Terrifying Love: A Halloween Anthology

by Serena Nova

  Breakfast was nearly ready when she joined me in the kitchen, wearing a too big tank top, with nothing underneath. She sidled up behind me, pulled my butt against her and snaked one hand onto my lower belly, fiddling with the seam of my panties. Her other hand slid up my shirt until she cupped my right breast, then she leaned her chin on my shoulder and tilted her cheek to my ear. “Good gloaming, sexy woman,” she rasped, her voice hoarse from sleep.

  I shut off the stove and turned, hugging her, while leaning back against the counter. “Hungry?”

  “Mhhh,” she purred.

  The evening was perfect. We both knew that we had this night left for preparations – tomorrow was All Hallows’ Eve – but for a short time we lived in a bubble of kisses, eating straight from the pan, and long hugs.

  Chapter Sixteen - Minette

  The last two nights – since I had pulled up my big girl panties and kissed Kayla – had been magical. Witches don’t use the term magical lightly, but there was no other way to describe it. Being with her was beyond easy. Everything felt right, natural, like breathing. I would never have guessed how starved she was for touch and how often she demanded it, just hugging me randomly between preparations, and cuddling up to me during the day. Maybe it was because we were on borrowed time. We both knew that this night could go a shitload of different ways, and I wasn’t sure whether or not she’d stay. If we both survived, that was. We avoided the topic skillfully, talking about everything, except the future. But the closer tonight got, the more desperate her kisses grew, and the more I needed her close to me.

  I woke right as she stirred beside me and turned to face her. She opened her eyes and we looked at each other for some time, foreboding settling heavy in my bones.

  “Whatever happens tonight, I—”

  “I don’t want you to come,” she interrupted me.

  “Why?”

  “It’s too dangerous and might go badly. You have done much for me and with your potion, the chains, and the bombs, I should be able to handle him.”

  “Kayla,” I said, my voice sharp. “I am not letting you go alone. No matter what you say. We are in this together.”

  She pressed her lids shut and crinkled her nose.

  “Hey,” I snapped. “Understood?”

  “It’s not safe.”

  “Understood?”

  “Ugh, yeah, all right. Understood.”

  I wriggled closer and pecked the tip of her nose. “Good. Now, let’s get ready.”

  *******

  We stepped from the portal I had conjured and into the old cemetery on the outskirts of the city. A lone streetlamp flickered, illuminating run down, deserted houses behind the iron gates of the cemetery. This part of Trinity had been abandoned long ago, only those desperate for any kind of roof over their heads lingered here.

  I hiked up my bag, filled to the brim with our preparations, and inhaled the night air deeply. Raising a finger, I drew the rune of magic into the air and watched it hover above my palm. I turned and stopped when the rune brightened. “This way,” I said to Kayla.

  My vampire looked even more badass and deadly than when she had when she entered my shop for the first time. I had insisted on warrior make-up, so she was sporting dark-red lips, smoky eyes and Viking-like braids in her hair. Her eyes shone with mercury, ever watchful, as she had one palm on the grip of her flail, the other on her whip.

  We made our way through the cemetery in near silence. Broken headstones crumbled on either side of our way. An angel of stone, prayed at one grave, his wings lying broken at his feet, his halo missing half of its circle. Mist crept up from the nearby woods, lending the eerie scene and even eerier feel. The white swaths billowed around us as we followed the runes’ directions.

  The golden glyph pulsed and grew brighter with each step, until we stood in front of a crypt. The rune flared one last time, then expired. “This is it,” I said, looking up at the weathered building before us. The once imposing columns of granite were overgrown with moss and poison ivy, here and there roses poked from the mass of wild growth, adding dots of color to it. Like drops of blood in the dark. Fitting.

  “I can feel him,” Kayla whispered. “He is stirring, we have to be quick.”

  I dropped my bag, we both crouched next to it and got out the chains, bombs, and bolts for her crossbow.

  “I dipped these into a mixture of rogue blood and scorpion venom.” I handed over the bolts and Kayla carefully placed them into her quiver. “It won’t kill him, but maybe it will slow him down better than silver. And it will hurt like hell.”

