by Jen Pretty
“What are you doing here?” I asked him. Vincent had never gone out at night since I’d known him. He had said once that someone had to keep the pieces in motion and that task fell to him.
“I will be guarding you tonight, so you don’t go running off and try to get yourself killed.”
Bossy vamp.
“Fine, but don’t get in my way. Whoever took Frankie is mine.” I scowled at him. “And anyone else Durga chooses, belongs to us too,” I say to appease my alter ego.
My nerves were jangling. I didn’t want to be the reason all these people were killed tonight.
At the tree line, we moved together to form a line through the small wooded area. There weren’t any paths through the woodlot, so it was nearly thirty feet of thorny underbrush before the scrub gave way to mossy loam and large tree trunks.
The moon was bright, but very little of its light made it through the dense canopy of the trees. My night vision had improved to the point that I could still travel through without tripping on exposed roots or rocks, and we waded through the underbrush on the opposite side of the trees, coming out, as planned, in the lawyer's yard.
A motion light kicked on, and we got a glimpse of his manicured and landscaped yard and in-ground pool. His house was set back from the road, like Vincent’s, so we walked out his driveway. He had a gate, but it was low and mainly decorative, so we all just hopped it and continued to the bus stop.
This many people at a smaller bus stop would attract attention, so we spread out a bit and walked through the neighbourhood to the larger bus terminal. It was out of our way, but our group wouldn’t raise suspicion there, and we left enough time to make it by bus.
Two transfers and a few odd looks later, our last bus let us off about four blocks from the warehouse. The driver raised his brows as we disembarked. He was letting us all off in the middle of nowhere. Even I had been surprised by the bus route when I looked it up online. There was no way we were catching a bus home again from here. It was the last stop on the run for the night. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to sneak home again. The plan was to have Frankie back, and the rogue’s dead.
Durga stretched beneath my skin making me shiver.
Vincent noticed, of course. “You alright?” he asked. We walked the last few blocks to the warehouse. It was chilly out, but not cold.
“I'm fine, Durga is waking up. Apparently, our plan was boring, so she took a nap.”
He chuckled. “It’s nice to see you accepting her and your calling.” Ugh, my calling. I could hear my bed calling me.
“I guess so. I mean, I can’t exactly leave Frankie with these assholes.”
Vincent nodded. He and Frankie hadn’t gotten along at all, but I think even he wasn’t willing to let the rogue vampires have him.
We crept up the last mile to the warehouse. Durga was bouncing against my insides. Scratching to get free and seek her vengeance. Whoever cursed me with this was going to pay if I got my hands on them.
My blade popped up again in my hand, but we had twenty minutes to wait, so we hunkered down in the brush along the side of the road, within sight of the warehouse.
The vans would go blasting through the gates once we were in place to cause a distraction, but we didn’t want to be there too soon and risk someone stumbling upon us at the back of the warehouse.
With only 5 minutes to spare, we crept along the fence line to the back of the facility. The chain link fence was no big deal. One of the Romanian vamps silently pulled it up, and we crawled under. Dodging the security light at the back of the building, we lined up along the wall on either side of the steel door. Ready to bust some vamps.
Durga was shoving hard, so I let her take over.
Vincent whispered “Go,” from right beside me and all hell broke loose.
We heard the first van slam through the front gates and scream to a stop at the front of the building. The Romanian vampire slammed into the steel door, knocking it off its hinges onto the floor and we flooded the warehouse.
The fighting began as soon as we entered. Rogue vampires came at us from all sides, knives flashing, and teeth bared.
My vision turned red as Durga took control and I clambered to get past all the idiots blocking my path. Adrenaline and Durga pushed my body to its limit as I finally got to the front line and began to fight.
My knife was bloody in moments, and I took the vamp in front of me to the ground, slicing across his neck with the precision only Durga could manage. I was along for the ride, but this time I was ready to let her have her way. I wanted Frankie back and these monsters out of our lives for good.
