Page 1 (1/2)

Vivian

As I lie here, curled around in to wonder: A a hunt, here at our hotel, would be a good idea? Over a dozen supernatural predators are flying in from all over the world; ones who&039;ve paid an exorbitant price for the privilege of re one of their own kind Ito turn out to be ues me as I rise frolow of the artificial landscape lighting bearadient indicates it&039;s probably e could be associated with learning to trust the new members of our seethe While the vampires appear upfront and honest-as much as a pack of bloodsuckers can be-my old habits of distrust have served me well over the years

The twoof Ivan have been a trial forti anyone from the Tribunal of Ancients on our property sucks, especially when I have no idea who they&039;re sending

Grabbing the clothes I set out in the wee hours of the , I head to the shower in our private suite

The hot water cascading over me fills my mind with horrible memories of my own first hunt My seethe wore cloth-lined, silver skullcaps to thwart my unique vamp-to-vamp mind-control abilities They orchestrated the hunt to rid theroup as de, redheaded va them all with her ability to kill ruthlessly and without remorse

The blood of my seethe-mates once covered my body, as the water does now Later, I stacked their headless corpses in our old far that sick group was the least I could do to avenge theall I&039;d been through under their rule for twenty-six years, I let the bastards off easy Thankfully, even a seht

The sound of Rafe stirring in the next rooetting up as well

"Good , sleepyhead," I call out over the noise of the water "Get enough rest?"

"You ed me for hours? Oh yeah, I slept pretty da hair, and then leave the shower to reach for a towel Rafe puts one in my hand before I have a chance to connect with the rack on the wall

S with everyone in about a half hour Wantto eat?"

"Isn&039;t Paul on cooking duty?" Rafe grie I&039;et better Give him some time It&039;s been a hard adjustment since he&039;s turned and can&039;t eat solid foods any for him to re-learn"

"That&039;s the easy part," I snort "The real challenge since he beca him control the desire to drain his family whenever he sees the me on the bottoreat power coet all philosophical on me I may not have wanted four new members in our seethe, but I&039;ll ers as best I can"

The water hisses back on Stea comes from the bedroom, and I head in to answer it

"Yes?"

Asa&039;s clipped tones greet me on the other end of the line, "Hey, Vivian" He addresses me, like most everyone at The V V Inn, by my nickname "I heard water in the pipes You al?"

The ex- va the Sensitive Coround Our new command center is set up with video feeds and surveillance of the entire property, all fifteen square miles of it

"I&039;ll be ready in ten minutes Have you checked on the others?" I&039; of the T-shaped hotel-right below our apartuest rooms for it either

"Drew is down here with me Paul&039;s finished his shift in the kitchen and went to change clothes, Joanna&039;s still in her suite, and Jonathan&039;s already waiting for us in the conference rooroundskeeper, is the only e have on the property as a perht of his tasty, powerful blood sends a shiver of want through me

"Have we heard froering the landings Passengers should begin arriving at five this evening A new batch will land every twenty minutes or so"

"Have all the dossiers finally come in on the prospective hunters?"

"Cy eo"

Cy&039;s a vampire contact of mine from New York and is married to Asa&039;s olf Aunt Cali He&039;s also the person responsible for sending Asa here to help us out this past fall

"Good Have the folders ready and call the kitchen for pots of blood coffee and regular coffee to be brought down Great work, Asa"

When we hang up, I pull on reen silk pantsuit To add that little hint of sex appeal our guests have grown accusto up the jacket to for neckline I pair the ense ht

Speak of the devil; the scrumptious ht ht v-pattern, drawing ly last night Saliva fills ue performed on certain parts of ? My eyes are up here, love"

I break h, there are his bright blue eyes

"You look atand lance longingly at the bed "I&039;d much rather skip it all and stay in bed with you today"

Rafe laughs "Andup for this circus? Not on your life"

By half past four, we&039;re all gathered around the sleek new conference room down the hall from the command center in the basement The extensive space spans the entire footprint of the large hotel We&039;re under the ing, which holds not only our apart room as well The human companions, servants and bondedtheir stay need to eat soushes to me froorgeous contrast to your skin and copper-colored hair"

As my lips thin in frustration, I try to schoolthe trap to catch Ivan, I held her mind in my control for hours and the after-effects still sway her conscious and unconscious behaviors

Easy, darling Rafe&039;s et over her blood lust infatuation Give her tier than I&039;d like Does he think callingto help?

Well, you did possess her for hours, did you not? Rafe adds

You know daet you to see two months is still too soon to expect results

How come sometimes you&039;re so smart and sometimes you&039;re so not?

Huuy?

"Vivian? Does the green silk match your eyes?" Joanna&039;s voice pulls ingback to reality

This time, I&039;m able to meet her blond beauty and saturnine face with a calht Thank you for noticing" I turnthe table, effectively broadcasting with e that it&039;s time to start and Joanna shouldn&039;t expect more chitchat

"Good afternoon, everyone Have you all had a chance to pour yourselves some coffee and look over the contents in your folders?"

I look to Jonathan first; he&039;s always the one I check with after Rafe His blue plaid flannel shirt looks like a cousin to the one I saw hi the papers in front of hilance, so I move around the table

Drew&039;s capable brown eyes and a desire this fall to avenge his wife&039;s murder, I still don&039;t know aze and raised eyebrows indicate he has a question I nod for him to continue

"The one here on Donald hasup a link to his past indicating he ruesome murders in Europe a few decades back"

"Correct," Asa interjects, "but if you read on, you&039;ll see there was no hint of his otherworldliness in the old police files The Tribunal saw no need to charge his"

I shudder at the thought of the justice the Tribunal of Ancients doled out in the past If they had elio, as promised when I turned him in, ould&039;ve never had the sadistic son-of-a-bitch sabotaging our property, raping a guest, killing an innocentPaul to death

Rafe nods "Asa&039;s right" Sensing h touches mine under the table "The Tribunal doesn&039;t always make decisions that protect humanity They look out for the vampire community-their prime directive is to ensure it stays secret"

"I knew a vao," Joanna adds "He really went off the deep end one night, and decimated a five-screen movie theater full of people I was new to the seethe, but all of us came in and helped burn the place down to hide the state of the corpses" She stares off in the distance, as if the visions froht have come back alive for her to witness

"He left while ere covering his tracks and started to indiscriminately attack people he passed in the street," she continues "The news reporters had a field day with the wounds on the trail of bodies he left I understood why they declared hiet us back on track The last thing I want is the next part of the conversation to dwell on the Tribunal enforcer sent to hunt down her seethe- about it usually opens the door to a barrage of questions I prefer not to answer