“Call nine one-one then. I’m out of here though.”
“I understand. I’ll call now, you go. I’ll see you at the warehouse later. Be safe.”
Karma waited until Nevaeh was out of sight before she pulled her cell phone out and called. Her family was gone, her entire life uprooted. She used that loss, that heart break, when she placed her call. The anger that filled her heart had to be pushed down for a few more hours, but soon, very soon, the hunt would begin.
“Nine one-one, what is your emergency?”
“My house is on fire and I think my family is inside,” Karma sobbed into the phone.
“What’s your address, sweetie?” The operator asked calmly.
Karma rattled off her address through the sobs that had taken over on their own. She wasn’t acting any longer. The pain and loss were the forefront of her emotions.
The operator asked her to stay on the line while she dispatched the fire department and Karma sank to the sidewalk in front of her house and let the sobs rock her body.
When she heard the sirens a couple minutes later, she stood up and looked back at her house. She knew there would be nothing left of her family, but she couldn’t fight the urge to run toward the house anyway. When she was caught from behind by a set of strong arms, she shut off her vampire strength and struggled against him.
“Calm down, kid. There’s nothing you can save in there. It’s gone.”
Karma broke down in sobs as the fire fighter led her away from the house. She looked over her shoulder when she heard the house shudder. Moments later the roof came crashing down and she watched as the fire fighters put out the flames. Nothing was left of her home, of her family, but a pile of ash and soot.
“Want to tell us what happened, kid?” A cop asked a few minutes later.
Karma sat quietly for a moment before she answered. “I graduated high school today. My family was there, cheering for me when they called my name. I saw them before they left. I told them I loved them and would see them after the graduation party at The Pit. During the party I started feeling like something was wrong, so I tried to call my mom, but she didn’t answer so I tried dad. When he didn’t answer I decided to walk home and check on them. I walked fast and got here in about forty minutes, but I was too late. There were flames coming from the doors and windows. I called nine one-one and then tried to find a way into the house. I think my family was still inside. My Mom, Dad and brothers. They were all inside.”
Karma broke off as sobs over took her again. She knew once the sobs stopped the white, blinding anger would return and she was ready for it. She’d never been one to cry, she’d never been one to break, and she wasn’t going to start now. She had lost everything she truly loved tonight and the one responsible was going to lose his life, or she was going to die trying.
An hour later Karma sat in the back of a cop car as they pulled away from the home she’d always loved. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”
“My Grandparents live over on Amsterdam St. You can take me there. I can stay with them for tonight and then tomorrow I guess I will see if there is anything left.”
“How old are you, kid?” The cop asked.
“Eighteen,” she lied. If she had said she was seventeen she would be forced to stay at her grandparents’ house until August and that wasn’t going to happen. She needed to be with Nevaeh and the other Huntresses. They would help her find Vincent and unleash her wrath upon him.
“When did you turn eighteen?”
“April,” she lied again as she sent Nevaeh a text asking if she would make her a fake ID showing her birthday as April instead of August, just in case they wanted to check it.
“Okay, kid,” the cop said. She could hear the sympathy in his voice and she hated it.
“This is their house.” Karma said, and the cop stopped in front of one of the newer homes in the area. He got out, opened the door for her, and stepped back so she could get out of the car.
“Thank you,” she murmured softly.
“Need me to come with you when you tell them?” He asked as he shut the door.
“I think this is something I have to do alone. They will accept it better from me. I hope anyway.”
“Okay, kid. You take care.”
“Thanks,” she muttered as she stepped away from him and slowly walked up the sidewalk to her grandparents’ home. She glanced at her phone and saw that it was just after midnight, so she knew they would be asleep. Stopping on the porch, she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A moment later she saw a light flick on and heard feet shuffling across the floor, she knew it was Papa from the sound of his footsteps.
“Karma, what are you doing here this time of night?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.
“Papa, I need you to get Gran. There’s something I have to tell you both,” Karma told him in a soft voice.
“I’ll be right back,” He walked away and less than five minutes later he returned with his wife of fifty years beside him. “Now, tell us what’s wrong.”
Karma took a deep, calming breath before she began speaking. “After graduation I went to the party, like everyone knew I was. A little after nine I started getting this feeling like something was wrong, so I stepped outside to call Mom. When she didn’t answer I called Dad and he didn’t answer either. I was a little worried, so I decided to walk home. When I got there the house was engulfed in flames. None of them got out. Mom, Dad, Colton, Chandler, and Chase are all gone.”
Karma buried her face in her hands as the sobs came back. She needed to get the sadness under control and let the anger take back over, or she’d be dead in a heartbeat.
Gran sank into the chair she was standing next to and Papa rested on the arm if it. “Do you know what happened? How the fire started?”
“No. I’m sure there will be an investigation, but I don’t really know anything except my entire family is gone.”
“We’re still here, Karma,” Papa told her and reached for her hand. “Why don’t we get you settled in the guest room for tonight and maybe we can find out some answers in the morning.”
