The Claimed (11 page)

The friend was gone, replaced by the Quinchu. Using the wall for support, he ignored her outstretched hand and rose. He awkwardly brought his hand to his chest in the traditional sign of respect and with a bobble, bowed his head. “I hear and will obey, Quinchu.”

His words did nothing to abate her anger. If anything, she was more frustrated with him for reminding her that she was a Quinchu with responsibilities she owed to all of them. Duties she could not blithely ignore to have a romp with the human or Hybrid or whatever he was.

With a toss of her head, she motioned in the direction of the stairs and the small room on the second floor of the building. “You know where you can sleep,” she said, and didn’t wait for him to respond before taking the steps two at a time in her haste to be away from him.

Longing tore through him along with disgust once again. He hated that he had deceived her, but he was also upset with the attentions she was allowing with a virtual stranger. Especially one who could be a possible threat.

If she was going to choose anyone to be a mate, it should be another Hunter. Preferably one from their clan, like him. As he braced his hand on the wall for support, he shut in those negative emotions which would quickly eat away at his restraint and the strength of the energy she had provided.

As he reached the spare room, he stumbled to the bed and flopped onto it. Closing his eyes, he focused on the life forces she had bestowed, detecting her unique signature in every ion. He relished the gift of something more special than any other—the offering of a piece of her vitality. Victoria never hesitated to share herself that way, no matter how hard she had to work to restore her own power. Her willingness to be so giving with him and the remainder of the clan was just one of the reasons he loved her.

In time he hoped she would come to understand that and look to bond with him when her Equinox fully arrived.

In time
, he thought with a smile, and allowed himself to dream.

Victoria’s body shook violently, an aftermath of collecting and dispensing the energy to save Rafael in addition to the suddenly awakened demands of her biological time clock. Her connection with Christopher seemed to have jump-started it, but she also had other demands at the moment.

She was determined to be a good leader to her people and yet she had not sensed Rafael’s arrival at her home. She had been so caught up in her own physical needs, so busy satisfying the desire created by Christopher, that she had failed her own cadre captain. Nearly let him die.

Throughout her entire life her main concern had been the obligations she owed her people as their prospective Quinchu. It was her duty to sacrifice her own desires and wishes for the greater good.

As much as she wanted to be more like her human friends, she could not ignore her responsibilities. Tonight one man had nearly made her forget that, and Rafael had almost paid the price with his life for her selfishness.

Wrapping her arms around herself to still the quaking in her body, she headed outdoors to restore her energy. She needed to be ready in case anyone else needed her.

She was a Quinchu and she could not forsake her obligations, but she also hoped that in time she could find a way to balance her duties with having the kind of life she wanted. Unfortunately, she sensed she would have to defy her parents to do so, but she was ready and willing to take up that battle.

On the balcony, Victoria raised her face to the bright moon and experienced the kiss of its power. She stretched out her arms to let the sea breeze wash over her, alive with the energies from the ocean and the living things along the Earth’s surface. The energy seeped into her slowly, eliminating some of the weakness within her.

She would have preferred to dive into the waters just yards away, but recognized it wasn’t safe at this hour of the night. Although she could control the currents and even the creatures beneath the surface with her abilities, she did not have dominion over the humans on the ocean’s surface. Without that, she could not risk their lives if they stumbled across her. While in the midst of gathering, Hunter energies were like live wires and deadly to any non-Hunters who touched them in such an exposed state.

Unlike the Shadows, who did not give a thought to the deaths of others, the Light Hunters respected life, so she would hold off until the morning for that dip to fully restore herself.

For now, she stood there, absorbing what energies she could from the nature around her. As she opened herself, she sensed the life forces in the immediate area, including that of Rafael on the floor below her. His aura was clouded by emotion and she worried about him. Something about his story had not rung true. She had known him too long not to see in his eyes that he had been hiding something from her.

Her own troubled emotions obscured her gathering and she fought them back. Internalizing the powers from the wind and moonlight, she directed them inward. The energies tumbled together with those she had hunted earlier that day, namely the forces of water and the ocean dwellers. Little by little the energies coalesced into a stable ball deep in her center. Restored and balanced, Victoria closed herself off to the world around her.

It was time to rest her physical being. Hunters might possess unusual vitality deep within, but their exteriors were surprisingly mortal, with all the attendant needs for food, rest, and… sex.

She cursed as the last thought came to mind. She knew too little about Christopher to be contemplating having sex with him. She forced such naughty ideas away, otherwise she would never rest that night.

As it was, her mind was a jumble of ideas, from worry about Christopher to upset about Rafael and finally annoyance due to her parents’ assorted demands. But possibly worse than all of those combined, she was due to try
on bridesmaid’s dresses for Jan’s wedding very soon. Not to mention that her friends would want details about her date with Christopher in the morning.

Those last two thoughts would be enough to keep her awake for the better part of the night.

Christopher sipped on the glass of wine as he stood on the patch of emerald lawn outside his home office. He had slipped off his shoes and socks, feeling the need to ground himself. As he dug his toes deep into the thick sod, he reached downward, drawing from the forces of the earth and allowing that vitality to slip into him, energizing his life force. Helping him tamp down the unabated desire created by one unique woman.

Victoria Johnson. The taste of her still lingered on his lips, and he took another sip of wine to try to eliminate that trace of her, but it wasn’t easy. The touch of her incomparable life force also remained alive within him, creating additional wonder and distrust about her.

