, and if she wanted to entertain vampires, her vote carried more weight than his own.

  Which irritated the ever-living tar out of him. He was their big brother, damn it. He led the Shades, and he was supposed to call the shots around here . . . but he was also supposed to be a gentleman. That was how his mama had raised him, and it was obvious that putting the kibosh on Dillon and Kate's invitation didn't fall under the "mannerly" category.

  But it was more than that, and deep down he knew it. He was the eldest, but both of his younger siblings had settled down, while he kept burning through girlfriends like a book of matches. Hell, who was he fooling? It had been years since he'd had a legitimate "girlfriend." He dated. He hooked up. He prowled. But he rarely had the same girl in his life for more than a few weeks, and until recently, he'd liked it that way. His line of work wasn't exactly conducive to healthy, intimate relationships, not when he spent nearly every night patrolling the streets of the city and taking down vile, evil creatures.

  Shay walked over to where he sat, and wrapped her arms about his neck. "Come on, Jamie. It'll be good for you to open your mind a little. Besides, Kate is bringing a friend," she trilled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, and releasing him from the embrace.

  "Sissy cat, I'm not interested in dating anyone seriously. Least of all a vampire." He wasn't about to admit that over the holidays, starting at Thanksgiving and culminating on Christmas Day, he'd realized how very alone he was.

  Mace leaned back in his seat, sipping his iced tea. "She's not a vampire. She's what Kate calls a 'Normal.' "

  Shay pulled out a chair and sat down beside him at the table. "Just chill and it'll be fine, Jamie.

  And I really think you might like her friend Sunny. She's nothing like your usual type. . . ."

  "Booby and blond and none too bright," Mason volunteered helpfully.

  "Nope, none of that describes Sunny, but she's . . ." Shay stared into space for a moment, smiling. "She's kind of weirdly magical. I don't know how else to put it."

  Jamie took a bite of scrambled eggs and said, "In other words, she's got a great personality. Code words for 'not very attractive.' "

 
"Oh, not at all." Shay laughed. "She's absolutely gorgeous."

  "And single," Mason clarified. "I might be gay, bro, but I can still appreciate a nice-looking woman. Trust us—Sunny's hot."

  "Why else do you think I made sure Kate was bringing her along?" Shay laughed, giving Jamie a conspiratorial wink that he pretended not to see.

  Great, his siblings were tag-teaming like crazy. Were they reading him like one of the lore volumes their family kept down in the cellar, deciphering his emotional codes like some complex and ancient text? Or maybe he'd been more obvious than he realized. On Christmas Eve, Jax had given Shay a gorgeous ruby ring . . . and then he'd walked in on Nik kissing Mason under the mistletoe. It had been like a one-two punch, proof that he was painfully single while everyone else he cared about had found true love.

  After that, he'd poured himself a double Scotch and gone to bed. Alone. And wished that, just once, he had someone special of his own to hold close on the unseasonably cold holiday night.

  He stabbed a fork into his cheese grits with an irritable gesture. "So what y'allare saying is it doesn't matter what I want. Kate and company are coming, and that's it."

  "No." Shay reached for the frosty iced tea pitcher and began pouring herself a glass. "But I am saying you'd better deal, because they're gonna be here in five minutes—ten, tops."

  "What?" Jamie roared. "It's not New Year's for another three days!"

  Shay slid into the seat beside him. "Well, it's like this. Apparently someone—not saying who . . . "

  Very slowly Shay swung her gaze in Mason's direction. He got a sheepish look, and stared down at his plate. "But someone slipped the word to Dill that you're not too keen on this whole thing."

  Jamie flung his napkin onto the table and shoved out of his seat. "Bastard."

  "Vampist," Mace shot back. "They're my friends. And as I recall, you're the one who told me you'd always accept me and the people I care about.... Remember that tap dance? Nothing I'd ever do that you'd judge, yada, yada?"

  Mace had him there. It had been his big-brother pep talk the night Mason told him he was gay.

  Jamie sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I think I'll go sit on the veranda and smoke a cigar until they leave."

  Shay frowned at him, her light blue eyes narrowing like lasers acquiring a target. "Oh, no, you don't, James Dixon. They're coming over for brunch so we can plan the menu for the party."

  "Be sure to pick lots of garlic recipes. And I do mean lots of 'em." With that retort, Jamie grabbed his plate and stormed off toward the kitchen. Maybe he could hide in the pantry until the invasion was over.

  Sunny sat up in the backseat of Kate's BMW. "Holy cats! This place is crazy big." She peered out the window at the mile-long sandy drive and the long row of live oak trees that lined both sides of it. "I can practically smellthe money."

  Kate grunted, glancing at Sunny in the rearview mirror. "Don't be too impressed. . . . Trust me, I grew up with these people."

  "You grew up with me, too." Sunny rolled down the window, the smellof the nearby river and marsh filling her nostrils. She smiled, closing her eyes, savoring the familiar low-country scents.

  The river and marshes and creeks ran in her veins at this point, and she offered a quick prayer that she could always stay in Savannah, all the more because of how Kate needed her protection.

  The run-in at the Piggly Wiggly had been only one of a dozen such encounters in the past few weeks alone.

  Kate made a sound of disgust. "Yes, but unlike the Angels, you never wanted to destroy me, my family, and anyone else like me," Kate retorted, speeding up a little as they continued down the seemingly endless driveway.

  "No, girl, I love you. Always."

  Kate had been Sunny's best friend since the fateful day in fifth grade when trashy Raylene Gibbs had called Sunny the N-word, and Kate stood up for her. Of course, Kate hadn't known that Sunny wasn't your average ten-year-old—just as she remained unaware of Sunny's true nature even now, some sixteen years later. And that Sunny had been planted in Kate's life for a very particular reason. Certain secrets had to be kept, no matter how much you loved and cared for someone, and Sunny's carefully guarded mission fell into that category.

