Page 18 of Hunt Me

She rolled her eyes when he leaned in, mouth gaped, fangs bared in preparation for an uninvited taste. He had expected to be rewarded with a mouthful of her fragrant blood. What he hadn’t expected was the sudden shock of steel piercing his abdomen, followed by the vicious smile that slowly spread across her face.

“Y-you do not play fair,” he groaned, clutching at the blade wedged in his intestines.

“Fair?” Matilda said, raising a skeptical brow. “Pray tell, what is fair about innocent deceased children? What is fair about dangling my livelihood before me? Fair is gone. I’m playing on your level now, dog. Bark for me, dog.” Matilda grinned when his guttural growl filled the air, overpowering the hoots from the owls above them. “I said bark,” she spat, twisting the sword in his gut. He gritted his teeth, refusing her demands.

He shuddered a relieved breath when she yanked the blade from his flesh, splashing his crimson blood on the snow. “Bad puppy,” Matilda tsked, wiping her blade on his shoulder. “Just as I brought you to your knees, I’ll bring King Alesi to his. And when I’m finished with him, I’m coming for you.”

***

“Matilda! Come! Come join me by the hearth for a pint, my future bride!” Belzar exclaimed as soon as she entered the heated tavern. She was relieved when she and Obsidian entered the city center and could see the tavern still intact—no ashes, no burnt flesh—just how she liked it.

“Thank you for the gracious offer, but respectfully, I must decline. I have to be up early for the hunt. I’m afraid Belzara will do away with me if I don’t bring her a boar.”

“Understood.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Belzar,” Matilda replied with a tight smile.

He approached her, feet stomping across the wood floors, kicking up dust while warning any small rodent creatures to stay out of the way or meet a quick death under his footfall. “You wish to have a final draught with me in your room. Say nothing more of it. I’ll grab my secret wine from the cellar. It will open you up like a flower on a spring day.”

“I’m good, Belzar. I prefer my flower to remain… closed… tightly closed,” Matilda reiterated as she backed towards the stairs.

“You will give in one of these days!” Belzar bellowed after her.

“Only in your dreams, Zar!” she shouted back as she ran up the shaky stairs. She unlocked her bedroom door and was relieved to see her belongings remained untouched. She closed the door and triple-checked that it was locked before pulling out the bulging package from inside her cloak. She stared at it in her hands for several seconds before tearing it open and pouring the contents on her bed.

Gold spilled across the thin blanket. It was more coins than Matilda had ever seen. She dragged her fingers through the pile, watching the pieces tumble over her knuckles. Gregorio believed he’d bought her obedience, and perhaps that was what irritated her most. He thought a threat and a sack of gold were enough to send the last Helsing crawling toward certain death.

He was wrong.

The gold was certainly a welcome addition, and she wasn’t foolish enough to pretend otherwise. Five thousand pieces could buy land, security, perhaps even a life where she no longer had to drag severed heads across Night Falls just to keep food in her stomach.

But money wasn’t what made her stare at the instructions beside the gold and seriously consider the impossible.

King Luka Alesi.

Matilda had spent her life killing his kind, one vampire at a time. She collected their heads, accepted her coins, and returned the next night to discover three more had taken their place. There was no end to them. There never would be, not while vampires ruled Night Falls and humans survived in the scraps of a kingdom that had once belonged to them.

Matilda had an opportunity.

She could strike at the very heart of the infestation. She could do what generations of hunters before her had failed to accomplish. Perhaps killing Luka Alesi wouldn’t rid Night Falls of every vampire, but kings were not easily replaced, and kingdoms rarely survived the violent removal of the creature holding the crown.

For the first time, the thought of hunting King Alesi didn’t feel like a death sentence.

It felt like purpose.

Gregorio could keep his threats.

She would kill the Vampire King because Night Falls had belonged to humans once, and when she succeeded, it would belong to them again.

6

Under Attack

Luka stood before the magnificent window in his study and watched his advisors and servants from above. From where he stood, they were pathetic, bothersome ants who deserved to meet the bottom of his boot. His respect for his advisors dwindled as soon as he was expected to pursue a new queen. Hatred slithered into his heart, filling every nook and cranny of the slow-beating muscle. It used to be a heart filled to the brim with love and joy, but that died with his queen.

Luka had to ask himself again if they were worth it. Would they even appreciate the sacrifice he had to make? Did he even want to rule the kingdom any longer?

“They get to live their lives however they see fit, yet I have to suffer. I’ve suffered for a century, I am suffering now, and I’ll suffer in the afterlife. So… why not end it all if I am only meant to be miserable for eternity?”