“How about you have Tim do that and I’ll keep the rest of them safe? You know I’m the stronger one and should be taking care of the whole group on the mainland. One hunter in training should be enough for him to handle.”
The king nodded, not realizing that Sam was bartering back. That was the effect Rommy had on him. It messed with the old man’s mind.
“Tim is the weaker of the two of you. You’re probably right that he wouldn’t protect everyone as well as you could. You can return to the mainland to relieve your brother of the duty of watching over everyone, and give him the order to take out the girl.”
Rising, Sam hurried out of his father’s office before he could change his mind. He felt a little guilty that he had just condemned an innocent girl to the hands of his brother, but as a hunter in training, she probably wasn’t too innocent. They had to have over a hundred kills to be initiated into the hunter’s guild. That was a hundred night humans that would die at her hands, and she was already probably already on her way. Now he just hoped he could keep that detail from Whitney, and maybe it would all go down without him having to be a part of any of it. At least he hoped.
Jade held onto Whitney’s arm and pulled her toward the house they were going to. Whitney could feel dread collecting in the bottom of her stomach. What outlawed night human in their right mind would go walking into a house of hunters, never mind the home of one of the best hunters out there? Yep, Whitney was officially crazy. Not one of her better choices, but one she couldn’t come up with a believable excuse to get out of it.
“Don’t worry. No one here bites. We don’t bring our work home with us,” Jade teased. It didn’t help. She still didn’t want to go in.
“And your mom won’t be home?” Whitney asked for the third time.
“No. But if she was, she wouldn’t care that you were once a night human. She doesn’t kill day humans, so don’t worry about it.”
Yep, not reassuring in the least to Whitney. She still didn’t think it was a good idea, but she had to play her part of innocent day human to keep suspicion off her. Why did I have to make friends with a hunter? And worse, why did I have to be seen by them when I returned? If she’d have just gone home like she was supposed to, they wouldn’t be naming a blond-haired girl as the suspect. She also doubted they would be to the point of making plans to take turns watching someone. The stupid bond made her want to see Sam more, and she blamed that for her hasty decision.
‘The bond doesn’t make you want to spend time with me. That’s my stunning personality,’ Sam said inside of her mind.
Whitney jumped as his voice was suddenly in her head. She hadn’t expected him, but at the same time, it made her want to smile. Sam was on land. He wasn’t supposed to be, but he was and she was hoping he would stay long enough for her to see him.
Jade turned back to her. “What?” she asked as she caught either the jump or the smile she tried to hide.
“Spider,” Whitney said, pointing to the corner of the porch near the door Jade was unlocking, hoping it was the jump she saw.
“Wait, you’re afraid of spiders? Are you sure you want to help us?”
“Spiders and rats are my least favorite creatures in the world. If there was such a job as spider and rat hunter, I’d hire them immediately to protect me around the clock,” Whitney joked, while at the same time probing mentally for Sam. She had to be hearing things, and maybe hallucinating because she missed him too much.
‘So glad you miss me, too.’
Nope, she wasn’t hearing make-believe things. Sam was in her head, which meant only one thing; he was on land, even though he wasn’t allowed to be.
“So, I know this place is kind of a dump, but that’s the norm for us. We aren’t around much to care how kept-up the place is, and as long as it has running water and heat, my mother will typically rent it. She says nice places make you go soft.”
“How cheery,” Whitney commented as she walked into their house. Jade was right. The wallpaper in the front room was peeling and missing in large sections. One of the treads leading upstairs was broken, and all the lights had no shades covering the bulbs—if one was even put in the socket.
“When I get older and am on my own, I’ll only stay at five-star hotels,” Jade commented. “No more of this roughing it crap.”
“Because there are five-star hotels everywhere we go,” Jax said from the next room.
There was a wall between the peeling living room and what must have been the kitchen, but because of the various holes in the wall, sound traveled through it completely.
‘What are you up to?’ Sam asked mentally as he was still there.
Whitney didn’t have time to talk to him and was worried that her friends would catch on. She needed to stay perfectly day human if she didn’t want to be their next target.
‘You’re hanging out with the hunters?’ Sam asked incredulously.
He was furious. Whitney ignored him. He would have to wait until later, no matter how excited she was to know he was on land. There must have been a concert that came up, because it was the only reason his father would let him back. She was happy he was here, but she had other things to deal with at the moment.
“Okay, fine.” Jade was still arguing through the holey wall with her brother. Thankfully, she didn’t notice Whitney’s short mental break.
Whitney moved to sit down in a rocking chair near the table that was strewn with take-out menus and maps of town.
“Not that one,” Jade said, catching her before she sat down. “I think it’s just for show. Furniture came with the house,” as if that explained it all.
Jade pulled Whitney to sit with her on the couch as Jax came out of the kitchen with a takeout bowl of food in his hands.
“Anyone up for two-day-old Chinese?” he asked.
‘I’m ordering you to leave there right now,’ Sam yelled at her in her mind. Whitney ignored him, which made more anger come across the bond.