Victoria wasn’t human, that much he knew. But if she was a Light Hunter, she had certainly learned how to cloak her power exceptionally well, something he had not encountered before. The Light Hunters in New York City were not as careful about hiding their energy, maybe because in a city of such size, the density of people made it harder to find the Light Ones.

Out here they would be more visible amongst the humans, their auras bright and shining. That had likely demanded that they learn to hide their life forces more carefully.

Maybe that was the reason why they had been unable to track down the source of the powerful Light Hunter power
in the area. What if whoever possessed such power was able to totally disguise it from the humans and other nearby Hunters?

And what if Victoria was a Light Hunter and not just a Hybrid? he asked himself.

If that was the case, she might know the exact location of that powerful Quinchu.

Good for his clan, but what did it mean for him personally?

For centuries the Light and Shadow Hunters had been engaged in a civil war, fighting each other for their continued existence. The Shadows demanded energy to contain the smallpox virus that had infected them when the conquistadores had set foot in the Americas.

Hundreds of years of war and pestilence thanks to the humans, he thought, anger rising in him until he reminded himself that for the first time in centuries things could be different. The return to the practices of their ancestors, to hunting energy from nature instead of each other and the humans, had helped to contain the pox in his people.

If he could find the amazing source of Quinchu potency nearby and understand how to gather such immense power from nature, he might forever rid his people of the curse of the virus.

The tremor of approaching power and squeaky glide of the door alerted him to the presence of another Hunter. Ryan, he recognized from the familiar signature of his life force, but beneath the energy there was yet another that Christopher had sensed once before.

Maya
, he thought, and turned, only it was just Ryan approaching, a cocky grin on his face. As his captain came to stand beside him, Christopher confirmed what
had happened with a quick visual inspection of Ryan’s body.

“I gather it went well with Maya,” Christopher said, but it was impossible not to miss the anger in his voice.

“It’s not what you think,” Ryan replied defensively, obviously worried.

“I don’t care if you sleep with her, she’s not my fiancée anymore. But I do care that you fed from her,” Christopher replied, and motioned with the hand that held his glass to Ryan’s wrist.

As his friend glanced down, his face reddened as he noticed the raised bumps, which, if untreated with pox-free energy, would become weeping pustules.

“If I had any hesitation about my beliefs, you’ve just eliminated them,” Christopher replied and took a sip of his wine.

“It just happened. One moment I was showing her how we hunt from nature as we did in the past and the next thing I knew—”

“You were feeding from each other. I understand, Ryan. The call of Hunter energy is a mighty aphrodisiac,” he confirmed. Christopher understood all too well since he had been tempted more than once that night to sample Victoria’s compelling life force. But until he knew what she was, he couldn’t. If she was a Shadow that would quickly awaken the pox virus in his system. Even if she wasn’t, her energy might still possess enough remnants of the illness to cause a reaction.

“The Shadows and humans carry the pox virus, Ry. You know that,” he reminded, since up until recently, humans had been inoculated with live smallpox virus in the form of vaccinations to eradicate the disease.

“I do know and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” Ryan said, and Christopher had no doubt about his friend’s contriteness or promise. Rather than continuing to berate him, he said, “You said it went well. Does that mean you found out something useful?”

Christopher walked to a nearby table and poured another glass of wine. He handed it to his friend as a peace offering.

With a nod of thanks, Ryan provided his report. “Your father was working with a human who claimed he could provide access to someone with unique powers.”

Christopher leaned toward his friend. “The Quinchu for whom we are searching?”

“Possibly. The man was Salvatore Bruno. He has a son named Adam.” Ryan reached into his pants pocket and removed a folded piece of paper. He handed it over and Christopher opened it and read the short bio from the website of a local alternative energies company. Also on the page was a news blurb about an upcoming event.

“It says here that Adam Bruno is hosting a charity fundraiser tomorrow night,” Christopher said, and Ryan confirmed it with a dip of his head.

Christopher pulled out his smartphone and visited the website for Bruno’s company—SolTerra. Using the link to the fundraiser, he read through the details, including the fact that Victoria had made a contribution to help raise monies for the group working to protect the local environment.

Perfect
, he thought. “Good job, Ry. This will give us an opportunity to find out more about Bruno.”
And Victoria
, he thought, but kept it to himself.

“What about Maya? What do we do about her?” Ryan
sipped on his wine, his relaxed posture belying the concern that Christopher sensed beneath the surface.

“We cannot trust her. What I don’t understand is why my father hasn’t gone after Bruno already.”

Ryan nodded in agreement. “I’m with you, but according to Maya, when Alexander realized that getting Bruno was going to be more difficult than he expected, he lost interest.”

Christopher sighed with exasperation and shook his head. “Just like my father. Take the easy way out rather than working for what he wants. It’s why the clan’s power is diminishing.”

“What do you want me to do now?” Ryan asked.

“Keep an eye on Maya. I’m going to try to find out what I can about Adam Bruno.” He’d start with an Internet search to get what information he could. But given that Victoria was involved in tomorrow’s auction, he suspected that she might also be able to provide him more details about Adam Bruno.

He would call her in the morning to ask about the event. At least that’s the reason he gave himself, not yet ready to admit that he wanted to see her because she intrigued him.

R
afael was still resting when Victoria headed out for a very early morning paddle to her favorite spot along the estuary. The same spot where she had run into Christopher two days ago.