Chapter 8

Jacqueline loved Dane’s brothers. She thought they were the greatest. She loved that they were willing to back them on going to a hunters’ club. She didn’t want them to tarnish their reputations as hunters, but she thought the world of them for offering to be there for both of them. And she was completely amused that they would come and insert themselves during their pool time to cool things down a bit between her and Dane. She knew they had his best interests—and probably hers—at heart.

She got a kick out of the brothers all wrestling in the pool. They were fun. But Dane wasn’t playing with them. He stayed with her and kept her company, chasing her, or she chased him, diving under the water, treading water together.

She and he finally got out of the pool and sat down on a couple of lawn chairs to dry out. “It was good that you have an indoor swimming pool once you were turned.”

“I know. It really was fortuitous. I just figured we could use it all year round, even in winter if it was enclosed. But it was really good that we can use it any time now, even if it’s fully sunny out.”

“Where are you?”a voice said in Jacqueline’s head suddenly. “You’re not at home.”

Jacqueline grabbed Dane’s arm. “It’s him.”

“Heskel?” Dane took her into his arms as if to protect him from the monster.

His brothers stopped playing and watched them, having heard him mention Heskel’s name.

She nodded. “He asked me where I’m at.”

“He knows you’re not at home?” Dane asked.

“It appears that way. Do you think he sent his blood bonds to come for me?”

“It sounds like he has sent someone to check on you or grab you.”

“But he doesn’t know where I am now. No one must have been watching my house when we returned there, packed up, and left. Which I’m glad for.”

“Me too.”

“Can he force you to tell him where you are?” Matt asked, treading water in the deep end of the pool.

“I haven’t answered him. I didn’t before when he told me to meet him at his blood bond’s house either. I just told you and we went there.”

“Okay,” Matt said. “So he can’t read your mind.”

“No. He can talk to me telepathically, but he can’t seem to force me to tell him what I’m up to. And he can’t make me telepathically communicate with him. But I’m sure he’ll be trying to learn where I am.”

“Did you feel forced to go to Heskel’s blood bond’s house?” Trey asked.

“I did. Not like I had to leave right that second, but I felt I had to do it. I couldn’t kill him, but I actually threatened him with my sword. I couldn’t believe I could do that. I keep hoping that as a huntress, I’m able to fight his control. Maybe not all the way, but enough to keep him from making me do anything against my will.”

“We need to take down this bastard,” Trey said, everyone agreeing.

God, how she hated that the vampire who had turned her had any control over her life. It had been turned upside down enough already!

“Maybe we should go to a vampire club and see if we can track him down that way,” Dane said.

“Do you think vampires who are strictly vampires would turn on one of their own?” she asked, afraid they would just as soon tell Heskel the hunters were at the club looking for him.

“Not necessarily,” Dane said. “The vampires who aren’t rogues don’t want to have their own names blackened. Though if friends of Heskel are there, or other rogues, they might feel compelled to tell him that we were looking for him.”

“Well, also, I suspect that they won’t want us in the club either because we’re still hunters,” she said. “I’m going to change clothes.”

“See you upstairs in a minute,” he said.

She vanished and reappeared in his bedroom, changed into jeans and a T-shirt and headed downstairs. “How does sea bass sound for lunch?” she asked.

“Delicious. I’ll be right down,” Dane said and vanished.

Then the brothers left the swimming pool, went upstairs to change, and they all joined her downstairs. They ended up having sea bass, fried potatoes, tomatoes, and green beans.

“Let’s go to the park and take a hike,” Jacqueline said.

Matt asked, “All of us?”

“Sure,” she said.

It was cloudy out, but for now, there was only a low chance of rain. After eating lunch, the brothers cleaned up, then they all went for a drive to a park to hike a ten-mile trail. Dane walked with Jacqueline while Matt walked way ahead of them, and Trey and Ryan walked way behind them—there for them in the event anyone caused trouble for them.

Once they returned to Dane’s house, Jacqueline said, “We ought to go to a humans’ club. We should be able to dance and enjoy ourselves at one without any incident.” She felt that she couldn’t be locked up while waiting for a chance to take down Heskel.

“Yeah, I’m ready for it,” Dane said.

“I’m going to pick up a huntress I wanted to ask out. Hopefully, she’ll be free,” Matt said.

“Who?” Jacqueline asked before the others could ask.

“Marissa.”

“Marissa Overlander?” Jacqueline asked.

“Yeah, do you know her?” Matt asked.

“Just by name. I’ve heard she’s kind of a maverick huntress,” Jacqueline said.

