But even with the oldest and strongest of the Elders, direct sunlight will burn them. And Michael was far from an Elder. So I had to get him where we were going in a hurry.
“Let’s go,” I said, standing up and grabbing the crossbow again. “We’re late.”
Chapter Five
I parked the Charger in the alleyway beside the ruined husk of the church, behind a huge rusting dumpster. I made sure that the car was close enough to the building to stay in shadow even if the sun rose. I didn’t know why I was being so careful, especially since The Monsignor was probably going to do something fatal to Michael anyway, but I couldn’t seem to help it.
And I couldn’t help the feeling of regret I got when I thought of his imminent demise, either.
He’s a vamp, I reminded myself sternly as I killed the engine and pocketed the keys. Even though he doesn’t act like one, he’s still a vamp.
“This is it? This is your office?” Michael looked around the dank alley. There was a dim grayish cast to the air—the first early stirrings of dawn although the sun wouldn’t be really up for another ten or fifteen minutes.
“Very funny, smart guy.” I grabbed for the door handle. “I’m going out and I’ll be back for you in a minute. Whatever you do stay in the car and out of the sun.”
“Or what?” he asked and I could see him mentally calculating the distance he could get from the crazy vampire lady in the short time I was gone.
“Or you’ll be ash,” I said. “I mean it, Michael. You don’t want to try it. But if you do…” I shrugged. “It’s been nice knowing you.”
I think it was my fatalistic tone that finally got through to him.
“Okay.” He looked pale. “I’ll stay in the car—for now. But I’m not going to hang around to be staked or shot or whatever it is you do to vampires.”
“I do all that and more,” I told him. “But I don’t want to have to do it to you.” I was surprised that I actually meant the words as I said them. I didn’t want to stake him. I hoped The Monsignor wouldn’t require it of me.
“Why did you bring me to see your boss if you were just going to leave me in the car?” Michael asked reasonably as I opened the door. It was a good question. The Monsignor had specifically told me to bring Michael to him. Why didn’t I just follow orders? The answer came like a prickling at the back of my neck. I wasn’t bringing him in for the same reason I’d saved him in the first place instead of killing him when he’d been bitten—because something didn’t feel right.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, not answering his question. “Remember—”
“I know.” He raised his shackled hands in a mollifying gesture. “Stay in the car or I’m fried. I got it.”
“I hope so,” I said, and slammed the door. For good measure, I hit the lock and alarm button on my key-stub. If Michael went for a stroll, my car alarm would let me know it the minute he opened the door. I left him staring morosely out the window at the dim alley and glided around the side of the building, looking for a way in.
There were plenty of ways to get into the abandoned church even though the fire that had gutted it had left its brick walls intact. I bypassed the small sagging side door, my usual entrance, and crept around the back of the building instead. The front of the church was devoted to the sanctuary and confessional area but the back had been mostly classrooms and an industrial sized kitchen.
I boosted myself up onto one of the charred window sills, taking care to avoid the jagged slivers of glass that stuck up like pointed teeth from rotten gums. The interior of the kitchen had long since been stripped bare of anything remotely useful. The only thing left was a rusty, dripping sink in one corner and a stainless steel table that had been bolted to the floor.
I dropped noiselessly to the floor and stalked silently through the shadows, heading for the front of the church and the confessional booths. I still didn’t know why I was doing this but if I was going to try and sneak up on The Monsignor, I didn’t intend to do a half-assed job of it.
I heard his dry, whispery voice long before I saw him, mainly because it was raised in an uncharacteristically irritated tone.
“Where is she?” he was asking someone. “And where is the fledgling?”
“They were seen leaving her residence not more than ten minutes ago, my lord. They will be here soon,” an oily, obsequious voice answered. I couldn’t see the speaker, but he sounded like a snake. And why was he calling The Monsignor, ‘my lord’ instead of Father?
