“Actually, Mom said he’s not as mad as before, but to still keep on our toes though. You know Rathe.”
“Unfortunately, I know him too well.”
A truck headed for them. He recognized the driver as one of Herrick’s sons. He parked beside them and got out. “Master, the hunters have gone into the forest.”
“Good, they must think we are still lost. That should keep them busy for a while.”
Michael returned, having exchanged his rifle for a pump action shotgun. A Glock was holstered at his hip. He waved them to the pickup his brother had just driven. “I’ll take you and Miss Kai to the farm.”
“We’ll ride in the back.”
“Why?” Michael asked, mistrustful.
“If we are indeed up against a demon vampire, Kai and I can hold them off while you drive,” Alex explained, shrugging off his sword.
“Oh! I-I thought….” Michael fell silent.
Kai grinned, shaking her head at him as she unbuckled her sword. “And here we thought you would be prejudice against us, vampires. Let’s get going. If the family was murdered by a demon vamp, then we will have to go to the morgue and dispose of them.”
The big Gypsy blanched, his swarthy skin went pale. “Miss Kai, the children were ten and seven.”
“What?” Kai gasped, stunned. “Are you certain?”
“My son was best friends with Peter’s boys.”
✝✝✝
Anguished, Kai watched the children sitting around Gaeta, who were listening intently to the tale the old woman spun, distracting them from the talk about the Damned. If the boys had not been killed by the vamp, who attacked them, they’d turn. She’d never killed a child before. Never had to. Children under sixteen were off limits, until now.
A soft breeze caressed her face. Instead of bringing relief from the heat, she smelt the stench of dead flesh. Putting her hand on the handgrip of her gun, she stretched out her senses, not really expecting to receive anything. Boy did she get a surprise!
Hit by chaotic emotions of jealousy and regret, she realized she’d connected with the one who had killed the family. Unable to make out if the demon vamp was female or male, she had the impression the vampire wanted to come to Wulf Manor, yet it kept its distance. It wasn’t afraid — it was being cautious. It wasn’t ready yet.
Ready for what?
“Alex, we need to hurry. I got a line on the vamp.” Setting her sword on the floor of the truck bed, she climbed in, pulling out her gun.
On alert, he set his sword beside hers and drew his gun. “Where is it?”
“It’s in the direction of Magdeburg. Waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” Michael asked, scanning the forest nervously.
“Waiting for us.”
Michael anxiously stared at his family. Alex held out his hand. “Give me the keys.”
“No, I will take you.” His brave words did not match the fear Michael felt about leaving his wife and sons.
“No, you will stay here and protect your family. What we must do tonight, you shouldn’t be a part of,” Alex stated bluntly as he holstered his gun and took the keys from the man’s slack fingers.
“You…?” Michael stopped, looking as if he were about to be sick.
“We have to finish what the demon started or others will either be infected or killed.” Alex climbed into the driver’s seat while she tossed in their swords and jumped in the other side. “Where is the farm?”
“Four miles to the main road, take a right, and it’s the first driveway on the right. Peter Skaggin was his name.”
“Keep everyone together,” Alex ordered. “No one is allowed to go off by themselves, do you understand? Stay near the fire. If you are attacked, run inside the house. They cannot enter without invitation. Do not invite anyone inside, even if you know them. We do not know who is who and must consider anyone outside the family the enemy. Do you understand?”
Bobbing his head, Michael replied, “I do. May your hunt be successful, for all our sakes.” He hurried back to his family.
“Kai,” Alex looked at her.
“Yes?”
“Can you get a lock on the demon?”
“Sort of.” She shrugged. “Still not one hundred percent online. I get the impression it’s remorseful about what it’d done to the family.”
Starting the truck and shifting the steering column gear into drive, he drove back to the road. “Remorseful? That’s not like the Damned.”
“It knows it crossed the line in attacking the children. It worries it will be punished. Crap, I can’t tell if it’s a guy or a woman!”
“You see only one vampire?”
“Only one so far. I can’t go any further than the woods. Sorry.”
“At least you’re getting your gifts back.”
It hit her why she was having difficulty tracking the vamp. “Son-of-a-bitch!”
