by Mary Abshire
“Victor from Merrillville? Was he your partner?”
“No, I mean… He is from Merrillville. He came to Indy to help. My partner had been badly hurt, so Victor went into the field with me. He said he knew you.”
She had spoken to the arrogant vampire once since Glenn’s demise. Victor had said Zale was a good man and a bit rough around the edges. She questioned most of the things that came out of the vampire’s mouth since he consistently flirted and seduced every woman within his sight. But so far, Zale seemed decent. He had manners and showed respect.
“I met him in Merrillville while I was tracking a vampire who’d broken the law,” Zale said. “We got to talking and he needed help locating someone. I ended up finding several corpses, one of which he believed was the vamp he was looking for.”
“Wow, he didn’t tell me that.”
Victor never talked about his job. He was always too busy flirting and asking personal questions. And while she had been informed about an issue of missing vampires, she hadn’t known how big of a problem it was or the amount showing up destroyed.
Zale looked over the contents in the bag as he flipped it over. “Do you have any items from the other men?”
“No, but we might be able to get more when we visit their homes. I’ve been given permission to break in, but damage should be kept at a minimum. So if you’re ready, we can leave.” She placed the strap over her head.
He looked up and met her gaze. “For the record, I’m the best tracker in the UoJ. But I’m not a dog, so I’ll ask you don’t treat me like one.”
“Of course not. I hadn’t thought of you like that.” She scrunched her brows.
“But you want me track them as if I were some bloodhound.”
Her cheeks warmed. She hated to admit it, but she hadn’t considered him helping her with anything other than tracking the masters. Without a doubt, he possessed more skills than his ability to smell. Surely, he would prove useful in other ways.
“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression,” she said. “I’m sure you have many talents or you wouldn’t be the top field agent in the UoJ. I believe our goals are the same. And to achieve them we have to work together.”
“Including sharing information.”
“Absolutely. I have nothing to hide.”
“Good. Then we should get along fine.” He rose. “May I call you Anna or do you prefer Mrs. Collins?”
Anna stood with her bag at her side. “Anna, and I’m not married.” Although she’d worn three-inch heeled boots, she still felt tiny as she gazed up at him.
“Boyfriend?”
“No, I don’t have time for one.” She didn’t consider her donor, Wesley, a boyfriend even though they’d lived together for fifteen years. She’d encouraged him plenty of times to find a woman to make him happy. He claimed he was content being her donor. Since the break in at her house, he’d moved in with a friend and had adopted her cat.
Zale smiled. “I understand.”
Every time his lips curled or stretched she felt a touch of heat rise within her. “What about you? Married?”
“No, and no girlfriend either. Work keeps me busy. I enjoy my job.”
She looked away from him. “I’m sure you do.” She wondered if he enjoyed it too much.
“Are we taking your car or mine?” he asked.
“Your car, if you don’t mind?”
Holding the evidence bag at his side, he gestured with his other arm. “I don’t mind at all.”
Ready to get to work and find the masters, Anna headed toward the escalator.
Chapter Two
Zale sat behind the wheel of his Explorer, driving along the interstate. Sitting in the passenger seat, Anna studied the electronic tablet in her hands. Her scent contained a mixture of leather and magnolia. The latter was faint, not strong like a perfume. The soft aroma pleased his nose as much as her presence delighted his eyes. He couldn’t resist taking his gaze off the road to steal glances at her. He’d thought she was beautiful from the photo he’d seen of her, but she was much more stunning in person.
His blood had heated and had rushed to his groin when she’d shaken his hand earlier. Her cool touch had soothed his warm skin. He welcomed feeling more of her. Fearing his erection would show, he’d held his hands in front of his groin during their meeting. She didn’t seem to notice his woody, or at least, she gave no indication she had.
On the way out of the hotel, he’d enjoyed staring at her ass as he walked behind her. His cock had stiffened again. She had a unique allure, unlike any other woman he’d met. Although petite, she had perfect curves in all the right places. It seemed silly, but he wanted touch and hold her. The boots, tight fitting jeans, and leather jacket added to her character. She appeared to be a strong, self-assured woman who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. Even though she was a vampire, he couldn’t deny his attraction to her.
The conversation at the hotel had left him feeling confident he could work well with her. At one point, he had been nervous since he’d offended her. She’d handled the situation well, remaining calm and focusing on the task at hand. He’d tried to do the same when he’d started to get the impression she was using him solely for his tracking skills. He had much more to offer her, even on a more intimate level. It seemed they both needed to be more open-minded and accepting of each other’s differences.
He veered his attention from the highway and checked on her again. She moved her finger along the screen of the tablet while she stared at it. As if they were on a first date, he had a laundry list of questions he wanted to ask her.
She lifted her gaze and caught him looking at her. “What?”
“Nothing.” He returned his focus to the road.
“Really, what’s on your mind? Don’t worry, I can’t read it.” She grinned.
