by J. C. Diem
Opening the driver’s door, I gingerly slid behind the wheel. My shoulders were hunched up around my ears as I waited for something horrible to happen. When nothing did, I let go of the breath I’d been holding and pulled the door shut. Several crosses had been painted on the doors and ceiling, but they didn’t affect me. Touching them might be dangerous, but I wasn’t about to test that theory.
Checking my reflection in the rearview mirror, I frowned at how pale I was. I’d always been pretty, but something subtle had changed. I leaned in close to study my face and realized my skin was almost as flawless as a full vampire’s. Thankfully, my eyes hadn’t become blank and expressionless. They were the same green-yellow that they’d always been.
I checked my teeth next, but they looked normal. Vamps could elongate and retract their fangs at will. Mine had come out when I’d fed. I tried to will them to grow, but nothing happened. A thought hit me and I delved into the glovebox and pulled out a chocolate bar. Tearing it open with my teeth, I took a tentative bite and moaned in bliss at the sweet, heavenly taste. I devoured the entire bar and didn’t get the urge to vomit it back up again.
“Thank God,” I said in relief. Becoming some kind of semi-undead creature was bad enough. If I’d lost the ability to eat chocolate, life wouldn’t have been worth living.
Chapter Five
Speeding whenever it seemed safe, I dropped down to the posted limit whenever I came to a town. Hunters tended to own isolated property and Raymond and his band were no different. In just under four hours, I reached my destination. His house was a sprawling ranch style at the end of a long dirt driveway. My old car complained every time I hit a pothole, but I made it without tearing the bottom out of it.
Ray emerged from the rickety old house and stood on the porch to wait for me. I climbed out, stretched my muscles, then retrieved my backpack before sauntering over to him. He engulfed me in his arms and smacked a brief kiss on my cheek. “It’s been too long, kiddo,” he complained. He wore the usual clothing of a t-shirt, worn jeans and flannel shirt for warmth against the increasingly cool temperatures. In his early forties, he had curly black hair that was forever falling into his eyes. Like most hunters, he stayed in shape.
“It’s only been a few months since I was here last,” I replied with a grin. He hadn’t noticed that my skin was slightly cool and that it was now almost flawless.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
Again, I was hit with the urge to giggle hysterically. “Nope. I’m starved.” Gerald had bled out too much to have been able to offer me a hearty meal of blood and the chocolate bar had just been a snack. I hadn’t stopped for a meal along the way. I’d been too nervous and worried to bother to eat.
One of Ray’s hounds trotted over to me when I entered the house. I tensed when the dog sniffed my jeans. He wagged his tail a couple of times, then trotted away. Either I didn’t smell like a full vampire, or he’d recognized my scent beneath the changes that I’d undergone. It reassured me slightly that the beast hadn’t tried to tear my throat out.
We walked along the short hallway, passing a living room on the left and dining room on the right. The kitchen was just past the dining room and it wasn’t empty when we entered. A guy about my age sat at the worn table. He looked up and I was instantly captured by his pale blue eyes. They seemed to pierce me all the way to my restless soul.
“Arienna, this is Connor,” Raymond said. “He’s new.”
“Hi,” I said awkwardly and he nodded in response. He watched me warily as Ray went about making me a sandwich. We stared at each other and I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was different from the other hunters. There was something slightly wild about his tousled dark blond hair and brooding good looks.
“You two kids have a lot in common,” Ray said as he slathered peanut butter on two slices of bread and squashed them together. He would never be a domestic goddess, but I wasn’t about to complain. My cooking skills were just as rudimentary. “Connor’s parents were killed by vamps, too,” he said and handed the plate with the lone sandwich to me.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said with sympathy and toyed with my sandwich. “How long ago did you lose them?”
Connor studied me intently before answering. “Six years ago.” His accent was foreign, possibly Scottish, but it was light enough that I could understand him. “I was fourteen at the time,” he added. That meant he was only a year older than me.
