Chapter 10

It was late when the brothers and Jacqueline finally retired to their bedrooms to sleep.

Princess had made friends with all the brothers and instead of going to bed with Dane and Jacqueline this evening, she had gone to stay with Trey in his bed. Jacqueline suspected the brothers had colluded with each other to make sure Dane and Jacqueline didn’t have any interruptions, and she thought they were so cute to do that for them.

She sat down to pull off her boots and Dane came over to remove them for her.

“You know, we don’t have an impediment to sleeping close tonight together,” he said, nuzzling her face, then kissing her knee.

“Yeah, which I suspect was planned and I’m all for it.” Her gaze locked with his and he smiled that arrogant kind of sexy smile that she loved.

Then he yanked off his T-shirt and worked on his boots while she pulled off her shirt.

“I had no intention of dating anyone anytime soon,” she said.

“I had gotten that impression from the first time I had laid eyes on you.”

She smiled. “And you ignored that. Which was the big draw to me. Except for Stacey’s interest in you. I thought the interest in her was mutual for you.”

“Not in her.” Dane unbuckled her belt while she unbuckled his.

“Yeah, that was soon apparent, which was your saving grace.”

He chuckled. Then he cupped her breasts still confined in her smooth, silky bra. “I’m damn lucky I went to that meeting. After fighting the vampire, I almost didn’t.”

“Then”—she ran her hands over his bare chest—“you had to show off your beautiful chest.”

“Which you were not impressed with.”

She licked his nipples, and he sucked in his breath. “Ha! You knew I was,” she said, “and you wanted me to say so.”

“I loved teasing you.”

“I loved that you did.” She really was amused that he would. Then she removed his pants.

He yanked off his socks and then slid hers off her feet. Then he pulled off her pants. She hurried to ease his boxer briefs down his hips, though his arousal was so full, she was having more of a time getting the briefs over it. Which she loved.

He smiled down at her. She looked at him and shook her head. “Next time, the boxer briefs come off first.”

He laughed. And then he was unfastening her bra, tossing it, and slowly removing her panties, tantalizing her. He skimmed his hands over her naked breasts. The pressure of his hands on her flesh made her heartbeat quicken and she sighed with pleasure. Her sensitive nipples were aroused, and she treasured his hands rubbing against them. Never would she have thought she would be doing this with a new man in her life after she and Van had become history—like a week ago!

But Dane was tantalizingly sexy, and she loved the way he touched her, like he was enjoying the intimacy before they went all the way, and she was glad for that. She heard his heart beating harder and she felt her canines extend, just like when they had danced at the human club. It was amazing, especially now that they were here, alone, and no one else could see them. She immediately kissed him, pressing him to open his mouth to her. She wanted to see if his own canines had extended. As if he knew what she was checking out, he smiled and showed her his devilishly sexy smile and his beautiful, elongated canines.

He cupped her face, and they began stroking each other’s canines with their tongues. There was just something intimate with caressing each other’s canines, sharing the knowledge that they had been changed, but that they were navigating through all this with curiosity and intrigue.

She nibbled his bottom lip, and he slid his hands to her buttocks and caressed. He lifted her and put her on the bed and then he was beside her, kissing her breasts, licking her nipple, kissing it, and starting on the other. Her body responded to his gentle and passionate kisses, his mouth moving over her breastbone, his extended canines teasing her throat with a gentle touch, not cutting.

She started to use her teeth on his neck, the experience so new to both of them, but they were enjoying the exploration. Neither wanted to cut each other or drink each other’s blood. Maybe later when they were more used to all this vampiric stuff. But for now, they were just embracing their new abilities.

She swore she felt more alive than she’d ever felt before. She ran her hands over his biceps, loving the feel of his strength, his muscles well-honed from all the sword fighting he did. She was so wet for him, so eager to have him penetrate her between her legs, aching for him.

He slid his hand over her belly, lower, yes! She was so eager to have him embedded deep inside her. But he was beginning to stroke her between her legs. She was shooting to the heavens. Then she remembered his brothers were staying at the house, and she swallowed the cry of delight that nearly escaped her lips.

