"And about Selena?"
"She is mine."
Jacques smiled. "As I said."
Chapter 15
Selena was still so newly turned, she couldn't wrap her mind around the business of being a huntress and a vampiress all in one. She needed to talk to Tezra about how she'd felt about being turned, the emotions, her feelings for Daemon, and everything else. But Selena knew Atreides didn't want his brother to know what was going on here while they were trying to hunt down rogue hunters.
Still, she felt she needed to have someone to talk to—another woman who had gone through what she had, to an extent. A huntress who would understand what she was going through.
But right now, her brother was talking to a man who called himself King. Not as in he was king of the fringe hunters, but that was his last name, and he didn't go by any other.
"Okay, look, I know that the border towns where hunters hang out govern themselves, and though we would want to take in the rogue hunters who have wantonly killed vampiresses without provocation to be tried by the League and be dealt with, we also understand that you might want to deal with the rogues on your own, as you see fit. The vampires might not like it, if they don't know if the rogues are terminated or not. The League won't either, but we don't care, as long as the rogues get their just rewards and they're prohibited from killing any more innocents," Daniel said.
King tilted his chin up in a condescending way. "It would be fine with you?" As if he didn't give a damn about how Daniel and this group of League hunters felt.
"I would hope you wouldn't want a civil war between hunters and vampires. This is a powder-keg situation. One little spark could set the whole thing off. Your people won't be any safer than anyone else as the conflict spreads. None of us will be safe. And lots of innocents will die. And for what?" Selena was desperately trying to keep her fangs sheathed, but it wasn't working. Still, her brother didn't seem to be getting through to this guy. "So that you can wield power over your little dominion?" She didn't mean to sound condescending about how many people he might actually be in charge of, but she didn't think being nice about this was going to work.
King was frowning at her, and studying her damn mouth, as if he'd glimpsed something that wasn't quite huntress about her. "You're not a huntress. What the hell? You bring one of them into our border towns?" King switched his attention to Daniel with accusation in his expression.
Her brother looked exasperated with Selena.
She was ready to bare her teeth at him. She touched them with her tongue, and they seemed a little longer than they had been before.
"She's our sister," Rosa said. "And she killed a hunter who tried to murder a vampiress for carrying his child. We don't know if they are the same hunters involved in the other vampiress killings or not."
"You could already have the right ones who, what? Work for the League?" King snorted. "And you come here seeking them? Typical. If you want to blame someone, do it with those who aren't members of your own League." He studied Selena again.
Their talk with the fringe hunter leader wasn't going half as well as the talk Atreides had with the fringe vampires.
"Yes, I'm a vampire too. I was turned by a rogue. All right?" Selena guessed it was time to let the world know what she had become. Truthfully, even though some vampires would still hate her because she was a huntress by birth, she'd felt more nervous about revealing the truth to hunters, even the ones on the fringe. Maybe more so because they lived by their own rules.
King shook his head.
"It wasn't by choice," she said again, even though she'd said the vampire was a rogue, which indicated it wasn't her choice to become turned.
"All right. Well, we have two other huntresses turned vampires who live among us. If you want to join us, you're welcome."
Selena and her companions all looked shocked. She couldn't believe that it had happened to a couple more huntresses.
"They weren't from this area," King explained. "They planned to join the League, then decided they would rather be with us. They were in the League's territory, though, when they were attacked."
"Both at the same time?" At first, Selena thought it was the same rogue vampire that had bitten her.
"Separately. He seemed to target huntresses who were alone."
Like what had happened to Selena. "How long ago?" It had to be before she was bitten since she had killed the vampire, if Atreides was right about it. All except for the vampire who had telepathically told her she should have died, and that made her doubt the vampire who had bitten her was dead.
"A month ago for one, two weeks ago for the other."
"Every two weeks," Selena said. "If it was the same one who tore into me."
"Viciously?"
"Yeah. But he didn't kill me. I killed him though."
King looked skeptically at her. "You couldn't have killed him if he'd turned you."
"His body—ashes—and clothes were left behind. The vampires who took care of me told me they had found what was left of him." Except nothing added up. Like Atreides said, she couldn't have killed him while he was biting her. And if she'd stabbed him with her sword, he would have disintegrated before he could have bitten her. The only other thing was that if he had been a wolf, and if she'd killed the wolf, no clothes, just ashes would have been found.
"Unless his blood mixed with yours hadn't turned you fast enough?" King shook his head. "It doesn't make sense."
"I agree. But I thank you for your offer. Can I speak with the women?" She hoped she could learn if it might have been the same one, yet she'd never seen his vampire face, just as a wolf. Unless there had been two of them. Or…three?
"Let me set up a meeting with you and them."
"Are they okay?" Selena asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yes. We don't treat them like the League hunters would." King got on his phone and texted the women.
Selena thought of broadcasting a telepathic message to them, but she figured it would probably be better if she just let King arrange the meeting since they would trust him.
"They're on their—"
The women appeared in the hall. And looked the hunters over. "Which one of you is—"
"I am," Selena said. "Selena Townsend."
"Brittany Hollingsworth," the one blond said.
The other's hair was a darker blond and she smiled at Selena, showing off her wicked canines. "I just had to show them off. I'm Eliza Broom. So what did the guy look like who attacked you?"
"I only saw a wolf."
"A wolf?" Brittany said. "The one who turned me was black haired and had nearly black eyes. He was tall, maybe six-foot, and he was sadistic, savage, but he fought me for a while. It was my fault. I shouldn't have been alone. I had parked my car and was some distance from a vampire club, near a drugstore. I was going to go into the drugstore to ask directions. I was looking for one of the border towns, deciding I didn't want to work for the League. I'd worked for one back home in New Jersey, and then lived with a border town there and was much happier. Anyway, I didn't make it to the drugstore. He nearly killed me, but it was like he didn't want to finish the job."