"And losing," Alex reminded him.
"Not all of them. Not in the beginning."
"We'll do it," one of the vampires said.
"Good," Alex said, as if he were in charge. "The hunters and I will need all the help we can get."
"You'll go to one of the hunters' homes and wait for anyone who isn't a hunter to turn up. As a group of seven, you should be all right. I'll give you my cell number and you can call me if you have trouble. We'll be there in a heartbeat," Adonis said.
"All right."
"I'll stay with you," Alex said, "and if any of the ones I was turned with show up, I can tell them you're Rutherford's newly turned vampires. They'll believe me and won't fight you. We can text the hunters and then fight the others, if it comes to that."
"You still feel a loyalty to them," one of the vampires said.
"Only in that they are like brothers. Like the seven of you are, once you were turned by the same ancient. But the others killed hunters. I refused to do it."
Pasha wondered if some newly turned vampires had more willpower than others. Maybe Alex would still be okay, even if Rutherford healed up enough to come back in full force.
"Have you heard from Rutherford? Maybe he's dead too," one of the other vampires said.
Pasha wished he was.
“I don’t know,” Alex said.
The police officer released the men from jail and Adonis called Boniface to pick them up. They could stay in the house across from where Zachary and the others were staying. That worked for Pasha. As long as the vampires didn't become convinced they had to fight the hunters.
Then they all returned to the house, and since no one had been staying there to watch over it, they all went inside to check it out. The place was still clear, except for the dead bodies. Adonis called it in to the police to pick them up.
"Do we go back to sleep for what's left of the night?" Pasha asked, stifling a yawn.
Adonis smiled at her. "Yeah. Get some rest. In the morning, you and Zachary will just watch the house and keep an eye on our parents' home. We'll talk to you tomorrow."
At least Pasha was glad the vampire hunters still had the regular sleeping schedule: during the day they were awake, and at night they slept, or she and Zachary would never be in sync. She wondered how it was with Daemon and his mate, and Ephraim and Elizabeth. The vampires slept at night, but the huntresses turned could do what they wanted. She supposed they'd sleep together. What would be the fun in being mated if they didn't?
Everyone said good night again, and this time she hoped they wouldn't be fighting another vampire in their bedroom when they were barely dressed.
They slept late the next morning, not meaning to.
Chapter 20
As soon as Zachary woke, he realized how late it had gotten. He couldn't believe he and Pasha had slept so late when they were supposed to be taking over so Daemon and his mate could sleep. "Come on, sleepyhead," he said to Pasha, kissing her cheek.
She moaned. "It's not that time already, is it?"
"Past that time." He got out of bed and began getting dressed.
She watched him, her arms folded behind her head. "Nice."
He smiled at her. "I'll go relieve the others and you can sleep for a while longer."
She sighed. "No way. We're in this together."
"We won't have any vampires come to the house during the day. I'll be fine."
"Tempting, but no." Pasha got up and started dressing.
"I'll get breakfast started." Zachary left the bedroom and found Boniface and Victor eating the last of their waffles and bacon. "Sorry we got up so late."
"It was a rough night for the two of you when you had to kill vampires in the middle of your sleep time. No problem," Victor said.
Boniface agreed. "I'd hope you'd do the same for us if we had the same situation occur."
"Is Daemon and his mate already asleep?" Pasha asked, coming into the kitchen.
"Yeah, they couldn’t wait up any longer," Boniface said. "We're off to bed." He cleaned up their dishes and both he and Victor said goodnight.
"Do waffles sound good to you?" Zachary asked, handing Pasha a cup of coffee.
"Sure. Just plain or..."
"Blueberry or chocolate chip?" he asked.
"Oh, wow, chocolate chip works for me."
Zachary toasted the waffles, blueberry for him and chocolate chip for Pasha while she brought out the butter and waffle syrup. "We'll have to replenish the homeowners' food supply."
"We will, though I'm sure they'll figure it was worth it that we saved them from whatever the vampires intended to do with them."
"Speaking of food supply," Zachary said.
"Or turning them." Pasha brought them glasses of orange juice and Zachary set the plates of waffles on the table.
Once they took their seats, Zachary began checking in with the other hunters to make sure everyone was accounted for. Even though he hadn't been given that job, he just felt someone needed to make sure everyone was all right several times a day.
Pasha smiled at him. "Somehow, I thought Michael was the one who was always in charge, when it came to the two of you. At least Rachael had mentioned it since Michael is the oldest brother."
"He's been rather...preoccupied with Danai."
"In a good way, or bad?"
"Good. He was all hunter, sure, he had girlfriends, humans, but he never found a huntress he cared enough about to make a long-term commitment."
"Then he meets a vampire turned huntress."
"He was fascinated with her from the beginning. He just was hooked on her. Anyway, no matter what, he wanted to court her, hunt with her, be there for her."
"Then he learned she'd been turned." Pasha bit into her syrup covered waffle and made a sound of pure enjoyment.
"Good, huh?" Zachary really didn’t want to speculate on what Michael and Danai would end up doing. Staying together? Going their separate ways? Zachary had enough to deal with concerning his own situation.
"The chocolate chips make it the best." She continued to eat her waffle while he sipped his coffee.
"Today, I figure we can take turns napping on the sofa, so we get some more rest until we have to do something. I'll keep an eye out on the house across the street in the meantime."
"Okay, it's a deal. I never thought I'd be sleeping during the day. Then again, when we've had to be up all night on a hunt, I do take a nap on occasion."
"That's what Boniface and Victor have been doing," Zachary said. "Would you like another waffle?"
She examined the waffle syrup dripped on her plate. "Sure, one more before I lie down. I'm not sure I can sleep, but I'll close my eyes for a while."
"Sounds like a good idea." Zachary fixed them both another waffle and some more coffee, only this time he made Pasha's decaf.
Once they were done, he washed up the dishes, and she headed for the linen closet for a pillow and a blanket.
Then she settled on the couch and he went into the front room to watch the house. He was in an office with a desk at the window and the chair facing the view. Besides the home, he could see a glimpse of the beach and aqua blue water beyond. It was a sunny day, a breeze whipping the palm fronds of the trees around that landscaped both properties. Pink crepe myrtles, pink flowering cherry trees, and white oleanders were blooming profusely in both yards also, as if the homeowners had color-coordinated their gardens. Each had red fountain grass in a band between properties. The owners here had a pear tree, but Pasha’s parents had a magnolia tree. All were spectacular in their flowery finery.