Six-Absinthe

I didn't want this meeting. But I wouldn't be able to find the culprit of my mated being slaughtered, skulking around in the dark. We didn't know what kind of killer it was.

Vampire, Human… or other.

Pushing open the double doors, my gaze fell on my little brother.

Where I was dark haired, he was pale. My skin was olive, but his was as pale as cream. While I took after our father, he took after our beautiful mother.

He also had a pension for leather, denim, and biker boots, which were on the table.

“Rhayden. Boots.” He flipped me off, as usual, but the boots disappeared from the surface of the table. “Thank you.”

I turned, waiting for Marlene to enter the room behind me. Her gaze lifted to mine, and she smiled as she walked past. Every fiber in my undead being wanted to throw Rhayden out of the room and have Marley on the table behind me.

She had been gone for two weeks. Two weeks without her warmth against me, without waking up from hibernate with her by my side. The moment we had had in the shower earlier hadn't even come close to sating my need of her, but I would have to put it on the back burner.

Instead of giving into my desires for the petite woman, I closed my eyes, composed myself and closed the library doors with a heavy thud.

Turning to the pair at the table, it did not escape my attention, the tension between them.

My brother and my hunter had never really liked each other. Rhayden thought she was more trouble than she was worth, Marley thought he was a pompous windbag with a bad attitude.

This mission would do them a world of good.

They might get along for once.

Walking the length of the library, I sat and looked at Rhayden. “The file?”

While I am used to my brother’s moods, what surprised me was the venom in his gaze as he shoved the folder into my hand. I pushed the look to the back of my mind and turned to Marley. Her face was flushed, color coming to her cheeks, and I hesitated.

Clearing my throat, she looked up at me and I handed her the folder. Marley took it and opened it, the color which had crept along her cheeks only moments earlier, now retreating. She opened her mouth, her voice quiet. “How many?”

“Including the ones you found tonight, the total now is ten pairs. Tony and Maddison found another pair on the other side of town about an hour after the ones you found. Twenty of my mated have now been slaughtered.” She lifted her gaze to mine, sadness wallowing in those dark orbs.

“I’m sorry, Abe.”

The apology took me by surprise, and I blinked. “Don’t be sorry, just find out who did it.”

Confusion replaced sadness and she blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Abe.” I held up my hand, silencing my brother, without looking at him.

“I need you to do this, Marley. We cannot hunt during the day and that is going to be the time you are going to find them. My mansion holds the heads of the Vampire Federation in three days. They will bring their senior mated pairs with them.”

I looked at my brother, noting the anger in his gaze, his eyes fading to copper. He did not seem impressed I was sending Marley off to find a vampire killer.

No doubt he knew of the danger I was placing her in.

Well, he was going to be even less than impressed in a moment.

I looked back to Marley. “I do not want the meeting to become a slaughterhouse. So, you and Rhayden will find this killer and bring them down.”

Silence met me and I sat back and waited, knowing exactly who was going to explode first. “You want me to babysit your human?”

Rolling my eyes, I looked at my brother. “There is no one I trust more in my coven to keep her safe.”

The look which passed over his pale features was murderous to say the least and I ignored him. Turning to Marley, I watched as confusion flitted across her pretty features. “But he can’t hunt during the day.”

I sat forward, resting my elbows on the table and looked at her. “No, but if you come across this killer during the night, at least I know Rhayden will be there to protect you.”

Marlene’s eyebrows furrowed together, and she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before she looked at me again. “And when we do find them? Then what? Do you want them bought back, or do you want them killed?”

I hadn't thought that far ahead, and I leaned back in the huge chair. “If you have the means to bring them back to me in person, then I will be able to make an example of them to the Vampire Nation.”

“You want to show them off.” Rhayden spat and again, I ignored him. But I knew there were only so many times I could do that before he lost his shit with me completely.

“If you can’t bring them back in acceptable condition, then I completely understand, as long as the deaths of my mated are stopped.” While Marley and Rhayden mulled over what I said, my hand slipped into my pocket and bought out the envelope. “Your payment.”

Pushing the envelope to her, Marley looked down at it, before picking it up and she opened it. The color drained from her face and her gaze lifted to mine. “Ten million dollars?”

“Is it not enough?” If she wanted me to pay her ten times that amount, I would, just to rid the Vampire Nation of this killer. “I can pay you more.”

“N-No, it’s more than enough, Absinthe,” She stuttered, her voice lowering. “I’ve barely touched the two million I’ve earned in the last two years working for you.”

“Well, just think, if you ever leave my employ, you will be adequately compensated for what you have done.”

A snort from my left and I turned my head.

Rhayden lifted himself from the chair and looked down at me.

“I’m going to get supplies ready.” He looked at Marley, sucking his tongue over his teeth. “Armory, in an hour. Don’t be late.”

He left; a whirl of pale hair and dark leather and I looked back to Marley. She was watching Rhayden’s departure, a flush coming to her cheeks.

My head tilted to the side as she slowly looked back at me. “Uh, I’d better get ready. I know how pedantic he can get about being on time.”

She lifted herself, taking the cheque and the folder with her and closed the door of the library behind her.

Perched in the leather chair, I stared at the heavy doors and rationalized my own thoughts, while ignoring others.

This was the only way to do this.

Send Marley, with Rhayden as her guard, off to find the killer. I could not go myself, not without putting my own coven at risk.

Closing my eyes, I just hoped this decision would not come and bite me in the ass.