Barbie- The Vampire Hunter Boxset

by Lucinda Dark

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  Something Wicked This Way Comes

  Something Wicked This Way Comes

  Witch Blood: Book 1

  Synopsis:

  Some girls get to the stroke of midnight and their carriages turn into pumpkins. Some kiss an ugly frog and end up with a handsome prince. And some girls—namely me, if we’re being specific here—try to save a witch from certain death and end up with said witch’s powers and become the sole possessor of the most powerful witch blood in the world.

  Yeah, that just happened.

  It would just figure that my new magical blood would draw all manner of dark beasts and creatures hell bent (quite literally … as in from actual hell) on devouring me, body and soul—and not in the fun cream your panties way.

  Go me.

  Not.

  Here’s the thing … I wasn’t born a witch and I’d really prefer not to die a witch or at all if it could be avoided. Oh, and one more thing, I guess my blood is now a natural aphrodisiac too. Just my freaking luck.

  Chapter 1

  Tessa

  How can you tell if your life has suddenly turned into a B-grade slasher film? Asking for a friend. It’s me. I’m the friend. Because I wasn’t sure if that was what I was experiencing or if it was just a hallucination.

  Oh, please be a hallucination, I mentally begged the universe. Unfortunately, though, the woman’s blood continued to slowly seep out of the deep wound in her wrist. I pressed my palms over it—ignoring the cut she’d made on one of them as I stared at her in shock.

  “Why the hell would you do that?” I asked, shock making me sound breathless.

  “It’s too late for me,” she rasped. “But not for you.” I didn’t know what the hell that meant, and I didn’t get a chance to ask her. Her dry cracked lips were starting to turn blue and before my very eyes, her face—which when I first came upon her in the back alley between Bar 52 and the Juggernaut Club had been somewhat youthful—was now slowly turning ash gray. Wrinkles formed near the corners of her mouth and at the edges of her eyes, growing until she withered before my very eyes, turning into a woman who looked like she was pushing ninety. I blinked. Holy shit. Had someone slipped some LSD into my water bottle when I wasn’t looking?

  A low growl sounded from the mouth of the alley, back the same way I’d come when I’d been walking home from work. Slowly, half-afraid of what I’d see, I lifted my head and glanced over my shoulder. Panting heavily, I scanned the area. I couldn’t see anything, but my internal warning system was definitely going haywire. The small baby hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and my heart raced in my chest. My hands were warm with blood.

  This was not how I saw the end of my Friday night going.

  I flipped back to the woman. “We need to get you to a hospital,” I said, though I was scared to take my hands away from the wound. This couldn’t be healthy. God, I hoped she didn’t have any horrible diseases that would most assuredly be transferred through blood. I looked to the side where she’d dropped the knife she’d slashed out and cut me with when I’d reached for her. The wound on her wrist was minor in comparison to the horrible slash in her abdomen. Even if I got her to a hospital, there was no telling if she’d actually survive. The knife wasn’t actually a knife at all, I realized, but a blade with a weird curve to it. The handle was dark, wooden with something etched into it. I sighed. Just my luck I’d try to help a dying woman out and she turned out to be crazy enough to try and stab me and then herself.

  “You need to run,” the woman croaked out. “Take the athame and go. Get to somewhere populated. They will not follow if there are others around—at least not the weaker ones. The stronger ones will be smarter. They will find you when you least expect it.”

  And thus, the rambling begins. I shook my head. “No, seriously, we need to get you help,” I replied. “I have my phone in my back pocket. I’ll call 911 and you’ll be—”

  “Fool!” she hissed, and with a surprising amount of strength for someone who looked as white as a sheet and like she was aging with every second that passed, she reared up and shoved me back. “Go now! Take the blade.”

  “I can’t—”

  “As my blood is now your blood, they will follow. Everything I am will be transferred the moment my soul fades. I have failed my task here, but you will carry it on. I’m sorry that I must ask this of you, but as you are the only one…” She stopped, a horrible choking sound erupting from her throat as blood spewed past her lips.

  I grimaced. Oh barf. I could handle a few minor horrors, but gore was not my forte. I even looked away from people chopping through bloody animal meat on cooking shows. I could not handle this. I looked down at my hand. I was going to need stitches too and those seriously squicked me out. This night was really turning into a suck fest and not the sexy kind—not that I’d ever really had a sexy suck fest … a problem for another time.

  The woman pushed at me again, albeit a bit weaker this time. Another growl sounded from down the alley and my head whipped around so fast, I felt a crick form between my neck and shoulder. This time a massive shadow entered my sights. My eyes widened. It looked like a giant dog—no bigger—a wolf? In the city? That was crazy. I glanced between the creature slowly prowling towards us to the woman. She wilted against the wall, mumbling something incomprehensible. I reached for her. Jesus. Saving people's lives was such a fucking drag. I was going to have to haul this bitch behind me.

  "You must go," she whispered as I tried to shove her over my shoulder. "You must live … you're the last … of my line."

  "Listen lady, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you're right, we definitely have to go."

  She didn't respond. I looked down at her as her head lulled to the side. Glassy eyes remained open, but there was no animation in them. No life. I grunted, glancing down at the blade she'd left behind to the animal coming towards us at a slow gait. It moved like it was hurt, limping slightly with determined steps. Two could play that. I didn't think. The woman was already dead and as sorry for her as I was, I wasn't planning on dying right along with her.

