“This is too easy,” Evie said for perhaps the fifth time. It elicited a scowl from Jo but little more as we waited in the cavernous entranceway of the hotel.

I reached out for Evie’s hand and held it tightly in my own, giving a little squeeze of reassurance to help combat her nerves. It was my second mission with the team and I already felt like an old hand reassuring the new recruit. Weird.

Jo moved little, though her gaze swept the entranceway every few seconds. Eyes never resting in one place for long as she looked for threats and assessed escape routes. It was fascinating to watch her, seated on a burgundy armchair, seemingly relaxed but alert at the same time.

Both Evie and I sat opposite her on a couch upholstered in a dark silver that seemed to capture the light from the glittering chandelier above us. That same light illuminated the artwork on the walls and the bronze cast stallions facing each other on the wall above the front doors.

“He’s coming back,” Evie said and I glanced over to the front desk. Patrik nodded once as he approached and from the corner of my eye, I saw Jo rise to her feet, scooping up the duffel bag from the floor beside her.

“Two rooms,” he said as he walked past us towards the elevator. I rushed to join him and fell in behind Jo with my friend beside me.

“Where?” Jo asked.

“Top floor,” he replied and I winced.

One look at the prices of the rooms had been enough for me to know I’d need to spend a week's wages on a first-floor room. The prices rose higher with each extra floor you went up and two rooms on the fifth floor would have cost our benefactors a pretty penny.

“This place has a swimming pool,” I said as we passed a hallway with a sign pointing towards it.

“And a spa!” Evie said. “Think we’ll have time to try it out?”

“We aren’t on vacation,” Jo snapped as the elevator doors opened and we trooped inside. “We’re here for one goal. Keep focused and don’t fuck up.”

That last bit was directed at me I was sure. She hadn’t quite forgiven me for the cock up at the club three nights ago. Hell, she’d spent the last few days beating the crap out of me in our ‘training’ which I’d hoped would have allowed her to get it out of her system. But no, she still said barely a word to me when she didn’t need to.

“So where are these…” Evie began but trailed off at the glare from Jo.

“Not here, wait till we’re in the rooms.”

“Fine. Sorry,” she said and rolled her eyes before flashing me an impish grin. A good part of Evie’s time had been spent riling up the other woman exactly because Jo seemed to have an issue with me. I smiled back gratefully.

The elevator doors opened on the fifth floor and we filed out along a carpeted hallway that must have run the length of the building. Doors with electronic card locks set into the walls beside them were spaced along either side of the hall and we walked all the way to the end before Patrik stopped and handed me a key card.

“You’re here,” he said quietly. “Jo and me, we’re next door. Get settled and we’ll come to you in an hour.”

I nodded once and he grunted before heading to the next door down. It seemed he too was caught up by the tension and had been a miserable sod for the entire journey. I put him from my mind as I slipped the key card into the lock and pushed open the door.

“Holy crap!” Evie said as we entered the suite.

“Now I’m really pissed we probably won’t be staying the night,” I told her as I dumped my bag beside the door. It landed with a heavy thud that matched the sound of the door as it closed.

A king size bed, en-suite bathroom and a seating area with a leather couch set beside wide glass doors that led out onto an enclosed balcony. All set in warm, natural colours and a carpet so thick I imagined I’d sink an inch into it if I took my shoes off.

“I call this side of the bed,” Evie said as she fell back onto it with a burst of laughter.

“Fine,” I told her. “If I need the bathroom I’ll just have to climb over you.”

“Try it sister,” she said with a mock growl. “I’ve been getting my ass whupped for the last couple of days. I could use a fight I can win.”

“Hah!”

“Don’t believe me?” she said as reached up and grabbed my arm, pulling with all her strength and dragging me down onto the bed beside her in a tangle of limbs. “See.”

“Fine! You win!” I didn’t try to stop the laughter as I disentangled myself from her and settled down beside her. The bed was pretty darn comfy and I could have lain there quite happily.

We lay there in comfortable silence for several long minutes, staring at the ceiling and enjoying the peace of each other’s company. It was with regret and a deep sigh, that I sat up.

“We should get ready.”

“I ache in every damn place I can ache,” Evie said petulantly. “We’ve been getting our butts handed to us for days while they took turns trailing these damn vamps. We can take an hour to relax, surely?”

To be fair, the training we’d been given had been focused on self-defence, which apparently meant either Jo or Patrik showing us what to do and then beating us mercilessly until we managed to get it right. Evie wasn’t the only one who ached.

