“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing that I can remember.”
“All right, listen. We’ll do this together. You’ll have us as backup when you don’t have your own hunters to aid you. We’ll help you to learn who the rogue vampire is, if he’s still alive, and take him down. And we’ll keep you safe from Cliff Kellerman or any other hunter that might give you problems.”
“They won’t like it if they learn I’m working with you.”
“What do you care if they’ve left you to fend for yourself?” he asked.
“If I stay here, I won’t have any unwelcome bed guests, will I?”
Atreides smiled. “Only welcome.”
Chapter 9
Atreides didn’t know why he said what he did to the huntress. The only way he would return to Selena’s guest room was if she were fighting off a vampire. Or hunter. “Twilight, you’ll stay here under our protection.”
“But I thought I could hang around and hear more stuff, and let you know what I find out,” Twilight said, and he knew she desperately wanted to help his kind to prove to them she was truly on their side after having hidden what she had known from them so far.
“No. If the vampire or the hunters involved have any inkling that you’re helping us, you’ll be dead. In the meantime, I need to take care of some business.”
“Do you need any of us to go with you?” Colt asked. “Renault can go.”
Atreides shook his head. “I’ll return as soon as I can. If you have any trouble, let me know at once.”
Then Atreides took off in the way of the vampire, needing to speak with Selena’s sister, figuring they didn’t need two huntresses taking the risk, when it seemed those involved in the killings were already after the one—Selena. No one had been looking for Rosa, at least that they’d known of until they learned about Selena. Rosa hadn’t been at risk, and she hadn’t been cut off from her hunter kind like Selena had been.
When he arrived at Colt’s ranch house, Atreides figured Colt would learn of the huntress staying there before long, and the number of vampires who were also there, protecting her. Colt hadn’t been home in a while, visiting with other vampires in the area, which had given Atreides the idea of sequestering Rosa there.
He knocked at the guest house door, and Basil answered, to Atreides’s surprise. “Who’s minding the shop?”
“I’ve got help. I wanted to see how Rosa was doing,” Basil said.
Four vampires immediately rose from the sofas in the living room of the ranch-style guest house and inclined their heads to Atreides.
“Where is she?” Atreides expected her to come out of the bedroom and ask when she was supposed to do something, again. She’d hounded him for days about it, but despite wanting her help, he didn’t want to endanger her before they were ready to do this right, then Selena had popped into his life and everything just sort of unraveled from there.
Rosa came out of the bedroom and he heard the TV on in there then.
“We have another huntress to do the job,” he said.
“Who?” Rosa narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. “Don’t tell me after you’ve had me here doing nothing all this time you want to swap out huntresses. You know very well that I can do this.”
“Your sister, Selena. She has been searching for you and nearly got herself killed because of it.”
Rosa sank into a chair, looking sufficiently shocked and upset to satisfy him. “Hunters?” she asked, her voice strained.
“A vampire.”
“What? How is she? What happened?”
“She suffered a couple of bad bite wounds and a mild concussion. Tell me again why you want to help us.”
“But she’s okay now?”
“She’s under my protection because her own kind won’t offer it. She killed a hunter who was attempting to kill a vampiress. Did you know about that?” He couldn’t have been angrier about it.
“Uh, yes. Okay, listen, my sister and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues—first and foremost—my dating habits.”
Atreides raised a brow.
“But when it comes to hunters killing innocent vampires, I’m just like my sister and wanting to deal with them in the harshest way possible. So if hunters are targeting vampiresses, I want it stopped before we have a full-fledged war. I want in on this and I’m going to hunt the hunters down with or without your support.” Then Rosa frowned. “Why would a vampire try to kill Selena when she had protected one of your own?”
“That’s one of the things I have to discover. Do you know any vampire who would have a grudge against her?”
“As many rogue vampires as she has terminated? A few family members, friends, associates, possibly.”
“What about the brother of the hunter Selena killed while protecting the vampiress?” Atreides wondered why no one had mentioned this to him, that a pregnant vampire had needed protection. Maybe because it had happened so quickly and no one had known about it, or maybe she had worried he would find fault with her for carrying a hunter’s child. “Cliff now vows revenge and intends to kill Selena.”
Rosa’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t dare. She might be a borderline rogue hunter, but no way would he incur the League’s wrath if he killed her out of revenge. He would have to have their sanction, or his own death would be ordered. Even though she has been ostracized for what she did, enough of our people stood by her, because when she protected the vampiress, the hunter had attempted to kill Selena. It wasn’t right. And what the hunter had planned to do to the vampiress wasn’t right.”
“Why hasn’t the League declared Cliff a rogue?” Atreides asked.
“No hunter witnessed him killing an innocent vampire. At least none that would tell on him,” Rosa said. “And the same if Cliff vows revenge. It might be hearsay, but unless anyone has real proof he intends to? No one can do anything about it.”
“What if Cliff hired a vampire to kill Selena?” Atreides asked.
“I wouldn’t think one would work for a hunter. Even so, how is she alive if one of them had attacked her?” Rosa asked.
“We’re not sure why either. He was dead, at least we think so, by her own sword. I’m certain he was trying to send us a message. Who does Cliff run with? What about the other hunters who might be involved in this?” Atreides wanted her to verify who else might be in on this.
“Perry Rochester, Harry Canton, and Lonnie Wilson? All of them are great hunters, as far as their kill ratio. Those who believed Selena was protecting the vampiress—still couldn’t believe a hunter would kill a vampiress unprovoked. Not all hunters agree with what she did. She had turned on one of our own kind—even though he was in the wrong and wouldn’t capitulate. It was kind of a wakeup call for some. Kill innocents and you could be put down for it by one of your own kind. But there are some who feel killing any vampire is justified. And Cliff and his brother and their friends are just arrogant enough to feel they can pull something like that off and get away with it. If they’re responsible for the other vampiresses’ deaths, they’ve done just that. I’ve heard the lies they’ve told about Selena or the others who vouched for her. The bullying, rallying of other hunters to bully and threaten her, only caring about making money off the venture, and not giving a damn about who it could hurt.