Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  We walked for about twenty minutes, when Alana said, "Vampires have passed here recently. I can smell them."

  "I caught their scent too," Michael agreed. "If I'm not mistaken, I detect several of them."

  Moira and I looked at each other, and I moved a little closer to her.

  We passed by a small, discounted clothing shop when all of a sudden Michael shoved Moira and I into its narrow entry, and pressed against the front door, concealing us in shadows. He motioned for us to be quiet and continued on with Alana. I moved to go after them, wondering what was going on, but Moira latched onto me and pulled me close to her. She shook her head indicating that I should stay put.

  I looked down at her chest pressed against mine. My body became alive and my pulse raced. Her face was only inches from mine, and I was acutely aware of her hands on my hips. I thought about what Alana had said.

  No regrets.

  I reached up and slid my fingers behind her neck, my fingers entwining in her long hair. She parted her mouth and sucked in a breath through her teeth. I lowered my head and was about to kiss her, when I heard a deep voice say, "What are you two doing here?"

  I froze and looked over completely expecting to be busted, but there was no one there. That's when I realized that someone was talking to Michael who couldn't have been that far away. I lowered my head to Moira's and grinned awkwardly. She smiled back.

  "We heard there were vampires out here," Alana said. "We just got into town and wanted to join up with the Dark Prince."

  There was silence, then, "Where are you from?"

  "Ireland," Michael said.

  "Ireland, you say?" The vampire laughed along with several others. "I didn't realize we were allowing foreigners to join up. This is supposed to be a good old US of A thing."

  "You heard wrong." Michael's voice held a sharp edge. Just by his tone, I wouldn't want to go against him.

  More silence, followed by a different vampire's voice. "Why are there humans with you? We can smell them all the way from here."

  "They are ours. They pose no threats."

  "Course they don't, because they'll be dead."

  Footsteps drew close, followed by a flurry of movement, then the familiar whooshing sound of a vampire turning to dust.

  "Anyone else want to try and take our humans?" Alana growled.

  Some grumbled but no one challenged them.

  Alana added, "Will you show us where you reside or not?"

  "This way," a voice said.

  "Come forward humans," Michael ordered.

  Moira took my hand and guided me out as if she had done this many times before, but this was new to me—acting like a slave to a vampire. I wondered if this is what Moira had to do when she was with her vampire boyfriend.

  There were four vampires with Alana and Michael. Three males and one female. Each of them wore a t-shirt that referred to the end of the world.

  The vampires led us to a tall, two-story brick building. The sign above the door read ‘Ellis Music Company.’ By the looks of the inside, the place hadn't been used in years. It was all open retail space with a counter in the corner. There was some shelving at the back lying on top of frayed brown carpet, but not much else. The floor, however, vibrated from music playing from a basement.

  The tallest of the vampires stopped at a closed door and looked back at us. "By the way, I'm Jimmy. Keep a close eye on your humans. There are some moody vampires down there who don't agree with the practice of keeping them as pets."

  Michael glanced back at Moira. She nodded as if giving her permission for us to continue forward. It was an odd exchange.

  We followed Jimmy and the other vampires down a rickety staircase and into a large basement with all concrete floors. Wooden pillars divided up the space, which was about half full with vampires. They huddled in small packs, some dancing, others talking.

  The second we entered the room, all eyes turned on us. Michael straightened taller. The motion caused a pulse of strong energy to rush through the room. Several vampires shuttered at the intensity. Even I had felt the power emanating from him, making me wonder his true age.

  Alana took hold of me and jerked me toward her. Moira instinctively pressed up against Michael.

  As we walked around the room, I was taken aback by how many vampires there were in just this space alone. If there were many other vampire hideouts like this one, then we had grossly misjudged their numbers.

  Michael and Alana worked the crowd, speaking to different clusters of vampires. Michael would ask questions, nothing too specific, about what they thought about the Dark Prince and his upcoming event. Based on their answers, he would either keep prodding, becoming more detailed in his questioning, or he would move on if the vampires weren't receptive.

  I noticed Michael would frequently glance at Moira and she would either nod or shake her head in response. It was almost like they had a secret code between them, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

  We were in the middle of talking to a skinny female vampire, when a hand gripped Moira's arm and spun her around. I moved to stop the vampire who had done it, but Alana gripped my arm so tight I thought it would break.

  "What are you doing here?" Devon said to Moira.

  Michael stepped in between them blocking Moira, for which I was very grateful. "She is mine. Don't touch her if you want to keep your arms."

  Devon looked over Michael's shoulder at Moira. "So you've moved on to another vampire already? And a much older one, too. How did you manage that?"

  "Don't speak to her either," Michael growled.

  Devon eyed him. "How much do you want her for?"

  "She's not for sale."

  "I know someone who will trade you twenty humans for her. You can't get that anywhere else on earth."

  Moira slowly reached out, as not to be detected by Devon, and squeezed Michael's side.

  "I'd like to meet your buyer," Michael said, surprising me.

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Alana gripped my arm harder. I shot her an angry look but she ignored me.

  "That can be arranged," Devon said. "But it will have to be soon."

  "Tonight then. Just name the place."