“I lost my family at the same age,” I said. “That was five years ago.”
We shared a moment of mutual grief for the ones we’d lost, then I took a bite out of my sandwich. Connor’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly as he watched me chew and swallow. Most guys his age would have fidgeted or obsessively checked their phones. He just sat there quietly and watched me devour my food.
“We’re heading out on a hunt in the morning,” Raymond said, breaking the awkward silence. “You’re welcome to come along.”
“What are we hunting?” I asked after swallowing my mouthful.
“Bloodsuckers. They were spotted in a neighboring town. The stupid leeches don’t realize they’re in hunter territory.” He sneered in contempt of the creatures we would soon be sending to vampire hell. “Get some rest and I’ll see you both bright and early.” He ambled off, leaving me alone with Connor.
Finishing my sandwich, I rinsed my plate off, then filled a glass of water from the faucet. I drank it down, washed the glass, then turned to find the young hunter standing only inches away from me. He was six feet tall, which was six inches taller than me. Trapped between him and the counter, I put my hands up to ward him off. He moved forward until my hands were pressed against his leanly muscled chest, then leaned down and took a deep breath. When he lifted his head, he looked almost confused.
“What are you doing?” I asked in annoyance and shoved him back a step. “Haven’t you ever heard of the concept of personal space?”
“Sorry,” he said, sounding slightly puzzled. “I just had to see something.”
“See what?” I snapped. Was he trying to figure out what type of shampoo I used? If so, asking would have been the normal way to go about it.
He shook his head and backed away. “Nothing, I guess. I’ll see you in the morning, Arienna.”
“Why are the cute ones always weirdos?” I asked the empty kitchen when he was gone. I could have sworn I heard a masculine chuckle coming from the hallway, but I’d spoken too quietly for him to have been able to hear me.
It had been a long day and my hasty wash with a bottle of water hadn’t been enough to rid myself of grave dirt. The house had three bathrooms and I picked the one closest to the room I used when I visited. Locking the door, I stripped off and took a long, hot shower.
As I soaped my body, I noticed I’d changed even more than I’d known. Every single scar that had marred my flesh was now gone. “It looks like there’ll be no more bikinis for you,” I whispered to myself. Most hunters sported at least a few scars. Anyone who knew me was aware of the marks on my shoulders and neck from old vampire bites. Alakay had bitten me on the neck this time, but I couldn’t feel any scars as I washed myself.
After washing and rinsing my hair, I dried myself off and wrapped a towel around me. I wiped the mist away from the mirror with my hand and examined myself closely. Apart from my pupils being more dilated than usual and my spotless skin, there were no noticeable differences. I would just have to wear shirts that hid my lack of scars from now on.
Exhausted from the events I’d suffered through, I entered my bedroom. I hung the towel on a hook, then pulled on undies and a t-shirt. I flopped face-down on the bed, pulled a blanket over my lower half and fell into a deep sleep that was almost death-like. As I sank under, I was relieved that I could sleep at all. A true vampire became an inert corpse during daylight hours. Only the danger of impending death could rouse them. They lost the capacity to dream as soon as they were turned.
Speaking of dreams, a vivid one grasped hold of
me and pulled me into a strange place. It was nighttime and I seemed to be in the past, judging by the old stone houses with thatch roofs and lack of anything resembling modern amenities. It seemed so real that I could almost smell the horse droppings that lay in clumps on the cobbled road.
“Where am I?” I murmured, turning in a slow circle. I saw an old well in the middle of what looked like a town square and walked over to it. The village was small and had a tavern, stables, a blacksmith and a couple of other stores that I couldn’t identify by their signs. There was no moonlight to illuminate the place, but I could see with startling clarity anyway.
Spying movement between two of the small cottages, I squinted as several dark shapes slid through the narrow gap. They tested the shuttered windows, but they were boarded from the inside. My feet took me closer even though I could sense danger. Even before I closed in on the group, I knew they were vampires. Their faces glowed whitely even in the shadows. To back up my theory that I was dreaming about the past, their clothes looked like they’d come from a medieval museum. Some of the men and women were wearing tartan skirts that I was pretty sure were kilts.
