“Hell,” Patrick said. “You didn’t kill the human hunters, did you?”

  “No, they’re good guys and going to the Bremerton compound to stay safe. But we staged a scene where Jacqueline appeared dead, and they sent the photo to the hunter in charge. Now he has hired them to kill me.”

  “Why?” Patrick asked.

  “They hate hunters who have been turned. Tobias has put them on an arrest-on-sight order. But hunters will have to take them in.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “So what do you need me to do to help you out?” Patrick asked.

  “We need you to come here like you are handling a dead body. We take care of our own when they’re our guys normally, but when it’s murder, you all get involved. At least as far as coming to the crime scene,” Dane said. “Well, even when it’s a case of us taking down a rogue vampire.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there with a select group of officers who can keep a secret.”

  “Thanks,” Dane said. “Also, the human hunters were given the key code to come into the development. It’s possible that the hunters are friends of someone here and they might be watching the whole thing.”

  “We’ll make this look good,” Patrick said.

  “Thanks. We’ll see you soon.” Dane knew they would come through for them.

  “I’ll stay here with the two of you until after the police take the ‘body.’ And then I’ll leave,” Tobias said.

  Police cars arrived and they were surprised to see that five cars had been dispatched. “Oh, man, I hope all these guys can keep a secret,” Jacqueline said, worried that the more people that knew, the harder it would be to keep the truth from coming out until they could capture the hunters.

  Patrick came to the door with two other men. “The county coroner is on his way. He knows the situation. We thought of just having a fake coroner come, but he said he knows you and he’s thankful for the job that you both do.”

  “Great,” Jacqueline said, surprised to get such a great response from everyone who was dedicated to helping them stay alive.

  Then the coroner and a couple of EMTs arrived. Patrick and other officers went inside the house.

  “The back patio is where I ‘died.’ We were going to clean it up, but you might need to see the ‘crime scene’ before we do.” She sure hoped the blood wouldn’t stain her patio. She’d wanted to clean it up right away until they worried someone could be watching the house.

  They all headed through the house and outside onto the patio where the police officers and the coroner saw the blood on the cement.

  “This is one case of a ‘dead person’ that I don’t mind ‘seeing,’” the coroner said.

  The police officers smiled.

  “Okay, we’ll hang around for a bit. We have a mannequin we’ll bring in and place in the body bag,” the coroner said.

  “Can one of you bring the mannequin in as a vampire?” Tobias asked.

  “I will,” Dane said.

  Then he vanished and reappeared in the ambulance. He grabbed the mannequin, then vanished and appeared inside the house. The EMTs brought the gurney in, and they put the mannequin in a body bag, then finally removed it from the house. The coroner left, but the police officers all had cups of coffee while they waited it out and talked about what was going on.

  “So you’re going to handle the hunters hiring hitmen?” Patrick asked.

  “Yeah,” Tobias said. “The hunters will have to take them down.”

  “Okay. But you know if you have any trouble with this further, call on me,” Patrick said.

  “We sure will,” Dane said. “And thanks so much for helping us to keep Jacqueline safe.”

  “You too. What are you going to do about yourself?” Patrick asked. “Are you going to stage another murder?”

  “We’re thinking of it, but if we can put these hunters away, that would work even better. So we hope that we can do that first and not have to stage any more murders,” Tobias said.

  Once the officers felt they had been at the house long enough to pretend they were doing a thorough investigation, the police finally started to leave the house, all shaking their hands, telling them good luck.

  Patrick said one last time, “Call me if you need my help in any situation.”

  “Yes, thanks,” Dane said.

  Then Patrick left with the others.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” Tobias asked Jacqueline and Dane.

  “No, we’ll stay here, or at Dane’s house, I guess,” Jacqueline said.

  “We need to pack up your clothes, the cat and her things, and move to my place.”

  “Right, because I can’t be coming and going from my house,” she said. “This is such a hassle. I want to just get this over and…I mean, we’re just going through all this turmoil already, so I hate that hunters are really messing with us.”

  “Do you think I should take Princess instead?” Robert asked.

  “No. She has really bonded with Dane. Unless you’re worried that the hunters will hit Dane’s house and Princess will be safer at your house,” she said.

  “I was just thinking if anyone wondered why Dane took the cat instead of me,” Robert said, “it might look suspicious.”

  “If anyone has been watching us, they’ve seen us take Princess over to Dane’s house already. So I don’t think any questions will be raised about it,” she said.

  “Okay,” Robert said.

  “Well, if that’s all we needed to discuss, I’m going to leave here and go meet with the council members. This is just why we need a change in our rules.” Then Tobias said goodbye and Jacqueline locked the door.

  “Now what?” she asked Dane.

  “I’ll go home and get my truck to pack up your things. If anyone is watching, they’ll see me taking your cat because he needs to be taken care of after you had been murdered. But rather than ride back with me, you’ll need to just transport over there, Jacqueline,” Dane said.

  “Can I help with anything?” Robert asked. “I’m so sorry all of this has happened to you.”

