Page 93 of Huntress Unleashed

Jacqueline hoped his bluff would work and Moose would come clean. But he knew he would be eliminated for such an act of sabotage so it behooved him to keep the secret, if he truly had been behind all this.

“Uh, Green must have been confused when he said I had anything to do with it. I mean, like you said, I’ve worked with him any number of times.”

“That’s the thing about using vampiric persuasion,” Dane said. “The person you question can’t lie to you.”

Moose glanced at the other hunters. He shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked and smelled uncomfortable. Sweat beaded up on his forehead. His heart was beating like crazy. There wasn’t any reason for him to be scared unless it was all true. Though Wendy’s reaction mirrored Moose’s.

“Well, I didn’t do whatever he said, but I want to clear my name. I need to use the bathroom and then we can go to League headquarters,” Moose said.

“We’re taking you into custody,” Matt said. “You can use the bathroom there.”

Jacqueline was glad that Matt said that because she was afraid he was going to try and get away if he went into the house.

“I’ll take you there,” Dane said, then told Jacqueline, “I’ll return for you.”

She knew that Dane was going to take Moose the vampiric way to headquarters. She gave him a hug and kiss and he hugged her back and then kissed her. “See you soon.”

Then to everyone but Jacqueline’s surprise, Dane grabbed Moose’s wrist and vanished. She just hoped that the League would put Moose in custody and wouldn’t let him go. And that they weren’t upset that Dane had arrived in a vampire’s way with Moose in his grasp.

* * *

Dane figured the best way to take Moose before the council was to just do it in the vampiric way. It would make a statement. This was what Moose had deliberately done to him. Well, most likely Moose had wanted him dead and that hadn’t worked out like he had planned.

He was surprised to see Tobias there and he hurried to meet with them. “Jacqueline told Adonis you were bringing Moose in and what the charges were for, and he notified me. Come on, Moose, we have a cell for you until we sort this all out.”

Dane sure hoped the guy wouldn’t get away with it. He had to make sure that everyone believed that Green had told them the whole story. From Moose’s own comments, he hadn’t realized that Lucilla had wiped Green’s mind. But when Green would be questioned in court, he would probably tell the hunters that he didn’t even know who Dane was.

This would be a bust, but he was certain that Moose was involved. He just needed to get someone to verify it, or some other proof. A confession wouldn’t hurt.

Then Dane got a telepathic communication from Adonis. “Hey, bud, we’re looking into this business with Moose. I mean, everyone. We’ve got your back. No hunter who sabotages another hunter will get away with it.”

“Hell, thanks to everyone. As long as someone is watching out for Jacqueline. I need to swear out a statement to Tobias.”

“Yeah, her brother and one of your brothers is with her. She’s speaking with Green.”

Dane wondered what was up with that. If Green didn’t have any memory of Dane, maybe she was filling his mind with knowing all about Dane and what had happened. Dane still would feel better if they had other evidence before they eliminated Moose for the crime.

“When you say you’re looking into it?—”

“We’re checking his cell records, his and Green’s bank transactions, Green’s cell records, Lucilla’s, all of it. If we can find a connection between the three, we’ve got him. Before this, we didn’t know he was involved. But the fact he was saying that Green got the story mixed up and not that Moose hadn’t done such a horrendous deed says everything,” Adonis said.

“Okay, thanks, man.”

“Yeah, we got you.”

Then Dane sat down with Tobias and told him everything he knew, even Lucilla’s taunting him with the notion that a hunter had helped set up the ambush. And he mentioned how she had said someone close to him was also involved. Even though he couldn’t rely on Lucilla’s comments completely because rogue vampires were notorious liars, he believed she had been telling him the truth.

Tobias said, “We’re keeping him in custody.”

“Good. I’m going to help Adonis and the others find more evidence against him.”

“So who else would be close to you who might target you?”

“Not my brothers. Maybe a hunter friend? I don’t know.”

“Good luck.”

That was the thing about the hunter league. They had different legal rules. If a hunter was suspected to be involved in putting a hit on another hunter, they were taken into custody so that they wouldn’t do that to another hunter. Hunters understood that was the way it was, so it wasn’t like they would feel their rights were violated. They were well taken care of and paid remuneration if they were detained and were found not guilty.