Brendon kneeled beside the sofa in Grange’s cabin, where Ella slept soundly. The thought of walking out of that door across the room caused his heart to feel as if it were being torn straight from his chest.
He had no idea when he would see her face again. When he would hear her quiet voice. The voice that was showing more and more emotion with each passing day. He had no idea when he would again be able to look into those light green eyes that now gave away every emotion she felt, whether she realized it or not.
His Ella. His lifemate. The one person made just for him. Perfectly suited to be by his side for all of eternity. How in the hell could a man be expected to walk away from something like that?
Brendon wasn’t sure but he knew he had to.
She was breathing lightly. Her warm breath blowing the red strands of hair that had fallen across her soft face. She looked so peaceful.
Brendon hadn’t told her that he’d be leaving while she slept but he knew that’s what he had to do. If he waited until she was awake and looking at him with those eyes full of sadness then he’d never be able to leave. And if he didn’t leave they might just come for him…. And if that happened then Ella could be killed and Grange’s entire pack would be in danger.
Brendon couldn’t do that. He wasn’t that selfish.
He leaned forward, laying a feather light kiss to Ella’s brow, and then rose to his full height. He longed to wake her up, to say something, anything, to let her know how much he cared about her…
He could only hope that the time they had spent together today and the love they had made would hold her through until he could return. Ella’s trust, her faith in him, was such a fragile thing given her past and he could only pray that it would last.
Reaching into his pocket, Brendon pulled out an envelope with her name scrawled across the front. Inside the envelope was a letter, telling her what she meant to him, one of many he planned on giving to her while he was away.
He sat the envelope gently beside her, leaning it against her arm so she would find it when she awoke.
Brendon felt as if he aged one hundred years instantly, the moment he turned and began to drag his booted feet away from Ella.
He forced himself out to the barn and began saddling his horse. This was a big roan stallion that had proven to be strong and had great endurance. Maybe this beast would last him longer than most seemed to.
He was cinching the saddle tightly around the horse when he heard footsteps behind him.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, Grange.” Brendon apologized without turning around.
“You didn’t. I don’t sleep much.” Grange replied honestly. Brendon nodded and then hooked his satchel of weapons and supplies to the saddle horn. He had replaced everything he had lost after Vaughn had attacked Ella.
He had his rifle in the scabbard on the saddle, his crossbow on his back, revolver on his side, derringer in his boot and a bowie on his leg. Crosses, anti-venoms, holy water and ammunition filled his satchel.
“I’m gonna ride over to Nickolai’s and then I’ll be leaving.”
“I promise you that they will be taken care of here. As far as I’m concerned they are part of my pack now and I will protect them with my life if need be.”
Brendon turned to Grange then and offered him a small smile.
“Thanks.”
“Here.” Grange said holding out a sack that smelled of ham, bread and sugar. “Dawn wanted you to have it.”
Brendon opened it and peeked inside.
“She makes good ham.” Grange grunted and Brendon nodded. He remembered.
“I’ll be back, Grange.” Brendon assured him. “I’m getting my freedom.”
“Would you like help?”
“You want to go to war with the council?’ Brendon asked with amusement. “Not even you are that tough. Thanks though.”
“The offer stands, Brendon. I would no longer have my mate if not for you. My entire pack could have been wiped out by Faugrimm if you hadn’t warned me he was here. That and you’re my friend, my pack brother, we’ll fight for your freedom if you want us to.”
Brendon felt emotion fill his throat and quickly cleared it away with a grunt. Grange’s words, his admittance of Brendon into his pack, touched that empty cavern in his heart that had always craved family. Brendon had a family waiting for him…. He just wasn’t sure that he’d ever make it back to them.
“I’ll be back.” he said again, more to assure himself than the werewolf who just nodded, his blue eyes full of doubts.
Brendon held out his hand and Grange shook it quickly.
“Take care of yourself, Hunter.”
“Always do.”
***
Brendon approached Nickolai’s cabin and heard a growling as he dismounted his horse. Then Nickolai materialized out of the shadows, startling even Brendon.
“Did I frighten you?” the soldier wolf asked with an amused half grin. Brendon took a deep breath and willed his racing heart to calm down before it galloped right out of his chest.
“Nope.” he lied. “I was hoping I could come say goodbye to Maggie. I won’t wake her….”
Nickolai nodded and motioned toward the cabin.
“She is sleeping on blankets on our bedroom floor. I offered her the sofa until we get an extra room built but she….”
“She can’t fall asleep alone.” Brendon cut in quietly. “It’s because she was in the orphanage. She’s used to hearing other people breath around her. The quiet scares her. So does the dark.”
