Chapter 1 #3
The coven kept the local and state police in their back pocket, with law enforcement aware of the vampires’ presence but unable to do anything about it.
With all the kickbacks the mayor and other government officials received from Belleridge Coven, they lived a peaceful life free from harassment. Until now.
“Whittaker, come back with me and get in the car.”
“My ride is on the way.”
Adrian responded to her dismissal with a disgruntled growl before he turned back to fetch the parked BMW.
Half a mile into the walk, Emma regretted her stubborn decision to decline a ride because David still hadn’t arrived.
Her freezing feet protested every step, and just when she was tempted to accept Adrian’s offer, another coven vehicle approached them.
Thank God.
“What the hell happened to you?” David asked through the open window. Emma grunted and jerked open the passenger-side door. “Is that Kennedy?”
“Just drive. His car is back there.”
“Okay…” David hesitated a beat then gave in to her terse instructions. “You all right?”
Emma tilted her head back against the seat, sighed, and closed her eyes. “Yeah. No. I don’t know yet. I just want to get back home.”
“Sure thing.”
One thing she liked about David, he didn’t push. Too bad she couldn’t clone him and have her own drama-free, no-stress boyfriend.
He parked in the long drive and killed the engine after glancing through the rearview mirror. Kennedy arrived behind them and exited his vehicle.
“Thanks for the ride,” Emma muttered.
“No problem.”
Hoping to avoid another confrontation with the overbearing combat master, she hurried onto the manor’s covered porch and shoved the doors open. Warmth surrounded her, vented heat blissful against her chilly face. She’d never been so glad to step inside of Belleridge Manor in all her life.
“Get to the fireplace and warm up,” Adrian ordered as he stepped in behind her.
“I’m going to the vault,” she disagreed while shrugging out of her ruined jacket.
Numerous in and out bullet holes riddled it, and it just wasn’t worth the effort of sending it in for repairs.
The coven’s butler, a human who received a blood bounty a few times each year from their lord, stepped forward to take the soiled garment.
“Unless you can think of another way for me to replace the blood I need.”
Adrian didn’t respond. He whirled and stalked away.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Shall I dispose of this, Ms. Whittaker?” Humphrey asked, gesturing to the blood-smeared leather.
“Yes, please,” Emma replied. “Thank you.”
She maneuvered around the scowling Scotsman and made her way down the corridor toward the kitchen. What would have been an immense walk-in pantry had been replaced by a cold storage room. After dialing in the code, she stepped inside, fetched a couple bags, and tossed them on the warmer.
Usually, the masters allotted three bags per week for every member of the house—a respectable amount to keep appetites under control.
According to protocols, one to two additional packs were allowed under extraordinary circumstances, and Emma thought an ambush in the streets qualified.
She’d submit the appropriate forms later.
While a fresh, hot vein would have been much sweeter, she’d take what she could get in the safety of home.
“Holy shit, they weren’t kidding,” Angie said.
Emma glanced over a shoulder to see her vampire bestie in the doorway. “Hey, girl.”
“David told me you were covered in blood.”
“Most of it isn’t mine.”
“You’re also covered in bullet holes.” Like the mother hen she’d always known, Angie hurried to Emma and raised her sweater to peer beneath the scarlet-stained fabric.
“See? All healed.”
Angie exhaled a huge pent-up breath. In the time since Emma had moved to New England, they’d become more than best friends.
They were almost sisters. “I knew you would be, but I just had to make sure.” Before Emma could check the warmer, her friend guided her to a chair then squeezed the blood into a tall glass herself. “Tell me what happened.”
Emma relayed it all from the start, beginning with leaving earlier than usual to Adrian’s rubber-burning arrival.
“Kennedy was in the middle of a lecture when he suddenly stormed out, not a single word of explanation. Tore outta here like hell was on his heels.”
“Oh,” Emma said, feigning disinterest. “You know him, all work, work, work. The thought of a fight must have appealed to him.” Although she wondered how the hell he had known there was an attack at all.
“We’ve never had hunters this far north before. Last I heard, they were scouring Texas and spreading like locusts throughout the South. So strange. I’m just relieved you made it out of it alive.”
Uncertain about revealing her precognitive moment on the road, Emma said nothing and guzzled her portion of blood.
No one knew of her gift for detecting danger—an ability she’d guarded from even Angela.
But now she was beginning to wonder why she hadn’t revealed the truth to her pal.
After all, she and Angie shared all secrets with each other.
“How’d they even know, though? Who you are, I mean.”
Emma shrugged, having no answer for her. “They didn’t feel particularly well-trained. Well, two of them were kinda good, but I counted five total.”
“You know what that means, right?”
“No, what?”
“Five is only a scouting party, love. Where there’s five, there’s more. Someone sent a suicide band to test you.”