I feel that my last chapter sucked ass. You may disagree and I thank you if you do, but I beg to differ. Anyways, I'm not half asleep writing this one so I think it's much better. And it's longer too.

Chapter 8 - The Hunter

New Orleans, LA (the day before)

BPOV

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…Buzz

I wonder for about the twentieth time in the last decade as to why I kept replacing cell phones after they got smashed in various daimon related incidents. I may be able to take a beating from the damn inkblots, but my cell phones seemed to keep paying the price. However, when it's still another two hours until sunset and the thing is vibrating away on my nightstand, I can't help but wish that this one did get totaled last night.

Keeping my head under the blankets, I reached over with my left arm and fumbled around until I found the evil little buzzing thing. Whoever was calling me better be immortal or I was going to kill their ass.

I finally found it and pulled it down under the blanket with me. Without looking at the caller id, I flipped open the phone and grumbled out a rather cranky 'hello.'

I was greeted with the familiar erotic timber of Ash's voice. "Morning sunshine, I didn't wake you did I?" I could almost hear his smirk over the phone.

"You know damn well you did, Ash," I replied. "But since it's you, I think I can forgive."

Ash chuckled. "Is that 'cause you adore me so much or because I can blast you into oblivion?"

"Ask me again after you tell me the reason you're calling when you know I don't wake up for another hour."

"I have something to discuss with you before you head out. I'll be there in half an hour. Oh, and Tabitha is about to call you."

I pushed the blankets down and poked my head out into my dark bedroom. "Is something going on?" I had reason to be concerned. Ash usually didn't call before he showed up, he just did it and Tabitha was New Orleans local formerly human daimon hunter.

"Not specifically, no. And Tabby's calling because pregnancy hormones have her craving beignets and ready to kill Valerius. She wants out of the house so she thinking about calling you. At least she's being smart enough not to head out alone when she's such a daimon target."

"Yeah, I guess I could go for deep fried dough and fifteen tons of powdered sugar. Not like I can get high cholesterol."

Ash chuckled again. "See ya in a bit, kid."

He hung up without saying bye, but for whatever reason he always did that. Almost immediately my phone began to vibrate again. As expected, it was Tabitha.

"Hey, Tabby," I answered.

"I NEED to get out of this house!" Tabitha practically screamed into the phone.

"What's the matter?"

"Valerius has been an over-protective pain in my ass all day. I mean I love the man and all, but I need to get out for a bit and he was all 'it's almost dark, it's not safe blah, blah, blah.' He insisted that if I didn't want him to come with me I needed to find someone to go with me. Dammit! It's like living with my parents some days."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her outburst. "I can't really blame him, hon. That man loves you and that baby more than anything. You have to admit that your fighting skills are seriously impaired at the moment and between your empathy and the power your baby has you might as well wear a tee shirt that say 'eat me.'"

Tabitha groaned and I had to fight another laugh. "You're right, he's right, I know this. But it doesn't stop me from being annoyed and I still want the damn beignets," she complained.

"I know. I'd be happy to go with you."

"Meet you there half hour after sun down?"

"Sounds good. And Tabby…"

"I know, I know. Drive safe and don't stop anywhere else once the big ball of fire goes away. Trust me, I know the rules."

I tied up my conversation with Tabitha and tossed my phone down to the foot of the bed. I click on the specially designed lamp next to my bed and it emitted a weak golden light. The lamps were made by a squire in Paris. They emitted just the right amount of light so as not to hurt a dark-hunter's sensitive eyes.

I pushed my green and burgundy comforter out of the way and climbed out of my four-post Edwardian era bed.

My whole bedroom was designed to feel like that age. It some ways it made me feel closer to Edward. A lot of the things that I had did that. A frame picture of him sat next to my bed and his cd permanently resided in the player across the room.

I always wore a charm bracelet that Liza down in the Quarter made for me. It had five heart shaped crystal vials. One contained a small piece cut off of the plane tickets from Esme and Carlisle. One with a piece of red wire cut from the car stereo gifted to me from Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. One more with a small piece of the ill-fated Valentino jacket Alice had given me. The last two however were the most important to me. I had a small bit of Charlie's flannel shirt in one and the other had shards of the jewel case that once held the cd of songs Edward recorded for me. Since I had it made eight years ago, it has never left my wrist.

I quickly showered and dried my hair before I went over to my closet. Alice would be proud of me, in my death I learned how to dress. Of course now, I had a squire that got paid to go shopping for me, among other things.

Since daimon activity had been low lately with the onset of New Orleans excuse for winter, I forgoed my usual ass kicked duds and went for something a bit nicer. I slipped on a pair of grey slacks and a boat neck sweater. I dug out a pair of low heeled blue boots and a matching scarf to hide the scar on my neck.

I usually tried to hide it when I was going in public places. People tended to give me strange looks when they saw teeth marks in my neck. Well, not so much in this city, but there was always the tourists. Ash had offered to get rid of it for me but I declined. It reminded me of exactly what it was that brought me into this life.

I loaded up a blue tote with my essentials. Wallet, cell phone, keys, and chap stick as well as my favorite knife and mini crossbow. Things may have been slow lately but that can always change real fucking fast.

