InsistentHunger (33 page)

Hunter finally holstered his gun and leaned into the door to
push it closed. “He’s trying to smooth things over with the locals. He didn’t
come along this time.”

“So who is playing bait? Or maybe this time you brought
backup. You know, someone you actually warned before taking them into the
middle of the nest and using them as a distraction.” She gave him a vicious
smile.

“Are you still holding that against me? Silver, there are
rules to this world you found. You don’t get to walk in and ask for the really
juicy secrets on day one. So if you really want to be a hunter, I can help with
that. I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’ll train you.” Hunter crossed his
arms. Paige wondered how many people he had actually offered to train. She got
the feeling it wasn’t that many.

“There are too many unanswered questions for me to consider
the offer.” Paige couldn’t even count the number of inconsistencies in this
case, so she wasn’t getting in any deeper with Hunter or whatever organization
of hunters and their rules that he might represent.

He shrugged. “So ask your questions. We’re here until
daylight unless we want a really messy exit.” Hunter leaned back against the
door.

His body language signaled his complete openness, but
something in Paige told her that it was a feigned emotion. He might give her
information, but he wasn’t going to be open. Reality was, she couldn’t even
blame him for that. She was a cop. She understood the concept of confidential
information. She just sure as hell didn’t like being the one cut out of the
loop.

“Okay,” Paige said, willing to play his game long enough to
get a little information, “what happened with Monagas?”

Hunter gave a self-deprecating snort and shook his head.
“You and I both proved exactly why the world can’t know about demons. Something
bad happened and we were quick to assume a demon did it. I’ve been in this game
long enough that I shouldn’t fall for that shit. At least you can claim that as
a rookie you had a right to make a rookie mistake.”

“You mean it wasn’t— But it was Monagas’ MO.” Paige had been
certain that the man had committed the crimes. “His body vanished!”

“Yeah, the disappearing body convinced me. I guess I’m not
as infallible as I like to think.” Hunter scratched his neck and made a face at
his own stupidity. “Turns out John Monagas had a little brother who had a few
loose screws and a penchant for stealing things out of morgues. He’s a real
winner. I’ve seen vampires I like more than him.”

“They found him.” Paige felt like the breath had been stolen
from her body. It was weird. This wasn’t her case. It wasn’t like she was a
detective. Still, it somehow felt fundamentally wrong that she hadn’t been part
of the final arrest. “Was anyone hurt?”

“Little Monagas took a few too many hits to the head,”
Hunter said, mimicking a fist to his own head, “but no sense, no feeling, so
I’m not sure he felt much. The twerp had big brother’s body in a barrel he
hauled around in a panel van and he used his brother’s MO for the rapes. He
kept screaming that his brother told him to do it, so I’m guessing he’s going
for a psych defense. Hell, he might even be telling the truth because he sounds
crazy as all fuck.”

“So it’s over.” Paige didn’t know how she felt.

“The victims are talking now and some of them said that some
well-dressed woman would come along and watch from the shadows, that she seemed
to feed off the pain. It seems she freaked them out as bad as Monagas, so the
case is still technically open. I think we both know they’re never going to
find the second suspect. Are they?” Hunter gave her a sharp look.

Paige sucked in a breath. She knew as well as anyone that
women could be just as evil as men. She still didn’t want to think that a woman
would have anything to do with these rapes. More than that, it didn’t make
sense. Brady had said she was the same kind of demon he was, so she should need
sex or death to feed. Watching a human rapist attacking human woman was
just…just disgusting. Paige would take about a hundred of the guys out front
over one bitch lady and her twisted kinks.

“She’s downstairs in a slightly disgusting pile,” Paige said
absentmindedly. “You can tell it by the hair.”

Hunter’s smile was cold and so very pleased. “Good. Bitch.”

Paige turned and moved to the stairs so she could sit down.
Her knees felt weak, and she didn’t feel like falling on her face in front of
Hunter. “Bitch doesn’t cover it. She watched? She fucking watched?”

For the first time, Hunter’s body language seemed to
actually loosen up as he moved a little closer. “Silver, vamps feed on life.
Some feed on life force or chi or whatever new-age name you have for the shit.
Others feed on blood and some feed on sex. She wasn’t watching. She was feeding
by being there when sexual desire peaked.”

