Page 11 of The Vampire and the Tattooist (The Vampire and Series Book 4)

Hunter was clearing up the kitchen when his phone pinged. He dropped the dish cloth and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He smiled when he saw it was from Gavin and opened it, the smile falling off his face as he read the message.

Forgetting to message back, Hunter hurried out of the kitchen and bumped into Taha. “Gavin needs me. I’m running over to his place to see him.”

“I’ll message Luke and ask him to rearrange your appointments. I heard from Troy and he’s actually in the area. He’s calling around later.” Just as he said that, his phone pinged. He pulled it out to have a look. “Troy said we should go round instead. He said he’s currently staying at Gavin’s home.”

Hunter looked confused. “Your friend is staying with my Gavin?”

“Looks like. Let me message Luke that he needs to change both of our appointments and then we can go and see what’s going on.”

Hunter nodded. “I’ll drive.”

Taha nodded, texting as he followed, remembering to grab his keys and lock his house up before getting into Hunter’s car. With Taha giving directions, Hunter drove faster than he probably should have, but Gavin needed him and Troy was staying with Gavin.

His mouth fell open when he pulled into the drive and saw the size of the house…. Mansion? Castle? Whatever it was, it was big.

“Holy cow,” Taha exclaimed. “Who knew writing computer games paid so well?”

“We are so in the wrong profession,” Hunter said, pulling to a stop, turning the engine off, and quickly jumping out, not waiting for a reply. He hurried up the front steps and rang the bell just as Taha joined him.

* * *

Dave jumpedup as the bell dinged. “I’ll go. You know a friendly face might help.” And before anyone could say anything, he rushed out and opened the front door, smiling when he saw Hunter and another man who must be Taha. “Hey, Hunter.”

Hunter shook his head and smiled at the man. “Hey, Dave. Thanks for helping me yesterday. Gavin messaged me.”

“So, you came running?” Dave asked him.

Hunter nodded. “Yes. This is Taha, my business partner.”

“And best friend,” Taha put in.

“I’m Dave. Come on in. Gavin’s at the breakfast table. Follow me.”

Hunter didn’t bother looking round, too intent on getting to Gavin.

Taha, though, looked around, and he stopped as he passed what could only be a ballroom. Was that seriously a banner saying, ‘I killed my first person? And were those fangs and red teardrops? That had to be a joke, right? Taha pulled himself away and finally followed the other two.

Dave led Hunter into the kitchen, which was suddenly filled with silence. Hunter didn’t care; all he cared about was Gavin.

Gavin saw him and jumped up, throwing himself into Hunter”s arms.

“I have you,” Hunter said, closing his arms around Gavin and hugging him back. He dropped a kiss on Gavin’s head and rested his cheek against his head.

Finally, Gavin pulled back and signed, forgetting for a moment that Hunter didn’t know much sign language. He was shocked when Hunter caught his hands.

“Enough, sweetheart. You needed me, so here I am,” Hunter said gently, smiling down at him.

Gavin leaned against him for a moment.

“Taha, good to see you again,” Troy said, standing up.

“I would say the same, but I’m not sure at the moment. Was that ballroom really decorated for a kill party?”

“Crap,” Dave said. “No one closed the door.”

“A kill party?” Hunter queried, looking up.

“It’s a long story,” David said. “Have a seat and we can talk.”

Hunter moved and grabbed Gavin’s hand before sitting down next to him, Taha sitting on the other side.

“My name is David D’Angelo, and I run one of the world”s largest security companies. Troy said you were in trouble and needed help. We can help you.”

Hunter sighed. “I’m not even sure if I’m in trouble, to be honest.”

“Tell us everything. If it’s nothing, we can tell you and relieve your mind. If it’s something, then we can help you,” Gio said.

“Okay. I noticed something strange in that every time Gavin and I met, someone was following us.”

Gavin gave a start at this and frowned at David, then his brothers, before pulling his hand out of Hunter”s and angrily signing.

“I didn’t catch all that Gav. You’ve gotta slow down,” Raz said.

“Gavin is telling you, your brother, and my son off for having someone follow him,” Stefan said, who had been sat quietly at the table the whole time.

“Wait, you had professionals following us?” Hunter queried.

“I did, although they obviously need a refresher course in stealth. Gavin, did you really think I wouldn’t send someone out to watch over you? You hardly ever go out. When you went to the library and met Hunter, that was the first time you’d been out of the house in months. I didn’t want you alone if you had a panic attack or you got into a situation you couldn’t deal with,” David told him before grinning. “Plus, can you imagine what your brothers would have done to me if I let you go alone?”

“You know, if we had known, both Raz and I would have stalked you ourselves.” He looked at Hunter. “I’m Mathis, by the way, and this is our brother Raz.”

“We met at the library,” Hunter said.

“We did,” Raz replied for him.

“So now you know the stalker was harmless. What else happened?” Gio asked.

“Someone broke into my house last night, except I have no idea how they got in. I checked all the doors and windows and couldn’t find anything amiss.”

“What was taken?” Troy asked.

“Nothing. It was something that was left.” Hunter shifted and put his hand in his pocket, pulling out the piece of paper that had been left.

“Can I see it?” Mathis asked.

Hunter handed it over.

Mathis read it before swearing.

“What?” Seth asked. “What does it say?”

“You will die for what he did. He killed the Master. We will kill you,” Mathis read, dropping the piece of paper and running his hands over his face.

“You know what this means,” Taha asked; it wasn’t a question but a statement. “Does it have anything to do with the kill party?”

“We’re going to need Gabriel here for this,” Mathis said.