::ARI::
The week had been a nightmare and not just because every time I shut my eyes I tended to see broken bodies. I was feeling like a tiger trapped in a cage, not able to make a move without someone watching me and it was driving me insane.
The morning after the safe house massacre, I rang Carlos because I couldn’t deal with the clean up. As far as I knew, I was the only hunter alive in town and someone had to do it but every time I thought about stepping back in that house, I felt like I wanted to throw up. I had an excuse for getting out of it too. Physically, I couldn’t do it. I’d be moving dead bodies for weeks if I did it. Much better for everyone involved for me to show that little bit of weakness and call in the others.
They arrived just before dawn, Carlos bringing with him Antonio and a handful of other hunters he knew were up to the job. Although he had the job on his mind, he was also concerned about me. It wasn’t safe for me to stay here, he told me. I’d better pack up and return with them. No way, I argued. It didn’t matter where I went, I’d never be safe until I hunted out that damn vampire. That was what I was telling Antonio anyway.
No way could I give him the second part of that answer. I wasn’t sure whether he’d be more angry or disgusted if I dared tell him about McConnell. Probably both and because I couldn’t he kept nagging at me the whole week. I was too stubborn, I wasn’t indestructible he kept telling me. He should have known better than to keep pushing at me. It ended with one of the biggest arguments we’ve ever had, him calling me a selfish bitch and me punching him in the face.
I was pacing the room, more worked up than a dog listening to fireworks when as usual, McConnell invited himself in. Sure, why not I thought sarcastically. It wasn’t as if my day was going to get any better. I’d had no time to hit the streets and hunt down any new leads, not that I could have been bothered. For the first time in my life, I had just spent the week lazing around between the time I’d spent with the others.
‘You handle all your men with violence?’ he asked me as he made himself at home.
‘Like you care,’ I snorted. ‘What the hell do you want anyway? I’ve been busy burying my friends in case you haven’t noticed.’
Course he did, but I doubted he cared. I may still have been breathing, untouched so far but that didn’t mean more than a dozen dead hunters wasn’t a good thing as far as he was concerned. I stood where I’d been the moment he walked through the door, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed. So far, I’d tolerated him but today, he was getting on my nerves. I had a feeling that a huge chunk of that was because of what he was but I figured I had a right to feel that way after the other night.
‘I was there, remember?’ he pointed out.
‘And what did you do to help? Bloody nothing.’
‘Yes, cause I could really afford to break cover with Vincent there and a half dozen vampires, some of them older than me. Don’t be stupid.’
I think he was struggling to be polite which irked me. I didn’t need him to coddle my feelings about what had happened. I also didn’t need a reminder about who or what had been there. That night, I didn’t see any of the other vampires so I’d just have to trust his word about them. The only one I knew for sure had been there was Benny, little prick.
Despite everything, I felt my mind wander back to what they had been there for. A book, that was all McConnell had told me. I was of two minds. Part of me wanted to tell him to piss off and the other half wanted to know more about it. Whatever it was, I couldn’t let the others die in vain so despite my better judgement, I wanted to know.
‘What about this book? What were they hunting for?’
He shruged his shoulders. ‘I’ve only seen it. Do you really think Vincent is going to tell me what’s in it? All I have to do is spit in his direction and he’ll kick my ass out that door quicker than I can feed. Doesn’t do either of us any good if that happens.’
‘So genius, what does it look like?’
‘Small and black. Pretty tatty looking. Whatever it was, they seemed thrilled to have recovered it.’
My blood froze in my veins and I was surprised my heart didn’t stop beating on the spot. I’d seen that book many times in my youth. I’d even held it in my hands once or twice. Oh this was so not good. I couldn’t decide if I was more angry or nervous but before I could figure out, I did the first thing I could. Turning around, I slammed my fist into the wall and it was just pure luck that I didn’t either injure myself or put a hole through the plaster.
‘Brilliant, like you’re much use with one injured hand. That will really be a big help.’
If I hadn’t felt so antsy, maybe I would have hit him instead or worse. Let’s just say that I was getting an itchy trigger finger around any vampire at the moment and truce or not, if he pushed me too far, I’d shoot him. Hell, I’d enjoy it too.
‘You have no idea what was in that book.’
‘What? Recipes, gift ideas, weapon details? Could be dirty drawings for all I know.’
That feeling to whip out my gun and put a bullet in him returned. I fought against it because part of me knew I wasn’t being fair. He didn’t have the information I did and I knew he was right from what he’d told me about Vincent. I could get the gist from some of our past conversations that the vampire was not one to share, especially anything that gave him a sense of self importance.
I closed my eyes for a second and took a breath. I had to calm down before I exploded. There was no time for me to have any form of repeat event like that night. No, I wouldn’t do that. I just prayed that when I told him, he would realise just how important it was to me now that we get this thing moving and quick before anyone else could lose their lives.
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::ANTONIO::
‘Get moving, boy!’ my father shouted.