Matt smiled.

She got the impression that he liked that kind of a woman.

Then Matt called Marissa and said, “Hey, this is Matt Edmonton. Yeah. My brothers and a huntress are going to a human club. Do you want to go with us? I can pick you up and take you?” He shook his head. “Okay, no problem. Maybe we can make it another time then. Sure, bye.” He ended the call.

“No, deal, eh?” Dane said.

“She said the notice was too short but that she was happy to go out some other time—if she has enough notice.”

Jacqueline laughed. “She probably had other plans.”

“She’ll take you up on the next offer, if you don’t call her at the last minute,” Trey said.

“Yeah,” Matt said.

Dane said, “I’m lucky that Jacqueline loves to do things on the spur of the moment.”

“Yeah, but truly, Marissa could have had some plans she couldn’t or wouldn’t change for a date with a hunter she has never dated before,” Jacqueline said. “I mean, if I had plans to do something and couldn’t get away for a spontaneous date. I would have said the same thing.”

“Nah,” Dane said. “You would have dropped any of your plans to go out with me.”

His brothers laughed.

“You are so sure of yourself,” she said, kissing his cheek. She realized he might be right though.

Trey said, “I’ll ask Denise if she and two of her huntress friends can go with us.” He got on his phone and called her. “Hey, my brothers and I and a huntress are going to a human club. Do you and a couple of your huntress friends want to join us?” He smiled at Matt. “Okay, we’ll come and pick you up…yeah, now. See you in a few.” He said to them, “Okay, we all have dates.”

Matt slapped him on the back. “Good going.”

“Is this going to mess you up with plans to date Marissa later?” Jacqueline asked.

“I’ve never dated her before so there may never be anything there between us,” Matt said.

But Jacqueline wasn’t sure that Marissa would feel that way if she learned that when she said she couldn’t go out with him, he just picked up another date for the night.

Then Dane’s brothers went to pick up the other women while Dane and Jacqueline dressed.

“I was going to say you’re a maverick huntress,” Dane said.

She chuckled. “I am. Okay, I’m going to wear this off-the-shoulder black dress and heels.”

“Oh, I love that. I’ve got this black shirt, black jeans, and dress shoes.”

“Perfect.” Once he pulled off his shirt, she ran her hands over his bare chest. “I guess we can’t skip out on your brothers and their dates.”

“Sure we can.”

She laughed. “We’ll do it after we check out the human club.” She really loved dancing and she wanted to know if maybe human clubs would be the best way for them to go when they wanted a night out to dance. Humans wouldn’t know what they were, most likely.

Then they finished dressing, petted Princess goodbye, and headed out to Dane’s truck. Matt gave Dane a call on Bluetooth. “We’re dressed, have picked up the ladies, and are on our way. What about you?”

“We are too.”

“Good. We were afraid you might have gotten sidetracked,” Matt said.

Everyone in the vehicle laughed.

Dane and Jacqueline smiled.

It wasn’t long before they all arrived at the Stardust Club. The exterior was a stone building with a big green metal roof, lights in the shape of stars all outside the club lighting it up, a fountain with a fish pouring water into it sitting near the entryway. Inside, they found a couple of large tables to grab and pushed them together. Disco lights were flashing inside, and the building was atmospherically dark. Everything was a western theme in there, including the serving staff who were wearing blue jeans, red and white gingham shirts, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats.

Lasso ropes, cowboy hats, boots, paintings of cattle drives hung on the walls. The furniture was all heavy oak. It was a fun place to go.

They introduced Jacqueline and Dane to Denise, Kelsey, and Sandy. They soon had drinks and started dancing. They were having a great time.

“Hmm, you are such a great dancer,” Jacqueline said to Dane.

“You bring out the moves in me,” Dane said, holding her close, dancing to the beat, turning her on.

When she had danced with Van, it was like they were two separate people, doing their own thing. But with Dane, they were dancing nice and close, like they had been forever, like this was where they belonged. He made her feel sexy and desirable. And she could feel where she was arousing him. But then her teeth began to elongate, and she felt embarrassed. Why would they do that now? She didn’t want him to see that her teeth had come down or he might think she was mad at him.

But then they finished their dance and they returned to their table so they could drink their cocktails and she hoped she could get her teeth under control. The others all joined them and ordered fresh drinks when a blond-haired guy came over to the table and asked Jacqueline to dance with him.

“Uh, no, thanks. I’m with my partner.” Jacqueline patted Dane’s arm.

