Catherine's dossier was thorough.
Hawk remembered it well.
Deacon Frost didn't live alone.
Like Elani—the creep who slept in his church—Frost also bunked at his own base.
To be precise, a tower.
And not just him. You could say most of the Vampire Council's elite in New York City were shacked up in the same high-rise with Deacon Frost.
Charitably: Frost suffered with his fellow vampires.
Less charitably: the guy was scared to die.
He'd been scheming to replace the thirteen pure-blood elders for ages, stockpiling power in secret.
By now his faction was full-blown.
All he needed was to decode how to summon the Blood God, and he'd bare his fangs—usurping the thirteen pure-bloods.
Too bad—
That dream was about to die.
Because Hawk was now in play.
But—
After leaving the church, Hawk didn't jump straight into Frost's vampire tower.
Not because he didn't want to. Not because he couldn't.
But because—
Hawk appeared just outside the tower. He eyed the dark, silent building and the lifeless street before him, raised an eyebrow, then reached out to the empty air ahead.
The next second—
His right hand seemed to pass straight through the air.
At the same time—
"Ping!"
"Ma'am, someone just pierced the masking field."
"What?"
Leaning against a S.H.I.E.L.D. command truck outside the vampire tower, Sharon Carter—who'd been planning a breach to rescue Eric Brooks—rushed to the agent running the perimeter-sensor grid and looked at the screen.
On it:
A 3D dome-like energy shell covered a two-hundred-meter diameter centered on the tower.
A moment earlier, a ripple had crossed the masking layer.
But now—
The agent who had called her over stared at the display, baffled.
"It's gone?"
"Right there—just now."
Sharon frowned.
And then—
A voice sounded behind her.
Hawk, standing at her back, leaned in to follow her gaze at the screen. "What is that—a perception veil like Wakanda's?"
Sharon heard the familiar voice and turned on instinct.
Thunk!
"Hss!"
She clutched her forehead—she'd smacked it on Hawk's chin—sucking in a breath, then looked up at him with a mix of pain and delight. "Hawk? What are you doing here?"
He smiled.
"You don't know?"
"Did something happen?"
Still rubbing her forehead, Sharon watched him.
Hawk took in her genuine confusion, lifted an eyebrow, and glanced ahead at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents encircling the tower and the fanged silhouettes inside glowering back. Then he looked at Sharon again.
"What are you doing here?"
"Eric Brooks!"
"He's Blade—an off-the-books asset for S.H.I.E.L.D. We intercepted intel that the vampire leader Deacon Frost is trying to summon the Blood God. So we teamed up with Blade. Yesterday he went dark—likely captured and taken inside."
Sharon summarized as she massaged the bump, then, once the sting faded, lowered her hand and blinked at Hawk, curious. "Right—and you're here because…?"
S.H.I.E.L.D. kept tabs on Hawk, but not like they did Bruce Banner.
Their relationship with Hawk was solid, and Director Maria Hill, Commander Victoria Hand, and New York's top agent, Sharon Carter, all wanted to keep it that way.
So they didn't watch him 24/7.
They only pinged Sharon when a satellite flagged one of Hawk's energy signatures.
If Gwen and Hawk were in the same city, they didn't even assign a protective detail to Gwen.
Only when Hawk left New York would agents quietly cover Gwen—without disturbing her life.
Keep a respectful distance—that was the policy.
Usually, Sharon just met up with Gwen, stayed in touch, did a little shopping.
But the last half-month had been busy.
Because their off-the-books agent Blade passed on a tip: Deacon Frost, head of New York's vampire council, was collecting the Book of Blood.
No idea why, but Sharon's gut screamed the vamps were about to make a move.
So yes—she truly didn't know why Hawk showed up tonight.
Still…
She joked, "Don't tell me you came to help us."
Hawk met the glimmer of hope in her teasing eyes and smiled.
"George turned into a vampire."
"?"
A question mark practically floated over Sharon's head. Her smile froze.