Another vamp took the place of the first one. This one had a longer blade than mine and a much longer reach. I stepped back as he swung but not far enough, and he nicked my arm. I hissed and lunged as his swing completed, leaving him open. My blade slid deep into his throat, and as he dropped, my knife slipping free.
A vampire stormed towards me from the side, and I spun, bringing my blade towards his throat, but he dodged in time and made a run for the door we had come in. The rest of the team was still spread out fighting monsters, leaving a straight escape for the beast. Durga said he had to die and threw my knife hard. It whistled past the fighters and embedded itself in the back of the fleeing vamp's neck. No mercy.
I turned to see someone tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Their head was down, and they had so much blood on them I couldn’t tell for sure it was Frankie. I opened my hand and called the knife back to me as I started forward.
“No,” screamed a familiar voice. Gabby ran towards me with her teeth bared and eyes blazing. She pulled out a gun and raised it.
I watched her, as if it was in slow motion, pull the trigger and a flash blinded me in the darkened room, but a body spun in front of me, taking my bullets. As the body blocking me fell, Gabby reappeared in my line of vision, and I watched as Vlad stepped in behind her. His hands went to either side of her head and with a quick twist, relieved her of it, letting her body crumple to the ground before discarding her head with the rest of her.
At my feet, Vincent rolled on to his back and looked up at me. Red bloomed on his white tailored shirt like morbid polka dots.
“You idiot, you could be dead right now.”
He grinned at me, flashing his vampire teeth and stood up, dusting off his pants. The momentary break in the action didn’t last. A bloodthirsty vampire launched himself towards me just as two more attacked Vincent. Vlad helped Vincent, and I turned my full attention to the drooling bloodsucker aiming for my throat. My blade came up and caught him under the chin, but it wasn’t close enough to his neck to slow him down. We were getting closer to the man tied to the chair in the middle of the room. And when I finally got my knife into the vampire’s throat, and he collapsed to the floor, I just kept going straight towards who I assumed was Frankie.
I saw Cedric come up the stairs from the lower level out of the corner of my eyes and just as I stepped up to Frankie, I heard him yell “Lark, no!” but it was too late. I felt the floor under my boot click, Durga flashed angrily in my mind, and the room exploded in light throwing me high and far, and then there was nothing.
✽✽✽
I felt a sharp nudge on my kidney.
Leave me alone, Durga.
There was another nudge, this time it felt more like a kick to my kidney.
“Pushy fucking Goddess,” I grumbled to my idiot alter ego as I forced my eyes open for a second before slamming them shut to save my retinas from the one million-megawatt bulb over my head.
“Oh, Yeah! Gets blown up – doesn’t die. Durga for the win!”
That was Drew. I’d recognize his enthusiastic and highly unnecessary play by play anywhere. It was just idiotic.
Someone was poking at my left arm which I suddenly noticed felt like it was on fire. My blade came into my right hand from wherever it had been thrown too when I was blown up. Oh Ya. I was definitely blown up. That sucked.
“Do not stab me
while I’m trying to heal you, Lark,” Vincent’s stern voice came from really close to the throbbing arm.
Oh gross, was he licking me again? Was that necessary? I thought I healed just fine on my own now.
“You are just too damaged to heal completely. He’s helping, Lark.” My eyes flew open again, and I turned towards the mind reading bastard who should be dead. “Can’t kill me so easily,” he said to that unspoken thought.
He had been in the center of the blast. He should be gross mush on the walls of the warehouse now.
“As lovely as that visual is,” he paused. “Cindy, set protection around me when the bomb went off.”
I was not touching that with a ten-foot pole. I turned my head to try and escape the uncomfortableness of that conversation and got an eyeful of the vampire licking my arm. The bone was still protruding from the skin, and the vampire's tongue was smoothing over it in long strokes. His eyes were blazing red.
