With a forlorn look, Gunnar walked away from the door. Lungs burning from the brisk air, I made it to our destination—the supply warehouses—with a minute to spare.
“Check for the keys,” I said in a low whisper as we approached the convoy.
Gunnar disappeared in a flash. Seconds later, he returned, his shirt covered in blood. Keys dangled in the wind.
“More efficient,” he said.
I grabbed the ring and headed toward the nearest truck. The key didn’t glow, which meant it wasn’t the right one. I sprinted down the row, striking gold with the fourth one in.
“Gunnar?”
No response came. My biometric band buzzed, indicating the dampeners were coming back online. Soon the insurrection would be put down, leaving us without cover. Anything that couldn’t fly likely wouldn’t make it out of the gates.
We were going to beat those odds.
But only if we got the hell out now.
I jammed the keys in my pocket and put both hands on my .45.
“Gunnar.”
“How interesting.” A voice behind me, cool and unnerving, called through the night. I whipped around, ready to fire.
A man in military fatigues held a knife to Gunnar’s neck.
“Let him go.”
“I must file a report on this,” he said, curiosity tinging his lethal tone. “Truly extraordinary.”
“You need to let him go.” I realized he couldn’t see my gun with the invisibility still in effect. “I’ve got a .45 aimed straight at your damn head.”
“Shoot the fucker,” Gunnar said.
“Gunnar has always been a troublesome subject.” The man held his ground, unfazed by the invisible pistol. “Insubordination. Illegal smuggling. Attempted escapes. We’d have put him down long ago were it not for his age. The research has been invaluable.”
I saw fear glint at the edges of Gunnar’s ice-blue eyes. A Pavlovian response to past trauma. I didn’t know what they did in these camps. I only knew that they were growing in number as the country fragmented.
The transition to a post-supernatural world had not been smooth.
But I’d seen worse.
Prevented worse.
“You have one more chance.”
“Do you know the best way to break a vampire? You chip off his fangs, little by little. Sand them down over months, years even. Drip tiny molecules of silver alloy into their blood replacement in the mess hall.” The man smiled. “Perhaps there is no best way. All of them are absolutely delightful.”
I pulled the trigger, suddenly not caring if I missed. The man’s shaved head burst open and Gunnar stumbled forward, shivering.
“Come on,” I said, running toward the truck.
He stood there, staring at the dead man.
“We don’t have time for this shit.”
“Jones,” he said.
So much for happy reunions.
*
Sierra Nevada Mountains, 2032
Gunnar still shook in his sleep. But an essence drip was enough to nurse him back to health. He wouldn’t be rebuilding Lux any time soon, but that said more about the uneasy state of the world than his sanity.
At least Argos got his revenge. After years of taking shit from Gunnar, the dog would occasionally sneak up behind the vampire and bark. Gunnar would about shit his pants.
I scratched my beard, looking at my reflection in the chrome bowl.
“It’s not that gray.” Nadia wrapped her dark hair into a ponytail as she searched through the solar-powered refrigerator. If you were as essence heavy as us, you couldn’t just stroll through town.
“I was thinking about something else.” A total lie.
“I can fix that.”
“Last time someone promised me that, I woke up without any of my powers.”
She smiled, pouring way too much creamer into her coffee. “So what’s up for today?”
I thumbed through the touchscreen projected on the counter surface. “I don’t know.”
“You and uncertainty.” Nadia scowled and shook her head.
“That’s all we have these days.”
“I’m certain of one thing,” Nadia said. She slunk over and whispered in my ear, lips touching my skin. “Today’s going to be a good day.”
“And why’s that?”
“You’ll find out,” she said in that mischevious way women do, light trailing behind her as she stepped out of the mountain house and into the garden below. Argos raced up beside her, wagging his plumy tail, eager for what the day held.
A faint crack of a smile came over my lips.
After years of wandering, we had survived.
And we had a place to call home. Away from the carnage, away from the random stops and scans and the supernatural slums, away from anyone who would lock us up for our supposed crimes.
It wasn’t perfect.
But it was a seed.
And, when you water a seed long enough, something wondrous springs forth from the ashes.
A new world, better than the old.
Hopefully my beard wouldn’t get any grayer, though.
Because I wanted to look good when they finally gave me a medal for saving the world’s ass.
Again.
END OF BOOK 3
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The Half-Demon Rogue Trilogy
Demon Rogue (Book 1): Kalos Aeon must track down who’s kidnapping supernatural creatures and using their blood to create a dangerous hallucinogenic blood drug.
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Blood Frost (Book 2): Kalos Aeon takes a case pitting him against a cannibalistic beast and a mysterious Blood Frost threatening to bury Inonda in ice.
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Moon Burn (Book 3): a group of day walking vampires led by a maniacal servant of Marrack threaten to kill Kalos and destroy Inonda.
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The Ruby Callaway Series
Lightning Blade (Book 1)
Shadow Flare (Book 2)
Blood River (Book 3)
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Moon Burn (The Half-Demon Rogue Trilogy Book 3) Page 27