Vampire's Shade Discounted Box Set

by Vivienne Neas

  I knocked on the first door on the ground floor, a white door that looked used and lacked cobwebs, unlike the others. Two seconds later the door opened.

  A man stood in front of me with long hair that hung in greasy strings around his face. He was clean shaven but he had a slimy quality about him. His shirt had grease stains all the way down the front, wrapping around a body that he obviously maintained with fast foods, and his eyes were a watered down grey.

  “Carlos Sanchez?” I asked and he nodded. “I’m Adele Griffin.”

  “Come on in,” he said, opening the door wider. The inside of his apartment was a staggering contrast to the horrible neighborhood and the exterior of the rest of the building. He had plush grey carpets and salmon colored walls, with high tech equipment on a desk in the corner and a wide screen television against the wall. It looked and smelled like it was all cleaned half an hour ago.

  “Do you want coffee?” he asked, walking into the kitchen.

  “I’m okay,” I said. I wasn’t sure what to expect in the cup. Better not to expect anything. He came out with one cup of coffee with the steam curling out of it, the aroma wrapping around the room and reminding me suddenly of home – when I was little and Aspen and I would watch my dad make breakfast-in-bed for my mom. The reminder was so strong I felt like I was shoved backward.

  “What do you have for me?” he said, nodding to the laptop under my arm and yanking me back to the presence.

  I handed it over to him. “I think it’s been in a fire. I just need to know why someone wanted to save it. I think there’s something on there that might be important.”

  He looked at it, lifting his eyebrows.

  “Well, if we get something out of it we’ll be lucky, but I can have a look,” he said. We moved to his desk in the corner and he sat down. I perched on the edge of the armchair nearby.

  He unscrewed it and pulled out the insides. He found a green plate-like thing and turned it over in his hands like it could break under his gaze.

  “Well, this survived a lot better than expected,” he said. “Let’s have a look.”

  He hooked it up to a silver box with wires and his fingers flew over his keyboard the same Joel’s usually did. I wondered if they were all the same, how they got into this line of work, what made then stray away from the daily grind where none of them would have to worry about being kidnapped or burned to death.

  It took him a while, but after ten minutes he swiveled his chair to face me.

  “Okay, so it looks like the standard stuff for the most part. Nothing I’d say I would be killed over if it were me. But there is one thing here…”

  I leaned forward. “What is it?”

  “A tracking system. It’s been installed two days ago on this laptop.”

  “What is it tracking?”

  “It’s not tracking anymore, but I can tell you where it was pointing the last time it worked.”

  He squinted at the screen, and read me the address. It was Aspen’s house.

  Relief spread through my body like warm liquid and I slipped down to the seat of the armchair. “Thank god,” I said out loud. “He was watching her after all.”

  “Someone you know?” he asked. I nodded and he carried on. “Yes, someone close, I gather. People don’t watch over those they don’t care about. Well, there’s something you should know.”

  I looked up at him.

  “I know this system, because I installed a very similar one a day ago for someone.”

  “Okay…” I didn’t feel like a tech heart to heart. I wanted to interrupt, but he kept talking.

  “The address for it was the same one.”

  It took me two seconds to register what he was saying before my body went cold. Blood drained from my face and I felt like I had to put my head between my knees if I didn’t want to faint.

  “It’s them, isn’t it?” I whispered.

  “If by them you mean—“

  “Master vampires,” I finished for him. He nodded grimly.

  “They want to kill her.”

  “They didn’t look like the kind that were doing it for fun,” he agreed.

  “They won’t find her though. She’s not at that address anymore.” It was a small consolation, but right now it meant the difference between life and death for her. “Why did you do it for them? If you knew they didn’t look like they had good intentions?”

  Carlos swiveled to face me dead on.

  “They offered me more money than I make in a year. I have standards… but for that kind of money?” He shrugged. “What I can do for you, though, and I’ll throw this one in free of charge, is look up the tracker location.”

  I frowned. “On their system? You can do that?” I asked.

  “Well I installed it, didn’t I? I can hack in and check the system. I set up the firewalls in the first place.”

  He typed in a couple of commands, and a moment later a screen popped up. It had a map of the town and a round loading icon.

  “It should give me the address,” he said. “Just give me a min—ah hah. Here we are.”

  He looked at the map with a red blinking dot on it. I got up and leaned in closer. The dot blinked steadily in one spot, it wasn’t moving. But it wasn’t at Aspen’s house either. It was at the safe house.

  “This is right?” I asked. Carlos looked at me indignantly.

  “I wouldn’t charge this much if—“

  “Just tell me if it’s right, dammit!” I yelled. His face became stony but he nodded.

  I spun and ran out the door.

  “You owe me money!” he shouted after me.

  “I’ll pay you later,” I answered, running through the dusty lobby and out into the sunlight where I’d parked my bike.

  Chapter 15

  There were times when I’d felt Westham was too small for me. Too small for my bike. Too small for my life. I wanted a place that was bigger, that I could get lost in, with so many faces that I no one would end up knowing me anymore.

