After All This Time

Chapter 28

24 Hours Prior

"Where the fuck could she be?" North asked as he paced the room.

"I don't know, we don't even know who that guy was," Kota shook his head. "Other than he is a very powerful hunter."

"But I thought we knew all the hunters," Victor said confused.

"He's not just a hunter," a voice said from behind the group.

"Uncle," North and Luke said at the same time as they watched him stroll into the room with such a sense of power it still continued to amaze them after all these years.

"Boys," He nodded. "To what do I owe the pleasure of you breaking into my house and then into my library?" He asked as he sat down on the couch. "Could it possibly have to due with the fact that your beloved has been kidnapped by the worst hunter there is after running from you for years due to North's idiotic stupidity and false rejection?"

"How did you know?" Luke asked completely dumbfounded.

Ben chuckled, "Boy, do you remember how you met her?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded, "We met when she was working at the bakery when—"

"We went to get your blueberry muffin, breakfast sandwich, and coffee," North finished. "You knew she was our beloved."

"Aye," Ben nodded. "Although I certainly didn't expect you to be stupid enough to falsely reject her."

"Sorry," North sighed defeatedly.

"How did you know she is ours?" Owen asked.

"Do you remember what I told you happens when you met your beloved when they are mortal?" Ben asked as he forced back a smirk watching them.

"You will feel a pull towards them that you don't even realize is happening and it will strength with each time you meet them," Luke repeated like he had said it a million times before. "We came back talking about her but that still doesn't explain how you already knew."

"Imagine my surprise when I found out the bakery owner's assistant was a purple moon half-blood. I knew purple moon half-bloods had multiple beloveds, so I had a suspicion that she was all of yours. As close as all of you are, it only made sense you would share a beloved, so I just put two and two together when you came back talking about the future doctor, it only seemed logical she was yours."

"So you knew what she was?" Kota asked and Ben nodded. "How did you know?"

"What do you know about purple moon half-bloods?" Ben asked.

"Well, purple moons are extremely rare," Victor shrugged. "Half bloods rarely make it to adult hood so a purple moon half-bloods are like unicorns."

"The book said on the rare occasion that the half blood that was born during a purple moon survives into adulthood and then meets their beloveds they will have the ability to go back and forth between mortal and vampire but only after being claimed by all their beloveds. After they are claimed by their beloveds a tattoo will appear and will only be complete upon being claimed by their last beloved. Once being claimed by all their beloveds the brand will be complete and the half blood will have the ability to shift between mortal and vampire with no repercussions. If they are rejected prior to being claimed they can still have the choice to shift or reject their vampire but if they accept then later reject and decide to become mortal the gene will break down slower than normal half bloods and will be ten times more painful. If they are not claimed by all their beloveds, for example one rejects the half blood but another accepts, they will still have the choice to transition but they will suffer if their rejected beloved chooses to claim another to love and will forever feel like a part of them is missing. All known cases of rejection have been documented to either chose death by mortality or suicide," Kota repeated from memory.

"Every baby that is born during a purple moon is recorded, every mortal, pure blood, every single infant," Ben explained, "and they are monitored through their lives. The babies that are found to be half bloods are watched from a distance. The ones that are purple moon babies are taught to keep their identities secret for their safety. Select few elders know of their identities."

"Because of hunters," Owen said and Ben nodded. "So who is this hunter? Why have we never known about him?"

"Because he is a pure blood and not mortal," Ben explained. "He is a rogue hunter at that. He used to work for the elders, doing their bidding, but once he found out he could do as he pleased by turning rogue, he did just that. He turned his back on the laws he used to uphold and started his own hunting spree. But instead of just killing them, he started collecting them. He decided to experiment on them, see how they differed from pure bloods, how they tasted different from mortals. He wanted to find out if he could get them to do his bidding, make them his personal little toys. He's set on collecting all the different types of vampires and hybrids and making them his."

"He won't do that to Jasmine," Luke glared. "He won't."

"But he already has her," Ben pointed out. "There's no telling what he's already done to her. He's who Madame Delphine LaLaurie got ideas from. They used to conspire together."

"Fucking hell," Gabe groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"How do we find her?" North asked. "Please Uncle."