Hunting My Holidate (The Night Realm: Hunter Marked #1)

Chapter 1

ONE

KASO

“How many times we gotta tell you? You got a problem, you give us a call.” I motioned to the two young vampires standing across from us. “Enough with these amateurs."

Whereas my brother and I preserved the older ways and always looked professional—a more dignified look with our pressed suits, with or without the jackets—these two were barely a century old and acted as young as they looked in their jeans and cashmere sweaters.

Their hair was cut short and stuck out in all different directions like a modern-day boyband.

The smaller of the two vampires straightened his shoulders and held his chin up. “We had it under control.”

“The hell you did.” Benny, our long-time client, ran his hand over his dark hair, then his dark eyes met mine. “Listen, Kaso, I meant no offense. I got in a little trouble and these two are way cheaper than you twos. I thought they could clean it up.”

“And by clean it up you mean kill someone and get you exiled back to Fourth Realm?” I shook my head at him. “You’re lucky me and my brother were available tonight.”

Benny nodded and held his hands out in front of him, the gold metal of his rings sparkling under the ceiling lights. “I know, I know.”

“Everything was fine,” the other young vampire spoke up, but his voice was small and weak, like he was still trying to convince himself too. “We had it.”

“You had it?” My eyebrows rose. “You had it?”

I glanced over to my brother who stood next to a human female laid out on a rickety table. Her skin was deathly pale, and her sweat-matted, dark hair was stuck to her head. From across the room my vampire sense picked up her sluggish heartbeats.

I scoffed and met my brother’s eye while hiking my thumb in their direction. “You hear that, Andreas? They had it.”

My brother pursed his lips as he examined the IV he’d placed in the woman’s arm, then up at the bag of blood hanging beside her. “Yeah, clearly.”

“You two showed up here acting like a pair of fucking morons.” I jabbed my hand in their direction. “And you wanna poach our business? You think you’re as good as us? Let me tell you something, no one is. You got us in some back room of a strip club fixing up humans.”

The smaller one shrugged. “We were gonna get her to the hospital.”

“Hospital?” I gave a humorless chuckle and looked back at Andreas. “A hospital, he says.”

Andreas groaned and rolled his eyes. “Might as well write your name on the task list of the Virtues. They’ll be here hunting you down in moments to drag your stupid asses out to Fourth Realm with Riven’s parents.”

“Or worse, Riven’s uncle.”

Andreas chuckled and rubbed his hands together. “We could probably pay Riven to ensure you didn’t stay on his half–”

“No, no, please–”

“If you wanna get caught, you go public.” I pressed my lips together. “Matter of fact, I got nothin’ left to say to you. Get outta here.”

Benny stepped between us, looking as nervous as ever.

He was a smaller vampire who liked to play with fire.

His favorite game was toying with human women with a fetish for being bitten.

They both got a bit of fun out of it, usually.

Except there’d been a time or two when Benny took it a little too far.

He’d never killed anyone, but he’d come damn close.

Sometimes he just got caught up in the moment and lost track.

Every time he did, he would call us and we would save them both by wiping her memories so Benny stayed off the Virtues task list.

He ducked his head and shuffled from one foot to the other. “Not for nothin’, but they did all right.”

“All right? You hear that Dre? They did all right.” I motioned toward the door. “I think our work is done here.”

Andreas was as stone-cold as ever. He turned away from the human, then walked toward the door. “Just remember, Benny: you’ve already got one strike. This would’ve been your second.”

Benny’s face paled. Sweat ran down his neck, soaking the collar of his wrinkled button-down. He hadn’t even gotten the buttons straight before calling us. “No. No, you’re right. I should’ve called yous guys.”

“Loyalty gets you a discount with the best fixers.” I glanced toward the two imposters. “Betrayal charges double.”

“Plus the train fare,” Andreas muttered under his breath.

“Yeah. Plus the train fare out to this godforsaken shithole.” I motioned around me.

Benny peeked up at me. “It’s only Staten Island.”

I arched one eyebrow at him. “Like I said, shithole.”

“Yeah, okay, you got a deal. Double the normal fee.” He waved for the other two wannabe fixers to leave. “Ya better get outta here.”

They moved toward the door, and I threw my arm out to block their way. “Unless you want Riven to hear about this, you better knock it off. I won’t warn y’again.”

The smaller one puffed out his chest. “We was doin’ good ‘til tonight.”