Then he was pressing his full erection into her and thrusting. She arched and he filled her. She moaned. Their hearts hammered at the same pace, and she felt the unfathomable connection to him. Both were now something more than just hunters and she wondered if that was what made them feel so right for each other.

He groaned with climax, staying inside her for a bit longer, and just pressed his body against hers. Loving the closeness, she ran her hands over his muscular back. “Amazing.”

“Good?”

She smiled. “Yeah. Good.”

“Great?”

She chuckled. “Quit fishing.”

He rolled off her, pulled her into his arms, snuggled with her, and kissed the top of her head. “Great.”

After all they’d been through, for the first time since being turned and Van ditching her, she felt truly at peace and with a hunter who might even turn out to be the one for her. Only time would tell.

* * *

Early the next morning,Trey surprised Jacqueline when he came into the master bedroom to wake Dane and her before they were ready to wake. “Hey, I got information of where Heskel might be. Remember Zachary telling us that Rachael had killed Piaras at his estate? Several other rogues were also eliminated. The house was sold, and the proceeds went to the hunters who risked their lives to bring the rogues to justice. The house was sold to a human, but when I was doing some research, I discovered that she wasn’t truly the owner. She was given the money to purchase the property. Heskel was behind it all. We’re all gathering to go to the estate now to see if he’s there.”

“Uh, okay, thanks. We’ll join you downstairs,” Dane said, already getting out of bed, sans clothes.

Jacqueline was so hoping they would get the bastard this time. As soon as Trey was gone, she left the bed and hurried to grab her clothes out of a drawer and Dane’s closet. He’d been a sweetheart to give her so much room to sort out her clothes.

Dane was dressing and then once she was also, he hugged her. “We’ll get him.”

“I know we will. Either this day or another. We will.” Or one of the others would, though she wished she could take him down herself.

“About last night—” he said.

“I want a repeat tonight.”

Looking relieved, he said, “You got it.”

Then they gathered downstairs, and she was amused to see someone had gotten a big box of fresh donuts.

“Breakfast for champions, right?” she asked, snatching a chocolate icing covered one before the chocolate donuts were all gone.

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, when Trey said we wouldn’t have time to make a breakfast, I hurried off to get the donuts, hoping I got enough of a variety to make everyone happy.”

“All you needed to get was chocolate-covered ones,” Jacqueline said.

The brothers all smiled at her. Ryan said to Dane, “Looks like I need to make sure you both get enough then.”

“Who all is coming with us?” Dane grabbed one of the chocolate-iced donuts and smiled at Jacqueline.

“I called Zachary. He said his brother Michael, Adonis, and others would join us at the estate. Rachael wanted to, but Adonis’s and her baby girl is six weeks old so Rachael is nursing her and not hunting yet,” Ryan said.

“Oh, wow, okay,” Jacqueline said.

“I called Stacey. She’s meeting us there as well,” Dane said.

“Okay, so”—Jacqueline grabbed another chocolate-iced donut—“I’m ready.”

“Is that all the fortification you need?” Dane asked, getting her a cup of coffee.

She laughed. “Yes, that’s all I need.” Then she drank her coffee and Trey glanced at his watch.

“Let’s get armed. It’s time,” Matt said.

They all grabbed their swords, throwing stars, and daggers, and then they loaded up in Dane’s truck and headed out.

“Don’t go inside the building on your own,” Dane said to Jacqueline.

“I won’t.” She knew he was referring to her vanishing and reappearing next to the rogue vampires. But she wasn’t moving into the house on her own. She would wait until everyone was inside the house with her and then she would use her vampiric abilities to move to her advantage.

She had been amused that Dane had been practicing moving from the bedroom to the bathroom and from the bedroom to the first floor, using the vampire way, as if he was trying to catch up to her using the ability.

“Are you really ready for this?”Dane asked her.

She smiled at him as he drove toward the estate. “You are practicing telepathically communicating with me too?”

He chuckled. “You’re so good at all this stuff. I guess I haven’t really been embracing the vampire abilities.”

“Because you were upset that you were turned,” she said, not asking a question. She had totally been unsettled by the whole business, but then she had decided that there was no way of going back to the way it was and she needed to just accept her new abilities. Maybe she could use them to her advantage in a fight against a rogue vampire.

