Page 6 of Huntress Unleashed

Jacqueline settled down on the couch with her cat, Princess of Maine. As soon as Princess curled up on her lap, waiting for attention, Jacqueline started brushing her beautiful, fluffy tortoiseshell coat. She was a Maine Coon cat and definitely looked and acted like a Princess at all times. She was quiet and affectionate, loved to sit in windows, and sleep on Jacqueline’s bed with her, something her ex-fiancé, Van, had problems with so it was just as well that things hadn’t worked out between them.

Jacqueline turned on the TV and started to watch the Matchmaker for Millionaires reality TV series. It was all made up, of course. Imagine her being on that show—a millionairess in her own right who was looking for Mr. Right, only he had to be…what, exactly? She had no intention of dating a vampire. And hunters were out. They didn’t trust her because she was one of the vampires now. And hooking up with a hunter who had just as many issues as she did over having been turned wasn’t going to happen.

She thought of Dane and about how Stacey was holding onto him when they had left the building. He hadn’t disengaged from her, so Jacqueline figured they were going to hook up.

She sighed. Who cared? They had to find their way through this somehow and if that’s what it took, so be it. At the next meeting, Dane and Stacey might be the most well-adjusted people there. Who knew?

Brushing a purring Princess on her lap while Jacqueline watched the show, she considered the women the male millionaire had been interested in. What he wanted was a blond, who was well-built, not after his money, and she had to be intelligent. The other millionaire was a woman who wanted a young, hot guy, funny, and smart, who could take her sense of humor. Both of the millionaires were in their mid-forties. Both wanted a partner who was in their twenties. Of course. Beautiful, sexy, and young—but for a meaningful, well-thought out, long-term marriage? Not.

“Not for us, Princess, eh? We know just how this will turn out. The man and woman will have a date with their respective partners and will find they are just gold diggers who will put on the cutesy charm and it’s all just meaningless and proves the matchmaker’s advice was right and they should have dated someone else and would have broken the pattern of dating whoever was wrong for them.” Jacqueline glanced down at Princess. “And you’re sound asleep. We sure dodged a bullet with the last guy in our life, believe me. Well, you especially did. He had insisted you wouldn’t sleep in our bed once we were married. Then again, what would he have done if a vampire had turned me while we were married? Insta-divorce for sure.” She changed the channel to one about vampires. “Nope, don’t want to see this.” Even though the vampires weren’t like the real ones, her current situation made her shy away from anything to do with them unless they were on her terminal list.

She turned the channel to a story about finding love in the wild. Couples would compete against other couples to see if they could find the right man or woman for them. It looked promising. Instead of blind love where they didn’t see each other and learned about each other’s wants and dreams, with this new show, the couples would be working together through stressful adventures in the wild—riding horses through the mountains on narrow, cliffside trails, and across rivers, pulling cantankerous donkeys carrying their crates filled with some kind of puzzle pieces, diving, swimming, rope climbing, rappelling, all of which most had never done. They might even end up falling in love. It was worth checking it out.

There were ten men and ten women to begin with and they had to choose someone of the opposite sex to complete the challenges. She really liked most of them, but she was amused to see how they navigated different obstacles and were still speaking to each other, working together to solve puzzles—at least some of them were. Some weren’t and they definitely weren’t meant to be together with all the bickering they were doing, mad at each other, blaming each other for not being successful. Then after they completed the rigorous challenge, they could keep their partners or change things up a bit, based on the order they came in during the challenge. She loved seeing the dynamics between the couples. Especially the five that were really doing well together and showed a genuine interest in each other.

She glanced at the clock. It was nearly midnight. Time to get back to reality and go to work. “I’ll be home in a little bit.” She hoped. She never knew how long the job would take her or if she would get it done when she headed for the location where she thought the vampire would be.

Princess got off her lap, leapt to the floor, and sauntered to the bedroom in her carefree way, like a little princess as if she knew Jacqueline would join her in bed when she returned and so she was going to be ready for her. Then Jacqueline got a call on her phone and looked at the caller ID. Dane Edmondson.

The guy from the meeting? What did he want?

“Hey, is this Jacqueline from the therapy meeting?”

“Uh, yeah, if you need a sponsor, it has to be a male.”

“No. I was calling because I’m going out on a job.” He paused.

So? What did she have to do with it? She waited for him to say.

“I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going after someone on your list.”

Now that surprised her. “Who are you going after?” she asked, wanting to make sure of the same thing then.

“Axel.”

“No, damn it. How many hunters have been assigned this mission?”

“Just two. I guess you and me if you are also after him.”

She didn’t say anything. She was so annoyed. Not with Dane obviously, but with the police who had hired her.

“Okay, it sounds like you’re being hired by the same police agency. Let’s see if we have any more of the same names.”

“How are you learning there are other hunters who are actively searching for the rogues?” she asked.

“I asked. I’ve had that happen to me before. I was headed to the location where the rogue vampire was known to go, had surveyed the whole area, learned when he would be there, and when I arrived at the place, I found a hunter had just killed him. Then a few minutes later, I got a notification that the rogue was eliminated by a hunter. I thought it was just a chance happening until they told me that two other people also had the mission. From then on, I ask so I know what I’m up against. I also discover when the posting first came out and when the other hunters were given the job. They don’t give me the names of the hunters.”

“Great.” She didn’t say it in a cheerful way, more annoyed than anything.

“So if you’re willing to share, who are the rogues on your list?”

She let out her breath. “Besides Axel? Maggard, Quillon, and Paine.”

“Yep, we have the same list. I also have Mabon.”

“Good. I don’t have that one. You can take care of Mabon.”

Dane laughed.