Prologue
Evangeline Duvalier moved about the dank, dreary space, her lip curling at the incessant squeaking thanks to an overabundance of rats. She should be living in the lap of luxury with the power she possessed, instead, this abandoned warehouse down by the river was her new, if temporary, home. It was barely a step up from the prison from which she’d recently escaped, the only difference here was that instead of a fellow witch bringing her meals, deaf to Evangeline’s pleas for freedom, she now had a vampire minion to do her bidding.
“I have what you wanted, mistress.”
Speaking of vampire minions… Pasting a bright smile on her face to disguise her true feelings, she turned to greet Kevin. A mid-level vampire, with average, boy-next-door looks and mediocre intelligence.Kevin. Even his name was mediocre. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, could they?
Snatching the square of blood-stained white linen from the male’s hand, she brought the cloth to her face and inhaled. “And you’re sure this is Kane’s blood?”
“Yes, mistress,” he replied, avoiding her gaze.
Evangeline narrowed her eyes. “JustKane’s blood?”
Kevin had to clear his throat – twice – his weight shifting from foot to foot.
“Who else’s blood?” she demanded.
Another throat clear that left her with the urge to choke the male before he finally volunteered in an annoying whine, “It was used to clean the dagger after the oath was sworn, so Kane’s blood is on it.”
“But not Kane’s blood alone.”
It wasn’t a question, though Kevin felt the need to reply. “No, mistress. His father’s, his brother’s, as well as the two vampires he’s chosen as his seconds.”
Dropping the linen on the dirty floor at her feet, Evangeline sighed, wishing she could kill the simpleton, but of the original five vampires she’d recruited with promises of power, he was the only one remaining and she didn’t have time to court new ones. Too many people were looking for her now. But after… after, she would enjoy watching Kevin bleed out at her feet.
“This is useless to me. Find me a pure sample, even if you have to stab him to get it.”
“I can’t get that close. He’s hunting me.”
“Oh, for the love of…” cutting that off with a deep cleansing breath, Evangeline closed her eyes and tried to marshal some patience. “Fine. Break into his house when he’s not there and steal his brush. Do you think you could do that at least?”
Kevin bowed deeply. “Yes, mistress. Right away.”
Waiting until she no longer sensed the vampire on the premises, Evangeline dropped the glamour that cloaked her so that she could relax in her true form. For years she’d been imprisoned, stripped of her powers, watching, listening, impotent to do anything as her people allowed themselves to be subjugated under vampire rule. And then one night, word had reached her that Destin Jourdain, the current leader of the Order of Witches had risen up against the Born, decimated the vampire legion in moments with his power. She’d celebrated the victory. Finally! Finally, her people were seeing what she’d been saying for years – the witches were the true power in the supernatural world and they needed to take their proper place at the top of the hierarchy.
Her celebration had been short-lived, however. The battleground had barely been cleared of the corpses when she’d learned that a new Born had stepped in and Jourdain had simply rolled over like a dog and accepted the return to the status quo.
When the Order had chosen Destin Jourdain, they’d chosen wrong. He wasn’t hungry enough, his aspirations too small. But now Evangeline was free, she’d show her people what true leadership was, and she’d show the vampires what true power looked like. Starting with Kane Fletcher, the Born vampire foolish enough to attempt to take ownership of this territory.
Chapter One
Kane smiled down at the little blonde who’d just stumbled into him and assisted her in finding her footing once more before he shooed her back to the dancefloor. Ah, alcohol, and human women. A breed he stayed well away from, preferring his women coherent and in full possession of their faculties unless he was on a hunt – then, the loose tongues thanks to over-imbibing were an advantage that made interrogations practically child’s play. Right now, however, he needed to speak to someone sober and paying attention. The sooner he found the last of the rogues, the sooner he could enter into some solid negotiations with the leader of the Order of Witches. Like most of his kind, a verbal agreement and a handshake wouldn’t cut it. Not that he was questioning Destin Jourdain’s integrity, but he preferred things to be spelled out clearly with signatures on the dotted line. He wanted an alliance, not only with the witches but with the shifters as well. He wanted peace between their species, a peace that would be upheld on all sides, and he wanted it in writing.
Stepping up to the bar, Kane motioned to one of the two bartenders and raising his voice to be heard over the music, ordered a beer. When the cup was placed in front of him, Kane slid a picture along with a hundred-dollar bill toward the guy. “Have you seen this man?”
The bartender picked up the picture and eyed it, taking in the image of the mid-western farm boy and the last of the five rogues Kane was hunting before he passed it to his coworker. The first two rogues, Kane had found relatively quickly as the two were known to frequent a particular bar on Friday nights, and despite being hunted, hadn’t altered their routine. Of course, his predecessor, Olivier Rodolfo hadn’t had them on his payroll for their intelligence. Kane had managed to snag them with little fuss and he’d delivered them to the leader of the Order of Witches for judgment to be passed. The message they’d left on the edge of pack territory in the form of dead bodies may have been meant for Kane, but the people they’d killed had been witches, so it was Destin Jourdain who would have the pleasure of deciding the rogues’ fates, with Kane’s blessing.
The next two had proven a bit more difficult, kidnapping Jamie, one of his former Hunter teammates, and attempting to use her as leverage to get to Kane. For that stupidity, they were now both dead. One at the hands of an unknown witch, the other, thanks to Archer Langley, alpha to the pack of wolf shifters that called the bayou here, home.
One rogue to go and this one was proving a bit smarter than his compatriots. Or perhaps it was a heightened sense of self-preservation now that his friends were dead. Whatever the reason, Kevin Thompson had gone to ground. He wasn’t frequenting his usual haunts or maintaining any known schedule and Jamie had had no luck getting a hit with facial recognition. Not that Kane should still be making use of her particular skill set. As a new territory-holding Born, he was no longer a Hunter, and technically speaking, the Hunters weren’t supposed to align themselves with any one Born. Their allegiance was to their team while his allegiance was now to his territory. Still, old habits die hard.
When both bartenders shook their heads and passed the picture back, Kane sighed and took a drink from his beer. Another dead end. Waving off the change from his hundred, he passed the man one of his new business cards. “If you see him.”
Turning his back to the bar to face the dancefloor and the gyrating bodies on it, Kane was just in time to catch another body before it stumbled into him. Gorgeous, was his first thought as she looked up at him with seductive dark eyes. Her black hair was a mass of tiny, beaded braids pulled back into a thick tail at the back of her head that went all the way down to her ass. Her skin was dark perfection that looked velvety smooth and practically glowed with health. And that scent… Kane drew it into his nose and nearly purred. What was that scent?
He’d never been so distracted by a female, was still staring at her, still gripping her lithe upper arms that had been left bare thanks to the sleeveless, stretchy, pale-blue number she was wearing that hugged every scrumptious curve.
“Thank you,” she said loudly with a breathy little laugh, her hand braced against his chest to regain her balance. “I’m not usually so clumsy.”