I grunted a reply but that was it. I’d been in a foul mood ever since I’d left Ari. Damn stubborn bitch and I’d told her so. I should have guessed what her reply would be but it still had surprised me she’d punched me. Why couldn’t she see that this wasn’t a game? She was the only one who had survived and that was down to dumb luck that she’d isolated herself from the safe house.
All I knew was that I never wanted to go through this week again in my life. The house looked like someone had gone way off track with a paint by numbers. The only saving grace was that the detail they’d put me on didn’t include coming into contact with my friends, dad and Charlie making sure that I didn’t even get a glimpse. Things must have been bad, worse than I imagined if that was the case.
‘Give him a break Carlos,’ Charlie shouted across the room to my father and laughing. ‘He’s just had his face punched in by Nicholls. That’s got to be a blow to his pride.’
Geez, thanks I thought. Like I wanted to keep being reminded about it. Explaining how I got the bloody nose I’d returned with was bad enough. Anyone else, I would have just copped it on the chin but her? It pissed me off. I had no idea what she was using for brains at the moment but staying here was not going to help anyone. All resources in the immediate area were gone and she would be well and truly by herself. We were all here just long enough to clear out the house and set everything else in motion.
‘That girl is trouble,’ dad said, shaking his heads. I may have been angry at her but I opened my mouth to protest, him cutting me off. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Tony. I have a soft spot for her but where she goes, death always follows.’
I rolled my eyes. Of course it did. It followed us all but she’d just happened to have more of it than most of us. She’d lost both her parents and had to grow up quicker than the rest of us. As a family support system, vampire hunters sucked. No one had offered to take her in and care for her after her father died. She was left alone and to her own devices. Sure, she could call for back up or help on a job but then with a kick up the ass, they’d send her on her way again. If she didn’t fight to survive, she would have been dead long ago. It was either kill or be killed and she’d made the only choice she could.
I mumbled something under my breath that I dared not tell him to his face, miserable old bastard. I loved my father but sometimes he thought of us all more as little hunter prodigies than actual people. None of us as his own kids had what I could call a compassionate childhood so I sure didn’t expect him to cut Ari a break in any way.
‘How much more is there to do anyway?’ I asked him, changing the subject.
‘Three more rooms to wash down and then lock up until someone else can be appointed here.’ He said it all matter of factly as if he was talking about washing the dog. ‘You in a hurry to get out of here or something?’
Charlie laughed. ‘Well, he’s fighting with his booty call so why would he want to stick around?’
I turned away before I could say something I’d regret or worse, blush. You had no damn privacy in this business. Why did they give a shit what I did with who anyway? I swear, men were worse than gossiping girls sometimes.
The one thing I did know was that I really didn’t want to leave town on an argument. When they were occupied, I took out my phone and dialed her number. No answer. My guess was she was still pissed at me. Not much I could do about that whether I liked it or not.
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::MICK::
I stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
‘So, spit it out before you explode. What’s the big deal with this book?’ I asked her.
I’d been stalking her for years but I’d never seen her as scared as she looked right now. She was trying to hide it but her eyes told the truth. Whatever was in it, the thought of vampires having control of it really got to her. She calmed down long enough to sit on the end of the bed beside me. Taking a deep breath, she looked straight at me.
‘That book holds the name and home address of every hunter in this damn country. Not to mention probably a few in others as well. Also, ever safe house.’
Fuck. Even I could admit that was not a good thing. I knew enough to know that not all hunters travelled constantly like she did. It made my skin crawl thinking of those listed in the pages of that book who had partners, children maybe even a damn dog.
There was one thing niggling at the back of my mind though. How the hell did they know it was there? It could only mean one thing. There was a leak somewhere, some hunter who was playing both teams but finding out who it was wasn’t going to be easy. I would have just let it go except that it was going to complicate matters for us. Whoever it was, was an unknown quantity that needed to be dealt with and whether she liked it or not, that would mean I would have to take them out. Despite her demeanor, I seriously doubted she could kill one of her own. I had no such worries about taking out someone to protect my own ass.
‘We need to deal with this,’ I told her.
She nodded, even if she didn’t look happy about it. ‘Whoever it is, is a danger to us all. Chances are, the asshole also knows where I’ve been hiding out. I don’t believe in coincidence and I doubt that the safe house nearby being the target was one. Every safe house leader has one of those books but they chose the one just down the road to hit.’
I didn’t believe in coincidence either and fate, well that was just bullshit too. First thing we had to do was move her before the place was crawling with vampires. If they discovered me here, I’d be killed as well and call me selfish, but I wasn’t going to sacrifice my life for her or this stupid cause they were pushing.
‘I’ll be back in half an hour but I’ll meet you down the street in that dive you get your coffee from. I’ll explain what we’re doing then.’
‘Who died and made you boss?’ she snapped.
I didn’t reply. Just looked at her and left. My first port of call was checking in with the vampires. I was meant to be back there an hour ago but had to sort all this crap out first. From there, I had to make a phone call and that was the part I wasn’t looking forward to.