  Dillon spoke up from where he rode in the passenger seat, his guide dog, Lulu, curled across his feet. "Y'all are pals with Shay, and Mason's good people," he drawled, his Nashville accent sultry as ever.

  "I have no problem with Mason. In fact, I'd say we're friends now," Kate said. "It's his stupidly arrogant and prejudiced brother I can't stand."

  Sunny gave Kate a look in the rearview mirror. "Jamie doesn't like black people?"

  If that was the case, then this brunch shindig wasn't going to be very enjoyable—at least not for Sunny.

  Kate shook her head. "Far as I know, he only has issues with my kind. Thinks he's some big-deal hunter. Smells of too much cologne. Reeks of sexist ladies' man. And as we all know"—Kate glanced sideways at Dillon, who appeared slightly amused—"he despises vampires."

  Dillon reached for her hand, staring ahead, eyes unfocused. "Aww, Jamie's not that bad. He's just a little misinformed, especially about the woman I love. I'm gonna straighten him out today, baby.

  "But tell me, really," he said, rapping the window with his knuckles. "What does it look like here?

  Mace was always so embarrassed about his family's money. Really played it down when we were in the corps. I never even realized he was loaded for the first few years I served with him."

  Sunny gazed up at the expansive live oaks, their branches gnarled like an old woman's hands, Spanish moss dripping downward like heavy lace. "Beautiful," she murmured appreciatively. "A little eerie. Magical. The whole place feels like something from a fairy tale."

  And she'd seen plenty of magical, beautiful, amazing places over the centuries. But this particular property felt as if it were under a heavenly spell.

  "You haven't even seen the house yet!" Kate laughed. "Sunny Renfroe, you better be strong when we face off with Jamie Angel. If you're this starstruck by his family home, you might drool all over him when I introduce you."

  Although she'd lived in Savannah for most of her human life, Sunny never had met Jamie. Her own circle didn't intersect with his high-society one, and even though Kate was old money, their friendship was unique. Beyond that, the Rabineaus were old guard, but kept their distance from most of Savannah society because of their vampire heritage.

  Then a thought occurred to her. Although she'd not met Jamie, his brother, Mason, was certainly easy on the eyes, not to mention smart and thoughtful. Maybe Jamie had at least some of Mason's tough-yet-sensitive appeal.

  Sunny perked up. "So, tell me, Katie, girl. Is Jamie handsome?"

  "Yes, he's hotness," Kate muttered. "And it sucks. It's why he's so full of himself. He's got these big green eyes, dimples . . . He's like six foot three, I think? Six-four maybe? Broad shoulders, rock-hard physique. He looks sorta like Mace, but taller and . . . prettier. Know what I mean? Mace has that rough edge to him, whereas Jamie's smoother. A little preppy."

  Dillon laughed. "I don't think I'd ever call Jamie Angel pretty. Then again, I've never seen him.

  But I've heard him with a semiautomatic taking on a legion of demons, and smelled their blood all over him. And all the while he's using that smooth Southern charm on the bastards. If I were a girl, I'd say that's smokin' hot . . . not pretty."

  For some reason, Sunny flushed at the thought of meeting Jamie. Dating and boyfriends did not fall under her job description. The implications of forming a romantic relationship for someone like Sunny were, well, just too complicated. So she avoided those kinds of entanglements, but lately she'd been feeling restless. Maybe it was because Kate had fallen in love, and her friend's happiness highlighted the differences in her own life and those of the people she cared about.

  She was so alone, and even though her bosses forbade love relationships with humans . . . the longer she lived as one, the harder that mandate became. A
nd the truth was, it hadn't been easy to begin with. Just as Kate had done for all those years before meeting Dillon, Sunny longed to feel normal.

  The fact was, Sunny ached to have a man's strong arms about her, yearned to feel more human than she did on most days. And she desired something that could never happen, not for her. She dreamed. . . of falling in love.

  Chapter Two

  "James Dixon, get your butt on down here!" Shay called up the stairs, then offered Sunny and Kate an extremely apologetic look. "I am so sorry. He knows better than this."

  "Coward," Mason muttered. He bent down and gave Sunny and Kate each a brief kiss on the cheek, welcoming them warmly, then clapped a hand on Dillon's shoulder. "Come on, Foxy. Got a new Glock I wanna show off." The two of them, led by Dillon's guide dog, headed down the hall.

  "Jamie!" Shay called out again. "You're not getting out of this one."

  Sunny's face flushed hot with shame. She hated feeling like some odious obligation, a pariah for Jamie Angel to avoid. And even though rationally she realized his issues were with Kate, not her, it didn't take the sting out of being so blatantly dissed.

  She pasted a smile on her face and tugged on Shay's sweater sleeve. "Forget it, girl. Let's go eat some of your famous grits casserole."

  One look at Kate, and Sunny could see her friend wasn't feeling even that generous. She was glancing all about the entry hall as if looking for an escape route. "I'm telling you . . . this is a mistake," Kate said. "You're rock awesome, Shay, but Jamie's always been a jerk to me. Let's just, I don't know, let's forget the plan. Heck, we can have New Year's out at my family's beach house on Tybee!" she said brightly. "I mean, why not?"

  "Because, Katie, you're not going to let this guy intimidate you or snub you." Sunny sniffed at the air, feeling her dander rise. As an African-American woman who'd spent her whole earthly life in the Deep South, she had some experience with prejudice and being socially overlooked; she wasn't about to stand by and let that happen to Kate. Besides that, even when it came to fairly harmless insults, Sunny remained highly protective of Kate.