CHAPTER ONE

“What the fuck do I look like, a babysitter?”

“War, do we have to go over this every time?” Mike asked while eying the chair in my hands above my head.

I looked up at the chair and then back to him. “Yes!” I said, then threw the damn thing out of the window.

Hah! Take that!

Mike blew out an exhausted sigh and gave me a look that I’ve never really seen on him before. Impatience. What the Hell?

“Serenity.”

Uh-oh. He used the first name. Not good.

“There’s a very bad situation going on here. I need my best working this one.”

I rolled my eyes and folded my legs beneath me, sitting on the floor Indian style while crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m listening.”

Not like I had much of a choice, I thought.

He pulled a manila folder off his desk and handed it to me. I opened it to see a very well organized profile on a young girl. Just a few years younger than me.

“Her name is Michelle Corey,” Mike informed me.

I did a quick scan of the profile and turned my attention back to Mike.

“She witnessed something and we need to address it cautiously.”

“It says here that she’s been targeted by a Hunter group. Why would they target a human?” I asked. Now this looked very interesting.

He gave another sigh. “There have been rumors of a fellow Hunter group that doesn’t quite…follow the code.”

I gave him a look that pretty much said Huh?

“It’s said that they have been kidnapping young girls and selling them to the highest Vampire bidder.”

Okay. Now I’m defiantly, 100%, no-doubt, entirely interested in this case. Not only do I get held responsible for things happening in the Vampire community in our area, but I myself am a Huntress. There’s no way I’m gonna allow these bastards to do this. Selling innocent you girls to their sworn enemies. Truly. What the Hell?

“What happened?” I asked, voice lowering in a serious tone.

“Miss Corey was out last night and witnessed men dragging a young woman into a van. One of them noticed her and chased her down. Felix was patrolling in the area and heard her screaming. When he got there, he recognized one of the pursuers as a Hunter. When they saw him, they took off.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re going to try and go after her some time soon. I need one of my best with her. This is a very tender subject. We can’t just accuse another Hunting party of something like this. We need to catch them in the act. And knowing that there are multiple, well-trained Hunters doing this, I can’t just send in one person. It would be too dangerous if they were to be confronted. I need someone who can take on multiple opponents. I need you.”

I stood up. Facing Mike.

“Do I have you?” He asked.

I nodded. “You have me,” I replied.

He nodded in appreciation. “There’s a car outside waiting to take you to Miss Corey’s house. You will be under the cover of a foreign exchange student from Romania. Miss Corey will accompany you as your sponsor. You’ll have all of her classes. She has already been informed of your arrival and at her request her parents remain ignorant of the entire ordeal. Plus, not even she is aware of the severity of this situation, nor of your bloodline. So please, try to be polite.”

I gave him a half-hearted glare but then nodded.

Damn. Now I have to pass as a human. I have more experience at being a vicious Vampire. This is going to take work.

“Oh, and War?”

Yay! The nickname’s back.

“Can I have my chairs back?”

That got a smirk. I snapped my fingers and materialized new chairs for him. Not as good as the original plush ones, actually, they’re the usual wood ones I always replace his comfy chairs with after sending them to their doom out the window.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

I turned and headed out the door. Waiting for me out front was a Dodge Ram 1500 Lone Star truck. Felix at the wheel.

Felix is the strong, silent type. And a tall, dark, and hansom type. Six-foot-three. Hundred and eighty four pounds of lean, packed muscle. Shoulder length black hair pulled back in a ponytail at the small of his neck. Deep, penetrating dark brown eyes. Deep tan. Strong jaw. Great butt. What couldn’t you like about the guy? Other than the lack of conversational skills?

He was a damn good judge of character, a great fighter, smart, and could kick as in any language. He was twenty-eight and was born and raised to be a Hunter.

As you could pretty much guess, the ride was going to be incredibly quiet. A good time to thoroughly go over Michelle’s profile.

According to the file, the girl’s full name was Michelle Ivory Corey. She was seventeen years old, born June 13. Her address was 2864 Hillas Ave.