“What? Did you see something?” Alex searched out the windshield.
“No,” she shook her head, “it’s trying to block me! The vamp is actually attempting to block me, like Angel and Sin did.”
“They kept you out of their minds? How?”
“With practice, Sin said. He did it to keep Angel out of his mind.” The dungeon! “Alex, remember how Jarrod was obsessed with getting me and Mom, to turn us and use our psychic abilities?”
“Yes, I remember.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Angel wanted to turn me and use me to control the others, to help her win her war.”
“The Prophecy.” He sat back in his seat, shaking his head. “Great, Angel believes in it, too.”
“Alex, Mary has premonitions. Her gift is what led her father and brothers to us. She saved us.” Kai shifted to look at him better. “What if Angel and this vamp finds out about her? They’ll want to turn her.”
“They’ll think twice knowing the gypsies are under our protection.”
Kai wasn’t as convinced. “Mary told me she has the impression the vamp and the hunters are searching for someone … possible other than us. Actually, she said ‘something.’”
His frown deepened. “Something? She said that?”
She shrugged. “She isn’t sure what they are after. Mary just warned me to be careful.”
“We’re warned at least. Let’s find out what we’re up against.”
Couple miles down the road a ‘Stop’ sign loomed ahead the headlights, and he braked at the main highway. No traffic. Heading in the direction Michael told them to go, Alex slowed when the first right appeared and turned down the lane. At the end of the road was a white with blue trim, two-story farmhouse. No lights were on. Not even the motion lights came on. Parking, he turned the engine off. They got out of the truck and grabbed their swords, strapping them to their backs.
No sounds, nothing except the unsettling aftermath of murder. She drew her gun, as did Alex. He led the way to the front door. The warm summer’s breeze caressed her face, and she nearly gagged on the stench of decaying flesh. Searching the clear sky, she found only a three quarter moon watching them impassively. She followed Alex onto the wide porch. Quietly, he opened the door and they entered the Skaggin house. The stench was worse inside. Following Alex, her gun’s muzzle pointed at the ground, she saw him motioned with his head for her to head upstairs.
Great, she grumbled. I get to go upstairs where the kids were killed. Wonderful.
The stairs were carpeted, giving her the added stealth she needed as she crept up them. The scurry of bare feet against hardwood floors made her lean into the wall. At the top of the stairs, she cautious peaked around the corner. A huge hand wrapped around her throat, jerking her into the air. Feet dangling off the floor, Kai stared into blazing, red eyes.
Grinning, Peter Skaggin sprayed spittle on her face as he leaned closer and said, “Pretty. I like you.”
“Well, I don’t like you,” she choked out, pulling the trigger, unloading several silver bullets into his chest.
He howled, screaming as he
dropped her to the ground and tried to dig out the silver bullets buried in his flesh. Kai shot two rounds right between his eyes. Roaring his agony, exposing rows of needle-sharp teeth, Peter clutched his bloated face in agony as smoke poured out of the wounds as the silver burned into him. Drawing her sword, she sliced off his hands and head in one hard swing. Headless, the body sunk to his knees and collapsed on the hardwood floor, next to his head and hands. Green, putrid-smelling blood poured out of his severed neck and head.
Holstering her gun, a high-pitch scream behind her made her whip around and she struck with her sword, realizing too late it was one of the boys. He stared at her in surprise. Blackish-green blood gushed from the cut to his hand. He gaped in wonder as the cut healed itself, then his gaze switched back to her. The child’s innocent demeanor transformed and the demon rose, altering his physical features. He snarled, exposing rows and rows of sharp teeth. Letting out an ear-piercing scream, he charged her.
“Forgive me,” Kai whispered as she cut off his head.
As the child’s head parted from his stocky body, the horror of what she’d done threatened to overwhelm her. She focused on finding the mother and her other son, who must have been turned also. No one else was on the second floor. Kai found herself desperately praying they hadn’t changed into demons as she reached into her backpack and pulled out the water bottle full of Holy water.
Where the hell was Alex?
