Chapter 1: Mirage

The screaming was loud and—she had to admit—annoying as hell. She reached down, pulling her weapon from the holster and cocking it, smiling when the ready light shone green. She ignored the sudden static buzz from her communicator and headed into the deserted factory.

It was as they'd been warned, a factory full of vampires and their victims. Blood and bodies were everywhere. Usually this wouldn't bother her in the least and she would go in and take out all of them, but this time, some of those bodies were the targets and she had to check each one out carefully.

She took careful aim and squeezed the trigger, watching the green ray slam against the blacked out windows. It made them glow for a quick instant and then the glass exploded outward, allowing the beautiful golden rays of the sun to shine inside.

There was screaming and then a swift poof as one of the Vampires caught on fire. She watched as the panicked running began and the Vampires searched frantically for somewhere that the sun couldn't touch them. She had her weapon cocked on her shoulder and she fired with a subtle thoroughness that began to clean out the survivors.

There was a loud scream from right behind her and she turned, leading with her weapon. The girl was hideous, her skin falling off her body, huge pustules growing and then bursting and the sun shimmered on her skin. She reached for Mirage who just smiled, letting the horrid beast touch her skin.

The buzz of the madness sounded loudly in her ears despite the horror going on around her. She tried to ignore it as the monster next to her dropped her arm as if it were on fire. She began to jabber, her words making no sense, and her fingers dug into what little skin was left, tearing at it. She turned to run and stepped right into one of the rays of sunshine, standing there as the power of the sun finally finished her off.

Mirage shook her head. "Stupid blood sucker. No one can touch me and stay sane." She snapped a few last shots then turned when the door of the factory burst open. Seeing the rest of her team standing there, she shrugged her slender shoulders, shaking her head. "Just like you, Hunter. Always too late for the party."

"Mira, honey, you can be the biggest bitch sometimes. You ever thought that maybe you need to get laid?" Hunter, the tallest of the group, stepped inside, lifting his own weapon to blast at another of the vampires who was trying to sneak out. "Damn, girl do you think just for once, you could clean up your own mess?"

"And wreck your chance at proving you're the King of the hunters?" She smirked over at him, her green eyes sparkling even as she pushed her hand through her short white blonde hair. She didn't wear the normal dark gray leather ASP uniform. Instead, she wore tight white leather pants that flared at the ankles. They were hip huggers, a thick white belt molding the band at her middle, leaving a good four inches of bare, tan skin at her waist. Her top was a tight white leather vest that zipped in the front. It molded across her breasts, the zipper left down far enough to show off the beautiful curves of her upper breasts.

It was far from ASP regulation wear but Mirage did what she wanted most of the time. She listened to her team leader, Dianna and worked with her other team members, Hunter and Beast, but she had a reputation of not playing well with others or with sharing her toys. Shadow, the Director of ASP here in the east, dealt with Mirage because she had a reputation of getting the job done and not bitching about the shit jobs. Since Dianna managed to reel her in and keep her from becoming too outrageous, she was dealt with.

Mirage had an entire file of complaints that had been filed about her and against her. She'd been busted from team leader more than once and had to go up in front of the council more than any other member of ASP. But in the end, she'd always been reinstated because she got the job done and she didn't bitch ... well, too much.

A tug on her hair had her head coming up to glare at Hunter. He got closer than any being had a right to, than any being should with the curse that the gods had left on her. An enduring sadness shone in her beautiful eyes for just a second before she shrugged it off. "What the fuck, Hunter? Are you trying to spend the rest of your life walking into walls?"

He tugged on her hair again, just to watch her wheel around and glare at him. With a wide grin, he followed Dianna further into the building, sending back a wink in her direction. She scowled at him, her fingers twitching on the barrel of her weapon.

Beast, who stood almost as tall as Hunter, growled in her direction, cocking his furry head to indicate she should follow them and then headed that way himself. He fired his weapon at another Vampire, a strange, high-pitched yowling noise coming from his mouth when the Vampire turned to ash.

"Quit bragging, Beast." Dianna called back the words as she opened another door that led deeper into the factory. "Mirage! Get in here!"

Mirage glanced around the room, shooting one last Vampire before heading into the interior. She could hear the sound of the blasters from just outside the door and she smiled, hurrying now that there was more "clean-up" to be done.

Dianna and Beast were back to back, Hunter was off to the side. The vampires were beginning to pile up, until one would burst into flame, taking the others with it. Mirage sighted, pulling the trigger and taking out her own targets until finally the factory was cleared, the Vampires little more than soot in the breeze and the humans that were left had been taken out by clean up.