He scrubbed his hand over his mouth and beard, wondering if he should take the chance to get to know her better. “You said earlier you’d been with the DS for two centuries—“
“Actually, a little more than that.”
“What motivated you to join the DS?”
“Aziel. And the way my family was murdered by wild vampires. I don’t know why my creator spared me and killed everyone else. Within a week, an agent from the UoJ destroyed my creator. I hadn’t known it at the time. Aziel later told me. He’s the one who found me. He took me under his care and trained me. At that point, I figured I’d been saved for a higher purpose. I’ve always valued life. This might be difficult for you to believe, but most vampires do because we remember what it was like to be alive. I also joined because I wanted to help other newly changed vamps. That and I didn’t want evil to rule the Earth.”
Her answer impressed him. For another matter, he hadn’t known vamps treasured life. From the vamps he’d dealt with during his career, he wouldn’t have guessed they cherished life.
“What about you? Why did you join the UoJ?” she asked.
“Well…” He glanced at her. “I hung out with UoJ agents while I was growing up and learned a lot from them. They took me in the field with them sometimes too. Times were different over a hundred years ago. Anyway, I noticed many vampires used humans for selfish gain. I wanted to do something to protect human lives.”
“What do you mean by vampires using humans for selfish gain?”
“The way I see it, vampires need humans to survive. You take what you need from them and then send them on their way with no recollection of what happened. While you get to walk the Earth forever, humans lose their blood and get nothing in return.”
“The majority of vampires have donors. These are men and women who have volunteered to give blood. There are some who feed and go, meaning they don’t have a donor who supplies them, but humans are never harmed. Yes, our existence depends on them, but their survival rests on us. Without vampires, demons would take over. We protect humans and sustain their lives. All they have to give in return is some of their blood. Is that s
o wrong?”
Once again, she’d explained the matter in a way he hadn’t considered. Until now, he hadn’t heard of donors. What she’d described made sense. If vamps had been draining humans regularly, the human population wouldn’t be as big as it was. In the current day, hospitals would be overflowing with people in need of transfusions. He started to believe he didn’t have all the facts about vampires.
“It sounds like a fair exchange,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of it that way before.”
“It’s worked out since the beginning of time. I think you’ve seen the lawless vampires most of your life and overlooked the normal ones. With any species, there are bad seeds, but that doesn’t mean everyone is. It’s not fair to judge an entire race based on the few who cause trouble.”
He knew her words were true. She had good morals. Victor did too. She’d hit the nail on the head. He’d grown up seeing the ruthless vamps and spent his career serving justice on them. He’d never taken the time to know any of the good ones.
“I hope I didn’t offend you,” he said.
“No, you didn’t. Was your opinion of vampires the only reason you joined the UoJ?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Joining the UoJ seemed like the honorable thing to do. I wanted to make a difference and I didn’t want to be an Alpha.”
“Why not? Being an Alpha is important.”
“I can’t accomplish much as an Alpha. I like to be the one in the field taking care of matters instead of the one standing to the side or behind a desk giving commands. An Alpha takes responsibility for all the pack members and makes those difficult decisions. That’s not me.”
“So you want to improve things and help make the world a safer place. Am I right? And the you can’t see the results of your efforts from an office or as the head of a pack.”
“That’s it in a nutshell.”
“I can relate to that.”
“Really?”
“I want everyone to live in peace. I don’t want humans or non-humans to live in a world full of violence, misery, and despair. To get rid of the evil, I have to find it and remove it. That means I have to swallow all fear and get rough with demons. It’s not a safe or luxurious job, but once I exorcise the demon, it’s sent to Hell and can’t return. It’s a wonderful feeling to save a human.”
He glanced at her. “I guess we have some things in common.”
“Probably more than you think.” She lowered her gaze to the tablet and touched the screen. It lit up.
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure.”
“Have you killed a human before?”
She raised her head. “Yes.”
He bounced his attention from the road to her. The light traffic at the late hour allowed him the flexibility to do so without interfering with other drivers. “That’s it?”
“That’s all you asked.”
“When did you kill a human?”
“During the last outbreak.”
“Do you regret killing?”
“Of course I do. I pray about my past sins all the time. But I can’t harp on the matter. I try to atone for what I’ve done by exorcising demons and training other agents. I don’t want to kill any human or other. I didn’t want to kill during the outbreak, but the demons outnumbered us many times. If we were going to survive and save mankind, we had to make tough decisions. Believe me, it sickened me to kill the possessed.” She shifted her attention down to the blank tablet.
From her grim tone, he suspected her actions still bothered her. He believed she had a good heart and wanted to do the right thing.
“Sometimes you have to act on those difficult choices to achieve a final resolution. I understand,” he said. “The outbreak during the Depression was hard on every pack once the demons started possessing members. My mother and one of my sisters had been possessed for a few months, but my father, two brothers and other sister kept them restrained and monitored them. One night, vampires came to my family home. They came to the area to kill demons. My father, one of my brothers, and I fought back. Vampires killed my parents, my brother, and my sister who had been possessed. Although my father and brother were innocent, they destroyed a vampire while trying to protect my mother and sister. I think that’s why the vamps killed my father and brother.”
