Page 23 of A Hunter Found
Morgan hooted with laughter. “Oh, my God.” Pulling her phone out, she snapped a picture of Kane with his arm around the mannequin, grinning broadly. “I have to show her.”
A small grunt caught Kane’s attention and he turned to see a hatchet flying through the air to thud into the wood on the very bottom edge of one of the targets. Turning that same grin on Sophia who had made the throw, he wiggled his eyebrows. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
Chapter Sixteen
Her brother had happily stuck around to test out his hatchet-throwing skills while conveniently delaying the inevitable moment when he’d be leaving his baby sister alone with Kane. Sophia hadn’t minded, however, since she was having so much fun.
While, Kane was by far the most accurate right from the start, even going so far as to show off his skill with trick shots, Morgan had quickly caught up after a few practice throws, and Travis had surprised her at how adept he’d become with a hatchet before they’d finally left. Morgan practically had to drag Travis away, but the vampire had promised they’d return so he could indulge his new-found hobby or to hurt Kane should his sister not be returned to pack lands within a reasonable time. The last had Sophia rolling her eyes. She wasn’t a child, but she supposed she could cut her brother a bit of slack considering the worry he’d suffered thanks to her disappearance.
Meanwhile, Sophia no longer needed that bubble bath as an excuse to spend more time with Kane, but to relieve her arm muscles that were practically screaming at her for the abuse she’d put them through. And here she had thought push-ups and chin-ups were bad. Of course, those weren’t nearly as fun as throwing a hatchet down the length of a room and hearing it slam home in the target. Not to mention, the loud hoots and cheers of approval each time her aim improved.
“Alone at last,” Kane uttered from his position leaning against the door he’d just closed behind Morgan and Travis. The look he shot her was so hot, so full of delightfully sinful promises that it felt like it might melt her bones.
Straightening, he strode toward her, and just watching that graceful stride had Sophia biting her lip in anticipation, wanting to jump on him.
Just as he would have reached for her, the doorbell went off with a merry tinkling of chimes. The sound had Kane’s lip curling off his teeth with a snarled, “You havegotto be kidding me.”
Sophia was about to encourage him to ignore it, sure that whoever it was would give up and go away, when the door popped open and what looked like a stack of boxes and files with legs bustled through, while a disembodied voice cheerfully called out, “I have all of the files you requested on the wolves and the witches for your meeting, sire. I’ve also taken the liberty of creating some useful cue cards you might benefit from.”
With a defeated sigh, Kane went to relieve the man of his burden, revealing a dark-haired, pale-skinned vampire, short in stature and lean of build that reminded Sophia of a stereotypical accountant complete with a pocket protector holding numerous pens in his starched, white button-down.
The man’s eyes rounded with surprise when he spotted her, practically shooting to attention as if someone had barked, ‘ten-hut’. “Oh, do forgive me, sire – er, sir, er Mister Fletcher. I hadn’t realized you had company.”
“No worries, Edward. You didn’t spill any secrets. This is Sophia, and she’s fully aware of the supernatural world.”
The man visibly deflated with relief. “Oh, thank heavens,” was uttered on a sigh as the man whipped out a handkerchief to mop the sweat from his brow before he straightened his spine once more and snapped off a quick bow. “A pleasure to meet you.”
No longer distracted by Kane’s hungry gaze that held promises of pleasure, Sophia felt every single ache and twinge in her arm as she raised her hand in a little wave. If she was going to match Kane in the bedroom without wincing, she needed that soak in his glorious tub.
“Listen, why don’t you guys do whatever it is you need to do.” Then, with a look full of just as many promises, she said to Kane, “I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
∞∞∞
Evangeline cackled with glee and hugged her phone to her chest feeling absolutely giddy. Her sister had come through for her once again. She had been the one who had snuck the vampires into Evangeline’s prison. Vampires Evangeline had easily recruited as her minions with promises of power, manipulating their minds and preying on their discontent and fear following Olivier Rodolfo’s demise.
They, in turn, had freed her by killing the primary anchors to the cooperation spell that had kept her imprisoned and then set her up in this building where she could hide from Jourdain and others of her kind. It was a dump she despised, but there were no cameras in the area, and it was a perfect place to cast a spell so she couldn't be found by magical means. Technically, the building now belonged to Kane, having previously belonged to Rodolfo – a fact that amused Evangeline to no end – but this particular warehouse was off the books. Way off the books since Rodolfo had used it to stash the illegal immigrants he smuggled into the country. Poor saps. Most would have spent every cent they had for the promise of a better life, only to arrive and find a nightmare. Any young, healthy children were sold in Rodolfo's flesh trade, while the others he let loose for a select few of his top vampires to hunt and kill for sport.
“Kevin!”
Her bellow startled the vampire, who was feeding on some poor young thing. His head popped up from the girl’s throat, his grip loosening until her body slipped to the floor in a careless heap. Evangeline’s lip curled in distaste, and she threw a rag at his head. “Are all vampires such sloppy eaters? I’ve seen infants dribble less. Clean yourself up.”
Kevin swiped hastily at the blood on his chin. “Good news?”
Smears of blood remained on his cheek, but Evangeline was too excited to share what she’d learned to bother pointing out his incompetence at even such a simple task as wiping his face. “It’s a good thing I still have a few loyal followers in the covens willing to share information,” she said with a haughty sniff, looking down her nose at Kevin. “Since you’ve proved practically useless in that regard. Kane Fletcher is to meet with Jourdain as well as the wolf alpha tomorrow night, and I now know where.”
Turning her back on Kevin, she looked down at the shifter female bound and gagged in the corner and kicked the girl’s sneakered foot. “You’ve proved absolutely useless as well. Doesn’t anyone love you enough to miss you, child?” was asked with a sneer.
The girl hunched deeper into herself, a few tears leaking from her eyes and Evangeline turned away from the sight in disgust. Weak and pathetic. No wonder the shifters remained at the bottom of the food chain in the supernatural world.
“The three powers in the area,” Kevin said, poking distractedly at the rapidly cooling body at his feet.
“Don’t play with your food,” Evangeline snapped, once again reminded that she needed to find better minions.
Inhaling a deep breath through her nose for patience, she blew it out slowly before stating with a sly smile, “As the most powerful, I do believe I should be there.”
“They know your face now, though. Didn’t you say they got some footage and gave it to Jourdain?”
Evangeline grimaced. Yes. She’d have to shed this face for another. A pity since she was so enamored of this look. But there was no getting around it. Once she was in power, she could restore this appearance if she so chose, for now, however… Turning to face the cheval mirror propped in the other corner, she made the necessary changes with a little giggle of excitement.
