Contrary to what a lot of people believed, vampires could be up during the day as long as they avoided direct sunlight. So, it was completely realistic that a vampire could be hiding out inside any of the buildings. Entering the buildings without being prepared was a common mistake amongst the survivors. A lot of vampires actually hid out, waiting for some unprepared human to come along like a meal delivery service.
I veered right, keeping my gun up and ready to fire while Drew came in behind me and took the left side. Hearing nothing right away, I stepped backward a few steps and reached out for the wall with my left hand, searching for a light switch. My enhanced dhampir vision allowed me to see better in the dark than full blooded humans, so Drew needed the light more than I did. But, a well lit room was obviously better than a dark one. After a few seconds of groping the wall, my fingertips finally connected with a small panel of switches. I flipped them all and suddenly the room was bathed in a harsh fluorescent light.
The place looked empty, but that didn’t mean anything. Unlike a lot of the businesses that had been abandoned when the vampires attacked, this place was actually pretty clean. The counters and tables were free of crumbs and dishes; if it wasn’t for the light layer of dust, they might have actually appeared shiny.
It only took a few minutes for us to clear the room, assuring it was free of vampires, and then we were off to check the upstairs.
As we found the stairwell and headed up, I felt beads of sweat begin to form on my forehead. They immediately rolled downward, threatening to sting my eyes. It was hot outside, so that made it sweltering inside of the abandoned bakery, which hadn’t seen any air conditioning for quite some time.
Drew and I didn’t speak the entire time. He and I were one of those couples, and teammates, who worked perfectly in silence. I had trained with Drew ... and killed with him. I could read his body language and his silent cues. Words were not needed between the two of us.
Upstairs, we found a studio apartment above the shop where the owner must have lived. We went through the same process of clearing the room as we did downstairs in the bakery, and then took a moment really look at the apartment. It was spic and span, but like downstairs the whole apartment was covered in a light layer of dust, telling us that no one had been around for quite some time.
There were no pictures on the wall except for paintings and artistic photographs. On the T.V. stand there were only two frames with pictures; one was of a woman with her big orange cat, and the other photo was just the cat. I reached out and touched the edge of one of the shiny, wooden frames. No family pictures for this woman, apparently.
Feeling a rare flash of sadness for my old life, I turned away from the photos to find Drew pushing open a set of heavy, beige drapes. Once opened, they exposed the French doors that led out to the balcony. The doors were made with panes of glass squares, which allowed sunlight to pour into the dim apartment.
“Still a little while before the sun sets. You want to sit out there or in here?”
I shrugged. Normally inside would have been the choice so that we could stay hidden from any of the vampire loyal humans that might be outside, but after giving the hot and dusty apartment another once over it felt a bit claustrophobic. “Outside.”
As soon as he pulled open the balcony doors, I felt the rush of fresh air and inhaled deeply. Boy it felt good to breathe the clean air. I hadn’t realized just how much it had gotten to me until I got a whiff of the good stuff. We could even see the dust particles floating around where the sunlight streamed in.
Drew and I exchanged a look and headed out.
The balcony had a wrought iron fencing that stood about three feet tall, effectively keeping whoever was on the balcony safely within its limits. There were gaps between each of the posts that looked to be about four or five inches apart, giving us plenty of space to see through if we sat down on the floor of the balcony. Which was exactly what we did.
Waiting out the sunset was something that we did a lot. I wasn’t the most patient of people lately, but it was something we had to do. Coming into the city after it was already dark wasn’t really a good idea.
I took one side of the balcony and Drew took the other, and we kept our posts in silence. We wouldn’t risk speaking and giving away our positions. I didn’t really want to talk to him anyway. I understood where he was coming from, being worried about me and all. What I couldn’t understand was why he didn’t understand my point of view.
I was so used to him being the hardcore Hunter, the one who trained me and made me pay attention when I wanted to quit. He was always the one who went first into battle, and now he had gone soft on me. I just didn’t get it at all.
Eventually the sun went down behind the hills and veil of darkness began to spread over the city. All of the survivors had long since abandoned the streets to go to their hiding places or find a new one. The growing darkness was gradual; both Drew’s human eyes and my dhampir eyes didn’t need to adjust. Since we could both see just fine, it was no surprise when we saw the first group of vampires strutting down the street like it was a perfect day in the park.
Drew stretched his leg out and tapped my foot with his, and nodded in the direction of our targets.
I indicated that I saw them, too, moving onto my knees so that I could get a better shot. Drew and I had both attached silencers to our guns while we were waiting. Silence was the key; if any of the nearby vamps heard the gunshots it would give us away and we would be in some serious trouble. So, we opted for the silencers. As for my bow, I wasn’t going to sacrifice my arrows from such a high position unless I knew I could get them back.
There were only five of them all together, so it should be easy. They strode down the street with ease, looking from side to side and chatting amongst themselves. If we played this right we could take them all out with five quick shots. Hopefully they were all fairly new vampires and the UV bullets would take care of them.
I rose up on my knees and took aim. Time to go to work.