  Devon glanced over at a tall female vampire next to him. She shook her head.

  "Tonight's not good. Our buyer is extremely busy. But tomorrow night. Meet back here."

  "What's he busy with?" Michael asked.

  "You think that's any business of yours?" Devon snapped.

  Moira squeezed Michael again.

  "Tomorrow it is," Michael said. "We will return."

  Devon turned to whisper something in the female vampire's ear, and they both looked at each other.

  Moira's face suddenly paled, and her mouth fell open. She grabbed Michael hard. Something bad had happened, but I hadn't seen what. If Alana weren't still clutching my arm, I would've gone to Moira immediately.

  "We need to go now," Michael said. I could hear the urgency in his voice over the sound of the music.

  "We can't just rush out of here," Alana hissed.

  "Go slow but don't deviate." Michael walked toward the exit glancing back to make sure we were following. Alana was practically dragging me.

  As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, three vampires appeared, blocking our way. Jimmy was one of them.

  "Going so soon?" Jimmy asked. "But you were so eager to come."

  "I thought this party would be more fun," Alana said. "You guys are as boring as humans."

  "Stay the night," Jimmy insisted. "You don't want to be on the streets tonight. Only special vamps are allowed out, and you two aren't on the list."

  Alana shoved him aside. "Don't tell me what to do."

  Jimmy snarled and swung his fist at her, but she ducked and undercut her fist into his jaw. His body flipped into the air.

  Voices in the room quieted down, as Michael and Alana killed the two remaining vampires blocking the stairs. We rushed up them while someone shouted, "Don't let them
leave!"

  As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, Michael yelled, "Run!"

  Chapter Thirteen

  I sprinted as fast as I could, as did Moira, but we were not near fast enough. It didn't help that it had begun to rain, making the road slick. Alana and Michael had to slow up to match our pace.

  "Run, you idiots," Alana snapped.

  I was too out of breath to respond.

  "Get the car," Michael said to Alana.

  She took off almost as a blur, running faster than I had ever seen a vampire run before, except for Henry. Behind us were the sounds of many vampires closing in on us.

  "Grab your weapons," Michael ordered.

  I reached behind my back and withdrew the electric gun. Moira flung aside her long jacket and withdrew her sword. Vampires surrounded us.

  "Why are you running?" Jimmy asked. "I think you're hiding something."

  Moira and I looked at each other, then at Michael, as we all silently agreed to fight. I fired my gun. At the same time, Moira swung her blade at the closest vampire, slicing off its head. Michael slid out two short bokken blades from behind his back. He rammed one into the heart of the shaking vampire on the ground. With the other, he tossed it into the chest of an approaching vamp. His aim was perfect, and it rained ash.

  When I sensed a vampire rush me from behind, I jumped to the side and fired again. Moira finished him off. Michael withdrew his own sword and in seconds had decapitated several of the vampires. This gave the others pause, and they backed up slowly.

  Just then, Alana arrived in the car. She swung the vehicle to the side, tires squealing to a stop. Through an open window, she yelled, "Get in!"

  I pushed Moira to go first and quickly followed after her into the back of the car. I looked back expecting Michael to be right behind us, but all of a sudden Alana was driving again. The motion slammed the car door shut.

  "We can't leave Michael!" Moira said.

  "He'll catch up." Alana pressed harder on the gas.

  Moira and I swiveled around in her seat and stared out the back window. Michael slashed his sword a few more times, killing with every swing, then turned and sped after us. Within a few seconds, he jumped on top of the car and slid through the open window onto the passenger seat.

  "Someone want to tell me what the hell happened back there?" I demanded. One minute it seemed we were fine and the next we were running for our lives.

  "I'd like to know the same thing," Alana said, glancing at Moira in the rearview mirror.

  Even Michael turned around to look at her as if waiting for an explanation.

  "We have to call everyone back to the Deific right now," Moira said. "We think we are out hunting vampires, but they have sent out their best fighters to hunt and kill anyone who remotely looks like an agent for the Deific. And they don't care about any stupid vampire code not to use human weapons. They are out for blood. Many of them armed with guns."

  I stared at her in shock. "How do you know all of this?"

  Michael cleared his throat. "Contact Henry, Charlie. I'll phone Terry. We need our men off the streets. Their safety is all that matters now."

  I forced myself to look away from Moira and called Henry. I explained to him what had to be done right away. Henry didn't ask questions. We hung up and called the other leaders of each Deific branch to order them back to the office.

  By the time we pulled up to the Deific, two vans were already there. I knew something was wrong before we even walked in the door. Michael seemed to sense it to.

  "Blood," he whispered, as we walked in the door. We avoided the elevator and sprinted up the stairs to the fourth floor. Moira gasped when we walked inside. A couple of men were covered in blood, and on the floor, Henry kneeled next to a man working feverishly at a wound in his chest.

  "Shouldn't we take him to the doctor?" Moira asked.

  "There's no better doctor than Henry. He's lived so long, he has several medical degrees."

  I spotted Terry across the room, blood on his shirt. I jogged over to him. "What happened?"

