by Jenn Windrow
Either I hadn’t gone full beast mode yet or the steroids had shrunk his brain instead of his balls.
One of his buddies, wearing a letterman jacket and a pair of jeans with holes in the knees, pointed at me and he cleared his throat. “Dude, that’s the assassin.” But no amount of vampire bravado could hide his fear.
Arnold looked at me and then at his friend. “Can’t be. Sire told us she was dead.”
I was going to kill the person who started that rumor.
“What do we do?” Arnold asked.
“Kill her.” A third vampire spoke up, this guy didn’t belong with the others, he was a hard goth, piercings and tattoos on every available inch of skin, and a Mohawk that stood at least a foot from his head. He stuck two fingers between his black lipstick colored lips and let out a long high-pitch whistle.
Two more vampires stepped out of the foliage. That made five. I’ve seen worse. Hell, Eddie was looking forward to a workout. I turned and sized up my opponents. The two that joined the party were dressed in business suits. What a mismatched group of misfits. But they all had one thing in common—the looks of a newly turned vampire, just like the ones at the park. The nest had to be close.
Another loud whistle and three more vampires walked up the path behind me, dressed in the finest homeless attire the streets had to offer. Eight. Not the best odds, but still doable.
Reaper moved to step forward and join the fight, but I waved him back. All his presence would do is distract me.
The whistle happy vampire raised his fingers to his lips again. There was no way he was making another sound.
Get ready. Get set. I let Eddie free.
I moved faster than their eyes could track me, grabbed his neck and twisted. Without the help of his spine to hold his head up, it flopped to the side and his body slid to the ground, before another sound left his mouth. I pulled out my stake and stabbed him in the heart. He dissolved into a pile of ash at his friend’s feet.
“She killed Raymond,” Arnold said, his jaw hanging open. “I didn’t even see her move.”
I spun in a slow circle to get a good look at the seven vampires who now surrounded me. All young. All hungry. All eager to die. I expected Eddie to settle down now that my contract had been fulfilled for the evening, but instead the beast clawed at my insides, fighting to get free, and ready to rip them to shreds.
This had never happened before, usually when I killed one, the beast went back to his rotten depths and I was free to move on with my night. Tonight he wouldn’t settle for less than eight dead piles of ash decorating the leaf-covered ground.
I closed my eyes, took five deep cleansing breaths, and hoped the urge to kill would dissipate. But, the smell of the seven leftover vampires pushed the beast to the surface.
Death. The only thing that would push the beast into submission. But could I take on seven vampires and survive?
Seven vampires is nothing compared to the power that flows through your body. If only you would learn to work with me instead of fight me, we would never fail.
A brave, or stupid vampire, depending on how you looked at it, reached into the back pocket of his faded jeans and pulled out a switchblade. Two inches of silver glistened in the moonlight. He’d have to do better than that, but a game of whose blade is bigger sounded like fun. I reached back, pulled Reva out of her sheath and held my dagger up high. His eyes widened and the other vampires snickered from the sideline. Probably thanking the fates for not stepping up first.
Even after seeing my weapon he charged, fangs bared, claws extended. I swung my sword and left a large gash across his chest, right over his heart. Blood pumped from the wound and drenched the front of his t-shirt. The switchblade fell from his fingers and landed on the pine needle covered ground. He glanced down and I used the distraction to shish kabob his heart with my stake. His body fell next to his blade and turned into a pile of ash.
“Who’s next?” I asked his stunned buddies.
Two vampires walked into the middle, empty-handed, so I put Reva away to give them a fighting chance. They came at me, one from the front, one from the rear. The vampire behind me grabbed my arms and wrenched them behind my back. The one in front threw a punch at my stomach, but before his fist connected with my midsection, the bottom of my boot connected with his chin. He went down and stayed down. He was either stunned or feeling foolish, it was impossible to tell. I slammed the back of my head into the other’s nose. Blood gushed all over my hair, which immediately started a case of dry heaves. He released his hold and I spun around, stake in hand. I slammed the stake into his chest, but I didn’t stay to watch him disintegrate. Instead, I walked over to his wounded friend and slammed the stake through his heart.
