Author: N. L. Hoffmann
Category: Vampires
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/n-l-hoffmann/page,5,534269-demis_at_stake.html
He turned one of my hands over so he could run his finger over my palm. I shivered, closing my eyes. “I must go. Your people are near.” He stood, smiling, then bent toward me and pressed his lips to my cheek. “Until I see you again.”
As he walked away, back into the shadow of the building, I placed my hand on my cheek. Did I just let him kiss me? What the fuck was wrong with me? I rubbed my hands on my jeans, my heart beating hard. I was screwed.
Chapter Seven
Seth didn’t give me too much hell when they finally found me. He did bitch about missing his nap, though. We were up far too early this morning, and he tended to get grouchy when he didn’t get enough sleep. That was usually when I kept my distance. Cranky Seth was a good way to ruin your day.
Blair glared at me as I put my bags into the SUV. “Not cool that you went shopping without us.”
“Like you would have come with me. Last time you blamed me for getting you into trouble with Seth.” I shook my head, glancing over at my brother, who stared as if trying to figure out what to do with me.
Ruby nodded. “Yeah, Blair. You have a mouth on you, but you’re still stuck to his side after that fiasco.”
“Whatever. You two are bitches.”
“Truth hurts.” I shrugged. “So, what’s the plan? The sun should go down within a few hours. Now that you chased me down, I hope we have something to do other than stand around looking at each other.”
Bear walked over to me, shaking his head. “Girl, you must have some kind of death wish taking off like you did.”
“I can take care of myself,” I replied, even though I was beginning to doubt that seeing as Cathal let it be known he could easily find me. “I don’t need a man to help me.”
I reached into the SUV and loaded myself up with weapons. I put on my coat and tucked a couple of stakes into the inside pockets. Then I shoved my gun into the back waistband of my pants. Grabbing some rounds of wooden bullets, I turned to Seth.
“I hunt alone tonight.”
“You’re fucking nuts.” Seth started in my direction, his face dark with anger. “If this vampire is as bad as you think he is, isn’t it safer to at least have groups of two?”
Was he actually asking me? Taken aback, I blinked at him. “I don’t know. Depends on who you pair me with. I don’t need someone ordering me around.”
“I’ll go with her.” Troy stepped around the SUV.
Seth nodded. “Fine. Troy will go with you.”
“Hey, I didn’t agree to that.” I placed my hands on my hips. “I don’t need you controlling every aspect of my life. That includes who I work with.”
“Why are you fighting me so much lately?” Seth frowned in confusion. “We’re usually on the same side.”
“Well, you’re usually less bossy.”
“Not really. He always acts like he’s on his period,” Blair said, coming up behind me.
Seth glared. “No teaming up. You know that isn’t fair.”
“Girls, girls, girls. Let’s not beat up on, Seth.” Jesse stepped between us, holding his hands up. “He’s only trying to look out for his sisters.”
Bear motioned Jesse to his side. “That’s family business, son. Stay out of it.”
Sighing, I turned to start down the street. “I’m heading out.”
“But the vamps aren’t even out yet,” Seth growled in irritation.
“There are more than just vamps, Seth,” I shouted, walking backwards to stare at him.
Pissed off, he kicked the tire of the SUV. “This is not over, Demi!”
“Not surprising!”
When I turned back around, I heard someone running after me. I was about to snap, but whoever it was grabbed me and lifted, clutching me close to their chest.
“What the fuck?!”
Troy chuckled, setting me back onto my feet. “Ready to hunt?”
“That’s the plan,” I grumbled, not liking the idea of him tagging along. Though maybe having someone with me would keep Cathal away. I didn’t need him trying to corner me and doing who knew what. That vampire was unpredictable. So far, he had surprised me at every turn.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Troy glanced over at me. “Where do you want to go first? We can probably stand outside one of those vampire clubs and see if anyone comes out with a human.”
“Most of those humans are willing, Troy.”
“But we’d be ridding the world of another vampire.”
Shaking my head, I quickened my pace. I wanted to check out the local newspaper, see if there had been any other strange activity in the area. It wasn’t just vampires who caused all the trouble. The werewolves couldn’t always control themselves, either. Every now and then, you’d hear about one terrorizing the city. Like vampires, they had a bad habit of changing people, but they didn’t always bring them in as one of their own and teach them the right ways of living.
I hated having to kill a “new” werewolf, especially when they looked up with a sad expression. The exact same one you saw on your dog after he got into trouble. As a hunter, I couldn’t let my feelings get in the way. I had to remind myself that they wanted me dead. They wanted the people around me dead. It was the only way to cope with what I had to do.
Entering a convenience store, I grabbed a newspaper, then headed to the counter to pay. Troy walked around the store, grabbing some beef jerky and a soda.
As we headed outside, he twisted the cap off his soda. “So, where to, boss?”
Not answering, I unfolded the paper, examining it. Maybe I would have more luck checking social media than the papers.
“Why don’t we go for a walk?” he suggested.
“We’re not on a date.”
“We could be.”
