The Lunar Effect

by C. J. Pinard

  “What do I get if I do?” he said, a cheekiness in his voice.

  “Maybe a kiss,” I replied, and then immediately regretted it. Why was I toying with this guy—this vampire, who was most likely very old and very dangerous?

  His eyes lit with a flirtatious flame. “Is that so?”

  I swallowed hard, half regretting my words, and half becoming just as ignited by them as he seemed to be. So, lifting my chin in confidence, I said, “Yes.”

  With his arm still around my backside, and me not resisting it, he said, “I am two-hundred-and-ten years old.”

  My jaw came unhinged from its sockets as my mouth hung open.

  Kellan chuckled at my reaction, as his other hand moved up to cup my jaw and close my mouth.

  “You’re shitting me,” was all I could think to say.

  Still grinning at me, he breathed, “No, little wolf, I am not.”

  I could not form any more intelligible words, so I said nothing else. Turned out I didn’t need to, since he leaned down and covered his mouth with mine, turning me inside out with a searing kiss that was considerably more scorching than his last.

  “Well, I can see why you and Ryder are having problems,” Sanja said with a chuckle, linking her arm with mine as we walked the five blocks back to my apartment.

  “Hey!” I said, looking at my friend, but unable to keep the smile from my face. “We’re having problems because he doesn’t respect my agenda. He thinks I should be in college getting an education, not on a mission to kill vampires.”

  “He may have a point, though, my friend,” Sanja said as we walked.

  “You Team Ryder now?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

  She shook her head with a laugh. “I will always be Team Ayla. I’m just saying… I worry about you, just like he does.”

  “Well, don’t, girl. I can take care of myself.”

  “Man… I wish I had such problems as yours. A love triangle with two hotties sounds soooo cool.”

  I gasped. “I am not in a love triangle!”

  She laughed. “Um, yes, you are so in one. This vampire—Kellan—he has it bad for you. I watched your entire interaction. He’s hot—I don’t need magic to see that—but keep in mind that vampires possess the power of persuasion.”

  “I know they do,” I replied. “But you think he controlled me into kissing him? Because I did not feel like I had been persuaded, coerced, or tricked in any way. I wanted him to kiss me.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, that’s how persuasion works.”

  “Fuck you, ho,” I said, biting back a laugh.

  “I think you have enough people to worry about fucking,” she came back with a friendly arm-punch.

  We looked both ways to cross the narrow street that held an alley on the right side. As soon as I stepped into the street, I heard moaning coming from the alleyway. Sanja heard it too, because her wide eyes met mine.

  “Ahh, crap,” I finally whispered.

  “What’s wrong?” Sanja asked, concerned.

  With a dramatic sigh, I said, “I think there’s a damn vampire in that alley.”

  Her eyes got big again. “Your psychic vision from earlier?”

  I nodded, and put a finger to my lips, indicating for her to be silent.

  With Sanja behind me, I peered around the corner of the building and into the alleyway. Sure enough, there was a woman in a short, red dress pressed up against the brick wall of the building. A dark-haired man had his mouth to her neck and her head was craned back, her face bathing in the light from the almost-full moon over head.

  When her moans turned to screams, I thoughtlessly sprang into the alley.

  “Ayla!” Sanja hissed behind me, but I ignored her.

  Grabbing the vampire by his long hair, I ripped him from the woman’s now slack body. She slumped against the wall and fell into a heap onto the concrete. I barely registered Sanja tending to her as I slammed the vampire to the ground.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snapped.

  “Bitch,” he hissed under me as I straddled his torso. “Get off me!”

  Bucking, he managed to throw me to the ground, where I landed hard on my back, but it did not deter me. I sprang up as he lunged for Sanja and the injured woman.

  Before he could reach them, with preternatural speed, I was on him, snatching him by the collar of his black shirt and yanking him back. He landed with a satisfying thud, and I was once again on top of him.