  Pulling a small flask from my belt, I stood and offered it to Kayla. “The potion, you should drink it now. It will amplify your strength and speed considerably, but the aftereffects are a bitch.”

  “If it helps me win against him, I don’t mind.” Her face grim, she unscrewed it and downed the contents. The silver in her eyes flashed with light for a second and she shook herself. “Ugh. It’s fucking disgusting. I can actually taste those bloody worms.” She stuck out her tongue, her face the image of revulsion.

  Suddenly her nostrils widened and she spun around with a snarl. Somehow her flail now swung in her right and her whole body was tensed like that of a predator ready to lunge. “Get behind me,” she hissed. “We are not alone.”

  Ignoring her, I drew the rune of light into the air and threw it up. A ball of yellow light rose above, chasing the shadows from our immediate surrounding, revealing hooded figures crouching behind tombstones across from us and the crypt.

  Knowing their cover was blown, the figures stood and slowly walked up to us. There were a lot. At least thirty. I gasped when I recognized the crest on their black cloaks. “The Order of the Gauntlet,” I whispered.

  The man closest to us nodded. “Perceptive. I must say, we were impressed with your idea of consulting the help of a witch, Kayla.”

  My vampire lowered her weapons, but her stance remained tense. “Why are you not attacking us?”

  “We have been following you, taking care of that demon who gave you her address, for example.” The man gestured at me. “When you were sighted in Trinity, we knew why you had come. And we decided to lend a hand.”

  “But I am one of them,” Kayla said. “The Order always attacked on sight in the past.”

  “Yes, but you have proven useful, leading us to nests, packs, covens, and strongholds. Leadership has decided that this will be your test. We are to fight alongside you, see if it is possible, and if so, we are to offer you a place amongst our ranks once more.” He attempted a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and my stomach dropped. “What say you, Huntress?”

  Kayla shrugged. “The more the merrier.”

  I cursed silently. If Kayla still thought of them as family – even just a little – I was most surely fucked.

  Chapter Seventeen - Kayla

  I wasn’t as calm as I looked. My guild had come. For me. They would take me back. For so many years I had wanted nothing more. The thing I had searched for, for a hundred years, was withing grasp – a purpose. First thing’s first, it was time to kill my sire.

  “This is Mina,” I introduced the witch. “She is not to be harmed.”

  The man nodded. “I understand, you enlisted her magic.” He placed a palm to his chest. “I am Luke. Me and mine will take up cover behind the stones and shoot at him. We can’t hope to kill him with our silver bullets, but we should be able to distract him, so you have a fighting chance.”

  “Good. Just don’t hit me.”

  He smirked. “My soldiers can shoot the wings off a fly from twenty-five yards. It won’t be a problem.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Mina whispered as they stalked back into the shadows.

  “They were my family,” I simply said.

  “But they hunted you, they hunt our kind.”

  Not wanting to fight, I said nothing further on the matter, but took the chains and wound them around a pillar that was still intact. Then I got two of the stunning b
ombs from Mina’s bag, leaving her the rest. “I’ll stay right here, shooting him when he comes out, you hide behind that statue,” I pointed at the stone-angel with broken wings. “Can you throw the bombs from there?”

  She cocked a brow. “Please, I’ll make them zoom straight at him.”

  A guttural snarl, coming from the crypt had me pivoting around. Mina quickly squeezed my hand and I looked back at her. “Be careful,” she said, took her bag and jogged off to take cover.

  I filled my lungs with air, trying to calm my nerves, all the while feeling the effects of Mina’s potion take effect. My body felt lighter, yet sturdy, strong without being heavy. I circled my wrist holding the flail, it spun into a blur, the whooshing sound music to my ears. Walking to the center space in front of the crypt doors, I hung the flail on its hook, then nocked a bolt to my crossbow and took a stance.

  We did not have to wait long. A loud crash sounded from the crypt, followed by several fainter ones. The broad, iron door vibrated as if rammed by something from the inside. Once, twice, boom. The whole door flew out of its frame, landing a few feet away from me.

  He stood in the arch, as tall and imposing as I remembered him.

