“We’re all going in different cars?” I asked.
Tyrone looked at me like I was joking and he wasn’t in the mood.
“I’m not going to fit on that thing with you and I’m not riding with him.” He pointed to where Ryan was standing.
“Do you have some problem with me?” Ryan asked.
“Your gun makes me nervous,” Tyrone said with no expression at all, and I knew that was not the problem. But you didn’t tell a big vampire with a shotgun that you were discriminating against his species.
Ryan grumbled something and got into the car.
“I’ll ride with him,” I said and put the helmet back on the bike. I walked to the car. Tyrone just watched me. Ryan waited for me to slide into the passenger seat before he started the car with a roar. We definitely weren’t going to do this discreetly.
We drove into town. The streets were quiet, and the later it got, the quieter it got. After a while our cars were the only vehicles on the road. I let Ryan drive all over the place. To Beth’s place and back, around the motel, to the place where I’d been attacked, in front of the police station.
And nothing happened. We waited the whole night, and there was nothing. The threatening note that he’d left me had made me feel like it was inevitable that there was going to be a fight. I’d been waiting for it, high on adrenaline. Ryan had the shotgun on his lap while he drove, barrel pointed toward my feet. We were ready.
And we felt like idiots by the time the sun started coming up and nothing had happened.
“I have to get home,” Ryan said. “The sun is going to come up soon, and if I’m out here that will be the last of me.”
“We can head back,” I said. I didn’t understand it. I felt deflated and drained, like being so charged with adrenaline for so long had taken the energy out of me. Ryan parked the mustang and we got out. The sky was already starting to change, a line of grey bleeding from the horizon into the inky black sky.
A moment later Tyrone pulled up noiselessly next to us. Ryan got out, took my hand and shook it. “I hope you get him. If you’re still hunting by the time night falls again, look me up.” But he sounded tired and as disappointed as I was.
He made for the house and shut the door just before the shutters rolled down.
Tyrone and I watched the metal shutters slide down in their tracks until they clicked home. It was a fortress now.
“So, that was pointless. All it did was waste my fuel,” Tyrone said.
I sighed. “I don’t know what that was all about. But it’s too late now. The vampire can’t survive in daylight, so we’re going to hole up until it's nightfall again, and then try again.”
Tyrone shook his head. “I’m out of this one. I’ve had my fill of vampires. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do any more of that.”
“You weren’t even in the car with us,” I accused. Really, he’d had barely nothing. But he shrugged.
“Fine,” I said. Whatever, it could deal with it by myself. If it came down to it I still had Ryan. It was better than nothing. “I’m going to head to my room. Thanks for all your help. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
He nodded at me, and I had a feeling that this was the last we were going to see of each other. I doubted he would still be coming to me for shooting lessons. It didn’t matter that I could shoot better than any man I knew. It was just the fact that I had fangs and I could heal four times faster than a human being. That I was in touch with the night world and humans all at the same time.
I just didn’t fit in this world. And there were days that I knew it. But I didn’t want to be reminded by a policeman that couldn’t handle the slightest issue. I’d lost a lot of respect for Tyrone in the last two days.
Maybe it was just as well that he wouldn’t be coming to my classes anymore.
I nodded too and got on my bike. When I turned the ignition it purred to life. It was never as loud as at night. Maybe it was because in the day I didn’t care who knew I was there.
I drove to the motel. The sun was peeking over the horizon, touching everything with color, chasing away the shadows of the night. The temperature slowly climbed and I could feel the heat on my back, but the chill of the night was still there and I shivered.
I parked my bike in the parking bay and put the helmet on the handle. My motel door was closed. That was a nice change. It had been open too many times. And I was relaxed and calm. The sun always made me feel safer.
I unlocked the door and stepped into the room. Locking it behind me. The curtains were drawn. I couldn’t remember doing it, but the darkness had just lifted. Inside the room it still felt like it was nighttime.
Maybe it was because I was confident enough in the power of the sunlight to be relaxed. Maybe it was the lack of adrenaline after I’d used up all my reserves. Either way, I wasn’t paying attention. I thought I was home – sort of – and safe, and I didn’t have to worry.
Something smashed into me like a wall and rode my back down to the ground. I heard a hiss at the same time my head hit the floor.
“You didn’t think I was going to take my chances when you had back-up, did you?” a menacing voice said close to my ear. I was willing to bet that it was Lash.
“No, you got me,” I said. It was better to sound bored than scared when someone caught you off guard. Sometimes it threw them off.
It did that for Lash now. He hesitated. I felt him let up just that little bit, but it was enough. I twisted under him and put all my strength into my body, shoving him off. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it got me out from underneath him. I scrambled backward until I hit the wall. Lash was on his feet in the blink of an eye, and he had a gun pointed at me.
I felt the material of the curtains behind me. One yank and he would go up in flames. When I’d teamed up with a couple of people to get Aspen back, Phil had killed a very powerful master vampire that way. It didn’t matter what kind of magic they had, sunlight was a bitch if you were a full-on vampire.