There were seventeen leeches and one of them was familiar. “Alakay,” I whispered. His head shot up as if he’d heard me. He peered straight at me without seeing me. Shrugging off his uneasiness, Alakay gestured at his minions to continue to the front of the cottage. One of the men tested the door, then quietly shouldered it open. The board that had been used to keep it shut splintered. I heard a sleepy murmur come from within the house, then the vampires swarmed inside. Muffled screams were choked off before they could rouse the entire village.
Like silent death, the vampires stole from dwelling to dwelling, feasting on all who lived within. They used stealth and brute force to break and enter, then subdue their meals. When they came to the last house, their luck ran out. Someone woke when they broke in and shouted a warning. A window on the side of the cottage was thrown open and a young man leaped out. He raced away, then stopped and looked back when he was on the edge of the forest. He shouted something in a foreign language. I couldn’t understand him, but his voice was full of despair.
Two fledgling vampires burst out of the house and went in pursuit of the young man. He turned and ran and I sprinted after him. When he reached the safety of the trees, he disappeared. I skidded to a halt when a huge feline with black fur emerged from the undergrowth. I was pretty sure it was a panther. “What the hell?” I asked, wondering where it had come from.
Showing no signs it knew I was there, the feline turned to face the vampires. Its eyes were a startlingly pale blue. One of the vamps was male and the other was female. Seeing the panther, they warily stopped.
The gigantic cat attacked the male bloodsucker, savagely biting him on the thigh. Screaming and beating at the animal’s head, he shrieked loudly when the feline tore his leg clean off. Black blood spurted and he fell down. The panther tore his throat out, then leaped at the female. She tried to run, but the enraged animal knocked her to the ground. It savaged her neck with its fangs and she let out a bloodcurdling scream that was abruptly cut off when her head came loose.
“Holy crap,” I breathed when the animal’s flesh began to change. The black fur receded and its body transformed until a young man was crouching in its place. The youth stood and I strode over to get a better look at him. He turned as if sensing me and my mouth dropped open when I saw dark blond hair and arresting light blue eyes. “Connor?” I said incredulously. He was the spitting image of the hunter I’d just met, except his hair was shoulder length and he looked a few years younger. Shirtless, he wore rough brown trousers that seemed to have been made by hand. Even as a teenager, he’d had a nice body.
Alakay let out a furious roar, apparently aware that two of his minions were dead. The Connor lookalike took a step towards his doomed village with an anguished expression. Cursing beneath his breath, he let out a despairing sob, then turned and ran. He fell onto all fours and his body sprouted fur as he transformed into a panther again.
The vampires went in pursuit, but not even the master could keep up with the cat. Alakay stopped at the bodies of his fallen minions and glared around, looking straight through me again. “I will make you pay for this, shapeshifter,” he said in a low, vicious tone.
“This is seriously the weirdest dream I’ve ever had,” I said to their backs as they trotted off into the woods.
Chapter Six
A fist banging on the door woke me early the next morning. Groaning, I rolled over onto my back. “All right already!” I yelled. “I’m awake!”
“Breakfast is in five minutes,” Raymond said loudly, then walked away with a chuckle.
A few hunters lived with him, but most were transient like me. There were enough beds for up to fifteen people, but only half that number seemed to be present. It was eerie how good my hearing had become. I could make out their conversations while I hastily dressed. Their focus was on the upcoming hunt, as could be expected.
I had a stash of clothing in several of the hunters’ properties. Searching the dresser drawers, I pulled out a t-shirt and took a jacket out of the closet. The shirt was black and the jacket was dark green to match my cargo pants. While we didn’t wear camouflage gear like soldiers, we tended to wear things that would help us blend in with the environment.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, I ambled into the dining room. Four men and three women were seated at the table. Connor looked up, gave me the once over, then returned to his meal. I shook my head at the strange dream I’d had about him, putting it down to the horrible events of yesterday.
