“So stupid, you are! So ungrateful!” Warren exclaimed with rage as he paced the dirt floor of the dark, damp basement. The candles he had lit when they had arrived here had burned down to almost nothing.

Ella was standing in the cell, the iron door locked shut. The dead bodies of Warren’s three mortal pets were sprawled out on either side of her as she stood in the middle of them.

Warren had drained them dry in order to restore his strength and health and help to soothe just a bit of his rage. And there had been some serious injuries inflicted by the Hunter. Warren’s arm had been nearly wrenched off and his face a mess of cuts and welts.

Still Ella could sense the anger coming off of him in waves. She had never seen Warren so angry and she hoped that this time he would really kill her.

“You think you had it so rough with me before? So rough that you would dare to side with that Hunter and attack me?” Warren demanded as he stepped up to the bars and put his face against them, his spittle hitting Ella in the face as he bellowed his hate filled words at her.

“Answer me!!” he exclaimed, his hand shooting through the iron bars and grabbing her by the front of her green dress. He yanked on her roughly, causing her to stumble forward and hit her face roughly against the metal bars. She tasted blood in her mouth and the same substance was flowing freely from her nose.

“I have nothing to say.” she replied numbly, albeit a little wetly, as she met his angry dark eyes.

“Is that right?” Warren demanded as he shoved her backward and she barely managed to maintain her footing and keep from falling on the dead, naked dark haired woman. “You’re going to learn what it is to be a prisoner now, Ella. Welcome to your new home.”

Warren spread his arms wide and did a little circle. Ella looked around the cellar. As prisons went, she had had worse. Faugrimm had kept her in several different places, each a little worse than the next. And as far as she was concerned this dirt floor covered in water and blood with the dirt walls and iron bars were a fancy hotel with a copper tub and satin sheets compared to Warren’s bed.

“I hope you like it, Ella.” Warren hissed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Because you will be looking at nothing but this for however long I decide to let you live.”

With that, Warren turned on his heels and headed for the stairs.

“I have to get in to town and take care of a few things. If you get hungry, my dear, there may still be a few drops left.” he waved toward the dead women with his hand and then disappeared up the stairwell.

Ella went to the back wall of her new prison and slid down it as she dropped to her backside on the dirt floor.

She hated cages, though she was far past the point of panicking while in one. There had been a time when she had panicked and cried every time she had so much as seen a cage but now that was over.

If Warren was hoping to hear tears or have her plead with him to let her out then he would be sorely disappointed.

She thought of the Hunter then. Brendon. She had known he would die, so it had not come as any shock to her. Though she wished it could have happened differently.

She let herself imagine for one second that Warren had lost the fight. That it was he that had been killed. Would Brendon have killed her the way his bosses wanted him to? Ella had her doubts.

The pull between them that had made it hard for her to attack him had also made it impossible for him to kill her.

She let herself wonder what could happen if Warren was wrong and the Hunter was still alive. Would he come and rescue her? She snorted and chided herself for being foolish. The Hunter was dead and even if he had lived he certainly wouldn’t risk himself just to save her life.

No one ever had.

But what if he could have lived and saved her?

Ella would have been free.

That thought terrified her. Ella had never been free. Always she had had a boss or a captor. Her parents, Faugrimm, Warren…. The thought of being alone filled her with fear.

She felt a hunger deep in her gut and knew that the vampire in her needed to feed. She hadn’t fed since the last man she had killed and with the stress and the injuries from the last several hours and the blood still dripping from her nose, she needed to feed.

She looked at the three women around her and curled her nose. She hated drinking blood from women. They always reminded her of her mother. They reminded Ella of what she had done in her past. But beggars could not be choosers and she had to take blood where she could get it.

She had a feeling that hunger was going to be something she would once again have to grow accustomed to now that she had angered Warren. But she didn’t have to become accustomed right now.

She could smell several drops still barely warm inside these women. There would be no point in letting it go to waste.

Ella crawled toward the dark haired woman, her fangs sharpening in anticipation for the meal they were about to receive.

***

Brendon rose from the bed, finally feeling healed enough to be comfortable going into a fight against the vampire Warren.

A bath, a warm meal and rest had been what he had needed and he quickly slipped into a clean black shirt and trousers. He ran his hand through his thick black hair, though the strands fell back over his brow before he plopped his black leather hat on his head.

Next went his weapons. Gun belt slung low on his hips, the silver buckles and snaps glinting in the sunlight coming through the window. His long bowie knife was strapped to his leg next and a boot knife slid into his black boot.

He would be going without his rifle, instead he opened up his satchel and pulled out the small crossbow inside. It didn’t look like much but it was silent and he was damn good with it.