  “You can tell Mom and Dad what is up, just in case they hear on the news that a hunter—me—has been murdered. Oh, I wonder if this case will be reported in the news.”

  “Probably so to make it more official sounding and hopefully prove to the hunters that you are really dead, if they aren’t having the house watched,” Dane said. “Though Patrick might have to get the police chief’s approval.”

  “Okay, well, while you get your car, I’ll pack up my things and Robert, can you clean up the patio? If you’re up to it.”

  “I am.” Then Robert got a bucket, soap, and a mop and carried them out to the back patio.

  Jacqueline kissed and hugged Dane. “I never expected anything like this to happen.”

  “I know. It’s unreal. I sure didn’t either.” He gave her a heartfelt hug back and kissed her thoroughly. “Are you going to be all right if the hunters send someone else here to investigate your place in the meantime?”

  “Yes. Robert’s here with me and you’re only a telepathic call away. Besides, I can just leave and join you also. I’m off to pack then.”

  “I’ll return soon.” Then Dane and Jacqueline shared another kiss and he vanished.

  She was so glad she had met him. She loved the way he wanted to take care of her. Since leaving home, she had never felt that way. Certainly not with Van. She realized how truly self-absorbed he was.

  She finished packing some bags and Robert came up to her bedroom to help her take them downstairs.

  “For whatever difference it will make, I got a call from a friend of Van’s who said he was no longer dating anyone,” Robert told her as he carried two of her heaviest suitcases downstairs.

  She beat him downstairs by reappearing there with her laptop and a couple of smaller bags in hand.

  Robert smiled. “I will never get used to you doing that.”

  “Yeah. It’s a pretty neat ability. So Van’s not dating…for sure?”

  “That’s what he said. He said Van feels he can’t be with another huntress for a while.”

  “Maybe later?”

  “Who knows? I haven’t had anything to do with him since he ditched you.”

  Jacqueline was surprised to hear it. Robert had been friends with Van, and they’d been like brothers really.

  Robert gave her a hug. “Yeah, really, I’m sorry for being such a jerk.”

  “Thanks for admitting that to me.” She gave him a warm hug back. She loved her brother, but once she had been turned, it was like her whole family had abandoned her. “Oh, I have to see if you cleaned up the patio enough.”

  He snorted.

  She laughed. “Hey, I know you.”

  “I’ve gotten better about it.”

  But she wasn’t taking his word for it. She went out and he followed her. When she found how clean it was, she was surprised. “Wow, you did a great job.”

  “Thanks. Coming from you, that’s a big deal.”

  She laughed. “Well, maybe you’ve changed.”

  “I know how much you like to keep things clean, so I worked extra hard on it. Particularly so you wouldn’t have to be reminded what the blood was there for.”

  “Well, I appreciate it.”

  Then Dane was in the living room, calling out, “I’m here.”

  Jacqueline and her brother joined him there.

  “She was inspecting my clean up,” Robert said.

  “Did all the blood come off? I was worried we’d left it too long,” Dane said.

  “Yeah. It didn’t look like anything had spilled out there at all,” Jacqueline said. “Okay, we need to move your car into the garage so that no one can see you loading up stuff like my suitcases. Moving the cat and her belongings wouldn’t be a problem. We just don’t want anyone to witness Dane carrying my suitcases out to his pickup truck. What would be up with that?”

  “I agree,” Dane said, and headed back outside.

  Robert opened the garage door.

  Jacqueline stayed in the house while the guys packed up her bags and Princess and her things. Then Dane and Robert returned to the house.

  “Okay, you call me if you need my help, just any time day or night,” Robert said, giving Jacqueline another hug. Dane smiled as he watched her and her brother coming together in friendship. Then Robert shook Dane’s hand. “You take care of her.”

  “I’m taking care of him too,” she said.

  “That’s a given,” Robert said.

  Then she said to Dane, “I’ll meet you at your house.”

  “I’ll lock things up here after you leave, Dane,” Robert said.

  “Okay, we’ll talk later.”

  Then Jacqueline vanished and arrived at Dane’s home. This wasn’t her home, and yet she felt good about being here. Maybe not one hundred percent because she didn’t have anything of her own here, but when Dane arrived with Princess and her clothes and personal items, she would feel more like she belonged here.

  And then she remembered he had wanted to make this a permanent situation. She couldn’t have been more thrilled.

  20

  Dane was so glad Jacqueline’s brother had come around. Hunter families were important in a hunter’s fight against rogue vampires and rogue hunters. But Dane was also glad Jacqueline was going to stay with him while they were trying to sort out the issue with these hunters. He drove into his garage and shut the door, and immediately, she was there, hugging him and he laughed. “I hope you feel totally at home here. I feel this is where you belong—with me, protecting me as I protect you.” He just held onto her, loving their connection, both emotionally and physically.

  “I do. And when I’m wearing a ring, I guess we’ll have to put my house up for sale.”

  “Yeah. If we want to live here.”

  “Your house is bigger and has a pool, so definitely. It’s the party house.”

  “With you staying here it, it is.”

  Princess was standing in the driver’s seat, looking like she was being neglected. Jacqueline opened the driver’s door, took hold of Princess, and carried her into the house while Dane got Jacqueline’s bigger bags.

