The Falls (The Searchers Book 3)

by Jessica Marting

  He took her hand in his and firmly slid it up and down. “Like that.”

  She did so, and he let go of her hand and lay back against the pillows. Violet’s hand slid up his length, squeezing a little at the top as he’d wordlessly instructed her to. She felt a little heady in the power that he’d just given her, the trust he’d placed in her.

  “Faster,” he said, his voice a strangled gasp.

  She obliged, and he moaned, his body tensing under her grip. A growl finally escaped him and he came, sticky wetness coating her fingers. A thrill shot through Violet at the sight, that she could have this effect on him.

  He didn’t stay abed for long, though. He quickly got up and fetched a wet cloth from the washstand in the corner to clean them both off. When he came back to bed, he collected her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Thank you.”

  Violet snuggled against him and threw an arm across his chest.

  She could definitely get used to this.

  Chapter Six

  Samuel woke before Violet but didn’t move to get out of bed. Instead, he watched her breathe and the slight flutter of her closed eyelids as she dreamed. There was a look of contentment, of peace, on her face that wasn’t usually there when she was awake.

  It was such a shame that after this investigation was over, he was leaving.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he connected with anyone, Searcher or not, in his life. Violet was special, and he was going to miss her terribly.

  She stirred and her green eyes blinked, focusing on Samuel. A blush stained her cheeks. “Good morning,” she said. “Afternoon. Whatever it is right now.”

  Samuel leaned over and kissed her. A small gasp of surprise escaped her, but she responded, the gesture heating his blood. He forced himself to break away; they had other, less enjoyable activities to take care of today, starting with meeting the Burgesses at the airfield. “We have to get out of bed,” he said, regret in his voice.

  “I know.” Her voice betrayed her disappointment with their situation. “Let’s find Tremblay and start staking the rest of those vampires. It’s odd that he didn’t leave us a note this morning.”

  Samuel didn’t want to think about Frederick Tremblay. Or the Burgesses, for that matter, but there wasn’t much choice to be had in the matter. When it came down to it, he and Violet would always put duty before pleasure. It was a depressing thought, but important if the rest of the human race didn’t end up as vampire bait.

  He tried to reassure her. “I’m sure Tremblay is fine.”

  She didn’t seem convinced. She crawled out of bed and shook out her hair. “I don’t know, Sam. He was hunting alone in unfamiliar territory. I have a bad feeling about all of this. It’s odd and out of character for him.”

  “I don’t wish to cast blame,” Samuel said, but Violet shook her head and cut him off.

  “He shouldn’t be hunting alone,” she said. “I know. I don’t think the Canadians have realized the gravity of the vampire problem. There used to be so few here.” She blew out a frustrated sigh. “Let’s get dressed and find Ed and Molly.”

  ****

  The sight of Edgar and Molly Burgess, waiting patiently at the same station the trolley had left her and Samuel days ago, warmed Violet’s heart. She hugged each, holding on a little longer than she normally would, grateful to have some familiar people around her. Not that Samuel wasn’t familiar—he certainly was now—but he left her nerves jangled in a way she’d never experienced before. Jangled nerves did not go well with a professional vampire slayer. Besides, she missed her friends.

  “Thank God you’re here,” Violet said by way of greeting.

  “It’s a little quiet in New York without Ada, so we’re happy to help,” Edgar said. “We came here for our honeymoon but didn’t have a chance to see the falls.”

  “Ed!” Molly looked shocked at his words. Color stained her cheeks in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

  Samuel also looked a little scandalized at Edgar’s remark, but didn’t say anything.

  Neither had much luggage, and they walked out of the trolley station toward the hotel. Afternoon sun warmed them marginally, but it was better than the bone-deep chill that permeated Niagara Falls at night. Violet appreciated the warmth, as mild as it was. “Frederick Tremblay appears to have gone missing,” she said. She and Samuel had sent a cable to his hotel in St. Catharines that morning and nothing came of it. She was now officially worried about him.

