Hunter Reborn by Katie Reus

back on your feet if I’m—”
    â€œNothing is happening to you!” The vehemence in her voice shocked both of them.
    His head tilted slightly to the side but he nodded. “I know you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, but I also know this world is different from the one you remember. We need to prepare for all scenarios. I’ll feed you as soon as we get someplace safe. Until then, stay close to me and if we’re attacked again, I want you to run.”
    Larissa snorted. That wasn’t happening.
    He seemed annoyed by her response, but just shook his head. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”
    Ignoring the ache in her shoulder, she nodded. She couldn’t wait to get moving.
    *   *   *
    Magda glared at the lone incompetent male vampire standing in front of her. “You have failed us.
Again.
” And for the last time.
    The male was relatively lucky it was just her berating him, not . . .
him
. Magda fought a shudder, not willing to even think her master’s name. He was an ancient vampire and while not inherently strong like someoneof Larissa’s unique line, he’d gained massive amounts of power in the last few months using the dark arts. Meaning he made human sacrifices in exchange for his new gifts. But he still had to drink blood to maintain his impressive powers. A lot of it. The more blood he drank, the more his body became accustomed to it. It was why he needed Larissa. The last of her line, a daywalker, a bloodborn, the female reeked of power. Whoever—or whatever—he’d gained his power from had demanded a specific sacrifice. Larissa fit all the requirements.
    Magda could practically taste Larissa’s power in the air whenever she was near the female. It was why she’d been giving the vampire animal blood mixed with human blood, keeping her as weak as possible without tipping her hand. If she could have, Magda would have just sacrificed the female in her stasis state. That wouldn’t work for the required spell, however. She’d been keeping her on a tight leash, but unfortunately Larissa must have discovered the tracking ink on her because Magda couldn’t locate the vamp anymore. She hadn’t been able to for the past hour. Magda might have another way though.
    â€œThey killed five of us. What was I supposed to do?” Logan snapped. In vampire years he was only two years old. A child. Having been turned at eighteen, he was incredibly young. He was also handsome and knew it. Something he probably thought would save him now. Just because she’d fucked him a few times meant nothing though. “You’re lucky we decided to keep one of us as a lookout, otherwise you wouldn’thave even known what happened,” he continued, oblivious to her ire.
    She reined in her snort of disgust at his stupidity. Of course she would have known. Her master had been watching
everything
through their eyes. His powerful gift allowed him to control almost anyone with vampire blood in their veins, even from a distance. He was their puppet master. They were just too weak and stupid to realize they weren’t in control of their own bodies.
    Her master could even control humans who were hopped-up on the addictive vampire blood—which was why he’d taken to selling it in huge quantities. Winston-Salem was his testing ground and so far, things were moving along smoothly enough. His control wasn’t perfect with vamps, but for humans, he’d been directing them to do all sorts of nasty things, including robbing banks and other places. Her master sometimes did things just because he could, but the stealing was for a purpose. He wanted power but also money. He didn’t care how he attained it.
    Using her own display of power, she reached out a hand and curved her fingers as if she were choking someone. Logan started gasping for air, as if she was physically strangling