He slid the strap that held it, over his broad shoulders and hooked a quiver of arrows to his belt. Then, after one more deep breath, he left the hotel room.

He went down the back stairs of the hotel and the sunlight blinded him momentarily as he stepped out into it.

He was going to save Ella. He had to. He just prayed he wasn’t already too late.

His first goal was to find Ella. If Warren was not at their home in the middle of the day then Brendon could always come back for him later. He just hoped that Ella would be at the house, but even if Warren was hiding her somewhere else, Brendon knew that the pull between them would be strong enough for him to find her.

He was walking down main street, heading for the other side of town where the vampires home was located when the strong scent of werewolf reached his nose and he realized that the footsteps behind him were getting closer.

He moved off of the main street and down a side road, away from the crowd and innocent passersby.

The wolf followed him.

Brendon put his hand on the hilt of the knife on his leg and pulled it swiftly as he turned and stuck it under the wolfs nose.

The wolf quickly held up his hands and took a step back and Brendon let out a breath and chuckled as he slid his knife back into the sheath on his leg.

“Well hello there, pup.” he said as he recognized one of the younger wolves from Vern’s pack.

“You’ll cause a damn wolf to piss his’self, you damn Hunter.” Brendon just smiled. “Did you forget about the job you promised my boss you’d do?”

“Of course not.” Brendon replied, though in truth he had. “I could never forget a promise I made to such upstanding folks as yourselves.”

“Right…” the wolf said with a snort. He reached in his trouser pocket and pulled out an envelope and a folded map full of creases and with torn edges. “Your money is in the envelope and the map will show you where the wolf’s territory lies. Or at least where we assume the boundaries are. Obviously you’ll have to….”

“Hunt him.” Brendon interrupted as he jerked the envelope and map away. “Yeah, that’s usually why folks call a Hunter. When they need someone hunted.”

“Do you have somewhere else you need to be?” the wolf asked, obviously noticing the way Brendon kept shifting his feet impatiently.

“No, of course not, I live to serve every whim of you flea infested, backside sniffing alpha.” The wolf growled low in his throat and Brendon just reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t get so upset. I’ll get the job done for your alpha.” Brendon assured him and then he stuck the envelope and map inside his shirt and walked away from the still fuming wolf.

He went the long way around the outskirts of town and came up on the backside of the house where Ella lived with her captor. He walked around to the front door and knocked, hoping that Ella would answer and be perfectly fine and healthy.

That did not happen.

He waited several long minutes and knocked twice more but the door remained closed and locked. It was clearly locked with a sliding bolt on the inside and therefore unable to be picked from the outside. He would have to find another way in since breaking the door down would draw attention that he didn’t want from those close enough in town to hear.

Brendon walked back to the back of the house and looked up. Strangely enough there were no windows on the lower floor, but the upstairs had windows with nothing but burlap sacks over them to keep the elements out. Now to find a way up to those windows…..

Brendon reached down and clicked a button on both of his boots, causing four inch blades to pop out of the sole of his boots at his toes. Then he pulled his boot knife and his long bowie knife and, using the four blades, he began to scale the wall.

He slipped into one of the open windows, pushing the burlap sack aside. He was relieved when the room he entered was empty. There was nothing inside of it, just a floor, ceiling and four dusty walls.

He put his knives away, then clicked the buttons on his boots and the blades slid back inside. There were some good things that came from being a Hunter for the Council and nifty weapons were one of those.

He scented the air and listened closely for any sign of movement nearby. He caught the scent of herbs and sweetness and followed it into a hallway and to a closed door.

He took in a deep breath and realized that this was Ella’s room, though judging by the scent he knew she wasn’t there just now. He didn’t waste time opening the door, instead he went to the only other door in this loft and caught Warren’s strong scent inside, though he wasn’t there either.

Brendon went down the stairs, still hearing nothing. No movement, no speaking… Where was Ella? Where was Warren?

He was growing uneasy. He sincerely hoped that Warren hadn’t taken her away. Though if the vampire had then Brendon would simply hunt them down and take her away. Ella needed to be saved and Brendon was going to be the one who rescued her.

The first floor was little more than one big room, with another room off the side. Both of these rooms were empty and silent. The house was dark, sparsely decorated and dirty. The only decorations on the walls were different blade weapons from centuries ago and pictures of the vampire he recognized as Warren taken from different parts of the world.

“Ella?” Brendon called out quietly, though he had no hope that she would answer. This house was small and he had searched it all. Ella and Warren were not here.