The odd look Nickolai sent him had Brendon pulling off his hat and running his hand through his hair. Instead of speaking, Nickolai just motioned at the cabin again.
Brendon walked awkwardly through the front door and followed the sound of breathing into a bedroom.
He could tell by the pattern of Brie’s breaths that she was awake but trying hard to act as if she was asleep, probably so he wouldn’t be too embarrassed.
He saw Maggie sound asleep on the floor. The moonlight shining through the window, causing her face to glow in its light.
He didn’t feel like a father to her, he wasn’t ready for anything like that, and he knew that Nickolai and Brie would make wonderful parents for her, but still he felt responsible for her and he would be lying if he said he didn’t care deeply for the little girl.
He reached out in the moonlight and brushed a stray bit of dark hair from her pale face and then just as quickly as he had entered, he left the cabin, his chest feeling painfully tight.
Without a word to Nickolai, who was still standing where Brendon had left him, Brendon jumped on his horse and took off into the woods, knowing that he was leaving all the pieces of his heart behind as he headed toward a place he really didn’t want to go.
***
It took Brendon less than a week to reach the compound and he found he’d been wrong about the horse. The beast had begun to tire considerably after three days with almost no rest and Brendon hadn’t been able to bring himself to push the horse any further. It had been too nice a creature.
So he had traded the stallion for another horse and continued on his journey.
Now the compound was in sight. A huge monstrosity of brick and stone rising out of the mountains.
For so long the compound had been home. He had not known anything else but now… Now he knew how good life could be on the outside. He knew what it was like to have a warm, feminine body to curl up to every night. He knew how it felt to have a child’s tiny hand wrapped around his own.
He could not stay here. He could no longer be a Hunter. His heart just wouldn’t be in it. It was still back with that tiny vampire and little girl who had stolen it.
Brendon tipped his head to the guard at the gate and the man nodded at the slaves, werewolves working off their sentence for their crimes, and the two wolves opened the gate to allow Brendon to enter.
Brendon noticed that everything seemed quiet. His horses hoof beats on the cobblestone walkway sounded as loud as cannon blasts. The men training in the yard stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. The gate slammed shut behind him.
Brendon felt a trickle of unease wash down his spine. Something was very wrong.
He tried to push the feelings of trepidation away. Surely it was just a guilty conscience weighing heavily on him. Much like Poe’s ‘Tell Tale Heart’. He was planning on lying to the Council and asking to be released from his servitude, that would be enough to make anyone feel guilty.
He dismounted his horse at the large stables, a young boy, a Hunter in training, probably no more than ten or eleven, took the reins and smiled at him with awe.
Brendon was well known among the Hunters. Being the oldest Hunter alive his name was in all the school books and lessons that the teachers taught to the new Hunters who arrived.
His fighting styles were used to train the children and his unfailing loyalty used as an example. Surely he had given the council enough? Surely he had earned a chance at his own life.
Brendon slung his satchel over his shoulder and then headed toward the fortress.
He walked inside, and was instantly stopped by a large demon guard when he stepped toward the hall that would lead to the Council meeting area.
“Name.” the guard grunted. Brendon rolled his eyes.
“Brendon.”
“Identification number.”
“Is this really necessary, Peter?” Brendon questioned, knowledge of his own deceit making him feel a little on edge and snappy. This demon knew damn well who he was. The two had been through this song and dance at least a thousand times.
“Identification number.” Peter asked again, tightening his grip on the axe in his hands and giving no indication that he was going to let Brendon go by him without hearing that number.
“56798045.” Brendon stated clearly. Then he grinned. “And I like listening to poetry, watching Shakespearian plays and taking long barefoot walks on the beach in the moonlight.”
Finally a grin split the demon guards face.
“Afraid we’re not going to work out then, Hunter. I hate sand between my toes. It makes me itch.”
“Break my heart.” Brendon exclaimed as he covered his heart with his hand. Peter chuckled.
“Sorry about being on edge. Something is going on here today and nobody wants to say what it is. I was told to be especially vigilant today.”
“I understand. We just do what they say. All of us.” Brendon replied, looking past Peter and toward the wide double doors that led to the meeting room. “I need to give my report to the council.”
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Peter replied. He turned and walked to the doors, slipping inside and closing them tightly behind him.
Brendon stood there, drumming his fingers on his thighs as he waited impatiently. The lie would be the easy part… how odd a thought that was! All his life he had been trained to be unfailingly loyal to this Council and now he was thinking that lying would be easy.
The hard part would be asking for his freedom. He still was not sure what he would do if they refused him.
Brendon noticed how long it was taking Peter and that only served to add to his growing uneasiness.
