“And maybe a strip club,” Chris suggested around a mouthful of chocolate.
Julian shook his head at the suggestion. He appreciated a naked woman just as much, if not more than the next guy, but he wasn’t willing to pay to see it. “I’m going to stop at the next exit with a hotel and a place to eat,” Luther said. “If there’s something in the area then so be it, if not you still get three days to explore the desert.”
“Every vampire’s dream vacation,” Julian muttered.
“We could keep driving,” Luther replied.
Julian stared at him hard, even Chris gave him a venomous look. “No one has ever accused you of being the life of the party have they, Luther?” Julian inquired.
“At one time I was a lot of fun,” Luther said.
Chris snorted. “Were dinosaurs still alive?”
Luther shot him a look in the rearview mirror, but Chris only continued to chew on his chocolate. Returning his attention to Julian, Luther jerked his head toward the back. “You’re going to have to move if I’m going to take an exit.”
Julian glanced at the darkening sky before tugging the curtain open. The faint rays of the fading sun fell across his skin. The heat burned into his flesh, but thankfully there was no smoke and his skin didn’t blister. Over the past two years, he’d been exposing himself to the sun more and more with the hopes of one day being able to walk outside during the daylight hours like Devon could. It was a lengthy, excruciatingly painful process, but his tolerance to the sun’s rays had begun to build. He could take the setting sun with no ill effect, and stand within full daylight for almost a minute before being forced to retreat.
Patience and his name had never been synonymous with each other, but being able to feel the heat of the sun against his skin again, without bursting into flames, made it all worthwhile. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he turned his hand over before him. “You’re getting better with that,” Luther said as he took the next exit.
Julian nodded; it was difficult for him to take his eyes off the shafts of sun dancing in golden rays across his flesh. If he spent another six hundred years looking at this he still didn’t think he’d ever get enough of it.
The heat of the sun vanished when it dipped behind the dunes of the sandy desert they drove through. He finally tore his attention away from his arm to the narrow roadway they were on. Wooden buildings and homes, most with chipped paint, lined both sides of the roadway. A handful of stucco and brick facades were tucked in amongst the wood; they added splashes of red, yellow and orange color to the roadside. The houses in this section of the town appeared as alive as King Tut right now. Upon closer inspection, he saw signs of life in the potted plants on the porches, the curtains lining the windows, and the vehicles in the driveways.
At a set of stoplights, Luther made a right and entered a livelier section of town. Lights spilled onto the roadway from a scattering of restaurants and stores lining the main thoroughfare. The side streets were mostly dark with a few lights shining from the windows of the homes. Behind the storefronts, he could see more of the reddish brown desert broken only by the cactuses, straggling grass cropping’s and rock formations rising high into the air.
“What state are we in?” Julian inquired.
“Arizona,” Luther answered.
Chris rose from the table and knelt on the sofa Julian had been sitting on. He pulled back the curtain behind the sofa to peer out at the night. “Tombstone?” he inquired.
“No,” Luther answered.
“It would have been fitting.” Chris dropped the curtain back into place and returned to his spot at the table.
Julian had to agree, but right now, he would take this town any day over staying in this vehicle. Luther drove past a larger bar with a grouping of motorcycles, pickups and cars filling its dirt parking lot. It looked like a promising place to start, Julian decided as Luther pulled into the motel only ten buildings away.
Chapter Two
Julian was still in the shower when he heard the door between the rooms open. There was a time when he would have killed anyone who dared to enter his room, but over the past two years he’d come to realize Chris didn’t have many boundaries. If he’d locked the door, Chris would have stood outside, persistently knocking until Julian got out of the shower and flung it open with threats of ripping Chris’s head off and playing beer pong with his eyes. Threats that would only make Chris smile in return and breeze into the room with the maddening confidence of someone who knew idle words when they heard them.
So in order to get in a relaxing shower, Julian had simply started unlocking the door between the rooms. The two of them always ended up bunking beside each other. Over the pounding water, he could clearly hear the click of the lock on the main door when Chris let Lou in. He made out a few words of their murmured conversation before someone turned on the TV.
He scrubbed at his skin with the soap, rinsed the shampoo from his hair, and climbed out of the shower. Toweling off, he dressed hastily before exiting the steamy room. Chris and Lou barely glanced at him as they were both focused on a rerun of The League. The show was amusing but Julian walked over and hit the off button on the older model tube TV.
“I didn’t escape the RV just to be stuck in this room with you two. Let’s go Beavis and Butthead.” Chris mumbled something unintelligible. He gave Julian the finger, but they both climbed to their feet. “Where’s Melissa?”
“Taking a shower,” Chris answered. “She said she’d meet us here.”
“Is Romeo coming?”
“I don’t know; I haven’t seen him since the RV.”
Julian nodded and led the way out of the room and into the cooling night. Even this far south, the edge of winter could still be felt in the air flowing over his exposed skin and wet hair. Tilting his head back, he stared at the stars in the seemingly endless sky. The full moon hung heavily above them; its glow illuminated the buildings and desert more than the few streetlights lining the roadway did.
