by Myla Jackson
Too confused and not feeling on top of his form, Roger had insisted Chase do the driving for their shift. Darkness had already filled the sky and the street lights glowed an ominously eerie yellow.
Chase scratched his jaw. “Too soon, you think?”
“I guess. I thought all women wanted the man to say those three words.”
“You keep telling me Julie isn’t like other women.”
“I’m beginning to believe it more and more.” The more he thought about last night, the more he realized Julie wasn’t acting quite like herself. “She more or less told me her friend is a vampire.”
Chase shot a quick glance his way. “She’s buying all that crap? I thought the chief was feeding us a line of bull.”
“Me too. But it’s got me worried.”
“How so?”
“That man who attacked us outside the restaurant the other night. Julie knew his name.”
“Did she say how?”
“No. I know, I should have asked.” Roger was still kicking himself for not delving into that question more thoroughly. “Problem is, every time I’m around her…”
“You can’t think past your dick,” Chase finished.
“Yeah. Pretty much.” He shook his head. “Do you think there’s any truth to Kim being a vampire?”
“She looks she could be. What with all that black makeup and her black hair, she looks like the dead.”
“Maybe we should keep an eye on her.”
They turned a corner and the lights from the hospital lit the night.
“Hey, isn’t that Kim, now?”
She’d parked her car in a ground lot and walked toward the hospital, hiking her purse up onto her shoulder.
Roger grabbed the door handle. “Let me out here.”
“What are you going to do?” Chase slowed the cruiser.
“Talk to her.”
“You think she’ll admit it if she’s a vampire?”
He smacked the dash with the palm of his hand. “I don’t know. Stop, will you. She’s almost to the hospital. I want to catch her before she goes in.”
Kim Erickson headed toward the back entrance. She had to pass the large dumpsters and an alley entrance before she entered the back door.
When Chase pulled against the curb, Roger jumped out and hurried after her. If she was a vampire, he’d know soon enough. “Kim!”
The woman jumped and spun to face Roger, a can of mace in her hand. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
Roger laughed, holding up his hands. “It’s just me.”
“Roger?” As she walked back toward him, her shoulders relaxed. “What are you doing here? Julie doesn’t come on for another hour.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
Her forehead crinkled into a frown. “About what?”
“Something Julie told me last night.”
“She told you?” Kim’s eyes widened. “Oh, thank goodness. I hate keeping secrets. You’re okay with it?”
“Yes,” Roger answered slowly, wondering if they were talking about the same thing.
“I didn’t know if you’d believe the vampire part. You must be pretty open-minded for a cop.”
Okay so they were talking about the same thing. “Yeah. I guess I am. So how long has she known?”
“Oh it only happened four nights ago. She’s still trying to get used to the idea.”
“It is hard to believe.”
“I know. It still amazes me—vampires in Houston.”
“So how can you tell if someone’s a vampire?”
“Besides the not moving around during the daytime, it’s pretty tough.”
“What about the fangs? Aren’t they pretty obvious?”
“Vampires can hide their fangs. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. Vampires can move very fast and have the strength of three men.” She squinted at him. “You sure that doesn’t bother you?”
“As long as you’re not throwing me around, why should it?”
“Me?” She jerked her thumb at her chest. “But I’m n—”
A roar from the alley jerked Roger’s attention from Kim. He turned in time to see Luke, the blond vampire, hurtling toward him. With no time to react, Roger hunkered into a football blocking stance and braced himself for impact.
When Luke hit him, Roger was thrown back, landing hard on his tailbone. He tucked and rolled, but not before Luke got his hands on him.
The vampire grabbed Roger’s uniform shirt and lifted him high into the air. “Leave my woman alone!”
Roger knew he was talking about Julie. “She’s not your woman.”
“Yes, she is. I turned her, she’s mine.” Then he threw Roger as easily as a farmer tosses a bale of hay. Roger arced through the air and slammed against the metal dumpster, the wind knocked from his lungs.
