Escaping the Hunters

NOLA

I felt a hand run through my hair and I opened my eyes slightly to see Zander sitting beside my hips and running his hands now over my cheek. "You need to feed." He told me and I nodded before trying to sit up. He pulled out the bagged blood from the other side of him and handed it over to me.

I took it and moved to pull the top off and lifted it to my lips. I drank and sucked heavily until it was all gone and moved to get up to throw it away but Zander caught my wrist and took it from me.

"Why do you have blood on your shirt?" I asked seeing that most of his right side was covered in it.

"Let's say I taught that man who touched you, manners." He said and I sat up and he fully looked at me.

"You also have blood on your face." I said and got up before grabbing a tissue on the end table and lifting his chin to get all the splatter off his face. "You know you didn't have to kill him." I said avoiding his eyes as he looked up at me.

"And why would I not?"

"If a rumor starts that you are killing your clients then your club here won't be doing so well." I said and he shrugged before his hands cupped my hips.

"You're worth losing one club over." He told me and I looked him in the eye now.

"You should change your shirt." I said and tried to step back but he stood and kept his hold on my hips.

"Why didn't you come back upstairs last night when he tried to touch you?" He asked and I looked at his chin and neck as I thought about what to say. And when nothing seemed to classify as believable I went with the truth.

"You dismissed me from up here... so I didn't think I would be welcome until you sent for me." I said and he moved one hand from my hip to my chin and guided my eyes up.

"I didn't dismiss you." He said and I looked away and nodded.

"I grew up in a time where women weren't allowed in a mans business. I heard my father thank the maids and the cooks and the other servants as a way of telling them to leave until he needs them again." I said and he looked over my face before he leaned in. I took a sharp inhale and watched him as he set his forehead on mine.

"If you ever feel like I dismiss you again, just give me a look and unless I don't want you to see something... you can stay. I don't care what you hear. I don't care if you hear about the money, the dealings in the blood clubs, any of it. But when I do this to someone." He said pointing to his shirt. "I don't want you in the room." He told me and I just nodded. He moved his lips down, connecting them with my nose.

"What's going on with us?" I asked after a moment when he tucked my head into his chest.

"We aren't an us yet. I haven't taken you on a date. I haven't given you a present-"

"Why would I need a present?" I asked looking up at him.

"Every woman deserves jewels and flowers." He said and I smiled slightly. "Like the idea?" He asked and I looked down again and decided to play shy.

"You couldn't even compliment me yesterday, you started to say it... but then you never finished." I said and he lifted my lips to his. He gave my lips a simple brush before going in for a slightly harder pressure. I sighed and moved one arm around his shoulders and then my other to the cheek that didn't have blood spatter on it.

His hands moved from my hips down to my ass and lifting me up and wrapping my legs around his waist before he turned and I gasped as I was tilted down towards the bed and he moved his lips to my jaw and down around my neck.

"You were too gorgeous for words yesterday. I didn't want to say anything that wouldn't fit." He told me sitting up slightly and I smiled and bit the corner of my lip. "Are you still hungry?" He asked and I checked with myself before nodding sadly. "I got a supply for you, a couple of bags for each day... we have two more now that I have made a plan."

"A plan?" I asked and he nodded moving back in closer to my face.

"Ever been to New Orleans?" He asked and I shook my head. It was sort of a cliché for vampires to hang out in that city. "Well, you get to go with me. I have five clubs there, tunnels leading to each one. We're going to go in one... and leave through another. The Hunters won't realize what we did until it is too late to track us." He said it happily and I smiled at the brilliance of it.

"Do you dig the tunnels yourself?" I asked with a laugh as I teased him.

"No... but I do look for them. Kind of a sweet selling point for each club." He said and I nodded and he leaned over. "But now that we are planning a date... we'll get some of the delicious food there... and be on our way." He said and I smiled.

"What's your favorite food from there-"

"You will be." He said and I moved his lips until they fused with mine. His hands went back to my hips, moving up and under my shirt this time and the skin to skin contact had me seeing stars. "You feel that?" He asked almost breathlessly and I opened my eyes and nodded.