  “You’ve already explored his whole house,” Jacqueline said to Princess.

  Dane vanished and reappeared in his master bedroom carrying her bags. Then he was back to the car to get more of her things. She was already carrying Princess’s food and dishes into the house.

  “What about our walk? Or do you think it’s too dangerous until the league members take those hunters into custody?” Jacqueline asked.

  “I think it would be best if we stay here and give the hunters a chance to round up ‘X’ and his buddies. On the other hand, if we’re walking in the woods and encounter hunters who plan to eliminate us, we can just vanish,” Dane said.

  “Unless one of them is an archer.”

  “Hmm, okay, then we stay at the house. But we don’t have to feel cooped up here. We can visit the Bremertons at their compound. And we could even go walking through their woods there,” he said.

  “I hate feeling like the hunters are putting restrictions on us, more so than they already have,” she said, putting her clothes away in his closet where he had quickly made room for her.

  “Yeah, I agree. It sucks. I’ll get all of Princess’s stuff sorted.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be right down.”

  Then he reappeared downstairs, startling Princess, who quickly greeted him with a rub against his legs. Dane wondered what it would be like to have a dog. Would their sudden vampiric appearances in a new place make the dog bark?

  Dane began putting the cat food in the pantry and filled her water dish up. He set up her litter box out in the mudroom off the foyer. Then Dane got on his phone to call Matt. “Hey, brother, we have a new development.” He explained the situation to his oldest brother.

  “Ah, hell. You should have called us right away.”

  “We weren’t in any danger since Jacqueline’s brother and Tobias were here,” Dane said.

  “What about tonight? I mean, if the hunters are after you and the Bremertons, how safe are you at your house?” Matt asked.

  “They’ll think I’m alone, but I won’t be.”

  “And if they outnumber you?”

  “We can vanish, reappear at your home even.”

  “Ahh, hell, no. I’m having a date with Marissa. She would have a heart attack at first. Then pull her sword out next.”

  Dane smiled. “You’re finally going out with her. Well…if things even get serious between the two of you, she’s going to have to know what she’s getting herself into with regard to one of your brothers.”

  “She’s sympathetic to your cause.”

  “Being sympathetic and really experiencing being around us, are two different scenarios.”

  “True. But really, all of us will land in on your place to protect your backs if you need us to,” Matt said.

  “Even Marissa?”

  “I’ll talk to her.”

  “Maybe this will be the perfect way to break her in,” Dane said. “She might just decide it’s too much to deal with.”

  “Then she won’t be the one for me.”

  “That’s true,” Dane said. “But she could come around if she got to know us and came to love us.”

  His brother laughed. “Well, we’re only on our first date.”

  “Well, she might be fine with it. So right now, we’re okay, but if we need to, we’ll call you and get hold of Adonis and he and the others like us can come help us a lot faster and then you can join us.”

  “You and Jacqueline want to spend the time together alone,” Matt guessed.

  “Yeah, we need it.”

  “Yeah, you do. But we don’t want the two of you to be at risk. I mean it,” Matt said.

  “I agree. If they don’t get these guys soon and we’re afraid the hunters have hired someone else to take us out, either we’ll move onto the Bremerton compound, or we’ll have you stay with us,” Dane said. Sure, he wanted to have the time to spend alone with Jacqueline, but more importantly, he wanted to make sure she stayed safe.

  “Okay, I’ll let you go.”

  “Have fun on your date.”

  “I will.”

  Then they ended the call and he smiled when he saw Jacqueline joining him wearing her bathing suit. “This is what I love about your house,” she said, running her hands over his chest. “Your swimming pool.”

  He chuckled. “I knew there was a reason you were so taken with me.”

  “For sure.” Then she vanished and he heard a splash in the pool. He chuckled and appeared in his bedroom, changed into his swim trunks, then ended up at the pool room. He quickly jumped into the pool to join her.

  She paused swimming laps, and he swam toward her. She began swimming away from him and he cornered her at the end of the pool, and she laughed.

  “I heard you speaking with your brother.”

  “Yeah, he’s pretty upset about what we’re going through. Don’t be surprised if he and the twins show up to watch the house.”

  “Well, if they do, we can invite them in. We’ll still have our alone time. And there’s no reason for them to sit outside the house.”

  He smiled and kissed her. “I have to say swimming with you has been a real joy.”

  “I love being here with you like this.” She kissed his wet shoulder and then his lips.

  Then they began to race each other across the pool. But he was listening for any sign anyone was trying to break into the house again like when the thieves did it. He was also aware someone else might show up—of the hunter persuasion. He heard his phone ringing in the house, and he sighed. “I’ll be right back.” He left the pool and ended up on the patio, grabbed a towel, and transported to the living room. He really was getting great at this.

  When he reached his phone, he found it was his brother Trey. “Hell, Dane, I can’t believe you’re in the middle of trouble again. Except now as a vampire. Is Jacqueline all right?”

  “Yeah, but we worry someone will come after me now, since that’s what the human hunters told us.”