“Yeah, but you’ve shown me how important they can be.”

“Well, just don’t get ahead of me when we’re in the house and see a rogue we need to take down.”

He just laughed and she knew then that was just what he planned to do. Not because he wanted the kill, but because he wanted to protect her. That was such a refreshing notion that she loved him for it. Van figured she could protect herself because she was a huntress. Even huntresses, and hunters, needed someone else to provide protection for them at times.

When they finally arrived at Heskel’s estate out in the country, she envisioned what it had been like when Adonis and his mate and family were there in the fight against evil. It was an overcast day, still early in the morning, and they saw six cars in the circular driveway.

An ornate wrought iron gate was open, as if it was sinisterly welcoming them in. The two-story, rambling Spanish-style mansion was surrounded by young pine trees that looked like they had been planted since Piaras’s termination. Beautiful boulders were scattered around the property. Since Piaras had been so malevolent, she had expected to see a dark, vile place, but it was light and airy looking, a large fountain spilling water into a basin in the center of the circular drive.

The sides of the home were coated in ivory stucco, but exposed areas revealed pink brick quarried nearby to give the impression of an antique building. An old spoked, wagon wheel rested against a live oak. The oak was so large, she figured it had been there for over a hundred years.

“Pretty, not evil looking like I thought it would be,” Jacqueline said.

“Yeah, when it comes to some of these rogues, they can really make it appear as though they are just like the rest of us. When it’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Dane said.

“Whereas others cloak themselves in darkness, whether it’s wearing Gothic garments or living in a house that looks like it should be in a haunted horror flick,” Matt said.

“Right,” Trey said. “One of the worst vampires I ever took down—a female—had a pink house, literally, from her furniture, walls, drapes, and even to the outside of the house with its gingerbread style roof and pink siding. Her neighbors felt it was an eyesore. Her garden was filled with pink roses. She wore long pink lacy dresses, pink lace gloves, pink flowery bonnets, pink high heels, or patent leather flats. Yet despite all outward appearances, she was evil to the core. After she had eliminated fifteen men who had looked at her the wrong way—her words, not mine—I terminated her. The neighbors wanted the house torn down and to leave the lot vacant. But the homeowner’s association wouldn’t go along with it. So some house flippers bought the house, repainted the whole place white, inside and out, and redid the entire inside with large windows, white blinds, very modern chic style. They’d had an open house, and we went in to see it. She hadn’t killed anyone there. Sometimes they raze a house where so many murders have been committed, no one wants to buy the house, and it would be condemned. But it was beautiful, and it sold right away.”

“I couldn’t even imagine a female vampire like that. The only ones I’ve taken down have been more femme fatales, wearing black or red, sexy, evil. But a vampiress in pink reminds me of a witch and her gingerbread house covered in sweet treats,” Jacqueline said.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what she was like,” Trey said.

They didn’t drive onto the estate but parked out of view of the security cameras. All the hunters got out of their vehicles. The Bremertons introduced themselves—Zachary, his brother Michael, Danai, her brother, Adonis, and their sister, Pasha—all of them ready to take on any friend of Piaras who was like him in turning a hunter.

“We need to go around the fence,” Adonis said, since his family had been confined here. He, Pasha, and Danai knew the layout of the estate the best, though Zachary and Michael had been there during the fight against Piaras and his friends and minions also. They skirted around the fence surrounding the property, looking for an easy way to get in, or at least for the hunters. For the hunters turned, they could just vanish and reappear on the other side.

“You can climb over here. No one can observe you from the house. Everything is shuttered and they don’t have any security on the backyard,” Adonis said. “All the cameras are focused on the front of the yard.” Then he vanished and reappeared on the other side of the fence.

Zachary, Danai, Pasha, and Dane quickly joined him. Stacey and Jacqueline appeared next to them while Dane’s brothers climbed over the fence. Then they all ran toward the back door of the house.

Urns sat on the entryway to the patio that was bare of furniture. Then Adonis vanished and the door opened. Jacqueline hadn’t expected him to do that.

They hurried into the house. It was quiet, even though there were so many vehicles parked out front. Were the occupants of the house sleeping?

Adonis said to Jacqueline, “They’re sleeping.”