“Have steps been taken to secure him?” I heard my boss ask. I crouched at the door that led from the back of the church into the sanctuary and put my eye to a crack. I caught a swirl of red as The Monsignor’s cloak passed through my line of vision. He turned, his features hidden as always by the blood-red cowl pulled low over his face. His hands were likewise hidden by the flowing sleeves at his sides.
I had seen him like this many times but suddenly I felt a chill go down my spine. Why did the dark hole in his cloak where his face should have been fill me with dread? Why did the whispery voice twist my stomach in knots instead of giving me comfort?
“Indeed, yes, all is in readiness,” the oily voice assured him. “And the bite was a good one—his blood was sweet. I knew he would turn the moment I tasted it.”
I dragged my eyes from my boss and looked at the second man. He was tall and thin with pale skin and a lank curtain of hair that hid one of his eyes. I took a closer look and bit back a gasp. In the dim light of the burned out sanctuary, the man’s one visible eye glowed a malevolent yellow-brown. And when he parted his lips to speak, I saw the unmistakable glint of fangs. A vampire! And not just any vampire—it was the leech that had bitten Michael in the ER in the first place. Why was The Monsignor talking to him instead of staking his ass to the floor?
“Be certain that you do not harm him,” The Monsignor said. “He is of no use to me dead.”
“Do you really believe, my lord, that he might be the one of which the prophesy speaks?” The snake-like vamp rubbed his long, skinny hands together with a sound like dry scales rustling.
“We shall see.” The Monsignor sounded excited, almost…greedy. It was a tone I had never expected to hear in that whispery voice. “If the blood is right, and I believe that it is, he may be. Think, Jerome, the dawn of a whole new race. Moran is the key. His blood is the key.”
“And what of the girl?” snake-vamp asked. “She wounded me most grievously, my lord, and I am not accustomed to such indignities.” He pulled back the lank curtain of hair, exposing a mass of healing scar tissue where the other eye should have been. Apparently the holy water I’d poured down his throat had inhibited the regeneration process. Or maybe it was the silver blade I’d planted in his brain. But it wasn’t the missing eye I was most concerned with.
On the vamp’s high, narrow forehead was a round slick spot that looked like a black bubble of oil. But I knew this bubble would never pop. It was the oculare de autorita— what the vamps call the ‘eye of power’ or the ‘eye of authority.’ And only Elders had it. Damn—I had known there was something strange about the vamp that had bitten Michael. No doubt if I had been paying more attention to the vampire instead of to Michael, I would have noticed the aura of power around him that every Elder has. It’s like getting too close to a huge generator when you’re next to one of them—all the hair on your body wants to stand up at once and you can almost feel the current of darkness and evil coursing through them like electrical energy.
“The girl, my lord. I want her blood,” the Elder insisted.
“The girl?” I saw the red-clad shoulders shrug as The Monsignor considered what the Elder had said. What was he doing consorting with an Elder anyway? These were the very vamps he had sent me out to kill again and again. But my boss’s next words drove everything else out of my mind.
“She has served her purpose,” The Monsignor said. “And her blood is immune to the virus—she cannot be turned. Kill her.”
I felt myself g
o cold all over. It was me they were talking about—I knew it. Four years I had been working for The Monsignor. Four years I had trusted him with my life, had offered him my allegiance and support, not to mention killing hundreds of vamps on his orders. And now he wanted to have me killed and I didn’t even know why. I didn’t know anything anymore. His betrayal left me breathless—stunned.
“My lord, I—” The vampire Elder cocked his head, as though listening for something. Then I heard it, too. My car alarm.
Chapter Six
Michael! I turned and pounded back down the long stone throat of the hallway, heedless now of the noise I made. I didn’t know what to make of what I had heard—I hadn’t really had time to process it yet. But I knew that both Michael and I were in deep shit. Since I had gotten him into this situation it was my responsibility to get him out. Or so I told myself.
I burst out the back of the church and rounded the corner into the alley where I had parked my car to see that all hell had broken loose.