  Fangs like daggers. Blood flowing. Mine. His. Me drowning in his blood until I swallowed. And burned.

  I raised my crossbow, taking aim. He looked up and our eyes met. His a metallic red, the gleam of an elder vampire. “Child,” he rasped, his voice brittle yet enchanting. “You have come.” He opened his arms, making the tattered cloak billow around him. Black cloth swaying through mist and dust.

  His beautiful face beamed with a radiant smile as he sniffed the air. “You have brought food, child. Now put that contraption away and join me in feeding.”

  His words sang to my bones, my innermost self, and I started to shake. Gritting my teeth, I took aim again and loosened the bolt.

  My sire caught the bolt before it reached his chest. An indulgent little smirk flashed across his lips, barely hiding his elongating fangs. “No, no, pet. Don’t shoot at your master,” his voice was like that of a human, scolding his dog.

  I reloaded lightning fast and raised the crossbow, but before I leveled it to him, he was right in front of me. His metallic eyes – the core of all my nightmares – gleamed and he wrenched the weapon from my hands. “I said no!” He slapped me across the cheek, the blow making me spin through the air. Mid spin, I caught my balance and landed in a crouch, wasting no time to get out my flail and my whip.

  “Hmm. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you came to kill me, child.”

  “I did,” I snarled, snapping the whip at him. The spiked end hit him on the cheek, leaving a small cut.

  He dabbed a long finger to the wound. “Well, I see I need to teach you manners, again.”

  “Now!” Luke yelled, and gunshots exploded all around. I didn’t wait to see if they hit him, but jumped up and twirled back while cracking the whip, feeling it making contact as I landed further from him.

  Two stunning bombs zoomed past me and followed my sire as he zipped towards the soldiers shooting at him. The hits didn’t slow him as he reached the first one, ripping him clean in two, drinking from one half as he discarded the other. I gave chase, feeling the air rush by as fast as it never had before. Not used to this speed, I plowed into him, sending both of us crashing into a tombstone. I rolled away, unhooking my flail and twirling it.

  He snarled at me as I dashed around him, gunshots hitting him, along with my flail. His wounds closed as fast as we inflicted them, and he still seemed unfazed. A stunning bomb hit, and his movements slowed for all of three seconds. Then I felt his claws slice down my side, ripping my skin open with a wet sound. With a roar, revealing his fearsome fangs, he punched me in the gut. I flew back, hitting several graves and bushes with my back.

  By the time I had gotten up, my sire had decimated at least ten of the humans. The gunshots grew irregular and fewer. I saw my crossbow lying a few feet away, still loaded. I ran, snatching it up as I went, then skidded behind a tree and leaned against it, increasing my aiming stability.

  He was unbelievably fast. A blur, picking apart soldiers as though he were picking flowers from a meadow. Their cries, bloodcurdling yells of death, were short, neatly cut off by dismemberment. I calmed my breathing and anticipated his next move. A flash of his red, metallic eyes in one particular direction was all that told me of his next victim. In that moment two stunning bombs hit him, and he slowed. I let the bolt fly. The projectile hit him mid-run, vibrating in his chest. He stopped, frowned down and brushed his chest with one hand, breaking the bolt clean off where it entered his skin. He turned and came my way, his face contorting into a mask of fury as he bared his fangs in a grueling hiss.

  I snarled back, cracking my whip. He was still slow, and as my whip circled his neck, I pulled and he flew towards me, where his face met my knee with a resounding crack. Blood spurted from his nostrils and he sank back on his hunches, his knees anchored in the dirt.

  He looked at his chest again, his palm cupping the broken bolt, confusion blooming across his features. “Rogue blood. And the burn, scorpion venom?” He spat out blood with a chuckle, gunshots hitting his back all the while. “Well played, pet, well played.” His gaze zeroed into mine. “Now kill them. Every. Last. One.”

  That voice. Those eyes. The command was like a hand reaching into my spine, grabbing hold of me with absolute authority. My body trembled. Slowly, I stopped pulling on the whip still wound around his neck.

