First Blood

by Susan Sizemore

ELEVEN

  “A MOTEL IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE—HOW charming,” Valentine said as Yevgeny turned off the empty road into a gravel parking lot. For all of her sarcasm she was glad to finally be arriving somewhere with four walls and a roof. Though she’d managed to fight off the phobia on the drive west of Las Vegas, she had not enjoyed the wide desert vista or the vastness of the starry sky overhead. She regretted the bravado of letting Yevgeny drive her Cadillac with the top down.

  “You shouldn’t fear the world,” Yevgeny said. “It’s the world’s job to fear you.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  He chuckled. “I thought it was a very good line. You can use it in your next script if you like.”

  She sighed. “Everybody thinks he’s a writer.”

  This reminded her of how she’d met Yevgeny at a studio reception for Soviet diplomats back during the Cold War. He’d been an undercover KGB officer. She was a scriptwriter as well as a vampire. She’d been obsessed with him instantly. She looked at him now and he was just as big and blond and impressive as ever. An echo of the old longing stirred.

  “Damn it, Yevgeny.”

  His fingers cupped the back of her neck, the touch so familiar the reality of it was painful. His fingers were not so warm as they used to be, but the contact still sent heat through her.

  “There’s no Law against vampires being lovers,” he said.

  “Euwww!” She meant to flinch away but found that she hadn’t moved. His touch felt too good. “It’s not done,” she reminded both of them. “You were my companion—that’s incest.”

  “You didn’t turn me into a vampire, someone else did. How can it be incest if you aren’t my maker?”

  It would be easy to argue this, even easier to give in without an argument. But she and Yevgeny were over, done with. There was too much history, too much bad blood to even start a discussion. She didn’t want to know where the discussion might lead.

  Besides, there was Haven, her runaway groom. Even if she had sent Geoff Sterling to fetch the man back instead of going herself, she still had a claim on Haven.

  She rubbed her temples and stared straight ahead, out into the empty night across a road that didn’t go anywhere. “Get your hand off of me, Yevgeny. So I can remember what the hell I’m doing here.”

  She heard the car door open and felt the air grow colder as he moved away. Valentine jumped in surprise when he appeared beside her. He opened the car door and took her hand to help her out. Always the gentleman. Haven was no gentleman.

  “Time to check on the puppy,” he said when she was standing beside him.

  Her confusion blew away at this reminder of why he needed her here. “Thank the Goddess you picked an isolated spot,” she said. “If you aren’t the only guest at this fine establishment you soon will be—not that the place is likely to still be standing when we’re done.”

  He laughed. “I rented all the rooms and sent the owner away. We have plenty of privacy to hold puppy school.”

  She shook her head at his humor and started forward. “Come on, let’s wake up the monster while the night is still young.”

  “The puppy’s just a little troublesome,” he said as he caught up to her. “You don’t have to be so dramatic.”

  “If it was only a little troublesome you wouldn’t have come to me for help.”

  “I asked for help because I remembered you telling me that you were there with Corvei when he trained the first of the breed. You’ve at least had some experience—”

  “Oh, yes, I was there. We had no idea what evil had been brought into the world. We had a lot to learn before the first ones were tamed.” It was her turn to laugh. “We vampires have evil at our core but we can choose how to use it. Hellhounds are creatures born to destroy. They grow stronger with every kill.”

  “Spoken like a true cat person,” he said. “They’ve been kept as pets for ages.”

  Valentine shook her head. “I’m not talking about a tendency to chew up the furniture and piss on the carpet. They are monsters who have to be convinced that they’re dogs.” Valentine waited until she was sure Yevgeny had absorbed her words. “Come on,” she said. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

  TWELVE

  WHEN TESS WOKE SHE KNEW THAT IT WAS SOMETIME after dawn. Not because of the light, since no vampire’s bedroom had windows. She knew it was daytime because Dan was no longer there. Oh, his body was nestled beside her all right, with his arm thrown across her stomach, but his skin was cool, his muscles stony. He wasn’t exactly dead, she knew his consciousness was somewhere inside the frozen shell, but he couldn’t move between dawn and sunset. The price paid for eternal life was a dangerous half-life.

