Page 75 of Bound by Vengeance
“I don’t know,” Nathan said, his gaze stillon the footage of San Fran. He’d watched it all the way throughonce and replayed the last ten minutes multiple times; it hadrevealed nothing, but until Alejandro’s men arrived at thestronghold, there was little else to do. “Do any of you have menwho have been missing even for a day?”
“We had five go out three days ago whohaven’t returned,” Bhavin answered from Madurai, India.
Nathan hit pause on the San Fran footage andturned to face Bhavin. He rested his hand on the desk as he leanedcloser to the computer. Three days wasn’t unusual for a hunter tobe gone. Sometimes they ran into leads that didn’t allow forcontact.
“Any who have been missing longer?” Nathanasked him.
Bhavin’s hesitation revealed his answerbefore he spoke. “We had four go missing about three weeksago.”
“Why didn’t you report this?” Nathandemanded, but he realized a report hadn’t been necessary evenbefore Bhavin replied.
“We have no confirmation of death, and it’sonly been three weeks.”
Without a confirmed death, there was noreport of the loss of a hunter to him, unless they were missing fora month. Then, they were reported missing and also presumed dead.Hunters had turned up again after a couple of months of followingleads that led them farther than they anticipated, but that was inthe days before phones and technology. Nathan hadn’t heard of ithappening in over a hundred years.
The lengthy period before reporting a huntermissing was yet another outdated thing the hunters continued topractice. Those rules were established when communicating withothers had been far more difficult.
After today, all missing would be reportedwhen three days passed, but that wouldn’t help him now. He had noidea if there were any missing hunters from San Fran or Moscow; hesuspected there was at least one from each stronghold for anextended period.
“You are to evacuate now, Bhavin,” Nathancommanded.
“Do you know how many hunters we have here?”Bhavin demanded, his black eyes narrowing.
“The last count I was given was sevenhundred sixty-two,” Nathan replied. “If you want to remain thelargest stronghold, you’d better take precautions to stay alive.Evacuatingnowis one of those precautions.”
“We have nothing to fear here,” Bhavinreplied. “Our security and hunters arethebest. We’ve beenin this location for over three hundred years, and we will notabandon what our ancestors built.”
Nathan gritted his teeth as he worked torestrain his temper. Normally, he would listen to an argument andjudge every side before reaching a conclusion, but there was notime. However, he had to maintain control when responding. Afrazzled, hot-tempered leader would only divide them allfurther.
“I realize your history is important to you,it’s important to all of us, but the fact that you’ve been there solong could also work against you now,” Nathan said.
“I don’t see how it could, and some of usrespect our history far more than others.”
“Don’t play games, Bhavin. If you havesomething to say, say it.”
Bhavin’s shoulders went back. “Did you stopto consider San Francisco and Moscow went offline? That they mighthave pulled out of our union because they’d prefer not to have aleader who is aligning himself with our enemies?”
Nathan felt every eye in the room burninginto his back as well as the weight of the stares coming from thecomputer.
“I have not aligned with our enemies,”Nathan replied through his teeth. “I have agreed to an alliancethat could save us all. If Joseph is successful in building an armyof Savages, we won’t survive the aftermath. We all want to remainloyal to our history and our ways, but the world is vastlydifferent than it was when the hunters were founded. Our ancestorshaveneverseen anything like the threat rising against us.We adapt, or we die. You may not like my decision about thisalliance, but youwillabide by it.”
Bhavin’s hands clenched on his desk, and hisnostrils flared.
Nathan continued speaking before the mancould respond. “You’re not so foolish as to deny there is adifference in the way vampires smell? Not so stubborn to admit thatif we continue to fight vampires who only want the same as us, wewill ensure our destruction by vampiresandSavages?”
“We are aware of this,” Edward said.
Nathan focused on the leader of theManchester stronghold in England. Edward’s blue eyes were steadfastas they held Nathan’s. His more orange than red hair fell in wavesaround his plump, freckled face.
“We’ve all agreed this truce is necessary,though many still don’t like it,” Edward continued.
“Understandable,” Nathan replied. “And yes,Bhavin, I have considered San Fran and Moscow went offline becauseof the alliance—”
“And the fact your sister is now a vampire,”Bhavin interrupted. “Not only that, but she’s also become thewifeof a vampire.”
On the table, out of view of the webcam,Nathan’s hand fisted as he sought to restrain himself. Sensing hissimmering temper, Roland wheeled a couple of inches away from himand focused on typing.
“There was much talk of you twins when youwere born. You were the first to be born to a hunter in nearlyseven hundred years and the first male/female twins in over athousand years. Many here believed such a thing heralded the comingof something big on the horizon,” Enlai said from Beijing. “Perhapsthis alliance is what your birth heralded, or perhaps it was theherald of the end of the hunters as we’ve always been. Maybe it wasmeant to announce the destruction of the hunters completely, adestruction brought onto us by those twins.”