“Away from the curtains,” he said, gesturing with the gun. He’d somehow known what I was thinking. Or maybe he’d just been in a lot more tight situations and had to rely on something else rather than magic. He wasn’t very powerful as far as vampires went.
I could feel him. I didn’t have much to do with the powerful ones, but contact with them once was enough to remember what it felt like. I knew that roil of power when I felt it, and it wasn’t here.
“So, what now?” I asked. Lash smiled.
“You’re not a human,” he said and his voice was condescending. I nodded. There wasn’t really denying it. Vampires always knew.
“I’m a half-breed,” I answered. “I’m immune to silver.”
He laughed and it wasn’t a pleasant laugh. It danced over my skin like there was at least some power, but I was guessing it was more malice than it was magic. We all had our strengths. If he was good at killing, well that was his curse.
But right now, it meant that I was in very real danger. Tyrone was far, far away, probably already making plans to head home. And the only other person that knew about this was locked up in his own house now, hiding from the sun.
“Clever to come hide out here,” I said. I was rambling stalling for time, and a little ego stroking wouldn’t hurt. Lash actually looked proud of himself.
“I was surprised when I noticed you were able to walk in sunlight, but you had to come back at some point or another. For a survivor you’re not very smart.”
What made him think I was survivor, I wondered? But I shrugged and let him have his moment. Hopefully it would be his last, and not mine. I made to get up and he let me, so I pushed myself off the ground and stood. Lash smiled at me, but his eyes were full of promises. And none of them were good. His mouth may have been smiling but his eyes looked like the eyes of a predator. Ready to kill.
He produced a stake. It looked a lot like mine. It was silver, but there was intricate carving around the edge. This stake wasn’t personal to him,
the way mine was. It was a means to an end.
“You’re going to make this look like a human kill?” I asked.
“Makes it harder for them to find me, if they ever bother to look. But the police have been surprisingly cooperative on this one. They haven’t even tried.”
“They thought they had the killer.”
Lash laughed again. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was really amused, of if he was trying to channel his hatred, or anger, or whatever it was that he felt.
“You know you’re making the whole thing that much worse, making them believe humans did it,” I said.
“What whole thing?”
“The vampire law movement. You killed before because you were upset they didn’t want you to walk in freedom among us. You’re just making it look like someone’s still managing.”
“This isn’t going to change anything. Times have changed, the laws have settled and people are agreeing.” He pulled his lips up in a sneer that bared fangs at me, and they were long. Bloodlust, whether it was to eat or to kill, did that to a vampire. My time was running out and I had to come up with a plan. Quick.
“Then why did you do it?” I asked. “Why did you make it look like it was Carl?”
“He’s the last of them. The rest have all died.”
“Died? Or killed?”
Lash shrugged. “I know he kills vampires. I’ve been tracking him for years. He just got what he deserved.”
I couldn’t argue with that, and the thought left me feeling cold. Carl had killed vampires because vampires had killed his mom, maybe even both his birthparents. The fact that vampires had also raised him hadn’t been enough.
Lash was killing humans for roughly the same concept. It was ironic and really sad, all at the same time.
“So, now it’s your turn,” Lash said, and I knew my time had run out. “It’s a pity you had to stick your nose into this business. If you just left it you would have been fine. I have nothing against you, even if you are an abomination.”
That got my back up. Lash moved and suddenly he was in front of me, with the stake pressed against my ribs. I gasped. The tip wasn’t sharp, it was slightly rounded, but it would do the damage all the same. I’d been at the other end of a gun a couple of times. I hated it but it didn’t catch me off guard. The feeling didn’t get me tripped up.
I’d never been at the other end of a stake. And it was terrified. My body started humming, that untethered feeling that came with the onset of dematerializing, and suddenly I knew how every vampire had felt before I’d killed them. A black mist filled the room. I hadn’t known I had that in me, to have self-defense reactions like a full-on vampire. But there it was. The fact that my body knew I was going to die.
A cuff slapped my wrist and closed. Lash held the other cuff. I looked up at him and smiled. Metal. I couldn’t dematerialize. Shit.
I suddenly started squirming. I was scared. This was the end. I was going to die, and I was going to die the same way I had killed so many times. Karma really was a bitch.
The door suddenly slammed open, the lock splintered and sunlight streamed into the room. Lash screamed and fell to the ground. His skin erupted in red marks, burns appearing. Tyrone barreled through the door, gun up and ready to fire.
“Don’t shoot!” I cried out. I shoulder Lash, used all my strength and pushed him into the bathroom. I had the cuff around my hand but I locked the other one around Lash’s wrist so he couldn’t get away.
“What the hell are you doing in there?” Tyrone called through the door.
“There are no windows here. We need him alive. He won’t get away, but you better call someone.”
“Who the hell must I call?”
“Call the Westham offices, they’ll tell you what to do,” I said. I heard Tyrone on the phone a moment later. Lash lay on the floor, coughing and gasping for air. He had third degree burns over most of his body. It had to hurt, but I had little sympathy. He wasn’t going to try kill me, not like that, and he couldn’t get away. That was all that mattered.
