"--I am different," he said. "We're not going to kill these people. We're going to rescue them. I've been waiting for the address so I could find out where they're being kept. Now, do you have your supplies? It's going to be a fight. I don't know who he's hired to stand guard. There could be incubi or other demons."
Chloe blinked. "Wait, what? You want me to go with you?"
"Of course," he said. "Unless you want all those people to die. If we don't get them out of there, that's what they're in for. That, or a life as undead."
Chloe considered for a moment and then nodded. "Fine," she said. "I'll come with you. But after..."
"Yes," he said impatiently. "After, you'll kill me. Come on, let's go. We'll take my car. I assume you don't have one."
She said nothing to this, because it was true. She glanced back at her half-eaten hamburger and then followed him out to a gray car in the parking lot. She got in the passenger side, wondering if she was making a mistake trusting him. It wasn't too late to stake him... but what if he was telling the truth?
The vampire got into the driver seat, and handed her the slip of paper. "Does your phone have GPS?"
"Yes," she said. She punched in the address and they were off. "So, is this what you do then? You rescue humans?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes."
"Why?"
"Because I have a lot to make up for," the vampire said. "I'm not innocent. I've done things that are... regrettable. This is my way of trying to bring a little bit of balance back into an unbalanced world."
"Beautiful sentiment," Chloe said sarcastically.
He glanced at her and she saw something in his eyes; some semblance of truth and regret. She regretted her sarcasm. Perhaps he was trying to make up for what he'd done. She didn't know. She did know, of course, that he was a vampire, and that he'd killed. She was bringing her own balance back into the world.
It took about twenty minutes to get to the house on the slip of paper. There were two men waiting outside.
"What are they?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know," the vampire said. "Let's go in easy though. Once we get the layout of the place, then we'll clear it out, alright? So keep calm, and let me do the talking."
"Fine."
They walked up together and the vampire said. "Hey. I'm here about the turning."
One of the men eyed him. "You don't look like a vampire."
He transformed into his true form. "What about now?"
Chloe had to resist the urge to stake him right then and there. Perhaps he saw this on her face because he shot her a look. She turned her face to the ground and waited.
The second man looked at Chloe. "Who's the girl? I thought there was only going to be one of you."
"She's my associate," the vampire said. "Now move aside so we can get on with this."
"Fine," the man said. He unlocked the door and they stood aside. The vampire glanced at Chloe, and they went in. There were a dozen people working inside; Chloe didn't know if they were all supernatural or not, but she assumed none were vampires since the man had hired him to do the turning.
A woman approached them. She stared at the vampire for a moment before shimmering. She was suddenly beautifully demonic and terribly cruel looking, with horns and tattoos. Chloe recognized her as a succubus and was immediately grateful that she'd sprinkled fairy dust on herself that morning. She would be immune to the woman's charms.
"How can I help you?" she asked.
The vampire's eyes turned black. "We're here for the humans."
"Of course," she said. "Right through to the back room."
He nodded, and he and Chloe made their way into the back room. There were several humans of various ages chained up to the walls. They looked terrified, thin, scraggly, and abused. The youngest was only in her teens. Chloe felt her face flood with color. She wanted nothing more than to kill everyone in the other room.
The vampire approached the first of them; a middle-aged man in a tattered business suit. He shrank back and Chloe realized her partner was still in his demonic form. He was lying! He was going to change them! Right in front of her! Without pausing to think, she grabbed her stake from her bag and ran at him.
He turned just in time, caught her around the middle, and threw her across the room. She crashed down hard, and saw stars. When her head had cleared, she got back to her feet and saw that he was releasing them, one by one.
"You're going to want to keep out of the way," he told them. "But if you get a chance to run, take it."
He glanced at Chloe. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," she said. She grabbed her spike again, threw it back in her purse, and got out her knife, glad she'd brought it along.
"You stay to the left," he told her. "I'll take the right. On the count of three."
He counted down, and they burst back out of the room, the humans right behind them. The succubus came at them first, and the vampire easily grabbed her and snapped her neck. The rest came at them at once. Chloe had never fought so hard in her life. Time and time again, she was forced to kill a demon who came at her. Some of them disappeared after dying, some of them merely fell to the ground, their eyes glazed.
When they were done, she was glad she had come. There was no way the vampire could have handled the house on his own. They barely survived together.
After the fight, they stood in the doorway to the house and watched the humans scatter. Some of them walked at first but eventually they all ran.
The vampire turned to her. "You can kill me now."
"This is what you do?" she asked.
"You could help," he said. "I could use a partner."
Chloe hesitated. She had spent her entire teenage and young adult years hunting vampires. The idea of doing something different scared her. She had to admit, though, that saving the people had felt better than staking a vampire in an abandoned bar and stealing cash to survive.
In a moment she'd decided what to do. She tossed her bag down on the ground and held out a hand. "I'm Chloe."
He'd taken her hand, and she'd felt a spark of electricity jump between them. She knew then that her life was irrevocably changing.
"Nice to meet you, Chloe. I'm Alec."