I took the first shot and the vamp on the far left went down. Before the others even had time to react, Drew shot the one on the left. Instantly, I took the one on the right of the three remaining confused vampires.
Two left.
One of the remaining two took off at a dead run back the way they had come. The other one was a woman and she had fallen to her knees beside one of the dead guys. “No!” I heard her scream as she shook the dead vampire’s body. She had long blonde hair that fell down in waves over her and the fallen vampire. “Wake up!” she shouted, shaking him violently. She got no answer except for the glowing light which appeared and began to slowly erode through the body.
Drew shot the one who was running, pegged him in the back and took him down. I was having a hard time getting a bead on the one who was bent over.
“We have to go down,” Drew hissed. “Make sure that one is dead and get the other.”
“I’m on it, boss.” I stood up, threw my leg over the railing, and jumped down to the sidewalk below me.
Drew wasn’t an idiot; he went through the apartment and took the stairs. I could make that jump for several reasons. For one, I had a lot of abilities that vampires had, like the ability to jump long distances and land them. Even if I did break a bone or something, it would heal fast. But, Drew wasn’t about to risk his body by making that jump.
As soon as I hit the ground, the female vampire’s head snapped up and turned in my direction. As soon as her she realized that I was the threat, that I was the one who had shot the others, she stood to face me.
Sweet, just the position I needed. I raised my weapon, took aim, and fired.
She had been expecting that. With vampire speed, she dodged to the right and the bullet zipped past her, missing its mark.
Damn it! I never missed.
Before I could get her within range for another shot, she was in front of me. She grabbed my gun, painfully twisting it out of my hand, and tossed it aside.
Whateve
r. She wanted to play dirty, I could play dirty.
Just as she reached out with her other hand to grab my throat, I side stepped then turned and threw my leg out, grabbing my knife as I spun. I landed the roundhouse on the side of her ribcage. I’m sure it didn’t hurt her, but it jostled her enough that she was momentarily stunned. It was just long enough for me to charge her.
With my knife raised, our bodies met and we fell into the hard cement. As we went down, I tried to plunge the knife into her chest, but she grabbed my wrist and kept the blade at bay. My other hand was holding her arm down. Well, not necessarily down, but it was there. She was much stronger than me and it would only be a second before she threw me off of her.
So, I let the warmth flow through my body, starting from my core and extending out to my fingertips until the flames appeared. I pressed my palm down onto her arm, letting the fire sear into her undead flesh.
“Ahhhh!” she cried out and twisted, releasing my knife hand in the process. As soon as my wrist was free, I slammed the blade down into her chest. She lurched upward, but quickly relaxed.
I relaxed for a moment, too. She lay there, her pale face accentuating the dark red lipstick she wore. A few droplets of blood slid off the corner of one of her lips. Suddenly, I wanted to punch her in her dead face.
I was deterred from my act of unnecessary violence by Drew’s boots pounding over the sidewalk behind me. He ran to the unconscious vampire he had shot to confirm that the UV bullet was doing the job it was supposed to do.
I rose up off of the female, ran over to collect my gun, and joined Drew just as he was firing two more shots into the vampire’s chest. He finished, satisfied with the amount of light we were seeing from within the body.
UV bullets were helpful for killing vampires, but as I had learned early on in my training, sometimes they didn’t work all that well. The older vampires were more immune to the UV, so it took more to kill them. Therefore, UV bullets worked better on the younger vampires.
“Check the others,” he ordered.
We hurried to make sure that the other two vampires were truly dead and then I popped off a shot in the female vampire that I’d wrestled with.
After we were done with that group, we both gave each other a triumphant glance and silently hurried back to our hiding spot on the apartment’s balcony to wait for more vampires.
It was rare to see a lone vampire; they usually wandered in groups now that there were so many of them. I guess it was some kind of a predator thing, like how wolves traveled in packs. When we attacked them we normally got more than two or three kills.
So, imagine our surprise when we went back into the apartment and found a vampire sitting on the couch, his legs casually crossed as if he had been waiting for us. He was dressed in black jeans and a black button down shirt, a gothic looking cross embroidered on one side of the chest. His dark brown hair was cut very close to his head.
Instantly, both of us had our guns drawn, and I felt the fire surge into my fingertips in preparation for defense.
At first, none of us said anything; he just sat there on the couch staring at us with our weapons pointed at him. Even in the dim apartment, his dark brown eyes twinkled with amusement. I took an involuntary step backward. This guy, with his demeanor and dress, was disturbingly similar to Trevor. That caught me off guard, which didn’t happen very much anymore. The only major difference between the two was that Trevor was super pale and this guy was black. When people with dark skin became vampires, the color didn’t change much, just a bit of a fade.
The vampire was first to speak; I guess he thought it was a good idea to say something before one of us shot him.
“Well, well ... that was some show you put on out there.” He didn’t move from his position on the couch, which was a good thing for him because that definitely would have gotten him shot.
“What do you care? You’re going to die, just like they did,” Drew snarled at him. I stayed silent, wondering why we hadn’t already killed him.
The vampire smiled, showing his pristine white teeth, fangs and all. “Trust me, you do not want to kill me. I am here to help.”