She wondered then if he had told the other vampires that too, or just the ones who might not have known what was going on.

Then a man walked into the living room, and Adonis swiftly moved to him and put his fingers to his mouth, telling the man to be quiet, to not make a sound. Then Zachary joined Adonis and took the man outside.

What was he? A vampire? A blood bond?

Danai and Michael headed down a hallway. Zachary returned to the group of hunters and said to Jacqueline, “They’re checking out the wing where Danai’s parents and sister had been kept hostage.” He motioned to another wing. “That’s where vampire guests stay. Upstairs is the master’s suite.”

Dane nodded and Jacqueline realized he had told Dane, and probably Stacey, the same thing.

Jaqueline thought they should go upstairs first because they had to take Heskel out first and foremost.

“Normally, we would take out everyone on the lower floor first,”Zachary said, “but we know Heskel is the priority just like Piaras was. We can’t allow a vampire to control a hunter.”

“I want to go upstairs and get him if he’s up there,”Jacqueline said, though she knew she couldn’t actually eliminate him.

“I’m with you, Jacqueline,” Dane said.

“Me too,”Stacey said.

Zachary said to Matt, “Can you, Trey, and Ryan take care of anyone in the rooms down this hallway?”

Matt inclined his head.

Then Adonis joined them. “The man was a blood bond. He took one of the cars and left, not wanting any part of getting himself killed over this. He said Heskel is with his girlfriend upstairs. I’ll go with whoever is headed to the upper floor and then the others will handle whoever is down here.”

Jacqueline wondered what was going on with Michael and Danai, but then Adonis disappeared, and Jacqueline did the same thing to join him at the landing upstairs.

Dane, Zachary, and Stacey joined them. The others stayed down below to take care of anyone in the hallway who might be a threat.

Once they were all upstairs, Adonis motioned to the door of a room left open.

“The master’s bedroom?”she telepathically asked Adonis.

He inclined his head. Then Adonis vanished and appeared inside the room. She wanted to go in there so badly, but she was afraid then that she would sabotage the mission. She said to Dane, “Go! I’ll help the others downstairs.”

He hugged and kissed her. “Stay safe.”

“And you.”

Then she vanished and ended up downstairs with the others. They were waiting at closed doors, and she suspected it was because they didn’t want to wake anyone and alert Heskel. She was used to going in and fighting, not this breaking into a vampire’s lair and waiting. Her heart, and everybody else’s, were beating like crazy.

She heard someone coming and turned to see Michael and Danai joining them. Jacqueline was actually glad to have some other hunter-turned vampires with her to help fight the battle if they got into it. Suddenly, all the doors began being thrown open and she heard fighting upstairs at the same time. Heskel must have alerted the occupants down below that he was in a fight, and to come to his aid. But they hadn’t expected to find hunters right outside their bedrooms.

Five of the vampires were wearing pajama shorts, two were naked, but they all were armed with swords. They immediately hissed at them, showing their deadly fangs. That was an indication they were all rogues. If they hadn’t been, knowing the ones they faced were hunters, they would have put their weapons down. Instead, they had shown their fangs, indicating they were dangerous and ready to battle it out with them.

Three of the vampires were on Jacqueline’s and Dane’s terminal list: Maggard, Quillon, and Paine. She went after Paine. He was a tall blond wearing black PJ shorts and he immediately thrust his sword at her. She vanished and struck at Quillon, a redhead, who was just as shocked as the other rogues who hadn’t expected any of the hunters to be vampires too.

Just as quickly, Paine came at her back, and she vanished. Paine struck Quillon in the heart with his sword, not anticipating she was going to hear Paine behind her and that she could move like that. Now that was the perfect tactical move!

Trey and Ryan had already taken down a vampire each as she fought Paine, who was so angry that she had outmaneuvered him that he was slashing at her without using the control he needed to be successful. She was alternately striking his sword and vanishing and appearing in a new location, which meant he was constantly trying to anticipate her moves and he wasn’t doing a good job of it.

Matt took down Maggard, who was one of the guys on her and Dane’s list. It didn’t matter. They had to just come out victorious, no matter who took down which rogues.