He was relieved when the door opened and Peter stepped out.
“They are ready for you.” Peter grunted and Brendon noticed that the demon wouldn’t meet his eyes.
What was going on?
“No weapons.” Peter reminded him when he tried to step past the demon. “New rule.”
Brendon nodded though he wasn‘t happy about being disarmed. He removed his crossbow and pulled his revolver from his holster, laying them both on the table beside the double doors. His boot knife and derringer went beside them as did his large bowie knife.
Brendon stepped up to the double doors and then shoved them open before walking into the meeting room.
The old men were all gathered together up on the dais. There were stern looks on each of their faces, sterner than normal, which he assumed was probably due to how long he’d been gone.
He stepped onto the platform, beneath the bright sun shining through the glass skylight. The sun warmed his skin somewhat, but this room always seemed so cold. Just rock and stone and the Council. Or his captors as Ella had called them.
“Brendon.” Farris sneered, somehow making his name sound more like a curse. “How wonderful of you to finally grace us with your presence.”
“I can’t stay away from you, sir. You’re my everything.”
“Sarcasm?” Farris snapped and Brendon shook his head.
“Of course not, sir.”
Jeremy, who had always been Brendon’s favorite member of the current council, hit his fist on the desktop.
“Enough of your back and forth.” he snapped at both Brendon and Farris. “We had expected at least some correspondence from you while you were gone.” he added to Brendon.
“Sorry, sirs, I simply wanted to get the job done and return to you.”
“So you completed the task we sent you on?” Alfred asked with a frown. Brendon took a deep breath and nodded.
“Is that so?” Farris hissed, his fat jowls shaking. Brendon nodded again.
“Yes, sir. Those responsible for the deaths of the mortal men have been killed.”
Brendon slid his satchel to the front and reached inside, rolling his eyes at the guards, all twenty of them, (which seemed like an excessively large number), tensed and laid hands on their weapons.
Brendon pulled out a small pouch and then shook the four vampire fangs out into his hand. He held his palm out to the Council.
He couldn’t explain the atmosphere in the room. It felt heavy, cloying, thick… It was hard to breath. The Council was not looking at him the way they normally did. Instead they looked at him as if he was a criminal. A guilty man.
Was his conscience so bothered by his deceit that he was imagining all of this or did the council already know he would be lying before he had even stepped in this room?
“So the murderers of those mortal men have been killed?” Jeremy asked pointedly and Brendon would swear from the look in his eyes he was pleading with Brendon. But pleading for what? Brendon worded his response carefully.
“Those responsible for the murders have been brought to justice.”
“That’s very interesting, Brendon.” Farris said loudly, and Brendon would swear the Councilman sounded happy. Brendon had heard Farris sound a lot of things when talking to him but happy had never been one of them.
“Why is that, sir?” Brendon asked as sweat trickled down his neck and soaked into the collar of his duster coat. Had he been cold just moments ago?
“I have a letter here that this council had already been made aware of and have read several times. I would like to now share this letter with you.”
Brendon’s fist closed tightly around the vampire fangs in his hand and he nodded as he stood there as still as stone, his jaw tense.
Farris cleared his throat and then began to read:
“Councilmen,
I was sent to keep an eye on Brendon as it has been painstakingly obvious that he has become more and more independent as of late. There were members of the council who were concerned about his loyalty.
I write you this letter to let you know that your concerns are justified. Hunter Brendon is a traitor.”
Farris paused and his sharp eyes narrowed as they bored straight into Brendon’s. Brendon felt his heart begin to thunder in his chest, beating painfully against his ribs with every thud. Traitor. He had been accused of being a traitor to the council? That was punishable by death and death alone.
His eyes searched the room for an escape route as he retained his still posture and Farris went back to reading.
“Brendon failed to kill the vampire responsible for the killings. Instead he killed two innocent vampires, guilty of no known crimes, and is planning on using their fangs to deceive you councilmen. It is my belief that Brendon has performed the sin of love.
He has given his heart and therefore his loyalty to this vampire that is guilty of the crimes you sent him to avenge.
It is my hope that I will be able to tail them, capture them and bring them to you so you can punish Brendon and the vampire as you see fit. However, we all know how able bodied Brendon is and how his treachery knows no bounds. I fear for my life.
They are heading west. It is my belief that Brendon intends to hide the vampire, probably among people familiar to Brendon, the wolf pack that he is fond of perhaps.
The vampire is small, short, barely over five feet. She has red hair, long and wavy. Her skin is as pale as snow and flawless. Big, green eyes, full lips and a womanly figure, despite the fact that she is a little thin. She goes by the name of Ella and she is a murderer.