“You are lucky,” the man said to Dane. Then he reached his hand out to Jacqueline as if she hadn’t just said no to him, his blue-eyed gaze focused on her eyes.

She picked up her drink and took another sip. She wasn’t going with the guy. None of them had their swords with them since no weapons were allowed in any of the clubs. Her canines were still extended, but she didn’t want to expose them to him.

Dane said, “She said no.”

Then the man turned his attention to Dane. He was just staring at him, as if he couldn’t believe that Dane would say that to him.

Then the man grabbed Jacqueline’s wrist and Dane was out of his seat before anyone could see his response. He slugged the man in the jaw, knocking him back and the guy lost his grip on Jacqueline.

Then suddenly, the man backed off, rubbing his jaw where Dane had punched him, frowning. “What are you?” Then he paused. “Hell, you’re hunters.”

Dane smiled, but his canines were fully exposed.

“My mistake,” the guy quickly said, and hurried out of the club.

“What was that all about?” Trey asked.

“I’m sure he was a vampire, probably looking for a blood bond, who was enamored with Jacqueline, and figured she was the perfect conquest. I’m sure he was trying to convince Dane and Jacqueline through vampire persuasion that she would dance with him,” Matt said.

“But then he thought they were hunters,” Ryan said.

“Yep, because he wouldn’t have been able to control them then, but then Dane had to show off his fangs,” Matt said, chuckling.

“I had to make the point that I wasn’t just a hunter,” Dane said.

She could have shown off her fangs also, but after her hot dancing with Dane, and then cooling off with drinking their cocktails, they were already back to their normal size. She was glad that they weren’t always long fangs at least. She was relieved Dane had shown off his fangs to the other vampire.

She smiled up at him and he kissed her. So much for safely going to a human club. But she realized that this was probably a place vampires would come to for a blood bond.

“I’m glad you showed off your canines,” she said to Dane.

“That’s the first time anyone has made me angry enough to show them off in a confrontation. Besides, I figured he was a vampire at that point, and I assumed there might be a code of honor between non-rogues that a woman who was with me was off-limits unless she wanted to dance or be with him,” Dane said.

The huntresses with them just stared at the two of them. The one said, “You’re vampires?”

“Hunters turned, yes,” Jacqueline said, trying not to sound annoyed. Why couldn’t they have just gone dancing and enjoyed themselves like other people were doing?

Their second round of drinks were delivered to the table and Jacqueline drank some of hers, then said, “Let’s dance.”

“I’m all for it.” Dane drank some of his drink, and then took her hand and they headed back to the dance floor.

She was sure Dane’s brothers would be explaining to the women what had happened to them. Maybe even not to bring it up.

“Well, that went over well,” Jacqueline said to Dane as they danced nice and close again and she really needed this affirmation that she was all right as a hunter turned.

“You mean with the vampire?”

“No, with the women who came with your brothers to the club.”

Dane smiled down at her. “I think they were in awe.”

“I think they were in shock.”

“Well, now they know, and all that matters is that we’re having a good time,” Dane said.

“That’s true! I sure am. But yeah, the confrontation with the vampire sure went well.”

When everyone was done with their drinks and dancing, Matt said, “We’re taking the ladies home.”

“We’re headed to my house,” Dane said.

Jacqueline wanted to know what the women thought of them, though she shouldn’t have cared. That was something she was having to deal with—letting go of whatever others’ thought of her now that she was turned.

Then finally they arrived home and started making a dinner of chicken enchiladas and rice.

Not long after that, the brothers joined them for dinner.

“So what did the women say about Dane and me being turned?” Jacqueline asked Dane’s brothers at once.

Matt smiled. “They thought it was really cool. They didn’t want to make either of you mad.”

Relieved, Jacqueline said, “Good.”

Dane rubbed her back. “Yeah, if they hadn’t been cool with it?—”

“They would be history,” Trey said. “I mean as far as us dating them.”

* * *

After dinner,they got ready to meet up with Stacey and take down the vampire she was after. “We’re going to let her have the hunter’s fee, aren’t we?” Jacqueline asked Dane.

“Yes. Stacey asked us to help her so I think that’s only fair,” he said.

“You took half of my bounty fee for getting rid of Axel.”

“You took half of my bounty fee for getting rid of Mabon.” He smiled at her.

She smiled back at him. His brothers chuckled.

“What do you all do when you go after a rogue together? Split the bounty money between the four of you?” Jacqueline asked.

“When we go together, we’re usually after a gang of rogue vampires, so yeah, we split the proceeds because there’s enough money to go around. Though we get paid a lot for every case because of the danger of taking them down,” Dane said.

