Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1)(2)

Yeah, she did have to get closer to her targets than Sara, but conversely, there was no chance of missing and hitting an innocent bystander. Which Sara had once done. It had cost her half a year's pay to settle the lawsuit. Lips curving at the thought of how pissed her friend had been at not making the shot, Elena opened the passenger-side door of the car she'd parked nearby. "Inside."

The baby vamp squeezed in his girth with effort.

Making sure he was belted in, she called Mr. Ebose's head of security. "I've got him."

The voice at the other end instructed her to drop the package off at a private airstrip.

Unsurprised by the chosen location, she hung up and began driving. In silence. It would've been a bit redundant to try to make conversation, as the vamp had lost the ability to speak the instant she clamped him. The muting was a side effect of the neural straitjacket created by the necklet. Before the inception of the chip-embedded devices, vampire hunting had been something of a suicidal career choice, as even the babiest vamps had the ability to tear a human to pieces. Of course, according to the latest research, vampire hunters weren't quite human, but they were close enough.

Arriving at the airstrip, she cleared security and was directed onto the tarmac. The team charged with escorting the vampire back to Sydney was waiting beside a sleek private jet. Elena took the captured male to them and they immediately nodded at her to go on in. She had to stow the package personally, as they didn't have the license to handle him at this point in the journey. Clearly, Mr. Ebose had good lawyers. He wasn't taking any chances that could lead to him being brought up on charges by the Vampire Protection Authority.

Not that the VPA had ever managed to make cruelty allegations stick. All the angels had to do was display a couple of photos of humans with their throats torn out, and the jury was ready not only to acquit, but to give them a medal in the process.

Elena escorted the vamp up the steps and to the large open crate at the back of the passenger hold. "Inside."

He walked in then turned to face her, terror pouring off him in a wave that had already soaked through his shirt.

"Sorry, bud. You killed three women and one old man. That tilts the pity slate way over in the wrong direction." Slamming the door on him, she padlocked it. The necklet would go with him to Sydney, from there it'd be returned directly to the Guild, as per the agreed protocol with all chip-embedded devices. "He's ready to go, boys."

The head guard-all four had followed her inside-looked her up and down with eyes the startling shade of robin's eggs. "No injuries. Impressive." He handed over an envelope. "The transfer has been made to your Guild account, as agreed."

Elena checked the confirmation slip. Her eyebrows rose. "Mr. Ebose has been generous."

"A bonus for early and unharmed capture of the target. Mr. Ebose has plans for him. Old Jerry was his favorite secretary."

Elena winced. The problem with being basically immortal was that you could have a lot of things done to you and not die. She'd once seen a vampire who'd had every one of his limbs amputated . . . without anesthetic. By the time the Guild rescue squad liberated him from the clutches of the hate group that had kidnapped him, he'd been beyond reason or coherence. But there had been a video. That was how they knew the tortured man had remained conscious throughout. She bet the angels didn't show that video to the petitioners who came in their droves, hoping to be Made.

Then again, maybe they did.

The angels only Made about a thousand vamps a year. And from what Elena had seen, the hopeful outnumbered that by the hundreds of thousands. She had no idea why. As far as she was concerned, the cost of immortality was far too high. Better to live free and turn to dust when the time came than end up locked in a wooden box while you waited for your master to decide your fate.

Distaste an acrid film on her tongue, she slid both the confirmation slip and the envelope into a pants pocket. "Please thank Mr. Ebose for his generosity."

The bodyguard inclined his head and she glimpsed the edges of what she guessed to be a raven tattooed on his shaved head. He was too tall to see for sure but the others were shorter and all bore that unique mark.

"I see you're unattached." He glanced pointedly at the plain silver hoops in her ears. No married gold. No entangled amber. But she didn't make the mistake of assuming he wanted a date. The guards of the Wing Brotherhood practiced celibacy while on the job. Since the punishment for failure was the removal of a body part-Elena had never quite managed to discover which-she figured she wasn't temptation enough.

"Yes. I'm free workwise, too." She preferred to complete one job before lining up the next. There were always more vamps to chase down. "Mr. Ebose want me to track another renegade?"

"No. He has a friend who requires your services." The guard passed over a second envelope, this one sealed. "The appointment is for eight a.m. tomorrow. Please ensure you attend-it's been cleared with your Guild, the deposit paid."

If the Guild had signed off, that meant it was a legitimate hunt. "Sure. Where's the meet?"

"Manhattan."

Elena's soul went ice cold. For only one angel would that single word suffice as enough of a direction. Even the angels had a pecking order and she knew very well who was at the top. But, fast as it had swept over her, the fear passed. Mr. Ebose, while powerful, was hardly likely to know an archangel, one of the Cadre of Ten that decided who would be Made and who would do the Making.