Four down. Eddie sounded proud.
I didn’t have a chance to turn around before I heard a war cry that would make Braveheart proud, then felt the vampire cling to my back. The momentum sent my dagger and stake skittering out of reach. He wrapped his hand around my throat, knee deep in my back, holding me down. I reached up and grabbed any part of his shirt that I could hold on to, flipped him over the top of my head and onto the ground. He landed with an oomph.
But he didn’t stay down. He charged again, head hitting me in the stomach, taking us down in a tangle of limbs. He sat on my chest and wrenched my hands over my head. One of the remaining vampires stepped close, but the vampire holding me down snarled. “My kill.”
I like him.
Of course, Eddie liked him, he thrived on killing and mayhem. The other vampire backed away, leaving him to his prize.
Without Reva or my hands, I seemed to be out of options. The vampire leaned close, fangs snapping, aimed for my exposed neck. Making a grave error.
I raised my head, grabbed his ear between my teeth and tore it from his head. Blood gushed over my face, the vampire let go, hand covering the missing chunk. I scurried out from under him and collected my fallen weapons.
I rushed him, stake in line with his heart.
“Bitch.” He managed to utter that single word before I staked him and moved on to my next victim.
The last three stood in a line. They looked from one to another, clearly working out who was going to take me on next. Eddie scraped his claws along my spine. Time to kill these three worthless vampires and save the day.
No one stepped forward, so I made the first move. One second I stood ten feet away, the next Reva made Swiss cheese out of two of the vampires’ hearts until they were nothing but smoldering piles of ash on the ground.
That left one little vampire in my clutches, Arnold. My stake aimed at his heart, just about to send it home.
“Stop.” Reaper walked out from the bushes and stood next to me. “Let’s get some information.” He pushed my stake so the tip pointed to the ground.
Eddie growled.
I lowered my hand, but didn’t let go of his shirt.
Nathan popped in at that exact moment, bumping into my side and lighting up the surrounding area with tiny sparks. Arnold almost fainted. He pointed at Nathan. “What the fuck?”
“The bloke can see me.” A big grin spread across Nathan’s face.
“Is that a ghost?” Arnold stuttered.
“Damn skippy I’m a ghost.”
“Ghosts are real?” he asked. I was beginning to believe he was dropped as a baby.
Nathan answered for me. “You’re a vampire, but you don’t believe in ghosts?”
“I’ve only been a vampire for three days. Tonight was my first night out.”
What he was saying made sense. It took one night for vampire blood to annihilate the human blood, and then another night for all the organs to die. By the third you were so hungry you’d naw through your own arm to get your first sip of blood.
“This was your first hunt?” I asked.
He nodded. Bad luck for him. First night out and he ran into me. “Why did you come here?”
“I used to come here when I was human. I was hoping to find my ex-girlfriend,
you know since I was a bad ass vampire now. Plus,”—He flashed some baby fangs —”we were told to stay close.”
This meant we’d just stumbled into their Sire’s recruiting ground. I looked at Reaper and he looked at me. There was no reason to tiptoe around the question we wanted answered so I just came out and asked. “Where’s your nest?”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone.” He turned his head to avoid my eyes.
“I’ll let you live if you tell me.” The lie hidden behind my sugar-coated voice.
“Really?”
“Really.” Thank the Fates I let the clueless one live.
He looked back and forth between Nathan, Reaper, and me. I gave him a little shake to encourage him to make up his mind.
“It’s a pale green house on Martin Street. The number’s fifteen-six-oh-two.”
I watched as Reaper typed the information into his phone. I just had one last question for out little friend. “Who told you I was dead?”
“Our Sire, Terrance.”
My fingers clenched around the stake at my side. “Did he say who killed me?”
“Called the guy Delano.”