His friend elbowed his side to shut him up. “What do we do now? I mean, so you don’t tell Riven what we’re up to.”

“I suggest you seek employment elsewhere.” Andreas pushed his black-framed glasses back up his nose, then turned away from them to go back to the woman.

“Like my brother said, get a new job.” I dropped my arm and let them silently pass.

Once they were out of the room, Andreas reached into his pocket, pulling a small vial with shimmering liquid out.

He opened the plunger and pressed his finger over the opening, gathering a drop of liquid on the tip of his finger.

He bent over her and pressed the liquid to the two fang marks on her neck.

Instantly her skin knit together until there was no sign she’d been bitten at all.

Her heartbeat steadily grew stronger as the bag of blood Andreas set up flowed into her body.

Andreas walked over to Benny and handed him the small vial. “Rub this over the IV mark before she wakes. Make sure she wakes up in a bed and not here. She’ll think your shared fetishes played out well.”

Benny’s hands shook as he took the vial. “You’re not staying to finish the job?”

“No, Benny. You called us halfway through a hack-job to clean up your mess.”

If he had called us first, we would have this taken care of in moments. She would’ve woken up fully transfused in the same bed she’d passed out in. No harm, no foul. Now he would have to drag her back to wherever they’d been . . . without witnesses.

“But I’m payin’ double.” Even though his voice went up, he still had that heavy Staten Island accent.

I shrugged. “We learn our lessons the hard way or we don’t learn at all. Next time you’ll know better. Or next time the Virtues clean up. Your choice.”

Before he could argue further, Andreas walked to the door and paused, waiting for me. “Wire the money to the same account as usual, Benny. I’ll expect it by mornin’.”

“You heard him, Benny. By mornin’.” I cupped Benny’s cheek, then gave it a little slap. “See ya next time, Benny boy.”

I followed Andreas out the door, and we strolled from the back room down a long hallway.

Andreas didn’t turn toward the strip club.

Instead he walked through the dressing room full of half-naked women staring at themselves in a wall of mirrors and straight toward the door marked with a bright red exit sign.

He shoved through it and didn’t stop walking. I fell into step with him.

Crisp air cooled my skin, and I sucked in a breath, letting it flood my lungs. It felt good to be out of that stuffy back room. “A fucking strip club. What were they thinkin’?”

“They weren’t.” He tugged at the cuff of his sleeve, straightening his suit coat.

Andreas and I didn't abide by the loser standard some human males kept for themselves. We’d lived in eras past where a suit or tailored clothing were expected.

It wasn’t expected anymore, but we found the fashion to our liking and benefit.

Tonight he wore a double-breasted pinstripe suit while I went with a classic black three-piece.

“She would’ve died in that room and Benny boy would’ve been banished to Fourth Realm in seconds. The Virtues would find him easily.”

I chuckled. “In seconds. He ain’t subtle.”

The Virtues were immortal, angelic hunters who traveled the world-over catching other supernatural species who broke the laws of our world.

Any violence was an instant one-way ticket back to the realms no one wanted to ever return to.

First Realm, was where we all wanted to be.

Here, vampires like ourselves blended in among the humans and lived whatever lives we chose.

If I were to be taken back to Fourth Realm, the Vampire Realm, it would be a death sentence.

My brother and I had cultivated quite a career out of cleaning up the mess others made so that they wouldn’t get strikes, because three strikes and you were out.

Banished. Gone. Never seen again. And luckily for us and our business, there were lots of supernaturals in this realm who slipped up from time to time, intentionally or unintentionally, so they would hire us to clean up their mess.

For a price. Of course. And sometimes we let their sorry asses get dragged away.

“I’m not sure Benny is worth a trip out here again.” Andreas turned down the street and quickened his pace.

“Are we rushing?” I matched his pace, and the world sped by while we headed to the train station.

“Making the next train.” Andreas turned and ran up a set of stairs, then down the platform.

We were on the train and in our seats only a moment before it pulled away.

“So, we are in a rush.” I watched out the window as the world drifted by.

“I prefer home.” He sat back in his seat and pressed his lips into a thin line. “It’s triple the price next time we come to Staten Island.”

I chuckled. “Noted.”

Andreas’s cell buzzed and he reached into his pocket and glanced at the screen. He turned it toward me so I could see the name and a low whistle passed my lips.

“That’s a very, very bad sign,” I said.