I gave him a sideways glance to see if he was joking, but he appeared to be serious. Instead of answering, I continued to scan the newspaper. When I came upon a small article about a woman being mauled by what appeared to be a wolf, I smiled. She was pregnant, but the baby survived when someone dropped it off at the hospital. How fucked-up was that? I was willing to bet the person who did it realized what they had done and tried to save the baby girl.
“Found one.” I slapped the newspaper onto his chest, forcing him to grab it, and started walking toward the hospital. It would have helped if I could dress as a police officer, but I didn’t have any of my clothes with me, and I wasn’t about to go back to the SUV for them. So I would pretend to be the concerned sister of the victim who wanted to find the person who saved her niece in order to thank them properly.
Troy hurried after me. “Where are we going?”
“On a mission.”
“Yeah, but don’t you think you should share it with me?” He tried to read the paper as we walked, but he almost tripped over a curb. “Fuck. Slow down, Demi.”
Stopping, I turned to him, scowl on my face, hands on my hips. “I don’t have time to hold your hand, Troy. Maybe you should go back to the group.” Walking again, I heard him huff out as he followed. The man did not give up. I’d give him that. I almost felt bad for yelling at him.
“Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the vampire?” Troy glanced over at me, frowning.
I turned down another street. I’d been in Denver a few times, so I was pretty confident about where the hospital was. We weren’t too far away, but a vehicle would have been nice. I should have thought about that and taken the SUV instead of storming away.
“There was an obvious werewolf incident. I want to look into it. If it burns time, so much the better.” I stopped to look around for the emergency entrance of the hospital. When I spotted the sign, I started in that direction.
It wasn’t very busy when I entered. The young security guard looked at me curiously as I walked over to his desk, taking in his short, buzzed haircut and dark eyes. Giving him my best devastated look, I leaned on the desk, wiping my eyes for good measure.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I’m trying to find out information about my sister’s b
aby who was brought in the other night. My sister was attacked by a wild animal, and a Good Samaritan brought in the baby. I was hoping to find out who dropped her off so I could express my gratitude.”
The security guard eyed me. “You don’t look like the girl they brought in.”
“I was adopted. I just flew in from New York a few hours ago.”
Sighing, he sat back in his chair. “I was here when that went down. It was a crazy night. The only reason I know what your sister looks like is because my brother works for the police department. He sometimes lets me in on some of the cases. I... I want to be a cop.”
I nodded, not really interested. Forcing myself to be kind, I placed my hand on his. “You would be a great cop. You have that look about you.”
Troy coughed and turned to leave, heading outside.
The guard leaned forward and smiled up at me, slightly flirty. “You think so? I don’t have long before I’m supposed to go to the academy.”
“They’d be lucky to have you. I don’t mean to push, but do you happen to know who brought in the baby? Maybe a name? Or even what they looked like?”
The guard blushed. “Right, sorry.” He sighed. “There isn’t much that I can tell you, other than his name was Allen. He used to work here at one time, but quit due to health problems. I... I can find out his last name if you want.”
“That would be fantastic! He saved my niece, so I have to let him know that our family appreciates everything he did. I know my sister couldn’t be saved, but at least there is a little piece of her left.” Using my impressive acting skills, I let a tear fall.
“Oh, don’t cry. I’ll find out his name. Whatever comfort I can give you and the family, I’ll do.” He walked into a back room where they triaged patients before admitting them.
A second later, he returned and walked to his desk. “His name was Allen Walters. He lives somewhere on the north side of town. They wouldn’t give me his address...for obvious reasons.” He gave me a contrite look.
Nodding, I placed a hand on his shoulder. “This will help. Thanks so much for everything.”
“Sure. I like to help.”
As I turned to leave, he grabbed my arm. Releasing it, he looked away shyly. “Would you want to go out sometime? Maybe I can get your number and we can do something?”
This was the problem with acting like you were flirting. They almost always asked for your number. It was a good thing I had a burner phone for this particular reason. Nodding, I grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper, then wrote down my number.
“Call me tomorrow. I’ll be busy today, so tomorrow would be a good time.”
Hurrying out of the hospital, I took a deep breath, looking around for Troy. He was farther down the street, talking to some girl. When he reached over to touch her hair, I rolled my eyes.
Player.
Seeing me walking down the street, he said something to the girl and started in my direction. “Did you get anything? You were pretty smooth in there.”
“Thanks. Looks like you were being pretty smooth yourself.” I shook my head, heading toward a coffee shop just across the street.
“Jealous?”
“Nope. You can fuck whomever you want, Troy.”
“What about you?” he asked, grinning.
Honestly, if the chance ever presented itself again, I probably would have sex with Troy. But I wasn’t about to let him know that. He was easy on the eyes, always smelled good, and I had trouble concentrating around him most of the time. Then there was the cowboy hat. I had no idea I liked that look until I saw him. Unfortunately, his ego kind of got in the way most of the time.
Pushing him from my thoughts, I entered the coffee shop. “Can you order me a large iced mocha? I’m going to call in a favor,” I told him. He nodded with a scowl as I headed in the direction of a corner table.
