Page 12 of Huntress Unleashed
“Because we’re part vampire,” she finally said.
“Yeah, and by law, vampires can’t kill a hunter, no matter if hunter is a rogue or not or they’re on a terminal list.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll help you learn the truth.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
They finally reached Mabon’s house, surrounded by trees and acreage, pulled off onto a side road leading out into the country, and parked.
She got out of his truck before he did. She was quick, he had to give her that.
He quickly joined her and then she vanished. Shit. He wished she would give him a heads-up. He wanted to know where she was going. Suddenly, she reappeared, seized his hand, and vanished with him. They ended up in the woods off to the south of the house and he felt totally disoriented, not like when he teleported himself on his own.
But at least they were together, and he was glad for the partnership again, even though he would have gotten the bounty for himself. There was something to be said about having someone along with him to help if they had to fight a rogue.
They saw a light on in the main living area and they crept closer to get a look. All the blinds were closed, but they would see if they could find an unlocked window.
He saw a balcony to a dark room on the second floor and was about to mention it to Jacqueline, but she had the same idea and vanished and reappeared there. He immediately followed her and ended up on the balcony.
She tried one of the double glass doors on the balcony and the door opened. Mabon probably figured that no one would try to enter his house from there. Jacqueline was clever.
They slipped into the room that was large and opulent, featuring a king size bed with a gold headboard and the rest of the furniture was golden, 18th Century Italian Baroque. Dane only knew because he had learned about Mabon and his hobbies and collecting antique furniture and decorations was one of his things.
Dane moved to the bedroom doorway, the door open and they heard Mabon on the phone downstairs. “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
They moved down the hallway to get closer to where Mabon was, and Dane began recording the conversation just in case the caller was contracting a hit. The police could track it down to the caller, and hopefully this time, Mabon wasn’t in the process of killing anyone.
“Your husband has an insurance policy of a million dollars and a five-million-dollar estate, a two-million-dollar cabin, a yacht. Yeah, I do my research when someone wants to hire me for a hit. I want the money from the insurance policy.” Mabon hesitated. “If you want to pay someone else less, be my guest. With me, it’s a guaranteed hit.” He paced across a tile floor. “Okay. So when does Mr. Dunlap get home from work? Seven. Be sure and have a good alibi. Do not be there when I am.” Some more pacing. “Between seven and eleven. Hell, I don’t know. Have a ladies’ night out with a bunch of ladies, but don’t make it look like you’re trying to create an alibi. I want the money as soon as you’re able to access it. If I don’t get it…well, let’s just say you will no longer be needing it.”
Dane and Jacqueline began making their way down the stairs, glad it wasn’t creaking. They heard Mabon in the kitchen opening the fridge and then pouring something into a glass. Jacqueline disappeared and reappeared next to a dining room hutch. Only Dane could see her. They had to be careful not to get too close to the vampire until they were ready to attack. Otherwise, he could hear their hearts beating, though they could hear his also when they were close.
Dane joined her and then the phone on the counter rang and Mabon picked it up and said, “Yeah? All right, Jerome. That’s tricky. Your business partner has a penchant for blond hookers. Yes, I know all. I’ll make sure he has one for the night in question…tomorrow night? Right, between eleven and two the next morning. So be home with your wife and make sure she can verify you’re with her for the entire time…” He paced again. “I don’t care if she goes to bed early. You need to have an alibi that proves you’re home when your business partner meets his untimely death…no, that wasn’t me. All right. Send the money to my account and when I have it, I’ll make this happen.” He set his phone on the counter. “Business is good,” he said out loud to himself.
But Mabon’s lucrative business was finally coming to an end, Dane was thinking.
4
So far, so good, Jacqueline was thinking. As soon as Mabon finished his second murder-for-hire phone call, Dane shoved his phone in his pocket. She loved how he was proactive and was taking a recording of Mabon’s business dealings before they terminated him. She hadn’t even thought of that, but he was doing the right thing in doing so. Once they took Mabon down, the people who had hired him could still kill their partners, just by hiring someone else. So they needed to be convicted of trying to do a hire-for-murder scheme also and in the end, save their partners before they hired someone else to do the job.
Mabon turned and started to head for the living room, but he suddenly stopped and glanced in the direction of the dining room where they were standing. That’s when Jacqueline realized she heard Mabon’s heart beating. He could probably hear their two hearts beating at once.
She and Dane made their move, both of them vanishing and appearing in the living room. She had to admit she loved that she could vanish and appear in places like that. It really helped to get somewhere much more secretively. As hunters they would have to have moved quickly and decisively but they would have exposed themselves too early to the rogue vampire threat.
Even though she suspected that Mabon knew they were hunters, their movements said that they were vampires. He looked surprised, maybe like he was trying to figure out who they were and why they were there. He hadn’t invited them, so he knew they were not there for fun and games.
Not when they were armed with swords and targeting him. Mabon threw his bloody cocktail at Dane, and he dodged it. The rogue immediately dove for an umbrella stand filled with sheathed swords and tried to pull one free but it was tangled up with four others.
Yes! Fatal mistake, hopefully, on his part. She wasn’t going to let down her guard in the event he could finally free his sword or come after them with his deadly teeth. She’d never even let her vampire teeth down, not wanting to experience that part of her vampirism so it wasn’t something she felt she could use in a fight.
Dane was on the vampire and before she could even engage Mabon, Dane removed the vampire’s head. His body and head quickly turned to shriveled leather body parts. Her adrenaline was still racing through her blood, and she couldn’t believe how easy that had been, all because the vampire had a tangled mess of sheathed swords in an umbrella stand. He should have just had one for easy retrieval.
She hugged Dane and whooped and hollered. He smiled at her, then kissed her.
“See? We make a great team,” he said.
“Yeah.” But Dane hadn’t really needed her on the job this time, she felt. Just looking at him, their gazes meeting, she felt butterflies taking flight. She couldn’t believe it. She had just finished a hunt, for heaven’s sake. “Listen, you terminated him, and you can go ahead and claim him.”
“No way. We’re in this together. You could have been after another bounty or enjoying the rest of your night off. Besides, having two of us here rattled him enough that he couldn’t grab his sword.”