Tainted Night, Tainted Blood (Kat Redding)

by E. S. Moore

  I could see the eagerness in Adrian’s eyes. He would give anything to ride with us, to see where Lady Death called home. I was pretty sure he still had plans to make me his partner and mate. Someone like him wouldn’t give up easily.

  He blinked and the eagerness vanished, replaced by that dead look he was so good at. He started toward the door, brushing so close to Nathan they nearly bumped into one another.

  A low growl emanated from deep within Nathan’s chest. He stiffened and leaned forward. Adrian stopped, baring his teeth at the other man.

  “Nathan,” Jonathan warned.

  Nathan backed down, taking a step back, hands clenched. I could see the animal in his eyes. He was just barely keeping himself from shifting.

  A smile creased Adrian’s face. He glared at Nathan a moment longer before turning toward the door. “I will show myself out,” he said.

  I watched him go. It was a struggle not to shoot him in the back, but I managed. How we were supposed to work together, I had no idea. This was definitely not going to be easy for any of us.

  I glanced back at Nathan and my worry increased. His eyes were blazing as he stared at the place where Adrian had gone. He glanced at me and none of his hatred ebbed, just shifted.

  Nope. This wasn’t going to be easy at all.

  10

  Ethan was waiting for me when I returned home. One of my swords was resting on the table in front of him. He snatched it up as I came in but set it down as soon as he saw me.

  “What did he want?” he asked. I was surprised to hear heat in his voice.

  I didn’t answer right away. It was obvious Ethan wasn’t all that happy with me right then and I wanted to organize my thoughts. I sat down across from him and began removing my weapons and setting them on the table.

  “We’re going to try to find whoever has been killing the wolves and vamps lately,” I said once everything was sitting in front of me.

  “Are you sure you can trust him?”

  Now that was a tricky question. I never really trusted anyone, aside from maybe Ethan, but nodded anyway. I couldn’t let him think I was going into this unprepared. “This is something that needs to be taken care of, and the sooner the better.”

  Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly between his teeth. He ran his fingers through his hair twice, messing it up even more than it usually was. His entire body shook as he tapped his foot under the table.

  “Is something wrong?”

  He took another huffing breath and looked out the glass back door. It was still deep night and only the outline of the trees surrounding my property could be seen. The gloom made it seem that much darker, as did Ethan’s mood.

  “That was that Jonathan guy, right? The one from the Luna Cult?”

  I nodded.

  “And he came here, to our place, asking for your help again?”

  I didn’t nod this time. I wasn’t sure how to answer. I could tell he wasn’t happy about the arrangement at all. I think he would have been much happier disposing of a body than seeing me sitting around all buddy-buddy with a werewolf.

  I had to admit, I wasn’t so sure I didn’t agree.

  “He knows where we live. Since you didn’t do anything to dissuade him from coming, he’ll do it again.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “It isn’t safe,” Ethan said. “You know what they’re like.”

  “They?”

  “You know? Werewolves?” Ethan shifted in his seat, refusing to meet my eyes. “I can’t believe you actually like the guy after everything that’s happened to you.”

  “I never said I liked him.”

  He gave me an incredulous look. “Right,” he said. “Who else could have come waltzing up to your front door without you killing him? If you don’t like him, then something else is going on.”

  I wanted to protest but kept quiet. I really didn’t want to think about my reasoning for not dropping Jonathan the moment I opened the door. Ethan was right. If it had been anyone else, I probably would have shot them.

  “He and the Cult have their uses,” I said, a bit too defensively for my liking.

  “I know,” Ethan said. “But he gives me the willies, you know? It’s like living with a vampire and hanging around a demon isn’t enough? I’m not sure I could handle you making kissing faces around a werewolf.”

  My mouth fell open. Kissing faces? “I think you’re getting the wrong idea.”

  Ethan bit his lip. “He scares me,” he said after a moment. “He gave me a look, one you didn’t see. I swear he was thinking about hurting me, like he was afraid I was going to tell on him or something.”

  “That’s stupid.”

  “Is it?” Ethan shook his head. “I’m not so sure.”

  I started to say something more, some other defense to why I hadn’t turned Jonathan away the first moment I saw him, but stopped. Why was I defending myself? I knew what I was doing was stupid on so many levels. I mean, what would Ethan think if he knew it wasn’t just Jonathan and the Cult I was working with, but Adrian Davis as well? He would probably bust a gasket.

  Ethan started to reach across the table toward me but jerked back before coming anywhere close. “They had me for a long time.” He spoke so low, it was a near whisper. “Valentino kept me locked up with barely enough to eat, forced me to watch my family die. I ... I saw things, things I don’t want to remember.”

  He struggled for more words but closed down instead. He looked away, tears glinting in his eyes.

  I stared at him, shocked. In all the years we had lived together, he never truly told me what had happened to him those weeks he was held under Valentino’s control. I knew his family had been killed, knew he had witnessed it, but other than that, I knew almost nothing else.

  What had they done to him?

  I probably should have said something, should have comforted him. I should have put my arm around him, told him everything was going to be okay, even if I wasn’t so sure I believed it myself. He needed that.