Michael was holding off three large angry vamps even though he still had his hands manacled in front of him. He had his fingers locked together to form a kind of two fisted hammer and every time one of the vamps tried to rush him, he turned with superhuman speed and struck out. As I watched, he clocked the largest vamp, a big black guy that looked like he belonged on the Pro-wrestling circuit, in the face. There was a muted crunching of cartilage and the vamp howled and jumped back, blood dripping down his face. Even if you can heal it in a few seconds, it’s still no fun having your nose broken.
What concerned me wasn’t the vamps—despite being chained up, he was handling them impressively. No, what concerned me was the yellow rim of the sun reaching the horizon and the arc of pale but deadly sunlight that was visible just beyond the lip of the alley. I didn’t know how old his attackers were, but with a new vamp like Michael, the light was going to be absolutely lethal. I’m not talking sun poisoning or even third degree burns either. If he stumbled into the sunlight, even briefly, he’d be instant ash. And for whatever reason, I didn’t want to see him die.
The vamps had obviously been ordered to take him alive because they were circling him warily, trying to get behind him and cut him off. But Michael was having none of it. Apparently he still hadn’t developed the vampire’s instinctive fear of sunlight because he was backing recklessly right toward the lip of the alley where the safety of the shadow ended abruptly.
“Michael!” I shouted, drawing the snarling vamps’ attention as well as his. I unslung the retractable bow which I’d had strapped to my back in case of this kind of emergency and popped it open, locking the frame in place.
“Kate!” He sounded near to panic, no surprise considering what was going on.
“Stay back—stay out of the light!” I shouted and that’s when vamp number two, a beefy guy with a black buzz cut and teeth like a chain saw, launched himself at me. I got off a shot and had the satisfaction of watching the arrow lodge in his throat before he could get to me. He gagged and pulled at the arrow, flailing backwards as the mixture of silver nitrate and holy water bubbled in a bloody foam from the hole in his neck.
He stumbled past his comrades and into Michael’s range and I saw the opportunity.
“Into the light!” I shouted at him, gesturing with my bow at the vamp. “Push him into the light—just stay out of it yourself.”
He obeyed without thinking, turning to plant one sneakered foot in the flailing vamp’s midsection. One strong kick was all it took to send the leech from the safety of the darkened alley to the deadly wash of sunlight growing outside it. I had a brief moment to see Michael’s green eyes widen as the vamp froze, then disintegrated into a glowing pile of ash before the next vampire was after me.
He was as big as his comrades with pale blue eyes and white-blond hair. I squeezed the release on my bow again and saw the arrow lodge just under his collar bone. He was strong and fast and the arrow barely slowed him down—not quite an Elder but sure as hell not a leech either. Maybe a lieutenant, from what family I couldn’t tell. But whatever he was, I didn’t intend to give him the satisfaction of having me for breakfast.
“Giustiziere de morto,” he snarled in my face, his breath reeking of old blood. “Katherine Cosenza.”
It threw me that he knew my name, but I wasn’t going to let it affect my performance. “That’s right, buddy,” I told him. “I’m a slayer and you’re about to kiss your blood-sucking ass goodbye.”
I twisted my wrist a certain way and felt the long silver blade I’d had made for just this kind of close-up and personal work snick into place. It wasn’t a stake but if I could pierce his heart with the high-silver content metal I might be able to kill him. It would have been better if I could have planted a stake in him, but I think I explained the difficulty in staking an uncooperative vamp.
Before I could stab, big blond and ugly’s fangs sliced into my shoulder, shredding the black vinyl.
I mentally chalked up another suit to the big dry cleaners in the sky. It was the second one I’d had ruined that night and it pissed me off. I balled my hand into a fist and punched up and under his ribs, the easiest way to get to the heart in a fight. I felt the metal blade slide home and had a moment of satisfaction as the light in his glowing eyes died and his pupils retracted to pinpoints.
He made a noise like, “Ghhhaaaa!” and stumbled backwards just like the first one had. This was almost too easy. I pushed forward, keeping my blade in his heart, feeling the hot trickle of blood run down my wrist as I pressed my case.