I headed downstairs and into my kitchen where I found my squire Sara chatting with some of the other squires on the dark-hunter message board. Funny little site we had, looked like some kind of RPG except in had more password protected areas than one could count.

Sara had been my squire since I had come to New Orleans. At twenty-nine she was a very beautiful woman with long auburn hair and big brandy colored eyes. I flashed her a smile grabbed a cup of coffee.

Sara laughed lightly from her place at the table. "I hope you don't smile like that in public. Last thing this town needs is more vampire rumors."

As I poured, I curled my tongue around one of my fangs. I found it a slight bit funny that I wasn't a vampire and I had fangs, yet Edward didn't.

"Is Michael still out of town?" I asked to make conversation while I waited for Ash to arrive. Michael was Sara's fiancée. Sara was hoping to petition the squire's council soon to allow Michael into the loop. I was willing to vouch for him but the council was hesitant to let anyone in. I hoped we could get Ash on board as that would swing them way into our favor. Or maybe I could just smile at him. Michael was currently working on the designs for a building up in Chicago.

"Yeah," Sara answered. "He'll be back in a few days."

I was just about to sit down in my seat when suddenly a whirlwind of gothed-out teenage Charonte demon came barreling into me.

"BELLA!" I cringed at the assault on my ears but hugged Simi back all the same. She could be a lot to take in but it was hard not to love her.

"Do you have anymore of those strawberry pop tarts?" she asked. With Simi it was all about the shopping and the food.

I looked over at Sara and she nodded. "I just restocked them yesterday Simi. Go ahead there in the pantry."

Simi ran over to hug Sara and then dashed off into the pantry. Looking back at the doorway Simi had entered I saw Ash leaning against the frame. He tilted his head toward the living room and turned assuming I would follow. I noticed that Sara was tracking his progress and trying not to follow.

One thing I've noticed over the years is people's strange reaction to Ash. There was something there, something unnatural, that seemed to make just about everyone want to drag him to the nearest bedroom. And not just women, almost everyone was affected. I could also see that it made him extremely uncomfortable. Thankfully, last year, Ash met a woman named Tory that seemed to be immune to this pull. He married her. Funny how that works.

I crossed the living room and entered my office on the other side. Ash was already there sitting in a chair with his booted feet crossed up on the corner of the desk. I didn't really mind, not that I could get him to move them if I did.

I sat down in my chair and leaned back to look at his face. He had put his sunglasses up on his head so his strange silver eyes were on full display. He seemed to like taking them off when he was here since they had never bothered me. Now had they been bright red we might have had a problem.

"So what brings you here Ash?" I asked.

"I'm not really sure."

I raised an eyebrow in his direction. Ash explained before I could ask him to.

"Something is about to happen, I can feel it clear as day, but I can't say what it is. I know you will be involved, which is exactly why I can't see. You're like my sister and I love you, kid, therefore I can't see a damn thing about your future."

I let out a quick breath. "Is there something you want me to do?"

"Just be careful and keep a look out. Call me if anything even remotely out of the ordinary happens."

I nodded and stood the same time Ash did. Suddenly he walked around the desk and wrapped his arms around me tightly in a hug. I hesitated in surprise before I hugged him back. Ash was not one for touching other people, Tory aside.

Ash pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "Just be careful, kid. You are one of the very few people in this world that I couldn't stand to lose. Don't put me through that."

He stepped back and before I could ask about his stranger that usual behavior, he was gone. I really hated when he did that.

Shaking my head, I headed back into the kitchen and dumped my now cold coffee down the drain.

"Everything okay?" Sara asked.

I bit my lip for a moment. "I think so but I'm not really sure. Just do me a favor. Stay here tonight."

Sara looked at me suspiciously for a moment, but nodded anyway. Satisfied she would be safe in the house, I picked up my bag from the empty chair I had place it on. "I'm heading over to the quarter. Do you need anything while I'm there?"

She said she didn't and went back to the computer. I set the alarm on my way out of the house and into the garage.

I had bought the Audi Edward had wanted me to get. When I had gone to buy a car I knew I wanted something to connect me to him. I had thought about getting a Volvo, but that just hadn't seemed right. Then I had seen this. Edward and Rosalie would be so proud. The Audi R8 Spyder was a thing of beauty and I loved it.

Pushing my sunglass onto my nose, I pulled out of the driveway and into the New Orleans night.

APOV

I paced back and forth in my bedroom trying to get a clear view of the future. All I could see were glimpse of Bella and violence. I didn't like it. It was specifically why I tried to avoid attachment, but the little brunette had made it impossible. I fully understood what it was that drew the vampire to her. While I didn't feel the romantic inclination he did, I did feel that protective instinct.

I felt rather than heard Tory come into the room. Without a word she step in front of me and wrapped her arms around me waist. I leaned down to bury my face in her soft brown hair and tried again to see something.

A nod to Prison Break with Michael and Sara. I don't own that either.

A note to my readers who don't know the Dark-Hunter world that well. Inkblot is a derogatory term for daimons stemming from that dark spot of there chest where the stolen souls gather. Also, that pull Bella is referring to with Ash is a curse. He was touched by the Atlantean goddess of desire so that all who see him want to essentially rip of his close and pin him to the bed.

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