Hunter (A Dark Assassins Novel Book Five)

by Ullmer, Valerie

  “I grew up in an orphanage. The memory was from when I was around ten years old. I was reading to a girl about six. She was in my first memory running away from someone unknown and she looked scared. Her name is Zahava. But the first memory makes no sense…”

  “Why, angel?”

  Neri covered Silas’s ears with her palms before she spoke. His giggle made her smile.

  “Zahava is a manipulative bitch.”

  She uncovered his ears and smiled down at him. Neri surprised herself when she bent down and gave Silas an impromptu kiss of the forehead and wrapped her arms around him before she continued.

  “If she was running away, it was a ploy to get something she wanted or pressuring someone into going along with her plan. Everyone in the orphanage thought she was a perfect child, but I watched how she acted around the other kids and adults and she’s nothing but devious. She’s a psychopath.

  “She scared the kids younger than her to give her whatever they had of value and if they didn’t comply, she would hurt them. Whenever someone told on her, the teachers and staff never believed them. One time I had to step in when she tried to drown a boy in the bathtub because he threw up on her shoes.”

  Neri rubbed her forehead as she sensed more memories lingering in the background but refusing to come to the forefront.

  “I don’t know why I remembered little things about Zahava or why even, but I sense it’s connected to who is after Dark Company.”

  Silas squeezed Neri, and she hugged him back. When Hunter wrapped her arms around her, she knew they needed to find the threat and eliminate them. This group was Hunter’s family and if she could only admit to herself, they were becoming important to her.

  She vowed she would kill everyone who threatened the immortals in this room. Even if she sacrificed her life in return.

  Such a small price to pay.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  HUNTER

  Hunter flinched as the needle pierced Neri’s skin. He swallowed twice to keep from throwing up at the sight. Unable to deal with the needle or the blood filling up the first vial and then the second, he squeezed his eyes closed and took a deep, cleansing breath.

  Liv, worried about Neri’s reaction to her lab despite the glass walls and ceiling, scurried downstairs when they all arrived back to grab the syringe and vials to draw Neri’s blood.

  Ghost believed it was necessary to solve the mystery of Neri’s background and the reason her memories involved the same girl she grew up with in the orphanage.

  It didn’t mean I had to like it.

  “Hunter? You okay? I can’t flash to you right now if you pass out.”

  Instead of growling aloud, he sent one through their mind link. When he opened his eyes and continued the sound, she almost jerked but caught herself, holding still as he could hear the liquid fill the glass.

  “I’m… fine.”

  Liv watched as the second vial filled before she uncorked it from the needle still sticking out of Neri’s arm. Hunter sucked in a breath and blew it out when Liv pressed a cotton ball against Neri’s skin, pulling out the needle, before holding the piece of white fluff there for a moment. When Liv pulled the cotton back, there wasn’t a trace of Neri’s blood on it.

  “There, all done Hunter,” Liv giggled, “Do you want to help me analyze?”

  Hunter shook his head before Liv finished the question. He didn’t want to leave Neri. Both shrugged as Liv gave them a wave before she raced downstairs, curious what she would find. Hunter didn’t care what Liv found as long as Neri was healthy. Nothing else mattered.

  As he moved closer, intending to wrap her in his arms, he was beat out by a flash of white fur on a tiny body. Neri spotted Silas before Hunter and her arms were outstretched ready to catch the tiniest of the snow leopards and pressed him close to her chest as he nuzzled into her neck.

  Neri! My new favorite vampire-shifter hybrid, how do you feel?

  I’m the only vampire-shifter hybrid little man.

  Yeah, that’s true. It’s why you smell so good.

  Her chuckle made Hunter smile. Even before he’d gotten to know Neri in her own space, he understood how serious she was about every aspect of her life. The way she organized her life, her schedule, and keeping her word were more important than anything else so it shouldn’t surprise him the unknown threat worried her more than the thought of someone after her.

  What do I smell like?

  Huh… Well, like the earth after the first rain of spring and lilacs in full bloom.

