"Okay, then I'll spend a couple of hours 'looking' for him and then find him. Once I share with the others, someone's bound to come see for themselves," Alex said.
"Rutherford?"
"I doubt it. Not at first. He'll want to send someone else to make sure it's not a trap for him. He didn't seem that cautious to me before, but I think Crichton's betrayal and nearly killing him changed that. Now Rutherford feels more vulnerable. At least that's what I think."
Unless Alex was feeding the hunters all lies. "Who do you think he'll send to verify your story?"
"Maybe one of the ancients who's left. Then again, maybe not if Rutherford believes the other ancients are out to get him also. He’ll probably send a couple of the men he turned."
"How many ancients are left?" Zachary asked.
"I'm not sure. I've met five, but I haven't seen them in a while. Whitefoot was the only one who was speaking to Crichton still, as far as I know," Alex said.
"All right. Let me know when you have told Rutherford you killed Crichton."
"I will. But you promise me you'll kill him. All of them. They'll all want my head if they learn I've betrayed them."
"We will. We'd do it now if we had a clue where the rest of them are," Zachary assured him.
"If I learn anything, I'll let you know." Then Alex ended the communication.
Zachary shared the information with the other hunters but then Adonis told Zachary, "We have activity at the hotel. Apparently, someone's checking to see whatever became of the vampires that disappeared there. I need you and Pasha to check it out."
“We’re on our way. But we’re taking Gregory with us.” Not because Zachary thought he needed to be watched, but because he wanted Gregory to see what the hunters were there for. Not just to take down a bunch of rogue vampires for money, but to help protect the youngest of their kind, because without them, the battle with the rogue vampires would be lost.
“Okay, good. He needs to know that he’s not fighting for me, but for the next generation of hunters,” Adonis said.
“Exactly.” Which made Zachary have the unsettling notion of what could happen if a vampire-turned hunter had a child who became a rogue. They didn’t know what abilities they might have, aversion to sunlight, no problem with it. Fangs? No fangs? Fly and vanish like the vampires? Control minds, telepathic communications? Or none of it? They just didn’t know.
And there was no telling what might turn a good hunter—whatever his or her background—into a rogue. It could be anything that marred them for life and that was the way they dealt with it.
As soon as they arrived at the hotel, they saw a group of five men talking to a couple of different clerks. None of them had bags. Not that it meant anything unnecessarily untoward, but it could mean they were vampires searching for the others, or for the hunters they might suspect were staying here.
“I’ll go check them out,” Gregory said, sounding eager to kill vampires.
Zachary grabbed his arm. “Wait. Pasha will take you up to the room where the other hunters are that need our protection.” He wanted Gregory to see the reason for them bringing him along. And he didn’t want Gregory to witness that Zachary could communicate with the men as a vampire when he did, to learn if they were some of Rutherford’s men.
“Come on, Gregory. We’ll go to several different floors to ensure we’re not being followed.” Pasha leaned over and gave Zachary a smile and a kiss. “Do your best.”
“You know I will.” Zachary kissed her back. He also knew she’d be in good hands if anyone tried to fight her before she and Gregory reached the suite of rooms where the kids were staying.
He headed over to where the men were talking to the clerks, close enough to listen in on what was being said.
“We’ve heard there’s a vampire problem in the city,” the one man said. “We’re hunters.”
But his words didn’t ring true. He and the other men weren’t wearing hunter’s weapons. The weapons forged to kill vampires were handed down through the generations. If a vampire was cut by one, it wouldn’t heal up as quickly as a regular knife or sword wound. And stabbing one in the heart meant the death penalty.
Not that any sword in the heart wouldn’t kill a vampire, but if the sword only nicked it, the vampire might still live. The hunter’s blade would mean instant death for the vampire.
“Are you some of Rutherford’s vampires?” Zachary telepathically asked the men. No one looked in his direction. He sensed they didn’t hear him speaking to them as a vampire would. “Did the city hire you to kill the rogue vampires?” he asked out loud this time.
“What’s it to you?” one of the men said, all of them instantly holding the hilts of their swords as if worried he might be a vampire himself.
Zachary motioned to his sword. “I have a hunter’s sword. Where are yours?” He wanted to ask if they had lost them, but he curbed the inclination to make light of the situation.
“We don’t have them,” the one man said, challenge in his voice. “We’re not born hunters, but we took up the trade. We’re Van Helsing hunters.”
Ah, hell. Some of the human hunters were fair and just, but some just killed anyone that was vampire, not allowing that some were decent citizens and had no quarrel with the human population.
“Listen, some of the vampires here were turned by a man named Crichton,” Zachary said.
“We saw it on the news,” the one man said, sounding arrogant about it.
“He’s dead. The vampires can’t undo what he’s done to them, but they want to live in peace.”
“Like that can really happen,” the one man said.
Zachary wanted to eliminate him on the spot. “We don’t kill those who don’t harm humans or fight hunters. That’s the rule. You disobey the rule, you’re considered murderers. You’ll be eliminated just like any rogue would be. If you can’t live by those rules, leave.” Zachary communicated to Adonis, “We have hot-headed Van Helsing hunters at the hotel. And they’re ready to kill any vampire on the spot.”
“Hell, okay, I’m on my way, but I’ll make a perfectly hunter entrance.”
“Good. I really don’t want to have to kill the human hunters if we can help it.” Then Zachary said to the men, “The hunter whose kin were murdered by the vampires is on his way here. He’s in charge. He makes the rules of engagement. This is his city. He’s in charge of the hunter clan.”
The humans looked irritated that they couldn’t just handle this their own way.
“So where are the vampires?” one of the men asked.
Zachary knew he wasn’t getting through to the men. “The ones you can’t touch? They’re at Adonis’s family’s home. They’re being protected by our hunters in case vampires opposing them and hunters who are not part of the original family, think of harming them. You don’t want to have to fight us on this.”
“All right, where are the vampires we need to kill?” one of the men asked.
As if Zachary knew where the rogues were and hadn’t done anything about it. Before he could respond, Adonis entered the lobby of the hotel. “We have to find them. But Zachary’s right. No killing the ones at my parents’ home. They’re innocent in all this. Another named Alex is helping us. Not all vampires are bad, so remember that. If they come at you with teeth bared, consider them a threat. They won’t hesitate to attempt to kill you. The others won’t fight, so don’t attack them.”