The Onyx Talisman by Brenda Pandos Page A

became dry when my eyes zeroed in on the guy with a number one next to his picture. Cain. This wasn’t any grouping of people. We were looking at a vampire family tree.
    Dad moved aside the panel to reveal another behind it. He located Slide and put a red X over his face before he moved him to a different panel with at least a hundred X’ed out vampires. Then he left a sticky note for the other dusted vamp with a big question mark.
    “That’s how I track the exterminated ones, which doesn’t happen very often.” Dad pointed to a cluster of X’ed out vamps. “You’d think with their mentality and lifestyle, they’d be fighting amongst themselves all the time, but they don’t. Only one rogue hunter that we know of has been responsible for all these killings and these.” He pointed to one grouping, then his finger lingered on faces I recognized. Justin from my high school, and the rest of Alora’s coven: the twins: Angelina and Bettina, Toth, Adrian, Roland and Kim. I hadn’t known their names before this. All deceased. Phil’s picture was in the bunch.
    “Phil,” I breathlessly forced out.
    Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, honey. We know who did it.”
    I swallowed and traced the red line over his tanned smiling face, thankful he wasn’t being tracked on this wall anymore.
    “Who did it?” My heart galloped in anticipation of the answer as I quickly scanned the rest of the faces. Nicholas wasn’t on any of these lists.
    “They call him Dirty Harry. Even his own kind can’t seem to find him until it’s too late. He never leaves survivors.”
    Dad pointed to a nighttime shot of a person with sunglasses peering out from a dark alleyway. The description underneath read, Dirty Harry: brown hair, green or blue eyes, early to mid 20’s. Believed to be responsible for large exterminations in California, New York, Florida, Montana, Texas, and Mexico. Possibly from Delagrecha faction II.
    I chewed the inside of my lip to hold back a smile. “So, he’s a vampire, too?”
    “He has to be. There’s no other way to explain his powers. What’s strange is why he’d work on our side. He has to know about the ET unit and our work. And ironically, since I’ve moved us here, most of the exterminations have happened right in this area. Vamps come north and never return home. Scotts Valley, until just recently, has been the safest vamp-free place to live. But the most recent issues with your classmates had us a little worried they’d captured Dirty Harry.” Dad’s hand swept back to Phil and Justin’s faces.
    I blinked hard. Nowhere in Nicholas’ journal did he ever mention my father and his involvement with his extraterrestrial unit. His choice to live here was because of his commitment to protect me. Vampires flocked here in attraction to me. Maybe they were here to turn him in instead.
    I slid Nicholas’ panel aside and went back to Cain. Below him were five vampires, all bearing a roman numeral and their special powers. These were the royals.
     
    I. Myhail Volynski: genius, telepathic, telekinetic.
    II. Rachel Delagrecha: blue-eyed females are stronger than males, shape-shifting, can fly, telepathic, memory tampering.
    III. Sapphira Fotenos (deceased): element control, hypnosis.
    VI. Katherine Polkinghorn (deceased): shape-shifting, visual illusions.
    V. Helena Goehring: mind control.
     
    My chest jolted when I spotted Preston’s name directly under Rachel. He’d been sired directly by Rachel herself.
    Ia. Preston Kendrick: born: unknown, birthed: unknown, whereabouts: unknown, status: docile. Married to human Alora Kendrick (Wright)—born: August 28, 1955, died: March 22, 1977, last known whereabouts: Dallas, Texas.
    I closed my gapping mouth and regrouped. If he saw I recognized someone on this board other than Phil, he’d grill me big time.
    “How did you get a picture of Cain?” I quickly asked.
    Dad looked at me with apprehension. “How do you know about Cain actually?”
    My eyes shot