  Neri blinked and glanced at Hunter, who nodded at Silas’s description.

  What about me? Silas’s curiosity pulsed out of him.

  Well, bergamot, like your dad and vanilla, like Jade.

  What’s berg… bergamot?

  Well, it’s orange and lime, like citrus. It’s sweet, little man.

  What’s Hunter’s scent?

  Neri glanced up and smiled at him, making his heart beat harder in his chest.

  Hunter is earthy with pine and lemon.

  She integrated into his family with ease and although she’d spent most of her time with Silas and Jade; she spoke with the other assassins, bringing the conversation about them and their past. Although Drew was a jokester, he took a while to get comfortable with people, so he sat at the kitchen table on a tablet, and like clockwork glanced up and gazed around the room before settling down to read.

  Thomas and Isaac hung back. Curious about Neri, but those two were the most patient immortals he’d ever met. Plus, Neri’s time with Silas made sense to them because everyone spent as much time with Silas as they could get.

  Jade sat next to Neri, close enough their thighs were touching.

  “What are you two talking about?” Jade asked.

  “Our scents and how I’m different from the other shifters and vampires.”

  Before Jade answered, Silas let out a bone-cracking yawn along with a small howl and shifted back to his toddler form. Neri, unused to how shifters work blinked down at him. Her eyes widened when she realized he was naked. Frost giggled and Neri blinked owlishly at her before glancing at Silas’s relaxed face. With another small yawn, he blinked his eyes closed.

  Frost swaddled him in a light blue blanket and before she lifted Silas into her arms.

  Neri leaned closer.

  “Goodnight, little man. Sleep well and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Neri whispered before she kissed Silas on the forehead with a soft brush of her lips.

  Night, Neri. You’re one of my favorite people in the world.

  “And you’re one of mine, little man.”

  Hunter cleared his throat, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall at the sweet scene between his mate and the youngest of their family. Frost sniffed and wiped away her own as she cuddled Silas closer. Xander stood and put the laptop aside before he leaned forward and kissed his son. They were in their own world for a moment before Frost turned and made her way with Silas upstairs to their room.

  The room grew quiet. The others watched the scene between Neri and Silas as Hunter broadcast their conversation from the beginning to them.

  “So…” Axel’s voice boomed around the room.

  “Leave it to the least tactful of us to ruin the moment,” Gunnar mumbled.

  Kai rolled his eyes and Reaper chuckled.

  “Is Neri short for something?” Axel asked.

  Neri turned toward the giant blond shifter with a passive look on her face. “Yes, but I don’t prefer my full name. The creepy scientist who injected me with something he thought would kill me liked to call me Nerissa. So you can see why I might not enjoy that name. And now let me ask you a question?”

  “Okay?” Axel elongated the one word, not knowing what was coming.

  “Do you always flirt with your friend’s mates?”

  Axel nodded without hesitation. “I have to get my entertainment somewhere. And you would think these idiots would know their mates would never cheat on them. And yet each time, they threate
n me with death. Go figure.”

  Neri tilted her head back and laughed. Her hand came to rest on Axel’s arm and while Hunter knew Axel was right, he still growled when Neri squeezed before she leaned her head against the lion shifter’s shoulder. Her laughter tapered off.

  “Brilliant.”

  Reaper, Kai, Xander, Noah, and even Seth all growled their displeasure.

  “Not brilliant, Neri,” Kai said.

  Although he sounded huffy, he didn’t sound angry and Hunter relaxed.

  Hunter heard the clicking of fingers on a keyboard and remembered Xander had started his search as soon as they returned from Silas showing Neri his room. As he drifted over to see what the snow leopard had found, he spotted out of the corner of his eye Seth and Aubrey moving closer to Neri.

  “We met yesterday, but I’m Aubrey.”

  “And I’m Seth, her mate.”

  Neri smiled at them and Hunter’s heart kicked in his chest.

  “So… you, you’re a vampire but you don’t crave blood?” Aubrey asked.