I sensed Drew’s confusion, but he didn’t show it. I was confused, too. Help with what? Killing the vampires? That hardly seemed like something he would want to help with ... not to mention the fact that as Hunters, we were led to believe that all vampires were bad and evil. All of them.
Drew shook his head slightly. “I highly doubt there is anything that you can help us with. On top of that, what would make you think that we would even want your help?”
The vampire leaned back into the couch cushions. “You intend to stop the new vampires from being made and kill the existing ones, do you not?”
His eyes flicked back and forth between Drew and I. When neither of us responded to his question, he just continued, “I know who you are, Hunters, I also know that you want to stop this destruction that my kind is causing.”
Finally, I found my voice. “There is nothing that you can do to help us. The only way you can help is to accept the inevitable ... you are going to die today.”
That bastard actually laughed at me. “And the dhampir speaks. So gallant of you, Ms. Kallistrate. However, your threats mean nothing to me. If you kill me now you may never find the answers you seek.”
Shocked rippled through me. He knew who I was and he knew I was half vampire. This information only stunned me for half a minute and then I recovered ... and charged him.
I don’t know what happened exactly. I could have just shot him, I could have used my fire on him, even from that distance. But, no, I ran forward a couple of steps and jumped, covering the space between us in the single leap. I landed on his lap, knocking the couch backward in the process.
“Chloe!” Drew called from behind me. I couldn’t tell if he was warning me or pissed off, but I didn’t really care. I pulled back my arm and slammed my fist in Mr. Know It All Vampire’s face.
I hit him again, and again. It wasn’t doing anything to him ... in fact, it probably felt like I was tickling him, but I didn’t care, it made me feel better. Drew stood back and let me beat on him. However, I knew this was mostly because if he intervened we would give the strange vampire an opening to attack us while we were distracted. Therefore, it was better for him to keep an eye on the enemy. After hitting him several more times, I guess he grew tired of it because he pressed his palm against my chest and pushed.
Mid-punch, I felt myself lift into the air and let my fire loose from my fingers in attempt to get one last hit in on him. None of the flames hit him. Before I knew it, my back slammed into the entertainment center where the lady and her cat pictures were. I bounced off of it, landing on the floor. I turned over, trying to get up quickly, but the damn thing toppled and fell over onto me.
Pain flashed through entire body and I found myself trapped underneath the evil entertainment center. It didn’t help that the television was an old one, not one of the newer, lighter flat screens.
I tried to call for Drew to help me, but nothing was coming out, and I felt a horrible pain in my chest. I gasped, trying to suck air into my lungs and kicked against my confines.
Suddenly, the entertainment center was being lifted off of me. “I got you,” Drew reassured me as his face come into view. Then he lifted the television off my midsection and threw it in that crazy vampire’s direction. “Look what you did, asshole!
The television flew by his head, missing him by close to an inch. I kicked my feet and tried to get up, wanting to tell Drew to just shoot the bastard. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t manage words; only few choked gurgles escaped from my throat when I tried to speak.
I felt Drew’s strong arms encircle me and lift me to my feet.
Why in the hell wasn’t his attention on the enemy? This was not like him at all, he never sacrificed a kill to help another. We were Hunters! We were supposed to be able to take care of ourselves.
“Ugh,” I groaned, turning to fac
e my opponent. He must have seen the fury in my expression because he got one look at me and lifted his hands into the air. “Now, now ... you attacked me. I told you, I’m simply here to help.”
“There is nothing you can do that will help us!” I wanted to yell at him, but my voice cracked and was more of an angry whisper.
Drew silently slid into a position where he was between me and that vampire. At that point I wasn’t sure if his intention was to protect me from the enemy or to protect him from me.
“Drew! Shoot him!” I threw my hands in the air. “Why haven’t you killed him yet?”
“Because I want to know what he has to say.” He didn’t look away from the vampire when he spoke.
“What? Are you kidding me? He knows me, he has obviously been following us or had us followed. He is a freaking vampire, just kill him already.”
The two males met gazes; staring each other down in some kind of silent challenge. “And that is exactly why we need to find out more information from him,” Drew finished.
“Ugh!” I marched over to where my gun had been thrown, snatched it off the floor, and then held it up, aiming right at the vampire’s chest. “Fine. You want to talk, let’s talk.”
Drew shook his head, probably in exasperation. “Chloe, if he was going to kill us he would have already. He has had plenty of opportunity.”
“I don’t see you lowering your gun,” I shot back at him.
He didn’t answer, so I flicked my gun toward the tiny little kitchen table that was set up in a corner of the room. “Go sit over there.”
Still standing by the overturned couch, he threw a glance at Drew before he silently complied with my demand. He strode confidently over to the table and pulled out a chair. “Aren’t you going to join me?” he asked.
I tried not to limp as I crossed the room to sit at the table with him. My left leg was killing me from when I was crushed by the entertainment center. I hoped I managed to look unharmed, though, I didn’t want that guy seeing any weakness in me. Before I sat down I met Drew’s eyes and he nodded, indicating that he would stay standing.
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6) Page 18