Chapter 8 Beyond the Hunt
Koa
I gripped the steering wheel, trying to ignore Zane as he blared music on his phone, his voice rising above the thumping bass to sing along perfectly with some top forty hit.
“C’mon, Ko! You know this one! Join in!” he called.
“Yeah, right,” I muttered under my breath, my focus glued to the winding road ahead. “Have you ever heard me sing?”
“No, thank the night,” Casimir deadpanned from the shotgun seat, intently consulting the GPS. Every few seconds, he’d glance at the screen. “In two miles, take a left.”
“Both of you need to relax,” Zane belted out.
“This isn’t a joyride. You need to have—”
“Priorities, right?” I cut off Cas, smirking at Z in the rearview mirror and catching his eye roll.
Our SUV was packed tighter than a can of sardines with gear, weapons, stocked med kit, and enough ammo to make a small army feel secure. Clothes? Who needed those? Clearly, we were more concerned with survival than fashion.
“Cruor! You seeing this?” Zane leaned forward, eyes wide with childlike wonder as he surveyed the grounds we were paralleling. “This is way nicer than the last dump we stayed in. Are we sure we’re not in a sitcom? Because I’m ready for my close-up!”
“It’s not a vacation; it’s an assignment,” Casimir said with a hint of amusement in his tone.
“An assignment that comes with a killer view,” Zane shot back, undeterred.
The estate unfolded alongside us like a sprawling canvas of green and gold.
The trees, budding green and purple, stood sentinel along the drive.
My gaze drifted to the apple orchard, the trees just now greening and their branches stretching toward the sky.
For a moment, I thought of my mother and how she would have loved this, but I pushed that thought back into the shadows of my mind.
“Bat’s bones!” Zane marveled. “How long does it take to mow so much grass?”
Cas was taking in the layout with the precision of a general surveying a battlefield.
His profile was set, jaw clenched, the tendon in his neck taut.
His eyes never stopped moving, always on the lookout for exits and entry points, weaknesses and strengths.
It was a habit he couldn’t shake, and also one that seemed to ground him.
“Think Lucian’s trying to make a statement?”
I didn’t answer Zane. Answers required thinking, and I wasn’t ready to unpack the why of it all just yet.
“Turn here,” Cas directed, and I grunted at him.
Wasn’t like a huge pair of stone columns loomed ahead or anything.
As we approached the gargoyle-guarded gates, I caught a glimpse of a brass plaque and slowed down so we could all read it.
A place
beyond the hunt,
where shadows rest
and dawns endure.
“Who writes this shit?” Zane mused aloud, shaking his head.
“A place beyond the hunt.” Cas’ voice was thoughtful, tinged with a surprise he didn’t bother to hide, and I glanced at him, catching a flash of emotion before his usual mask slipped back into place.
“Not exactly what I expected,” I admitted as Zane finally turned off the music.
I ignored him, my eyes fixed on the road ahead. The driveway was a serpent, coiling through the grounds, each twist revealing perfectly manicured lawns, the faint glint of water in the distance and, beyond that, forests that seemed to stretch on forever.
“First thing we need to do is assess the perimeter,” Cas said in his business voice.
“Right, because nothing says ‘welcome’ like a tactical analysis of our new digs,” Z snorted.
“Looks defensible enough,” I offered.
“Too many open spaces,” Cas disagreed. “Easy targets.”
“How about maybe just a little chill?”
“Focus, Zane!”
I could almost hear the eye-roll accompanying that, and I chuckled softly.
Joking and smart-mouthing had always been Z’s way to deal with emotions he couldn’t handle or process, and it drove Cas crazy, a happy side effect that Zane exploited ruthlessly.
As they bickered, I tried to come to terms with the fact that this—this sprawling, obscenely expensive estate—was ours.
Ours. And we hadn’t even seen the manor house itself yet.
For three bastard half-brothers who’d spent their adult lives moving from one place to the next, never staying long anywhere, this felt permanent.
Then the trees parted, and the main manor house came into view.
Big. Fancy. That was my first thought. It wasn’t what I’d expected. I mean, what did I expect? Some crumbling, gothic mansion straight out of a bad horror flick? But what I could see of the place so far looked like it belonged on the cover of a magazine.
I slowed the SUV, just taking in the size of the place. It was huge. Like, ‘I could get lost in the hallways and never find my way out’ huge. And pristine. Every hedge was perfectly trimmed, every window sparkled in the sunlight like polished steel.
“We at the right place?” Zane said finally, breaking the silence. “This is definitely some billionaire junkie’s crash pad or evil villain’s hideout.”
