by Shéa MacLeod
He hissed, his face twisting into an ugly parody of humanity. "That's fucking stupid. You been watching Schwarzenegger movies, bitch?"
"That's Miss Bitch to you, vampire. And don't you know better than to mock a hunter?"
His eyes widened. What? Had he honestly thought ordinary citizens ran around chasing vampires armed with machetes? Gods, what a newb.
He recovered his bravado quickly. "Whatever, bitch. No way you can take me on, hunter or not. You're just a dumb girl."
Was he serious? "Dumb I may be, but believe me, I'm all woman. I can kick your droopy ass any day of the week and twice on Sundays."
With a snarl, he launched himself at me. I darted to the side, and he hit the pavement with a sickening thud and a winded grunt. I raised my machete, but before I could bring it down on his neck I found myself on my back staring up at the stars. I hadn't even seen him move. Either I was getting slow, or I was letting my emotions get the better of me.
The boot came out of nowhere, nearly snapping a rib in two. It was my turn to grunt as I curled against the stabbing pain.
"That's what you get for messing with me, bitch." The boot lashed out again, but this time I was ready. The machete blade caught the vamp in the calf mid-kick. He let out a howl of pain as thick, dark blood oozed from the deep gash in his muscle and soaked through the leg of his jeans. "I'm gonna fucking kill you, bitch!"
He kicked my arm so hard, I heard the bone snap as the machete fell out of my useless fingers. I felt it too; the pain came so hard and fast, I'd have spewed my dinner all over the street if not for the fact I hadn't eaten in... well, I wasn't sure how long, but it had been awhile.
I tried to crawl away, but the vamp grabbed a handful of my hair, twisting until tears poured from my eyes. I was half surprised it didn't rip from my scalp. He dragged me along the ground, the asphalt scraping chunks out of my skin.
"You think you can take me on?" he was practically screaming. "I'll show you, you stupid bitch."
Gods, he was awfully fond of that word. I grabbed at his fist with my good hand, but it was useless. He was far too strong for me to fight one-handed. I needed to reset the bone in my arm so it could heal. Otherwise, I was screwed.
I suddenly realized a broken arm was the least of my worries as he jerked my head around so I could see where I was. He'd dragged me to the edge of the empty reservoir.
"See that, bitch? That's where I put hunter bitches." He seemed awfully pleased with himself.
"Yeah?" I managed to choke out past the pain. "You meet many hunter bitches? I bet not. Bet you'd wet your pants if you did."
With an angry scream, he moved to throw me into the reservoir to my death. Fortunately, he hadn't counted on two things. First, the sides of the reservoir curved slightly so if a person fell rather than got thrown, they'd sort of tumble and slide their way down. Second, I wasn't about to let some punk ass wannabe-badass fledgling vampire take me out. No, sir.
As he pushed me, I grabbed onto him as tight as I could with my good arm. He let out a girlish scream as we plunged over the side, tumbling over and over in what seemed like a never-ending fall.
Chapter 5
Halfway through the fall, with my lizard brain in full-on panic mode and body wracked with pain, the inner seal I kept on the Darkness ruptured. It roared out of me, my already-fuzzy vision narrowing to a pinpoint. We hit the bottom of the reservoir with a solid thud. Fortunately, I landed on top of the vamp. For all his scrawniness, he was still softer than concrete.
I vaguely registered my broken arm and possibly dislocated shoulder were now pain-free and working just fine. The Darkness had accelerated my healing process.
Sitting up, I braced my knees on either side of the vamp, straddling his waist. I stared down at his still form. Part of me registered how young he was. Hardly more than a teenager when he'd changed, poor kid. He hadn't had a chance. The larger part of me, the part the Darkness had taken, saw only its next victim. The vampire's eyelids fluttered. He was coming around.
I watched as my hands reached out, as though operated by a force other than myself. They grabbed the vamp on either side of his head. I willed them to let go, but I was no longer in control of my own body. The vamp thrashed against me, panicked. "No," he begged. "Please, no."