“So glad we’re not in Canada right now,” he muttered and shoved his hands into his pockets to ward off the chill of the breeze.
“You are really cold blooded, dead boy,” Chris said.
Julian’s eyes narrowed on him. “I stopped being a boy long before I was turned into a vampire. Plus, I don’t have a pulse to warm my body.”
Chris’s sapphire eyes focused on him. “True.”
He may only be nineteen, but Chris had most certainly stopped being a boy already too. Julian wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened but sometime between their final battle with The Elders and their search now for more Hunters and Guardians, Chris had matured far beyond his years.
The final battle with The Elders had aged them all, and decimated the hierarchy that had ruled the vampire race for most of the time he’d been one of the undead. The only two Elders still alive were he and Devon. Three years ago, he’d been more evil and twisted than most vampires. Now, he was the second oldest vampire in existence, one of the most powerful on earth, and he was working side by side with people he’d once considered his sworn enemies.
If someone had told him three years ago this is where he would be, and the company he’d be keeping, he would have laughed in their faces before ripping their throats out. He could clearly recall the vampire he’d been before meeting Cassie and her friends, but he felt no connection to his past self anymore. That vampire had died when he’d been held prisoner by The Commission with Cassie in that godforsaken basement beneath the school. The vampire who had emerged from there wasn’t an angel, but he also wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster determined to destroy Devon, the Hunters and Guardians, and any other unsuspecting soul who managed to piss him off. Over the years, he’d come to realize that if his kill ratio was any indication, he found many who walked this earth to be extremely irritating.
It had been two years since he’d consumed blood from a live human. A small part of him still believed he would return to it one day, but he knew he would nev
er take an innocent life again. He didn’t kill anymore because he was tormented by the atrocities he’d committed in his past, those deaths didn’t haunt him. He’d quit because he’d finally figured out he didn’t have to be a monster just because he was a vampire. When he’d first been turned, and throughout most of his lengthy existence, he hadn’t understood he could be something other than a murderer. If he had, then he never would have snuffed out all of the countless lives he had over the years.
There were far too many years ahead of him to be weighed down by regret and sorrow for his past transgressions. He’d spent five hundred and seventy-four years as a killer after being turned into a vampire, and two years doing good. Since he planned to live at least another six hundred years, he figured he’d eventually even out his bad/good ratio and that was enough for him.
They reached the bar with the packed parking lot. Julian glanced at the large glass window in the front with the name, Clint’s Bar, painted in white on it. Stepping back, he pulled open the door for Chris and Lou. The sour smell of stale alcohol, peanuts, pretzels, smoke, and body odor filled his nose; the sound of clanking pool balls echoed in his ears. He looked around for the pool tables, but the noise came from a room he couldn’t see through the talking and laughing crowd.
Julian began to make his way through the people. Without knowing why, humans instinctively stepped out of his way when he approached them. He found most people to be about as sharp as a marble, however their instincts still recognized when a predator was near, and he wasn’t the only one they stepped away from.
Chris may not have his murderous nature, but the power emanating from the boy caused humans to move away from him when he walked past. The vampire blood used to create the Hunter line Chris was a part of, was evident in the way he carried himself with an assurance and grace that pronounced him as more than human. Oddly enough, the power that initially pushed people away also drew them in like a bee to honey.
As a Guardian in training, Lou instructed future Hunters in fighting techniques and the history of the Hunter line. A Guardian was an integral part of the system. Unlike the Hunters, they were entirely human which allowed Lou to blend in seamlessly with the people in the bar.
Julian studied the people pressed close together. A third of the bar was dressed in leather and wearing vests with a motorcycle driving through flames stitched on the back of them, a third were wearing cowboy hats and boots, and the final third were dressed in plain clothes. More than a few of the patrons had the darker skin, brown eyes, and broad cheekbones inherent in someone with a Mexican or Native American heritage.
The ages in the bar ranged from barely legal, if they were even legal to begin with, to some in their sixties and possibly seventies and eighties. The oddly diverse crowd mingled together with ease, apparently they were used to being together in here. His gaze scanned the women within as he hunted his prey for the night. He may not taste their blood anymore, but humans did serve other purposes. Beside him, Chris was doing the same thing as he rose onto his toes.
“Drinks,” Julian said and gestured toward the bar.
Chris followed him, Lou tagged along behind with his hands shoved into his pockets and his shoulders hunched up against the bodies around them. He looked even thinner in the mass of middle-aged beer bellies and twenty-something biceps. Julian stopped walking and waited for Lou to catch up so he could let him walk ahead before he got lost in the crush.
Arriving at the bar, Julian leaned over the top and flashed his smile at the young redhead pouring beer. Her mouth dropped open when her eyes landed on him; the beer flowing from the tap overfilled the glass. She jumped when the cool liquid poured over her fingers. Hastily she grabbed hold of the beer tap and turned it off.
Julian couldn’t help but grin when the eyes of the men gathered around the bar swung toward him. He didn’t acknowledge them as he gave the redhead their order. She hurriedly filled it and came back with their drinks. Handing the beer out to him, her fingers slid invitingly over the back of his hand when he took it from her. The wink he gave her caused her cheeks to become the color of her hair. She was pretty enough to be an option for later, he decided, but there were a lot of other options in this bar as well, too many for him to be tied down already.