“During a rape?” Paige’s voice slipped and her last word
came out with an undignified squeak.

Hunter shrugged. “Peter Monagas was probably putting out
enough sexual energy to feed an army. That’s what she wanted. I can’t figure
out how he avoided getting drained. I guess she was careful with the golden
goose.”

Paige thought about the victims that had flinched back from
her and turned to Brady. They’d known the woman had been the real abomination.
At least she was the larger abomination, because Monagas still had a
first-class ticket to hell. “It’s sick.”

“They’re vampires, Silver. They’re unnatural monsters that
consider us food. That is pretty fucking sick.”

Looking up at Hunter, she could see that he completely
believed that. All this would be so much easier to accept if she could just
bring herself to believe that, but she couldn’t. The creatures outside could
kill her in two seconds, but they wouldn’t do it because they were evil or
monsters. They just wanted energy.

Even more importantly, Brady had shown her that he had the
same ability to be either good or evil, and in his case, he wasn’t even
particularly good at being evil. The bitch, however, had a real talent at
evil—she and the human Peter Monagas were both in some special version of hell.

“You need something to eat? You’re looking a little puny,
Silver,” Hunter said.

Paige pulled herself out of her useless thoughts long enough
to glare at Hunter. “Shove it,” Paige suggested.

Hunter laughed. “For a woman half my size, you have a lot of
pissiness in you.” Hunter pulled out a power bar and offered it. With as much
grace as Paige could muster, which was not much, she snatched the bar from him.

“So, you sure you cleaned out the place?” Hunter looked up
the stairs.

“I’ve only been a cop for fifteen years, but hey, if you
think I can’t clear a scene, feel free to look around. Have fun in that west
bedroom.” Paige slid to the side of the step so Hunter could get by if he
wanted.

He looked at her with horror. “Aw shit. You killed recently
dead vamps up there, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t call them recently dead,” Paige said as she
thought about the state of decomp. Even now, the scent was starting to creep
out into the house. “I’d say they were old enough to get a little ripe.”

“Then they’re recent,” Hunter said with a sort of weary
resignation. “Silver, if you’re going to get into the business, get this rule
in your head—avoid killing vamps that are younger than a decade. They leave a
God-awful mess when they die.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Paige said as she shoved the last
of the chocolate and granola bar in her mouth. She was starving.

“Not to suggest you can’t clear a scene, but I’m just going
to check it out.” Hunter eased past her carefully, bracing his hand on his
weapon, although Paige wasn’t sure if he wanted to avoid hitting her in the
head with it or if he had some residual mistrust going. As long as he was
investigating upstairs and not endangering Brady, she was perfectly happy to
have him indulge his paranoia.

Clomping up the steps, he made a show out of cursing when he
checked the west bedroom. Once Hunter was safely out of sight, Paige leaned
forward until she could see Brady through the half-open parlor door. He still
didn’t look happy.

“Having fun up there?” Paige called out to Hunter. He didn’t
answer and Paige’s gut sent up the first warning flares about the same time
that Brady darted out of the parlor. Reaching out, he caught her by the wrist
and yanked her off the stairs so fast that she didn’t have time to say
anything. Hunter stormed down the steps and Paige found herself shoved behind
Brady as the two men faced off.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Brady!” Paige yelped. Hunter’s hand went for his gun and
Paige pulled Brady toward the parlor.

“Stop it!” Forcing Brady to move to the side, she planted
herself in front of him. Then she held her hand out toward Hunter in a
placating gesture. Brady yielded enough to let her get in front, but he
continued to hold her hand, pulling at her. He couldn’t be using his full
strength, but he was using enough of it that she had to hold the edge of the
doorway to prevent him from pulling her into the parlor.

“Just stop!” she told both men. She pressed her back into
Brady’s chest and held her hand out toward Hunter. “Now let’s just calm down.”

Hunter looked furious, but his weapon was only partially
raised. “Silver, what the fuck—he’s a vampire.”

“Demon,” Brady snapped. “Paige, move.” His voice was low and
dangerous.

“Not a chance,” Paige said. “You’d try to kill Hunter and
Hunter would try to kill you and I am not a fan of anyone killing anyone else.”