Hawk shrugged.
"The hand behind it was the Crimson Apocalypse. The boss behind them is Deacon Frost. I just erased the Crimson Apocalypse—that's why I'm here."
"Didn't expect…"
He smiled at Sharon.
"…to run into you."
"Hss!"
Sharon shook off the shock and looked at him. "I'm sorry—this was—"
"What's it got to do with you?"
Hawk cut off her reflex apology with a grin. "It's not like you did it. And George being a vampire isn't all bad."
Sharon blinked.
Hawk smiled at her. "At least Gwen won't have to worry that one day, during a shift, George might not make it home."
As a human, George was fragile. He liked to command big cases from the front—smuggling rings and the like. One stray bullet from some thug and it could be game over.
As a vampire? Not so much.
Honestly—
George wouldn't even need a vest now. He could stand up front and be everyone else's vest.
Assuming he didn't mind outing himself as a vampire.
Bottom line:
Human George—thin skin, low blood.
Vampire George—thick hide, hard to kill.
Gwen would never have to fear a sudden call about her dad again.
From that angle, it was good news. Going forward, Gwen only had to worry about one person—Hawk—instead of sharing that worry with George.
So Hawk thought.
Sharon's expression turned… complicated.
Hawk caught the look.
"You're not thinking I did this on purpose to turn George, are you?"
"Ah—what? No, of course not."
She froze, then shook her head like a rattle drum.
Hawk's brow ticked up.
"Really?"
"Really."
Sharon pressed her lips, then shifted topics, serious again. "Hold on—S.H.I.E.L.D. has had this building ringed since the afternoon. Frost and his vamps had no chance to leave."
Hawk shrugged.
"This was a week ago."
"A week—"
Her eyes went wide again.
Hawk read her face at a glance and answered the unasked question. "Not me. Someone wanted to play detective. It went sideways today. I only stepped in half an hour ago."
Sharon exhaled, understanding dawning.
No need to ask who "someone" was. Gwen, of course.
That tracked.
She'd wondered about that. With Hawk's temperament, if George turned half an hour ago, then half an hour later every vampire in New York would be hunting whoever caused it—
If they didn't want to be extinct.
Sharon looked back at the tower behind the S.H.I.E.L.D. cordon, then at Hawk.
"So… should I pull my people back?"
"You can."
He saw that spark of excitement and expectation in her eyes and smiled. "Honestly—even without this, if you called, I'd have come."
She waved to her aide to relay the order to withdraw from the tower entrance and shook her head.
"We considered calling you."
"And?"
"They're just vampires. Bringing you would feel like using a nuke on a mosquito."
"Funny—someone else thought the same way."
Hawk's mouth quirked. "Then she flipped the car. Looks like you did too."
Meeting his eyes, Sharon gave a wry smile, then drew a deep breath.
"Next time, I'll call you first."
"No problem."
Hawk nodded. "Call me—or Gwen. Once I know, I'll come."
Sharon nodded.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Friends."
Hawk turned his gaze to the agents peeling back from the tower doors.
Sharon remembered something.
"Right—Hawk. There's someone inside. Not—well, not human. A vampire—no, he's—"
"Half human, half vampire. Eric Brooks, right?"
"…Yeah, he's—"
"Your guy."
Hawk chuckled. "Relax. I won't kill him—if he's alive."
Sharon answered with a small "Mm," then saw Hawk lift a foot to move.
"Wait, Hawk."
"Something else?"
"Yeah."
She nodded, clasped her hands, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "It's night. This masking field—our lab's only reproduced about seventy percent of its function. Please keep it… quieter. If it gets too big, cleanup is a nightmare."
Hawk looked at her earnest face and shook his head, smiling.
"Okay, I'll try. Anything else?"
"That's it. Be careful, Hawk."
"Don't worry."
He smiled, turned, and stepped forward—
And vanished from Sharon's sight.
…
(End of Chapter)
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