The Darkness didn't care. It smashed his head into the ground once, twice, three times. There was blood everywhere, splattered all over me, my clothes, and the side of the reservoir. Of course, the vamp wasn't dead. He just probably wished he was.
Blood burbled out of his mouth as he tried to speak. His hands pushed at me weakly. Pathetic, the Darkness whispered in my head. It wanted to play with him more, to make the victim feel more pain, to suffer.
"No," I shouted. "I won't let you do this."
But it's fun, the Darkness whined. You want this.
"I don't. I don't want this."
The vampire stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. He struggled, landing a solid blow to my cheekbone. Clearly, he was already healing.
The Darkness wrapped my hand around the vamp's throat and squeezed as if to crush his windpipe. Instead, the vamp landed another blow and then threw me off him. I hit the concrete floor of the reservoir and tumbled several feet until I hit the wall with a grunt. Pain lanced through my still-bruised ribs and tender arm.
The vampire jumped to his feet and turned to face me, triumph gleaming in his eyes. He rushed me, but I rolled to the side, kicking out to catch him across the shins. He toppled over in an ungainly heap. I gave him another good kick, hoping to catch him in the head, but it only glanced off his shoulder. Dammit.
He was up again before I was halfway to my feet, charging like an angry bull. The Darkness wanted to meet him head on, but I had a different plan. A split second before we connected, I dropped to one knee and hunched over. The vamp hit me like a freight train, his own momentum tossing him up and over my shoulder like a rag doll.
I won't lie. It hurt like hell. I was pretty sure I'd seriously strained my shoulder, but I didn't have time to stop for an assessment. At least it wasn't dislocated or anything, since I could still use it. More or less. I hauled myself up and staggered over to where the vamp was lying, stunned. He'd taken a header into the concrete and left quite a bit of skin behind. Blood poured from his nose. He started to get up, so I did the one thing I could think of: I sat on him.
He hit the ground face-first with a slight oomph. For some odd reason that made me feel vindicated.
"I'm sorry, big boy, but it's time to end this," I told him.
"Fuck off," he snarled.
I didn't answer. The Darkness was urging me to hurt him, make him suffer. It wanted me to pour out all the pain and rage inside me onto this one vampire. It was tempting, but I ignored it. Instead, I placed my palm flat against the vamp's back, over where his heart was. Then I let the Fire loose.
The Fire tore up and out from inside of me, where my powers lived. It surged through my skin, ripping down my arms and into my hands until I was a living flame. I felt heat, but the Fire didn't hurt me. I felt purified from the inside out.
Beneath me, the vampire screamed and writhed as the Fire burned through him and hit his heart. One moment he was a living, or rather unliving, creature, and the next, he was a pile of ashes surrounded by blood splatters.
I sank to one side as the Fire slowly made its way back inside me, taking the Darkness with it. I rolled over on my back, staring up at a sky that was just starting to lighten. Soon, visitors would pour into the gardens. My whole body throbbed with exhaustion and pain, and I was stuck at the bottom of a freaking reservoir for the whole world to see. Not to mention my machete was lying somewhere at the top. Crap.
I pulled my phone out of the inner pocket of my jacket. Kabita had recently given me one of those phone cases that looked like it belonged on a spaceship. I could pretty much drop my phone at the bottom of the sea or throw it in a volcano, and it would be fine.
Punching in Kabita's number, I listened to the other e
nd ring. And ring. Finally she picked up.
"You better be dead. Do you know what time it is?" Her voice was scratchy with sleep.
"Not quite dead, but close. I've got a scene that needs cleaning."
"This couldn't wait until a decent hour?"
"By the time a decent hour rolls around, this place will be crawling with tourists," I said. "Can you imagine how we'd spin a giant blood pool and a lost machete?"
A long-suffering sigh. "Where are you? You sound like you're at the bottom of a well."
"Uh, yeah. I kind of am."
There was a pause on the other end. "Why me?"
* * *
"You smell like a dumpster."
"Gee, thanks. Good to see you, too." I scowled at Kabita, who was using a hand vac to suck up vampire dust.
