“Then you shouldn’t be staying at your house, Dane! Tobias said you could stay at the Bremertons’ compound, or any one of our homes.”

  “If we need help, we’ll call.”

  “And that will take how long for us to get there? I wanted to see how you were, but I also wanted to tell you to look at the TV. Jacqueline’s death is on the news. I hope her family knows she’s okay,” Trey said.

  “Robert said he would tell them.” Dane hoped he would before they heard the news on the TV, unless Patrick gave them the news himself already that the whole thing was staged. He probably did to let them know not to panic. Dane turned on the TV to watch the news. Princess came over and rubbed against Dane’s wet legs and got her fur all over him.

  Then Jacqueline showed up, wrapped in a towel, probably to see who was calling and what was taking him so long to return. She sat next to Dane and watched the newscast.

  He put the phone on speaker. “It’s my brother Trey,” Dane said. “Well, it looks real. I’m glad we got out of there before the reporters converged on Jacqueline’s house. They don’t know I was seeing her, hopefully, so they won’t be coming here next.”

  “If they do, why don’t you both come to my place?” Trey asked.

  “If they know about me, they’ll know about all of my brothers,” Dane said.

  “True.”

  Dane thought about it for a moment, then said, “If the reporters come here, we’ll ignore them. Hell, if they’re sitting outside, it will make it harder for hunters to break in and try to eliminate me.” At least he hoped that was true.

  “Are you going to stay put? I mean, no clubbing, no moonlit walks, no going out at all?”

  “Yeah. No rogue vampire missions.” Then Dane smiled and leaned down and kissed Jacqueline.

  “I already know that look on your face, Dane. You have something in mind,” she said.

  “What are you considering?” Trey asked.

  “Clubbing.”

  “No way in hell,” Trey said.

  “A vampire club.” Dane shrugged. “I mean, hunters wouldn’t go there.”

  “Exactly. And you’re hunters.”

  “And vampires. It might be time for us to try a vampire club out and see if we get better reception there,” Dane said.

  “You can’t even consider taking Jacqueline with you on that suicide mission,” Trey said.

  “I wouldn’t let him go without me,” Jacqueline said. “If they see us together, they’ll realize we’re a couple just out on the town for the night.”

  “A hunter couple who is a team who hunt down rogue vampires and if any of them are in the club you go to?”

  “We’ll leave in a flash.” Jacqueline smiled at Dane.

  “You’re both playing with fire,” Trey said. “Besides, Jacqueline is supposed to be dead.”

  “We wouldn’t do it until the rogue hunters are taken down. It’s just an idea, not that we have to do it,” Dane said.

  “I would tell you to take Adonis and more of their family, if you go to a vampire club, but that might be too much of a show of force. I’ll let you go. And tell us for certain if you decide to go and we’ll try and talk you out of it,” Trey said.

  “All right. Talk to you later.” Dane said.

  “Are you done swimming?” she asked, watching the police chief talking about her death.

  “Yeah. That was fun.”

  “Did you ever consider the idea that you might be turned when you had to fight a rogue?” she asked.

  “No. I always figured that if I lost a fight with a vampire, he would just kill me. It used to be that we all thought that vampires drinking a hunter’s blood would kill them. When they realized it wouldn’t, and they could actually turn a powerful hunter, some of them decided to do that, rather than just eliminate the hunter. Not only did they eliminate the hunter threat to them, but they had a minion to control.”

  “But hunters can’t be controlled as well as a human, and their hunter friends will seek out the master vampire and terminate him,” she said.

  “Exactly.”

  The talking heads on some talk show were trying to second guess what the police were doing with regard to Jacqueline’s murder.

  “The police are keeping really hush-hush about this,” the one commentator said on the TV news show. “Do you think that it’s a vampire hit? Or maybe the murderer is someone closer to home?”

  “A hunter friend or family member, you mean? That happens with humans for sure, but not with hunters so much. Not that it can’t happen. Or maybe Ms. Anderson terminated a vampire and one of his or her family members wanted revenge. That has been known to happen.”

  “Why don’t they wait to see what really happens with the investigation?” Jacqueline asked Dane.

  He smiled at her.

  “I mean, if there really was a murder. They talk these situations to death, and they don’t know anything. Just to have more TV views. And often they make conjectures that are totally off base. Sometimes that puts some innocent person under the gun and their lives are ruined.”

  Dane agreed.

  They showed a picture of her home with yellow security tape across the front of the house and reporters converged on the sidewalk in front of her home. “I bet my next-door neighbors are thrilled about this.”

  “Are they hunters?”

  “No. Just humans. The one on the right is owned by a doctor family, both family physicians. The one on the left—he’s a home developer and she’s a nurse. But look—as soon as one of them drives their vehicle out of their garage, the media is swarming them to question them about me—probably if they heard anything or saw anything.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad I don’t live next door to you.”

  She laughed. “Who would ever have thought! But if we have trouble, we might have to stage another murder and then your neighbors will have all the issues from that.”

  “You know if that happens, it’s possible that the hunters living here might really ban together to catch the rogue hunters,” Dane said.

  “That could be.”

