Beth glanced to Kira and shook her head with a small smile. Somehow the girl managed to make her plea sound like a royal command. That was a skill, and one Odilia apparently responded to, because she complied.
“I was turned in 1852 when a rogue immortal invaded our home one night while we were sleeping. I was ten,” the woman said, gaining Beth’s full attention as she realized that they were contemporaries of a sort. Beth might have been turned forty years later than Odilia, but she had also been forty years older. They had been born the same year. And the year Odilia had been turned was the year Beth’s father had sold her to a brothel.
“He roused the whole house,” Odilia continued. “And then he killed every living soul one after another—my parents, my sisters, and every last servant. He left me for last, and attacked me just as viciously as the others so that at first I felt sure I should soon join them. However, at the last moment he forced his blood on me and then left me lying in my own blood and that of my loved ones, to turn while he just walked out the door and disappeared—poof.” Odilia snapped her fingers to illustrate how quickly he’d left her life. “I woke up after several days of excruciating pain and wandered outside in search of help. Fortunately, Scotty and Magnus found me before I did anything that could make me rogue too.
“Of course, I couldn’t return to my home or my old life. I needed to be taught how to feed without harming my host, and how to hide what I was. Scotty took me in and helped me through my transition. He became my guardian. And then later, when I showed interest in becoming a hunter, he trained me to be one. I have been on his team ever since,” Odilia ended simply.
“This rogue was a monster,” Kira said, sitting back in her seat, her eyes wide. “I thought my father the only monster, but it seems there are worse monsters out there even than him.”
“Many, many monsters,” Beth said solemnly. “That is why Rogue Hunters are needed.”
Kira glanced to her, curiosity filling her expression. “And you, Beth? How were you turned? It was a rogue too, da?”
“Da,” she murmured and then said, “Oddly enough, it is a story very similar to Odilia’s.” Beth smiled at the other woman as she said that and received a tight smile in return. She’d found the woman a little standoffish since coming in from the garage that morning. At the time, Beth hadn’t known if it was just the hunter’s personality or if she’d taken an instant dislike to her for some reason. Now Beth wondered if perhaps the woman disapproved of what she and Scotty had got up to in the garage. Or perhaps Odilia didn’t think she was good enough for Scotty. He had basically adopted the other woman as a child and raised her. She supposed the woman could be protective of him and not think Beth good enough for the man who was like a father to her. But then, how else would Odilia feel? Scotty apparently didn’t think her good enough either . . . well, for anything but sex.
Pushing these thoughts away as unproductive, Beth explained, “As with Odilia’s family, a rogue entered our home one night and attacked each of us in turn. Only, he turned every one of us. Like her, we were left lying in our own blood to turn. But once those dark days were over, he hadn’t disappeared. He was there to tell us that we were his now, and that he expected us to lure men to the house to murder and rob them.”
“Did you do it?” Kira asked, wide-eyed.
Beth shook her head. “I couldn’t. I fled to find a friend for help, Alexandrina Argenis. She had been in our lives for many years by then, and we all knew that she was an immortal and what that meant, so I knew she could help. Unfortunately, by the time I found her I was in a bad way. She took care of me and helped me recover. Once I was cogent enough to recall the women at the house, I told her and we returned at once, but by then two weeks had passed and it was too late. They’d gone mad under this rogue’s abuses and had been attacking mortals, feeding off and killing them since my leaving. They were beyond help and immediately attacked us. As with Odilia, Scotty and his men saved us, but we did not stay with him. Drina was immortal-born. She took me to her family in Spain to help me through the transition. I was adopted into her family, and we trained together to become Rogue Hunters.”
Kira sat back with a gusty sigh. “These rogues, they are bad news. I think I will enjoy helping to stop them.”
Beth smiled at the words. “It can be satisfying work. Especially when you are able to save would-be victims.”
“Da. No doubt.” Kira nodded and then peered at her solemnly and admitted, “I suspected you were not an Argenis by birth. It is your eyes. They are green with gold rather than blue with silver. All Argeneaus, whether they go by the name Argenis, Argent, Argentum, or Argeneau, have blue and silver . . . or at least the silver.”
Beth merely nodded.
“What was your last name before you became Argenis?” Kira asked with interest.
“Sheppard,” Beth answered, surprised to find she had to think to recall it. The name even felt odd on her tongue. But then, she had carried the name Argenis more than twice as long as she had the name Sheppard. And Beth hadn’t felt at all bad at shedding her father’s name in the first place. While she had loved her mother, as far as Beth was concerned, she wanted no reminder or attachment to her father, even in name.
“Our footman’s name was Sheppard,” Odilia said now with surprise, and then added solemnly, “He was a good man. He tried to protect my mother from the rogue. Of course he couldn’t, and died horribly for the effort,” she finished, and then glanced at Beth curiously and asked, “Do you think he could have been a relation?”
“I don’t know,” Beth admitted. “I don’t recall having any family besides my parents and sisters, but he could have been related, I suppose.”
Odilia nodded and then tilted her head and commented, “You are rubbing your stomach. Do you need blood?”
“Probably,” Beth admitted with a grimace. “And food wouldn’t hurt either.”
“Do they keep blood on the plane?” Kira asked, glancing toward the kitchenette.
“Yes, I think so,” Beth said and stood to head for the galley, thinking she really should have taken the time to grab something to eat before leaving for the airfield. She’d intended to, but by the time she’d showered, changed and gathered her things together, Matias had been insisting it was time to go.
Stepping into the kitchenette, Beth glanced around at the wood grain cupboard doors, wondering which if any was the refrigerator, and then she just started opening them one after the other in search of blood, crackers or—hell—even peanuts or pretzels. She hadn’t eaten since the pizza Friday night. Well, technically, Saturday morning, she supposed. Now it was Sunday afternoon and she was famished.