by Erin Hayes
So, I bit down on my tongue to cut off the internal dialogue.
Twice over the hour, the lamp flickered and I thought the reflection she showed in the water was overlaid with a white skull. I even thought I caught sight of a necklace around her neck made of yellowed bone, but it proved to be the bracelet I still wore refracting beneath the water.
"It's done," she murmured after a long time. "You're free."
I peered sideways at her. "I don't feel different."
She wiggled her fingers at me. "Leave me the bracelet."
I scooped it off and passed it to her. She slipped it over her hand then faced Magnus. "Now," she said.
"Call your lover," he said, shaking his head as though she'd asked a question and he was refusing her. "Call her like you mean it. Like you did to bring her for the first time."
She nodded, and then Aisha began to chant. She dipped her fingers into the pool of blood that her wound had left on the floor. The streaks of red she traced across her closed eyes then across her mouth, and then finally over her chest, were already turning the color of rust by the time her eyes rolled back in their sockets. She laid her head back, moving to some rhythm I couldn't hear.
We waited for an eternity. I could hear the cooing of pigeons outside on the windowsill, and I knew we were running out of time. I shook her shoulder. She shuddered twice then turned to me, clear-eyed. She licked her lips, leaving her mouth half open like a baby bird waiting for a morsel.
Magnus made a sound half grunt, half snort. He bent over her as though he planned to offer her a bite of his wrist. Instead, he gripped her behind the neck.
"If you think I'm going to offer you my blood, you're mistaken. You can heal in your own time. And if Jade so much as shows a hint of Ismé, I will return to drain the last of you."
Aisha peered up at him nonplussed. Something in her expression made me sit up.
"She's gone from Jade. You can believe that, vampire."
The voice was Aisha's, but something was off. I got up, gripping Magnus by the elbow. I could tell from a quick glance at the clock, the dawn wasn't far off. He needed to get out of there and we both knew it.
"It's not me she needs to worry about," Aisha said. "I couldn't stand that simpering psyche one more minute. I was happy to jump out."
"Ismé," I said, clenching his elbow now.
Ismé grinned to Aisha's full mouth. "Dawn is coming, vampire."
I peered at Magnus, and I knew by the tension in his stance that it was true. His hands clenched into fists, something Ismé noticed and smiled.
"You wanted Bacalou, vampire? Well, maybe Bacalou wants you." She fanned her face with her hand, and I noticed the shadows behind her were longer and becoming more sharp-edged.
Dawn wasn't coming; it was here.
"Magnus," I shrieked, clutching for him, hoping to force his escape, but I was too late. He had already disappeared and I was left watching the dawn sun begin to leak through the curtain. I suffered a moment of pure terror, thinking he'd been scorched to ash from the sun, and my mouth went dry with relief when the floor revealed no smoking pile of clothes. I had to will my heart to beat again.
I turned to Ismé, feeling sorry for the woman beneath who had cared for her enough to sacrifice her own life. In the wake of relief I felt for Magnus, I felt disgust rather than awed respect. Ismé wasn't worth that kind of love.
"You're one lucky bitch," I said to her.
Ismé tapped her temple. "Not lucky. Smart," she said. "Now get out."
I was halfway across the apartment before she stopped me.
"I didn't want to say this while the vampire was here," she said, "because well, he could have killed me."
I spun on my heel to face her. I could swear the eyes peering back had no vestige of Aisha at all. I knew the woman was disappearing bit by bit, probably sinking behind the veil.
"You're not alone, and you know it," Ismé said. "Maybe when you sleep, maybe when you're fucking the beast, who knows when, you'll remember that we both saw the same thing behind the veil. I'll heal. I'll smother Aisha and be alone in this body, but you won't have a clue what you have to face until it wakes." She rolled over to face the back of the sofa. Her voice came back to me muffled. "Enjoy living inside a time bomb, bitch."
I watched her back for long moments, trying to decide exactly how to articulate what I thought of her. She'd commandeered my body, nearly leaving me dead in the process of instigating an unbalanced vampire. She'd betrayed her lover who had brought her back from the beyond without so much as an iota of gratitude or humility. Now she'd decided to try to instigate some sort of irrational fear within me out of spite.
Bitch just didn't seem to encompass it all.
In the end, I decided to make my way down the narrow stairs and find my way home. I would sleep the coma out of my system, and then I would return to Magnus when the sun set in the hopes that its morning rays hadn't cinderized him enroute. I should have been anxious for his safety, but some instinct calmed me much the same as a warm blanket would a shocked system. I knew he was okay. He had to be.
Because, truth be told, I wanted him something terrible. And that part of me that could confess it was willing to give him my blood and my body. More than that, I didn't dare admit. I couldn't afford to surrender control now that I had it back. A gal never knew what awaited her in this world, and now that I knew what sorts of nasty things inhabited it, things that weren't always human or newly alive, I was even less inclined to leave myself vulnerable. I had to be ready for anything.