NINE
When Sarah came to, she was in a hotel room, standing next to Chloe. Chloe's eyes were glossed over and she was holding a knife. They were standing above a naked man who was writhing on the ground in agony. He wasn't dead, not yet anyway, but he was in a lot of pain. There were cuts all over his body.
Sarah looked down at her hands -- they were covered in blood. She nearly screamed, but managed to stop herself before she did. Instead, she looked around for Joyce. The succubus was gone.
"Chloe," she said. "Chloe!"
Chloe didn't seem to hear her. Instead, she held the knife up above her head. She started to bring it down, and Sarah immediately transformed into her wolf form and knocked her over. The knife flew out of her hand and landed under a nightstand.
Sarah stayed in wolf form for a minute longer to see if Chloe was going to attack back. The jump seemed to have knocked her back to her senses though, and she stood slowly up and looked around. When she saw Roger, she let out a loud cry.
"Hush," Sarah said, transforming back to her human form. She knelt down beside Roger. "Where is she?"
"What are you?" Roger asked.
"I'm a shape-shifter," Sarah said. "We don't have a lot of time, Roger. Where is she?"
"She said she was going after more supplies," Roger said shakily.
"I'm so sorry," Chloe said. She moved around the room as though lost, then shook her head to clear it further. Then she saw Roger's clothing. She picked it up and tossed it at him. "Are you alright?"
Roger nodded. "You didn't hurt me too bad," he said as he stood and got dressed. "Just enough, I guess. She seemed to be drinking in my cries."
Sarah nodded too. "Succubi will do that. They feed off either love or agony. Where's my purse?"
Roger pointed at the bed
. Sarah ran over to it, grabbed her phone out of it, and pulled up her contact list. Her finger hesitated over quite a few names before coming to Alec's. She quickly dialed him up. The phone rang twice and then he answered.
"Sarah? What's going on? Why aren't you back?"
"We got taken by a succubus," Sarah said. "She had us under her spell. She wants her soon to be ex-husband dead. She was making us torture him."
"What?" Alec demanded.
"We're going to need your help taking her out. We can't leave her alive. She'll kill Roger if she gets the chance."
She could almost hear the smile in Alec's voice. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her. Is the man alright? You were torturing him?"
"He'll live," Sarah said. She quickly gave him the address and room number. Then she got off the phone and transformed into her panther form. She took position in front of the door.
"You're going to kill her?" Roger asked.
"Yes," Chloe said. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Roger glanced down at his injured body and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I mean, I love her but she's dangerous, and she'll kill us, right?"
"Right," Chloe said. "Look, I know it's hard. When you love someone, I mean, it's difficult to overlook their faults. But she's a demon."
"Like Sarah," he said.
Chloe laughed, glancing over at the panther in front of the door. Sarah just blinked at them from large, yellow eyes. "Sarah's not a demon, she's a shape-shifter. There's a difference."
"And what are you?" Roger asked. "Or are you normal, like me?"
"I'm a fairy," Chloe said. She shimmered, allowing herself to adopt her natural fey appearance. It had been a long time since she'd done that, and it felt odd to suddenly have wings, and a sharp, angular face. "See? I'm not a demon either, if that's what you're thinking. There's different sorts of supernatural."
"And that guy she called?"
"Oh," Chloe said. "Well, he's a vampire."
Roger sank onto the bed.
"It's a lot to take in, I know," she said. She went back to her usual appearance and sat down next to him. "But you get used to it after awhile."
"I don't want to get used to it," Roger said. "I want everything to go back to normal."
"Well, that's not going to happen," Chloe said. "At least not for you, not for awhile. Maybe someday you'll forget about all of this, but I really doubt it."
"That's not fair," Roger said.
Chloe gave him a commiserating look. "I know," she said. "None of it is. But that's life, Roger. Get used to it or you go crazy, okay?"
"You mean, you're alright with all of this? Demons? Succubi, and vampires?"
"I didn't used to be," Chloe said. "I mean, I've always been one of the fey, so I've always known about the supernatural, but I used to be really against demons in general. But look, Roger, they're not all bad. This world, it can be really wonderful."
Roger didn't look as though he believed her. "Tell me something good about this."
"You learn a lot about yourself," Chloe said. She glanced again at Sarah, who looked back at her, still blinking slowly. "You learn a lot about what you can handle. You learn other things too; things about bravery, loyalty, and friendship."
Roger gave a shaky smile.
Chloe sighed. "And you learn to always carry fairy dust so succubi can't charm you into hurting handsome men who just made the mistake of attracting the wrong demon."
Roger laughed, and it even sounded genuine.
There was a knock on the door. Immediately Sarah growled, standing up on her haunches. She looked ready to pounce.
"It's me," Alec called out. "Let me in."
Sarah transformed into her human form again and unlocked the door. Alec came inside and looked over at Roger. He winced. "You guys really did a number on him, didn't you?"
"You're the vampire, right?" Roger asked.
"That's right," Alec said. He transformed into his vampiric form and Roger closed his eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you," Alec told him. "I just want to be ready. Sarah, why didn't you transform into your animal form when she tried to hypnotize you?"