We’d gotten him. And Tyrone – vampire hater – had saved me.
Chapter 7
It was good to be back in Westham. I didn’t want to leave home again. I was great being in Connor’s arms again, being with someone that accepted me for who I was. And I liked going to a job every day that didn’t involve the drama of killing. It was hard to believe it was something I used to do for a living. People changed all the time. Apparently vampires did too.
Westham PD had briefed Tyrone on what to do. I’d sat in that bathroom cuffed to Lash for almost two hours. His wounds had started to heal and I’d been worried he would try get me after all. But then a police van had arrived, metal plated, and they’d moved him into it in a body bag. I didn’t know they knew how to extract vampires even in broad daylight.
Lash hadn’t confessed, but with my story and Carl’s parents’ report on what they knew about Lash it was enough to hold him for murder and open an investigation. Mr. Donald had been fired, useless as he was, and a huge law firm had taken on the case to try and make another move on the vampire laws. I hadn’t been following the news.
Carl was back home, or whatever Westham was to him.
“You know you can’t be jerk to me now, right?” I said to him. We were all at Aspen’s house and it felt like home. It was right. I was where I belonged.
“Why not?” Carl asked.
“Well, besides keeping your ass out of jail, I know you were dating a vampire. You reek of vampires, man.”
Carl rolled his eyes. “I can still dislike you for personal reasons,” he said, but it was an empty threat, and he smiled at me.
Because it didn’t matter what our pasts was, how much we used to hate each other, I’d been the person he’d asked to come help him when he was stuck. And I’d asked him once too. Maybe we hated each other because we were so the same. And out of all the people in the room, he was the one I trusted with my life.
BOOK 4
VAMPIRE’S SHADE 4
Chapter 1
It wasn’t until I’d left that I’d realized how much I liked Westham. Coming home wasn’t bittersweet as I’d thought it would be, with my history here. It was just sweet. Being away from home, even if it was just for a couple of days, had been something I didn’t just want to do again if I could help it.
There was a time when I thought that I hated it here, that I just wanted to leave but I couldn’t because Aspen was holding me back. But after a visit to Fort Atkinson, a small town that wasn’t as vampire friendly as some other places, I liked Westham just fine.
Fort Atkinson had been backward, the kind of place that felt like it held onto grudges. If you were a vampire, or a vampire-killer like me, that wasn’t the kind of place you wanted to be. But Carl had needed me, so I’d gone. That was what friends did. And I hoped that when the time came, that was what he would do for me, too.
I was only away from home for a couple of days, but so much had happened that it had felt like months. I’d nearly died at the hands of a vampire, killed in the way I used to kill. I’d made friends and enemies in the same people, and I’d realized that no matter how strong some people looked, everyone had a soft spot.
Like the fact that Carl had dated a vampire girl, even though he’d been killing them just like I had not too long ago.
And that his past was riddled with vampires a lot more than mine had ever been.
I picked up my job as a shooting and self-defense instructor that same week. I had all my students back and classes carried on as per normal.
One student that didn’t come back was Tyrone. He was a police officer that had come for extra training. He hadn’t known I was part vampire until we’d been in trouble together, and he wasn’t pro-vampire. Maybe he was pro-Adele now, seeing that he’d saved my life and we left on good terms, but he wasn’t going to come back to the academy.
I tried not to mind, but it still got to me now and then that I couldn’t just be myself w
ithout hiding part of me. There was always a mask to put on, a face to show other people that wasn’t the full story. When I was with students out in daylight I had to be a human. When I was with Connor and Aspen, I had to be vampire. Sometimes it was tiring. Since coming back from Fort Atkinson I was feeling it more and more.
I used to be a vampire hunter. Ironic, considering that I was half a vampire, but revenge will do a lot of stupid things to you. I’ve left that life behind more than a year ago, I’ve managed to fall into a routine that resembled something normal – as normal as my life was going to get. But I still had nightmares about the days when I took a life without thinking about it twice.
I’d never seen vampires as people. If anything, I saw them as heartless murderers. My father had been one, and since he was a vampire, that had to be true for them all.
It wasn’t until I met Connor that I started feeling differently about vampires, and started embracing that side of myself. Now, everything that I’d done in the past haunted me so much more than it had then. I woke up with nightmares, pouring sweat and breathing hard, and because my life was in the day and Connor’s was at night, we never really slept in the same bed at the same time. That meant that if I woke up trembling with guilt, scared that my past was going to catch up with me, there was no one to hold me and tell me things were going to be okay.
Lately I’ve been thinking about a particular kill a lot. When I closed my eyes his face was all I saw. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, about how unfair it all was. When I was in Fort Atkinson a short while ago to take care of Carl’s problems, I’d been on the other side of a vampire kill and I’d early died. The vampire that had been after me had wrapped manacles around my wrists, much like the chain I used to use, and I hadn’t been able to dematerialize to save myself.
I’d felt what it really was like to be cornered and to look death in the face. If it hadn’t been for Tyrone, bursting in at the last moment to save me, I’d have walked the same road I had forced so many others to walk.
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