“Selena, tell us your last name.”
She turned her head toward the female voice. Why wouldn’t her mother know her name?
“Why?”
“You’ve hit your head and you—we want to make sure you remember it.”
Oh. The darkness swept through her, and she smelled the cool mist. He was coming for her, the vampire in the shape of a wolf, his amber eyes glowing in the dark, cold, detached, predatory. His growl was low and menacing and forced her skin to tingle with dread.
“Selena…”
“How much did you give her? It’s not working. Her mind’s too muddled,” the man growled.
“Dear, who’s on your terminal list?”
Selena looked in the direction of the woman. “Terminal list,” she whispered. She didn’t have a terminal list. Her mother would know that. Who was questioning her?
His hot breath was at her neck, his hand gripping her with determination. “I will have my fill of you.”
She shuddered, but she wanted to strike back. She’d been taught to fight the rogues, and she was damned good at her job—with or without hunter backup. She’d fought her fellow hunters in mock battles. But something had stirred in her other than panic when the creature had seized her neck. As soon as he’d grabbed her throat, she wished she’d had a wrist knife, not her sword, any better weapon to fight back. But still, she’d managed to cut the bastard. He’d cried out. She smiled.
Then some vague memory stirred. Something of the dark and distant past. Something buried in her memories for all time.
“Her heart is racing twice as fast, my lord,” the woman whispered.
“What frightens you?” the man asked.
Selena pushed away the cover that confined her. He wouldn’t hold her down. He wouldn’t take her blood. She would kill him first. She wanted to. If…if she could reach her sword. She’d… she’d dropped it.
Reaching for her waist, she tried to get hold of the hilt of her sword, not the blade this time.
“What is she doing?” the woman again whispered.
“Trying to draw her sword.”
“To kill us?”
“The vampire who attacked her, I imagine.” The man moved closer and touched her neck.
Selena struck out with her fist and connected with flesh. Pain coursed through her knuckles with the impact of bone against her curled-up fist, and she cried out.
The man cursed under his breath and grabbed her wrists. She knew it was his and not the woman’s because they were large and vice-like and kept her hands pinned beside her head. Trying to kick, she discovered her feet were tangled in something, and she couldn’t get them free.
“This is useless,” the man said, his voice angered. “I want to discover who her family is and send her home immediately.”
“What if you drop her off at a hunter club tonight? Someone’s bound to know her, and they can take her home with them.”
Selena waited for the man to say something. Why didn’t he say something? She relaxed and quit struggling.
“Unless, of course, you want to keep her.” The woman sounded like she was teasing.
He released Selena and stalked away from her. “You, of all people, know how I feel about her kind.”
The door slammed. But a knock followed immediately afterward.
“Yes?” the woman asked, her hand stroking Selena’s.
“It’s me, Twilight. I wanted to see how the huntress was doing.”
Twilight. Selena struggled to open her eyes. Twilight. Who was she and what did the name mean to her? The man had mentioned her too. Twilight.
She thought a man had bitten her, but maybe…maybe it was Twilight. She…she wasn’t sure, and again she reached for her sword.
Atreides poured a glass of brandy and joined Basil, Renault, and Colt in the great room. Why meet in a stuffy board room? Sitting on the black leather sofas, Atreides believed in comfort instead of rigidity when he made plans in the city.
Although usually Daemon made the decisions concerning the vampire clans in this region. Atreides was glad he’d taken Voltan, his bodyguard, and Maison, his loyal friend, with him so Atreides could have free rein. As twin brothers, they were both princes, but having been born second, Atreides was Daemon’s right-hand man, not the man totally in charge. Which meant he often lived his own life doing his own thing, sometimes to Daemon’s consternation.
“Did you find out anything about the huntress?” Renault asked, his brows raised.
“She’s an Aquarius.”
Colt laughed and choked on his brandy.
Basil shook his head. “And that helps us to get her home, how?”
“She lives at Rivercrest Apartments. She wouldn’t give us her last name. Catherine gave her too much of the drug, so the huntress was incapable of revealing anything. Was there still no sign of her car?”
“Nope. We have all the blood bonds and hosts searching for it though too,” Renault said. “Something about her doesn’t add up.”
Basil chuckled. “Yeah, she entered my club and danced with Atreides.”
“More than that. She was unarmed the first time she came to the club,” Renault said.
“Well, she would have to be to enter a vampire club,” Colt said, giving Renault a look as though he thought the observation absurdly obvious. “Or any club for that matter.”
“Okay, so she armed herself when she thought she’d hit something,” Renault said.
“Yes.” Atreides downed the rest of his brandy. He was just glad no one had attacked her for bringing a sword into the club the second time. “She searched for something that she thought she’d hit, and so she must have left the rest of her weapons in the car.”
“Since when does a huntress not wear weapons at all times? I concede she wouldn’t have worn a sword to the club, but why not a concealed dagger underneath that gown, strapped to her leg?”
Atreides stared at his friend, then nodded. He knew there’d been something wrong about the situation too, when she’d described it.
“Would she have been banned from carrying weapons?” Basil asked. “Maybe she injured someone in a fit of temper, and she can’t wear her weapons for a time as punishment.”
“If so, she wouldn’t be allowed to be out running around on her own. Her family would want her protected. Unless… hell and damnation. That’s why she didn’t want to return to her family. She kept saying she would be safe on her own. She has been banished; I would bet anything. Another damned borderline renegade huntress.” Atreides rose from the couch and stared out the patio doors.
“Hell,” Basil said. “That means we can’t use her to lure the hunters to us. I mean, if she has been banished from hunting, they won’t care what happens to her.”
Atreides turned and frowned at Basil. “I have no intention of keeping her. I already have the huntress lure who will work with us.”
“Oh, well, why didn’t you say so?” Renault said. “So who is she?”
“It’s best if we keep the number down who know about it to the bare minimum.” At least for now. Daemon and Tezra would kill Atreides if they learned of it. They would have wanted to know if Atreides was having trouble of any kind with hunters killing vampires, but he wanted to handle this on his own.