Tall, Dark, and Vampire (Dead in the City)

by Sara Humphreys

  They were her family. Dogs. Cats. Vampires. What a motley crew. She looked back to Doug and noticed the look of contempt was replaced with curiosity. A step in the right direction.

  “What about the waitress and Damien, the bouncer?”

  “No,” Olivia said sharply. “Both are human, and as far as I’m concerned they’ll stay that way. I gave Suzie the week off, and Damien will be here during daylight hours as well.” She glanced briefly at Doug. “He knows about us.”

  “How nice for him,” Doug said under his breath. “Listen, this little family reunion is warming the cockles of my no-longer-beating-heart, but can we get this freak show on the road? I want to find the creature that killed Tom and then get this shit over with.”

  Olivia’s chest tightened. She tried to suppress the rejection she was feeling, but it was no use. He would rather fry in the sun than stay a vampire and be with her. Awesome.

  “Agreed.” She turned her attention to the girls. “Maya, you have to come with us and see the czar. We can’t dance around this anymore, kiddo. You’re going to let him, or one of the senators, taste your blood and read your memories in order to prove you didn’t turn the rogue that killed Ronald Davis and started this mess.”

  Maya nodded sheepishly but said nothing as she stroked Van’s head. Her uneasiness flickered through the room, and Olivia watched her nibble her lip nervously. Her large blue eyes were filled with fear and tugged at Olivia’s heart. This girl, this youngling vampire, was terrified, and Olivia had been doing nothing to reassure her. Guilt swamped her, and before she knew it, she swept across the room, leaned down from behind the couch, and wrapped Maya’s petite shoulders in a hug.

  “It’s going to be alright,” she whispered against Maya’s hair before kissing the top of her head as the girl sobbed quietly. Van whined and snuggled deeper into her lap. “I’m not going to let the czar kill you.” She stood up and squeezed Maya’s shoulder reassuringly as she fought the tears that threatened to come. “I love you, Maya. You are my family, and there’s no way on earth that I’m going to let the czar or his senators hurt you. Understand?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Maya bobbed her head up and down and wiped the tears from her face.

  Olivia released Maya and turned her attention to the other girls as she paced from the couch to face them.

  “Trixie and Sadie, I want you to stay here. I closed the club for the week, said we were doing renovations, but I want you two on watch. At sundown keep an eye on the perimeter of the building. If you get wind of the rogue, you telepath to Pete, but you do not take it on yourselves. Is that clear?”

  The women nodded. Olivia noticed Doug watching the situation closely and evaluating the other women. Sadie was smart and almost as old as Olivia, but Trixie was still young and had a tendency to be unpredictable, which could cause more trouble. It made her feel better that Sadie would be here to keep an eye on Trixie.

  “Okay. I killed the rogue that attacked Doug,” Olivia continued as she tried to regain her bearings, “but I wasn’t able to get the one that killed his partner. It was gone by the time I got there.”

  “There are more.” Doug interrupted, and everyone looked at him in surprise as he stalked slowly across the room toward Olivia. “One of these rogues could make another, couldn’t it? I’d bet we’re looking at more than two. The guy that attacked me was definitely one of Moriarty’s boys. He and his crew are missing, and no one has seen them since they left here the other night.”

  “Glad to see you thinking like a detective again.” Olivia gave him a nod of approval. “You’re right. Rogue One is still out there, so is the one that killed Brittany. That’s two… at least.”

  Silence fell over the room, and Olivia locked eyes with Pete. She didn’t need telepathy to know what he was thinking.

  “Shit.” Pete tugged his gloves on. “Whoever is making these rogues is making his own little rogue coven, isn’t he?”

  “Most likely,” Olivia said evenly. “If there is a rogue coven being built, then they’re definitely holing up somewhere together. We’ve got to find their nest.”

  “So these rogues—” Doug asked slowly. “They are turned by other rogues, and that’s why they’re crazy?”

