Master of the City (A Kate Brokenshire Zombie Slayer Adventure Book 3)

by Garth Ono

"Did I?" she said, not sure. Maybe she kissed back. It's hard not to when being kissed that passionately. "It wasn't totally bad, I guess."

  Sebastian released her and stepped back. He was almost out of her personal space. She rubbed her lips together, watching him like a hawk.

  "Think about it, Kate. You can earn $30,000 just for doing what you do best," Sebastian said.

  She shook her head. "I'm not an assassin. You can't hire me to kill your rival."

  He dismissed her with a wave. Clarence turned her around. He fast-walked her out through the front door. The sack was put over her head again, and Kate was lifted up and placed back inside the minivan. At least they didn't gag her. And she kept her mouth shut for fear her handler would put the gag back in.

  They had to have driven around for thirty minutes, turning left and right so many times there was no way she could retrace their route. Finally, they stopped and dragged her out. Kate tensed. This was where in movies the henchmen kicked the hero's butt as a warning.

  The sack was pulled off, while Clarence removed the handcuffs. No one said a thing. They released her, pressed her keys into her hand, and sped away. Kate found herself in the zoo parking lot, just up the road from her hotel. Her Defender was parked ten feet in front of her.

  "That was not fun," Kate said, and then opened the back to do an inventory. "Jerks."

  Nothing was missing, but they'd tossed the three severed heads in back. Left them loose to roll around and make a god-awful mess. It was literally a bloody mess.

  Kate got on her phone and sent Morgan an e-mail. She asked her assistant to find out everything she could about the St. Louis vampire population and the Goth subculture as it relates to vampires in the city and Masters of the City. There was more going on than the city officials knew. None of it good, and now it was threatening to bite her in the butt.

  Chapter 12

  Most of the houses on the street were abandoned by their owners. There was a look to them all. They were all what was popularly called McMansion or mini-mansion. Before the Great Curse struck they were the homes of doctors, lawyers, and other successful professionals. Simon claimed a five thousand square foot monstrosity in the middle of the block.

  There were a dozen cars in the circular drive and on the street out front. Daphne, Brody, and Carl walked toward it.

  "You could've called and someone would have picked us up," Brody complained.

  "I needed to think," she said.

  Brody and Carl were still alive, so the five mile walk bothered them more than her. Being undead meant not getting tired. It also allowed her to walk five miles on concrete in five and a half inch heels without pain. She'd be crippled and being carried by then if she was still alive. On the negative side, after that long walk she was famished.

  Two giant black men guarded the front door. They looked like brothers, but were actually first cousins. Both men were broad-shouldered, with muscular bodies and shaved heads. Simon found them working as bouncers at a club in town. They were the only two men he took as minions, just so they could protect him. All of his other minions were beautiful young women.

  Jayden and Sean watched their approach with angry expressions. Daphne shook her head. Was she the only person who actually enjoyed her time as a minion? She didn't like following all of her master's orders, but the vamp took her virginity and made her feel so alive. There was a certain thrill knowing he had absolute power over her. It just made her so damned horny.

  And she'd been supernaturally horny ever since.

  "Where's my Yukon?" Jayden asked.

  She didn't know what he was talking about. Yukon was a place, not a thing. Daphne wasn't even sure where Yukon was, just that it was in Canada. Then Carl answered and she figured it out.

  "Crashed and trashed," Carl said with a grin. "But the other car looks worse."

  Now she knew which one of Simon's minions owned the SUV. Jayden was glaring daggers at Carl. Guys really love their cars, so she understood his anger at an intellectual level. Though really, it was just a car.

  "And then we killed all of the other car's passengers just for giggles and grins," Brody said. "Why do you ask?"

  Daphne cringed. Those four guys were constantly trying to get each other pissed. She thought they should be happy, since they had their pick of Simon's minions.

  "It wasn't our fault, Jay," Daphne said. "The other car hit us."

  He didn't look convinced, but she wasn't in a mood to deal with it. It was Simon's problem. She thought he was much too free with his minions' personal property. He considered anything they own his property.

  "Is Simon in?"