“Oh, Zale, I’m so sorry.”
“Months later, my remaining brother, sister and I went to church with the rest of our pack from the west side. Demons from the north side pack showed up. We tried to fight them, but they killed so many, including my brother and sister. I barely made it out alive after the vampires showed up. I lost my entire family during the last outbreak.”
“It saddens me to think about the lives lost. I never want to see the loss of humanity and death again. It’s imperative we prevent another outbreak.”
He couldn’t agree more with her. “My boss informed me the DS requested the Alliance of All to issue a crisis alert. Do you really think we’re close to an outbreak?”
“I don’t know much from your side, specifically the numbers on missing and destroyed vampires. But if our population is declining and the demon one is growing at least twice as fast, then yes, it’s time for an alert. The scales are tipping in the wrong direction, toward evil.”
“Mankind won’t have much of a future if vampires are being wiped off the Earth.”
She smiled. “Exactly.”
He shook his head. “We need to find the masters soon.”
“I have faith we will.”
Her poised demeanor boosted his confidence. She had such a small body, but her large heart showed through her words, beliefs, and actions. He also had the feeling she was a highly skilled combatant. While he didn’t like the idea of her in the midst of battle, he did entertain a vision of her kicking demon butt. And that excited him. He looked forward to getting to know his new partner better.
Chapter Three
“Are you sure this is it?” Zale asked as he steered into the apartment complex.
The light brick buildings had three rows of square windows and flat roofs. None of the units had porches or balconies. Tall chain-link fences surrounded the sides where the air conditioning units sat. Security lighting illuminated the same area. Anna recalled hearing reports of thieves taking copper parts and wires from any appliances left unprotected. She suspected the owners of the property had trouble in the past and were trying to deter more thefts.
“Yes, the last address my assistant could find belonged to an apartment,” she said.
The large parking lot on both sides contained a variety of vans, cars, and trucks. The majority of them either had dents, busted lights, plastic garbage bags covering broken windows, or hanging bumpers.
“What address do we want?” Zale asked.
“6696 21st Court, not Place.” She looked for a street name or number on the buildings. Above a door, she located four digits. “I think you need to loop around. The digits are too low on this side.”
He continued forward between the rows of parked vehicles on each side. “6696?”
“Do you see it?”
“No, but if you remove the nine in the address…”
She met his gaze and smiled. She hadn’t even though about the address having triple sixes. “You’re good.”
“You should get to know me better.” He gave her a crooked grin.
His smooth voice and charismatic charm sparked a flame within her. Not to mention, he had a set of eyes she could gaze at all night long. His thick dark hair encouraged her to run her fingers through it, grab hold of him, and kiss him. The werewolf ignited a hunger inside her she’d ignored for far too long. But first, she needed to focus on the task at hand.
He turned the corner at the end of the lot. With the front of the buildings on his side, she searched for the numbers above the doors. The vehicle crawled. She spotted the address they sought at the next entrance.
“There.” She pointed.
Zale steered into an empty spot in front of the building. Curtained windows glowed from interior lights. The beams from his SUV illuminated the area until he switched them off.
“Rodney’s apartment is letter L. I’m guessing there are four units to each floor,” she said as she put her tablet in her bag.
“Should I bring any weapons?”
“No, I’ve got a small gun and switchblade in my jacket. I have two more blades in each of my boots. Unless we run into a group, we should be okay.”
She left her bag in the car and headed toward the sidewalk. Zale came to meet her. His height and large build made her feel as if he were a protective shield to her small body. She couldn’t help but wonder how big his muscles were under his clothes, or the one in his pants. Looking away, she tried to stop thinking such naughty thoughts.
They reached the entrance and he stepped around her to get the door. She gave him a nod before stepping inside the building. A man with manners earned her respect.
A strong mildew odor hovered in the air as she proceeded down the hall. She counted four doors, two on each side. From all of them, she could hear multiple heartbeats. Kids were playing games in one of the units.
“Looks like the letters go up,” Zale said, his voice deep and soft.
“Then so do we.” She circled behind him, heading for the staircase.
He followed her as she climbed the steps to the next level. She listened for sounds and heard only three heartbeats. A beef scent seeped from one unit. From the sizzling sounds, she surmised someone was cooking. Without stopping, she rounded the staircase and continued to the third level. She glanced at Zale and noticed he was gazing at her backside. Hiding her grin, she continued up.
From the top of the stairs, she proceeded down the hall. Two heartbeats came from the people in the apartment to the left. A single heart thudded behind the door on the right. News played from a television too. She stopped at the two remaining doors in the back. Across from door with the letter L, she heard a woman and child talking, but four hearts pumped.