Jax was still waiting for an answer. Jade rolled her eyes at her brother and Whitney made an “ew” face.
“You guys don’t know what you’re missing. The flavors get better as it sits longer.”
“I’m sure they do,” Whitney replied, and Jax held out a bowl for her. “But I don’t need to find out.”
“Suit yourself. Just don’t let Jade’s unwillingness to try new things influence you.” Jax swatted at his sister’s head. She ducked and hit him back.
‘Whitney. I’m going to come and get you if you don’t come back home right now.’
‘I wouldn’t advise that,’ Whitney finally responded. ‘They might just put two and two together if you show up. Let me handle this.’ She didn’t have time to explain more.
Whitney could feel Sam’s anger through the bond, but it was more than just that. He was worried … like really, really worried. In fact, the last time she felt that much concern from him was when she was put on display for the sirens and facing possible death for having a pink tail. That did make her feel a little guilty.
‘When we’re done, I’ll go straight home and explain. But until then, let me handle this and don’t distract me. Otherwise they’ll get suspicious.’ Sam had to listen to reason. She knew he would. And he did.
“See? She’s mulling over trying a bite,” Jax told Jade like he was right.
Whitney glanced down at the table and quickly thought of a reply. “Actually, I was wondering why you eat two-day-old anything when you have enough menus here to order from a different place each day of the week.”
Jade gave a good laugh at that one.
“Our mother isn’t too much on the motherly stuff,” Jade explained when she finally stopped laughing at Whitney’s apparent surprise at all the menus.
“So, getting back to business,” Jax said as he sat down on the arm of the couch. Even he was avoiding the rocking chair. “The red dots are all the locations of the bodies that were drained.”
Jax swept his arm across the table to move all the
menus to the floor. Beneath them, the map was now completely visible. Whitney was shocked. She expected a couple red dots, but instead, there were at least a couple dozen. She was sure that Sam had given the order not to kill anyone, but it seemed like there were a few that didn’t get the order, or had found a way around it.
“That many people have died?” Whitney asked in awe. She was shocked by all the red. What the heck are the sirens doing? Leaving a calling card for the hunters? “How many years does this go back?” That had to be it, more than a year’s worth.
“We have the numbers from the past ten years.”
Okay, that made more sense. Sam had only been in charge for a few years.
“Then why didn’t you come sooner?” Whitney asked. She wasn’t blaming them, but if they had taken care of the siren problem earlier, she wouldn’t be stuck playing double agent.
“I honestly don’t know,” Jade replied, but Jax looked like he wanted to add more. He kept his mouth shut though, and that made Whitney curious.
“So how many of these are fresh? You said you expect the person to hit again soon.” Whoever was feeding close to town had to stop. It made it hard for all the siren that were behaving, and even though her friends weren’t yet talking to her, Whitney didn’t want to see them get caught in the crossfire.
“We’ve had one a month almost like clockwork for the past six months. Before that, there was nothing for years. We suspect it was someone that was feeding somewhere else until now. From what we know, merpeople will travel up to thousands of miles to feed because there are so few of them left. And they do it by singing to lure their prey to them,” Jade explained. “From the looks of it, they either need to feed once a month, or if it’s a pair like we suspect, they feed once every other month.”
Boy did they have their facts messed up. But all the talk of blood was making Whitney a bit hungry. Subject needed to change.
‘You need to come back now,’ Sam warned her.
She was as fine as she would be later. Although hungry, she wasn’t exactly a new night human. She knew how to keep her hunger under control.
“So since you have a guess as to who it is, what’s the next step?” Whitney asked. She was pretty sure it wasn’t Amber. While not the nicest person, she did seem to have a sense of self-preservation and wouldn’t likely be feeding off people and killing them.
“We need to have someone follow Amber around all the time,” Jax explained, “while we continue to cross people off our list.”
“And how do you do that?” That was the key to keeping her other friends safe. If they were hanging around Amber and she was being followed, it was likely they would get caught in everything, too.
Jax shrugged.
“Don’t be shy,” Jade said, nudging his leg next to her. “Jax has spent years developing his sense of night humans. My mother claims only the purest female line can tell night humans from day humans, but Jax can do it. I’ve seen him do it.”
“Even if dear ol’ Mom doesn’t believe you,” Jax added.
“You can tell who’s a night human?” Whitney tried to keep the fear out of her voice. She was in the den of a hunter and was just told her worst nightmare.
“Kind of. It doesn’t always work and seems harder here. I have a feeling whoever this merperson is; they have the whole school in a trance. I feel pieces of night humans all over the place at school, and I doubt they are all former night humans like you. I feel that, too.”
“Oh,” Whitney replied and tried to keep the relief out of her voice.
‘That’s it. I’m coming to get you.’ Sam had been eavesdropping on their conversation.
‘Don’t you dare,’ she replied back.
“So how can you tell?” Whitney continued her questions as innocently as she could. She needed to keep her friends safe.
“That’s the beauty of it,” Jade gushed like he could do an amazing magic trick. Jax didn’t seem to feel as happy about it. “He can tell when he shakes someone’s hand.”
