“Unless there was a huge force of hunters who killed them and then disposed of their bodies,” Dennison said, “I assume the vampires left the party for some other reason.”
“I did consider they may be meeting to plan a way to take over from Crichton.”
Pasha and Zachary flattened themselves against the wall, waiting for the right moment to make their move.
As soon as they were near enough, Zachary vanished and appeared before Dennison.
“Hell,” Dennison said. “You nearly scared the shit out of me.”
Zachary smiled, loving how his vampiric abilities confused the rogue vampires every time. “The bash was crashed.” Zachary buried his sword into Dennison’s heart, just as Pasha came around the corner of the wall, brandishing her sword and swinging it to behead the other vampire and finishing the task.
Hers was newly turned. Zachary’s was an ancient. Both were very dead.
“Let’s get out of here,” Zachary said. “I can’t believe how easy it is to kill ancients, when it’s always been so difficult.”
“You totally throw them off-guard. Shouldn’t we remove the bodies to the garden shed at least, to keep Crichton and his vampires confused for as long as we can?”
“Yeah, but let’s hurry.” Zachary was afraid Dennison’s going missing wasn’t going to be so easily explained and Crichton would know the hunters were wreaking havoc with his minions.
Once they had moved the two bodies, they quickly left the house, but as soon as they did, Danai called Pasha and she put the call on speakerphone. “We’ve seen five hosts and a vampire in the hotel lobby. We’re afraid they might know we’re here.”
“We’re on our way,” Pasha said, and she and Zachary sped back to the hotel, praying they wouldn’t be too late to protect them.
Zachary let Adonis know what was going on.
“Let us know if you need our help. We’re going to try and keep this area secure for now.”
“We’ll let you know.”
Hosts were one thing. They could fight, but most were just everyday civilians and not fighters. And most had no interest in fighting. Not like the vampires. Newly turned vampires could be from any walk of life, but their vampiric condition made them fight-worthy at once. They might not be able to handle a sword or dagger, but they could fly, vanish, reappear, and strike with their teeth. Some hosts were loyal to the vampires, but these seemed more eager to keep their heads intact and ran away instead of helping the vampires to destroy the hunters.
One vampire with a number of hosts shouldn’t be a problem. But what worried Zachary was if there were more vampires than that coming for Danai and her charges.
Pasha was terrified that harm might come to the children, Danai, and her grandmother. She really thought the vampires wouldn’t have located them at the hotel. She didn’t want to let on how she was feeling, not when she was a mighty hunter and she didn’t want Zachary to see that she was distressed.
When they arrived at the hotel, they hurried out of the vehicle and went into the lobby to check on the situation. Zachary listened to see if he could hear any telepathic communication between vampires, and then he said, “I heard a woman talking to a man.”
He pulled Pasha toward the sitting area. “I’m monitoring some conversation,” he whispered in her ear, and she put her arms around his neck and offered her mouth to him.
He smiled down at her and kissed her lips.
But she ramped up the kiss and took it for all it was worth. He was hot and sexy, and she couldn’t get enough of his mouth, his tongue caressing hers in a wickedly, passionate way. Oh, she could get used to this as much as she told herself she shouldn’t even be thinking that way.
Then Danai called Pasha, interrupting the kiss and Pasha asked, “What’s happening, Danai?”
“One of the hotel staff called me per Zachary’s vampiric orders to let us know if anyone was searching for hunters. He heard four men talking to each other about the vampire-hunter war and he assumed they were hosts. The other man glowered at them and they shut up right away. The clerk assumed the guy was a vampire.
“Rachael called and said her friends were arriving. I had word from them already. They’re meeting in a banquet/meeting room that’s free and want us to have the vampire sent there, and any others should they come here looking for us. Since Zachary told the hotel staff not to take orders from anyone other than the hunters here, I went downstairs to speak to the staff to ensure it was working as planned,” Danai said.
Pasha relayed the information to Zachary.
“Hell,” he said. “She’s supposed to stay with her grandmother and the kids at all times.”
“What if the vampire and his hosts went to the room where they’re staying? If we hit the vampires at the meeting room, we’d keep the kids safer than bringing the battle to them,” Pasha said to Zachary, annoyed.
Zachary conceded she was right. Though Pasha knew he only worried for Danai’s safety and that of the others she was helping to protect if anything had happened to her before she could return to the room. Or even that the kids and Grandma could have been in danger if the vampire had attacked when Danai wasn’t there to protect them.
Danai continued, “The hotel clerk told the vampire that he’d overheard a hunter talking to another about the vampire scourge in the city—exactly what I had told the clerk to say—and that they were in the Magnolia Room. So the vampire and hosts are headed that way. Oh, and they asked if there were more than the two hunters and the clerk told him no, that they were an elderly couple, a man and his mate. That would definitely give the vampire a false sense of security.”
“Did the vampire go to the meeting room with just the hosts?”
“He called another man and he brought someone else. So now there are three vampires. But Rachael’s friends showed up right after I called Pasha and they’re waiting for the vampires in the meeting room.”
“How many of them turned up?”
“The army officer couple—Robert and Crystal, she’s a hunter turned, and her two brothers are here, Victor and Boniface. Also, the Scottish couple, Ephraim and Elizabeth. He’s a vampire, not a hunter, both are ancient. She’s a hunter turned. The vampire Prince Daemon and his mate, Tezra, a hunter turned, are also here. If they need more help, he’ll send more.”
“Wow.” Pasha smiled.
“Yeah, and Rachael told Adonis what was going on so they’re staying put at the house they’re occupying.”
“All right. Once we meet our reinforcements, we may need to return to our parents’ house to continue to watch for more of the rogue vampires,” Pasha told Danai. “Do you want one of us to join you?”
“No. We’re good as long as the fighting is done in the banquet room.”
“We’re headed there now,” Pasha said. To Zachary, she said, “I can’t believe the vampires aren’t warning Crichton about what is going on. I keep thinking we’re going to have a full-scale battle on our hands and we’re not going to be ready for it.”
“I agree.” Zachary motioned to the meeting rooms on the second floor. “If he’s turning more people, even after we’ve gotten rid of several of his, we could have a real massacre on our hands. Do you think Danai and your grandmother will be all right?”