  “Not even a little. I eat my steaks medium well, liver is gross, and despite that I love food. I haven’t been around many people but I don’t react to blood. Can I ask you some questions?”

  “Please. We’re an open book,” Seth said.

  “Do you… when you feed, do you kill people?” Neri blushed.

  Aubrey reached out and squeezed Neri’s forearm before she explained.

  “Oh, sweetie, no, mates can feed from each other. Before I met Seth, my human best friend, Cole, brought me bags of donated blood from the hospital where he worked. But some vampires have taken from humans when they don’t have mates, but they don’t kill them.”

  Aubrey paused and leaned forward.

  “To humans our saliva had a numbing agent and the venom acts as an aphrodisiac, so it could lead to deeper feelings. Vampires can alter memories, but they don’t take blood unless the human is willing.”

  Neri nodded, before something struck her. “So, Cole, he knows about both of you? Isn’t that dangerous?”

  Aubrey told Neri how Cole had saved her after he’d found her covered in blood after her transition. Neri, shocked by Aubrey’s story, reached for her free hand and held it as she told her how Cole sacrificed for years and kept her fed, and by the end Neri nodded.

  “I’m glad he’s in your life,” Neri whispered.

  “So am I. And his husband Simon is a sweetheart and they are perfect together. I’m sure you’ll meet them.”

  The three other vampires approached and joined in on the conversation. They introduced themselves and Neri smiled as they shook her hand. Kane took a seat next to Seth, and they joked back and forth until Seth laughed and butted his shoulder against Kane’s. She smiled as the two joked together.

  Hunter turned his attention as Thomas and Isaac, attached at the hip as far back as Hunter remembered, as they smiled at Neri and sat on the loveseat in front of her.

  Thomas was tall and lean with a black hair and preferred to wear black or dark blue at all times. Isaac was more laid back, his hair dark brown, but his face was softer although his body was bulkier than his counterpart. Hunter remembered Ghost telling him they walked into his office together asking for a job and he hired them on the spot. Hunter still had no clue where they lived, and they appeared whenever they wanted.

  Neri looked back and forth between Thomas and Isaac, studying them as they moved closer to each other. If he hadn’t known they had a mind link, he assumed they communicated by searching each other’s gazes. As Neri continued to watch, Hunter took the time to observe too.

  Their movements were fluid, even when they sat. They had to know they were being watched by at least two, but instead of turning their attention to Neri, they continued on for a few minutes. Their forearms brushed, and they angled their bodies toward each other, and Hunter spotted the reason she had the fleeting thought they were a couple.

  When they turned their attention to Neri, her shoulders relaxed.

  “Were you turned at the same time?”

  Thomas smiled. “No, a vampire turned me in 1850. I was twenty-six and like most of the immortals I don’t know who bit me.”

  “There is little I remember of my life before I turned, but Xander found my birth certificate from 1933. In 1963 at thirty, I turned. I remember everything about the transition and when I woke up, Thomas was there. He’d come upon me after my transition started and we’ve stuck together ever since,” Isaac said.

  Seth laughed and elbowed Kane. “Tell Neri how you became an assassin.”

  Kane snarled at the kid but shook his head. He had a smile on his face.

  “I threatened to kill Seth if Liv, who was still human mind you, didn’t come with me. So, we locked Seth in the lab downstairs and I took Liv to the man who had my mate imprisoned.” Kane said it so matter-of-factly, confusion and anger flashed in Neri’s eyes.

  “You kidnapped… the tiniest woman on the planet and…”

  “Hey!”

  “The doctor who created the bioweapon tortured her.” Kane flinched.

  Hunter moved to Neri and placed his hands on her shoulders, prepared to hold her down in the chair. Her head whipped back and forth between Seth and Kane, who sat close together and who’d been joking with each other minutes before.

  Neri snarled but made no move to lunge at Kane, which surprised Kane. He blew out a breath and looked down at his hands clenched on his lap.