  “Yes.” Olivia nodded. She was relieved that he was asking the right questions and looking to solve the problem. At least it was a step in the right direction, and it gave her some shred of hope. “Well, that, or they’re turned by someone who didn’t do the blood exchange properly by not giving them enough blood. Essentially, they are starved and crazy with hunger… the turn doesn’t go right, and they get stuck in a feeding frenzy state.”

  “So they’re like a bunch of hopped-up crack addicts?” Doug asked in a matter-of-fact tone. He pursed his lips. “That’s the first explanation I’ve heard that’s made any fuckin’ sense since I woke up.”

  Olivia nodded, and to her surprise, the hint of a smile played at his lips before he looked away. A modicum of progress.

  “Good.” Olivia tugged her gloves back on. “We have to get going.”

  “You girls better not engage them if they show up here.” Pete’s eyes flickered red, a symptom of his demon lineage.

  Olivia didn’t miss the look of surprise on Doug’s face, but to his credit, he said nothing.

  “I mean it, Trixie,” Pete said seriously. “You and Sadie stay inside and keep an eye on the monitors in Olivia’s office, but if you see them, do not engage them. You call me, and I’ll bring Shane.”

  “I don’t know who this Shane guy is,” Doug chimed in. “But if I were you, I’d bring a lot of guns too.”

  “Not a problem, partner.”

  “Shit.” Trixie cracked her knuckles and let out a growl of frustration. “I wasn’t turned yesterday. I may not be part demon, dude, but I’m not a dumb ass.”

  “Demon?” Doug asked, but then he held his hand up. “Tell me later.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Sadie elbowed Trixie and made a face that told her to shut up. “We’ll hold down the fort, Olivia. I did hang with you for that century you worked as a sentry, and I picked up a thing or two. We’ve got it covered.”

  “I’ll leave Van upstairs too.” Olivia squatted and scratched his favorite spot. “He’ll be another set of ears and eyes for you.”

  “We should get going,” Pete said.

  “But it’s not sundown yet,” Maya said quietly. “I hate taking the tunnels.” She ran her hands over the red bustier minidress. “I should probably change my clothes.”

  “Well, since my partner is dead,” Doug snapped, “I think you can live with getting a little dirt on that dress.” He stopped abruptly, and his features hardened. “It sounds like this mess all started with you anyway.”

  “Sorry,” she added quickly. “That came out all wrong.”

  Doug lifted one shoulder and shifted his weight. Olivia could tell that he felt badly for barking at Maya, and it only endeared him to her further.

  “It’s okay,” Doug said apologetically. “I just want to get going and get this shit over with.”

  Olivia crossed to the large chair in the living room and shoved it aside, revealing an opening to the tunnels. She sensed Doug watching her every move, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him and risk seeing that look of contempt. She dug deep down inside and grabbed onto the cold mind-set of the sentry she used to be. It was that icy attitude that got her through more hunting excursions and executions than she cared to remember.

  Doug brushed past her and dropped soundlessly into the tunnels. Olivia hesitated before joining the others. For the first time in over three hundred years, she doubted her own resolve. She could kill the rogue, kill a hundred, but killing her feelings for Doug… that was one mission she didn’t think she could complete.

  * * *

  Chapter 10

  Doug had heard the expression, the underbelly of th
e city, and he thought he had seen it already as a homicide detective in New York City. He could not have been more wrong. As he and the others raced through the sewer tunnels beneath Manhattan, he realized how little he really knew about the city he lived in for the past ten years. He, like most humans, was oblivious to the world that existed above and beneath his feet.

  He didn’t know how fast they were running, but it felt more like flying. His body hummed with power as he pumped his arms and legs with little effort. Doug noted the way he could see and hear everything. Water trickling in the tunnels sounded like rapid gunfire. Rats scurrying away from their approach sounded like a herd of horses. The heartbeats of people on the street above sounded like flapping wings from a swarm of hummingbirds.

  The entire world was amplified. Brighter. Louder. Sharper. It was as if he had been living in a two-dimensional, black-and-white world as a human, and now, as a vampire, everything was in Technicolor and high-definition. He might have been dead, but ironically, he never felt more alive, and he felt guilty as hell about it.