“I’m going to puke,” I muttered, dropping my blade to the floor with a clatter and covering my mouth. Thankfully Cedric had already planned for this eventuality and had a small garbage pail in his hand which he hastily pushed towards me as I sat up.
When I was done destroying any badass image I had ever constructed, Frankie handed me a bottle of water. My arm was almost healed. I dry heaved a few times when the bone snapped back into alignment and then felt the tight pull of the skin closing. Good as new.
“We need to talk about Vernon,” Vaughn said from the doorway.
“Not now,” Vincent retorted, standing to his full height which towered over me where I still lay.
“Yes, now, Vincent.”
“What about Vernon?” I asked still resting uncomfortably between the vampires.
Vincent sighed. “We caught his smell in the warehouse. He wasn’t there, but he had been in the last 24 hours.”
“Oh, that is not good,” I whispered. If that monster was in my city, we had a huge problem. “Do you think he was organizing the rogues?”
“If he was, he won’t stop,” Vaughn said before he turned on his heel and walked out.
Great, looks like my work wasn’t done.
A Lark In The Night
Goddess Durga – book 2
Jen Pretty
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching,
and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be.
—Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
CHAPTER ONE
“Bye, Lark,” the group of hockey girls called as they walked out to the waiting minivans in the parking lot.
“See you Thursday,” I called back. It was the last class of the morning, so I was heading home to bed.
“That was a great class,” Trevor said as he appeared from the men’s changing room. He had taken three classes this week and was progressing quickly. It was helping him regain his strength, though he was still painfully thin from his starvation and being attacked by the rogues a month ago.
“Thanks, Trevor. I’m glad you’re enjoying yoga.”
He smiled and followed me to the reception desk where Randy was filling out the bank deposit.
“Hey, Randy. How’s business?” I asked with a laugh.
“Fabulous,” he smiled. “Your second senior’s class is now full.”
“That’s amazing. You have a real talent for this business,” I said. He blushed and waved me off, but it was true. His advertising ideas were brilliant and his customer service was top notch.
We said our goodbyes before Trevor and I walked out into the early morning sun. The shiny SUV that Vincent had bought me sat in the now empty parking lot. Trevor and I got in and headed back to the vampire’s mansion.
There was a commotion coming from the entertainment room when we walked in the front door. Trevor ignored it and wandered off towards his room with a wave goodbye. I followed the hall around to find a big group of vampires crammed together on the couches watching a replay of some football game.
Drew was sitting on the couch closest to the door. He hopped up when he saw me. His floppy blond hair and Hawaiian shirt complemented his surfer style as he gave me a crooked grin and offered me his seat with a regal bow and flourish of his arm.
I laughed at his antics but turned down his offer. I was too tired and needed to eat and head to bed.
I ducked back out of the room and wandered down the hall to the dining room.
“Hey, Lark. How was yoga?” Cedric asked from where he sat finishing up his breakfast.
“Pretty good,” I called back as I loaded my plate with breakfast foods. Bacon and scrambled eggs with peanut butter on rye toast had become my standard pre-bed meal and my plate was loaded. I turned back to join Cedric, but, instead, came face to face with Vincent. We hadn’t seen each other in the month since the showdown with the rogues. Vincent went to Romania with his brother Vaughn shortly after we confirmed that their fallen and feral brother Vernon had left the city.
“Hey,” I said, fumbling my grip on my plate. A little bit of eggs slid off and splatted onto the floor. He didn’t seem to notice; his eyes stayed trained on mine.
“I’d like to speak with you after breakfast. In my office.” He moved to the side and let me pass then he walked out of the dining room and disappeared down the hall.
“Shit,” I muttered. He looked way too serious.
“By the way, the boss is back,” Cedric snickered.
“Yeah, I see that. Thanks for the heads up.”
“What was that about?” Cedric, the nosey vampire, asked.