Sarah shook her head in disgust. "I was too slow. I wasn't thinking -- I was too surprised. I thought Roger was a physically and emotionally abusive jerk who was stalking his ex-wife. I didn't stop to consider it might be the other way around."
"Well, you learn something new every day," Alec said. "Go back to your panther form. We don't want her getting at you again. Chloe, take Roger downstairs. Get him someplace crowded."
"I want to stay and help," Chloe said.
"No," Alec said, as Sarah changed back. "You're susceptible. The last thing we need is to be fighting you off as well."
Chloe sighed.
"Go on," Alec urged.
"Come on then," Chloe said to Roger. Together, they left the room and made their way downstairs. "We'll get you some food. You must be hungry after that."
"Actually, I kind of hurt," Roger said.
"Well, I'm hungry," Chloe said. "So let's go to the buffet and if you're in too much pain to eat, you can watch me eat. I'm alright with that."
"You're kidding?"
"I have a very high metabolism," Chloe said.
"Fine," Roger said. "Fine. You know, I could go for some food, I guess."
"That's what I thought," Chloe said. They went to the twenty-four hour buffet for late-night gamblers and tourists. There was a long line, but Chloe had a VIP card that allowed them to bypass it. They were seated by a friendly looking man who took their drink orders and directed them toward the plates.
Chloe kept by Roger while they made their plates, her eyes constantly on the move as she watched out for Joyce, just in case. Once they were done loading up on food, they went back to their table and sat down and began eating.
"So, friendship," Roger said. "That's what you get out of this world."
"Yes," Chloe said. "The best friends I ever made were made because I got over my fear and hate of demons. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are more bad ones than good ones, but you'd be surprised how many out there are just trying to do the right thing. Like Alec."
"How did he become... good?"
"He made a decision," Chloe said. "Same as anyone would. When did you decide you were going to be good?"
Roger nodded. "I get what you're saying."
"Good," Chloe said. She took out her phone and texted Sarah. A few minutes later, her and Alec came into the buffet. They both filled plates and then joined Roger and Chloe at the table.
"Well?" Chloe asked.
"She's gone," Alec said.
Roger gulped.
"Don't worry," Sarah said. "I know it hurts to think about now, Roger, but you did the right thing letting us take care of her. And don't ask what happened. You loved her, so you don't want to know."
"Right."
Chloe reached over and took his hand. "Remember what I said," she told him. "If you ever need a friend in this world, you know how to reach us. We're not all bad. In fact, some of us are pretty damn awesome."
She flashed a smile at Alec, remembering, briefly, how they'd met.
"Yeah," he said casually. "Some of us are."
TEN
A young man named Conner had glanced over his bedroom and then down at the backpack in his arms. It had been loaded down with clothes and cash. The clock had shown just past three in the morning, and he was ready to go. His car had already been gassed up in the driveway, and he had loaded it up with snacks.
He could stay. He realized that, of course. He'd been offered a swimming scholarship, and it would pay for his college. Even if he didn't have sports, he could have easily gotten the grades. He just had to put in the work, he was smart enough for it.
It didn't matter if he was smart though. He'd discovered that at a young age. He had passed all his classes with flying colors and he'd rarely turned in a single sheet of homework since the seventh grade. That was when he'd first learned about using his powers of s
eduction on people.
His teacher had been young, pretty, and single. He'd infiltrated her dreams long before he made his move, making her think about him all the time. It had been almost too easy. There had been others after that; cheerleaders, waitresses, and funny girls that made him laugh. A boy never forgot his first, though.
Conner's parents were both sleeping. He'd made sure to spike their dinner drinks with a drowsy allergy medicine so they'd make it through the night. The last thing he wanted was an emotional goodbye. He'd wanted out of this dingy small town for as long as he could remember and nobody was going to stop him.
Once he was out on the road, he turned his radio up to max volume and rolled his windows down. The night air blew in his hair, and he grinned, thinking about the life he had ahead of him.
He was from Carynburg, Wyoming and on his way to Las Vegas. He'd always wanted to go there, ever since he was a child. He'd watched a TV show that highlighted the different attractions, and he'd been fascinated by all the casino lights that kept the city awake at all hours. After living his life in a town where the stars were the only attraction after dark, it would be a refreshing change of pace.
Conner's father would be disappointed in his only child. He wanted Conner to grow up and follow in his footsteps. His father ran a grocery store that closed by nine every night. His grandfather had been the one to open it, but Conner had no interest in following the family business. He had bigger and better plans.
Eventually, he stopped for the night in a small town with a motel. He rented a room, paid cash, and then went over to the nearby bar. It didn't take long to convince the bouncer to let him inside, even without a fake ID, and once he was in, he went straight up to the counter to order a few shots of rum.
He looked around, wondering what kind of entertainment he'd find. There was a pretty redheaded girl standing by herself over near the lone pool table. She was sipping beer out of a frothy glass and occasionally checking her phone. She wore dark jeans, a blue top, and silver earrings that flashed in the light whenever she turned her head.
Conner went over there.
"Not interested," she said immediately, barely glancing his way.
Six-Spot (Afterlife Book 7) Page 5