  “I’m not proud of what I did and I couldn’t hurt her the way the doctor wanted me to, but I didn’t protect her either. She knocked me out with a sedative and I woke up to this group around me. But they understood and told me the scientist had killed my mate, Annabelle.”

  Liv gasped. “You never told us her name.” She walked over to Kane and tried to wrap her arms around him, giving up when she realized it was futile and patted him on the back.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Nope, no, no. No apologies. Kai changed me and we’re married. We have a family, and we’re happy. An unusual family, but a family nonetheless and you’re as much a part as I am. You should never have been in that position.”

  Neri leaned forward and gripped Kane’s hands. “I’m sorry you lost Annabelle, Kane. I can never imagine what you went through.”

  He squeezed back, but they all jerked when Xander shouted in excitement.

  Daddy!

  Xander flinched and glanced upstairs, talking to his son. He smiled as they finished the conversation and turned back to the group and focused on Neri. Hunter, without thinking, lifted Neri into his arms and settled back on the chair with her curled on his lap.

  “Your name is Nerissa, or Neri, Elias, no middle name listed. You have a birth certificate but there are no names other than yours. It lists your birthdate as September 11, 1996 born at Snowfall Memorial Hospital and a month after your birth, two firemen discovered you alone wrapped in a blanket on their doorstep. Soon after, the state placed in a group home until you were eleven. After you went to a foster home where you lived with your foster mother until you were eighteen. Her name was—”

  “Thalia Costa,” Neri mumbled.

  “Yeah,” Xander paused.

  Neri nodded, indicating she was ready for more.

  “After you graduated high school, you took online college classes starting in early 2014.”

  “I remember… I wanted to stay home because a doctor diagnosed Thalia with breast cancer and I wanted to take care of her. She loved me the moment I stepped into her home and despite everything in my being telling me not to trust her, I loved her too.”

  Hunter hugged her, unable to do anything to take the pain away. And she was shaking with it. Everything in him wanted to rage, but he pressed his lips to her hair and hugged her.

  “According to what I found, you aced almost three years of online classes. But in March 2016, there was an initial report taken by the Snowfall police. Thalia reported you missing after you told her you were making a quick run t
o the store early that morning. She worried all day and by that evening, you hadn’t come back and you weren’t answering your cell. Although the police took the initial report, no one investigated until three days later, when Thalia visited the police station again and filed a formal report,” Xander said.

  Neri opened her mind to him and he closed his eyes. She played through her memories of her time with Thalia. The older woman was single, but he spotted the love in Thalia’s eyes whenever she looked at Neri and Hunter knew he had a smile on his face. Soon, Neri’s memories of Thalia became fuzzy and then black.

  “You don’t remember that day?” Hunter asked.

  She wiped at her eyes and shook her head. Her brows drew down, and she tried to concentrate, but Hunter knew forcing memories wasn’t what Neri needed.

  “Hey, angel, it’s okay. Xander has more information and your memories will come in time.”

  Nodding her understanding, she blinked her eyes open and glanced at Xander. “What happened to Thalia?”

  “Her chemo was a success. In the police report, she told the police finding you made her strong and until the day they told her you were dead, she believed you were somewhere out there in the world. She still calls the detective assigned to your case each week for an update. He noted on your file it keeps Thalia healthy, trying to find you,” Xander sounded impressed.

  “Good. I’ll visit her, as soon as I come up with an excuse.”

  Hunter shook his head. “I don’t think you have to. She wants to see you. Tell her the truth about you. She’s your family.”

  The others in the room agreed with him and after Neri smiled at them and squeezed Hunter’s hand, she turned back to Xander.

  “Did the police find any evidence of what happened?”

  “No. They found your car abandoned a mile from the store. Your purse, keys, and cell were missing, never found. They searched surveillance of the store but there was nothing on the video. No one followed you in or out of the store and your purchases were in the trunk. No witnesses and despite assurances from Thalia you didn’t run away, they took a year to list you as a possible kidnap victim. Wait.”