  And then there were days like today, when it felt like forever to navigate the streets of the small town. I opened my bike full throttle where I could, but it felt like I was moving in slow motion. I could hear my own pulse thundering in my ears, felt it in the tips of my fingers where they curled around the throttle.

  I still heard the cackling laugh of Celia the Werecat dancing around me in Joel’s pit. I tried to breathe, forced myself to take a deep breath, and another, and another. But my chest was tight and my body did nothing with the oxygen.

  I skidded to a halt outside my childhood home. It was like a horror movie. The oak tree to the side of the drive way had grown since I’d last seen it. Leaves were scattered on the grass even though it had been cut recently. The low roof over the porch looked like it was drawing over the house, forcing it to squat down on itself.

  I wondered if it was because of my panic now that this place looked like it was suffocating, or if it had always been like that and as a child I just hadn’t noticed.

  Claude’s car stood in the driveway to the side of the house. It was unlocked. I opened the door expecting the worse, but there was nothing. No blood, no sign of struggle. No Aspen. I ran my hand under the cover under the steering wheel in the foot well. I checked under the passenger seat. There was nothing there, no tracker I could find, and I didn’t have the time to keep looking. It didn’t matter. The tracker said they had to be here.

  I ran up to the front door and tried the handle. The door was locked. I rattled it, yelling for Aspen. Great approach when expecting master vampires. In my distress I was getting careless, but there was a point for every person where action replaced logic. When there was no response I ran around the back and hopped the low gate. The concrete in the backyard was cracked with weeds growing from it, and the grass was wheat beige even though it shouldn’t have been. I pressed my face against a window, cupping it with my hands so I could see into the kitchen.

  Everything inside was undisturbed. The table in the corner with
four seats looked ready for someone’s next meal. The stove was spotless, besides the pointers of time that had passed. The microwave and the fridge missed their indicator lights showing that there was power.

  A thin veil of dust lay over everything like blanket. No one had been inside.

  “Aspen!” I called out. My voice felt empty as it reached only a few feet ahead of me before it disappeared. I shivered, feeling cold despite my leathers.

  I ran to my bike, but halfway I slowed down. I had bitten her. Her blood was in my system. I was being stupid running around like a headless chicken. I stepped to the side and sat down on the grass under the oak tree. The leaves crackled under my weight. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and turned my focus inside.

  I’d never done this before, I’d only heard about it from my parents. But I knew it was possible, my vampire side allowed it. I focused on my heart, slowing it down. I evened out my breathing, inhaling slowly, taking twice as long on the exhale.

  The amount of blood that had been on my lips had only been a few drops. Barely anything at all. But dimly something inside me lurked, and I could feel her. She was alive.

  Something inside me jumped at the knowledge. There was still time.

  I focused on the faint pulse that came from her, beating in its own rhythm. I felt her emotions, dim and distant, like I was looking through fog, but it was there. She was panicked and scared, and her body was sore from being man-handled. But she was alive and she wasn’t hurt.

  I tried to find her. Her blood should have called out to me and told me where she was. But something blocked that quality. It was like a metal wall fell into place, and I lost the dim trail I’d picked up. Someone was hiding her, and knew how to do it on a different level. I got up, frustrated. My panic flared up again, my heart starting its wild race all over again. I ran to my bike, back into full-on panic mode.

  My phone chirped in my pocket and I pulled it out. The message was from Sensei. I was late for our class. I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up on the fourth ring.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t keep track of the time,” I said when he answered. “I’m going to have to take a rain check today. Something’s come up. I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

  I wanted to hang up but Sensei’s voice stopped me.

  “I have an opening for you at two,” he said. He never had openings in the afternoon, he had school runs where he taught kids self-defense for some anti-bully motion.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m going to be able—“

  “Even if it is just for ten minutes. I just want to chat.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but I didn’t say anything for a moment. He wanted to talk? About what? I shook my head more to myself than to him.

  “I’m sorry. It’s really a wild day. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said.

  “Be careful, Adele. I worry about you.”

  I hung up before he could say anything else. He didn’t know what my life was like. There were so many people that said ‘be careful’ but they didn’t understand that I was way past that.

  I was murderous.

  I made it to Aspen’s house in under five minutes. I was sure I’d broken every traffic rule in the book. I kicked out the bike stand and nearly dropped the whole thing to the floor before I balanced it and ran up the steps. The front door was ajar. I pushed it open carefully, and stepped inside the house.

  There was sign of struggle here. End tables were on their sides, a potted plant lay on the floor with dirt scattered across the carpet. Broken pieces of glass that used to be coffee cups lay scattered toward the kitchen. When I stepped onto the tiles the smell hit me before I saw it.

  Death had a smell. Rotten, a little sour, like it was something off, even though the body hadn’t begun decomposing yet. And the fear often hung in the air around it, still. It took a while before it disappeared. It laced everything in the air now, and I felt nauseous before I saw her.

  Zelda lay face down on the kitchen tiles, her eyes vacantly staring at the pool of dark blood that swelled around her head. The tips of her hair that had escaped from her neat bun were a wine color, stained by it. Her right arm was stretched up, like she’d been reaching for something. One blind was open, which they never were in daylight, letting the harsh sunlight in to reveal everything’s true colors.