“Out of the way!” I shouted at Michael, who happened to be right in my line of action. He danced aside as I pushed the second vamp past the lip of the alley and into the light. The moment it hit him, he began to jitter and jive and smoke. He was strong but no match for direct sunlight. Then he disintegrated as the sun ashed his blond ass.
I turned to deal with the last one, only to see him launching himself at Michael.
“Look out!” I yelled, but Michael was already in motion. He reached down and grabbed the edge of the huge rusted dumpster I had parked behind and heaved it into the air. The thing probably weighed more than my Charger so it was an impressive act, even for a vamp. He heaved it into the air where it collided with the snarling vampire with a resounding clannng! It sounded like two massive pots banging together. Then both dumpster and vamp fell to the ground with an unmusical thud. The dumpster barely missed my car by an inch and the black vampire rolled into a combat crouch and launched himself again. Well, at least he was persistent.
Michael met him halfway, his eyes blazing emerald fire, his fangs fully extended. If I had had any doubts about him at all up till then, the look of fury and blood-lust on his normally calm features erased them completely.
He was all vamp.
The big black vampire surged forward and before I could stop him, he and Michael were rolling on the ground almost right at my feet. I aimed my bow but couldn’t get a clear shot—they were a blur of motion. And they were rolling right for the edge of the alley.
“Michael!” I shouted. “No, don’t—” But I didn’t have a chance to get the words out of my mouth before they rolled out of the alley and into the lethal sunlight. There was an explosion of ash that got in my eyes and I couldn’t see for the tears that blinded me.
Chapter Seven
“No!” I didn’t know why I was crying. It must be the damn ashes that had gotten into my eyes and irritated them. I ran out of the alley into the cloud of ash, knowing it was useless. Michael was gone. I hadn’t even known him for twenty-four hours and he was a vampire—I shouldn’t care.
So why couldn’t I stop crying?
“Kate?”
I whirled around at the sound of my name and saw him standing there in the sunlight, unharmed. He was worse for the wear—his scrub pants were in tatters and his bare chest was covered in rapidly healing scratches and blood, but he was intact—all in one piece. But the sun had cleared the horizon now and it was shining
directly on him, turning his blondish-brown hair into a messy halo around his head. Why wasn’t he ash?
“Michael?” I walked towards him slowly, my hand out in front of me, like a woman coming face-to-face with a ghost. I touched him lightly at first, then more firmly, sliding my hand over his ribcage and up one broad shoulder. His skin was like warm silk beneath my hand. I couldn’t believe it. He was a vampire—I was sure of it. And yet the sunlight didn’t harm him. What the hell was going on?
“Kate, what the hell is going on?” he said, echoing my own question, “I mean—those guys, those men—they exploded into…into dust. And did you see what I did?” He gestured with both hands at the dumpster, lying on its side in the alley and I realized that he was still manacled. I fumbled for the key in my pocket and unlocked him.
“I saw,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Very impressive.”
Michael rubbed his wrists, then ran both hands through his hair. “I know it was impressive—damn impressive. But how was I able to do it?”
I looked up at him and realized how confused he must be. But I wasn’t going to be a whole hell of a lot of help because I was confused too. I kept expecting him to burst into ash at any second but he was fine.
“Is that…was I able to do that because I’m a…well, you know…” Michael lowered his voice as though he was discussing something obscene or crazy.
“A vampire?” I finished for him. “Ordinarily I would say yes, that’s how you did it. But I’m not sure anymore. I don’t know what’s going on with you. Or me either, for that matter. I only know one thing for sure.”
“What?” he asked, as I grabbed his arm and steered him back into the alley.
“We have to get out of here,” I said. I fumbled for the key-stub to shut off the car alarm which had been wailing and whooping through the entire fight. I’d tuned it out at the time but it was loud and annoying in the early dawn stillness. I gave a small sigh of relief when it clicked off and the Charger beeped reassuringly at me.
Blood Kiss Page 4