When I told him everything I’d learned about the killer, all the information I had to help me catch him, I had been hoping he would get excited too, he’d want to join in the hunt.
But then I saw the way he looked at me. His blue eyes were like ice still, and he kept his emotions locked away from me, shoved down so deep, I could only feel him buzzing, like a livewire.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the hunters?” Ezra asked, and I was relieved he spoke first.
“I don’t know. I didn’t…” I shook my head. “I thought you’d try to stop me if you knew.”
“That’s exactly why you should’ve told me.” He sighed and leaned back. “I never should’ve told you anything. You’re clearly not mature enough to handle any of this.”
“That’s not fair!” I shouted. “How was I supposed to know they’d track me down like that? Who the hell are they, anyway? And what did they mean when they asked if I was part of the ‘movement?’”
“They’re vampire hunters. They keep order, by any means necessary.” Ezra rubbed his hands together and looked down at the floor. “It’s my fault they’re here.”
“What? Did you call them?” I asked.
“No, I talked to the Commissioner after you asked me about the branding,” Ezra sighed. “I told him I thought it might be a vampire. So he called in the hunters. They usually work for humans, dispatching of a problem people can’t.”
“So the police hired them?” I furrowed my brow. “But… I thought they weren’t getting paid.”
“I’m sure they are getting paid to catch the serial killer, but I think they’re freelancing, too.” Ezra glanced up at Jack, who had yet to say anything, and he leaned forward. “There is a movement among vampires to stop hiding. It’s not a large movement. Most of us are content to live the way we do because it is much simpler. If people knew we existed, they’d hunt us, and even if they didn’t kill us, it would be irritating.”
“You mean like on True Blood?” I asked. “Where vampires ‘come out of the coffin’ and we all live as equals? Or try to, anyway?”
“No. These vampires don’t want to be equal. They want to rule humans,” Ezra said. “Humans are our food, and some vampires think they should be treated as such. Branded and kept in pens like cattle.” He lowered his eyes, shifting in the chair. “The hunters wouldn’t be out of a job, necessarily, but they would have less work. Most of what they do is keeping the peace for humans or keeping vampires a secret.”
“Okay. So I get why they were so pissed about me because they thought I was working with the ‘movement’ to put them out of a job. But why did they care about Daisy?” I asked.
“Child vampires are unstable and volatile. Let one loose for a day, and the whole world would know about vampires,” Ezra said. “And Mae let her loose in Australia.”
“How did they even find about that?” I asked.
“Word travels,” he shrugged. “The Commissioner might’ve mentioned something about the missing child, and it’s common knowledge that Mae has moved out. Vampires have a lot of time on their hands to gossip.”
“The hunters think she did that to attract attention,” I said as it dawned on me. “And if everyone learned about vampires that way, with the serial killer and a crazy murderous child, humans would be terrified. They’ll want to hunt us down and kill us, and that would give the ‘movement’ of vampires all the ammo they would need to round up the humans and turn them into cattle.”
“Exactly,” Ezra said. “The hunters are trying to stop that from happening. In this case, they are helping.”
“But they’re assholes!” I yelled and gestured upstairs. “They broke into our house, beat us up, threatened our lives! That’s the good guys?”
“Alice, there are no good guys,” Ezra said, giving me a hard look. “We’re vampires, and no matter what we do or strive for, that fact doesn’t change. We aren’t the good guys.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to figure that out.” I bit my lip and leaned back on the couch.
“You’ve been busy figuring out a lot of things lately,” Jack said, and I lifted my head to look up at him. His voice stayed even, but he had to fight to keep it that way.
“Jack, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you any-”
“Really? You’re sorry?” Jack asked. “Were you sorry last week when I asked you what was going on when you said nothing? Were you sorry a few hours ago when I asked you directly what you were doing and you lied to my face? Were you sorry when I was beating myself about this distance between us because you’ve been sneaking around and lying to me? Is that when you were sorry?”
“Jack, I had to do this! I had to help her!” I leaned forward, pleading with him.
“She is dead, Alice! You can’t help her!” Jack shouted. “You lied to me! You lied to Milo and put yourself in danger! You put Bobby in danger! What the hell were you thinking? He’s human! He nearly died tonight! Because of you!”
“I know that.” Bitter tears stung my eyes and I looked toward the floor. “Believe me, I know that. But I don’t know what else I was supposed to do.”
“After you kissed Peter last year, I begged you, I fucking begged you not to do that again!”