“You’re not a fan?” Hunter’s weapon rose an inch. That left
it pointed at Paige’s stomach. Not ideal, but she figured Hunter wouldn’t pull
the trigger until he had targeted Brady’s head. Behind her, Brady was growling
like a feral animal.

“He called someone,” Brady snarled. “He told them to come in
and finish things.”

“And they told me there was another vamp in the house,”
Hunter snapped. Paige could feel the situation sliding out of control.

“Hunter, this is Brady, and you are not doing anything to
hurt him,” Paige warned. She’d pull her weapon, only she knew for a fact that
would escalate things far out of control. “Brady, this is Hunter. He taught me
how to not get my ass kicked when going up against demons. No killing him.”
Despite Paige’s words, Brady was so angry he was physically trembling.

“Shit, Silver. Do you just go out of your way to break every
rule you can find?”

“Funny enough, no. Up until this week I would’ve said that I
was a pretty rule-following sort of person. However, you’re not killing my
partner. Period. Now who the hell did you call and how big of a mess have you
made?”

“Keep in mind that if I don’t like your answer, I’m putting
you on the menu,” Brady warned. Paige turned her head enough to really glare at
Brady. Up until this point, he’d definitely been anti-eating humans, so she was
pretty sure he was only making an empty threat. Hopefully. However, this
situation did not need any more threats. Particularly since she was the one
standing in the middle.

“You two have no idea what you landed in the middle of.
Hell, Kent doesn’t know what’s really going on and he’s my fucking partner.”

“Sucks for Kent,” Paige said without much sympathy. As far
as she was concerned, partners who kept secrets from each other had a special
place in hell. But if Mr. Fancy Pants profiler couldn’t look out for himself,
Paige wasn’t going to bother.

“Who were you talking to and what do they plan to do?” If
some vampire hunters were planning a full-on assault of the house, Paige had to
find a way to get Brady out, even if he had to run on his own. She wouldn’t
make it through the line of vamps waiting outside, but he would.

“They want Dorothy dead. You two seem to have done that.”

“Dorothy?” Paige stared at Hunter in horror. He knew the
bitch. He knew the bitch that had killed Brady. He knew the bitch that had
stood watching as Monagas had raped women.

Hunter seemed to sag and his weapon dropped a couple of
inches. Now it was Paige’s kneecaps that seemed in danger. “Yeah, I knew her.
She was a bitch, a monster, and her attempt to set up some sort of court here
was costing people’s lives. I came here to kill her, her and all the vamps she
was gathering around her. But here’s a reality check for you, Silver. If you
kill all the low-level vamps before you take out the head of the clan, they
make more. Instead of saving lives, you end up giving them an excuse to kill
more people. So yes, I said it was time to finish things. With Dorothy dead, I
can send all her little lapdogs back to hell without wondering if she’s going
to go out and replace them by kidnapping some bus full of nuns. The goal is to
get rid of as many demons as I can.” Hunter glared at Brady. Honestly though,
he was showing more manners than Paige had expected.

“If you even try to touch Brady—”

“He won’t have a chance,” Brady interrupted.

“Try me,” Hunter shifted, widening his stance.

Paige put out an arm to hold Brady back. “Hunter, he’s my
fucking partner and I’ll shoot you myself if you even think of it.”

“Partner? A demon? All demons want are pets and whores,”
Hunter snapped. Paige didn’t even have time to blink before she was sailing at
the wall. Both her hands slapped against the old plaster so hard that dust
rose. Before she could even turn, something hit her lower back, pushing her
into the wall again. Then two bodies crashed down next to her and Paige
scrambled back out of the way as Hunter and Brady grappled with each other.

Hunter’s shirt had ripped and now she could see just how
heavily muscled he was. Biceps bulged as he tried to hold Brady off. However,
human muscles were no match for Brady. She watched as Brady steadily forced
Hunter’s gun hand to the floor. Paige sucked in a breath to shout a warning a
half second before Hunter brought his knee up and slammed it into Brady’s
crotch. Brady gave a God-awful yell, but he didn’t let go. From the grimace on
Hunter’s face, Brady just tightened his grip on Hunter’s wrists.