"We've had word that possibly a vampiress living in a border region was murdered by a rogue hunter. Some of ours have been too. We're searching for the hunters who have done this," Atreides said.
"And what does the League say about his?" the man asked, motioning to Selena.
"She's a huntress and protected one of our own."
The man finally turned his attention to Selena. "The one who killed the hunter?"
"Yeah, and one of our kind turned Selena, and in a vicious way," Atreides said. "It would have been one thing if she hadn't protected one of our own and was even in alliance with the rogue hunters who are killing our people. But what the rogue vampire did to her was unconscionable."
"Maybe she asked for it," a vampiress said, that Selena hadn't seen until now.
"Maybe you know who did it and are in collusion with him," Selena said, when she hadn't planned on speaking a word! What was wrong with her? But both her huntress and vampiress strengths were influencing her and she wouldn't be cowed by some snip of a vampiress.
The vampiress smiled, her canines on full display, but Selena didn't advance on her. Now wasn't the time.
"So why do you want to know if we have lost any vampiresses to the rogue hunter threat?" the man asked.
"Like I said," Atreides reiterated, "they have already killed some that we know of. Selena and her sister and brother and his friends are helping us to locate the hunters. We'll—"
"Kill them?" the man asked. "A rogue hunter should be dead at our hands if he murdered our kind without provocation."
"I agree," Selena said. "And if I can't turn them over to the League for their disposition, because believe me, they don't want to have a civil war between our people and yours—"
"She's still a huntress," the one woman sneered.
"I am both. But I've been a huntress for a lot longer than I've been a vampire so it's hard for me to think in terms of being one of you. But rest assured, I would never allow a hunter to kill a vampire who isn't a rogue," Selena said.
"What about the one who bit you?"
"I could have died. I made it to the club where Atreides and his friends saved my life, no thanks to the vampire who savagely tore into me. There was a wolf at first. I thought I'd hit him with my car. Well, I wasn't sure what I had hit. But I couldn't leave a wounded animal, or person, on the side of the road. He stalked me. And then I was attacked. That's not right in any way you want to think of it."
The other vampires seemed to agree, a few nodding, no one speaking for a moment.
"Atreides, you have always been welcome. You've always cared about our welfare. We know you have always wanted us to join you, but you've reported back to Daemon, letting him know we're fine as we are and living in a peaceful existence. Selena, you are right. No vampire would be considered anything other than a rogue who had bitten you and left you to die. There's no call for it. If we determine he is one of us, we'll deal with him ourselves. We will speak among ourselves and learn if any of our women are missing. No one has reported anything about it, so I'm not sure if any of them are," one of the men said.
"The one who bit me said, 'She was killed by them.' It made me believe a vampiress close to him died at the hands of the rogue hunters, but I can't be certain. And what have I got to do with any of it, except that I want to take down the hunters who have done this as soon as I can," Selena said.
"Are you welcome to return to the League?" the man asked.
"I would have been. I was given hunting restrictions after killing the hunter instead of handing him over for trial, but I didn't have a choice. Now that I'm a vampire also, I'm not sure that my saying anything will have much weight at a Counsel trial. They might even believe I asked to be turned, to be one of you so that I could fight the hunters as a vampire. I would hope they wouldn't believe that. But this is all new to me and there's not much I can do but find the rogue hunters and turn them in."
The vampiress said, "Not women? What if the hunters are huntresses?"
"Then they'll get the same deal. It doesn't matter if they are male or female. All that matters is that we stop them before they kill any further," Selena said.
A few of the vampires gathered agreed among themselves. The crowd had already grown to twice its size, about forty people there now. That was the thing about vampires. They didn't have to use cell phones to get in touch with each other. All they had to do was telepathically broadcast the news, alerting the others they had an issue, and the vampires could just magically appear. But they had to be shielding their communication with her because she hadn't heard any of it.
She wondered if they would let Atreides’s in on the secret. He didn't seem ruffled by the appearance of so many vampires, and she hoped she could keep her cool. How would that look if she got angry or scared? She had to tell herself this was important for all their kind and just like when she had gone into the vampire club looking for Twilight, she was standing her ground on this.
"We'll start canvassing our people right away," a giant of a vampire said in the back, towering over everyone. "If we discover any vampiress is missing that we can't account for, we'll let you know, Atreides."
"Is she replacing Iconia?" the vampiress asked Atreides.
Atreides didn't answer her. Selena suspected he felt it was none of the vampiress’s business, but Selena wanted to tell the vamp she was. Iconia was out of the picture, as far as she was concerned. She just hoped it wouldn't lead to a fight between her and Iconia.
"And the wolf?" the black-haired, male vampire asked.
Now this was where it got tricky, Selena figured. They wouldn't want to hand over one of their own to the League. But they had to know it wasn't good business to shield a rogue either. She did know that the vampires did hide the rogues on the fringe, if they felt they hadn't done that much wrong. Some were dealt with though, in their own way. If they would do evil in one place, they would do evil in another. Let the fringe vampires take care of them then.
Chapter 14
That was the best they could hope for, Atreides thought. He was glad Selena didn't draw her sword. He worried she might be intimidated by the numbers of vampires that had suddenly appeared.
"We'll await your word on the vampiresses and in the meantime continue to bait the rogue hunters to try and draw them out." Then Atreides took Selena's hand and transported her home.
"You didn't answer the woman about you dating me."
"I didn't want to give some fringe vampiress the word before I talked to Iconia about it. She deserves to hear it from me, not from someone living on the fringe."
"I want to go to the hunter fringe to try to learn if the rogue hunters are living there. But I think it would be better if I go with my sister and brother and maybe his friends."
"I don't want to leave you alone but—"
"I will be well protected, and you could cause more trouble than it's worth. If you got hurt or killed, I would never forgive myself."
"We will transport you there. I don't want you to take too long while I'm not protecting you."