He handed Chris and Lou their beers. If he ordered their drinks for them, it was rare either of them got carded, no matter how young Lou looked. They risked their lives on a daily basis to protect the human race without people knowing they did it. For that, Julian figured human law didn’t apply to them.
Turning away, he pointed toward the back room where the pool tables were located. They were almost there when he spotted Melissa gliding across the floor toward them. Last month she’d cut her shiny black hair into a sleek bob beneath her ears. The shortened haircut enhanced her high cheekbones and made her appear at least five years older than her nineteen years. Her smooth olive skin and onyx eyes were due to her half Egyptian heritage, but her grace and poise came from her Hunter legacy. The pretty young girl he’d met two years ago had been replaced by a beautiful woman who caused heads to turn as she walked by.
“Beer?” he inquired when she stopped before them. He held out the bottle he’d yet to take a sip from.
Her black eyebrows drew together; she pursed her full mouth before shaking her head. “I feel like something girly tonight.”
“That’s a first.”
She flashed a smile before lifting a shoulder. “Sometimes I like to mix it up.”
“So I’ve noticed. You need me to get it for you?” In response, she gestured toward the bar. Julian spotted Zach leaning over the counter talking with the redhead who nodded before turning away. “Ah, Romeo,” he drawled.
Melissa rolled her eyes and grabbed the bottle of beer from his hand. She took a long swallow before handing it back. Julian scowled at his half-empty beer while she spoke. “He heard you call him that.”
“And?”
“He didn’t like it.” She was trying to sound disapproving, but her lips twitched as she had a difficult time hiding her smile.
“That makes a whole world of difference.”
“You’re going to torment him aren’t you?”
“It is what I do best.”
“Very true,” Chris agreed.
“What ability does he have?” Julian inquired. He drank the rest of his beer and handed it to a passing waitress with an order for another one.
“He can control air,” Melissa answered.
“Air?” Lou inquired. “Haven’t heard of that one before.”
“You should hit the books more,” Julian said and took his fresh beer from the brunette waitress. “All of the elements can be manipulated by certain vampires and Hunters; we just haven’t come across a Current yet.”
Chris looked questioningly at him. “Current?”
“As in air current,” Julian said. “It’s what those who can control air are called.”
“I see.”
“It’s an interesting and useful ability to have. How strong is he?” Julian turned his attention back to Melissa.
“He said he can create hurricane-like conditions for short bursts of time and once made a five foot high tornado,” she answered. “But he may have been exaggerating.”
Julian chuckled as his gaze ran over Melissa’s striking face and lithe figure. Romeo had been telling the truth when he’d said she was beautiful. Beautiful enough to make a man exaggerate many things in order to impress her. “I’m sure he was, but we’ll find out eventually.”
“A new power for Cassie’s growing collection of abilities at least,” Lou said.
Julian shifted his feet as his gaze slid back to Zach. Yes, it was a power they hadn’t come across before, but then there weren’t many Hunters and Guardians left. The Slaughter that The Elder vampires had unleashed upon the Hunters and Guardians eighteen years ago had left their numbers decimated and scattered.
Zach turned and easily wound his way through the crowd with two pin
k drinks in hand. Julian stepped away from Melissa and continued toward the poolroom. Walking through the door of the poolroom, an interesting scent caused his eyes to shoot to a woman in the back of the room. She had a notepad in hand while she took the order of a group of men in their thirties wearing cowboy hats. She never glanced their way, but he knew she was aware of their presence, or at least his, by the subtle stiffening of her shoulders.
Julian’s nostrils flared, the scent emanating from the woman filled his senses. Stepping away from one of the men, she tucked her pad away before turning toward him and his friends. Across the fifty feet separating them his gaze locked onto a set of eyes the color of honey. Unlike the food they resembled, there was nothing sweet in these eyes as they glittered with menace.
“Is that…” Zach started.
“Yes,” Julian grated from between his clamped teeth.
The woman thrust out her pointed chin before making her way through the crowd toward them. Hair the color of chocolate glimmered in the neon signs on the walls and the fluorescent lights hanging over the two pool tables in the room. The end of her hair hung to the middle of her back and swayed with every step she took toward them. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the fire in her slanted eyes and the high slope of her elegant cheekbones. A faint, reddish scar ran from the middle of her full bottom lip to under her chin. Another scar ran from the end of her right eyebrow toward her right temple where it disappeared beneath her thick hair. The hair on her eyebrow, where the scar cut across, no longer grew in. They were injuries that must have been sustained when she’d still been human if they hadn’t completely healed.
Her gaze darted briefly around the room before coming back to him. The doorway they stood in was the only escape from this room, unless she planned to go straight through the wall, but judging by the apron tied around her waist and the cheerful greetings directed toward her, he didn’t think she’d be running anywhere. She’d established a life and an identity here that allowed her to blend in with the humans. Something she most certainly was not.