  I snatched up the knife—just in case I'd need it—and made a break for it. I ran for the opposite side of the alley and straight out into the street. A loud howl sounded behind me. It sounded angry. I wasn't sure how I could tell that—a howl or really any other kind of animal noise sounding angry didn't really make sense, maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. Maybe it was the LSD. Whatever it was, I wasn't stopping for it.

  I sprinted the remaining two blocks it took to get to my apartment, panting the entire way and promising that I would definitely look into getting a gym membership if I lived through this. I clutched the knife in my hand and ran hard, pounding my sneakers against the sidewalk in a rhythm that would've been soothing had I been the kind of girl to enjoy exercise. I was not. I was the kind of girl who enjoyed mimosas on holiday mornings, not 5Ks, and the ache starting up in my thighs made that very clear.

  I didn't even slow until I saw the lights of my building's front porch. The old style triplex loomed, big, red-bricked, and somewhat crumbling—but to me, it meant safety. I leapt from the sidewalk up the stairs. My hands were shaking so bad that it took several attempts for me to get my keys unhooked from the back belt loop of my jeans. Once I did, I managed to shove the end into the lock, turn it and stumble into the front hall, slamming the door closed at my back and flipping the lock. To the left, apartment number one's door opened, and old man Gerald peeked out with one eye squinted shut. "Keep it down!" he snapped before turning around and ambling back into his apartment and slamming the door closed behind him.

  I didn't even have the strength to reply. Instead, I reached into my back pocket and retrieved my cell and punched in the emergency number that I'd had memorized since I was a kid and left home alone far too often for it to be legal. "911 what's your emergency?"

  With heavy breaths and bloody, sweaty palms, I relayed the information
of where I'd found the woman on my way back from work. Even though I'd found the whole ordeal a bother and the end of it definitely terrifying, a pang of guilt settled in my chest. Could I have done something more to help her?

  I gave the woman on the other end my information, including my address. Even as I turned and peeked out of the front side window and found the street clear of any dog or wolf, I told her about the creature. She said that they would send officers and animal control if necessary and that was that. I let my arm drop to my side and leaned back against the door with a heavy sigh as I ended the call.

  Minutes later, I finally worked up the strength to climb up to my second floor apartment on shaky legs. I dropped both the knife thingy, which didn't look like any ordinary knife but more like an old school dagger that should've been in a museum, as well as my cell on the bed and pulled off my shirt.

  "Shit," I hissed as I let the fabric slip from my hands. I'd forgotten to tell the woman about the knife. I glanced at it before shrugging and moving to unbutton my pants. I'd just hand it over to the cops when they came to question me.

  I paused as I looked down at my palm. There was blood still there, but ... I lifted it closer and turned my hand this way and that. I could've sworn the woman had sliced me before she'd put the knife to her wrist. Weird. There was no wound there now. Maybe I'd imagined it…

  Whatever the case, I guess it was just one less thing I'd have to worry about. I stripped the rest of my clothes off and headed for the shower. As I stepped into the old school porcelain tub, I cursed. Damn it. Even after tonight, I still had to work tomorrow. Knowing my boss, nearly being mauled by a monster wolf was not going to cut it as an excuse to come in late.

  My luck sucked some major ass.

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  What to Read Next

  Can’t wait for Something Wicked This Way Comes to release? Turn the page to get a list of Lucinda and Lucy’s other works!

  Also By Lucinda Dark / Lucy Smoke

  Fantasy Series:

  Twisted Fae Series (soon to be completed)

  Court of Crimson

  Court of Frost

  Court of Midnight

  Barbie: The Vampire Hunter Series (completed)

  Rest in Pieces

  Dead Girl Walking

  Ashes to Ashes

  Dark Maji Series (completed)

  Fortune Favors the Cruel

  Blessed Be the Wicked

  Twisted is the Crown

  For King and Corruption

  Long Live the Soulless

  Nerys Newblood Series

  Daimon

  Necrosis

  Resurrection (Coming Soon)

  Dystopian Series:

  Sky Cities Series

  Heart of Tartarus

  Shadow of Deception

  Sword of Damage

  Dogs of War (Coming Soon)

  Contemporary Series:

  Iris Boys Series (completed)

  Now or Never

  Power & Choice

  Leap of Faith

  Cross my Heart

  Forever & Always

  Iris Boys Series Boxset

  The Break Series (completed)

  Study Break

  Tough Break

  Spring Break

  Break Series Collection

  Criminal Underground Series (Standalones)

  Sweet Possession

  Scarlett Thief

  Contemporary Standalones:

  Expressionate

  Wildest Dreams

  About the Author

  Lucinda Dark, also known as Lucy Smoke for her contemporary romance, has a master’s degree in English and is a self-proclaimed creative chihuahua. She enjoys feeding her wanderlust, cover addiction, as well as her face, and truly hopes people will stop giving her bath bombs as gifts. Bath’s get cold too fast and it’s just not as wonderful as the commercials make it out to be when the tub isn’t a jacuzzi.

  When she’s not on a never-ending quest to find the perfect milkshake, she lives and works in the southern United States with her beloved fur-baby, Hiro, and her family and friends.

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