  From the looks of it Zelda had run to open the blinds and only made it to one of them. If that had been the case it had been for sunlight, which meant the masters had been here. In daylight. I kneeled next to her and examined her without touching her. The blood came from a hole in her neck where her throat should have been. It was a mangled, bloody mess now. She’d been bitten and her throat ripped out to stop her. From the looks of things they hadn’t taken her blood, or at least not a lot of it.

  “Dear woman,” I said softly. Zelda had been hard and strict, but I’d known her for a long time and she’d been good to Aspen.

  I took a deep breath and tried to calm the nerves that were tangling me up inside. I had to keep my head about me. I couldn’t afford to lose it now. The amount I was panicking was already dangerous.

  I doubted they’d killed Aspen. They still needed me to take out Connor. If they’d already gotten to him Aspen would have been here too, dead next to Zelda. And Claude’s car wouldn’t have been at the safe house. No, I believed Aspen was still alive. I needed to believe it. They were using her for motivation, because they knew that if she died I would give up. I had to find her.

  I stood up and systematically combed through the rest of the house, but nothing was out of place. The struggle had taken place between the front door and the kitchen, and it had happened quickly and without wasting a lot of time.

  When I stepped out into the sunlight again it felt foreign, like the whole world was suddenly a place I didn’t know. I took a deep breath through my nose and blew it out again through my mouth. The sun was high in the sky. It was rolling on towards noon and I still hadn’t eaten. I felt empty and hollow, but food couldn’t fill this kind of hole in my soul.

  My phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out and pushed ‘talk’.

  “You better get into the office,” Carl’s voice came loud and clear through the speaker.

  “Just because I turned to you for help doesn’t mean we’re friends, Carl,” I sneered. I didn’t feel like his games. I already felt like I owed him one, and I didn’t like owing people.

  “Thanks for the sentiment, but don’t flatter yourself,” he said sarcastically. “But this is actually important. Get here. I’m guessing you can make more of this than I can, seeing that Ruben actually tells you things once in a while.”

  I frowned but agreed.

  “I’ll be there in ten. I have nothing better to do with my time.” I hung up. I’d meant that last bit sarcastically, but I realized suddenly it was true. I had nothing. No lead on Joel, a locked-down lead on Aspen, a cancelled appointment with Sensei, a dead care taker and a missing driver.

  Nope, I could still fit more on my plate. My bike roared into the quiet Monday morning.

  The office was quiet, which was strange. Ruben ran a normal accounting firm in the day which meant there had to be cars outside. There weren’t. All the lights in the lobby were off, and everything had an eerie feel to it despite the sunlight that filtered in through the windows. The day receptionist’s desk was empty.

  “Carl?” I called into the quiet building. He appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked like he’d aged since I’d last seen him. His face was sagging, dark rings under his eyes and the blue irises were darker, like the ocean instead of like ice.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, climbing the stairs to him. “Where is everybody?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered and for once he didn’t sound belittling or mocking or sarcastic. That in itself was more alarming than anything else.

  “Sony paged me and I came here—“

  “You still use a pager?” I asked him. He rolled his eyes.


  “Focus, Adele,” he snapped. “Sonya paged me, which isn’t that weird – she works funny hours for a vampire – but when I got here the whole place was quiet, like this. I hadn’t been able to come in right away so I didn’t know if this had happened before or after… So I phoned you because you know more about this place than I do.”

  “Aren’t you in Ruben’s back pocket?” I asked. I’d always gotten the idea Carl was the favorite. But he shook his head.

  “Honestly? I think he was just doing me a favor by taking me on. I have skills, sure. But what can I do? I’m just a human.”

  “Very humbling words, Carl,” I said. “I always thought you were a bit of an ass—“

  We’d stopped at the doors that led to Sonya’s office, and what I saw cut me short. The place was a mess. The desk was upside down, a cabinet lay face down and papers were scattered all over the place. There was blood on the carpet. When I looked up the light bulbs in all the lamps that hung from the ceiling were broken.

  “What the hell happened here?” I asked.

  “That’s what I was hoping you would tell me,” Carl said, not sounding in the least offended that I was about to call him an asshole. In fact, he sounded worn. When I looked at him he looked like he was dead on his feet.

  I walked through the office, looking around. Someone had been looking for something, from what I could gather, but it was such a mess it would take days, and Sonya, to know what had gone missing. I pushed against the door to Ruben’s office.

  “Don’t go in there,” Carl said. I looked over my shoulder at him and he was white as a ghost. I frowned but pushed into the office anyway. I didn’t really follow orders very well.

  Something leaned against the door and I had to shove to get it wide enough for me to get in there. When I managed to slip through, the door closed again, and I was trapped in the office.

  There was blood everywhere, on the walls, on the carpet, papers stained. And the office was in the same mess the other one had been. The furniture was all overturned and cabinets had drawers pulled out of them with papers spilling out like secrets. When I turned to see what had stopped the door from opening, I gagged.