Her father’s name was Cedric Davis Corey. He was thirty-nine years of age, born August 27. His job title was listed as Freelance Attorney and the only blemishes in his background was a DUI in March of 2004.

Her mother was Karin Elizabeth Corey. Maiden name, Yanny. She was a thirty-eight year old homemaker born December 13. The mother had no record.

I was to attend Wilton High School with Michelle in her Junior year. She was not a part of any clubs and her social class was considered average. She wasn’t associated with any cliques.

As I'd said, the file was very well organized.

There was a list of her friends and information about them as well. Amber Daniels was considered Michelle’s closest friend. She was another seventeen-year-old girl born December 3. She had a decent occupation at the local Starbucks and had a clean background.

Her closest male friend on the list was Julius Dayz. Also seventeen. He was born June 2, had no occupation, and the only strike against him listed was a ticket for loitering on private property

The rest was pretty much the same. Everyone around her was clean. Is that odd or what?

“You reported to Mike that you recognized the perp as a Hunter,” I said to Felix. “Do you know what Hunting House he was from?”

“Yes,” he answered bluntly. A little apprehensive on his response if his tone was anything to go by.

I side-glanced him with a raised eyebrow. “Well?” I asked expectantly.

He looked to me with wary eyes, fury blazing within the brown depths before he could hide it, then focused back on the road. “My brother’s.”

“Jerrold?”

“Yes.”

My lips tightened. “And I suppose you would be willing to vouch for him having no involvement nor knowledge of what his team is being accused of?”

He pulled up to a modest two-story house. He killed the engine and looked over at me. “We were raised to believe all Vampires are evil. They are leeches on the world and do not deserve to exist. When Mike brought you in, my brother was the head of the protesting party. There is absolutely no way he would be making deals with your kind.”

His eyes held no emotion. His tone was final. It kind of reminded me of my older brother Durell.

I'm sure you're thinking “What brother?” But hey, you can’t expect my father to live for hundreds of thousands of years and only have a single, nineteen year old child.

Durell would have been four hundred years old next month if he hadn’t ended up in the situation that he did. He died three years ago. It was a hard blow to take not too long after my uncle's death, who was taken not long after my mother.

I leaned in to Felix, my eyes locked with his. “For his sake, let's hope your right.”

I turned and opened the door. As I stepped out, the sun beamed down. Damn it was hot. And wearing the bandana and a hoody wasn’t helping any. But what do you expect? Humans aren’t used to seeing young people with silver hair.

After a heavy sigh, Felix got out of the truck and pulled my prepared luggage out of the back. He walked with me to the front door of the house, carrying my bags in his hands.

After knocking, who I assumed was Mrs. Corey answered the door. “Oh. Hello. You must be Trista. I’m Karin,” she said happily.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Karin,” I said with my Transylvanian accent slightly thicker than usual.

Hey. I’m supposed to be freshly out of my homeland. Gotta play the part.

“Well, come on in. I’ll get Michelle. She’s so excited about this,” she said as she ushered us into the living room and nearly ran up the stairs to get her daughter. Don't mothers usually just holler up the stairs?

Felix put my bags down and looked to me. The look was clear so I opened my mind up to him.

There is information in your bag, he whispered in my mind. The emergency contact number will connect you to me.

So you’ll be the primary on this? I asked him.

He gave the slightest dip of his chin.

Just then, Mrs. Corey came down the stairs with Michelle right at her back. “Hi! I’m Michelle,” she said happily. Though I could see the trace of nervousness in her eyes.

“Hello. I’m Trista,” I said as I held out my hand for her to shake.

Mrs. Corey looked to Felix expectantly.

“I’m Felix. Trista’s chaperone for the ride here,” he said boredly.

Isn’t he just the party kind?

“Oh, well, that’s nice,” Mrs. Corey said brightly.

Is this a woman who can use optimism as a career or what? I mean, come on. A chaperone for a driver? In a pickup truck? Please.

Michelle looked over to Felix and I think I saw her blush.

Aw. Kiddy love. Isn’t it sickening?