“You’re really not going to like this part then,” I said. “Roman made a point to tell me that he’s found someone other than me who is worth millions.”
Webb’s jaw hardened. “The only person worth more than any Mason is Abbey. At least to my knowledge, unless there’s someone out there who we don’t know about.”
Abbey Rain, daughter of Edmund and Rachel Rain, both deceased, was an extraordinary human who was slowly changing into a vampire as she aged, which was unheard of among our kind. Her DNA had started shifting when she was just two years old, along with her ability to see into the future. She’d been living on the naval base and under our protection since she was a baby. We all had a soft spot for her, but when Rachel died at Edmund’s hands, Jo and Webb stepped up to adopt her as their own.
It was imperative that we protected her at all costs. If the prophecy proved to be true, then Abbey would become the only female vampire in our existence to have kids. That alone would be worth millions to some sadistic vampire.
Dad scrubbed a hand down his face. “We can’t assume anything here. We need to find out what is true and what isn’t. Let’s start in-house and check if we have a leak. I doubt we have a mole. They know Jo and I will read their minds like we did the last time we were faced with this situation, so I tend to agree with Ben. Someone has hacked into our computers. If we discover who, then we can unravel the rest. In the meantime, I want to know more about the humans. Did you get anything else from them? Names we can go on? Anything?”
“Layla, Jordyn, and Rianne. I compelled Rianne. I would guess they’re in their early twenties like Ben and me.” Hot as hell. Well, Layla was. I couldn’t shake her tight, curvy body or the over-the-knee boots, and man, she had a nice rack. Suddenly, heat was traveling south to settle in my groin.
Dad gave me a sidelong glance. “Really?”
“Get out of my head,” I snapped.
Other than my sister, my old man was the only other vampire who could read minds, and he was reading mine like a sex scene in a romance novel.
“We’ll talk later,” he said, sounding extremely perturbed.
I was ready to tell him fuck no. I didn’t need his advice on sex, but we weren’t there to argue about who I fucked. Instead, I removed the dagger from the side pocket of my cargo pants. “The one who seemed to be in charge, Layla, stuck this in my gut. Ever seen this crest before?” The dagger looked like it belonged in a museum. The letter A was carved into the black leather handle, but it wasn’t just a plain letter. Two lions made up the sides of the letter, and a double-edged blade connected the two.
Suddenly, my dad paled. I mean he was white as a fucking ghost. Steven Mason never revealed his true emotions. I’d never seen my father frightened. His fear hit me like shrapnel from a roadside bomb.
Webb snagged the blade and examined it. “Old and expensive.”
Tripp whistled low. “May I?” He took the ancient-looking weapon from Webb. “A family crest on the hilt. The Aberdeen family.”
Webb pinched his eyebrows together. “You mean the family of vampire hunters?”
Dad tore the dagger out of Tripp’s hand. “That’s right.”
I reared back. “You know them?”
Dad’s jaw hardened as he sat down in the front row of the theater seats. “Man, we haven’t seen activity from them in about two years if my memory serves me correctly. I thought they’d given up their fight.” His gaze was glued to the dagger.
“Vampire hunters,” I said more to myself, attempting to wrap my mind around the concept. My old man had never mentioned the threat of vampire hunters. In all fairness, though, since I’d turned five years ago, life had been nonstop fighting the enemy and training to become a Navy SEAL. Besides, the enemies I’d faced had all been vampires, not humans, although the CIA could’ve posed a problem when they showed up on our doorstep a few years back. I guessed, in essence, they could be called vampire hunters.
“This isn’t good,” Dad said.
I agreed. We didn’t need another group or anyone getting in the way of our mission to take down a blood cartel.
“Mr. Mason, sir,” Ben said. “I get the meaning of vampire hunter, but a family of humans seems like a non-issue. Surely, we can stop them.”
I dropped down next to Dad and dug my elbows into my thighs. “Ben’s right. But, Pops, you looked spooked over humans. I don’t understand?” I plucked the dagger from him. A small spec of my blood was crusted on the base of the blade near the cross-guard.
Dad pushed to his six-five height and began pacing. “Son, I’m not afraid of them. But if the Aberdeens have resurrected their family business, the vampire population is in jeopardy.”
“They’re that good?” Ben asked.
My father bobbed his head. “They’re not a family you want to run into on a dark road in the middle of the night. Hell, we tried to get one of them to work for us, but shortly after I made the offer to Wayne Aberdeen, the youngest of the three brothers, the Aberdeens dropped off our radar. We sent out a team to find them and came up empty. We speculated that they went into hiding. Although rumor had it that one of the Aberdeens had been killed.”
Tripp leaned against the table. “So you think they’re making a comeback, sir?”
Dad practically wore a hole in the plaid carpet. “Fuck, I hope not. We don’t need this shit. The council has enough problems with our kind.”
“Sam’s right. We need to find these humans, especially before Roman does,” Webb said.
Dad came to an abrupt halt, shoved his fingers through his coal-black hair, and sighed. “Agreed, but I doubt they’ll tell us anything.”