I knew I was treating him like a slave, but I had a process, and he was hindering it. Sitting, I pulled out my cell to scroll through my contacts. I had saved this particular one from being attacked by a vampire once. He’d told me if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to call. Pressing his name, I listened as the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Remember that time you thought you were going to get laid, but it ended up being a-”
“Vampire. Yes, I know. You must be calling for another favor,” Will said, sighing dramatically. “When am I going to be all paid up?”
Laughing, I looked over at Troy, who watched me as he waited for our coffee. “Not sure. I like having your help, so maybe never.”
“Great. Eventually, you’re going to have to stop bringing that up. It hurts my image.”
“Player.”
He chuckled. “You know it. So, what can I do for you this fine day? Run a license plate? Track down old Aunt Betty’s grave? What?”
Yes, I called on Will for a lot of things, but he was amazing with a computer. Plus, I knew he secretly enjoyed helping. He was able to stay up to date with all news supernatural. After nearly being killed by a vampire, he had been obsessed with finding out information on them. I offered to educate him if he was willing to help me with the techy stuff. We’d been friends for nearly two years now.
“I need you to locate an Allen Walters in Denver.”
“No problem...unless there are fifty of them. That name sounds pretty common.” I could hear Will tapping away on his keyboard. “Good news. Looks like there are only three. Let me see if I can check out their licenses. Hmm, do you have an idea on age?”
Frowning, I played with a straw wrapper someone had left behind on the table. “No. Just text me the addresses of all three.”
“I hope you’re staying safe, Demi. Seth told me you were supposed to be on vacation this week.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. When do we ever have time for vacation? We have something big on the menu right now. There’s no taking a break until that monster is put to rest.”
“Geez. Well, I hope you guys make it out okay. You’ll eventually have to tell me what happened. You know how I like to hear those stories.”
“Yeah, because you’re a freak.”
“I’m writing all this down for the kids you might have one day,” he said, laughing.
I snorted. “Kids? Right.”
Troy started in my direction, so I thanked Will and hung up. He held my drink out to me as he sat. “Thanks. Looks like we have three addresses to go by.”
“I still don’t know what we’re doing.”
“Someone killed a pregnant woman last night, then dropped off the baby at the hospital. My gut tells me it was a werewolf.”
His eyes widened. “One who saved the baby?”
Nodding, I glanced down at my phone when it lit up with the information Will sent me. “So, do you want to split up or-”
“Fuck no. We’re not splitting up, Demi. You should know better than to ask that question.”
I felt my eye twitch. “It’s daylight, Troy,” I told him, even though I knew Cathal could walk in the sun.
Shaking his head, Troy frowned. He took his hat off and placed it onto the table. “I don’t want to take any chances. We need to work together. If that means I have to deal with your crabby ass, so be it.”
“I’m not crabby.” I scowled.
He grabbed my chin, staring me in the eyes. “You need a good fuck.”
My stomach flipped. I bit my lower lip and looked away. “Whatever. I’m fine.” I pulled away from him so I could control my hormones. My chin tingled with the ghost of his touch. Maybe he was right. Maybe I did need someone to give it to. Just as those thoughts tumbled through my mind, Cathal’s image appeared. That would be a big fat nope.
Chapter Eight
The first two addresses ended up being a bust. When we arrived at the apartment of the third Allen Walters, I immediately felt something was...off. I pulled out my gun, wishing I was more prepared for a werewolf.
Troy shook his head, pulling one from the back of his pants and handing it to
me. “This one has silver bullets. You’re not prepared, girly.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, walking up to the door. When I got closer, I saw it had been busted open, a trail of blood on the floor. How come no one else noticed it?
Nudging the door open with my foot, I aimed the gun, sweeping across the room. The blood trail led through the living room and down a hallway. The apartment was pretty small with barely any furniture. From the looks of the clothes strewn everywhere, open food containers, and uncapped needles sitting on the living room table, it looked like the home of a junky.
Moving past me, Troy started down the hallway, pushing open a door and shaking his head. When he got to the second door and inched it open, he turned to look at me, tucking his gun into the back waistband of his jeans.
“Found him.”
Swearing, I hurried to the room. Lying on the floor of the bedroom was the man I assumed was Allen. His hands and feet were bound with some kind of white material, fang marks in his neck. “Vampire?”
“Looks like he struck again.”
“But why would he tie him up?” I asked.
Troy shrugged. “Maybe it’s a fetish.”
Shaking my head, I crouched to look closer at the bindings. They appeared to be silk, but unlike anything I’d seen before. Maybe Cathal was trying something new. When we looked at the reports of other bodies, none of them spoke about the victims being bound.
Just as I started to stand, the silk binding fell from the victim and dropped to the floor. Slowly, they began to disintegrate into nothing.
“That’s weird,” I mumbled.
“You know what’s weird? Having two hunters in my brother’s house.”
Troy and I spun around, pulling our weapons. How had somebody managed to sneak up on us? I glared at the big man, not intimidated. “We were looking for your brother because he attacked a woman last night.”
He glanced down at the body. “I just found him like this about ten minutes ago. I had to get out of here because the stench was getting to me.”
I couldn’t smell what he did, but I didn’t have a werewolf’s sensitive nose, either. “Did you know he attacked someone?”