Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1

by Theresa Oliver

  I looked up and caught a glimpse of Drake as he darted through a door.

  I sighed, then announced, “Guys! We’re going to have company soon!” Then I darted to the side of the door. And no sooner than I said that, the door opened and a red headed vamp with an Uzi came out and looked over the stairwell. Annie grabbed his weapon as John rammed him with his shoulder, sending him flying down the hole in the center of the stairwell.

  We all looked at John in disbelief.

  “Hey! I played three years of football!” John said, with an innocent look covering his face.

  We all burst out laughing.

  “Way to go!” Annie said, patting him on the back, then checked the amo in the Uzi. “Let’s go!”

  I held Zac and John back, stopping them from darting into the hallway, just as a blast of gunfire went off. Annie shot off a gunfire blast down the hallway, covering us as we made our way down the hallway to another room, just as two more vamps with Uzis darted toward us. Zac stuck out his foot, knocking one of them to the ground as I tackled the other with a flying sidekick into his chest. With my Ballistics knife, I cut the vamps head off as blood spurt from his body onto the floor. I looked over and Zac was kneeling on the chest of the other vamp as Annie took his head off, her Ballistics knife in hand.

  Just then, another vamp ran toward us, but Annie shot him with her Ballistics knife right between the eyes, sending him quickly to the floor. She grabbed her knife back and the guy’s Uzi, then threw it to John. I quickly shoved my Glock into the back of my pants and grabbed the Uzi off the floor from the vamp I’d just taken down.

  I darted quickly down the hallway head on into three other vamps. I kicked one square in the chest with a flying side kick, while Zac shot the head off another. John shot another point blank in the chest, and Annie finished him off.

  “We need to find Drake fast before he disappears!” I yelled as we darted up the stairs leading to the great room. Three more vamps headed toward us head on with bloodlust in their eyes. I took down the first, ripping a Chinese throwing star from my belt, I threw it expertly between his eyes, then I quickly beheaded him, while Zac shot the other point blank in the chest. Annie practically scaled the wall and landed on the other vamp, ramming her Ballistics knife through his skull and into his brain. He didn’t move again.

  When we came to the landing above the great room, a round of gunfire went off just above our heads. “Hold it right there!” Drake’s baritone voice bellowed across the room. I took a step toward the stairs, but Drake pointed his Uzi directly at Zac’s head. “Star, hold it right there or pretty boy dies!” Two guards flanked him and more than twenty vamps filled the room.

  We froze.

  Without turning my head, I said to Zac in a very low voice that only he could hear. “Zac, run. Annie and I will create a diversion so you and John can get out. The Challenger GT is parked around the corner with a small arsenal in the trunk. If I don’t come out in five minutes, blow up the building and take down anyone who runs out.”

  “Abbey,” Zac said, “I’m not leaving you, so don’t ask me to. If you die, then I’ll die with you.”

  “Put down your weapons and slowly descend the stairs!” Drake interrupted us, then he trained his weapon directly at Zac.

  “Zac, you have to go now. Run,” I instructed, talking low enough so only Zac could hear.

  “Abbey, I’m not leaving you.”

  “We’re out of time, you two,” Annie replied, then she looked into my eyes as a devilish grin lit her lips. “Well, if we’re going down, then let’s go down with a bang. What do you say, Star? For old time’s sake?”

  A smiled curled the corner of my lips as I looked at Annie. “Well, it’s not the first time we were outnumbered. And there’s four of us. Better odds than we’ve had before.”

  Suddenly John took off, running back the way we came.

  “Make that three,” Annie replied, then smiled.

  It was just as well. At least one of us would live.

  I looked at Zac, then at Annie. “Let’s do it,” I replied, then together, we fired our Uzis at every vamp in the room.

  “I want Star and the boy alive! Kill the blonde!” Drake yelled over the gunfire suddenly exploding within the room. Within a second, the vamps rushed us, and we took them all down. Zac ripped the heads off some, then shot another, placing the pistol right between the guy’s eyes. Annie’s karate and jujitsu moves were unsurpassed as she moved with lightning speed, ripping apart the vamps in her wake. As for me, I ripped apart every vamp in my way, blowing the heads off any who got in my way as I made my way purposefully across the room, my eyes never leaving Drake.

  Suddenly, Annie was shot in the chest, throwing her to the ground face down, but my eyes never left Drake. Venom filled my mouth in anticipation of the kill. I took my time, killing any vamps who got in my way, as I walked purposefully toward Drake. The corner of my lips curled into a menacing smile, as fear filled Drake’s eyes.

