Dennison cleared his throat. “Right, well, I sent two vampires to Dallas to learn what they could. We learned one of the families had flown to Orlando, so I sent the three men to monitor flights returning from there. Since the hunter couple have two little boys, they should be easy to spot.”
“And their grandparents?” Crichton asked.
“They won’t be much of a threat.”
“How did you get to be an ancient vampire? Of course they can be a threat. As long as they can carry a hunter’s sword and thrust it at one of our kind, they can be every much as deadly as the younger generation. Hell, what if they’re the ones picking off some of our men?” Crichton got a call and answered it.
“This is Stanton. I arrived late to the bash at Cameron’s house because I was keeping an eye out for the hunter who has been ambushing our people at other houses where they’re staying. When I got to Cameron’s house, there was no one there.”
“What?”
“I thought maybe I had the wrong house. Did you change the location?”
“No. I set it up at the former hunter leaders’ home. I’m sending Dennison. Are you at the place now?”
“Yeah.”
“Just stay there. He’s coming.” Crichton thought Dennison looked a bit uneasy. “Hell, man, go check it out and let me know what’s going on.”
“Could they have finished the bash early?” Dennison asked.
“Before midnight. Hell, no.”
“This doesn’t sound good to me.”
Which was just why Crichton wasn’t checking it out himself. It sounded like a trap to him. He hadn’t been a vampire this long without knowing the signs. Not that he wanted to sacrifice his friend, but better him than Crichton. And he needed someone he halfway respected who could look into it.
“Okay, so the rogue vampires are staying at all the houses?” Adonis asked Carissa.
“Yes, even your parents’ place.”
“We cleaned it out, but someone might wonder where the people at the party went to. Not only that, if they find the hosts, they could spill their guts about what they’d seen,” Zachary said.
“Vampires killing their own kind, and hunters joining them,” Adonis said. “Crichton will be confused.”
“So do we try to take out more of them at the family’s homes, or do we do like Carissa did and wait for them to settle elsewhere and take them out that way?” Michael asked.
“Or do we focus our efforts on locating Crichton and removing him from the equation?” Pasha asked.
“We’ll divide up in teams, monitor our family’s homes, and do as Carissa did as long as we can,” Adonis said. “Yes, we need to take down Crichton, but until we locate him, we need to reduce the vampire threat.”
“I’ll go with Granddad,” Carissa said.
“I’ll go with them also,” Michael offered.
Zachary knew Michael would have paired up with Danai if she hadn’t stayed with the kids. And he knew his brother would want to fight the vampires, not babysit right now.
Rachael said, “I’m going with Adonis.”
“Zachary is with me,” Pasha said.
Which surprised Zachary. He had said she would be with him while going to the airport, but he didn’t think she’d volunteer to work with him otherwise.
She shrugged at his look of surprise. “You have some…skills that can help us.”
He was hoping there was more to her wanting to be with him than that.
Jeremy and Laura said they would be going to the house across from theirs.
“Okay, if everyone’s ready, we’ll head out and see if we can even up the odds a bit,” Adonis said.
Michael kissed Danai goodbye, which seemed to embarrass her as her cheeks pinkened. She quickly looked at Pasha, but she appeared just as shocked. Adonis was smiling. Zachary knew Danai and Michael would have to deal with what she’d become, if they were to mate. Zachary suspected Michael wanted to show her he was supportive of her, boosting her morale for the fight ahead. And to show her he cared about her should he not survive.
Jeremy and Laura hugged and kissed their sleeping kids. And everyone that was family exchanged hugs, though not to leave Michael and Zachary out, they gave them hugs too. Since Adonis had mated Rachael, Michael, and Zachary were extended family after all.
Carissa kissed her baby’s cheek one last time, and Grandma and Granddad gave each other one final hug and then the hunters who would stake out the families’ homes left to do their mission.
Adonis had Pasha and Zachary monitor their parents’ home, which they figured might have some activity once the vampires realized everyone from the bash had vanished.
All the homes were close enough for the other hunters to reach if any of them had trouble and needed reinforcements. Being territorial, Carissa wanted to go after anyone who was at her house. If they didn’t see any movement, they’d go to Grandpa’s. Jeremy and Laura went to their home. Adonis and Rachael to his own place.
Pasha and Danai had been living with their parents, so that was another reason she wanted to deal with the vampires here. Zachary just hoped Pasha wouldn’t rush into a situation like she had earlier. He wanted to be the one to scope out things if there appeared to be any trouble. With his vampiric abilities, he wanted to check any situation out first, before he involved Pasha. And yeah, it was his hunter nature coming in full force when he wanted to protect a potential mate. He hoped she didn’t mind because it just came natural to him.
“I think we should park across the street and watch from your neighbor’s house,” Zachary said to Pasha.
“They’re a couple with two teenage sons. I don’t want them involved. Besides, at this hour? They’d probably think we were trouble.”
“Do they have family living somewhere else?” Zachary asked.
They parked at the house across the street from her parents’ home and went to the front door as if they were visiting them.
“Iowa, but they both have good jobs and—” Pasha snapped her fingers. “You can use your vampiric persuasion on them. Okay, let’s do it. Though they might not want to answer the door at this hour.”
He was glad she agreed to his plan and thought it was worthwhile trying. “Right. But it’s worth the effort.”
They walked up to the front door and she rang the bell. A man answered the door right away, frowning at her, and Zachary suspected he wasn’t the owner of the house. First, he looked like he didn’t know who Pasha was, and secondly, he answered the door without hesitation.
“Who is it?” another man called out from inside.
Your worst nightmare if you’re vampires working for Crichton, Zachary was thinking.
“I’m Bretta’s niece and this is my boyfriend. She had told me to come and see her anytime. We’re out of money and needed someplace to stay,” Pasha said.
“Come in, come in,” a man said, his long hair hanging over his shoulders, his face smiling. “I’d forgotten they said you might arrive. They’re sleeping right now. We’re old acquaintances of Bretta’s. Come in.”
Zachary hoped the family wasn’t dead. Or turned. He didn’t like the idea of entering the house when he didn’t know how many vampires could be staying here. But they couldn’t very well back out now. And if they could kill a couple more vampires and be able to safely watch Pasha’s home this way, he was all for it.