Page 15 of Hunt Me

“Perhaps,” Matilda answered as she returned to the ten rabbits she stored a few yards away.

“I’m appalled that you would believe that I would’ve snatched you up in a blink of an eye like an eagle grabbing a plump mouse for his dinner. It troubles me that you’d think I’d drain you while giving you the last screw of your pathetic life. It’s not nice to judge, Matilda.”

“Hmph. Not only are you a traitor to your king, but you’re a sexual deviant as well? I can’t say that I’m surprised. That is what you vampires are—nasty, lying, scheming, bloodsucking, traitorous defilers with zero morals or ethics.”

“True. That describes me on my good day,” Gregorio replied.

“Your mother should be so proud.”

“Would your mother be proud of what you’ve become? A failed huntress begging for handouts?”

Matilda humorlessly chuckled. She knew what he was up to. He wanted her to lose her cool, but she refused to take the bait.

“A dead woman doesn’t have any thoughts. Speak your business or hold your venomous tongue.”

“Have you reconsidered my offer?” Gregorio queried.

“I never considered it. I’m not doing it. Find someone else to do your dirty work. And before you ask, I’m keeping the money. Think of it as buying my silence.”

“Perhaps you’re not as smart as I thought. You’d be delivering yourself to the belly of the beast,” Gregorio mused.

“I heard it was nice and cozy inside.”

“If you refuse to carry out the assassination against King Alesi, then I will bring Night Falls to its knees, starting with everything and everyone you love.”

“I don’t have anything that I love; try harder.”

“That’s not true, and you know it. I’d start with your stallion, followed by the orc twins and the tavern. From there, I’d kill innocent human children as they play by the river.”

“You’re bluffing,” Matilda challenged. She peered into the vast darkness under the hood, hoping to catch the slightest glimpse of his face, but her efforts were in vain.

“I assure you, I’m not.”

“Show your face,” she demanded, earning a rough laugh from him.

She couldn’t see it, but she knew he was smirking beneath the hood. “Will you assassinate King Alesi?”

“No.”

Matilda blinked, and he was gone. She prayed he wouldn’t do anything reckless, but there was one thing she knew: vampires didn’t make feeble threats.

***

“Belzara? What’s wrong with your face?” Matilda whined as she swirled the ale in her cup.

“My face? There is nothing wrong with my face. It’s flawless as usual,” Belzara argued.

“You mean fucked up as usual,” Belzar said, laughing raucously at his own joke.

“My face is fucked up? Dear brother, have you looked in a mirror lately? You have to pay women to screw you. You’re so grotesque that they will only offer you their backs,” Belzara taunted.

Matilda watched with wide eyes as the orc twins bickered back and forth.

“Is that so? Last I checked, my betrothed didn’t leave me for an elf with a tight ass,” Belzar mocked.

“I left him,” Belzara protested.

Matilda sighed into her cup. Everyone knew that wasn’t the truth. According to multiple sources, the merchant ended their relationship maliciously and publicly. His only interest in Belzara was for her stake in the tavern. He disappeared when she refused to sign over her rights to the tavern before they were married. It was the most foolish plan Matilda had ever heard because there was no way Belzar would’ve allowed his sister to be duped. The merchant would’ve magically disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.