“You’re lucky there’s any food left,” Ray said as he plonked a plate in front of me. It was heaped with bacon, sausages, toast and runny eggs.
“Looks good,” I said and sniffed appreciatively. One of the hounds appeared beside me and stared at me beseechingly. “Mine,” I said, hunching over the plate. “Go away.” The dog gave me a dirty look, lifted its upper lip in a silent snarl at Connor, then loped away.
Connor narrowed his eyes at the animal, but he didn’t say anything. His lips quirked upwards when I began to shovel food into my mouth. If my attention wandered for even a moment, one of the other hunters might steal my breakfast. I held my utensils ready to fend off anyone who attempted to pilfer anything from my plate.
I managed to eat the meal without losing any of it to my hungry companions. We were all hearty eaters, due to the training we did to keep fit enough to do our jobs. Not that we were actually paid to kill monsters. Most of us had learned about the supernatural world through personal experience. We banded together, pooling our resources to fund our endeavors. I’d never asked, but I was pretty sure some of our funds came via criminal means. We had several hackers who were magic with computers. The money they stole was used to buy necessary equipment.
When our plates were empty and had been stacked in the dishwasher, we headed to our rooms to gather our equipment. My backpack was already loaded up with holy water, crosses, silver bullets and several sharp stakes. It was the standard gear we used when dealing with vampires.
Feeling a presence behind me, I turned to find Connor standing in the doorway. “Raymond said I should ride with you,” he said. He hadn’t spoken much so far and his accent was still strange to me.
“Don’t you have your own car?” I asked crankily. I barely knew him and his intense stare made me uncomfortable. I hadn’t forgotten about him invading my personal space and sniffing me last night. That had been before my shower and I’d probably smelled pretty bad.
“I don’t know the area very well,” he replied as I pushed past him and headed for the exit. “Raymond thinks it would be best if we teamed up for this job.”
I shot him a look, taking in his torn jeans, black button up shirt and tousled hair. His backpack was just as raggedy and loaded up with gear as mine was. “Keep your gun holstered and try not to shoot me in the back,” I told him. I could see the outline of his holster beneath
his shirt. Like me, he wore his gun on his right hip.
His lips pressed into a thin line and I wasn’t sure if it was from amusement, or annoyance. “This isn’t my first rodeo,” he told me solemnly.
“Until I see how you handle yourself in action, you’re a newbie to me.”
I caught Ray’s eye when we emerged from the house. I flicked a meaningful glance at Connor, silently berating him for lumping me with the new guy. He shrugged, then grinned and climbed into his beat up old truck. Clearly, he wasn’t going to change his mind about pairing us up, which meant I was stuck with an unwanted companion.
“Nice ride,” Connor said with thinly veiled sarcasm when we reached my car.
“Sorry, your Majesty,” I said dryly. “My Rolls Royce is in the shop.”
He snorted out a laugh and opened the back door to toss his pack inside. Mine landed next to his with a thump and we climbed inside. Ray had given us directions to our destination. One piece of technology we all used was GPS. I keyed the address in and followed the small convoy of cars and trucks as we headed for the road.
Connor turned the radio on so music played softly in the background. Our silence was uncomfortable and strained. Neither of us was adept at making small talk. “Where were you born?” he asked after a while.
“Rural Kansas,” I replied. “What about you?”
He hesitated for a moment before responding. “A small farm near a town in Scotland that no one has ever heard of.” He gave me a brief grin. “We’re both farm kids.”
“Hyuck, yessiree,” I replied in my best yokel accent and his grin widened. Something told me he wasn’t a farm boy at all. He had an understated level of sophistication that oozed out despite him trying to control it. In the weird dream I’d had, he’d lived in a village rather than a farm, but it just had to have been my overactive imagination. “So, vamps killed your parents, huh?” I said.