“Nothing, he just wants to talk,” I said, as I set down my plate and took a napkin back over to scoop up the spilled eggs. As I returned to the table, I noticed a piece of toast missing from my plate and narrowed my eyes at Cedric as he openly munched on the stolen toast. “I was going to eat that.”
“Sorry,” he muttered with his mouth full. “Well, I hate to leave you to eat alone, but I’d like to catch up on the game,” Cedric said, pushing his chair back and standing.
“No worries, I’m just going to inhale this and quickly see what the boss wants before I crash.” I took a big bite of bacon and hummed in happiness. It was perfect. Not too crispy, not too soft.
Cedric laughed and wove his way out, leaving me alone in the empty dining room. Durga squirmed around under my skin and my vision turned red for a second. She had been pushing at me more and more, but there weren’t many rogues left in the city, and the last one she found was innocent; just a vampire passing through the town. So, she hadn’t sliced or diced any bad vamps in weeks. Going out at night helped, but she was still restless.
“Calm yourself. We will find some bad guys for you soon,” I muttered. She gave me a boot to my stomach, making me queasy for a second. The Cow.
I finished and returned my plate before walking the halls of the giant mansion to Vincent’s office. The door was ajar and he had his back turned to me with the phone to his ear. I knocked once, then walked in and sat down in the chair across from him. He was having one of those vamp whisper conversations, but I could hear him now with my new senses.
“Yes, brother, I’m going to talk to her now, can you give me an hour?”
He looked up at me and I wiggled my fingers at him in a little wave. He grinned and hung up the phone.
“Was that Vaughn?” I asked
“Yes. He received a report of a possible sighting of Vernon in Northern Canada. He has deployed his team, but he is hoping we can get there quickly enough that you can sniff him out.”
Great, I was a hound dog now.
“Ok, I’ll go drag the team away from their hockey game. I’m going to need to sleep on the plane.”
“It is waiting for you at the airport.”
I stood and turned to leave, but he spoke again before I could get out the door.
“I missed you, Lark.”
I turned back and looked at him. His face was serious.
“Uhm, me too,” I said awkwardly before scooting out
of the room. I backtracked to the TV room and shouted in. “Team Lark. We are moving out.”
The guys hopped up and zipped past me to go collect their things. I followed behind them and grabbed my bag from my room. Hopefully, someone had some winter clothes. Northern Canada sounded cold.
***
“Ready, Lark?” Vlad asked as we pulled into the airport twenty minutes later. The team was all here. Vlad, Cedric, and Drew. Tommy had joined the private security team, now that I had Durga to back me up, we didn’t really need a big team.
“Sure, I hope we find him this time.” We had dropped everything and flown out of this airport twice since the showdown with the rogues. The other times were on tips sent in from around the continent which had turned out to be false alarms. Though we did catch a rogue in Tallahassee. He surrendered peacefully, and we went home. It was very anti-climactic.
Boarding the private jet was easy. I hadn’t flown before I met Vincent, but I always heard about long waits and customs nightmares. We just drove up to the plane and climbed on board Vincent’s private jet. Being wealthy seemed to cut through a lot of red tape and hassle.
Soon we were racing down the runway at a ridiculous speed and the plane lifted off the ground. The flight was only four hours and my eyelids weighed a ton, so I curled up in my seat and drifted off.
“Wakey, wakey, sleepy head,” Drew said in a weird sing-song voice that made me want to punch him. That was not enough sleep, but it would have to do. I stretched and my joints cracked and popped like the cereal. Drew handed me a big parka with fur trim around the top. I peeked out the plane window to a view of glistening white. It was so bright that I had to look away. I rummaged around in my bag until I found my sunglasses, wishing that Durga had the power to dim the world. It was bright in the south, but the sun off the snow was like a million lumens.
I pulled the parka on and zipped it. Luckily, I had thought to wear my old army boots so at least I would be less likely to slip and fall on my ass. I tossed my bag over my shoulder and walked to the small exit door.