✝✝✝
Finished searching the back rooms, Alex heard the screams upstairs. Running to Kai’s aid, he was in the living room when he was tackled through the picture window, straight into the yard. Momentarily stunned, he lay on his back, managing to stay his attacker by slamming his hands onto the chest of the person, encountering large breasts.
Bloody hell, Mrs. Skaggin!
She growled at him, her face inches from his. Flinching as hot, slimy drool dripped onto his face, he struggled to keep her sharp teeth from making contact with his flesh. Snarling, he shoved the heavy woman off him. Leaping to his feet, he drew his sword and faced her. The vampiress circled him, her blood-shot eyes centered on the broadsword he held ready to strike.
Flickering her bloodshot gaze back to him, she frowned, seeming confused. “She said we weren’t to touch you. Why is that, Slayer? Why does my mistress want you alive? Why can’t we feed on you?”
“Who is your mistress? Is she Angel Heart?”
Giggling, she shook her head. “Oh, no, Mistress is no angel. She hungers for you. Wants you bad. Told me to tell you to make the pretty Slayer go away or Mistress will kill her.
A short bark escaped him. “Tell your mistress that Kai is a lot harder to kill than she thinks.”
With a secretive gleam in her dead eyes, the vampiress moved around him, snake-like in her motion. The restless twisting of her head and the hungry smacking of her lip set his nerves on edge. The woman sidled closer to him, cautious of his sword. Rubbing her hands, she cackled insanely.
“Slayer, Mistress knows your secrets. She knows your sins. You are more damned than we are.”
Inside the house, he heard Kai shout, “Alex, where are you?”
“Outside,” he yelled back, keeping a watchful eye on the vampiress, who hissed at the house.
Peering out the broken window, Kai held her gun ready to fire at the vampiress. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just having a nice little chat with Mrs. Skaggin.”
The vampiress jerked her head up as the smoke trickling out the open windows upstairs. “Slayer, where’s my husband, my son?”
Eyes narrowed, Kai’s soft lips pinched flat. “Taking a nap. A permanent one.”
A wail of sorrow broke out of the vampiress as she sank to her knees, hitting the lawn with her fists. “My eldest son. My husband. Dead, dead, dead. Why am I alive? Kill me, too, Slayer,” she begged him, tears of blackish-green blood streaked down her swollen, blotchy cheeks.
Alex steeled himself against feeling sympathy for the woman. Demons loved to fake emotions, to draw their prey in. Compassion made their victims vulnerable for the kill. “Where is your mistress? The one who made you and your family into monsters?”
Shifting her head back and forth nervously, the vamp struggled on how to answer him. Loyalty to her family or her maker? The vampiress called out to the darkness, “Emile, come here. Come to Mama.”
A young boy scurried out from under the front porch. He went into her arms, holding onto her, fear wild in his bloodshot eyes. The wounds he suffered during the vampire attack were left unhealed and oozing.
“Slayer, the woman you seek is—” A loud, savage roar made Mrs. Skaggin scream. She tried to shield her son as a huge, silver wolf leapt upon them, ripping into them with huge claws.
Alex ran back to the house and jumped inside through the broken window. He exchanged a quick look with Kai, who was just as shocked as he was. They aimed their guns at the huge beast as it hovered over the now dead vamps. The wolf growled at them, its long muzzle covered in dark green blood. The silver fur along its back rose as it snarled it’s defiance at them. It slowly stood on its back legs and walked unsteadily toward them, snapping its long, sharp teeth hungrily. Piercing red eyes, human-like, began to glow white-hot as it gathered sped.
It was charging for Kai!
“Shoot it,” he shouted at Kai, unloading his weapon into the oncoming wolf. She didn’t hesitate and fired at it.
The wolf disappeared.
Shaken, Kai handed him another clip. They dropped their empty clips and reloaded. Setting a bullet in the chamber, they were ready to shoot. “That was a vamp, right? Not some damn werewolf?”
“Yes, that was one of the Damned.”
“Great. Just great. What was the purpose of turning the Skaggin family into vamps only to kill them?”
Instead of answering, he held out his hand to her. “Hand me the Holy water.”
Handing him the water bottle, Kai’s eyes narrowed as she asked, “Any idea who the wolf is?”