Then after the non-stop training, Jo had informed us that it was time to take out the vampires who were staying at the five-star hotel in the centre of Manchester. Doing so, she said, would get us one step closer to finding Anahella and the others from the blood club.

They’d been watching the hotel for days while they prepared. Of course, they’d kept most of the details from us for now. Apparently, we’d learn more of the actual hunting side of the job once we had the basics of combat drilled into us. I guessed there was no point doing much teaching until they were sure we weren’t going to panic or get killed on the first job we got.

“Crap!” Evie said and I twisted my head to look down at her. She held her mobile before her and was rapidly tapping on the display.

“What’s up?”

“My mum again,” she said. “Wondering where I am.”

“You told her you’re taking a break from Uni?”

“I don’t have to,” she said as she clicked send on her message. “I’ve only missed one lecture so far and I’ve emailed all my professors to tell them I’m sick. A couple of friends are sending me notes and I’ve got assignments to do.”

“Do you really think you can do a University course in medicine and be a hunter?” I asked incredulously. “I mean, just the training alone will be intense for a while, according to Patrik.”

“Marie said it was fine. Said it would be useful to have the medical training.”

“When did you talk to Marie?”

“I called her a couple of days ago after speaking to Jo about it.”

“You have her number?”

“You don’t?”

“No,” I said and tried not to sound too hurt.

“Did you ask for it?”

“Well… no.”

“There you go then,” she said with a grin and let her phone drop onto the bedcovers. “Don’t ask, don’t get.”

It shouldn’t bother me but it did. Anywhere Evie went, she fit in. Everyone wanted to be her friend. My first job had been at a call centre. Nearly a hundred people worked there and while, admittedly, I’d sucked at the job, I’d stuck it out for nearly six months.

No one really knew me there. I didn’t go out with any of the little groups of friends that formed around me. I didn’t know about anyone’s life outside of work. One day Evie came by to meet me. She’d been supposed to wait for me outside but had been early and, as usual, become bored.

She’d come inside and within ten minutes, knew more about my co-workers than I did. By the time I was actually finished and ready to go, she’d been invited out to the pub by three different people who had all seemed surprised to see me when she’d turned up with me in tow.

It was just part of who she was. In school, she’d been one of the popular girls that all the others wanted to hang out with. She’d get invited to all the parties, she’d been asked out by most of the boys at one time or another and if she’d wanted, could have ruled the school like some imperious little queen bee.

But she wasn’t like that. When invited to parties, she made sure they invited me. If they didn’t, then she didn’t go. If anyone had tried to pick on me or commented on my frequent problems, she’d been the one to step to my defence.

My life, as miserable as it had been, would have been a thousand times worse without her in it. So I tried not to let it bother me that everything came easily to her when I had to struggle so much. I tried because she was the one person that tried to make things easier for me.

“You’ll be careful today, yeah?” I said. She looked up at me, her eyes meeting mine and the smile that came was full of warmth.

“Damn right I will,” she replied cheerfully. “You better be careful too or you’ll have me to deal with.”

I smiled back at her and lay back. Sod getting ready, I’d relax for the hour with my friend and deal with preparations when it was time.

****

Exactly one hour after they’d gone to their own room, a knock came at our door. I was across the room and opening it in moments. Jo frowned as the door swung inwards and stepped into the room.

“You should have checked before opening,” she said. Patrik entered behind her and nodded agreement.

“Who says I didn’t?”

“You opened the door too quickly to have taken the time to check and if you had checked you would have seen that the spy hole was covered and that should have given you pause.”

Jo stopped and turned her head this way and that as she looked around the room, finally spying the duffel where I had left it beside the door and her face darkened.

“Get your gear,” she snapped and Patrik tutted as he leaned against the wall.

“What’s the plan?” Evie asked as I reached for the bag, a blush colouring my cheeks.

“Vamps sleep during the day,” Jo said with a glower for me. “They should be deep in sleep right now.”

“So they don’t go out in sunlight?” I asked as I pulled Evie’s knife from the bag and tossed it to her. My own went behind my belt on my left side. It was a tight fit against my jeans but it was at least hidden from view.

“They can do, but they’re weaker, sluggish during the daylight hours. They tend to be active at night.”

“Right, so they’re asleep. We break in and kill them or what?” Evie asked.

“My friend, she works here,” Patrik said. “Cleaning, changing sheets and things like that. She gave me key.”

“We slip inside the room and secure them,” Jo said. “Then we talk with them.”

“That’s it?” I asked as I pulled the carved wooden box from the bag and passed it over to Jo at her gesture. “Talk to them?”

“Kill them after,” Patrik said with a sly smile.