Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)(55)

My phone buzzed with the incoming wire. Five grand.
Score.
“Thanks, Maz.” I headed for the door, tired, hungry and sore all over.
Her iPad dinged as I was walking out. “Aspen? How tired are you?”
I spun, wearing a smirk. She always had a mark for me. Sometimes they took a few weeks to track down, but she always had more. Most of the other hunters within the society were put on patrol, keeping the humans safe from random vampires. Some of the bloodsuckers had fled Magic City and were trying to make a life out here in the human world, others had been here for years but they get sloppy and we catch them. We were well within our rights to wipe them from the face of the earth the second they crossed the line from their little compound in Northern Idaho. But for me, Liv, Vasquez and some of the other elite junior and senior hunters, we got the paid gigs, the marks that had done something horrible and needed justice to be served, and God willing, I wanted to be the one to bring those families closure.
“I have this other mark…” Maz fiddled with her pen. “I’ve sent some of the newer hunters just to tail him but I just got word that he’s at Bang, planning to drain some pretty little blond no doubt. There’s been chatter of an issue in Vampire City and he’s fled to seek refuge here. I’d like to take him out now, before he can hurt anyone or gets too comfortable and sets up residence here.”
Bang was a night club where a lot of unknowing humans went to die. It was a notorious underground feeder club. The lower level was for ‘VIP’ customers, AKA vampires. It was crawling with bloodsuckers and unwitting feeders.
I didn’t answer right away, I was tired and she took that as a no. “No worries, I’ll send Vasquez.”
Freaking douchebag Vasquez.
“No, I can do it.” I perked up. “What’s the bounty?”
I was tired, but nothing a double shot of espresso couldn’t cure. Still, I wasn’t going back out hunting for less than five grand.
“This is a big mark. Very dangerous. He just broke out of Magic City Prison.” She looked at me with one raised eyebrow.
My tongue instantly stuck to the roof of my mouth. Magic City Prison? Holy crap, he must be a big baddie and bringing down big baddies brought me untold joy. Magic City was a secret enclave in Idaho that was segregated into six territories, housing all of the supernaturals. Vampires, werewolves, witches, light fey, dark fey, and trolls. Magic City Prison was their way of trying to contain the miscreants of their society. If he broke out of prison and then escaped the enclave and was in Spokane, I wouldn’t be able to sleep without his head in that incinerator.
“It pays fifty grand,” Maz added.
Fifty grand!
I whistled low. I loved my job, and the society, but eventually I had a retirement plan in place. Get to one thousand kills and ten million bucks in savings, and then quit and go buy a private island where I could live on the beach with Liv and whatever hotties we were married to by then.
“Send me the details. I’ll do it,” I told her instantly.
She nodded but then looked up at me with an unreadable expression. Maz was hard to read sometimes, as a priestess of our secret order, she was basically a nun. She’d devoted her entire life to God and our calling of ridding the earth of the foul demons called vampires.
“Aspen … there is something you should know about this mark.”
I steeled myself, waiting for her to tell me he was a part of the royal family or something.
“He’s a Drake. Luka Drake,” she finally said and I nearly choked on my own spit.
He was a part of the royal family. “A Drake?”
Maz nodded. “Yes. He’s the nephew of the queen. But the family paying the bounty is high society. He drained their daughter of blood over ten years ago after asking her on a date. They want closure.”
That sick bastard.
“I’ll do it. I’ll take Liv with me. Split it.” If this guy was a member of the Drake family line, then I’d need all the help I could get.
She nodded. “Smart. It might take both of you to bring him down.”
The mention of the vampire royal family made me nervous. They were powerful, strong and freaking scary. They also raped and murdered women like it was a hobby. One of our most valuable vampire hunter society members was the chief of police. Chief Baker helped make the kill list and passed it down to Maz. He saw the human bodies, drained of blood, prick marks on their neck, positive rape kits. He saw all the ugly and tipped us to who the demon perps were. If this douchebag killed some innocent chick, then I was bringing his head back, tonight.
After I left Maz’s office, I grabbed my food from Kinsley, a yummy breakfast burrito with extra sausage, and took the elevator to my shared apartment with Liv.
She was off tonight, but she’d never pass up twenty-five grand and a chance to bring down Drake royalty.
Using my key, I entered the apartment and grinned when I saw her on the couch, surrounded by popcorn, brownies, ice cream and candy. She was watching some romantic comedy on TV and crying.
She was three-days post breakup with douchebag Vasquez, and clearly not handling it as well as I thought.
“Hey, how are you?” I approached the couch with caution. One ice cream container was already empty and on the floor, and I was regretting my decision to take her with me tonight. Maybe she wasn’t ready to go back to hunting yet.
She looked up at me and wiped at her eyes. “I’m good. I’ve decided to become a lesbian,” she declared.
I forced myself not to smile, and instead pretended to take her seriously. “Okay.” I’d known Liv since she was a day old, we grew up in the order’s orphanage. She was straighter than an arrow.