Trey said, “I would have given you the full bounty on Axel, Jacqueline.”

Dane laughed. “Hell, he was on my take-down list also.”

“Dane earned it. We both did. And he did pay half of his bounty on Mabon when he did all the work.” Jacqueline squeezed his hand.

Then they arrived at the grocery store. Stacey got out of her car and gave all the guys a hug first, then finally hugged Jacqueline. Jacqueline knew where she stood on the totem pole—on the bottom—because Jacqueline was into handsome guys. Dane and his brothers were all real lookers.

“Thanks so much to all of you for coming to help me with this. I thought only Dane would be, but I understand how he was stepping in to help a fellow therapy group member.”

Jacqueline was amused. Stacey really liked men.

“Okay, so I put a tracker on Italia’s car and also her mate’s. They’re at the Blue Moon vampire club. They take separate cars when they go there so they can leave when they feel like it. I thought we could wait there and watch for them to leave. If Franklin leaves first, we need to have one vehicle follow him, and then the other needs to follow Italia. She’ll probably wait for him to leave and then go right after that,” Stacey said.

“Who of us is going after whom?” Matt asked.

“Since Italia’s the one we have to eliminate, I want to follow her and then Dane can see where Franklin goes. If he picks up a woman, he’ll be with her, then he leaves her house, the police believe he returns home and then Italia kills the woman her mate had been with,” Stacey said.

* * *

“Okay, that sounds good.”Now Dane understood why Stacey had needed someone to help her with the case. They never knew how they would have to take down a rogue until they did their research. He was glad they had agreed to help her. Stacey couldn’t have done this alone.

“We’ll divide up and some of us will go with Stacey and the others will go in Dane’s truck,” Matt said.

“I’ll go with Stacey,” Trey said.

Ryan said he would go with them too.

Then Trey and Ryan got into Stacey’s car with her. Jacqueline was glad that they were there to protect her if anything went sideways. She was also glad Dane wasn’t going with her in her vehicle.

As they followed Stacey’s car, Matt said, “She’s intriguing.

Dane glanced at Jacqueline. “She’s a nice person, but I’m not interested in her.”

Matt laughed. “She would be a handful.”

“Yeah, too much of a handful.”

“Maybe I would be,” Jacqueline said.

Dane smiled at her. “My kind of a handful.”

“That’s what you think.” Jacqueline wanted to make sure he understood that them being a couple wasn’t a sure thing yet!

When they arrived at the vampire club painted a cornflower blue and featuring a large white moon, Stacey called Dane and he put it on speaker. “Italia’s car is that red Cadillac. The blue Jeep on the other side of the parking lot is Franklin’s. According to when I saw them going inside the club, they’ve been there for about a half hour.”

“We’re used to waiting to take down rogues, so no problem,” Matt said.

An hour later, Stacey called Dane again and he put it on speaker. “The man in the black jeans, checked shirt, black cowboy boots, and hat, that’s Franklin. Some say he was a cowboy a couple of centuries ago.”

“Okay, we’re following him.” Dane waited to start his vehicle until Franklin drove off. Then he followed him. “I guess he never picks up a blood bond at a vampire club while his mate is there.”

“No, he appears to be sneaky about it. Maybe it’s always a one-night stand and he never realized that his mate eliminates the woman afterward,” Jacqueline said. “But what if he’s all in on this? It spices up their life? He gets to do what he wants, and she gets to do what she wants. It’s a mutual game between them and he knows all about what she’s doing.”

“Uh, yeah, I agree with Jacqueline on that,” Matt said. “I wonder if he’s on any lists.”

“Unless it can be proven that he and his mate are in collusion, then maybe not,” Jacqueline said. “He may know exactly what she’s up to but proving it could be difficult to do without questioning both of them separately. I suspect questioning either of them isn’t going to be an option. Especially with Italia because she’s already on a list. She’ll only have one thought in mind—kill the hunters who come after her and keep from being eliminated. And if she’s loyal to Franklin and doesn’t want us to go after him next, she won’t tell us that he is part of this whole murder scheme.”

Then they saw him stop at a home in a nice residential area.

“No,” Jacqueline said.

“Yeah, blood bonds come from all walks of life,” Dane said.

A woman came out of the front door wearing a silky, red nighty and smiled at Franklin. She was about thirty, her brown hair streaked with blond strands, and she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

Franklin parked his car while Dane parked curbside a few houses down. “What if Franklin takes part in the killings? Maybe just his mate is blamed for them, like she’s jealous he would see another woman behind his back?” Dane said.