To her shock, Heskel suddenly was in front of her, and she thought Paine was going to stab him like he had Quillon accidentally. But then Heskel said, “You’re coming with me,” and he grabbed her wrist and vanished.

“He has got me,”Jacqueline said to Dane, knowing he would tell the others.

“Where are you now?” Dane sounded levelheaded and not panicky, which she was glad for because she was panicking.

“I think somewhere else in the house. A…a cell.”

“Adonis said that’s where his parents and his younger sister had been locked up. We’re on our way.” Dane showed up in the room where a cell was located.

Heskel smiled wickedly. “Kill him,” he commanded Jacqueline as soon as Dane came to fight him.

But a whole swarm of hunters showed up and Dane thrust his sword into Heskel’s heart before the rogue could vanish, instantly breaking his connection over Jacqueline. Heskel’s body wizened like a grape wizened into a raisin. Jacqueline likewise collapsed and Dane rushed with his vampiric speed to gather her in his arms before she hit the floor and kissed her. “Are you okay?”

“God, yes. He was trying to force me to kill you and I was fighting the command. I would never have forgiven myself if I had hurt you. When you terminated him, his control over me was broken, but at the same time, I blacked out briefly.”

“We need to call this in,” Matt said, usually the one to call the police and have them come for statements. “Do we know who all of the vampires were?”

“Yeah, three of them were on my termination list,” Jacqueline said, Dane helping her to her feet.

“Hmm, that means three of them were on my terminal list,” Dane said, a twinkle in his eye.

“There were eight in total,” Matt said.

“Well, four were ours,” Jacqueline amended. “Heskel was on our list too.”

“Right,” Dane said.

Joining them, Pasha said, “I got one.” She was wiping blood off five throwing stars.

Trey said, “The one I took down was on mine and so was the one Ryan eliminated.”

“I took down one,” Matt said. “He had been on Ryan’s list.”

“I got another one. He wasn’t on my list yet, but he wasn’t going to give up,” Stacey said.

“There were two more in the room off the cell,” Adonis said. “Danai and I took care of them. They were part of Piaras’s former staff. We thought we had eliminated all of them, but those two must have escaped and slipped back here when Heskel took over.”

“Good,” Zach said. “We eliminated the vampiress who had been in the bedroom with Heskel, and we were fighting Heskel, until he realized Jacqueline was nearby and vanished. We thought he had just fled like you said he had done twice before, until Jacqueline warned Dane that Heskel had grabbed her.”

While they waited for the police, Matt said, “Man, I feel like this place is just a vampire haven.”

“Yeah, since the rogues keep setting up housekeeping here,” Adonis said.

Trey said, “All I’ve got to say is the hunters who have been turned are unbelievably good at fighting the vampires. You should have seen Jacqueline. Two vampires had her pinned down. I wanted to go to her aid in the worst way. One came at her back, but I was still fighting one and he wasn’t letting me move. Then Jacqueline just vanished, and the rogue killed the other one she had been battling. The look on his face was precious until she came back to fight him some more.”

“Yeah,” Stacey agreed. “I told you guys at the therapy meeting how much I love the new abilities we have. I probably would have been a gonner if I hadn’t been able to move like they do.”

“I need to practice so that it comes naturally to me,” Dane said.

“We can practice fighting each other like that,” Jacqueline said.

“I’m game.” Stacey smiled at Dane.

Jacqueline wasn’t including Stacey, but then again, if they could all help each other, it could be worth it. “Hey, maybe some of the hunters who have been turned quite a while ago can help us navigate this new world we belong to.”

“I’m all for it,” Adonis said. “Though we’re here just for a visit.”

“So about going to the hunters’ club,” Stacey said.

“Oh, I want to do it early, like five? I think this calls for a celebration. I’m free from Heskel’s control now,” Jacqueline said.

“At five then. We’ll meet at the Starlight parking lot,” Adonis said.

Then the police arrived and took all their statements, but just as they were doing it, Van and Jacqueline’s best friend, Lettie, and Van’s two brothers showed up to fight the vampires in the house.

“You’re too late,” Jacqueline said, glad they beat them to the bounties. But mostly, she was thrilled Heskel was no longer a problem. Even though her life was still topsy turvy, at least that very major issue had been taken care of.