Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

I raised an eyebrow. "Can you think of a more appropriate entry point for the dead and half-dead?"

His soft laugh sent tremors of desire skimming my skin. "No one in his right mind would ever call you half-dead."

I grinned. "You were pretty lively yourself, too."

"And will be again, once we get this little jaunt over and done with."

I couldn't wait. I folded the plans and threw them on the backseat. "So, tell me, why can't Jack stop you? Is it simply an age thing?"

"And the hierarchy system."

"Vampires have a hierarchy?"

He glanced at me. "Of course. The older the vampire, the more powerful he is. Having a power system in place prevents an all-out war - which wouldn't be good for any race."

That was an understatement if ever I'd heard one. "Meaning the pecking order is merely a matter of waiting for those above to keel over?"

"Crudely put, but yes."

"So what's to stop an underling aiding that event?"

"The wrath of the others that would fall on him or her if it happened."

I couldn't see how that was going to prevent unexplained deaths, especially if the one bumping off the hierarchy was more powerful than everyone else. But then, vampires generally didn't think like the rest of us. "Where do you stand in the pecking order?"

"There are three above me."

"And I'm guessing Director Hunter is one of them? That's why you phoned her - a vampire professional courtesy."

He nodded. I frowned. "Jack said he was her brother - but if she's older than you, and he's younger, how can that be the case?"

He shrugged. "Madrilene and Jack come from shifter stock, and shifters, like werewolves, are extremely long-lived. Perhaps Jack didn't turn until near the end of his life."

My frown deepened. "Madrilene? Do you mean Alex?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "Madrilene is the name she used when we first met."

"Meaning vamps change names over the years?"

"Yes. And yes, I have also."

"So Quinn is not your birth name?"

"First name, no. But Quinn is the anglicized form of my Irish surname, O'Cuinn."

"Interesting." But it wasn't doing anything to explain how Jack could be just over eight hundred years old and Director Hunter more than Quinn's twelve hundred. By my reckoning, there was at least a century unaccounted for, shifter stock or not. But obviously, Quinn wasn't going to explain it. If I wanted answers, I'd have to ask the source. And whether he'd explain or not was another matter

"Given what you said about the vampire hierarchy, and the fact that you're older and stronger than Jack is, what's stopping you from putting commands into his mind?"

"He's strong enough to keep me from controlling him. I could overwhelm him and kill him, mentally and physically, but I don't have the strength to keep him under my control."

"Of course, I only have your word on that."

"My word not good enough?"

"A question I can't answer as I don't really know you." I crossed my arms, for a moment regarding the rain-washed road ahead. "Why are you going so determinedly after the people behind the cloning?"

"Jack's already told you - the source material was a friend of mine."