Page 28 of V for Vilified (Hunter V #4)

The Monsters I Collect

I was a bit wobbly on my feet when Cash brought me back to our little slice of void. I’d used way too much power. I was battling a thirst similar to the one after we killed Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum at the Blood Mage club.

My Fae Karen didn’t bother to ask before lifting me into his arms and heading for the bedroom. Jo trailed us, but he snapped his head her direction, his crippling fear and anxiety a hard echo inside my head.

“She needs blood,” he explained with far more sass than he needed, opening the door with magic. “ My blood. If that evil bastard shows up again, I don’t want her in any way vulnerable.”

Jo came into view and smiled down at me. “If he shows up again, she can just reverse time.” I didn’t need to feel her emotions to know how proud she was of me.

I grinned back.

Cash grunted unattractively. “Not without blood she won’t. It’s draining her even with our bonds.”

Jo’s smile faded as she stared at me in question. “V?”

“I’m sorry. I did use the bonds, but—”

“And he can enter frozen time,” Cash interjected, his debilitating distress exploding across our connection. “It’s a bloody gift that reversing even works on him and she was so quick to figure it out.”

Lightheaded like I’d taken a vampire punch to the noggin, I struggled to pay attention, and Jo finally relented. “I can give her blood, too.”

Cash huffed and pivoted with me still in his arms. “That won’t be necessary. I have plenty of ways of replenishing my blood so she gets all she needs. Our bond being stronger means mine will benefit her the most.”

“Whatever you say, princess.” I didn’t need to see Jo to know she was eye-rolling our Fae Karen so hard right now. I would’ve argued more if I wasn’t fighting to stay conscious.

Cash was nearly at the bedroom when he stopped. His eyes dropped to his pocket and a little stone flew out and levitated in front of us, held aloft by his magic. My eyebrows knitted together as it glowed and a voice boomed out of nowhere.

“Hey, you said nothing about other Hunters crossing over. Not very smart to let them wander around starting trouble wherever they go,” the voice said, distorted by whatever made it possible.

“I’m only doing this as a favor to the little vampire by saying anything, but it’ll make it impossible to keep her obnoxious human protected if a couple of hybrids, presenting as human but being something else entirely, are out making trouble.

They’ll start to suspect there are more and go after any human who could be one. ”

Big.

Guess Aram wasn’t wrong. This realm was aware of hybrids.

Jo was next to us, peering across at the stone. “Hunters? Here? And they’re making trouble, why?”

It was likely Jo and I had the same thought by the way her expression went quiet. No one was meant to be able to cross over with what Lyra had done. Nothing but a portal made sense, but no one could get through supposedly. So when and how had they managed it, and more importantly, for what reason?

Was this all some elaborate ploy orchestrated by the Organization? But why kill Lux if it was? I couldn’t make sense of anything.

“They mentioned they were here to find one of their own. Thought you Hunters were meant to be smarter than that?” he taunted.

It wasn’t much of an insult. Most Hunters were cocky and suicidal at best, ready to take their last breath for what they believed was right. They couldn’t all be Grams, Sloan, and Phillip—clever enough not to make waves.

“Did they mention who they were looking for?” I asked.

“So not anyone you know or are expecting? Fucking great. Just what I needed,” Big’s voice grumbled from the levitating stone.

There was a long stretch of silence before the pixie finally answered my question.

“No, you weren’t mentioned by name. They were at least that smart.

But they described you and your little human friend in uncomfortable detail.

It’ll make you both targets wherever you go, especially to anyone they’ve pissed off. ”

My heart was doing overtime as I spiraled over the possibilities. Over what it could mean for the Hunters back home if they knew about Kate and I being taken to this realm and somehow followed us here. My problems were adding up by the hour.

“Everyone’s been in a tizzy over this pair of hybrid bastards that showed up out of nowhere in Nether territory.

One’s swiping up all the magical tools he can get his hands on so he can move more efficiently in the realm and causing quite the stir with his…

aggressive acquisition methods, if you catch my meaning, toots. ”

There was another pause where I could’ve sworn I heard someone else’s voice in the background, but it was too hard to make out if it was male or female, let alone what they were saying.