  "Yes," Sean said. "He's inside playing with his herd."

  Daphne scrunched her nose. That was no surprise. Simon spent way too much time and effort into banging his minions. A minion whose sole purpose was to provide blood for a drac was called a blood cow. Simon had twenty-eight blood cows in his "herd." To her chagrin every last one of them was a gorgeous young woman. And he liked to play with them. A lot.

  Sometimes Daphne worried that she made a mistake hooking up with him. When she arrived in St. Louis the young beauty caused quite a stir in the vampire community. All of the male vampires wanted her. Hell, there was only one other female vamp, Indigo, and she wanted Daphne, too. She chose Simon simply because she already knew him, though barely.

  She left the men to taunt and threaten each other. They seemed to enjoy it. Entering the house, she headed for the living room, or what Simon called his Great Room. It was a big room, but she didn't think it was great.

  All of his hot little minions were in there. All they did was sit around in gorgeous designer clothes, primp, gossip, and wait their turn in Simon's arms. He called them his blood herd, but Daphne thought of them as his harem.

  Simon was sitting in the middle of the couch, naked, legs spread wide, and a hot blonde kneeling on the floor in front of him. She recognized the blonde as his favorite – Brandy Banks. She was all of nineteen, and was a college student and part time Hooter's Girl when he caught and bit her. Her head was in his lap, bobbing up and down.

  Daphne's hands curled into fists as she marched towards them.

  To his left on the couch knelt another hot, naked blonde. Selene Astor was a local model and commercial actress. While the beautiful naked blonde to his right was Taylor Walters. Simon snatched up Taylor right after her wedding, while she was still in her wedding gown. It was only the newlywed's third day as his minion.

  "Simon, we have to talk," Daphne said through clenched teeth.

  Brandy was purposely trying to piss her off by loudly slurping as she sucked cock. The blonde knew Daphne was Simon's absolute favorite, and was trying really hard to usurp Daphne's place in Simon's bed.

  "He'll be with you once I'm finished," Brandy sneered.

  Simon grinned at her. Daphne tried to contain her jealousy, afraid Simon wouldn't approve. But that woman, and his willingness to let Brandy humiliate her, was too much to handle.

  "You're finished," Daphne snarled.

  She grabbed Brandy's long blonde hair, yanked her head straight back to expose her throat, and sank her fangs in. As her fangs penetrated Brandy's silky smooth skin, her perfume filled Daphne's senses. The blonde cried out, but froze. Hot, delicious blood started pumping into the vampire's mouth. Daphne sucked, reveling in the heady taste of hot blood. It felt divine, and always did. Blood did more than sate her unholy hunger, it invigorated her.

  "Not too much," Simon said, sounding worried. "Daphne! Don't kill her!"

  Daphne sucked harder. Brandy's blood pumped in pulses into her eager mouth, but the flow began to lessen. She was almost drained. Almost….

  "Uuugggggh," Brandy groaned out her last breath.

  "Oops," Daphne said, releasing the dead blonde and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "My bad. So sorry."

  Simon glared at her. Selene and Taylor looked shocked. Daphne grinned.

  Brandy sat up. "Wow! Am I a vampire now?"

&
nbsp; Daphne froze. Of course she was a vampire.

  What was I thinking!

  The one thing she had over Brandy that Simon loved was that she was also a vampire. Now she just lost that advantage.

  "Well done," Simon said. He took a deep breath, despite only needing to breathe to speak. "You're free to leave, Brandy, but I'd like for you to stay."

  "You'll teach me how to be a drac?"

  "It'll be my pleasure," he said, while staring at Daphne. She groaned. "Daphne, you made her a vamp. Mentor her."

  "But…"

  "Where's Kate?" Simon asked, looking around. "I commanded you to bring her to me. I don't see her. Is she outside?"

  "Kate was snatched up by three cars full of Goths," she said. "We tried to follow, but one of the other cars smashed into us."

  "So you failed?"

  Daphne glanced at Selene and Taylor, who returned her gaze coolly. Then she looked down at Brandy, who was smirking. That girl always smirked at her. Very aggravating.