“It’s a home,” Cas retorted. “Not a crash pad. Not a hideout. A home.”
The word hung in the air like a challenge. Home. Something we hadn’t had since we were six years old.
Then again, homes were never in the cards for guys like us.
An assignment, I reminded myself. It’s just another moon-damned mission. A long-ass one, but it’s only another job.
#
Casimir
“A place beyond the hunt,” I repeated under my breath, the words from the gates echoing in my head like a riddle. Shadows resting, dawns enduring. Bunch of bullshit.
Still, it lingered.
The whole estate screamed permanence, a concept that made my gut twist into knots. This wasn’t some run-down, forgotten estate Father had tossed us. This was a place meant to be lived in, loved, cared for.
Passed down to children.
“Night’s teeth! We should’ve asked for an estate sooner!” Zane chuckled.
His nose was nearly pressed against the window. His messy red hair caught the sunlight, and his brown eyes sparkled with genuine excitement. My lips twitched into an almost smile. For all his annoying quirks, Z had a way of being delighted with nearly everything.
“Think we got a wine cellar? Or a ballroom? Ooo, what if there’s a library with one of those sliding ladders?”
“Like you read,” Ko snorted. “You’d probably just use it to hide from dawn workouts.”
“Maybe, but I’d hide in style.”
“Zane, can you please give me two minutes of quiet to think?” I asked with a sigh.
“Right, right. Serious business and all that,” he quipped, mock-saluting me.
“Yes, it’s serious business!” I squawked. “We have no intel here! How many exits? How many blind spots? Who designed this place, anyway?”
“Fang-rotted buzzkill!” he hollered.
“Better a buzzkill than a target,” I muttered, glancing around the grounds again.
The peacefulness of the estate was deceptive, hiding potential threats behind every corner, and I couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that.
“Relax, Cas,” Ko chuckled as he took one hand from the steering wheel to pat my shoulder. “Lucian promised it was secure, remember?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, “but since when do we trust him?”
“Look, look! A lake! You think it’s stocked?” Zane squealed in my ear, pounding on the back of my seat with his fist. “We could have fish fries every weekend. Or just skip the fish and go straight to the fries!”
“You’re such a child.” I rolled my eyes, but another unwilling smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“And you’re a spreadsheet with legs,” he shot back. “Don’t pretend like you’re not impressed. This place is incredible! I mean, I was expecting some creepy, run-down mansion with cobwebs hanging from the chandeliers, but this? This is next level! The old leech had good taste for once!”
I shook my head, my mind already two steps ahead. This place might look like a fairy tale, but I knew better. Nothing was ever as it seemed. And yet…
A place beyond the hunt, where shadows rest and dawns endure.
I frowned. Didn’t sound like Father at all. Maybe Sebastian, but not Father.
“Cas! You even listening to me?” Zane demanded.
“Yes,” I muttered, but I hadn’t heard a word.
“Sure you are,” Ko snickered. “You’re too busy plotting how to turn this place into a fortress.”
I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong.
#
Zane
As Ko drove us up the driveway, the estate unfolded before us like a moon-damned postcard from another world. Evermere loomed large, glimmering in the sunlight, surrounded by sprawling gardens that seemed to stretch on forever. The sight was so perfect, it felt like a trap.
“This place is too nice. Is this where Pops lures us in before Turning us? You know, sweetens the deal before revealing the fine print? Maybe he wants his own little immortal trio of hunters?”
“No one wants you as a vampire,” Cas snorted.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’d be too powerful.” I smirked, leaning back in my seat. “For real, though, you think Lucian is trying to butter us up? Maybe he’s finally realized we’re his favorite sons and decided to splurge.”
“You’re not anyone’s favorite.”
“Ouch,” I said, clutching my chest like I’d been shot. “Low blow, bro!”
As usual, Ko didn’t say much, but I could tell he was uneasy. His jaw was clenched, and his fingers were strangling the steering wheel.
We weren’t built for permanence; we were nomads in a world of shadows, but here we were, rolling up to a mansion that looked like it belonged in a fang-rotted fairy tale.
Yeah, like we’re Prince Charmings.
“What are we even doing here?” Ko’s voice rumbled like thunder, but there was an edge of uncertainty beneath it.
“Well, we’re supposed to meet our new bride, right?” I replied with a shrug. “But seriously, who does arranged marriages anymore? I mean—”
“Wait.” Cas leaned forward, his focus sharpening on something ahead of us. “Is that luggage? Did she beat us here?”
“Maybe she decided to leave us a parting gift before she ran off. Classy.” I scoffed, but my laughter died when Cas’ whole body stiffened.
“Something’s not right,” Ko murmured.