  As a werewolf, she did not approve of the strigoi’s type of magic. But she liked Dan Conover. She smiled as she lay on her back next to him and turned her head to look at his head on the pillow beside her. Her body was still reacting to the time they’d spent making love. Not sex, damn it, but love.

  Yes, she more than liked him. She’d consider herself a slut for having fallen into bed with him so quickly if there hadn’t been the telepathic contact beforehand. And if she hadn’t been spying on him her entire adult life. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know him, even if she was mostly a stranger to him.

  Did he think of her as one of his companions? she wondered, since she’d tasted his blood as he tasted hers. She gave a snort of laughter. Dan had a major surprise in store for him if he thought he could treat a werewolf like a human he’d sexually enslaved with a few drops of his sacred blood.

  “Sacred my ass,” she muttered.

  Speaking of asses, he certainly had a nice one.

  “Maybe I can make you my sex slave, Daniel, my dear—nah, what fun would that be for either of us?”

  Lifemate?

  The thought struck her like a lightning bolt.

  “Is that possible? For a werewolf to mate outside her own species?”

  She took a deep breath, tasting all the different scents swirling around the bed. Dan’s essence was different asleep than awake; he smelled more like a vampire now. She should have found this unpleasant, off, like meat beginning to spoil. But she was as much drawn to Dan’s scent as she had been when his sex pheromones had assaulted her senses the night before. There was more to him than the vampire part of his nature. The Hunter wasn’t as prominent while he slept, but the trace of it reminded her why she’d been attracted to him from the moment they met.

  Still lying on her back, Tess shrugged. She was attracted to this particular vampire because he was one of the Hunter bloodline. And it all went back to Valentine, didn’t it?

  In order to achieve the change that turned her and her descendants into beings strong enough to easily kill their own kind, the magic Valentine used involved the sacrifice and consumption of the strongest werewolf of that long-ago time. And it must have been a willing sacrifice or the magic of the act wouldn’t still be working today.

  So, Dan was a sort of cousin, and being attracted to him wasn’t really a perversion. And it wasn’t really important right now was it? She remembered she had a job to do.

  “Personal life? Ha!”

  Tess grudgingly got out of bed, got herself together, and settled down in the kitchen with her iPhone and a fresh cup of coffee.

  She wasn’t surprised to find two voicemail messages from her mother. Even though it wasn’t possible, Tess suspected her mom somehow knew exactly what she’d been up to with Dan Conover. She knew she was being paranoid, but she ignored the messages anyway. She checked for relevant news online instead. And, bingo!

  Eight Dead in Unknown Animal Attack in Nevada Home

  Appalled as she was, Tess read the news story beneath the headline with growing excitement. It had to be the hellhound pup. It had to be!

  She had to go after it. She cursed herself for following her hunch about Valentine when she should have followed the lead from the first murders. Now even more mortals were dead and it was those devil critters’ fault
. The more the pups killed, the stronger the demon handler became.

  She quickly pulled up a map of Nevada to find out where Henderson was located.

  It’s near Las Vegas. Good. That gives me a place to start.

  With a decisive nod, she put away the iPhone and stood, ready to leave immediately. Then she glanced down the hall toward the bedroom.

  “Stupid vampires have stupid biology,” she complained. “Why do you have to sleep all day when I could use your help?”

  Tess immediately reconsidered her instant reaction of thinking she and Dan were on the same side. What had a night of passion really changed?

  Hell, losing her virginity might have cost her the ability to use magic. At least she was still a werewolf. She still had her mission to deal with the hellhounds.

  For a moment she actually considered leaving him a note to tell him where she’d gone.

  But Dan would be determined to stop her if it was necessary to destroy the nasty little whelps.

  He wasn’t going to let any involvement with her stop him from trying to protect his little darlings.