If vampires did exist who wanted specialty items and exotic entrées, and were going to kill innocent people anyway, maybe I could find just the right kind of prey to sate their appetites and keep from their teeth one more decent human being. Maybe the prey I recruited for them didn't have to be as innocent as I'd believed; it didn't even have to be human.
That was how I'd stay prepared and one step ahead, and I thought I knew just the lying lesbian ghost to send their way first.
Maybe life as a recruiter didn't have to suck after all.
The End
Thanks for reading!
Continue the Vampire Addictions Series in book two, The Holy Man and the Assassin.
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Http://Theaatkinson.Com
Thea writes what she calls left-of-mainstream fiction from her desk in Nova Scotia with her black lab at her feet and miniature gargoyles to protect the space and the muse. She always has a cup of tea going or going cold. She made it onto the New York Times bestseller list once, but she tries not to let it go to her head.
What Devil’s May Come
Rachel McClellan
What Devil's May Come © 2017 Rachel McClellan
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
What Devil’s May Come
A psychic vampire hunter meets his match
Charlie, a psychic and an agent for the Deific, is on a hunt for the ancient vampire who calls himself the Dark Prince. This ancient one has been creating new vampires all over the city and called in even more from all over the world. Charlie senses something big and ter
rible is coming, and it's shaken him to the core.
Matters are complicated when he falls in love with Moira, a woman who can fight vampires better than most of his men. But Charlie's not the only one who wants her. The Dark Prince has taken an interest, all because of a secret Moira refuses to tell.
Charlie could've walked away, despising any kind of lie, but his heart belongs to Moira now and he'll do anything, even sacrifice his own life to save her.
Chapter One
The devil shouldn't have come in here. It was brazen of him to enter a place with so many humans, and yet the white-haired vampire didn't seem concerned at all. He acted is if he was one of us and sat at a table near the door staring out the window. He even drank from the glass of water that a waitress had placed in front of him, as if he needed it. He'd just as easily rip the woman's arm from her socket and drink the blood from the wound.
But he did none of those things. Yet.
I sat six booths over watching him closely, my hand gripping a wooden stake beneath the napkin on my lap. Maybe I should've stopped him before he entered the restaurant, but I really didn't think he would come in here. If he hadn't, I would've followed him to his destination, hoping he would lead me back to his nest. From there, I would've called the Deific for backup and me, along with a few other agents, would've eliminated whatever vampires we found.
Unless… maybe this vampire was a good one and only came in here to escape the impending storm. I chuckled to myself. Good vampires were an anomaly. In fact, I only knew of Henry, the founder of the Deific. He claimed there were others too, but I think I had a better chance of finding Bigfoot than a vampire who didn't kill humans.
"Were you going to order something?" a sweet-sounding voice said.
I turned and looked up into the prettiest eyes I had ever seen. They were soft and blue, warming me the way the sun does on a summer afternoon. I grinned like an idiot.
"Sir?" The woman smiled back, and her eyes twinkled.
I cleared my throat and lowered my gaze to the menu. She wasn't the same waitress who had seated me or brought me my last three sodas.
As if reading my mind, she said, "I'm taking over for the other waitress. Her shift was over. Are you ready to order yet?"
I glanced at her nametag: Moira. She looked like a Moira. Sandy blond hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Long, stray tendrils framed her oval shape. There couldn't have been a more perfect name.
She reached toward the menu and pointed. "You'll love this. Chicken with mushrooms smothered in a cream sauce. It's my favorite."
As she withdrew her hand, it brushed mine, and I saw a flash of her sitting in a lecture hall, while a professor rattled on at the front of the room. She was doodling on a notebook, a cartoon figure. The image faded and she looked at me funny.
"Are you okay?" she asked me.
"Sorry. Long day at the office." I returned my focus to the menu. "I'll have what you suggested."
"You got it. And I'll add in something special since you've had a rough day." She winked at me and walked away. I slumped into my seat at that wink. I don't know who she was, but I had to know more.
I watched her the entire time until she disappeared into the kitchen. How had I not seen her before? I've been coming to this restaurant once a week for the last three months ever since I was put on stakeout duty. The Deific had seen a rise of vampire activity in this area, but had yet to find one that could guide us back to their nest.
Every night I ate at a different restaurant within a five block radius searching for vamps. Whenever I found one and tried to follow it, the vampire would lose me. It was almost like someone had taught them to avoid us. This bothered me. I'd been working at the Deific as an agent for the last five years stopping all kinds of evil monsters, but never had it been this difficult.
I looked up at the vampire on the other side of the room. This is the closest I've come to one I wasn't immediately killing. Maybe if I could touch him, my psychic ability could latch on to his entity and I'd be able to track him easier. For now, my gift mostly relied on touch, but Henry thought it would increase as I grew older.