Reaper stiffened at my side. Nathan stopped floating. I stood slacked jawed. And Eddie. Well, Eddie laughed. If this young vamp was talking about Delano Melazi, we were fucked.
All that aside, why would Delano claim to have killed me? And why would he lie to his protégé? Those were questions for another time. Right now, I was getting sick of holding onto my muscular friend and Eddie was itching to finish him off. “Reaper, any more questions?”
“Nope.”
The vampire relaxed. I raised my hand and drove the tip of the stake through his heart. I felt bad for killing such an innocent creature, but leaving him alive would cause us more problems. Vampires were loyal to their Sires, which meant he would be required to tell him about what happened and what he told us. I needed the element of surprise on my side. Arnold had to die.
Nathan watched his body turn to ash. “Bloody duffer, that one was.”
Now that Eddie was satiated, he settled into the background with a purr of contentment, making me feel like myself again. “Obviously, Terrance isn’t considering IQ’s when he chooses them.”
Reapers pocket started to vibrate. He pulled out his phone, and immediately his face paled. “Coleman.” He pushed the talk button and walked deeper into the trees.
While we waited for Reaper to come back I explained who Detective Coleman was to Nathan.
“You willingly walked into the VAU station?” Nathan seemed impressed. “You’ve got some big cajones, Alexis Black.”
Before I could bask in Nathan’s compliment, Reaper came back looking like someone had just pissed in his morning cup of coffee. “He wants us to meet him at the City Morgue. He specifically asked that you come too.”
And here I was thinking he just wanted to have that beer with Reaper. “Did he tell you why?”
“He didn’t get into details, just said, and I quote,”—He did the annoying finger quote thing—‘“I need your pointy tooth friend at the morgue, a.s.a.p.”’
Shit. I really didn’t want to go to the morgue, nothing good could come out of this visit. “Can we ignore his request?”
“We can.” He looked around at the still smoldering piles of ash. “But it might be an opportunity to learn more to keep the innocents safe.”
And once again my need to save anyone else from a forced vampire life-style, from years of pain, anger, and unwanted blood sucking, bowled over by my sense of self-preservation. “Looks like we’re going to see my favorite VAU agent again.”
After a few more trips through lover’s lane to ensure we eliminated all the vampires, and kept the horny teenagers of the Chicago land area safe for another night, we made a pit stop at my place so I could work my magic and make myself look a little more human. Jeans and a Ting Ting’s concert T-shirt, instead of the usual black leather seemed more human and less creature of the undead. Not that it mattered, Detective Coleman already knew my secret, but I wasn’t ready to announce it to the rest of the VAU.
Chapter Nine
I must have lost my damn blood-sucking mind. Here I stood outside the morgue, waiting to meet the VAU agent who suspected I was a vampire, and I wasn’t scared at all. In fact, I felt an eerie sense of calm.
Reaper, Nathan, and I walked through the double metal doors of the plain brick building and entered a lobby decorated in various shades of dull beige and not much else. It was as depressing as…well, a morgue.
Nathan moved around the room peeking behind doors and under the receptionist’s desk. “Never thought I’d see the inside of a morgue.”
Technically it was just the waiting room, but who was I to burst his bubble?
Detective James Coleman sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs. He placed his outdated copy of Sports Illustrated on a veneer coffee table, stood, and smoothed the creases out of his black dress pants. “Glad you could make it.” Since his gaze never met mine, I was sure it wasn’t me he was glad to see.
“Follow me.” He walked toward us, making sure to give me a wide berth. Fine with me. I’d rather he keep the stake that hung from the holster on his belt to himself.
Reaper and I followed him into the elevator. He pushed a button labeled with the letter “M” and leaned against the wall. There was an uncomfortable silence as we descended into the lower levels.
Nathan floated close to Coleman’s face. “He’s got a real stick up his arse.”
