Page 72 of Huntress Unleashed
“Who haven’t been turned?” Jacqueline asked, irritated. She understood why Tobias and the council would want to handle it this way, but she was used to being a huntress who could terminate a hunter who went rogue.
“Yes. But if we go to arrest them and they fight us, we eliminate them. That way the two of you, and any other hunters who have been turned, will be in the clear,” Tobias said.
Dane agreed. “All right. Thanks, Tobias. If we get into trouble here, we can always use our vampire skills to vanish and leave and not fight them.”
Jacqueline pushed her hair behind her ear and scoffed. That wasn’t the way of a hunter, but to keep themselves from getting put on a rogue’s list… Then she frowned. “The ruling needs to be changed. I mean, the one where vampires can’t eliminate rogue hunters. It should be that hunters turned vampire can still kill a rogue hunter, if a rogue puts him or her on his list for no reason.”
“It’s something we’re discussing,” Tobias said, surprising her. “It has been in the works since Adonis, Danai, and Zachary were turned against their will and Gregory tried to kill Adonis. Also because Michael, Pasha, and Rachael chose to become vampires to be with their mates. There was a lot of resistance to the idea at first, but the council members are slowly coming around. When they see all the good you are doing, all of you, and that you’re not suddenly becoming rogues, the hunters on the council will come around given time, though we hope it will be sooner than later.”
“Well, at least that’s something,” she said.
“Yeah, I agree,” Dane said, rubbing Jacqueline’s back and she instantly felt a little calmer, a little more relaxed.
“Those of us who want the ruling changed continue to work on getting it amended. The thing of it is, if the holdouts had kin who were turned, I’m sure they would feel differently and it would be approved right away,” Tobias said.
“We could do it,” Jacqueline said, just kidding because she knew that if they did something like that, they would automatically be branded rogues.
Tobias and Dane both smiled at her, and she was glad they got her dark humor.
“I’m going to call the police detective,” Dane said.
Dane called Patrick, put it on speakerphone, and said, “Jacqueline and I have a situation that needs a delicate touch. Human hunters came here to warn us that they were hired by hunters to kill Jacqueline.”
“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.