"I'm serious. When was the last time you showered?"
I thought it over. "I honestly can't remember." I know, gross. But it wasn't like personal hygiene had been on my list of priorities.
Kabita turned off the vacuum and twisted her hair up in a bun. Then she pulled out a spray bottle and started spraying liquid over the bloodstains. The reek of bleach stung my nostrils. "You can't wallow and take a shower at the same time?"
"I am not wallowing."
Kabita paused her spraying and gave me The Look.
"Okay, maybe a little."
She sniffed delicately. "By the smell of it, a lot. You drown out the bleach."
That really was bad.
"And when was the last time you ate?"
I had to think about that, too. "Um, last night?"
"I mean something besides pints of chocolate and peanut butter gelato."
Damn. She knew me too well.
"That's what I thought." She nodded toward the ladder propped against the side of the reservoir. "Now you go home, get cleaned up, and eat some real food. I expect to see you in the office this afternoon."
I turned to go. I had no intention of going anywhere near the office. I gave a slight sniff. I might take a shower, though. Kabita was right. I smelled like a dumpster.
"And Morgan."
"Yeah?" I glanced back to see The Look had returned.
"If you don't get your shit together, I'm calling your mother."
Chapter 6
One month later.
I'd been to Nevada once before. Las Vegas, to be precise. The usual: gambling, drinking, dancing, male strippers, and way too little sleep. That had been back when I'd had a normal life, with a normal job and normal friends who had normal bachelorette parties.
This particular trip was anything but normal. But then, so was my life these days. I slid a sideways glance at Trevor Daly in the driver's seat of the government-issue SUV, his eyes shaded by mirrored sunglasses. Part of me wondered if this little adventure wasn't something Kabita and my half-brother had cooked up just to get me out of Portland for a while.
"Are you sure you're ready to do this? You don't have to, you know. I can handle it," he assured me for about the hundredth time.
"I know. I'm ready." More or less.
I turned my gaze back to the scenery, such as it was. The Nevada desert was just about as exciting as the one in Central Oregon. The dirt was red, the bushes half dead, and everything was dry as a bone. It was a lot warmer, though. Surprisingly so, for early March.
I knew he wasn't talking about the trip itself. It wasn't the trip that bothered me. It wasn't even the reason for the trip that bothered me. It was the fact that the body of the man I loved lay wrapped in a cocoon somewhere in a cave in Scotland, guarded by the Dragon King's men. Dead, but not dead. Just... mostly dead.
I knew dwelling on the situation would only send me on yet another downward spiral. I'd already spent enough time on that not-so-happy train. Even after a month of focusing on my job and pretending everything was hunky-dory, I was still perilously close to going over the edge. So I changed the subject.
There was something that had been bothering me ever since I'd dusted that soul vamp a few months ago, back before everything went to hell in a proverbial handbasket. I decided now was as good a time as any to bring it up.
"Trevor, have you ever seen a vampire with a soul?"
"Vamps aren't made with souls," he said, eyes glued to the road.
For a minute it didn't register, and then what he'd said hit me. "Does that mean a soul can be added later?"
He was quiet for a moment. "There are rumors," he finally admitted with some reluctance. "Nothing with any real substance to back it up, but I've heard that certain government scientists have been using necromages to experiment with vamps. Trying to control them. Still, this is the government we're talking about. Even if it is true, it'll take sixty years and ten-trillion dollars. I wouldn't worry about it too much."
"Why control?"
He glanced at me. "They make the perfect weapon."
I snorted. "They do not. Given the right conditions, that virus could spread like a wildfire." The Atlantean virus that had created vampirism was highly contagious and totally unpredictable. It turned its host into a ravening beast and killed anything human that remained. I had no idea what happened to a person's soul when they got turned into a vampire, but under normal conditions, it just... left the building. I'd seen it happen. Once.
The government had never before taken an interest in the inner workings of a vampire other than as a disease to eradicate, a monster to destroy. They were far too dangerous to mess around with, otherwise.
