Prologue
Selena Townsend was supposed to meet with her sister at the Forest Grove Hunters Club in Portland, Oregon, but Rosa hadn't arrived at the off-the-lot parking area yet when Selena heard a man fighting with a woman a couple of streets away. Between a huntress's excellent hearing and the fact they were being so loud they had caught her attention. She wanted to wait for her sister, but when the voices escalated and she heard the woman say, "The baby is yours, Fenimore," Selena decided to investigate. It wasn't that she planned to interfere, but if a man and woman were going to come to blows, she wanted to prevent it. Especially if the woman was pregnant.
With her huntress abilities, Selena was stronger than humans, so there would be no contest for her. She grabbed her hunter's sword out of her car, when she normally wouldn't be taking it with her when entering the club, but since she was taking on a side mission, she was always armed, just in case.
"I can easily take care of that!" the man said.
Selena recognized the voice as that of a hunter—not just some human named Fenimore. She ran toward them, fearing the worst, hearing the hunter's sword drawn and reached them just as he was ready to kill the woman.
Selena saw not only Fenimore Thomason, but his brother, Cliff, and three of their friends—Perry Rochester, Harry Canton, and Lonnie Wilson.
She also recognized the woman—Charlene, a vampiress, and not one who caused anyone any trouble either. In fact, she'd helped the hunters find a hunter child who had gotten lost near a vampire club one night. Selena couldn't believe Fenimore, who professed hating vampires with a vengeance, would have created a baby with one.
"Stop, Fenimore!" Selena shouted, startling him, her heart beating wildly. They'd all been so wrapped up in this business that they hadn't even noticed her running to stop him.
Charlene was crying, when she should have just vanished. Selena could never understand how the vampires would stick around for a fight when they could just leave without being injured. But maybe Charlene felt Fenimore would not harm her and the baby. As angry as he appeared, Selena didn't believe he would stand down without some intervention.
She finally reached them and ran in between Fenimore and Charlene, acting as her shield. "Stop, Fenimore! You don't want to go down that path," Selena said.
Fenimore pointed his sword at her and she had hers ready to fight. The hunter would not intimidate her. She only wished Charlene would leave so that the confrontation would end. At least she hoped.
"You don't want to interfere in my business," Fenimore said.
Then he thrust his sword at Selena, surprising her, but the adrenaline already filled her with the need to fight—to save the stubborn vampiress who wouldn't save herself, and to protect herself even. She realized Fenimore wouldn't want her to live to tell the tale of how he had made a vampiress pregnant. This would be a fight to the death.
She parried, knocking his sword away. "You don't have to do this."
"You should have minded your own business," he said, his voice filled with hatred.
The other hunters watched but waited to see how this would end.
"Tell your brother to stand down, Cliff." Selena hoped his younger brother by a year would convince Fenimore to listen to reason.
"Fenimore," Cliff said, halfheartedly, not forcefully like Selena wished he’d sounded.
"Shut up, Cliff. You know this has to be done." Then Fenimore stabbed again at Selena and she jumped back and swung her sword at his, the clanging sound of the swords reverberating off the buildings.
He came at her again, and she backed up, staying out of the reach of the thrust of his sword while Charlene moved away. Selena could see the red haze in his eyes. He was in killing mode. First, it was Charlene, now he had to rid himself of a huntress who knew too much. She knew once he had decided something, no one could talk him down. His parents, both hunters, were both dead at the hands of rogue vampires. They would have turned over in their graves if they knew he'd impregnated one.
But she couldn't believe Cliff and the others would allow Fenimore to kill a huntress in a coldblooded way.
He thrust again, and she parried, defending herself, not attacking, hoping someone would stop the madness.
Then she heard footfalls in the distance and saw a couple of male hunters running their way. Good. Maybe one of them could talk Fenimore down when his brothers and friends couldn't or wouldn't.
Instead of ceasing his attacks on her, he appeared to be controlled by bloodlust like some kind of berserker of old. When he cut her sword arm, she knew she wouldn't survive this if she didn't fight back. She thrust her sword as he swung his sword back to strike her and stabbed him straight through the heart.
It seemed everything was in slow motion at that point. He looked shocked to the core that she would fight back. She pulled her sword out of his chest, feeling no victory, the other hunters finally reaching them before Cliff and his friends could retaliate against her. She felt horrible about killing a hunter, no matter that he'd turned rogue and was trying to murder an innocent vampire. She was still a hunter like him. She felt terrible when she heard Charlene crying her heart out, broken up over losing the hunter, the father of her unborn child, even if he had intended to murder both of them.
"What the hell happened?" Mack MacPherson asked. He was one of her brother, Daniel's friends, so he knew she'd always been honorable in her fights against rogue vampires.
She'd never expected to fight a hunter to the death.
Selena explained what had happened and Charlene finally gathered her composure to corroborate her story. Which was a good thing because if Cliff and his friends had been the only ones to witness the fight, she was certain their version would be a hell of a lot different from Selena and Charlene's. She realized then that Cliff had his sword out and he was giving her the evil eye.
He had looked up to his brother in all things, and she was afraid she would have to watch her back whenever he was around now.
"We'll have to take this to the League of Hunters Council now." Mack looked sympathetically at Selena, but with disdain at the vampiress, as if it was all her fault.
Charlene said, "I will speak on your behalf with the Council, Selena. Thank you for saving my life."
Two more hunters arrived, though Selena thought they had seen the action, but were just farther away than Mack and Donovan when she killed Fenimore.
"Take care of your brother," Mack said.
Then her brother came running to the scene of the fight. Great. Daniel looked at Fenimore lying on the pavement dead, and Selena's sword dripping with blood. He might not have seen the action, but he could put two and two together. She hadn't had time to process all of it—and realized she could even be put on a rogue hunter list—scheduled for termination, worst-case scenario, or be ostracized by the hunter community for killing a hunter instead of just letting the whole matter slide. In other words, allowing Fenimore to kill the vampiress and pretend none of it had ever happened.
Which she would never have done.
But now she had to face the League of Hunters Council, her parents, her disapproving brother, and who knew how her sister would feel about it. One little act of kindness had turned her world inside out.