While Roger struggled to fill his lungs, Chase leaped from the squad car and fired on the crazed vampire.
Other than jerking his body a little, the bullets did nothing to stop the man. Luke charged toward Chase and plowed into him like a steamroller. The cop hit the car and slid down the door in an unconscious heap.
Gathering his strength, Roger clambered to his feet and gulped in air.
Luke laughed and grabbed for Kim, sinking his teeth into her neck.
The woman struggled for only a moment, then went limp in the vampire’s arms.
Anger fueled Roger’s movements, making him forget the bumps and bruises he’d accumulated. He was responsible for the safety and wellbeing of this city’s inhabitants. He couldn’t let Luke kill Kim. The vampire had to die, but how? His gaze shot around the area and he spied a wooden pallet lying next to the dumpster. With strength born of desperation, he lifted the pallet and slammed it against the dumpster until a slat broke loose. He cracked the slat over the corner of the dumpster. The wood splintered and Roger turned to Luke, jagged stake in hand.
Kim lay across Luke’s arm, her head dropped back, neck exposed to his bite and he was sucking the life out of her.
“Put her down!” Roger charged the stake held out in front of him.
Luke dropped Kim to the ground and roared like a savage animal.
Roger aimed for the heart as instructed.
Luke twisted to the side. The stake caught him on the arm and broke in two pieces. The vampire’s hand swept out, catching Roger in the chest knocking him twenty feet backward.
The last thing Roger remembered was Luke lifting Kim and continuing his meal. Then all went black.
Julie didn’t have to report to work until midnight, but she wanted to get there right before Kim went on duty. She needed to talk to someone about what she’d done and hadn’t done. Her full stomach reveled in the blood she’d siphoned from Roger at the same time it churned. How could she lose herself so much she’d bite the one man she loved? Was the lie she lived eating her from the inside out? Had she gone rotten to the core?
Perhaps the temptations of being a vampire were much harder to control than she’d originally thought. Which would explain why some vampires went bad, like Luke Hester. Speaking of which, something had to be done to stop him before he hurt anyone else.
William had gone out on a mission to find Luke and bring him down.
In the meantime, Julie needed a friend, and Kim was the only one who knew what challenges she faced.
Because her car was still on the fritz, Julie had to walk to the hospital. Even with her vampire strengths and abilities, the night still creeped her out. Not good. As a recently turned creature of the night, she would have to get used to moving about in the dark. No more long soaks in the sun for her. Not that she ever did. Her strawberry blonde hair condemned her to a life out of the sun from the day she was born. She’d never been a morning person, preferring the night shift for work and the day for sleeping. She could have it worse, she supposed.
As she neared the hospital, a scream ripped through the air. Her feet kicked into gear and she ran towar
d the sound. “Put her down!” Damn, that was Roger’s voice.
Julie cut through the alley behind the hospital and ran into Luke Hester with a fang-lock on Kim’s throat.
Kim sagged against him, her eyes closed and her face whiter than her Goth makeup.
Rage roared through Julie and she grabbed Luke by the collar, yanking him off Kim. With all her strength, she flung him at the brick wall of the hospital.
That didn’t slow him down long. Luke picked himself off the ground and shouted, “She’s mine and so are you.”
“Shut up or I’ll dust your ass.” Julie bent over Kim to check for a pulse, her own pulse pounding so hard against her ears she couldn’t hear. Had he drained her friend? Would she die?
Kim’s skin was cool to the touch and she didn’t respond when Julie shook her.
“Kim?” Julie couldn’t feel a pulse in her friend’s throat. Fuck! The bastard killed her.
Before she could rise to her feet, a hand clamped in Julie’s hair and she was yanked off her feet and dragged on her ass backward toward the alley.
“You are my woman.” Luke had her in a caveman grip and he was hauling her off to she didn’t know where and frankly didn’t want to know.
