Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) by Karen Michelle Nutt Page A

open."
    He hastily zipped his jeans. "Haven't you
heard of ringing the doorbell?"
    "Sure, but this is much more fun." Wade's
gaze shifted to his bedroom door. "So who's the gal?"
    "None of your business," he growled.
    Wade just chuckled. "I guess we're all
entitled to our secrets."
    "I take it you're here for a reason," Derek
said and headed toward the kitchen. He wanted Wade as far away from
his bedroom and Sloane as possible. Besides he needed coffee if he
was going to keep up the pretense that this was just another
uneventful day.
    "Axel and I didn't come across Tim's havoc
until late last night," Wade said, all business now. "He took out
four homeless guys. We almost didn't pay attention when the call
came over the police scanner until they mentioned the rose petals
and chocolates."
    All his family had police scanners. Anything
that sounded remotely like a preternatural attack, they
investigated, but they mostly received their orders from the Preternatural Regulating Bureau or better known as the PRB . They would be handed a case and they would carry out
the mission. Once they checked back in with the details, their
payment for the job would be wired into their account. Some of the
funds were collected from people who paid for the PRB's services
and some of the funds were confiscated from crime scenes or from
the preternatural being's lair. Not all preternatural beings lived
on the run. They lived among the humans as a front and kept their
insidious acts behind closed doors.
    "The scene was more gruesome than the first
one." Wade pushed his cowboy hat back and rubbed a hand over his
face. "Tim must have been in a rage. He tore the men's throats out
and stuffed the chocolates there. It looked more like a bear with a
chocolate fetish had mauled them rather than a vampire in need of
nourishment."
    Derek knew why Tim had been in a frenzied
state. Tim had been wounded, but he was also pissed off that his
plan to make Sloane like him had been foiled. Derek scooped the
coffee into the filter and added water to the coffee pot then
flipped the switch. In a few minutes he'd have his caffeine fix,
and hopefully then he would come up with a plan to get rid of
Wade.
    "So how was your night?" Wade glanced toward
the hall with unspoken meaning.
    Before he could make a comment, Cassandra
swept in, wearing a robe and slippers. "Are you talking to
yourself?" she asked between a stifled yawn. She froze when she
caught sight of Wade standing there.
    Wade looked momentarily put back, too, but
recovered first. "Well, hot damn, Sis," Wade chuckled. "When did
you get in?" He separated the distance and gave his sister a bear
hug.
    Cassandra met Derek's gaze over Wade's
shoulder. She didn't want Wade snooping around anymore than he did.
Tremayne may be centuries old and strong, but he wouldn't last long
in direct sunlight. It was early morning, half past eight to be
exact, and it wasn't overcast outside. The sun sat in the sky
shining bright and pretty, lethally so.
    Cassandra stepped back to peer at Wade. She
removed his cowboy hat that seemed to be attached to his head more
times than not. She ruffled his hair. "How have you been little
brother?"
    Axel was the eldest then Derek fell next in
line. Cassandra had been born nine months later. Wade was the baby
of the Hayes family at the ripe young age of twenty-three. Their
parents must have decided they wanted children then popped out four
in a matter of five years. Guess they didn't want to waste time or
perhaps hunting had taken a lull in those critical years they
needed to raise four children. Axel was convinced their parents
just wanted more hunters to train so they could widen their
search.
    "I'm fine, Cass, real fine," Wade said.
"Missed you at Christmas."
    "Missed you, too. Do I smell coffee?" She
brushed by him with her abrupt change of subject and headed to the
counter where the pot gurgled with the announcement that coffee was
now being brewed. If he knew his sister, she was probably