“That would be even more insidious,” Jacqueline said. “But it could give the human woman more of a sense of security if she thinks she’s only going to be with a male for a good time.”

“Do you think she might not even know that Franklin is a vampire? I mean, he’s a good-looking guy and she might just think he’s human,” Jacqueline said. “It would be easy for him to convince her of it.”

“Let’s make sure that he isn’t the one who is responsible for killing the victims,” Dane said.

They left the pickup and headed for the house, skirting around the right of the one-story stucco house with a large water fountain out front, a green boxwood hedge all around, until they moved to the back door. Matt had a lockpick and unlocked the door. He carefully opened it.

They heard a man and woman talking in the living room and they headed in that direction to make sure the woman was okay. The thing was, they couldn’t do anything to him if he was just having sex with her, just biting her, and giving her pleasure. But if he did it against her will? That was another story.

* * *

When they sawFranklin kissing the woman, Jacqueline felt like a voyeur. She glanced at Dane. He was frowning at the couple. Suddenly, the front door was thrown open and Italia flew into the room with murder in her eyes. Jacqueline thought Franklin would stop his mate from hurting the woman, but instead he stepped back and the human woman screamed. Then the human collapsed on the couch in a faint. At the same time, Jacqueline appeared in front of the woman to stop the vampiress from hurting the human. Both Italia and Franklin looked shocked to see the group of hunters in the living room and then Dane transporting himself like a vampire.

Stacey had finally moved in the same way to reach Italia, and she quickly shoved her sword into her heart. Italia turned into a wrinkled, dehydrated prune. Franklin jumped away from the human woman and his mate’s body, throwing up his hands as if he wasn’t doing anything bad, and that he had nothing to do with hurting anyone.

Now Jacqueline wondered if he was just as involved but when she had stopped Italia from ripping the human’s throat out, he decided to play the innocent.

Matt was texting on his phone and then he said, “You’re lucky this time. You’re not on any termination lists, but if you hook up with another vampire who kills humans that you’re luring into a situation like this, you’re going to be eliminated.”

Franklin glanced at his girlfriend’s body, then vanished, not waiting for the hunters to change their minds. They heard his car peel out of the driveway. The police would have Italia’s car towed and impounded. A couple of officers were coming to take their statements.

Jacqueline revived the human woman, who looked horrified to see the dead body on her floor and the hunters peering down at her. “Did you know Franklin was a vampire?”

She shook her head vigorously.

“Have you met him before?” Jacqueline asked.

“On a dating site. Don’t tell my husband, please.”

Jacqueline raised her brows.

“He’s always away on trips. I know he’s seeing other women. It’s…it’s the first time I even tried anything like this.”

“It would have been your last if we hadn’t intervened on your behalf,” Jacqueline said.

The police and two homicide detectives arrived then and everyone, including the woman, gave them their statements.

“We’ll keep an eye out on Franklin and if he’s involved in any more cases of murders of women, we’ll add him to a list,” the homicide detective said. “And, miss? You’re lucky these hunters have been following the rogues’ movements. You can never be too careful.”

Lipstick was smudged around her mouth, and her mascara was running down her cheeks in black rivulets.

That’s when Jacqueline saw a dollhouse sitting in the corner of the living room against the wall. “Do you have children?”

“A boy and a girl, age seven and nine.”

“You’re lucky we found you and rescued you before the vampiress killed you. No telling what she would have done to the kids,” Jacqueline said, wanting the woman to realize the danger she had put them in even if she didn’t care about her own safety.

Then the police finished up with them, and one of the detectives said to the woman, “Do you have anyone you can call to stay with you? We’ve notified your husband, but he can’t get here any sooner than tomorrow night on a flight home.”

“My…my mother.”

Jacqueline wondered how her mother would take this whole business. But that’s when she got a communication again from Heskel. “Where are you? I learned you took down a couple of vampires last night and then you just vanished. I know which vampires are on your target list still, but you haven’t gone anywhere near them.”

“It’s him, Heskel,” Jacqueline said to Dane. “He wants to know where I am again. He said he’s watching my target list of vampires, which he can’t do on his own, so he must have vampire friends or blood bonds watching them, waiting for me to show up.”

“Ask him where he is,” Stacey said.

Would it be that easy? Jacqueline doubted it. “I don’t want to communicate with him. What if he can learn where I am if I did?”

“Hmm, like GPS? Maybe. I don’t know,” Stacey said.

That was the thing. None of the turned hunters knew enough about it.