She scrambled to get her feet under her, but at the pace he was pulling her, she couldn’t. Her scalp burned where her hair held the weight of her body. Julie rolled to the side, twisting Luke’s arm.
Before they reached the end of the alley, a man jumped across the entrance. “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, die!” Bob Marley blocked Luke’s way, a crossbow braced against his shoulder.
Luke threw back his head and laughed.
Although Luke still had a grip on her hair, he’d stopped and Julie could get her feet underneath her.
An arrow whizzed through the air and struck Luke in the shoulder, missing his heart by a good four inches.
Luke screamed and let go of Julie’s hair. He jerked the arrow from his shoulder and ran toward Bob Marley before the vampire hunter could reload.
Julie followed, sure Bob was a goner. Luke looked mad enough to kill the man who wanted to kill him, and her, for that matter. Yet, Julie couldn’t let Luke kill Bob, the man was on a mission from God in his mind, and Luke was one badass vampire worthy of Bob’s wooden arrow.
The nurse in her forced her to follow. She had to stop Luke’s killing rampage.
The vampire backhanded the crossbow from Bob’s hand and lifted him by the collar with a single hand. When Bob was four feet from the ground and his face was turning a deep shade of purple, the wooden arrow he still held, slipped from his hand and fell to the pavement.
If she didn’t do something quickly, Luke would kill Marley. Julie dove for the weapon as Luke’s arms flexed to launch the man through the air. Without thinking, she snatched the arrow from the ground, rolled to her feet and jammed it into Luke’s chest, straight through the heart.
Luke’s eyes widened and he let go of Bob to clutch at the arrow buried in his heart.
Bob Marley crumpled to the ground, gasping.
“You were mine,” Luke said, his voice a pathetic whine.
“You’re wrong there.” Julie stood with her feet spread wide, her hands perched on her hips. “I belong to no one.”
Before he could say more, Luke imploded in a cloud of putrid dust, the stench similar to wet campfire ash.
Brushing the dust from her eyes, Julie saw a movement.
The vampire hunter scuttled across the pavement, reaching for his crossbow and quiver of arrows.
Julie rolled her eyes. “Don’t you ever give up?”
“Not until every last vampire is dead. It’s my duty.” He stood, his hands shaking as he fit an arrow into the crossbow.
“I got him, you check on the others,” a voice said over her shoulder.
Julie jumped and stared at William standing next to her. “Damn! How do you do that?”
He grinned. “Practice. Now go.”
As Julie turned, William grabbed the crossbow and slammed it against a nearby brick wall. The weapon shattered into a million pieces.
Not to be deterred, Bob held a wood arrow in front of him. “I have to kill vampires. They’re abominations.”
“That vampire just saved your sorry ass.” William jerked his head toward Julie. “Get it through your thick skull, not all vampires are bad.”
Bob’s hand wavered. “Yes, they are.”
Julie glanced over her shoulder.
William reached out and took the arrows from his hands, snapping them in two. Then he tossed the arrows as far as he could throw. “Leave us alone so that we can check on our friends. They aren’t vampires and they need medical attention.”
Julie didn’t wait for Bob’s response, she turned her back on the two men and loped back the way she’d come.
“I’ll let you get away this time, but not next time,” Bob called out.
“Whatever.” Julie emerged from the alley and scanned the scene. It looked like a war zone. Kim, Roger and his partner were all lying on the ground. Since she was practically sure Kim wasn’t going to make it, she hurried to Roger and Chase. They each had a steady pulse and were breathing.
Chase stirred and struggled to sit up. “What the hell happened?”
“Vampire attack. Stay down until I get help.” Her heart aching for her friend, Julie returned to Roger. She felt along his arms and legs for broken bones.
“What are we going to do with her?” William dropped to his knees next to Kim, a frown pressing his brows together.
Julie’s chest tightened. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“Almost.”