It pains me to be the one to shed the light of truth on Hunter Brendon but as he likes to say ‘life is what it is.’
Loyally yours
Vaughn”
Brendon felt panic clawing at his gut like a living breathing creature. Vaughn! Why hadn’t Brendon thought of this? Why hadn’t he questioned what Vaughn would have been doing at that hotel going after Ella?
He had been too distracted by Ella’s near death experience and his growing feelings for her. He had messed up. Brendon had made the first real mistake of his life and as with most mistakes, it was going to cost him his life.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Jeremy asked quietly.
“I’ve done nothing wrong.” Brendon replied, though his voice had begun to shake.
“Where is Hunter Vaughn?” Farris demanded. Brendon knew that lying was pointless.
“Dead.”
“You killed a fellow Hunter?” Alfred demanded, his wrinkled cheeks reddening with anger.
Brendon pictured Vaughn then, dead in the hotel room, the blood from his torn throat soaking into the expensive rug.
“Yes.” he lied.
“And this other vampire? This Ella?” Jeremy demanded.
“An innocent and of no interest to the council.” Brendon said quickly. “Vaughn was mistaken and, when he attacked me, I fought back. I killed him in self defense and defense of the innocent vampire in my company.”
“You know the punishment of disloyalty is death?” Alfred questioned. Brendon squared his shoulders.
“I have always been loyal to this council. Those responsible for the death of the mortal men were punished.”
“Too many unanswered questions.” Farris stated. “You are a traitor. You loyalty has wavered. You can no longer be trusted. You murdered a fellow Hunter.”
“This council seems to have already had my fate decided before I stepped into this room today.” Brendon said, deciding that fighting was futile and death was coming. Life was what it was and so was death.
Farris grinned much like a child before they open their presents on Christmas morning. “Hunter Brendon, ID number 56798045, I hereby sentence you to death…..”
“Wait!” Jeremy cut in before Farris could slam his gavel.
“What?!” Farris demanded with a pout.
“I want to speak to this Ella.” Jeremy replied. Brendon surged forward.
“You’ll stay away from Ella!” he bellowed, his fists clenching so tightly that the vampire fangs began to dig into his palms. He felt the warm blood running down his fingers even as two demon guards grabbed his arms and yanked him back.
“Temper. Temper.” Farris scolded. “It seems Vaughn was correct. Brendon has fallen in love. You know that is not allowed, Brendon. You cannot be in love with pleasures of the flesh and loyal to this council at the same time. And the moment your loyalty wavers you are a traitor.”
“Then kill me!” Brendon roared. “I killed Vaughn. It was cold blood and I enjoyed it! Kill me because if you don’t, I’ll kill all of you!”
Farris and the other council men shared a look. Chairs were moved and the men all huddled together. Brendon stood in the grasp of two guards while a third and forth pressed spear heads against his throat, fully prepared to behead him at the Council’s order.
Brendon stared at those gray and balding heads and wondered what they were discussing. The fear in his heart was not for himself. He could accept death and it did not scare him. The fear was for Ella. Always for Ella. These men could not get their hands on her. She was far too fragile.
Suddenly the old men broke apart and each went back to their respective seats. Jeremy was the one who broke the tension filled silence.
“Is Ella with,” Jeremy paused and looked at the notes on his desk. “Grange’s pack?”
Brendon just stared straight ahead, focusing at the stone wall behind the Council. He was done talking.
“Is that how it is going to be then?” Alfred inquired. Still Brendon said nothing.
“New plan of action.” Farris hissed, this time his grin was even more eager. “We will dispatch a team of Hunters to find this Ella. They will bring her here and we will hear her side of the story and then punish her accordingly. Brendon will remained locked in the dungeons until she arrives and they will face the council together.”
The roar of rage that filled the room, reverberated of the walls and shook the glass windowpanes, came deep from within Brendon.
He collected all his strength and then surged, throwing off the guards holding his arms. The guards at his throat were startled and stumbled back.
Brendon grabbed a spear from one, rammed it through the seconds heart and then lunged for Farris, his bare hands itching to close around the worthless cowards throat.
The other guards quickly recovered from their shock and just before Brendon reached Farris, they grabbed him, overpowering him and pulling him back.
Brendon felt the smallest hint of satisfaction by the sight of fear on the councilmen’s face and the racing of his pulse.
“I’ll kill you, Farris. You are going to die and it is going to be at my hands! I’ll kill everyone of you bastards who dare lay a hand on Ella!”
“Keep him alive but shut him up!” Alfred ordered and Brendon’s world went black as something hard cracked against he back of his skull.