  Edgar thought for a moment. “Canadian liaison? The name sounds familiar.”

  “Ada probably invited him to the wedding. Yes, from the Montreal branch. He’s been hunting alone in St. Catharines since we arrived.”

  “Dangerous and impractical,” Edgar said.

  “I know.” Violet hoped Tremblay had simply forgotten to check in with her and Samuel, that the telegraph lines connecting Niagara Falls and St. Catharines were down, anything.

  Do you really believe Tremblay would actually forget to check in with you?

  “How bad is the infestation?” asked Molly. “Not that I can do that much to help with it, but I like to stay informed.”

  Edgar’s wife was only recently made aware of the existence of vampires, and since their marriage worked as a secretary for the New York branch. She didn’t have anything in the way of field training, and Violet knew she would be staying at the hotel while they went out hunting at night. How she could do that while Edgar worked, Violet didn’t know.

  “You can sense nests of newly-turned vampires as we get closer to residences,” Samuel said. “We staked a cellar full of them a couple of days ago. There’s at least one more major one somewhere in town, and we need help to extinguish them all.”

  “Can you sense them?” Violet asked Edgar.

  He cocked his head to the side, as if listening for them. “My sense isn’t quite as strong as Ada’s,” he said.

  “Nonsense,” said Violet.

  “It’s not as strong as Ada’s, but I’m picking it up,” he said. “It feels like it’s been muted somehow.”

  “Because they’re underground,” Violet said.

  “It’s going to be a pain in the rear to track them down, then,” Molly said.

  “It is, and there’s enough nighttime activity to keep us up at all hours,” Samuel said. Violet could hear frustration in his voice.

  “Let’s check into that hotel,” Edgar said. “Then we’ll start hunting.”

  It wasn’t going to be as simple as Edgar thought. “This is a smaller town,” Violet said. “Strangers don’t often wander away from the falls’ vicinity. People notice when strangers are skulking around their neighbors’ gardens.” That hadn’t happened yet, aside from meeting the Greaves brothers at the haunted house, but it was only a matter of time. “People are likelier to know and trust their neighbors as well.”

  “We’ll make it work,” Edgar said, determination in his voice.

  They were quiet during the short walk to the hotel, although Violet noticed Edgar and Molly exchanging the occasional adoring look between them. Newlyweds, she thought, then remembered another couple. “How are Ada and Max? Have you heard from them?”

  “She sent us a cable a couple of days ago,” Edgar said. “It just said that she and Max arrived safely in California and the weather was lovely. That’s it. I don’t think either of them have been hunting while they’re there.”

  Knowing Ada, that meant she hadn’t found any to stake. She wasn’t one to take a holiday, not if there was a vampire in her vicinity. She would have found a way to communicate that through code had she or Max found any.

  Violet was relieved to hear her friend was actually enjoying some time off. She’d tried to do that, when she made that trip to Dresden last spring, and ended up chasing vampires across Europe. Of course, she’d also met Max in the process, so the holiday hadn’t entirely revolved around stakes and bloodshed.

  Edgar and Molly were booked in a room on the same floor as Violet and
Samuel, and they waited while the other couple put their bags away. While Edgar and Samuel talked about the likeliest places to find another vampire nest that afternoon, Molly ushered Violet into a corner on the opposite side of the room.

  “How are you getting on?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

  Violet was taken aback at the question, unused to personal queries about her life. But she knew Molly meant well, and it had been so long since Violet confided in anyone. Still, she chose her words carefully. “It’s going well,” she said.

  “Violet, I’m not blind,” she said. “I saw the way you two are looking at each other, and even though he’d never say anything about it to your faces, I’m certain Ed’s noticed, as well.”