“Almost?” Julie glanced at Roger. His pulse was steady and his body warm. She’d help him in a minute. Kim’s needs were more pressing. “Can we save her if we get her into the hospital?”
“No. It’s too late for that. For all intents and purposes, she’ll die. The question is, are you willing to let her die or grant her immortality?”
“I can do that?”
“She’s your friend. You know her better than I do.” William lifted Kim’s head into his lap and smoothed the black hair back from her white forehead. “Do you think she’d want the option to become one of us?”
The bottom fell out of Julie’s stomach. It was one thing to be turned when it wasn’t your option. Given the choice, would Kim prefer to die or would she want to become a vampire and live forever? Julie snorted. “Easy. She’s fascinated by vampires. I think she’d want to live.” Kim lay so quietly in William’s arms, so out of character for the talkative Goth freak. “What do we do?”
“I’ll need a knife.”
Julie raced to Rogers’s side and rummaged in his pocket. He always carried a small pocket knife. She knew that from when he’d emptied his pockets onto her nightstand. When she found it, she pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll get you help as soon as we take care of Kim.” Without wasting time, she hurried back to William. “I want to do this.”
William’s brows rose. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then bite her. After the third bite, give her back your blood.”
Julie shivered. She’d bitten Roger in the heat of passion. Biting a dying woman seemed so cold.
“Either do it or don’t,” William bit out, his face strained as he stared down at Kim. “But decide quickly or she’ll die anyway.”
Julie nodded. If Kim was going to be mad, it might as well be at her. She leaned over Kim, positioning her mouth farther down from where Luke had sunk his fangs into her throat. Breathing deeply, she concentrated on her bloodlust and extending her fangs. Then she bit into Kim and sucked her blood, falling into the passion of feeding off a living human being. If not for William’s hand on her shoulder, she’d have been lost. She pulled her fangs free and sat back, wiping the blood from her lips. The horror of what she’d just done made her stomach rise.
“Don’t stop now. One more time. She has to be bitten three times.�
� William pushed her toward Kim’s throat for the last bite.
This time, she fought the urge to forget where she was and what she as doing. Kim needed her to stay focused. When she surfaced the second time, William handed her the knife.
He closed his fingers around hers and held her hand for a brief moment. “Vampires heal quickly, but they feel pain just the same.”
“I can do this,” Julie said, as much to convince herself as to convince William. She flipped the blade open, took a deep breath and sliced across her wrist.
Pain seared through her and she bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying out.
“Hurry.” William said. “Her life force is slipping away. The sooner she drinks the vampire’s blood, the better chance we have of turning her.”
Blood oozed from the wound and dripped onto the ground. Julie knelt beside her friend and pressed the bloody wrist to Kim’s lips. “Please, Kim. Live.”
Chapter Ten
When Roger opened his eyes, he stared up at the street lamp over his head and tried to remember where he was and what the hell happened. The image of the big, blond vampire biting into Kim’s throat surfaced as his last conscious thought and he jerked to a sitting position.
A few yards away, Julie and her neighbor, William, kneeled next to Kim’s limp body and Julie had her wrist pressed to Kim’s mouth.
“What are you doing?” Roger asked.
Julie’s gaze darted to his, her eyes wide and…guilty? Then a jerky smile lifted the corners of her lips. “Oh Roger, you’re awake. Please, stay where you are until I can get the ER staff out here to assist you.”
Why didn’t she just answer him? He climbed to his feet, staggering a few steps beneath the weight of a pounding headache and a twisted ankle. “I don’t want assistance. I want to know what the hell you’re doing. Is that blood?”
Red liquid dripped down the side of Kim’s mouth.
Julie glanced down at her friend, her face soft and worried. “We’re trying to save Kim.”
“She’s bleeding. Shouldn’t she be the one in the ER room?”
“It’s too late for that.” Julie’s mouth twisted. “Besides, it’s not her blood. It’s mine.”