  "I failed."

  "I'm going to help you," Simon said. "Tonight, we'll open more breaches down in Mehlville. Kate will answer the call to slay them. You will be waiting for her. If you fail me again, I'll send Brandy, Sean, and Jayden after the slayer. They might not be so gentle with your friend."

  Chapter 13

  The next morning, Kate grabbed breakfast and left before the morning briefing. She didn't find the previous day's briefing all that helpful. Besides, the police gave her an app that they sent out all zombie alerts. Slayers and cops were alerted when a horde was spotted within the perimeter. Otherwise, she already knew the areas most of the rotters were located.

  The previous day felt like a bust for collecting heads due to Goth politics, even though she cashed in an amazing number of heads when it was all said and done. Twenty-five zombie kills in two days was nothing to complain about. That was $2500, almost a normal month's income, for just a few hours work. And that was on top of the $1000 show up bonus.

  "Speaking of money," she muttered.

  Sebastian's offer was tempting. That was a lot of money, but going after Mordred was suicidal. Besides, she wasn't a hundred percent sure he was a drac. The thing with his Ladies was pretty freaky, though not a power that vamps were known to possess. It might've been theatrics and staged for her. And Mordred's security was scary.

  "Thirty thousand is what I estimated my annual bounty income would be," she said.

  Kate knew of three two-bedroom cottages for sale in Tennyson for less than that, though they were fixer uppers. The thought of buying a house outright had its appeal. Also, it would be nice to have such a substantial nest egg for rainy days.

  "But if I can find Daphne, and she agrees," Kate muttered as she headed toward Gateway Arch. Her destination was right next to that national landmark. "I might be able to solve this zombie problem and get home early."

  There was a lot more traffic near downtown St. Louis than expected. She'd gotten used to an almost ghost town feel to the city. But a lot of the wealthier downtown workers had already moved across the river to East St. Louis. Fortunately, Kate was going in the opposite direction as rush hour traffic, heading toward the river. Her destination was Busch Stadium.

  "This isn't as big as I remembered," she said, driving around it. "Of course, I was much smaller back then."

  Her late grandfather took her to a baseball game at Busch Stadium when she was eight. It was the only professional sporting event she'd ever attended in America and inspired her to play softball in school. The stadium was still being used, but there was talk of building a new stadium across the river.

  Kate drove around the stadium, looking for cars parked outside of an entrance. She saw no sign of life, so wasn't able to gain entry. So that effort proved to be a bust. Still, she couldn't imagine it being a bad idea. Now she just needed a willing vampire.

  Her phone beeped. Kate checked it. Zombie Alert: Mehlville.

  She knew Mehlville as a suburb south of St. Louis, though she thought it was just outside the perimeter. After checking her map, she saw that Mehlville was indeed located at the southernmost point of the protected area and bisected by the interstate, with half inside the perimeter defenses. So she took I-55 south.

  There were far more vehicles on that highway than she anticipated, in both directions. Parts of it came close to and paralleled the Mississippi River. Kate checked the app, and the map that came with the alert. It showed exactly where the breach in the fence was found, and places where concentrations of zombies were reported.

  "Is that Rocco and Axl?" she whispered, noticing their pickup ahead of her. "We're on the same highway to hell."

  That made her think of rock and roll, so she turned on the radio. As she searched for a rock station, it occurred to Kate that I-55 ran from the breaches in Mehlville almost directly to Busch Stadium. A zombie super highway to death. All she needed was an unholy shepherd to lead the rotters into the stadium. Once trapped in the stadium, the slayers could kill them. Everyone would make a fortune, and much faster.

  As she drove past the Germania Street exit, Kate tried to use her phone's locator app to find Daphne. Her friend still had her phone's GPS turned off. So she called her only other option at the moment.

  "Moor Manor, Calista speaking," the stewardrix answered.

  It still annoyed Kate she altered a perfectly good title like "steward" in that way.

  "Hi, Calista, this is Kate."

  "Kate?"

  She rolled her eyes. Who else did Calista know with an English accent, much less one named Kate?