  How could she describe the whirlwind of emotions that tore through her whenever she looked at Samuel, how confusing all of that was? Violet hadn’t expected to ever feel that way about anyone again, not since she’d bid adieu to Geoffrey Bailey all those years ago. She’d chosen duty over pleasure, and never questioned that decision until now.

  And she really shouldn’t be questioning that decision, anyway. She’d known Samuel for a couple of weeks. It was impossible to know if they had a future together when they’d known each other for such a short time, wasn’t it?

  Why are you even considering a future with a man you’ve barely met, Violet? You have more sense than that!

  Molly was still waiting for an answer. “You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “Just remember that if you feel like talking about it, I’m always willing to listen.”

  “It’s complicated,” Violet said, her voice a harsh whisper. “He’s a fine Searcher.”

  A fine Searcher who would return to London after they’d taken care of the vampire issue in Niagara Falls.

  The understanding on Molly’s face was her undoing, though, and after a quick, furtive glance at the men to make sure they weren’t listening, she said, “I like him very much. More than I should. And that’s all it should come to, really.”

  “You don’t believe you deserve some happiness with someone else?”

  When she put it that way… “It’s never been something I’ve seriously considered,” Violet said. At least not since she left college.

  Before Molly could respond, Edgar spoke up. “It’ll be getting dark soon,” he said. “Why don’t we have some supper, and then start hunting?”

  Violet was relieved at the change of subject, unsure how to put her feelings into words. “Of course,” she said. “Samuel, please lead on.”

  ****

  It wasn’t quite as bitingly cold when they left the hotel to hunt, but Samuel knew that would change as night continued to fall. Violet left instructions at the front desk to refer any correspondence to Molly, who waited behind in the room she shared with Edgar. But Samuel’s suspicions about Fred Tremblay were growing more sinister with each minute they didn’t hear from him.

  The lack of communication from Tremblay wasn’t his only concern. Violet was as well, and certainly the hurriedly whispered conversation between her and Molly gave him pause. He knew they were talking about him, and while Samuel didn’t usually indulge in gossip, he was curious about what Violet told her friend. Molly and Edgar were observant, a necessary trait for successful vampire hunters, but right now that attribute put him on edge. He really needed to be more careful about not making calf eyes at her in the presence of others, if that’s what he’d been doing.

  Damn it, he liked her. He respected her. And he was going to miss her like hell when he went home.

  He shook his head a little as if to clear away the distraction that Violet presented. He had a job to do right now, and he could not let his concentration be diverted by remembering what she tasted like, the soft noises she made when he touched her…

  God damn it, Seecombe, pull yourself together!

  Tremblay, he reminded himself. They needed to find Tremblay tonight, assuming the Canadian Searcher was still alive. Samuel immediately sobered. As much as he knew Violet hoped otherwise, he didn’t have a good feeling about Tremblay’s disappearance.

  But could he trust his intuition again? He hadn’t really since Radcliffe’s death.

  He heard a gust of wind picking up speed nearby and took a deep breath to prepare himself for it. Even so, the sensation of icy air against his face still stole the breath from his lungs. How could people tolerate these conditions?

  He sneaked a glance at the others, who looked just as shocked by the cold as he was. Perhaps it wasn’t just him.

  Chapter Seven

  It was half past eight when the three of them sensed something nearby, an odd sensation that Violet hadn’t really experienced before. She could tell that it was more than one monster somewhere in one of these dilapidated houses, but her sense felt … muted, almost. As if it had been turned down like a lamp’s flame.

  Samuel and Edgar wore matching confused expressions on their faces. Already guessing the answer, she said, “Can you feel that?”

  “I’ll be damned if I can tell why I feel like this,” Edgar said. “Never had this happen before.”

  “Me, neither,” said Samuel. “I have a feeling there’s something over there.” He pointed a gloved hand at a shuttered house.