  A couple of orgasms couldn’t overcome thousands of years of werewolf/vampire rivalry over the hellhounds.

  Maybe the smart thing to do would be to rip Dan Conover’s heart out of his chest while he was helpless. Could she do it with claws and teeth or would she need a knife? Was there a blade sharp enough in Valentine’s kitchen to help with the job?

  Tess actually started to open a drawer before revulsion hit her so hard she ended up puking in the sink. She couldn’t kill Dan! At least not outright murder him, no matter how practical a solution this might be.

  “Damn.”

  She rinsed her mouth and splashed water on her face, cursing her own weakness all the while. Well, if she couldn’t kill him now, she’d do it later if she had to. Right now the important thing was to get to Nevada.

  THIRTEEN

  DAN KNEW TESS WAS GONE LONG BEFORE THE SUN set and he could do anything about it. He’d felt her leave and ached for her even though his consciousness had been out searching far beyond the place where his helpless body rested. Awareness of the werewolf woman seemed to have sunk into his blood and bones.

  He opened his eyes on the thought, I’ll find her when I want her. His body responded that it wanted her right now, but at his age he was well able to ignore a sexual urge—even if it was the strongest attraction he could ever remember having.

  He got out of bed, stretched and scratched, and went into the bathroom. His cellular phone rang as he went back into the bedroom. He almost crushed the small machine in his rush to pick it up.

  “Tess?”

  “Who?” Olympias’s voice came out of the small speaker.

  “Good evening, darling,” Dan answered quickly. “How’s Baby doing?”

  “You could ask how I’m doing first, you insane dog nut.”

  “How are you?”

  “Your dog is driving me crazy.”

  “Why? What’s she doing?” Missing her puppies, he knew, but he wasn’t ready to tell the strigoi leader that he had a problem. She wouldn’t want to be bothered unless the world was in imminent danger of coming to an end.

  “She’s growling and whining and doesn’t want me to touch the puppy. She snaps at Bitch and howled like a banshee all day—I didn’t know until today that psychic animals could get into my dreams.”

  “Sorry, Olympias. She’s missing me, that’s all. She’s acting out because I haven’t left her alone in a long time,” Dan said confidently. “She’s sulking. Don’t let her get away with it.”

  “And what do you suggest I do about it?”

  “You could put on some InuYasha anime DVDs,” Dan suggested. “And pet her while she’s watching. It’ll help you bond.”

  “You want me to watch cartoons with your hellhound. I see.”

  Dan ignored Olympias’s sarcasm and skepticism. “Maybe you can help me with something else. Do you know where Valentine is?”

  “You want to spend your vacation with Valentine? Please tell me that you don’t have anything better to do.”

  “Not exactly spend time with her,” he answered. “I remembered that there was a spell she promised to teach me back in 1750 and I thought I’d remind her of it now that I have some free time. She’s not at her apartment. Do you know where she is?”

  He tried to sound innocently curious, but he had never been a great actor. Olympias remained suspiciously silent for a long time. He carefully didn’t press her.

  “Las Vegas,” Olympias grudgingly answered at last. “She called me from there a couple of days ago . . . She said something incoherent to do with dragons and saving the world. I was going to head there to check it out when you diverted me to baby-sit.”

  No doubt Olympias was happy for the diversion; she and Valentine had never gotten along. Olympias had been a queen in mortal life and was used to having her will obeyed. Valentine was ever the wild card, one who could not be made to obey. It was always impossible to tell if Valentine was about to topple the universe, save it, or ignore it.

  “Why don’t I check out what Valentine’s up to for you,” he offered. “It’s the least I can do in return for taking care of Baby.”

  Another long silence. They were strigoi—they were tele-paths who could have felt out each other’s thoughts and intentions but the age of electronic communication had brought an etiquette about long-distance mind-reading into play among friends. And frequently it was safer not to snoop.

  “Whatever she’s up to—don’t get involved in it,” Olympias finally ordered. She sighed. “Whatever you’re up to—I don’t want to know.”