Mirage stood, her hand on the butt of her blaster where it rested against her side. She glared at Hunter as he walked up to her side. "You're damn lucky, Mira love. Dianna's finally calmed down Shadow so it looks like he's not going to suspend you one more time. He doesn't take it so well when you walk into a Factory full of Vampire with no back-up."

"You three got here quick enough. I was in no danger." She smirked. "As if I'd be in any danger anyway. They can't touch me, Hunter, you know that."

"A blaster doesn't have to touch you, Mira. One of these days, you're going to find someone who will be able to touch you and I plan on paying them to kick your ass for me." Hunter reached out and twirled a lock of her silky white-blonde hair around his finger. "Then I might watch as he fucks you silly. I think you need someone to fuck you silly, Mira. You're just too damn cocky and sure of yourself."

"I haven't been fucked in over three thousand years, Hunter. Trust me, no man can touch me. Just getting close enough to fuck me would have them turning into drooling fools." She snarled the words before closing her gorgeous green eyes and hiding the pain that filled them. Hunter didn't know of the curse or of the reason it was put on her. He didn't know about the ancient gods and the horrid things that they would do when they thought they were being slighted or made fun of.

He wouldn't know that they'd forced her to watch as her beloved husband was killed, torturously slow until he screamed out his hatred of those gods. He wasn't forced to watch as her daughter, her one and only baby who'd only reached six years of age was killed, screaming in agony. Her shrill cries for her 'Mama' still rang harshly in Mirage's dreams.

"Then it sure as hell is time." Hunter stepped even closer and she felt the heat of his breath against her skin. She growled and took a step back, her hand going to the butt of her blaster. Hunter grinned, raising his hands in defeat. "I give, okay? Don't shoot me."

The anger in her eyes would have killed him dead and she turned without saying a word, heading for the door and her ride back to ASP headquarters.

Hunter grinned as Dianna walked up to him, then flinched as she smacked him across the back of his head. "Hey, what the hell was that for?"

"For being such a dick," Dianna said easily. "You know better than pushing her like that. You're lucky she managed to hang on to her temper."

"She needs to get shaken up a bit. She takes way too many chances. I mean, we're all on the same team, aren't we?" He ducked again when he saw her eyes but instead of smacking him, she reached out and tugged on his dark hair.

"Have you ever wondered why she takes those chances Hunter? Or why it irritates you so badly that she does?" Dianna glanced up as Beast came over to lean against the wall next to Hunter. He opened his mouth, letting out a loud yowl, as if he were agreeing with whatever Dianna was going to say next.

"And what the hell would you know about it, you hairy bastard," Hunter growled at Beast.

Beast glanced at Dianna and then back at Hunter, shrugging his furry gray shoulders. He leaned his arm against the shorter Dianna and looked down at her.

"He knows more than you might think, Hunter. We both do. I know first of all, that you bad mouth her because you're afraid she's going to get hurt. You get on her case like you do because you're afraid what it would do to you if anything happened to her." Dianna grinned up and into Hunter's stunned features. "Don't even try to deny it, boy."

"I won't deny it, Dianna. I'll just say one thing. You and the furry boy here need to quit putting meaning into things that have no meaning." He nodded once and then headed toward the door and the SUV that was waiting for them outside.

Dianna chuckled as she watched him walk out, hearing the growling gibberish that Beast emitted. "Yeah but he'll learn." She put her arm around Beast's wide shoulders. "Our little boy's growing up."

Beast's harsh, grumbling laughter echoed through the room and they walked out of the Factory. Dianna laughed even harder as she saw Mirage settled into the back seat of the car and Hunter with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the back end of the SUV. As soon as he saw them, he went to the front seat and climbed in behind the steering wheel.

"Are you two done? Or did you have some other kind of nonsense you felt like spouting?"

Beast snorted but Dianna just glanced at Hunter, climbing into the passenger seat beside him. "It's not nonsense. But I'll wait for you to come to that conclusion on your own." She sat back, relaxing as the truck moved under Beast's weight and then jerked as Hunter stepped on the accelerator a bit too hard. "Acting like an ass isn't going to change my opinion."

"What opinion?" Mira asked, grabbing hold of the 'oh shit' strap on her side of the SUV. Beast might look soft but bumping into him would do the same thing to him that touching her hand down to the hoary Vampire earlier that evening. She happened to like Beast, though he never knew when to shut his damn mouth, and she didn't want to see him hurt.

Before Dianna could spin any stories for Mirage, Hunter spoke up. "They think I'm in love with you."