  The neighborhood they’d walked to in the freezing cold was on the very edge of town, a small street whose houses looked totally abandoned. There were footprints in the snow, some of booted feet and others bare, another sure sign that vampires were nearby. She guessed that in the summers the yards would be overgrown with weeds and the whole street would look incredibly eerie, a sight that would give the city-dwelling Violet the willies. It was the kind of place conscientious parents warned their children never to play in. She was an adult, an experienced monster hunter, and she still felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

  There was probably a group of vampires nearby, she thought, but they were a group as well. There wasn’t any ice or rolling water beneath her to cause her to lose her footing today, nor was she facing this threat alone.

  The house Samuel pointed to was entirely boarded up, including the front door. They checked the back of the house and found the cellar door splintered around the handle, as if someone had tried to break in, and a shiny new lock held it fast. The snow around the door had been stomped around in without having been cleared away.

  Dread kept slithering down Violet’s spine, and with it, the metallic taste of fear in her mouth. She had an inexplicable urge to run away, that whatever was hiding in this house was a million times worse than anything else she’d seen before.

  “I think we should enter through the front door,” said Samuel, not bothering to hide the uncertainty in his own voice.

  Uncertainty. Not fear. Violet would not be able to bear it if he was just as afraid as she was.

  Stop being frightened! Whatever’s in that house, you’ve killed their kind before!

  Edgar nodded, and Violet found herself doing the same. “We’ll break in through the front door,” he said. “We’ll stay together, all right? It isn’t safe for two of us to pair off and another to go alone.”

  Samuel visibly blanched at the idea, and Violet knew he was thinking about poor Radcliffe.

  Edgar and Samuel easily popped off the boards nailed over the door and left them on the porch. Samuel tested the rusty doorknob, its loud squeak of protest making all of them wince.

  Violet looked up and down the deserted street out of habit but didn’t see anyone.

  A black shape zipped across the darkening sky across the street. It grazed the rotting roofs of the houses. “Sam, Ed,” Violet said urgently. “I just saw a bat.”

  “Damn,” said Edgar. He pushed his shoulder against the doorframe. “The lock’s nearly rusted out. Give me a minute.” He threw all of his weight against the door and it swung open, banging against the wall.

  Violet squinted at the foyer’s darkness.

  “Fuck!”

  The voice
was familiar, and Violet’s stomach turned over.

  Beside her, Samuel paled. “Tremblay?” he said.

  “It’s bad.” Tremblay’s voice sounded from somewhere on the house’s first story. “It’s bad in here. I did what I could, but…” His words were cut off with the sound of a body hitting the floor and a harsh cry.

  All three of them burst through the foyer, following the sound of Tremblay’s voice. The sounds of scuffling and snarls sent Violet’s heart racing. Only vampires could make those noises.

  Oh, God, Frederick, what have you gotten yourself into?

  A single oil lamp lit a small, empty sitting room at the back of the house, illuminating the fight playing out on the floor. Tremblay, his clothes torn and bloodstained, wrestled with a naked vampire whose eyes glowed red with rage as they tussled. His fangs were out, but he made no move to bite at Tremblay’s neck.

  The light caught Tremblay’s own red-tinged eyes as they fought, and Violet nearly screamed.

  “Stake him!” Tremblay shouted. “Now! Fucking hell, do it!”

  The vampire shrieked something in a language Violet didn’t recognize before leaping to his bare feet. Spittle dripped from his lips as he advanced on Violet.

  Despite her dawning horror, she swiftly reacted. Just as he leapt toward her, she raised her stake and mallet and neatly plunged them through his pale chest before he realized what was happening. He stumbled away from her before sliding to the dusty floor and crumbling into oily dust.

  Dusty floor… Violet looked down. The greasy ash on the floor wasn’t dust.

  “They got me,” said Tremblay. “Just before dawn a couple of days ago, I think. I haven’t been able to keep track of the days.” His eyes hadn’t lost that red hue.

  It took a few seconds for Tremblay’s words to sink in.

  They got me.

  Edgar was the first to speak. “Oh, Jesus.”