“Not a clue.”
Chapter Eight
Liar!
It had the same markings, the way it moved and snarled — its eyes, she knew it was the same wolf she’d seen in Alex’s dreams. By the smell, it was definitely one of the Damned.
Alex sprinkled Holy water on the remains of the woman and her child, mumbling the prayer he ritually used after a demon kill. Flames engulfed the corpses, burning away their brief, tortured existence. What was Mrs. Skaggin about to say before the wolf killed her?
Why did Alex deny recognizing the wolf?
Kai tried to read his mind, only able to see blurred images. Nothing to help her figure out who the wolf was. Frustrated, she holstered her gun and leapt out the broken window. Half way to Alex, a girl’s scream reverberated through her brain. The brutal pressure brought her to her knees, clutching her head, unable to escape the pain.
To her astonishment, she heard Mary call out, “Kai,” terror radiating in her young voice, “help us! The Damned is here!”
Alex was kneeling beside her, his hand on her back. “Kai, what’s wrong?”
“The gypsies,” she gasped out, “are under attack.” The pain lessened, and she was able to stand with his assistance. “We need to go to them.” She made to fly, held back when he grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong? They need us.”
“It’s a trap. We’ll take the truck and drive to Wulf Manor.”
“You know who the wolf is, don’t you?” Alex made to turn away, she stopped him “Who is it?”
Alex released her and started walking back to the truck. “Let’s go.”
“Screw you!” She launched into the air.
“Kai, no!” Alex shouted at her. Fear was in his voice, making her hesitate.
Mary was screaming. Guns fired. She poured on the speed. Searching mentally and physically for the Damned, she followed the road back to the manor. The bonfire, the gypsies had made, stood out like a beacon in the night. Outside the opened gate stood Michael and his brothers,
they aimed their rifles and fired at her.
“Shit!” Kai spun around, barely avoiding the bullets, and hit a tree. Dazed, she crashed to the ground on her back. Bruised and winded, she stared at the branches blocking out the starry night. “Damn, that’s gonna leave a mark.” Rolling over onto her stomach, she came face to face with a dead man. Stench of the Damned was on him. Closer inspection, she saw his throat had been torn out and the pattern jolted her upright — same done to the girls in London.
Crap, the Ripper was here!
Shoving to her knees, she turned the man’s head and found his spinal cord severed. No turning for this boy. Checking him out, the camo attire, sniper rifle, and a machete strapped to his back, he was a vampire hunter. Disgusted, Kai shoved him away. Where were his partners?
On her feet, she cautiously made her way to the road and saw the gypsies and they were searching the woods, ready to shoot again. She heard Mary yell, “Michael, stop shooting! That was Kai!”
“It was?” Michael called out, “Miss Kai, forgive us! We did not recognize you. Please, you can come out. It’s safe.”
“Just don’t shoot me, I’ve already have enough bullet wound scars. Don’t need more,” she grumbled as she walked out of the woods. Mary ran to her and threw her arms around her waist.
Michael grimly asked, “Were you hurt?” He slung his rifle over his shoulder, his brothers kept vigil, watching the woods and sky.
“No, I’m fine. What happened after we left?”
“We heard men screaming in the woods and went to check it out. Before we reached the gate, we heard a woman laughing and bodies began falling on us. I’ll show you them.”
Mary held onto her as they followed her brothers past the gates. Michael pointed at the bodies strewn about the courtyard. “It was like they were being catapulted at us.”
Taking Mary’s shoulders, she gently drew the frightened girl back. “Mary, I need to check them and make sure they won’t turn. Go with your brothers and wait by the fire.”
As the gypsies hurried back to the bonfire, Kai drew her sword as she approached the closest dead guy. Another vampire hunter and was killed the same way as the one she found in the woods. Checking to see if he’d rise, she wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or worried when she found his neck broken. Ten hunters. All had their throats ripped out and none would rise. She heard children crying. Searching for them, she found them in the center of the circle the adults had made. Gaeta was with them, armed with a silver knife in her gnarled hand, ready to protect the children.
Wulf's Redemption (Borne Vampires Book 3) Page 12