Moira exited the kitchen carrying a tray full of hot food. I didn't even have to look to know she had entered the room, so strong was her connection to me. Usually my gift didn't work this well, but the touch we shared must have been powerful. It was a good feeling, exciting even. I hoped it would last awhile, but my linked connections rarely did.
As she drew closer, a sudden vision filled my mind. The man at the table next to my booth was going to push away from his plate at the exact moment Moira passed him, hitting her tray. Food would fly everywhere.
The images came upon me so fast that I didn't have time to do anything but think, "Stop!"
Moira froze where she was. The man slid his chair away from his table and stood, completely unaware of the waitress behind him.
She glanced over at me and grinned. "Phew! That was close! Thanks for the warning."
She continued past me to deliver the food a few tables down. I stared after her, my mouth open. I must've said the word, not thought it.
I continued to watch her moving about the dining hall taking care of each customer as if they were family, smiling and laughing with them. It seemed I wasn't the only one to fall under her spell. She was clearly adored by everyone.
The front door jingled open. I probably wouldn't have looked over, but a dark feeling settled over the room, as dark as the night outside my window. I turned toward the door, and my heartbeat raced.
Another vampire. He scanned the restaurant.
I averted my gaze before he caught me staring, but looked back just as he sat down with the other vampire. I shifted the stake on my lap, pointing the tip away from me. This was bad. For two to appear in public like this meant they were getting more comfortable being around humans. We didn't want them comfortable.
I closed my eyes, tension leaving my body when I felt Moira return to the dining room. As she weaved her way through the tables, her eyes flashed to mine and then to the vampire's table. Much to my dismay, she approached their table and took their order. She scribbled something onto a pad she was holding. What could they possibly be ordering? She disappeared into the kitchen again.
Despite my racing pulse, I slid the dagger into the sleeve of my arm, stood and crossed the room. Just before I reached the vampire's table, I pretended to trip. As I fell, I brushed the elbow of the closer one, the one who was much taller than I and had hair as long as Moira's, but jet black in color.
He shoved me away and growled, "Don't touch me."
I stumbled into a table opposite him, grimacing. A sliver of darkness had pierced into me the moment I touched him and it made me nauseous having it inside me. Definitely not a good vampire. But we were connected now. I should be able to sense him at least for the next few hours.
The vampires glared at me as I returned to my table. A moment later, Moira arrived with my food. She wasn't smiling like before.
She placed the plate in front of me. "You're going to stay out of trouble, right?"
I squirmed under the intensity of her gaze. "What do you mean? I'm about as boring as they come."
"What's your name?"
I cleared my throat wondering if I should use my fake identity, but for some reason, I wanted her to know my real name. "Charlie."
She tucked her food tray under her armpit and leaned toward me, speaking low so other customers couldn't hear her. "I saw you deliberately trip into those two men over there. I don't know what you want with them, but you need to stay away. They are dangerous. Do you understand, Charlie?"
I chuckled to myself, enjoying her concern for my safety. If only she knew.
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
Her eyes narrowed as she regarded me steadily. I thought she was going to say something else, but she turned and walked away. There was something different about her, not in a supernatural way, I don't think anyway, but special. She was keenly aware of everything going o
n around her and seemed to be good at reading people.
I continued to watch her and the vampires for the next thirty minutes while I slowly ate my food. It was almost nine o'clock and the dinner rush was over. Several people had already left leaving only a handful of us in the dining room. Because the restaurant didn't have a bar, it closed earlier than most.
Moira continued to take care of the vamps even though they had finished their food ten minutes ago. They had eaten everything on their plate, rare steaks and potatoes. It wasn't unheard of for vampires to consume human food; they just preferred not to.
At first, it worried me having Moira deal with the vampires as their temperaments could be volatile, but she handled them well. A little too well.
She returned to my table. "Do you need anything else, Charlie?"
"The check is all. Are you new here? I come in here a lot but haven't seen you before."
"I started five days ago. So far, it's been a great place to work."
"What are you studying in college?" I asked.
Her expression darkened. "I didn't tell you I was in college."
That's when I realized my mistake. I had only seen that in a vision. I cursed silently and backpedaled quickly. "No, you didn't, but you're the right age to be in college so I guessed. Am I wrong?"
She pursed her lips together as if deciding whether or not to answer me. "I have to get back to work."
My eyes widened in surprise at her obvious dismissal of me. I admit it might've been a little bit creepy asking about college, but not out of the realm of possibilities. She did look like a college student after all, and I wasn't much older so it seemed like a fairly reasonable question for one such as myself. Not only that, and I don't mean to brag, but I'm a fairly good looking guy, having been asked by many people if I've ever modeled. I'd rather stab a hot poker in my eye than do something like that, but my looks did help me in the lady department. Being ignored by the opposite sex just didn't happen.