I disguised my laugh behind a cough that caused Coleman and Reaper to look in my direction. After a few more fake coughs Coleman went back to ignoring me, but Reaper continued to look at me like I was having a seizure.
“Nathan,” I mouthed, and pointed in the ghost’s direction.
Reaper reached up and rubbed his temples.
Thankfully the elevator opened and we followed Coleman into a long hallway with one single door at the end. As we got closer I saw the word morgue printed across the front, and the words “meat locker” written on a piece of duct tape just below that. The detective pushed the doors open and we went in.
A gurney sat in the center of a sterile looking room. Metal drawers filled one wall and various instruments that looked like they could inflict some serious damage filled another. A tall man with eyes so blue the ocean would be envious, and ruggedly handsome face covered with a few days worth of stubble, stood next to the gurney. I allowed myself a moment to admire his nearly perfect physique; it was unfortunate that his white lab coat covered all the good parts.
“This is Doctor Julian Monroe, head M.E for the VAU.” Hot and smart, good combo.
The doctor stepped forward and shook Reaper’s extended hand, but when I offered mine he looked down, hiding the fear that flickered in his eyes, and turned away.
If I had any interest in getting laid, the good Doctor would have jumped to the top of my to-do list, but judging by the fear that now permeated the small room, I wasn’t his type. He probably went for short blondes with big tits and a beating heart. The exact opposite of me.
“Why is she here?” The rhythm of the Doctor’s heart picked up and his hand trembled when he pointed in my direction.
He was terrified. But why? I usually only got that response from the supernatural. A quick sniff test told me the only stench of the non-human variety was coming from me. Had Coleman told him I was vampire? Probably. I gave him a reassuring smile, hoping to calm his nerves, but the moment his eyes met mine he lowered his gaze and stared at his scuffed loafers.
“Someone doesn’t like you,” Nathan sing-songed, going from one torture device to another. I ignored him because I didn’t think talking to a ghost would make this situation any less tense.
“This is Ms. Black. She’s a witness,” Coleman said in my defense.
“Not to this girl’s death,” Monroe said.
“Let’s just say I believe she’s an expert when it comes to vampires.” Coleman lowered his chin and looked
at me through lowered lashes.
I kept uncharacteristically quiet.
He approached the gurney with the body shaped lump under the white sheet. “Doctor, would you please.”
Doctor Monroe reached out and grabbed the edge of the sheet, but before he pulled the heavy fabric back he looked right at me. I was lucky the daggers in his eyes were imaginary otherwise the cleaning crew would be sweeping up a pile of Alex ash off the floor tonight. Once the silent death stare was over, he pulled the sheet back to reveal the dead girl from the park I failed to rescue.
“Can you explain to Blake and his friend what you noticed during your examination?” The emphasis on the word friend was not lost on me.
The doctor shot one last look in my direction and cleared his throat. “Happy to.” Dr. Monroe’s now fear-free deep voice sent tingles to my nether regions.
He lowered the sheet and pointed with the tip of a pen to the inside of her thighs. To the human eye the fang marks were barely detectable, but to my vampire-enhanced sight they stood out like a homing beacon. Tiny punctures, at least twenty-four, ran up and down her thigh like someone had used her as a pincushion and then tried to heal the wounds.
Some vampires had a bit of fun. Eddie’s words disgusted me.
Nathan popped out of one of the drawers where they stored the dead bodies and floated next to me. He drew his breath through his teeth. “Bloody hell. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
I agreed. Even the blood whores at the Sanguine Houses were treated better.
“What am I supposed to be seeing?” Reaper asked.
Doctor Monroe pulled a thin, black flashlight from his pocket. “Detective, would you get the lights.” The room went dark and an ultraviolet ray lit up the tiny pinpricks for the humans to see.
“We discovered these during a routine exam. Twenty-six sets to be exact. “ He used the end of a pen and pointed out each-and-every set. “There are also bites on her breasts and neck. She died from extreme blood loss, but not an ounce was found on her clothes or skin. In other words, she was drained completely.”