The Hunter's Den: Dead of Midnight Book 1

by Byron Thorne

  Jules walked up to Morgan and grabbed his hand. He nearly pulled it away in shock. The gesture wasn’t one he was even remotely familiar with and certainly not one that he had expected. She shot him an icy look. “Sure, I take you inside of me. We go on an intense journey together. But holding hands? Out of the question.”

  “I, uh…” Morgan stuttered.

  “Too late, the moment’s gone,” Jules said. “Hell of a date so far, though, I have to hand it to you. Maybe next time we can just go to the observatory. Let’s go.”

  The gate guard waived them through like it was a completely normal experience for two strangers to be performing blood rituals in the cemetery at three in the morning on a Sunday. Although to be fair, Jules wasn’t sure how visible the experience was to an outsider. If Morgan was right, anyone watching might have gotten to see some skin but not much else.

  When they arrived at her apartment, Daniel’s car sat parked in the spot. However, all of the lights were off in her place.

  “Can you like wait across the street or something? It won’t be good for any of us if he sees you,” Jules said.

  “That seems a little ridiculous- in fact, I could probably come with you and just make him forget I was ever here at all. In actuality, I could use a drink,” Morgan responded.

  “What, of Daniel’s blood? I don’t even know what to say to that, other than that is absolutely disgusting. I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Does he normally sit in your place with the lights off? I don’t like the looks of this.” Morgan asked.

  “No, but he’s probably just passed out or something. I’ll be right back.”

  Jules left him standing there, and quickly tried to figure out a story for Daniel. Part of her wanted to fess up to the whole night so she could actually ask him about the night that Sam died. That meant a lot of explaining and defending herself from his judgment, though. Maybe she could just leave that part out of it for now and just tell him that she managed to get away safe. It wasn’t much of a lie, but it had already been a long night and she didn’t feel much like arguing. Besides, the sooner Daniel left, the sooner she could figure out the answer to the question of what she was going to do about Morgan.

  “Danny?” Jules shouted as she opened the door to her place. She flipped the switch on the wall and the kitchen filled with light. Daniel stood across the room, eyes frozen wide. A bulky hand attached to a tattooed arm covered his mouth, then released him and shoved him onto the ground in front of her.

  “Jules,” Daniel coughed, “I’m sorry. Get out of here, now!”

  She turned to run out the door, but another vampire, the female from the back room at Solstice, now stood blocking the exit. “You didn’t think you could just waltz in and out of our domain without any consequences, did you?”

  “And so rude of you to leave us so hungry,” another vamp chimed in.

  After all she’d been through, she didn’t expect that the end would come inside her apartment. Evidently, neither did Morgan. Instead of knocking, he opted to launch the entire door off of its hinges. It flattened the vampire standing in front of it, and Jules saw an opening for herself. She had no intention of fleeing the scene. Instead, she readied the crossbow amidst the confusion of Morgan grappling with one vamp and Daniel doing his best to avoid getting his throat slashed by another. Her hands moved on their own, rapidly accelerated by the presence of Morgan’s blood in her veins.

  “Jules, go!” Daniel yelled from the floor, his hands locked on the vampire’s tattooed wrists. She saw an opening- the thump of the creature’s heart, and the entire moment seemed to crawl to a halt. Then, Jules pulled the trigger and watched the arrow fly right where she wanted it to. The vampire flipped backwards into the air. The body never hit the ground. Instead, it burned completely to ash in an instant.

  “Nice shot,” Morgan found the time to say in between dodging the blade being swung in front of him, “I suppose the other night I was luckier than I thought.”

  “Wait, what?” Daniel yelled as he scrambled to his feet from the floor. He flipped the coffee table over and stomped at one of the legs with his boot. The Scandinavian particle board came apart so much more quickly than it was put together. It might not have been the most durable piece of furniture but it looked sharp enough to be a makeshift stake. He stood there, sizing up the targets in front of him.

  Jules could see the rage in his eyes and knew he wanted to kill everything in that room except her. She certainly didn’t want Morgan to end up staked, but she didn’t want Daniel to get himself killed either. Unfortunately, it appeared that Daniel had already made up his mind about who he should attack first, and he charged across the room at Morgan.

  “No, Danny, don’t!” Jules shouted as she moved to intercept him. Her momentum and the power of the blood were more than enough to stop him, but she hadn’t anticipated the force and the two of them careened into the wall.

  Morgan turned briefly to investigate, concerned for Jules’ safety. She was fine, but the brief lapse in his concentration allowed for the vampire in front of him to find an opening with his dagger. Morgan cried out in pain as the blade stuck through his ribs, and as Jules saw it she wanted to cry out too. Instead, she picked up the table leg dropped by Daniel when the two of them went tumbling into the wall. She gripped it like a spear, ready to lunge after the vamp, only Morgan was still a step ahead of her. He picked up flung his assailant directly onto the stake that Jules had at the ready, and the surprise caused her to drop it to the ground- though not before the vampire had become impaled and crumbled to dust.

  Before Jules was able to take a sigh of relief, the door that lay on top of the last vamp flew up and hit the ceiling. Daniel had run into the back room, either to find cover or to find another weapon. The vampire jumped to her feet, unscathed by the impact, and ready for revenge. Her focus was on Morgan now, and Jules picked up the stake once again. This time, Morgan pulled the knife out of his side and used it against the attacking vamp, dragging the pointed blade across her throat with a lightning strike and leaving nothing behind but a pile of ash.