“Which means I get to spend all day introducing myself to people I really don’t want to know,” Jax added, finally showing why he hated his talent so much. While Jade was blatantly shy, Jax was as shy as his sister but didn’t have a choice about it.
Whitney couldn’t help but laugh. Poor Jax. But at least on the bright side, she could now keep her friends safe. Now she just needed to find a way to get them off the hunter’s radar at the same time.
The phone in her backpack rang, making Whitney jump. While digging through her bag, she looked at her friends apologetically.
“Sorry, guys. I have no clue who would be calling me.”
“Hey, there. I just made it back to town,” Sam said rather loudly. She was sure her two friends heard him speaking even without great night human hearing.
“Wow. That’s great. I thought you wouldn’t be back until this weekend,” Whitney told him, not having to fake her happiness.
“Are you at work? I can swing over and pick you up if you’d like,” he suggested, again rather loudly.
“I’m just hanging out with Jax and Jade,” she told him. “I planned to stay here for supper, but I’m not sure I should do that now that I see what they’re serving.”
Jax pouted, and Jade laughed.
“Go see lover boy. We’ll fill you in tomorrow on the plans,” Jade told her quietly.
Whitney gathered her stuff as Sam talked about the band and rehearsals. She waved good-bye to her friends as she was grateful to be out of their house before their mother came home. All in all, Rommy Kristian seemed like a scary mother to have. She made her own mother look like a saint compared to the hunter goddess Rommy.
As Whitney turned one last time to wave to her friends, she saw Jax watching her as if he knew something that he wasn’t letting on. It was unnerving, to say the least, but she was able to get out a fake wave. It might have seemed a bit friendlier if Jade had been with him, but it was only him watching her. Jax raised a hand, returning the wave.
Once again on her way, she let out the breath of air she’d been holding from the moment she left their house, half expecting someone to stake her in the back. She had gone into a hunter’s cave and came out alive. Not many night humans could say the same. In fact, she couldn’t imagine there was any siren who could say that much.
Quickly, she made her way home and tried to out-walk the creepy feeling of being watched by Jax. He never seemed like a bad guy, but there was always more to people than the surface. Now she knew the friendliness was mostly faked as a ruse to find night humans. She was glad to finally make it home, where she no longer felt like someone was watching her.
Whitney knew Sam would be waiting in her room, and he didn’t waste any time before sweeping her into his arms and squeezing her in relief. His anger had disappeared the moment she walked out of the hunters’ house.
“Why in the world would you go over there?” Okay, not all of the anger was gone.
“They asked me to stop by and see what they had been researching. I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason not to, and since they saw us at the beach this morning, I can’t lie to them and get out as easily. They’re looking for a blond-haired mermaid and a dark-haired merman. Those are their two suspects, and I didn’t want them to suspect us.”
That made enough sense for his anger to simmer down again. He had to realize Whitney wasn’t stupid, and that she would never go to the hunters’ house on purpose.
Stepping back, he looked her over from head to toe. “They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”
Whitney had to laugh. She just walked twenty minutes, and he was worried they did something to her. She wouldn’t have made the walk if that was the case. Sometimes Sam could be irrational.
“No, they just wanted to show me all the kills that have happened here in the past ten years. Did you know the sirens have killed over a couple dozen people, and six of them have been in the last six months? There has been a kill, almost like clockwork, every month.?
??
Sam seemed startled by the news. “It isn’t a siren. I gave the order, and my father supported it. None of the sirens could kill someone around here on purpose.”
“And by accident—six accidents?”
Sam cracked his knuckles as he began to pace the room. That was the key. They couldn’t intentionally kill a human because of the order, but accidentally they could. Even worse was that if Sam did order them to stop, it wouldn’t matter. Whitney was going to leave that thought for later. Right now they needed to know who was killing off people, and soon. Jax had marked that each kill occurred on the twelfth, and that was only two days away.
“I’ve offered to help them watch Amber and Tim. Those are the two they suspect, and I don’t blame them. If anyone was accidentally killing anyone, I wouldn’t cross Tim off the list. I’ve seen his ‘accidents’ with my own eyes, but I doubt it’s Amber.”
“What led them to town?”
“They said there was a girl that had killed the last one, and all the people who knew have muddled memories. They were already suspecting Amber for that one. She fit the description to a T.”
Sam shrugged. “Amber liked to find guys from other towns to feed on, so it’s possible she found the last guy, but for that much feeding, it has to be more than one person. Even if she accidentally killed someone, she wouldn’t have felt the need to feed again for months.”
It was time for some detective work. Whitney watched her mate, and he was thinking the same thing.
“You never did tell me why you’re back,” Whitney told Sam as his arms snaked back around her waist, pulling her chest to chest with him.
“I begged my dad to allow me to come back and protect everyone, and to let Tim deal with the hunters.” Sam nuzzled into her neck and planted enough kisses to give her shivers.
“Tim is to deal with Jade and her family?”