by Kell Amber
Shaking his head over the lost opportunity, Quentin approached the reception desk.
A man with round glasses and a bad comb-over sat behind the desk. “Can I help you?” he asked in a bored voice.
“I’m here to fill out the paperwork for Glenn Rhodes.” Quentin knew he’d have to figure out what mortuary would take Glenn’s body to cremate, but he thought he’d get the paperwork straightened out so he would know what information he needed.
The man behind the desk paled. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that, sir.”
“What do you mean? I thought his body came here.” Maybe they were still processing the scene. He should have called first.
“He was here, but now he’s not.”
“Oh.” Quentin scratched behind his ear as he tried to decipher the man’s words. “Did they move him?”
The receptionist shifted his gaze back and forth, refusing to meet Quentin’s eyes. “He moved himself.”
“What?”
“I swear!” Panic had the man’s eyes widening until they were almost round. “He got up, ripped off his toe tag, and left.”
“Was he a zombie?” It was rare, but since they didn’t really know what had killed Glenn, it was possible. Quentin resisted the urge to strangle the man on the other side of the desk.
The guy shook his head. “I’m thinking vampire. Mr. Rhodes had the fangs.” He opened his mouth and tapped his front teeth.
Quentin stared at him, trying to figure out what to do next. “Did you call anyone?”
“Who? No one’s going to believe me. I’m surprised you did!”
“Call the paranormal police! You can’t just leave a newly made vamp walking around. Have some sense!” Quentin didn’t care if no one believed the morgue worker. If Glenn was a newly made and hungry vampire, he would either go on an eating rampage or get himself killed by hunters after biting the wrong person.
A tug at his pants had him looking down. Lars had gotten some of the fabric of Quentin’s jeans between his teeth and was attempting to pull him away from the counter.
“I hope your hospital has good liability insurance.” With the wolf at his side, Quentin headed back to the elevator. He scraped his fingers through his hair until his reflection looked more like a fluffy hedgehog than a PhD student. “Why do weird things keep happening to me?”
Who would want to change Glenn into a vampire and not follow up? Most vampires were law-abiding citizens, but the rogue ones needed hunting down.
Hunting.
He had a few hours before he had to be at the bounty hunter offices. Maybe he could get a lead to where Glenn might have gone. If Glenn had a maker, he could be heading into trouble. Anyone who attacked then abandoned their prey to become a vampire alone would be a dangerous master. Quentin had to save his friend before he became some careless vampire’s thrall.
Standing outside the hospital, Quentin tried to focus on his next task.
Lars howled, a sudden low bellowing noise. Before Quentin could ask what he was doing, the other three wolves appeared.
“Fucking teleporting wolves.” One was bad enough, now he had to watch out for four of them. “At least now I know you can understand me.”
Whether they would do what he wanted was an entirely different thing. Quentin cast a quick invisibility spell around the rest of them. Maybe if they weren’t visible, he could avoid a fine for not having them licensed. Now that he knew they weren’t real bone wolves but some sort of sick soul-stealing hybrid, he refused to pay to have them licensed as puppies. The most he could hope to do was free their souls so they could move on. No one deserved to be trapped inside stitched-together bits of dead animal flesh.
Quentin’s problems were mounting, and he saw little relief in his future. “Can you find Glenn?”
The wolves turned their attention to him. The power of their glowing eyes pinning Quentin with a gaze that had him stepping back. “I need to find Glenn.” When they didn’t respond, he shook his head. “Never mind.”
He closed his eyes to block out all visual distractions and pulled up memories of his friend. What Glenn looked like, how he sounded, and the cheerful essence that made him who he was. Once he had the image fixed in his head, Quentin attached a seeking spell to his memory and then released it.
Quentin opened his eyes and watched a glowing yellow line flow from the hospital into the woods out back. “Great. Let’s go into the creepy woods and find a vampire.”
This day just gets better and better.
Quentin hitched his bag higher on his back, wishing he’d stopped at his home and dropped it off. Deciding it was too late to do anything about it, he followed the line shooting out of the hospital. The woods were dark. He could see something flickering back and forth in the trees. On a good day, it would be a bird. Sadly this hadn’t been a good day so far.
Quentin had taken two steps toward the forest when his phone rang. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, but he didn’t recognize the number. He accepted the call, then held the phone to his ear.
“Mr. Heart?” a woman said.
“Yes?”
“I’m Stacy Withshorn from the Vampire Bounty Corporation. I saw you have an appointment with us tonight. I’ve had something come up, and I was wondering if there was any way you could come in earlier, like, say, in thirty minutes?”
Quentin eyed the dark forest. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”
“Great. See you then. Thank you for changing your plans for me.”
“You’re welcome. See you in thirty.”
Quentin waited until she hung up before disconnecting the call. He couldn’t see where the line of yellow had gone, so he turned his attention back to the wolves. “I want you to follow the magic. If you find Glenn, one of you come back and get me. The rest of you need to protect him. If you do this for me, I’ll try to break the spell trapping you.”
A collective howl followed Quentin’s offer. As one, the four wolves raced away from him and into the woods.