  “Fair enough,” he answered.

  “Where do you keep the DVDs?” she asked.

  Dan told her. Then he headed for Las Vegas.

  FOURTEEN

  “MOMMY, I DON’T WANT TO WAKE UP. DON’T MAKE me go back in there.”

  Valentine slapped Yevgeny on the shoulder. She poked him in the side with her foot. “Shut up, you miserable wimp. And stop being such a trunk hog.”

  They’d spent the day curled around each other in the trunk of her Cadillac. She’d never be able to forget how much room the big man took up in a bed, but she hadn’t considered how that would translate to the limited space in her car when they decided the hole the pup made in the motel roof would let in too much daylight. And possibly made the already rickety building unstable.

  They’d had no qualms about leaving the little demon magically asleep amid the wreckage she’d made.

  The trunk lid popped and Valentine shoved Yevgeny out. He landed on the ground with a grunt. She followed him out into the cool night air and gave him a hand up.

  “You healed yet?” she asked.

  “I need coffee,” he responded. “I should have remembered to bring some,” he added before she could. He began to rub her shoulders. “How are you doing, Valentine?”

  “My body’s fine, but my head still hurts. Telepathy can take a lot out of a girl. Tonight you are doing all the head work.”

  “Think strong alpha of the pack thoughts at her.” He repeated her instructions of the night before.

  She nodded. “Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to give her some of your blood.”

  He glanced at his stained, ragged shirt sleeve. “She took plenty of my blood last night.”

  “That was an attack. You need to get her submissive and then share a few drops with her. It’s a bonding thing—like with a companion but without the sex.”

  He frowned. “The point is to train Bela to bond with Sebastian.”

  “Bela? You’ve given it a name? See, you’re getting attached.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Besides, I’m not so sure this Sebastian kid will be able to handle a hellhound even if he is a dhamphir. Maybe someday, but right now he’s still just a child,” she continued. “Only the strongest magically and telepathically of the strigoi have ever been able to keep the creatures. There are good reasons Dan doesn’
t give them to just anybody. Now, if I was a good little vampire drone I’d encourage you to give your little Bela to the kid. Then the hellhound could kill the dhamphir and we wouldn’t have to worry about him killing vampires when he grows up.”

  “Then, why—?”

  “I know his parents,” she reminded Yevgeny. “Besides, I can’t kill a kid any more than you could.”

  “Your plan is to wait until he grows up?”

  “Something like that.” She tugged him toward the building. “Come on, let’s go teach Bela to fetch.”

  FIFTEEN

  KRAAS SAW IN ENERGY. THE EBB AND FLOW OF ENERGY constantly streamed across his skin, through his body. The energy of mortal lives was the easiest to read. It was as common as dirt and as dull. Since he’d taken the hellhound, energy had burned constantly around him. He’d been able to concentrate on the mortals they hunted because he must. He protected his precious one, he found it prey and helped it hunt, but all the while he was dazzled by the dog’s pure, evil fire.

  “Such a nice puppy,” he said, looking down at the animal trotting beside him. It looked up at him with hellfire glowing from its eyes.

  It had grown so much that its head now reached Kraas’s thigh. Huge fangs sprang out of its wide muzzle. It didn’t look a thing like any of its weakling kin the vampires kept shackled from achieving their true beings.

  They’d been walking for a long time, but Kraas only now realized that he was following the hellhound’s lead, lost in the emanations of its power. They were going west, the hound padding along into the desert with swift determination. Why?

  Prey, of course. There could be nothing else on the hellhound’s mind.

  Kraas smiled. “You’ve started to hunt on your own. Good boy! What is it you’re after, eh?”

  Kraas had to move away from the animal’s side before he could send his senses out in search of the prey’s energy.

  There was another hellhound out there, wasn’t there? Just barely within Kraas’s range of awareness. Even fainter, almost covered by the hound’s vitality, there was a hint of vampire. Kraas recognized the vampire’s energy signature and threw back his head in laughter.