  “Filthy vampires need to know their place,” I hissed in his face, not even recognizing my own voice. “You vermin should learn how to be more discreet.”

  With a deranged laugh, I leaned down and bit into his neck with fangs I didn’t know I had as they descended from my gums.

  “No!” the vampire cried, still trying to buck me off. “A wolf bite will kill me! Don’t, please!”

  I showed him no mercy whatsoever. My fucks-to-give meter had gone to zero at that point. As his blood rushed into my mouth, I felt a renewed sense of vigor pour through me.

  With the faint sound of Latin chants coming from Sanja as she attended to the injured woman, I happily tore into the vampire’s neck and sucked down all the blood he afforded me. Not as sweet as a human’s, but still satisfying nonetheless, I drank it down and smiled as the light faded from his eyes. I hopped off him as his skin turned a strange gray color, and cracks began to form on his face. Before I knew what was happening, he was nothing but a pile of dust—or was that ash?

  Huh. Strange. Another vampire off the street at least. I should have been happy about this. But, was I? I began to mildly freak out that I had killed yet another person. I hated taking a life, but I wasn’t as distraught as I had been the first time it had happened.

  “Who are you?” I heard the woman ask.

  I turned around to see her stand and back slowly away from Sanja, frightful, as she had just been in her arms. She put her hand to her neck as Sanja continued to chant, “ad sanandum vulnus” three more times, and then she opened her eyes and said in a low, soothing voice, “Go home, pretty girl. Your neck hurts because you twisted it when you slipped in the alley.”

  I watched in fascination as Sanja essentially hypnotized the girl.

  As she continued to walk backward slowly, watching us suspiciously and with eyes full of fear, I leaned in to Sanja. “Tell her she doesn’t need to turn tricks to make money anymore.”

  “Jenna, one more thing, you are going to find yourself an honest job tomorrow. No more hooking. The life growing in your belly deserves better.”

  I gasped as Jenna eventually ran away from us.

  “How did you know she was a prostitute?” Sanja asked.

  I shrugged. “Not exactly sure, to be honest.”

  “I guess you are psychic now,” she replied.

  I ignored her and asked, “She’s pregnant?”

  She nodded. “Sadly, yes.”

  I shook my head.

  “You saved two lives today, it seemed,” came a voice that caused me to jump.

  A man stood at the end of the alleyway, his hands in his pockets, his very presence intimidating and brooding. I couldn’t see his face, but he continued to talk as he made his way toward us, the light from a flickering orange streetlamp eventually illuminating his face. “There are lots of people looking for you, Ayla St. John,” he said, amused.

  Chapter 27

  With an eyebrow quirked, I said, “First off, who the hell are you?”

  “Vampire,” Sanja whispered beside me.

  “Thanks, Sherlock,” I said dryly to my friend. I didn’t need her to tell me what he was. It was evident by his alabaster skin and red eyes.

  “She’s right,” the stranger said, slowly stalking toward us with his hands in his pants pockets as if he was no threat to us at all.

  “Stop!” I said, standing tall and straightening out my short dress as if I needed to maintain some sort of dignity around this leech.

  He did as I commanded, and then said,
“I can assure you I mean you no harm, Ayla St. John. I am simply in need of your services.”

  I rolled my eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Do all you vamps talk like that? I mean, really. You’re obviously old as hell. Get with the times, dude.”

  He chuckled and took another tentative step toward us. I instinctively put myself in front of Sanja and she huffed in annoyance, stepping out from behind me and to my side.

  “By the way,” I said, “I’m not for rent. You might want to check a few blocks over if you’re looking for a girl…”

  He laughed again. “I do not seek any sexual exchanges or favors, young Ayla. I simply wish to inquire about your fees for killing vampires.”

  The stranger had rendered me speechless. After closing my mouth, I finally found my words. “I wasn’t aware I was some kind of hired assassin.”

  “Would you like to be?” he asked. “You seemed to have taken down that poor sod easily enough.” He indicated the ashes at my feet with his eyes.

