Chapter 1
Six weeks later, Portland, Oregon
Atreides, prince of the vampire clans on the west coast, had seen his brother, Daemon, and his mate, Tezra, off at the airport to go on a well-deserved vacation a week ago. He couldn't be more thrilled to be in full control of the clans instead of serving just as his brother's subleader. Daemon was even taking his bodyguard, Voltan, and Maison, his advisor, so they could also have a vacation. Atreides was in seventh heaven. As long as no other trouble presented itself, he would prove to his brother that he could be in charge and not screw things up. And then Daemon and his mate could take more trips away from home without any worries.
But what he couldn't believe was when a huntress showed up at Tamblyn’s Dance Club—walking through the vampires who had been laughing, conversing, drinking and dancing prior to that. A hush fell over the whole crowd. Even the band stopped playing, everyone looking to Atreides to deal with the huntress.
No hunter entered a vampire club ever. Just like no vampire in his right mind would enter a hunter club. Most hunters and vampires stayed clear of human clubs too.
Was the huntress crazy? A rogue? She wasn't armed at least, which was good, or he would believe she was here to terminate a rogue vampire who might be on her terminal list. Atreides would not harbor a rogue vampire, but there was no way a hunter was coming into their club to kill one either.
He watched as she continued on her way to the bar, her chin held high, her gaze taking in a few of the vampires and blood bonds filling the place. He sat on his chair at a table where he waited for Iconia, his girlfriend, to show up, who was late, as usual. He waited to see what the huntress was up to, but if he had to remove her bodily from the club, he had no qualms about it.
As soon as Selena Towson entered the Portland, Oregon dance club, disco lights flashing over the dark room making everyone look surreal, she knew it was a mistake. Then again, if she knew how to do anything extraordinarily well of late it was making mistakes. Not that killing the hunter was a mistake, but it sure had cost her when it came to having any friends now within the hunter community.
Clueing her in right away that coming here was the wrong thing to do, she saw that everyone visible to her in the packed place turned to stare at her. As loud as the thunderous beat of the New Age music was, no one would have noticed her, unless they were vampires or hunters. But this wasn’t a hunter club.
Fans circulated the air through the high-ceiling building and the scent of bloody cocktails drifted overhead. If that wasn’t enough to convince her where she’d ended up, two of the women standing nearby bared their extended canines at her in a sinister taunt.
Selena’s skin prickled as if thousands of stinging nettles had suddenly punctured it. Straightening her shoulders, she wouldn’t give up now. Had she known the woman called Twilight meant to meet her at a vampire hangout, Selena would have insisted on going to another place. Hunters did not enter vampire establishments, nor did vampires violate hunters’ space, not unless either intended violence. Just the hostile look from the vampiresses in the group was enough to prove at least one side was itching for battle.
Everyone wore black—satin, silks, taffetas, leather, the most dressed down—denim. Selena’s silky creation stood out like a red rose among a bed of black roses full of thorns. She had dressed appropriately for a human’s club!
Quashing the irritation that spiraled in her blood that she hadn’t had enough foresight to ask her friend more about this meeting place earlier, Selena proceeded to the bar. She had assumed Twilight was a human—unless she was a blood bond who offered sustenance to vampires for the sexual intrigue. The woman ought to have known a hunter would never enter a vampires’ lair unless he or she had no other choice. Well, Selena supposed she had no choice if she was to find her sister. This was the first lead she’d had.
Making her way through the crowd of men and women observing the dance floor, Selena felt every eye on her now. Faint unease skittered along her nerves—a necessary evil or she would be just as cold and heartless as a rogue vampire, who had long ago dispensed with any emotions. But she would not show how she felt in front of a bunch of vampires and their blood bonds. As much as she could fight it. She didn’t have any control over her heart rate, or the tiny smattering of chill bumps that erupted on her skin.
Wishing she could read their telepathic communication, she guessed at what most of them were thinking. What was a huntress, who was trained to take down rogue vampires, doing in one of their clubs?
The thing of it was she wasn’t like other hunters. Trained, yes. Always ready to take down a bloodsucker who was bad news—yes. But she wouldn’t always play by the League of Hunters’ rules. Too much corruption and politics for her. She did it her way—and had been ex-communicated for the latest infraction again—after killing a hunter in self-defense and protecting a vampiress this time. The punishment meant that she couldn’t legally carry a hunter’s weapon or have a list of vampire rogues to take down.
She ignored that rule too. Not that she was armed at the moment. Her weapons were waiting for her back in the car because no club allowed weapons inside. But being a hunter without her sword was like being a surgeon without a scalpel. They were just tools of the trade. And if a rogue vampire tried to kill her, she wasn’t going to let him just because she didn’t have a list of rogues she was allowed to eliminate!
She was halfway surprised a bouncer in the club hadn’t tossed her out on her ear already. But she suspected they were dying to know why she was here. Like…to take down one of them? That would be suicide.
“Huntress,” a vampiress hissed at her through clenched teeth, her vampire canines fully extended.
Selena pitched a perfectly fake smile at the woman whose red curls were stacked high on her head, her green eyes crystalline daggers. Selena brushed past the vamp, bumping her aside, which prompted another hiss. Selena wasn’t going to be intimidated.
Selena continued walking toward the bar with purpose and an air of ease, even though deep inside, her heart beat way too fast, while she continued to look for any sign that one of the blood bonds watching her might be Twilight.
If Selena located her sister, Rosa—who could do no wrong when it came to hunting renegade vampires—maybe, Selena wouldn’t be so ostracized by her family. But Selena wasn’t certain whether Rosa was in harm’s way or if she was just being her usual inconsiderate self, letting everyone think she’d disappeared without a trace, not of her own free will. Since her sister had vanished three times in the past two months, then sheepishly returned home after a hunter tryst didn’t work out, Selena shouldn’t have been worried this time either.
But she was. The fact that Twilight, whoever or whatever she was, had passed on the note to Selena’s friend that she knew something about Rosa’s disappearance set Selena’s nerves on edge. No one else bothered to look for her sister this time. Not her friends, family, associates, no one, because they all assumed Rosa was missing on purpose once again. Don’t cry wolf came to mind.
“Huntress,” another vampiress hissed, stepping in front of her, blocking her path. This one’s hair was black as a darkened well, and her ebony eyes flickered with flame.