  “Now!” he roared. The hand dug deeper, clamping a fist around my very heart. “Kill them!”

  My head flew up, a growl rumbling through my chest as I focused on the nearest human.

  “Kayla!” the sweet melody of her voice reached me and my gaze snapped to her. She stood far away, her eyes glowing with purple light, her fire-dust hair blowing in an unfelt wind. My heart swelled, bursting free from the hold and my grip tightened on my whip.

  “No,” I said and yanked.

  His hands flew up, scratching at the silver coils surrounding his neck and he gasped for air. I kept a tight grip and dragged him through the sand. Dust swirled up, mixing with the mist as he kicked and choked behind me.

  Close to the pillar, I picked him up by the scruff of his coat and slammed him against the stone, then I wrapped the chain around him, fastening him to the granite.

  Taking the bolts from my quiver, I stabbed them into his torso one by one, ignoring his whimpers and cries. “This will hold you till morning,” I said and stood.

  Mina and those left of the Order came stumbling our way. My witch flew into my arms, then pulled back to examine my wounds. “Are you okay?” she asked, cupping my cheeks, her purple eyes glinting with unshed tears.

  “I’m fine. If it wasn’t for you, I would have succumbed to him.” I leaned my forehead against hers and closed my eyes for a few seconds.

  “Nicely done,” Luke said.

  We all watched as my sire wriggled and hissed in his chains, but with every second passing, his struggles grew weaker until his head sank to his chest and he lost consciousness. “They will keep him,” Mina said. “Come morning, he will by nothing but dust and ash.”

  “Huntress, we will stay and make sure he meets his end,” Luke told me. “You have proven your worth, even in the presence of your sire. The Order of the Gauntlet welcomes you back, as our first supernatural weapon.”

  My breath a bit short I nodded. But when Mina laced our fingers Luke’s lip curled in distain. “One last thing.” He cleared his throat. “Call it an initiation ritual if you will. Kill the witch and you are one of us.”

  I stared at him, not believing his words. “What?”

  “You heard me fine, Huntress. She is one of them. We kill them. It’s what we do.”

  Mina let go of my hand and stumbled back, the fear on her face was more painful than my ravished side. Her hands shook as she balled them into fists, tears streaming down her face. A resounding realization gripped me,
hitting me over the head like a sledgehammer.

  “I am one of them.” I glanced at Luke. “And she is my witch. No harm will ever come to her as long as I am at her side.”

  He glared at me. “Then the deal is off. You kill her or become hunted by us once more.” He cocked his gun at my head. “Decide.”

  I grinned, showing him my fangs. “You heard me fine, Hunter.”

  His finger jerked, but his arm flew up, releasing the shot into the air. Bewildered, his eyes widened as Mina drew another rune into the air, making him lift off and hover a few feet above the ground. My witch kept him there, her face a storm of fury. “She killed the big bad guy for you, saved all of your asses from being ripped apart, and you would still shoot her? You fucking shithead! If any of your type comes knocking, I’ll curse you so hard your children’s children will suffer for it. You will leave her alone, you hear me?” She flicked her fingers into another rune and he zoomed through the air with a yelp, crashing into his peers on the way. Mina drew a few more golden symbols and the rest of the Order followed Luke’s flightpath, straight into the crypt. The heavy iron door hovered off the ground and set back into its frame, sealing the hunters inside with a clank.

  “That should keep them for a while,” Mina hissed. “Dumbasses.”

  Chapter Eighteen - Minette

  She is still with me. That was my first thought as I woke to the smell of breakfast.

  We had portalled back home, where we’d made love in the shower, on our way to the bed, and finally, in the bed. During the day, I slept like a baby, unmoving, just like her.

  I threw on my too large tank top and sauntered into the kitchen. Her face was gaunt, but she smiled when I entered. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.”

  She nudged the mug towards me, and I walked over. Leaning my hip against the counter I lifted the mug to my lips. “Potion hangover?” I asked, taking a sip.

  She grimaced. “It’s as shitty as you said. But I am glad I get to live through it.” Her gaze flashed to mine for a second. “And I am glad you are here. With me. How could you think I would… turn on you for them?”