“Okay,” Karma responded, but she knew she wouldn’t be staying there tonight. She was going to the warehouse to meet with the Huntresses.
Thirty minutes later Karma lay in a bed she’d slept in multiple times and listened as Papa and Gran sobbed in the next room. She didn’t need vampire hearing to hear the depth of sadness coming from them both. Earlier, when they’d been in the living room, both had tried to be strong for her, but she knew they’d lost their only child tonight, and that was something she couldn’t even imagine going though.
She laid there until she couldn’t hear anything coming from the other room before she got up and headed out the door. She had a vampire to hunt.
Chapter Six
“Karma, there’s nothing left,” Papa said as they looked over the spot where a beautiful home had stood less than twenty-four hours ago. “No one could have survived that. Are you sure they were home? They could have been out.”
“Papa, Mom and Dad told me when they left graduation they were going home, and they would have called me if that changed. I don’t want them to have been in there, but where else could they be? They would have called or come home by now. Five people don’t just vanish without a trace,” Karma was starting to lose patience with her grandparents, but she knew things they didn’t, and she knew her family was dead. “Come on, there’s the inspector. Let’s go talk to him and see what he’s found out.”
They walked to the fire inspector and Karma cleared her throat loudly to get his attention. “Excuse me, sir. My name is Karma Black, and this is…umm… was my house.”
“Miss Black, I am sorry for your loss. We have found the remains of seven bodies within the rubble, but they are unidentifiable. We will run DNA to identify them, but are almost certain five of them are your family. Not sure who the other two are though.”
Karma listened to him as he rattled, but she wasn’t paying attention to what
he was saying. Her eyes were focused on the tree line in the distance. Something, or someone, was standing there, watching them. She saw whomever it was move, and she was just waiting for them to move again. When a movement from a different spot in the forest caught her eye she knew, without a doubt, they were being watched by vampire. There were at least two, but probably more, and if her guess was right, they were newbies. From everything she’d learned, newly created vampire couldn’t be in direct sunlight. It wouldn’t burn them like the myths wanted people to believe, but it would blister their skin. After a while, they were able to take direct sunlight for short lengths of time and as they got older they could walk freely like any human could.
“Karma?” Gran said her name questioningly.
“Yes, Gran?”
“Officer Higgings wants to ask you some questions about last night.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.”
“Miss Black, according to your friends you left the party just after nine, but you didn’t call nine one-one until about an hour later. Why so late making the call?”
“I went outside a little after nine and tried to call my Mom’s cell phone. When she didn’t answer I called my Dad’s. He didn’t answer his, so I decided to walk home. It’s slightly over two miles from The Pit and took me about forty minutes to walk it because I walked fast. When I got close enough to see the flames I started running towards the house. I couldn’t even get on the porch, so I ran around back. My first thought was my family. When I realized I couldn’t get to them, I called.”
“What do you know about there being two other people in the house?”
“I have no idea who they could be. I was at my graduation party, remember?” Karma looked over the cop’s shoulder and saw another movement in the tree line. “Are you accusing me of something, officer?”
“Is there a reason I should suspect something?” Officer Higgings asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You son of a bitch!” Karma yelled. “How dare you. The five most important people in my life are dead. DEAD! And you seriously think I had something to do with it?”
“Now calm down. I don’t think you had anything to do with it. I just had to ask. The investigator suspects arson. We also think your family was dead before the fire was set.”
“Murder? You think they were murdered?” Gran asked, shock laced her voice.
“We do,” Officer Higgings answered.
Karma only half listened as Officer Higgings and her grandparents talked about what they had found. Her attention was on the tree line and the movement she kept seeing.
“Is there anything we can do here?” She interrupted Officer Higgings.
“No. Everything is a loss. We are going to take the remains of the seven bodies to the morgue to have DNA tests run, but as soon as the bone marrow is drawn, we will release them for burial.”
“Okay,” Karma said and turned to her grandparents. “I’ll meet you at your house later. There’s someone I need to talk to and it can’t wait,” She hugged them both then jogged toward the trees behind the house.
“I’m not going to kill you now, that will come later, but I do want you to take a message back to your creator. I want you to tell him that Karma is coming for him and there isn’t a hole deep enough for him to hide in. Even the deepest pits of Hell will not protect him from me. I have nothing left to lose and I will drive a stake through his heart, even if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“You speak strong words for one so young,” a voice said from deeper within the forest.
“Vincent,” Karma whispered and heard a soft chuckle that sounded like it was coming from all directions.
“My dearest daughter, you will learn your place soon enough, and when you do you will join me, and I will teach you our ways.”
“Go to hell, Vincent. You murdered my family and I swear on their souls I will avenge their deaths.”
“Karma, you are more like me than you know. Maybe someday you will see what I did was for your own good, but I can see that day isn’t today. When we meet again, we will talk more. Goodbye for now, daughter.”
She knew the instant he was gone. She could feel it inside her. When she heard a crunching of the leaves behind her, she turned to see Nevaeh and a small group of Huntresses walking up. The vampire around her took off at top speed and the Huntresses pursued.