Brendon decided to head back up to the bedrooms to see if he could find a clue as to where Warren had taken Ella before he just went out and tried to wander the surrounding land until he caught their scent.

He walked across the living room floor, his boots pounding on the boards and then he paused as he walked across the rug and his footsteps bean to sound more hollow.

Frowning, he stepped off the rug and lifting it up. Seeing the trapdoor beneath, he quickly tossed the rug aside and grabbed the heavy iron handle.

He lifted the door slowly, listening for any sign of movement below but heard none. And all he could see was a staircase the seemed to go forever down into the darkness.

Brendon pulled the door all the way open and then started down the steps, his entire body ready for a fight.

Taking in a breath, the scent of blood and death filled his nostrils. But somehow managing to overpower those things was the scent of herbs and sweetness.

Ella.

She was down here, somewhere among the smell of dampness, mildew, human waste, blood and death. Brendon didn’t smell Warren which must mean the vampire had left. But was Ella down here killing the mortals that Brendon could smell dead or was she a prisoner herself… and had Warren hurt her?

Brendon’s legs carried him quickly down the staircase, which had simply turned to dirt cutouts in the earth.

“Ella?” he called out. Silence seconds ticked by slowly and it wasn’t until Brendon had stepped off the staircase and was staring at Ella curled up in the corner of a dirt bottomed cage with bodies all around her, that the vampire looked up from her knees, her red hair falling across her blood streaked face, and whispered,

“You came for me?”

“Yep.” Brendon replied, not wanting her to know just how relieved he was to find her alive. She was after all sitting beside three dead women.

Ella stared at Brendon with shock.

He was alive. He was here. He had come to save her? Or had he come to kill her?

“Why? And how?” she asked as she rose to her feet. “Warren said you were dead.”

Brendon stared at her. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her. She was still wearing that green gown from the night before. The skirt was much closer fitting than most women wore. The bodice tight and form fitting. It had long sleeves that hung off her shoulders, leaving the pale, soft skin of her shoulders, collarbones and chest open to his hungry eyes.

The corset she wore had her breasts pushed up and full and the tops of them were heaving up and down as she breathed.

Brendon felt a bolt of lust so sharp that it nearly buckled his knees. He still remembered how her soft, tiny body had felt against him the night before. The way her normally emotionless eyes had looked up into his own, filled with longing.

Brendon wanted her. How long had it been since he’d truly wanted a woman? One hundred years? At least. At least a century since any woman had filled him with longing and lust that she filled him with.

“Warren didn’t kill me, though when I get my hands on him again he’ll wish he had.” Brendon promised after clearing his throat to dislodge the lump of desire that had taken up residence there.

“Are you here to kill me?” she asked, sounding almost hopeful as she moved toward the bars of her cell. Brendon shook his head, his legs moving on their own toward the metal bars separating him from Ella.

“I can’t kill you, Ella.” he replied quietly and Ella tilted her head, a wrinkle forming between her eyes as she studied him.

“Why?”

“You know why.” Brendon replied, his hand sliding through the bars and coming to rest on her blood covered cheek.

The scent of the blood coating her face and the front of her dress was her own and Brendon wondered what had caused her to become covered in it.

Ella’s eyes narrowed as he touched her and he wondered what she was thinking.

Then he remembered where they were and who would be returning any time. He had to get Ella out of that cage.

Brendon pulled his hand away and thought he saw disappointment frown Ella’s lips but it was impossible to know for sure since her face quickly became an expressionless mask.

Brendon found the lock and reached in his pocket to pull out a small leather pouch full of lock picking tools.

“I’m gonna get you out of there, Ella, and away from Warren.”

Ella nodded as she watched Brendon begin to work on the lock. He had come for her.. He wanted to save her. He had touched her cheek so tenderly. Ella wanted tenderness. But could she trust Brendon to always be tender? And could he actually kill Warren because that would be the only way that Ella would ever truly be free from the other vampire.

Brendon was just pulling the lock free from the bars when the sound of footsteps reached his ears. He took a deep breath and his spine stiffened.

“Well what have we here?” Warren’s amused voice came from behind him. Brendon turned slowly to see Warren coming down the dark staircase. In his arms he held an unconscious, fevered, bleeding bundle, wrapped tight in a blanket.

Brendon heard Ella’s sharp intake of breath and Brendon felt his own heart begin to race.

“I brought you some company, Ella.” Warren said with a smile. “Little Maggie here had nothing but wonderful things to say about you and the visits you made to her while I was away. That was before she lost consciousness. The poor dear, she just doesn’t seem to be made of very tough stuff.”

Warren came into the light glow of the burning candles and smiled, revealing his sharpened fangs coated with dark red blood.