  He shouldn’t like what he had become. A bloodsucker. A monster. He should loathe it and detest it like he did when he first woke up, but somehow… he didn’t. Doug’s jaw clenched as he battled with his emotions. Was he being brainwashed on top of everything else? Was he losing himself in this insanity?

  He flicked his gaze to Olivia. She ran beside him, matching his speed, and in spite of how fast they were moving he saw her perfectly. She was as stunning as ever. Her red curls flew behind her, but she stared straight ahead, intensely focused on their destination.

  We’re almost there. Her thoughts touched his, tickled almost, along the boundaries of his sanity. The main entrance is just around the bend here to the left.

  Doug said nothing. He simply kept pace beside her and looked straight ahead. He could sense Pete and Maya right behind them, but he didn’t want to turn and look. It seemed like a bad idea to take his eyes off the proverbial road.

  Seconds later, Olivia’s hand rested on his, and they came to an immediate stop. He wavered briefly from the biggest head rush of his life. For a minute, while he stopped moving, it felt like the world around him hadn’t.

  “It will pass in a minute.” Olivia squeezed his arm gently and held him. He looked into her worried green eyes as the dizziness subsided. “It’s a common side effect after running at that speed for the first time.”

  “I’m fine.” Doug pulled his arm from her grasp and stuffed his hands in the pockets of the long coat, even though what he really wanted was to hold her hands. “Thanks. Where are we?” he asked, quickly needing to change the subject.

  “The Cloisters are directly above us.” Olivia pointed up. “The Presidium is located underneath The Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park.”

  “I thought vampires lived in luxury.” He looked at the wet, mossy tunnel they stood in and made a scoffing sound. “This is a shithole.”

  “We’re not in the Presidium yet.” Olivia smirked and arched one eyebrow as she reached above them and pushed in a rectangular stone in the wall.

  A section of the wall swung inward, and bright light flooded the sewer tunnel, revealing a lush, decadent hallway to a whole other world. Crystal chandeliers hung from a curved ceiling, and portraits lined the brightly lit corridor.

  The door swung shut, closing silently, and when Doug turned around there was no sign of the door. He tried to squelch the feeling of being buried alive and took in the rest of his surroundings as swiftly as possible. The floors were red marble and reminded him of a river of blood, and the walls were a sunny yellow. The paintings gave him the eerie sensation of being watched.

  The four of them walked down the hallway in silence toward a massive arched doorway made of wood, which conjured images of medieval times, but the camera watching them with its blinking red eye brought him back to the present.

  Before they reached the doorway, Pete stepped ahead with Maya clinging to his arm like a damsel in distress. The girl looked terrified, and by all accounts, she probably should be. Pete placed his thumb on a button to the left of the door, and a moment later, it swung open.

  “Stay close,” Olivia said as they followed Pete. “Lots of listening and no talking.”

  “No promises,” he said evenly.

  She shot him a look of warning but didn’t respond. After what felt like forever, they finally arrived at their first destination. Another ornate, wooden door fit for a castle swung open, but the room inside was decked from floor to ceiling with LCD screens and filled with cigarette smoke. An older woman sat behind a massive desk, puffing away on what was clearly not her first smoke of the day.

  “It’s about damn time,” she rasped as she crushed the cigarette in an ashtray overflowing with butts. “You know, for someone who doesn’t like to turn new vampires, you’ve done it twice this year already.”

  “Thanks for the reminder, Millicent,” Olivia responded humorlessly. “We need to register him ASAP so he can help us hunt the rogues.”

  “Yeah, I heard.” Millicent fiddled with her lighter. “Before you go hunting, be sure to see Xavier in the lab. He wants to know if that synthetic blood worked, and I think he’s got a new weapon.” She wagged a finger at Olivia. “No more younglings outta you this year. You’ve hit your annual limit.”