"It's never been so-" I didn't know how to describe it. I moved my hand to his neck and sighed when his hand tightened slightly.

"I never believed in..." He stopped and sat up before he took his hands away.

"What?" I asked and he shook his head looking over my face.

"Nothing... we'll talk about it over dinner. I don't want to hurt you... I need to check some things out." He whispered and I nodded slightly before looking down. "Get ready to head out... I will go and find where they put your bagged blood in the car and bring it back." He told me and I nodded before he got off the bed.

I went towards the bag I recognized and opened it to see shorts that would stop at the middle of my thighs and some thin tank top. I grabbed a shall from the closet and wrapped it around me. It smelled of perfume so it was definitely already worn by another woman.

I just kept it tight and walked out with my sandals and bag in my hand. I stopped in the doorway to see Zander walking back in but he took a long look at the shall. "Where did you get that?"

"It was in the closet. The tank top is thin and see-through... should I take it off?" I asked and he shook his head.

"You like it?" He asked and I shrugged before nodding my head. "Then it's yours." He said and I looked down at it.

"Is it someone else's?" I asked and he worked his jaw before shaking his head.

"It's yours." He said and I just dipped my head and walked across the carpet before bending over and putting my sandals on. "The SUV is just out back." He said and I felt his hand on my back and pushing me out.

"And the bag?" I asked and he reached in his jacket and handed over the blood. I smiled and took it before seeing the black tinted SUV. I grabbed the door for myself and pulled it open but he was pushing it closed for me. I put the bag with my clothes on the floor near my feet and then went to open the blood.

I sipped it slower this time. Taking the taste and loving it until I was sated.

"Is it okay?" He asked looking over at me as we started on the highway.

"The best I have had in a while. Your connections have O-." I said knowing the taste and he nodded.

"What do you usually drink?"

"B+ or A-." I told him and he seemed to be okay with that.

"While I have to keep feeding you... you better believe you're getting the best. In food and in blood." He told me and I smiled slightly.

"You know there is a rumor that bagged blood is better for us than anyone off the street." I said and he gave a short laugh before looking over at me. "I'm serious. You don't know what's wrong with people who you find on the street but I know for a fact that when you need blood taken or are donating it, it has to be healthy." I told him and smiled when he gave an eye roll before looking over at me.

"Are you trying to tell me that I should taste your supply?" He asked and I smiled and shrugged. "Me feeding off people really disgusts you that much?"

"No..." I said quickly and trailed off wondering how to phrase it. "It's not disgust... it is more of a question. You've never even tried it?" I asked and he looked to the road before staying quiet. "How about next time I need to feed you can have some of my stuff."

"How about when we're in New Orleans I take you to my club and we try each other's feeding method out." He said and I looked at him for a moment before gulping.

"Okay." He smiled at my agreement and I reached over and grabbed his extra hand that wasn't on the steering wheel. The feeling was there all over again. Like a zap of electricity and it made me shiver. "Why do you think-"

"Two recently turned vampires have found their mates." He said and I titled my head. "You never heard the myth?" He asked and I shook my head. "Supposedly one day there was going to be two people, mates in the eyes of the goddess and they would be turned. So instead of them just being in true love, they became mates... and their love made it possible for all vampires to have mates." He said and I titled my head.

"That's interesting. I didn't think humans got true loves." I said and looked out the window and started to think about who mine would have been in my home city if we never turned.

"One in a thousand gets a true love or so I was told." He shrugged and I looked at him as he rubbed my thumb.

"Are you saying that since two people were turned every vampire is going to get a mate?"

"Not every vampire..." He said and trailed off when he seemed to want to say something.

"And you think we are mates?"

"I mean... one day I am grabbing at you feeling so protective and the next I can't control my words and just the idea of losing you last night had me ready to rip someone's head off. And... earlier when I touched your bare skin..." He stopped and sighed before looking at me. "I never let myself get carried away... and I also did with you. That is how good it felt just to-" he groaned as his new phone started to ring. I wasn't sure how he got one so fast but as he put it on speaker and set it down before he grabbed my hand again. "I guess you got my message that I was on my way down."