“You need more training before you take on Vincent,” Nevaeh told her.
“Then let’s start my training.”
Chapter Seven
“If you keep leading with your emotions, you’re going to die,” Nevaeh told Karma calmly as she pushed her harder than she’d ever been pushed before. “Shut that shit down and focus.”
“Again,” Karma said, and Nevaeh moved to attack her again. This time Karma focused solely on Nevaeh’s attack and took her down in under a minute.
“Better. If you keep that up, you’ll be fine.”
“Again,” was all Karma said and Nevaeh stepped back into her fighting stance.
“Nevaeh, we got a hit.” Tonya, one on the Huntresses interrupted them. “It’s some of the ones who killed Jenna and Addilyn.”
“Where?” Nevaeh asked, immediately focusing on Tonya.
“About two miles outside of town. It seems they have a house there. Maybe one of them owned it before they were turned.”
“Let’s get a team together. We’re going hunting.”
“I’m in,” Karma told her and grabbed her weapons bag off the floor beside her.
“Then let’s get ready.
****
“There are about twenty inside and four standing guard outside. Karma, you’re the fastest and quietest of us, so I’m leaving the four outside to you. Take them quick and silently, then we will move in together to take care of the ones inside.”
“Got it,” Karma said, and silently moved away from the group. As she approached the first guard, she gripped her favorite weapon, a handmade wooden Sai, tightly and before the vampire knew she was there, she stabbed him through the heart with a clean blow. She lowered his body to the ground and silently moved on to the next one. She dispatched her just as quickly and moved on to the third. She didn’t have a problem until the last guard.
He was a giant of a man before he was turned. He was at least a foot taller than her and outweighed her by more than 100 pounds, and he saw her coming.
“You’re the girl from the woods.”
“I am,” she answered even though he wasn’t asking a question.
“Now you’ll die,” he said calmly.
“I don’t think so,” she answered and shifted her grip on her Sai.
The giant started towards her and she shifted just in time to avoid being punched in the face by a fist larger than her head.
He swung again, and she dodged again, but came up with her Sai and caught him under his left arm. She felt it slip between his ribs and slide home.
“You’ll be the one who dies tonight,” she whispered to him and turned the Sai sharply. When he sunk to the ground, she pulled her Sai out, and wiped the blood on his shirt then slid it back into the holder strapped to her thigh.
After she made sure there were no other guards, she returned to where Nevaeh and the others waited.
“It’s clear,” she told them, and Nevaeh nodded.
“You okay?” She asked, and Karma nodded.
“I’m good. It’s not like I’m killing humans. The humans they once were, are gone.”
Nevaeh nodded and motioned the group forward. They all wanted this over quickly.
“Divide and conquer,” Nevaeh said, and motioned for the group to spread out and surround the house. Once they were in position Nevaeh nodded and Karma kicked down the front door.
The vampire inside started fighting, and Karma pulled her Sai from its sheath. Two vampire charged at her, and she pivoted just as they reached her. She swung around and landed a round-house kick to the throat of one, then popped the other one in the nose with her elbow. She focused
all her training into this fight. When the first one charged again, she used his forward momentum to drive her Sai deep, and pierce his heart. He fell just as the other one grabbed Karma from behind. His fangs brushed against her neck and she felt her own fangs, fangs she’d never used, elongate. She hissed out a warning before she twisted in his grip and sank her fangs deep into his neck. She had never tasted anything other than the blood in her rare steaks and she wasn’t thrilled with this taste as it entered her body.
She reached for the stake in her waist band and drove it into his heart as she released his neck. Before she could react, she was jerked back by her hair and fangs brushed her shoulder. She immediately reacted by smashing the back of her head into the face of the vampire holding her. When he released her, she turned and staked him through the heart.
“That’s seven,” she whispered to herself before she headed into the other room to see what was left. When she walked in and saw a room full of dead vampire, she smiled.
“Well done,” Nevaeh said from behind her. “You took out seven of twenty-six.”
“These were some of the ones who surrounded my house while Vincent killed my family. I didn’t think. I just let my instincts take over.”
“I think this may have been all of them. It seems Vincent hasn’t been around here at all since the other day when you confronted him in the forest. He just left this group of newbies to fend for themselves. It could have been very bad for the town. Now, we need to get the four from outside, in and take care of the mess before anyone notices anything. This place is pretty isolated, but you never know when someone will wander up.”
For the next half hour, the Huntresses stacked the vampire’s bodies, and before they left Nevaeh struck a match and tossed it on the pile. They’d be gone before anyone noticed the flames.
As they loaded into the vans Karma pulled Nevaeh to the side. “I think it’s time I go out on my own. You know I can handle myself, and you know I need to do this alone.”
“You’re ready, Karma, and as long as you follow your instincts, you’ll do great. Just remember, if you get into any trouble, or find yourself in a situation you can’t handle alone, we are just a phone call away.”
Karma's Vengeance (Vampire Huntress Saga Book 1) Page 3