  “Limit?” Doug asked with a curious look to the others. “There’s a limit on how many vampires you can create? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Of course it does.” Millicent walked up to him, her hands in the pockets of her suit jacket, and looked him up and down. “You’re a big one. You sure can pick ’em, Olivia. Anyway, too many vamps can cause a food shortage.”

  “You mean, people,” Doug said sharply.

  “Yes, people. Come ’ere.” Millicent grabbed his hand and brought him to the back wall that looked more like one enormous computer network. He went with her and surmised that even as a human, this older woman wouldn’t have been someone to tangle with.

  She punched buttons on the large touch screen, and a stainless steel platform slid out. She put his left hand on it and punched a few more buttons. A flash went off as his picture was taken, and a needle quickly pricked his finger, taking a blood sample.

  Doug removed his hand and watched as the small puncture closed and vanished. He opened and closed his hand, rubbing at it absently as he moved back to stand with the others again.

  She punched a couple more spots on the screen, and seconds later an electronic identification card came up with his picture. “Too many vampires, and we’d all eventually starve to death. We can survive on vampire blood if we have to, but too much of it, and we can get a little nuts.”

  The screen blinked, and a loud beeping sounded as Doug’s ID flickered to life on the screen. Doug Paxton: Vampire 12-52-6459—Maker: Olivia Hollingsworth.

  So that was it? He was a vampire, and the woman of his dreams had turned his life into a nightmare.

  “There.” She lit another cigarette and took a long drag. “Your newest coven member is registered. Now, don’t go rescuing any more dying humans, or you’ll answer to Czar Augustus. And from what I’m hearing, you’re in enough trouble as it is.”

  “Thank you, Millicent.”

  The door swung shut soundlessly, and they continued down the stone hallway, turning several times and making Doug feel like a rat in a maze.

  Doug stopped walking, and Olivia gave him a curious look. “What?”

  “You said that once I registered, you’d give me a gun.” He stuck his hand out and moved closer, daring her to deny him. “How about it?”

  He invaded her space, but those emerald green eyes were glued to him, tracking his every move. Doug dropped his hand and stopped inches from her as her familiar scent wafted over him, testing his resolve.

  “Gun,” he whispered. “Now.”

  The corner of Olivia’s mouth lifted. Ey
es on his, she reached beneath her jacket with both hands and withdrew a sleek, black gun and two magazines. She held them up and ejected the magazine to show it to him.

  “It’s a semiautomatic loaded with mahogany and sterling rounds. Put one in the brain or heart, and these will turn a vamp to dust. But hit ’em anywhere else, and it’ll just slow ’em down, so be sure you shoot to kill.”

  She placed them in his hands, and when her fingertips brushed his palm, fire flickered over his skin and his fangs broke free. Lust and need roared through his blood. Olivia’s eyes glanced to his bared fangs, and her tongue flicked out, moistening that gorgeous mouth.

  “Believe me.” Doug leaned closer, his lips a breath away from hers, and whispered, “I won’t miss.”

  “Good.” Olivia blinked and stepped away as she squared her shoulders. “See that you don’t.”

  Doug stuck the magazines in the pocket of his coat and reached behind him, tucking the gun in the waist of pants. He didn’t miss the curious looks from Maya and Pete, but he couldn’t blame them. He and Olivia stood there eye-fucking each other like a couple of horny kids, and until two seconds ago, he had forgotten the two of them were even there.

  “Let’s go,” she commanded.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with an exaggerated salute.

  Olivia gave him the finger as she walked on, and he chuckled. She was tough as nails, and despite everything that had transpired, she still turned him on. He admired the way she handled Maya and the rest of her coven. The woman was powerful and commanding, but she was also sensitive and empathetic.

  He studied her carefully, and it dawned on him how alike they were. Olivia was a rescuer and a protector. She seemed consumed by the need to save people, cats, dogs… vampires. He wondered what drove her? Who was she really trying to rescue?

  The hallway opened into a cavernous space that looked like something out of ancient Rome. White marble statues of gods and goddesses lined the circular room, and at the center were towering white columns, framing pristine double doors of black-and-white- swirled marble.