"There is something I need you to know before you get here... I wasn't going to say anything until I knew if it was true or not but I know I have to tell you now." I heard another man on the other end and he sighed as he tried to explain about some kind of rumor at one of the clubs.

"What are they doing?" He asked and I squeezed his hand to get him to calm down.

"They're street fighting... supposedly. I got an in for bartending tonight... but I wasn't going to tell you unless I knew it wsa true... there is also a couple girls that went missing around the club. I don't know if that is connected but I need to make sure before you get here."

"If I get there and my club is trashed I will kill Deacon. I left him in charge and he pulls this s**t? Hell no." His eyes started to turn red and I saw his fangs popping past his lips and I wished there was something more I could do to calm him down.

"Let me get there before you come here trying to kill." The man sighed on the other end. "You know me Zan... once I hear something I believe it until I prove it wrong. You're the other way around... so I need proof before I call you."

"I know Brian... we're on our way. I will see you maybe three hours after that club opens."

"We?"

"Yeah. I have my girl with me." He said and looked over at me and raised our hands... I hadn't meant to squeeze it every time he raised his voice or get stressed but I had been and when I relaxed our hands his got tighter.

"That's a first... see you both when you get here... should I get an apartment ready?"

"No, we're not staying more than the night... we have to keep moving but it looks as if I will have to make a night of cleaning up yet another club." He said and sighed and I rubbed his hand this time with my thumb. "Get a reservation though." He said and I smiled slightly and looked out the window as he said some restaurant and I heard the byes and I looked over at him.

"Where are we going after New Orleans?" I asked and he raised my hand to his lips again.

"Texas."

"Huston?" I asked and he nodded. "How many clubs do you have there?"

"8." He said and I felt confused.

"Are there a lot of vampires there?" I asked and he nodded.

"5 of them are blood clubs." He said and I nodded and gulped. "Everyone who is being fed off of wants to be a vampire. And most of them serve more alcohol than their blood if I am honest." He said and I nodded and looked out the side window.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked after a moment. He kept bringing up humans wanting to be turned and I wanted to know how many he turned.

"You can ask me anything." He told me seriously and I looked over at him, needing to see his face to make sure that he was telling the truth.

"How many people have you turned?" He took a moment, and at first I thought he might have been counting and then he licked his lips.

"I only turn people when they really need it. I turn the dying or the sick that want to continue to thrive and live. I don't turn regular humans. I turned Brian because he was bleeding out. I turned my brother because he had the fever... he was going to die. He's sort of hated me since."

"Your brother was the man in Nashville." I said and he smiled before nodding.

"He's my half-brother and was half my age when I was turned... he hated what I became. He is the exception to my rule of not changing people without permission. He was so in and out of it... the fever came on so fast." He stopped and gulped hard. "He doesn't hate being a vampire but he doesn't love it either." He told me with a heavy sigh and I rubbed his hand again before kissing the back of his.

"He looks like you." I told him and he nodded.

"Same father, thankfully he is dead now." He said and I nodded at his harsh tone. "I have only tuned 5 people." He said as an afterthought and I looked over at him. "How many have you turned?"

"None." I said and licked my lips before biting my lower one and sighing. "But Paul turned 7, and none of them stuck around for very long." I said and sighed.

"You loved your brother very much." He said and I looked to him quickly. "You talk about him a lot." He said and I nodded and looked away.

"For all of my years there was no one I let in my life. It was me and who he befriended... Before he died I wasn't a club person. I would cook dinner, draw, shop online... you have no idea how happy I was when someone invented that. I just wasn't comfortable around humans anymore. And after we met other vampires and they went to the blood clubs we didn't want to be associated with that." He looked over at me when I sighed. "I wasn't a people person my brother liked to say."

"And he was?"

"He ran the company, made contacts, and friends... he had lovers..." I stopped realizing what I had just admitted and his eyes snapped over to me.

"You didn't have any of those?" He asked and I knew that I couldn't lie so I shook my head.