  I narrowed my eyes. “First off, he was not some ‘poor sod’.” I paused, looking at Sanja, and asked, “What is a sod, anyway?”

  She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Beats me.”

  “Second,” I continued, looking at the strange vampire, “I did not kill him for money. I killed him because he was about to kill an unsuspecting pregnant girl. He was an assholey murderer.”

  “Assholey,” the stranger said, laughing again. “That’s pretty… um, awesome.”

  I sighed. “Who are you?”

  He took another step toward us, and I did not back away. “My name is Dean Hobbes. I am just going to come right out and tell you that I overheard you talking at the nightclub earlier. I followed you out here because I could sense that you were very different—that you had something special about you. It was when I caught your scent that I realized who you were.”

  Biting back a laugh, I put my hand on my hip and said, “Oh yeah, and what’s so ‘special’?”

  One more step closer he was now. “It’s clear you smell of wolf, but behave like a vampire.”

  “Well now I’m insulted.”

  I heard Sanja snort beside me.

  Dean’s eyes got big, and he had the grace to look embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, Miss Ayla, I meant no offense. I just think you are amazing. What you just did to that vampire. Just… brilliant.”

  “Okay, now you’ve made it creepy.”

  He looked at me in horror. “Creepy? Oh no, miss, I was perfectly serious and sincere in every word I said.”

  This guy was working my nerves. “All right, guy. Cut to the chase. Who do you want me to kill?”

  I couldn’t believe I’d asked him that, but at this point, I was just ready to go home to my own bed and get some sleep.

  He wrung his small hands together, and then said, “Her name is Elda Stoker and her swift and permanent death would be of great service to me.”

  Quirking an eyebrow at him, I said, “And, I presume, this Elda chick is a vampire?”

  He nodded. “Indeed, she is.”

  “Why do you want her dead?” I asked, curious.

  His expression took on a much different one than the one he’d previously been wearing. “The reasons behind my wishes for her death are not of concern to you. I will pay you one thousand U.S. dollars to drive a stake through her heart.”

  A grand to stake a vampire? Wow. I could pay my rent with that and have a little beer money left over… and have fun doing it.

  I lifted my chin. “The price is two thousand, and how soon would you like me to kill this bitch?”

  His brows lifted in surprise, but he quickly recovered with a grin. “Very well, two thousand dollars, but I want her ashes by the end of the week.”

  It was my turn to take a step toward him. We were within touching distance now. With a smile, I extended my hand. “We have a deal, Dean Hobbes. Just give me her address, and you’ve got yourself one dead vampire.”

  Dean looked down at my proffered hand, and then back up into my face. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Ms. St. John, for I do not know where she resides.”

  I dropped my hand to my side. “Okay then. Where does this Elda hang out at?”

  “Don’t you think if I knew that, I would just find her and kill her myself?” he asked, seeming to get annoyed now.

  “I don’t know,” I said, studying him, and becoming more annoyed. “You seem like the kind of weenie who would hire a chick to kill a vampire, so I highly doubt it.”

  I heard Sanja spill a laugh from beside me, but she followed it up with a series of coughs and sniffs.

  Dean’s eyes went big. “Weenie… really? If I presume this means what I think it does, I can assure you that I am no, um, weenie. I just simply cannot locate Ms. Stoker, and I believe you possess the power and resources”—he paused, inclining his head at Sanja—“to find her and end her. After all, you do seem to have a witch at your beck and call.”

  Sanja stepped in front of me. “Hey! I will have you know that I do not work for Ayla. I’m her friend, nothing more, nothing less.”

  Uh oh.

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, well, Dean, maybe you misunderstood our relationship, but regardless, I’ll find this vampire Elda for you.”

  He seemed to relax. “That would be most helpful, thank you.”

  Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I said, “So what kind of victim does she like? Male? Female? Young? Old?”

  “She prefers women, but she has fed from men, too, and when she feeds, there is always some sort of sexual encounter involved.”