  Then someone was knocking on Dane’s door, and he grabbed his sword. “You probably should stay out of sight because your photo has been all over the news.”

  “I will, but I’ll be listening in.” Then Jacqueline stayed in the kitchen where no one at the front door could see her.

  He looked out the peephole and said to her telepathically, “One of my hunter neighbors.” He opened the door and said, “Hey, how are you doing, George?”

  “Hey, man, we heard what had happened to you,” George Bridges said. “Sorry that we didn’t come by sooner. But when we heard about Jacqueline Anderson being terminated by human hunters, we wanted to make sure that you know that we have your back. If anyone comes for you, let me know and we’ll be over here in a heartbeat.”

  “Thanks, George. I sure am glad to have you as a neighbor and hunter friend.”

  “Well, one other thing. I heard you were seeing Jacqueline. She was a great huntress. I’m so sorry to hear it. We also have gotten together to do a neighborhood watch, something we’ve never done before. After humans broke into your place to steal, and then with what happened to Jacqueline, we figured it was time. We assume you’ll be watching out for anyone who doesn’t belong in our neighborhood too.”

  “You know that the police believe it is a conspiracy of a few hunters who paid human hunters to kill her, don’t you?”

  “Hell, no. They didn’t mention it on the news. Is it a working theory? Or do they have something to back up the notion?” George asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve heard through the grapevine that they were hunters.” Even though Dane liked George and whenever he and his family had a barbecue, he was invited, Dane didn’t know who all of Georger’s friends were. What if he was friends with the ones who were wanted for questioning? Then if Dane told him what he knew, it could get right back to the rogue hunters.

  “Well, just know that we don’t feel that way,” George said.

  “Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

  “You’re welcome. Talk to you later, bro.”

  “Talk later.”

  Then George left and Dane shut the door.

  Jacqueline came out of the kitchen. “Do you trust George?”

  “He and his wife are nice people, but I really don’t know how they feel deep down about hunters who have been turned. They’ve been busy, I’m sure, but they haven’t once come over and told me that they’re sorry for what had happened to me. Maybe they didn’t know how to approach me about it because they were worried about how I was feeling. I suspect that they finally figured they had to talk to me, considering what had happened with this business with the hunters putting a hit out on you. And I could be next. But I still don’t know if he’s a friend of the hunters we need to have taken into custody,” Dane said.

  “That’s what I was thinking. Right now, all I trust are your family and mine, and the Bremertons, and the two ladies in the therapy session. I heard your neighbor say that they were starting a neighborhood watch,” Jacqueline said.

  “Yeah, who would have ever thought they would do something like that. Being a community of hunters, we’ve never really worried about break-ins, or anything,” Dane said.

  Then there was another knock at the door.

  Jacqueline kissed him. “I’m ready, if you have any more trouble.”

  “Okay. I’ve never had visitors like this unless they’re family or friends that I know are coming here.” Dane checked the peephole. “It’s five more people that live in our neighborhood—all hunters.”

  “As long as they’re good guys and not wanting your head.”

  “Yeah, agreed.”

  Then she vanished.

  He answered the door. “Hey, I guess you heard the news.”

  “Can we come in?” Dillion Johnson asked.

  “Yeah, sure.” Dane hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by letting them in.

  They all came inside, and he offered them sodas.

  “We’re good,” Dillion said, and they took seats in the living room. “Your next-door neighbor, George, called us about the earlier break-in at your house, which of course concerns us as a whole. But this business with Jacqueline is horrifying. George said human hunters were involved in her death but that there’s a possibility that our kind might have been behind it.”

  “Yeah, we’re sure of it,” Dane said.

  “Damn,” Dillion said. “Does anyone have any idea who they might be?”

  “The League of Hunters might,” Dane said. “And if so, they’ll have warrants out for them.”

  “That’s good, but I would sure like to know who they are, and I’ll help take them down,” Dillion said.

  “Yeah, me too,” Josh said.

  “I’m with you,” Phillip said.

  “Even if you are friends with those hunters?” Dane asked, wanting to see how they would react.

  “Hell, yeah,” Dillion said. “If any of us are turned—and we all know it can happen—we can’t become targets of our own kind. No matter who they are, we need to take them down.”

  “I agree,” Phillip said. “Friendships are one thing, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re all hunters at heart. Becoming a vampire doesn’t change that. I’m sorry that it happened to you, brother, but I guess you have some cool abilities now.”

  “Yeah. Drinking the blood isn’t something I had signed up for, but I’ll tell you, having the other abilities is damn great,” Dane said.

  “Can you communicate with other vampires telepathically?” Phillip asked.

  “Yes.” Even communicating with the dead. Dane was thinking of Jacqueline.

  “Okay, well, we’re here for you. Other than doing a neighborhood watch and making sure people who don’t live here are checked out, what else can we do to watch your back?” Josh asked.

  Then there was another knock at the door. Dane laughed. “More neighbors or⁠—”

  “More hired hunters,” Josh said.

  21

  When Dane went to the door, he smiled to see his brothers had arrived. He should have known they would pop in even though he hadn’t called them to come to his aid. “Come in, brothers. I’m having a neighborhood meeting.”