“I really need to do some research on bone wolves.” Even if they weren’t true wolves, they probably had similar instincts. He hoped they wouldn’t harm Glenn.
Quentin didn’t have time to drive to the place on the flyer, so he teleported outside the building. Somehow he miscalculated and ended up standing in front of a receptionist.
“Wow! You are super powerful and super cute. I hope you’re working here. Are you single? Please tell me you’re single,” the young woman behind the receptionist counter gushed. She had on a sheer top with a dark bra and more makeup than three girls should have worn.
“Hello, I’m a bit early. My name is Quentin Heart. I have an appointment.”
“With me. Hello, Mr. Heart. I’m Stacy. We spoke on the phone. I wasn’t expecting you quite this early.” A woman in her early thirties approached with her hand out. She had bright bottle-red hair and dark brown eyes. Her aura indicated a strong but not overwhelming magic. She had a solid handshake, with light calluses on her fingers he didn’t expect from her appearance.
Quentin shrugged. “I planned to teleport outside and get some coffee or something while I waited. I guess my coordinates are off.”
“We have some spells on the building, so it could’ve warped your teleportation a bit. Not many workers here can master that particular spell.”
Her piercing gaze made him a bit uncomfortable. He shrugged. “Sorry. I can wait and get that coffee if you’re busy.”
“Oh no. I’m more than happy to meet you now. This works even better. We don’t have any really strong wizards on staff. Why don’t you come and tell me all about why you want to work for us.”
Quentin followed her through a maze of desks. He tried not to let the intent stares of the other people in the office throw him off. Some were curious, but a few were hostile. Stacy opened a door with her name on it and then motioned him inside. The office was large enough for a desk, a few bookshelves, and a small table. Not a huge place, but it was comfortable.
“I try to keep things pretty lean and spend money on workers rather than fancy furniture.”
“Admirable.” Quentin sat where she indicated.
“Now why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?”
“All right.” Quentin went into a breakdown of his studies and his current research project until he saw her eyes glaze over. “Sorry. I get a little caught up in my research.”
“So I see. Why do you want to be a bounty hunter? You seem more suited to academia and are doing quite well there.”
Quentin sighed. “My mom is dying of cancer. I need money for medical bills.”
Stacy’s mouth tightened. “So you are thinking of this as a stopgap measure to pay off your debt and then get out.”
“Yes. My mother is the most important person in my life, and I need to make sure she continues to get the best care. I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I want to be honest. I don’t see this as a long-term career.”
Stacy raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. “I appreciate your honesty. Bounty hunting is rarely a long-term job for anyone. However, I don’t want you to think this will be easy. There are a lot of rules and regulations you’ll need to learn in order to be one of our employees. I’ll take you on if you will agree to work for me for at least one year. For that year, I’ll give you choice assignments that will help with your mother’s bills. I won’t even make you wait a month before your first check.”
“How much do bounties pay?”
“It depends on what you’re hunting. Vampires are the highest because they are smarter and generally talk bounty hunters around to their way of thinking. Gnomes don’t have a high bounty because generally they’ve committed petty crimes. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. We once had a homicidal gnome that paid in the six figures because none of the police force wanted to deal with him after he killed six officers.” She handed Quentin a sheet with the average amount for each type of paranormal creature. Even on the low side, it would make a sizeable dent in his mother’s debt.
“Deal.” Quentin held out his hand and shook Stacy’s.
She grinned wide enough that he began to wonder if he’d made a bad deal.
“Since you’re such a strong wizard, we can skip a lot of the training we usually send people through. I’ll give you all your study material today. The sooner you pass your tests, the sooner you can be out in the field. You’ll have to take a crash field test before you do any bounties on your own, but we’ll have you out on the street as soon as possible. Any questions?”
“How do I start?”
Stacy’s soft chuckle didn’t reassure him. “Like with any new job. With a lot of paperwork.”
“Great.” Quentin returned her smile. Paperwork he could do, it was vampire trapping that could be an issue.
Chapter 4
Quentin flipped through his paperwork as he walked up the steps to the mansion. Stacy had sworn the vampire Quentin was looking for lived there. His case supervisor, Trevor Brady, had taken ill in a suspicious move. Trevor had made several bitter comments about Quentin’s special treatment. Per protocol, Quentin should’ve waited until tomorrow, but he didn’t want to give Trevor a chance for another excuse, and besides, Stacy had said this was an easy job.
After two days of training he still didn’t know where Glenn went and was no closer to getting rid of the wolves. He planned to take care of this job then go back to trying to find traces of his friend.
All he had to do was serve papers and take the vampire back to the police station. The police would give Quentin the reward money for his capture, which Quentin would split with the bounty hunter company. When he’d asked Stacy why the cops didn’t just pick the vampire up themselves, Stacy had been rather vague.
The door opened before Quentin had a chance to search for the doorbell. Looking up, he saw a butler holding the door open for him.
“Oh, thanks.”
Huh, he’d think the man would request identification or something before he just let someone walk in, but maybe vampires did things differently or maybe they didn’t see Quentin as a threat.