“One of my boys crossed paths with that diabolical fucker in Lacor. Scary looking sonofabitch for a human, or so Seit tells me. You sure he’s not one of yours?” the voice came through clearer this time.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I quipped, more annoyed than I should be.

“Get to the bloody point, pixie,” Cash growled, his voice rumbling against my skin.

Jo was still in her head when I glanced at her, probably making a plan of attack now that we had a couple Hunters to take out. It was anyone’s guess who they’d sent, but what we knew now was the Organization had been keeping more secrets than any of us knew.

“No offense meant. Just doesn’t bode well for us if what Seit’s told me is true.” The voice rumbled in the background, identifiably agitated. Guess Seit didn’t appreciate being dismissed by his buddy. “Yeah, yeah, you asshole. I said I believe you, just can’t wrap my head around it, is all.”

Big grumbled under his breath, mid-argument with whoever he called Seit, not that I cared about any of that. I really wanted him to get to the point so we knew what we were up against.

Ah, this never-ending shit storm that is my life.

“Look, these hybrids have some serious skills, little vampire. They took out an entire building of Reds. Well, yeah, okay, so most of those guys have never seen a Hunter before and don’t know what they’re up against, but this guy wiped out an entire fucking group in Nether territory with only his buddy backup, and no one knows how.

He and his partner even outmaneuvered the Hollow Fae gang.

They’re on a whole other level of powerful. ”

I had no clue who the Hollow Fae gang were or what they meant to this realm, but by the sound Jo made, even she was impressed.

The voice was rumbling in the back again.

“Seit says he caught the name Phillip. That mean anything to you, little vampire? Aren’t you Hunters supposed to know each other and shoot the shit about all things hybrid?” he asked, and my heart nearly stopped at the mention of my favorite asshole’s name.

I was already out of Cash’s arms, all but forgetting my dizziness. “Did you say Phillip?!”

“Yeah, and some other Hunter too pretty for a human but just as lethal. Slug…Slander…well, S something. Terrifying bastards, both of them. I’ve heard stories about Hunters, but these two must be next level, sweetheart.

I know you’re one of them, but your little friend might’ve mentioned that that’s not the case anymore.

Never pegged you as the bad girl type, but I approve. ”

“Sloan?” I nearly shouted.

The voice came and went again, then Big huffed. “That’s it. You humans and your weird names.”

Says the bro called Big.

I barely gathered enough words to speak in full sentences. They’d found a way here, and I needed to know how. “They’re not our enemies. They’re mine.” I rushed to add, “Uh, part of my group.”

Big expelled a loud enough breath that it came through the stone.

“Gotta say, that’s the best news of the day, sweetheart.

They’ve scared the shit out of a number of my boys already.

Us Wings don’t like to mess around with vampires, and definitely not these vampire hybrids they call Hunters.

One even heard the tattooed freak was the bastard who killed Eros.

That true, little vampire? What sort of monsters are you collecting over there? ”

Technically I killed Eros, but Phillip was there, so same diff. Word traveled across realms, it seemed. I was surprised to hear it mentioned, but maybe the Fae realm wasn’t as cut off from ours as we thought.

Hunters had been active long enough to make a name for themselves, and the Fae knew most Hunters were vampire hybrids.

Maybe they even knew about the other hybrids the Organization had created.

The Fae did have more freedom going back and forth.

My recent encounters proved it. It was really only us who couldn’t.

But none of that mattered. It was such a huge relief to know it wasn’t a pair of dangerous enemies after me but people I’d been desperate to see again. Phillip and Sloan were here. My boys were out there looking for me.

I cut a decisive look at Cash. “We have to go find them.”

He was quiet, his jaw strained. With a sigh, he pocketed the stone. Goodbyes were apparently a silly human custom. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t annoyed that he’d cut off Big when I still had a hundred-million questions to ask.

“You need blood. I can feel how weak you are, love. It’s too dangerous to leave before you’ve regained your strength.”