  "Brokenshire," she said. "The zombie slayer. May I speak to Mordred? It's important."

  "I'm sorry, but he's not available right now."

  Kate paused, gnawing on her lip. The breaches in the perimeter fences were just discovered. Sebastian thought Mordred was the one breaching and Calling zombies into the city. Could he be correct? Mordred denied it, denied even being a vampire, but would he really confess to committing felonies? It was illegal to be a vampire in every state, and even inside the Zombie Lands.

  "Has he gone to work?" she asked. He was filthy rich, after all. Maybe he was a CEO of his own company. "Is there an office phone number I can call?"

  "Lord Mordred is a night owl, slayer. He sleeps during the day," Calista said rather coolly. "Call back after three."

  The stewardrix hung up before Kate could challenge her. She was sure Calista lied. It was morning when Kate met with Mordred yesterday. Also, vampires did not sleep. As far as she knew, they were incapable of sleeping. Just like zombies. There was no rest for the undead.

  She remembered all of the beautiful women in his mansion, and his Ladies-in-Waiting. So he might be in bed, but he'd be doing anything but sleeping with them. Yet, if he was telling the truth and was still mortal, then he could be sleeping.

  "I need to determine if he is or isn't a drac," she said.

  Kate noticed helicopters circling above as she approached Mehlville. There was a black and white St. Louis County Police helicopter, and she recognized the local Sky Fox news helicopter, too. The other three were too far away to see well.

  She remembered how the Army sent helicopter gunships with napalm missiles to slaughter the huge hordes roaming the land shortly after the Zombie Apocalypse struck. The Air Force and Navy sent jets all over the Zombie Lands to napalm the hordes, too. Kate was a little surprised St. Louis hadn't asked for military help. Or maybe they were turned down.

  "Or they don't want to burn down the entire city."

  The military did wipe out entire cities, like Tulsa, Omaha, and Fort Worth. Untold thousands of living citizens were killed, and in the end they barely made a dent in the zombie population. Some thought they created more new zombies than they eliminated. After that the military was pulled back and the Zombie Territory was established out of the 15 cursed states: Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, and Kansas, as well as the eastern sid
es of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The Canadians had the northernmost portion of the zombie zone.

  "I wonder if Mayor Lawrence could get the Territorial Governor to sent troops with napalm?" she said. That would be safer for the slayers, but would deprive them of bounties, too. "I'll have to add that to my proposal when – Bloody hell!"

  Cars ahead of her flew up in the air, spun around, and otherwise crashed and burned. Axl and Rocco swerved and went down an off-ramp. Kate followed them, but was going so fast she almost didn't make it. She turned so sharply the Defender was on two wheels for a short time.

  She spotted a horde of zombies to their right just before the pickup turned that way. Axl and Rocco were already fully armed when they exited their truck. They had looks of excitement on their faces. Kate was actually frightened at the size of the horde. There had to be almost fifty rotters.

  "Dammit," she said, stopping next to the pickup.

  Normally, she'd let that many zombies alone and go find safer prey. She couldn't abandon her fellow slayers. Her blade might be the difference between them surviving or dying.

  "We're going to have words," Kate said as she hurried around back to arm herself. She took a deep breath to steel her nerve, and shouted, "Tallyho!"

  Kate charged into the thick of it. Axl and Rocco had split up, which she thought foolish. They were still more than holding their own. Wisely, they kept moving. Never give a rotter time to sneak up behind you. It proved fortuitous for Kate, since none of the zombies were facing her.

  Kate tore into them from behind. Every stroke for the first few minutes was at an unprotected neck from behind. The rotters figured it out and turned on her.

  "Axl! Rocco! Get your bums back over here!" she shouted. "Stupid, suicidal rednecks."

  "I'm not a redneck," Rocco said. "Axl is the redneck."

  "And proud of it!" the southerner shouted. "Yee-hai!"

  They might've been idiots, but those two men left paths of destruction behind. Kate could see a dozen headless zombies, not counting the rotters she killed. She fought with her machete, two-handed. It was the most desperate, frightening fight of her life.