“I’m looking for—” He flipped through a few pages to find the name. “—Master Vlad?”
“Right this way, sir.”
Quentin hoped the other two cases he scheduled this week went as smoothly. Pleased he’d reached the first stage of his plan without issues, Quentin flipped to the next page of instructions. Stacy had promised that if he followed the carefully detailed outline, everything would work perfectly.
Quentin walked into a textbook vampire party. Vampires were everywhere: elegantly draped across seventeenth-century furniture, wearing silks and satin while they sampled the blood of their human companions, or at least they appeared human. Did vampires drink from each other? He’d have to do a bit of research. No wonder the butler hadn’t asked any questions; he probably thought Quentin was there for the party.
“Master Vlad is over there.”
Quentin’s gaze followed where the butler pointed. “The blond?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you.”
Good thing the butler had pointed out Master Vlad because Quentin would have picked the wrong vampire. Energy poured off the man on Master Vlad’s left—a dark-haired vampire with piercing gray eyes who watched Quentin’s every step. He looked familiar, but Quentin didn’t know why. Maybe it would come to him later. Right then, he needed to pay attention to his true target.
Quentin looked back down at his paper as he made his way across the floor, struggling to remember what his handler told him about the Vlad clan.
Still flipping through his pages, he swore softly as he tried to pinpoint what he needed to say. Stacy told him the phrasing validated the arrest, otherwise the master could be released on a technicality.
“Are you lost, young sir?” Vlad’s hard, mocking gaze threatened to singe Quentin on the spot for daring to interrupt their feeding party.
Shit.
Quentin reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ball. He aligned the bumps on the orb and squeezed it before tossing it at Master Vlad. “Catch.”
Instinctively, the vampire grabbed at the object flung at his head.
“Activate,” Quentin muttered.
A humming filled the air as blue light poured from the ball between Vlad’s fingers. When the noise finally stopped, a cage formed around the master vampire with a soft clinking sound. The ball vanished.
“What the hell is this?” Vlad asked, outrage vibrating in his tone.
“Hold on. I have to say something.” Quentin fidgeted with his glasses as he looked at the page Stacy had printed out for him. “Because of your crimes against human- and vampire-kind. I, Quentin Heart, am arresting you, Master Vlad, in the name of Vampire Justice and sending you to jail for your sentencing by the council. Do you understand your charges?”
The vampire in the cage looked mildly amused. “Nice trick, kid. But you will release me now.”
The vampire sounded like he actually expected Quentin to release him.
Huh. Idiot.
“Do you understand your charges?” he asked again. Stacy told Quentin he needed to get verbal confirmation in order to seal the deal.
“Yes, I understand them. What are you going to do now?” The vampire sneered at him, daring the puny human to take action.
Quentin glared at the dismissive vampire. “Like I said, I’m sending you to jail.” Standing up straighter, he focused on the target location and snapped his fingers. A flare of blue fire flashed around the cage, and then both cage and vampire vanished.
Joy flashed through Quentin. “It worked! Yes!” He pumped his fist in victory. His first capture and it went just as he’d hoped. His teleportation balls had taken a week to fine-tune. He’d already put in a patent.
“What did you just do?” A smooth, silky voice broke into Quentin’s self-congratulation.
Looking up, he realized the other vampi
res were watching him with unsettling, unblinking eyes. “Um, arrested your master.”
Flipping through his papers, he didn’t see anything about leaving afterward. Was there a particular spell he should have done to wrap things up in a tidy package? Nothing.
“Damn.”
The vampire he’d initially confused with the master, stood up. He towered over Quentin like a mighty oak over a tiny sapling. “What’s wrong, human?”
“It doesn’t say how to get out of here with my ass intact.”
Unfortunately, vampires laid down spells to prevent anyone teleporting in and out. Although Quentin had circumvented that with his spell ball, he couldn’t do the same for himself. Crap, he’d have to fix that little flaw next time… if he got out this time. Too bad he couldn’t transport himself with a spell ball, but he had to be outside the spell to activate it.
To his surprise, the vampire threw back his head and laughed. “You walk in here, take down the leader of the largest vampire clan in the city, and you think anyone is going to mess with you?”
Quentin shrugged. “Beginner’s luck?” It wasn’t as if he had a vast store of knowledge to call upon.
“Beginner?” The large vampire’s body shook with laughter. Were those tears he was brushing away? “Oh hell! Even if he gets out of this, Vlad’s reputation will never survive this hit. Taken down by a baby bounty hunter.” The big guy shook his head.
At least he’s amused and not maniacal.
From around his neck, the vampire removed a thick gold necklace with something dangling from it. Before Quentin could object or examine the chain, the vampire dropped it over his head. The heavy necklace felt cold against Quentin’s skin and sent shivers down his spine.
The vampire said gravely, “As you did me a favor, I return one to you. As Master Vlad’s second, I am now in charge of this clan, and you put me in that position of power. If you ever need a favor, little one, I owe you.”
“Oh, you’re the second.” Quentin flipped through the pages. “Would you mind signing this? It states you agree to take over the clan while your master is charged and/or incarcerated.”