“No. We’re damn glad you’re back and can clean up things here,” O’Connor said. “For whatever reason, Crichton has left most of the human population in the area untouched.” He glanced at Michael and Rachael.
“New friends who hunt rogue vampires. Michael and Rachael.”
“Welcome. Where is the rest of your family?” O’Connor asked as Sergeant Hammerstein entered the living room and began directing the other men’s work.
“Dealing with another issue, another city. I came here with them,” Pasha said, waving at Michael and Rachael, “when we learned what went on here. We had enough to do the job.” She wasn’t a fool. She had no plan to tell these men anything if someone might be on Crichton’s payroll. Just the fact O’Connor was asking about the family could mean he was informing on them to Crichton. A vampire could easily persuade a human to tell him anything he wanted to know. Crichton would know that her father and mother and the rest of their close family hadn’t been killed in the onslaught. Which meant they’d be back for revenge.
That might be why the vampires hadn’t turned the police force, hoping to convince the hunter family that was left that Crichton didn’t have that much of a stranglehold over the city yet.
“We found an awful lot of bodies—lots of yours, lots of theirs.” O’Connor shook his head.
“Do you have any idea how many of them there are?”
“It’s hard to say. Six ancients were killed, thirty-four newly turned. A host said that Crichton brought the newly turned vampires here from other locations. All of them had ID on them, and not one was local. You know we can’t tell which are vampires from humans unless they show their teeth. The same with hunters, they look just like they’re purely human. Crichton could have a ton of vampires with him, but we don’t have any real idea. A hunter, or more, have killed five more vampires, one of them an ancient. If you could hook up with the hunter or hunters, they could aid your cause. Actually, they must be some of your own family who escaped the battle.”
“Thank you. Do you know where Crichton’s staying?”
“No. He moves all the time. Even though the host said he controls the area, he seems worried that some of you might come for him. And after some of his people were killed, I’d say his concern is warranted.”
“Okay, thanks.” Pasha motioned to the bodies the men were carrying out. “We’ll be calling on you again, I’m sure.”
“Will you be staying here? We tried calling your father with the news about your family, but we never got a response. We assumed he hadn’t made it, but we didn’t find his body here, so we thought he might have perished somewhere else,” O’Connor said.
“We had no way to communicate with you.” Pasha didn’t want to share any real details.
O’Connor nodded. “If you need anything from us, just let us know. We want things back the way they were. I don’t trust that Crichton will leave our people alone. Your family was well-respected, and we felt protected while they were here.”
“I agree. Crichton might continue to target people from other areas, but he might change tactics at any time, if he feels he is losing control.” But Pasha did have an idea. What if her sister or brother, Zachary even, could control the policemen’s minds before Crichton could? “Michael, can you oversee things here for a moment? I need to make a call.”
“Yeah, sure, Rachael and I will stay here.”
“Thanks.” Pasha went looking for Adonis and when she found him, Danai, and Zachary in the den, she said, “Everything seems to be all right with the officers. But I wondered if one of you could control their minds like Crichton could.”
Danai smiled. “Yeah, we can. Why hadn’t I thought of that?”
“I didn’t even realize we could do that,” Zachary said.
“I’ll do it,” Adonis said. “You and Zachary stay here,” he said to Danai. “We still don’t want Crichton to know how many hunters he has to contend with.”
“I’ll do it,” Zachary said, as if he had to prove to Pasha his worth as a hunter turned. “They won’t know me, and it would probably be better if Crichton doesn’t learn you’re here yet.” When Adonis opened his mouth to object, Zachary raised his hand to silence him.
Pasha smiled, not used to seeing another male hunter silence her brother.
“I know that if I’m able to control them, or you had done so, you could have told them you weren’t here, but if Crichton is really controlling them, none of us would be successful and Crichton will know you’re here. I think it’s to our advantage to let him think Pasha is the only one alive. He might even believe she is the one who has been killing his vampires,” Zachary said.
Adonis agreed.
When Zachary and Pasha joined Michael and Rachael and the policemen in the living room, O’Connor smiled all-knowing like that Pasha had more hunters with her. She sure hoped this worked. Then Crichton wouldn’t be able to control the men afterwards. Wouldn’t Crichton be surprised to learn vampires he didn’t know were siding with the hunters?
Zachary was honored to get the job of convincing the policemen they worked for Adonis and the other hunters, and no one else. He couldn’t believe that was another ability he could have while being a vampire. He was eager to show off his all-important skill to Pasha, that might just help them turn the tide against Crichton and his minions.
In a million years, he didn’t think he would appreciate being one of the vampires. But some of the vampire abilities sure made him think differently.
He went to speak with O’Connor first and telepathically said, “You will take only orders from Adonis and his family, and the other hunters here. Crichton will have no power over you.”
O’Connor nodded.
“You will tell him or any of his people nothing of what went on here.”
O’Connor again nodded.
Zachary saw that Michael and Rachael were busily talking to the other men in the room, keeping them distracted so they didn’t notice that Zachary was talking to O’Connor in a vampire way without words.
Pasha was watching the two of them, but Zachary wasn’t sure if she was horrified, or fascinated by what he could do. Maybe still shocked that he was one of the vampire kind now and could do what they could do.
Then he released O’Connor to continue with his work, and Zachary repeated his orders to each of the other policemen there. When he was done, Pasha took Zachary aside. “What did you tell them?”
Zachary told her what he had said to each of the policemen on the scene.
“Well, if it works, that will be great for us.”
Despite her comment, Zachary had no illusions that she would change her mind about him courting her. But he did feel he’d made some headway in her accepting him as a hunter friend who could help them get things done. And he was feeling better about himself, not as ashamed of being part vampire, but believing he could be a real help to the hunters. Certainly, while he was fighting, all he had thought of was eliminating the rogues and protecting the hunters there.
After the policemen finished hauling off the bodies, they all returned to wait for Zachary to give them orders. He was just as shocked as he was certain his brother and cousin and Pasha were. He smiled. “Return to your regular jobs unless we call on you for further assistance.”