“And you know what happens when I drink your blood. It’ll take hours, maybe even a day to get my head back.

And the longer we wait, the more at risk they are of the Nether Royals finding them.

We need to be the ones to find them first. Is there a way to locate them here?

A tracking spell or stone or some shit? Use your Dark King woo-woo and get them here, Cash. ”

Jo touched my shoulder with a little smirk. “There’s a way. I can find them, and quickly.”

“Then you can go alone—” Cash started, but I was quick to interject.

“No, I need to go with her,” I demanded, barely keeping my legs underneath me.

I swayed, but Jo didn’t let me get far. Neither did Cash, honestly. Go figure it was the only time they worked together without fighting.

“I have to be the one to find them,” I mumbled, my consciousness fading in and out. I blinked rapidly and tried to dispel the urge to fall asleep.

Jo sighed and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “He’s right, babe. You need blood.”

“Thank you very much, devil woman. I know,” Cash clipped indignantly.

“But she’s also right. Your blood is bound to…stimulate her. I’ll get blood that won’t, and then we’ll go find them,” Jo argued judiciously.

I smiled at her and nodded. “Okay. Will it take long?”

“No longer than a half hour. I have a place I can go. But you’ll need to stay awake, or I’ll have to force-feed you,” Jo said in a teasing way, but we both knew it wasn’t a joke. If I passed out, that was my future.

“Oh, have it your way, woman,” Cash relented, swooping me up into his arms again. “But be quick about it. I’ll wait no longer than a half hour, then it’ll be my blood I force-feed her.”

Luckily, Jo honored her promise with minutes to spare. She returned in just twenty-five minutes, and I’d been diligent with battling the urge to pass out. So had Cash, who suggested we do something to keep me awake.

His method? Kissing me silly. This asshole had an insanely soft mouth, and I was not-so-secretly addicted to it, so it didn’t take much convincing on his part.

But the guilt was back. It nagged at me every time I touched them, knowing Sloan and Phillip were out there, worried about me, and I was just sitting here making out with someone else. Someone they’d considered an enemy not very long ago. Maybe still did.

Unfortunately, I needed to satisfy what I could now, because soon I’d have to explain everything to Phillip and Sloan that had happened—the Season, the bonds, the enemy turned accomplice—and the very notion of it had my stomach in tangled knots.

Sloan would take everything in stride, but Phillip hadn’t liked the idea of Cash to start, and this was likely to send him into a raging mantrum.

I didn’t have any clue how to explain it the two guys I’d been in a relationship with up until I got whisked away to another world.

It felt too tall a task, too scary to utter out loud, but I wouldn’t have any other choice.

They’d find out sooner or later, and I didn’t want them to feel confused or betrayed when I threw myself at Jo and Cash to satisfy the Season’s urges.

Or Aram.

Oh, god.

It really felt like Fate had conspired against me with so many what-the-fucks in my past, present, and future.

But was it crazy that none of that could trample the happiness that overwhelmed me at the mere thought they were here?

That they’d come for me? That Phillip being Phillip meant he’d never given up for a single second?

Whatever happened, I’d never regret loving him. No matter what his reaction to the bonds, I’d tell him how much I loved him, how much I’d missed him, how much he mattered to me, and how much I still wanted him in my life the way he’d always been.

I’d fight for him the way he’d fought for me. I wouldn’t lose another person I loved when tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. I’d put my everything into it so even if it didn’t work out, even if he decided he didn’t want to be with me after everything, I would’ve given it my all in the end.

The way Nigel had.

A tear escaped down my cheek, and I wiped it away.

I thought about Nigel’s letter and the last words he’d written to me, the hope to rekindle what we’d lost. It hurt so much to think that we’d never found our way back to each other until the very end.

But Nigel had done everything he could to prove he cared, and it gave me the push I needed to be brave the way he had been. I’d give it my best and make sure I didn’t live with any regrets.

That was the promise I made to myself as I followed Jo through another city, one we hadn’t previously visited, on the lookout for my guys.