"That's true," Trevor agreed, "Unless you're trying to spread it." His face was impassive behind his aviator sunglasses.
"What kind of an effing moron would do that?" It was insane. I mean, okay, I could see some lunatic in Congress or something thinking that setting a few vampires loose on our nation's enemies would be a clever idea. But it wasn't. Even if you could control the vampire, nobody could control the virus.
Trevor shot me an amused look. "Please, Morgan, people have done dumber things for the promise of power."
"But why put a soul in the vampire?"
"You need a soul to control them. The trouble is getting one and then getting it into the vampire."
I shot him a look. "Did you forget Brent Darroch? He controlled them without souls."
"And look how well that turned out. They were unpredictable at best, and he could only control them as long as he was in the same city."
"So putting a soul in them makes them less prone to crazy, and easier to control over distances?" It made a scary sort of sense, and I did not like the thought of somebody running around shoving souls into vampires so they could... do what exactly?
"Theoretically. Like I said, it's only a rumor. Let's not forget why we're here."
As if I could forget that.
The road was blocked by a cyclone fence with a simple electric gate wide enough to let in a single car. Nothing fancy, nothing that shouted there was a top secret facility here. Except that next to the gate was a black Humvee, and next to it stood a man dressed in black, a nasty looking automatic weapon in his hand.
"Give me your passport and keep your hands visible," Trevor said, eyes on the man in black.
"Uh, okay." I handed Trevor the passport, then placed my hands on the dashboard in plain sight of the armed guard.
The guard waited until Trevor rolled down the window and flashed his Environmental Protection Agency badge. In reality Trevor worked for the SRA, the Supernatural Regulatory Agency. The SRA was a very secret agency operating under the umbrella of the Environmental Protection Agency. Their job was to oversee all matters pertaining to supernatural creatures and events, and they paid people like Kabita and me big bucks for our "special" talents.
Assured we were official, the guard carefully approached the car, ready to spray us with bullets should we make a misstep. It did not exactly inspire confidence.
I noticed movement on the other side of the Humvee. A second guard, also in black, approached the vehicle, his gun pointed straight at my head. Freaking fa
ntastic.
The first guard was silent as he looked over Trevor's credentials and my passport. He gave me a hard look, then asked Trevor, "Who is she?"
"Hunter."
The guard nodded, handed back our paperwork, and then spoke quietly into the mic of one of those earpiece things you see special agents wearing on TV. Whatever he heard back must have been good. He signaled to the second guard. The two of them stepped away from the car, and the gate began to slide back with a great deal of shaking and squeaking. Once it was open fully, the first guard waved us through.
We passed through the gate and continued up the rough gravel road, the car kicking up a cloud of dust behind us. I was trying really hard to focus on the task at hand. Figuring out the inner workings of a crazy person's brain was enough to drive me loony, but it was better than dwelling on something over which I had zero control. Drago had said all we could do was wait. The question was, did I have enough time?
The past few weeks had passed in one long stretch of tension. So far, the Fairy Queen hadn't declared war on the djinn. In fact, she hadn't made an appearance of any kind, but I was worried it was only a matter of time. She was not the sort to let things go so easily. Yes, the Marid had killed Alberich to avenge Zip. Yes, Alberich had been nuts, not to mention evil. He'd tried to kill me multiple times. Yes, the Queen had basically manipulated me into a situation where her brother was sure to get killed. Still, the sidhe were a law unto themselves, and I doubted the Queen saw it quite as logically as I did, especially after what she'd done to Inigo. I seriously doubted she would be satisfied taking the life of a half-dragon. Especially if Drago could bring him back. Worse, I was pretty sure I now owed her another favor for getting her brother killed, even if that was what she'd wanted in the first place. Shit.
She wasn't taking my calls. Even using her true name didn't work. Not a good sign. Probably, she knew how pissed I was, though "pissed" seemed too small a word. Not that my feelings, nor those of any human, concerned her overmuch. What really made me angry was there was nothing I could do to her. She was far beyond the touch of even my powers.