"Eight years. It's been eight years that you've been gone. My father thought you were dead. You have a burial plot. I thought your body was inside."
"All was essential to my plan." He sighed heavily. "How is Roger, anyhow?"
"He… he's dead."
Malcolm's brow furrowed. "How did it happen?"
Quinn's father had been shot when he'd tried to kill Quinn. But not by him. The man had no mercy, no second thoughts about ending his own son's life when he found out he'd been turned into a vampire. It hadn't been a good end.
"He… he was shot."
Malcolm nodded gravely. "Was that before or after he found out about your little problem?"
Janie sat back and watched them with cool appraisal.
"What's my little problem?" he asked carefully.
"Your slight case of vampirism."
Quinn had personally witnessed Malcolm slay scores of vamps over the years. He'd learned a lot from the old man. He may have been kind to Quinn growing up—a mentor, a friend, a sounding board—but he showed no mercy when it came to the business of hunting. Quinn immediately felt his adrenaline kick in and hoped this confrontation wouldn't lead to a fight. Not with Malcolm. Any hunter but him.
"How did you know?" he asked.
Malcolm smiled. Wide enough to show off his own set of shiny white fangs.
Quinn stifled a gasp. "What the hell—?"
Malcolm slowly walked to the corner of the kitchen and grabbed a walking cane that rested against the wall right next to a new-model computer. "Internet is expensive here, but I have it. I have managed to stay informed of everything going on in the hunter world. Yes, I knew Roger was dead and how he died.
For his sake, I hope he isn't burning in hell for how he treated those close to him in life. I also know of your recent predicament. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there to help you. It is a difficult time, believe me,
I know."
Quinn couldn't believe his own eyes. "You're a vampire."
Malcolm smiled as if this wasn't information that had just shaken Quinn's entire world. Malcolm was a hunter who'd been turned into a vampire. Just like him. "Yes. We have a great deal in common. When I was attacked, the vampires gave me a choice: I could live or I could die. But by living I would become one of them. I am not proud to say that I made my decision based on fear of the unknown. Fear of death. After it was done, I hid. I knew what my peers would do to me if they found out."
"You could have told me."
He gave Quinn a weary smile. "I fear that you would not have been as understanding of my situation as you are now. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't have hunted me?"
Quinn couldn't answer that, and Malcolm didn't wait for him to. "I had been researching the Eye, with your father, for years and had finally come upon some leads. When I left the world I once knew, I came here in search of it alone. The search led me to the red stone you have in your hand. And it led me to much more than that. I would be honored to share this information with you."
Quinn glanced at Janie, who watched them like a predator. She absently played with her turquoise necklace, twisting it, and his vision closed to the small pulse he could see in her throat. He tore his eyes away from her, breathing heavily. "I think I need to sit down."
Malcolm frowned. "Are you well, boy? You look as if you haven't slept in weeks."
"I'm fine." The backs of his legs found the edge of a chair at the kitchen table, and he sat down hard. He placed the red stone on the tabletop in front of him.
"No, you're not. You aren't sustaining your strength. Are you refusing to drink blood?"
Quinn grimaced. "Whenever I can."
Malcolm shook his head. "As distasteful as the thought might be for you, it is a necessary evil. It took me years to understand that simply because I ingested something my body required to survive, it didn't make me a lesser being. It didn't make me a monster."
"I feel like a monster." He felt Janie's silent and appraising gaze from the other side of the table.
"You're not." Malcolm patted his back. "You… and I… are a new breed. We are two of the few who have seen the world from both sides. As hunter and vampire. And we can use that knowledge to now find the Eye together."
"I just wish you could have contacted me. To tell me you were all right."
"And what if I had?" he asked. "What if I had called you one night to tell you I was in town? That I was alive, only now a vampire. What would you have done then?"
Quinn closed his eyes and shook his head.
"You would have killed me," Malcolm said bluntly. "Or you would have told people who would have done it for you. I had no choice. I had to leave and put as much distance between myself and my past as was possible. And I've done exactly that. I've had the past eight years to think and to plan." He held out his hand. "Give me the stone."
Janie reached over to grab it before Quinn could. He looked at her. "Janie—"
"I've had just about enough with this little Transylvanian family reunion," she snapped. "I want the Eye."
Malcolm raised an eyebrow and smiled patiently at her. "Whatever for?"
She stared at him. "Because it'll really go with my outfit."
His frowned and then glanced at Quinn before turning his attention fully on Janie. "You're a mercenary. I don't know why I didn't spot it before." He shook his head. "A beautiful woman such as yourself should not have chosen such a dangerous path. Whoever may have hired you will have to do without the Eye."
"We'll see about that, vampire." She smiled coldly at him.
"Indeed, we will. However, without the stone in your hand, I won't be able to find it for anyone." He held out his hand, palm side up.
She studied him for a long moment before finally, grudgingly, giving him the stone.
Malcolm held his other hand out to Quinn. "Now the letter, if you please."
Without hesitation, Quinn dug into his pocket and gave him the worn piece of paper.
Malcolm laid the paper flat on the table with the printed side down, smoothing it out. Then he went over to a cupboard and opened it up, reaching in to draw out another, matching piece of paper.
"What's that?" Quinn asked.
"Just another piece of the puzzle." He laid it next to the other piece.
"What do you mean?"
Malcolm smiled. "The true location of the Eye has been cloaked until now to any who would search for it—who wish to use its magic for their own gain. It requires two immortal beings—such as you and me—using this stone to reveal its true location. The Eye is out there, Quinn, in plain sight for those who don't wish to harness its powers but invisible to those who do. It's waiting for us."