  "We were ambushed," he said. "We found some vampires and followed them to an old warehouse. As soon as we snuck in there, they opened fire. There was nothing we could do."

  "Where are the others?" I asked.

  "They're on their way back. At least one other group we know of fell under heavy fire too." He shook his head. "I don't know yet if they've had any casualties."

  I cursed. We knew there would be repercussions for the vampires we'd killed the night before, but I didn't think the retaliation would be this bad—vampires with guns? I'd never heard of it before. It changed everything.

  "I got it," Henry said, and held up a bullet. There was a collective sigh of relief.

  Henry continued to work on him, but instead of stitching him up, he poured a light blue liquid from a small vial onto the wound. Steam rose into the air.

  I heard one of the men ask what it was, but Henry didn't answer. In addition to excellent medical skills, Henry also had the ability to use magic. He never told me how that was possible.

  "Make way," a voice called behind us. A group of people, agents from Seattle, walked in. One man held his shoulder, and another limped in with the help of two others.

  "Set them over there on the bench." Henry said. "I'll get to them in a minute."

  The last of the Seattle men walked in. I recognized the tall redhead as I had occasionally worked with him in the past. I walked up to him. "Hey, Roger. You guys all okay?"

  "Other than those two, we made it." He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it. Vampires using guns? And there were so many!"

  "It's bad," I agreed.

  "Hey, while you're here," he said. "I want you to know that I personally tried to contact that Lucien fellow again, just me so he wouldn't feel threatened. I thought it might help, but he wanted nothing to do with me."

  "Do you think he's dangerous?"

  "We watched him for a good week. He only fed once during that time on human blood, but the guy he killed was actually on the run from the police for murder, so should we be concerned or grateful? He didn't hurt anyone else. He just seems to be a lone vampire. An old and powerful one, but harmless unless approached."

  "Thanks. I'll update our files."

  "What do you want with him?" he asked.

  "Not me. Henry. He didn't say."

  During the next few hours more agents arrived. Many of them hurt. I helped Henry attend to the wounds best I could, as did Moira. We glanced at each other several times and whenever our eyes met, the feeling of dread I'd been feeling the last twenty-four hours continued to grow.

  It was almost three in the morning when we finished. Many of the agents had fallen asleep. I stood and stretched, looking around for Moira. When I didn't see her, my heart began to pound.

  "Hey, Michael!" I whispered loudly. He was talking with Henry in the corner. "Where's Moira?"

  "Alana took her home. She was going to crash with her."

  I relaxed a little but wished Moira would've said goodbye before she left.

  I snuck off to the bathroom where I would have a private moment to mentally reach out to Moira. I could feel her presence. She was calm, but also confused.

  Whatever was going on with her, it was time I found out. I had the impression she was trying to protect me from something, but this continuous feeling of dread I had could have something to do with what she was trying to protect me from.

  After saying goodbye to Henry and the others, I headed to my apartment across the street. It was difficult to fall asleep. I kept tossing and turning. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw flashes of a slit throat. I couldn't tell whose it was, not even when I drew close to the victim and ran my fingers through the blood running down their chest. Their face and body was a hazy blur. Only the blood was in focus.

  All I knew was it was someone close to me. I could feel the pain and anguish in my heart for their lost life. It was crushing and would wake me up every time I
fell asleep. But eventually a light and restless sleep came.

  I sat up straight, my heart beating painfully within my chest. Something was horribly wrong. I felt it deep inside my bones, and it screamed inside of my head.

  Moira was in trouble.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I could feel Moira's fear coursing through me in giant waves that shook me to the core. I jumped from the bed pulling on a shirt and pair of pants from the floor. I stumbled through the hallway trying to slip on my shoes as I hurried out the door. I turned back just long enough to grab my keys from off of the counter.

  I had to get to her. I could barely think through her strong emotions pouring through me. If anything happened to her…

  Outside, the sun was just rising. Pinks and oranges splattered the sky in a way that was more ugly than pretty. I didn't like this sunrise at all.

  While I sprinted to my car, I tried calling her but got no answer. I brought my car to life and pressed on the accelerator. Because there wasn't much traffic this early, I drove fast. I parked part-way on the curb in front of her apartment building and jumped from my car. I sprinted up the stairs and when I reached her door, I knocked on it hard and fast.

  Nobody answered. I kicked the door in.

  "Moira!" I called.

  I ran through the apartment searching for any signs of her. There was evidence that someone had slept on the couch. Probably Alana. In Moira's room, the covers had been pulled back. I looked at them closer. More like they had been ripped off. Part of the sheet had been torn is if claws had gone right through it.

  I tried to keep my hands from shaking as I dialed Michael's phone number. It took me two tries to get it right.

  When he answered, I said, "I need to talk to Alana. It's urgent."

  A second later, her voice said, "What?"

  "Where's Moira?"

  "I left her an hour ago at home. She was still sleeping."

  "I'm at her house. She's not here and her sheets are torn."

  Silence on the other end, and then it was Michael's turn. "Are you sure she couldn't have gone somewhere else?"

  "No, something's wrong. I can feel her fear. Wherever she is at, not only is she in physical pain, but she's terrified too. We must find her."