  Great. Looks like I just became bait.

  “A five-hundred-dollar deposit is required, just so you know,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

  Dean stared me down, and said, “I will give you one hundred U.S. dollars as a deposit.”

  I stared him down, and finally said, “Fine.”

  Reaching into his pocket, Dean pulled out five twenty-dollar bills and folded them into my hand. “One week, Ms. St. John. I want her ashes in my possession—and soon.”

  “You got it, Dean.” This time I did shake his hand, and after exchanging phone numbers with the strange vampire, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.

  We reached my apartment, and as I put the key into the lock, Sanja said, “I suppose you’re going to want me to do a location spell on this Elda chick.”

  I grinned, throwing my keys and phone onto the dining room table. “Well, I didn’t know that was a thing, but if you’re offering, that would be kinda awesome.”

  I made my way to my bedroom and when I turned to see Sanja standing there, stock-still and staring at me, I cocked my head to the right a little and said, “What?”

  “So you’re in the vampire assassination business now?”

  I smiled. “That’s a thing, too?”

  She nodded slowly and mumbled under her breath, “Raised by witches, unbelievable.” She shook her head like a disapproving grandmother and pierced me with her serious brown stare. “It is so a thing. Especially by wolves. Goes back a few thousand years.”

  Now I felt a little slighted. “Okay, so this isn’t a wolf thing, Sanja. This is a practice-makes-perfect thing for when I find Linden and the leech who bit me. It’s also a money-making thing. I hate my job at that homebuilder’s company. I freaking hate it.”

  She looked tentative for a minute before she said, “Then maybe you should have stayed in school… you know, pursued that teaching degree you were after.”

  I bit back a curse. “Dammit! I never said I wanted to be a teacher. I told you I was thinking about a teaching degree.” I took some calming breaths to quell the beast inside that sometimes showed herself when I was tired and upset.

  She threw me a look that was filled with hurt and disappointment.

  “I’m sorry, Sanja,” I said, walking toward her. “I’m an asshole. I have no excuses for my behavior.”

  Sanja studied me, but still said nothing.

  We were me
re feet away now. I softened at the hurt look still coloring her face. “I’m, like, screwed up. I let my emotions get the best of me. I could blame the wolf, and I shouldn’t do that, but I do. I can’t help it. Can you forgive me?”

  She made a move toward me, and once she was face to face with me, she grabbed my hand in a loving gesture. “Location spells work much better if we do them quickly. Go get me some candles and a map.”

  I nodded, grinning that she had somewhat forgiven me. “I’ll pay you half for your troubles.”

  “I cannot do witchcraft for money. I shouldn’t even be doing this spell. You know this,” she called out as I headed toward the bathroom.

  A few tea light candles were under my sink there, but I knew had no maps, so I improvised. Searching the Internet for world maps, I printed three pages that could be taped together.

  Once I had everything on the dining room table, Sanja stood there and peered down at them. I watched in amused fascination as she closed her eyes and hovered her open-palmed hands over the taped-together map.

  Holding my breath, my eyes went big when the tea light candles lit themselves, bursts of light from each wick lighting the room. Then she sucked in a lungful of air and began to chant, over and over, “Locate a femina vampire, Elda.”

  The wicks on the candles burst higher than I had ever seen them, eliciting a gasp from me. Their warmth almost burned my skin. Squinting my eyes at Sanja in the small dining room, I whispered, “Do you have anything?”

  She ignored me. She just kept chanting “Locate a femina vampire Elda,” over and over. So I let her be. I only recognized two words in her spell anyway, and that was vampire and Elda. The rest had been chanted too fast with some sort of Latin lilt that I hadn’t heard before. It didn’t matter. As soon as Sanja was done chanting, she opened her eyes and peered at the map before us. Nothing had changed… not that I was sure what to expect.

  “I don’t understand,” she breathed, a confused look on her pretty face.

  I cocked my head to the side and stared down at the map, then back to her face. “How many times have you done this spell?”