  But I didn’t. My life might be a fucked-up mess, but that didn’t mean Ethan had suffered any less. Sure, he got to keep his humanity where I didn’t, but was that really any better? He couldn’t fight back as easily as I could. He needed someone there to watch out for him, and I was supposed to be that person.

  But I had no idea how to comfort him. I wasn’t sure he would even want me to try.

  We sat there for a good long while, neither of us saying anything. It was one of those moments when nothing that could be said would ever make anything right, where not even a simple gesture of compassion could ever be enough.

  “When do you start?” he asked, suddenly breaking the silence. His eyes were red, but the tears had stopped. He looked a lot more like the teenager I had taken in rather than the young man he had become.

  “Tomorrow night.”

  He fidgeted a moment and then stood. “I’ve got some things to take care of.” He gave me a weak smile. “Work, work.”

  Before I could say anything more, he took off toward the stairs and his lab, leaving all my weapons behind. I figured he would come back up and check them later. Probably when I was upstairs and he wouldn’t have to face me.

  I felt numb. After everything that had happened recently, this somehow seemed the worst. Ethan wasn’t really all that mad at me, yet for some reason, I felt terrible for making him feel bad. Why couldn’t I seem to do anything right lately?

  I rose and went to the living room. It wasn’t until the television clicked on that I realized what I was doing. I almost turned the damn thing off and walked away, but my timing had been perfect.

  The news was on.

  I stared at it, knowing what I was waiting for without really thinking about it. Part of me had to know, to see the results of what I had done.

  I didn’t have to wait long.

  The report came on with a somber-looking reporter standing on a familiar street. I could see the spot where the truck had landed, though it w
as long gone by now. The stain of red was clearly evident just off to the reporter’s right.

  I scarcely dared to breathe. He talked of the injured officer, how he had been heading home when he called in a car accident. Their best guess was the werewolf lying dead nearby had been the driver and had attacked the cop. Before he could finish the job, someone else came along and killed the werewolf. It wasn’t clear who, but the officer’s family was thankful.

  Thinking back to the flutter of the curtain in the house across the street, I expected the reporter to mention talking to witnesses, but if they had, he never mentioned it. Maybe the subtle movement had been my imagination after all.

  The reporter babbled on a bit more, talking about the dangers of going out at night, how it is best to keep doors and windows firmly locked, before sending it back to the studio. The female anchor looked grim as she took up the story. What she had to say caused me to sag in my seat and a relieved sigh escaped my lips.

  The cop had lived. He was in critical condition and had yet to wake up, but he was alive.

  I turned off the television and went upstairs, shaking. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. The guy had lived. There was still a chance he might die, but I was hoping he would make it. He would be able to tell everyone what had really happened, but I was pretty sure he never got a good look at me, so it shouldn’t matter. It wasn’t like the Pureblood police ever went after supes anyway.

  It made me sick to think that such a thing could go unpunished. The cop hadn’t done anything and I had nearly killed him. Something should be done. I didn’t really care what.

  I sat down on the edge of my bed, trying to come up with something that would make everything okay. Once again, my life was flooded with crap I didn’t know how to handle: There was the whole cop thing, Adrian and his wolf I killed, the murderer, Ethan and his demon. What else could possibly happen?

  I laid back and stared at the ceiling. I would get through this. Somehow, someway, I could do it. I managed to keep from going crazy when I was turned, I could do it again now. This was nothing compared to that. I just needed to weather this storm and wait for the next inevitable gale to wash over me. Things couldn’t get any worse.

  Could they?

  11

  The next night, I headed out in search of our killer. I cruised the streets, watching for anyone who looked like they might be a likely suspect. It wasn’t easy. Every single person walking the dark streets seemed just as likely as the next.

  I kept to the vampire districts, though I spent a majority of my time on the back roads. I came across a werewolf at one point, but he scampered away before I could get a shot off. It was unlikely he was the killer, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.

  I reported my meager findings to Jonathan and listened to his reports, as well as what Adrian had brought him. There wasn’t much. No one else had died by claw and sword over the last few days, making our search that much harder.

  I left as soon as I received the reports. After how Ethan reacted to my hanging around Jonathan, I didn’t want to make it worse by lingering.

  The next few nights were more of the same. I went out, I looked, I came back empty-handed. Not even Mikael had any news for me.

  A few nights later, I rose from the long day, hunger hitting me full force. I hadn’t sucked the life out of the cop, so I was in a bad way by the time I had my things on and was out the door. I’d been so preoccupied with the shit-storm of my life, I hadn’t thought to feed on someone more deserving until it was nearly too late.

  I went straight to High Street, the one place I knew I could find likely victims in abundance. You could find anything you wanted here. If you were looking for dangerous sex, drugs, or death, you could find it on High Street. Vampires and werewolves haunted the streets just as much as the Purebloods, and they weren’t any less likely to die.

  Neon lights lit the place up so much, it was impossible to see the stars, even on the clearest of nights. Strippers and hookers, both the male and female variety, walked the streets, selling their wares. Windows without curtains gave a clear view of the debauchery going on within many of the hotels. Nothing here was ever truly private.