  “Garrett, you have made quite the mess in here.” It was a woman’s voice, creamy and smooth but far deeper than Jules’ own, coming out of the shadows. “And all for a human? The Coven is not going to be happy about this.” The voice made itself flesh in the doorway, and Jules recognized its owner as the blonde vampire in the red dress from the club. Her red dress glowed as much as her milky white skin underneath the florescent lights of the apartment. “Interesting place, I see you’re going for the sort of rustic feel. Not my choice. Or Garrett’s, for that matter.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jules said, tightening her grip on the stake in her hand. “Who are you, and why are you still here? Do you see what just happened to your friends?”

  The blonde in the doorway laughed. “Now I’m starting to see why you picked this one, Garrett. She’s feisty.”

  “Victoria, leave, now. Before things get bad for you,” Morgan winced and grabbed at the wound in his side.

  “Bad for me?” the blonde said, “that looks like it hurts. Having trouble healing, too, Garrett. Silver blade? Looks like it. You better drink from the girl. But don’t keep her all to yourself.”

  “Why do you keep saying Garrett?” Jules demanded. “Who is this vamp, Morgan? And can I kill her already?”

  “It’s my name,” Morgan coughed. “My first name, anyways. And she’s nobody. Forget about her, get your things, and let’s go.”

  “Garrett, quite frankly I’m embarrassed and a little insulted that you force me to introduce myself. Very well, then,” the vampire turned her full attention to Jules, and the gaze created enough butterflies in her stomach to make her feel nauseous. The rigidity of the stake in her hands kept Jules stable. “I am Victoria Bennett. Although typically Garrett usually can’t stop gushing about me, perhaps you haven’t heard my name yet. Regardless, I’m confident that you are familiar with some of my work throughout history, whether it w
as attributed to me or not. I’m not here for you- I’m here because Garrett Morgan is mine.”

  Jules tried to protest, but any sound that her voice had was silenced by the deafening roar of gunfire that bounced off the laminate floor of the apartment. Daniel had reemerged from the bedroom, the pistol in his hand, firing wildly. As fast as the bullets flew, Jules was still able to see them as they hit their target. Victoria took one to the shoulder and growled. The noise was terrifying and seemed impossible to have come out of such a slender and feminine creature. The vampire shot one more gaze at Jules and disappeared out the door, bullets whizzing by at the ghost of her.

  Unfortunately, Daniel continued firing, this time shifting his aim to Morgan. Jules saw the bullet enter him in the shoulder, and heard the clicks of the spent gun as Daniel kept pulling the trigger. Morgan spun around with the impact but didn’t fall over.

  “Kill him, Jules!” Daniel cried out. Before Jules even had the chance to explain, Morgan was across the room, behind him, a hand clasped tightly on Daniel’s throat. Blood poured out of the two new holes in him, one each side. The pale grey of his eyes had vanished, now turned the same color as the blood that left him. It was a horrifying visage compared to the grace and beauty that Jules had witnessed so shortly before.

  “Morgan don’t, you can’t!” Jules cried out. Morgan didn’t listen and sunk his teeth into the hunter. “You can’t kill him!” she screamed, clutching the stake in her hand. “Because I can’t kill you! Let him go!”

  Morgan, blinded by rage and pain, was still able to hear her pleas. Then, he felt the same despair and hopelessness that swelled inside of Jules and wanted nothing more than to make it stop. He could end the hunter’s life right there and secure the survival of his own. But he would surely lose Jules, and Morgan had no desire to experience that scenario. He released his grip and Daniel collapsed to the ground, scrambling to find his gun even though it was devoid of bullets.

  The pale, gray eyes had returned to Morgan’s face, but his body had not returned to normal. He stumbled towards Jules and she dropped the stake, catching him before he could fall over. His body was surprisingly heavy for his tenuity, but Jules leaned on her blood-given strength to support him. “Leave it, Daniel,” Jules said of the gun in Daniel’s hand. “He’s not dangerous.”

  “Not dangerous?” Daniel yelled, grabbing at his neck, even though the wound had disappeared. “He tried to rip my neck out. It’s a vampire, Jules. If it’s got some kind of hold over you, then just drop him and let’s get out of here. The time is now, Jules. We have to leave this city.”

  Morgan grunted, but Jules couldn’t tell if he was agreeing or not. “I’m leaving, Daniel. But I can’t leave him. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with that thing,” Daniel protested.

  “I know. I’ll see you, Danny,” Jules whispered, fighting back tears. “And by the way, I have to borrow the Nova.”

  Jules grabbed the keys and managed to maneuver Morgan across the wreckage of her old place. She placed the vampire into the passenger seat of the Nova and took one last look at Daniel, gazing after her from the doorway. She turned her eyes to the road, fired up the engine and did not look back again.

  About the Author

  Byron Thorne has spent more than a decade chasing vampires, concluding that the nice ones aren’t so bad once you get to know them. Now Byron writes at night on behalf of the all the lonesome vamps out there. The Hunter’s Den was selected as a finalist for the Kindle Scout contest in 2017, and now it’s available in full for the first time. Dying to know what happens to Morgan and Jules? Email byronthorne.books@gmail.com or check out book two of the Dead of Midnight series, coming soon!