  Everyone got up to welcome the brothers. Hell, Dane wondered how poor Jacqueline was doing. He hated that she had to hide from their neighbors. If his brothers were the only ones here, she could join them.

  “They’ve implemented a neighborhood watch,” Dane said as his brothers took their seats in his living room.

  “That’s great. If you wondered, Dane’s on that hunters’ list also and that’s why we’re here even though he said he felt he could handle it,” Matt said.

  All heads turned in his direction. “I hadn’t exactly told them that part,” Dane said to his brothers. “Yeah, the League figures since I was courting Jacqueline, I’m the next one on their hit list.”

  “But we don’t know who they are, do we?” Josh asked. “We’re taking them on if they do.”

  “You would have to ask them. They’re not telling us anything.” Not that it was a total fabrication on Dane’s part. The League hadn’t told them about the hunters. The Van Helsing hunters had told them instead.

  “If you need any of us to drop by and even stay over, let us know,” Phillip said.

  “Thanks so much, man,” Dane said.

  “That goes for all of us,” Josh said, affirming Phillip spoke for all of them there.

  “Thanks,” Dane said again, then walked them to the door. As soon as they left, he closed it and found Jacqueline had joined his brothers in the living room. He was glad to see her smiling and giving them all hugs.

  “We’re damn glad you’re all right,” Matt said. “Those hunters have a death wish.”

  “We were lucky the human hunters were willing to warn us and not just take the money for the job. If they had been successful, I mean,” Jacqueline said.

  “It’s horrible being dead, isn’t it?” Matt asked. “I really think the two of you should go to Bremerton’s compound. Jacqueline won’t have to hide, and we don’t have to worry about hitmen coming for you. We would stay here and take care of them if anyone showed up.”

  “You just want to enjoy the swimming pool,” Dane said.

  “Yeah, really. But if you’re completely against leaving, we want to stay with you as a contingency force,” Matt said.

  “We’ll need to park your car in the garage then.” Dane knew his brothers were dead set on watching his back. If anyone thought to terminate him tonight, they most likely wouldn’t be prepared for Dane’s brothers to be there unless they saw their vehicle sitting out front.

  Trey hopped up from the couch. “I’ll do it.” Once he had parked in the garage, he and the other brothers went out to grab their bags.

  Jacqueline squeezed Dane’s hand. “They are so sweet to do this.”

  “You know they’re doing this mostly for you, to show you how chivalrous they are.”

  She laughed.

  Then the brothers entered the house from the garage and headed up the stairs to the rooms they had stayed in before.

  “They seem to be used to staying at your place,” she said.

  “Yeah. We have pool parties, and they bring the steaks, we take turns grilling and preparing the meals and drinks. Then they just stay the night. We do it for holidays, but also after successful multiple vampire hunts to let off some steam.”

  “And tonight?”

  “If they brought extra steaks with them…” Dane said.

  Matt returned to his car and brought in bags of groceries. “We’ve got it covered.”

  “What happened with your date?” Dane asked.

  “Uhm, well, I told her you were in danger, and I needed to be there for you. She totally understood, I think,” Matt told him.

  “You could have had your date first and just let Trey and Ryan join us first” Dane was glad they had brought some more food. He was certain he didn’t have enough for all of them to eat for an extended period of time.

  “No, family comes first. We can go on grocery runs for us,” Matt said.

  “We can grab some food from my house too,” Jacqueline said. “I should have thought of it when you picked up Princess and my clothes.”

  “You and I can do it as vampires whenever we want to.” Dane knew they couldn’t just drive over there in case anyone was watching. To get the cat, sure. But once that was done, that was it.

  Tobias called Dane then and he put the call on speakerphone. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “The hunters are either on the run, hiding out, or doing a job somewhere. But they are not at their homes or anywhere that they regularly hang out,” Tobias said.

  “So they could have gotten the word that hunters are closing in on them to take them in for questioning,” Dane said.

  “Yeah. They’ll have friends who aren’t part of the plan to terminate you and Jacqueline, but they’ll still give them a place to hide if that’s what they’re doing. I suspect they’re not out hunting.”

  “Can you learn who they have on their lists to hunt?” Dane asked.

  “We found the police departments they were working for,” Tobias said. “It will take a while to learn where the rogue vampires are that they’re supposed to be targeting but—hold on, got another call.” Then he continued. “So two of the vampires they were supposed to be after have been terminated. Eight others are on their lists.”

  “When did they terminate the other two vampires?” Jacqueline asked.

  “Four days ago. So it was before they targeted you, Jacqueline,” Tobias said.

  “Well, my brothers are here to stay with us for the time being,” Dane told him, wanting Tobias to know they had backup just in case.

  “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Adonis, Zachary, Pasha, Michael, and Danai were planning to join you if you didn’t have anyone there with you. The human hunters have settled in here, so everything’s good as far as that goes.”

  Then Jacqueline got a call on her phone and fumbled with it. As soon as she looked at the caller ID, she saw it was Anne from the therapy group. “I’m supposed to be dead. You answer it,” she said, handing the phone to Dane. But then the call ended.