  I hated parking in the sole parking garage, but I had little choice unless I wanted to walk a good ways to get there. Every parking lot that had once existed on High Street had been turned into something else. Most people took taxis or walked simply because it was safer than leaving a vehicle somewhere where a monster could wait for you to return.

  Of course, nothing was ever safe here. Coming to High Street was as much of a death sentence as walking down a dark alley at midnight.

  A car pulled into the garage behind me and I watched it carefully as I pulled into a parking space. It went past, never slowing, and I breathed easier. The windows had been tinted so dark I hadn’t been able to see the driver, but I was pretty sure whoever was inside hadn’t been following me. I was just being paranoid, and paranoid here could save my life.

  Stepping out onto the street was like walking out onto the sun. I had to shade my eyes until I was accustomed to the brightness after the deep gloom of the garage. Girls wearing nearly nothing walked past me, giggling and tottering against one another. They smelled heavily of vodka and other musky scents that left little to the imagination.

  I grimaced and walked away from them, not wanting to be downwind of them for long. Just coming here made me feel dirty, but it was the best place to find a victim who wouldn’t weigh on my conscience.

  I walked up and down the street for a good hour, searching. Sometimes I could come here and find a likely target right away. Other times it was nearly impossible.

  Tonight was one of the bad nights. Everyone stayed huddled together, walking in at least pairs, though most everyone was keeping to larger groups. It was the smart thing to do and I didn’t like it.

  A woman coming out of one of the hotels bumped into me. She was carrying a heavy metal case and I would have said she had probably been sampling everything High Street had to offer, but her hair was perfect, clothes unrumpled. I guess she hadn’t found what she was looking for.

  She looked at me with a strange glimmer in her eye as I passed. She didn’t look quite right in the head, but that didn’t mean she was someone I would feed on. Someone had to be more than crazy for me to feel comfortable killing them.

  I turned away from her and continued on. I could feel her eyes on my back like she was sizing me up. I glanced back and she was indeed watching me. I had half a mind to go back and ask what her problem was, but she finally turned away. She was probably a new vamp looking for her first kill.

  A few minutes later, I finally saw a likely target and I forgot all about the woman.

  The guy was pretty tall, but I could handle a tall guy just as easily as a shorter one. His hair was long, unkempt, and his clothes hung from him as though they had been meant for someone much rounder. This guy was so thin he looked damn near skeletal.

  He stood just inside an alley, a long brown trench coat hiding most of his figure. I watched as a small woman came up to him, handed him a few bills, and took a baggie of something white and powdery from him. She shambled off, heels clicking irregularly as she staggered away.

  I watched him for a good ten minutes. He had a regular flow of customers and I didn’t want anyone else to be standing there when I made my move. It was bad enough I needed to feed. I didn’t need witnesses.

  Finally, he slid back into the darkness of the alley and took out something to smoke. From the looks of it, it wasn’t a cigarette.

  Blood trickled down my gums as my fangs started to extend. The excitement of the hunt was taking over, even though this guy was as easy a target as I would ever have. I could almost taste his blood.

  I approached him, glancing back and forth to make sure no one was watching. As I got near, the guy saw me and grinned, exposing gaps in his teeth. Up close, I could see what his hair had hidden. Most of his ears were missing, as if they had rotted away
, rather than having been bitten off. His nose was in pretty much the same condition, leaving two large gaping holes in the middle of his face. His lips were chapped and bleeding, as were his gums where the teeth were missing.

  “Heya sugartits,” he slurred as I came close. The joint hung from his lower lip like it was stuck there. “I have whatever you need.”

  I forced a smile to my face. I hated feeding on drug dealers, especially ones who sampled their own product, and this guy looked as though he had more than sampled it. It was probably all he ever consumed.

  Since I was only after his blood, the condition of his body mattered little. While his blood might be riddled with disease and drugs, my vampire taint would keep it from affecting me. It was one of the benefits of being a vampire I was thankful for. Most diseases stood no chance against my immune system, and drugs were usually just as ineffective. I might get a little buzzed, but that was about it.

  That didn’t mean I wouldn’t feel sick afterward. Feeding on a guy like this was like eating a rotten piece of fish. It might take care of your hunger, but it always came back to haunt you later.

  I glanced down the alley as I approached. It was dark, dank, and lonely. It would be a perfect place to feed.

  “What do you have to offer?” I asked, stepping close to him. He smelled as though he had never taken a bath in his life.

  The guy’s yellowed eyes widened. He licked his lips, exposing a tongue covered in sores. “Whatever you need, baby.”

  I managed not to show my disgust as I slunk past him and into the alley. I could feel his eyes on me, burning with fever, as well as with lust.

  There was a nook deep in the alley and I stepped into it. It would hide us from too many onlookers. Someone coming down the alley might think we were just making out, though it was far more likely something more sinister was happening. No one ever truly wanted to believe what they saw.

  The dealer followed, limping heavily. I could smell him approach and my stomach roiled. He smelled worse than the garbage littering the alley, which was saying something.