  I was going to enjoy this.

  But behind me, a voice yelled, “Stop right there, Star, or he dies.”

  I froze, not wanting to look. Afraid of what I would see, but my worst fears were realized when I turned my head slightly and saw that a vamp held Zac with his arm wrapped around his throat, using him as a shield and a machete at his neck. That vamp was going to pay.

  “He’s dead anyway,” I bluffed, vengeance filling my voice as I took a step toward Drake, looking very much the vampire that I was.

  “I mean it, Star! One more step toward Drake and his head comes off!” the rogue vamp yelled meaningfully across the room.

  “Then you’ll die, too,” I replied, as my emerald eyes flared, and vengeance filled my voice, “along with Drake.”

  The vamp smiled. “I’m dead anyway,” he replied repeating my own words with a smile.

  “Star,” Drake interrupted, his lips curled into a smile, “do you really want your pretty boy to die?” Then he took a step purposefully toward me. “Come now, Star, let’s be reasonable.”

  And his words struck a nerve. “Those were the words my father said to you long ago … just before you killed him.”

  Drake’s voice was low. “That was long ago.”

  One corner of my lips pulled menacingly into a half smile. “Not to me, Clark.”

  Drake’s smile faded at the use of his past name.

  “You’re going down, Drake,” I said, taking a step toward him.

  “Not another step, Star!” the vamp holding Zac yelled across the room. I glanced at Annie lying on the floor. She wasn’t moving. “I’ll kill him! I will!”

  “Go ahead,” I bluffed, but suddenly a trickle of blood oozed from the edge of the machete at Zac’s throat.

  “You don’t really mean it, Star,” the rogue vamp yelled nervously across the room.

  “I don’t?” I asked, turning the full force of my eyes on him. “What do you think?”

  But then something happened that I didn’t expect. Suddenly, Zac’s body shimmered and shook, his features blurring as his body morphed and changed right before my eyes. Within a second, it appeared that the rogue vamp was holding Drake.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Zac yelled in Drake’s perfect baritone voice.

  The rogue vamp holding him was so stunned that he released him, and immediately took a step back, his eyes wide. “What the hell?”

  That was all the time I needed.

  Immediately, I grabbed one of my throwing stars from my belt buckle and hit the rogue vamp right between the eyes and he fell back instantly. In a flash Zac grabbed Annie’s Ballistics knife and beheaded the vamp without a second thought. Instantly, I wheeled around, and within the flutter of a butterfly’s wing, I pulled my Ballistics knife from my boot and turned to shove it into Drake’s chest, but stopped short when something hit me square in the chest, and extreme pain radiated throughout my body, reaching to the ends of my fingertips.

  “What did you do to me?” I asked Drake,
as I fell to the floor, unable to move.

  Zac darted instantly across the room with Annie’s Ballistics knife raised high above his head, ready to plunge it into Drakes chest, when Drake shot him in the chest with prongs, sending an electric shock through his body, rendering him helpless.

  My heart ached as I tried to get up from the floor, but there was no feeling at all within my arms, legs or body, and I could barely speak. At that moment, I never wanted to kill anyone more than I wanted to kill Drake, but all I could do was watch, hoping he wouldn’t kill Zac as a tear slid slowly down my cheek.

  But he stepped right over Zac and walked toward me. with vengeance filling his eyes.

  Drake stopped above me as Zac watched with concern filling his eyes. Tears welled up within his emerald-green eyes as he mouthed the words “I love you” from across the room.

  “I love you, too,” I answered, then said. “Close your eyes, Zac.” But he just shook his head as tears slid slowly down his cheeks.

  Then I turned my attention toward Drake, walking purposefully toward me, and my heart filled with regret. Regret that it all had to end so soon, despite my over 250 some years. Regret that Zac would watch me die. But most of all, regret that I wouldn’t have eternity to spend with him.

  Drake stood over me with a sneer lighting his lips. “How do you feel, Star?” he gloated, twirling a knife within his fingertips. He was taking his time.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know, Clark?” I asked, forcing the words from my lips along with my breath.

  “Always the confident one, aren’t you?” Drake asked, placing a foot on either side of my body, still twirling the knife. So that was how I was going to die. He would either stab me to death, then cut off my head, or cut out my heart. Either way, I hoped it was quick.

  “You’ll never be the one to break me, Clark,” I replied, my eyes narrowing.

  “We shall see,” he replied with a sneer lighting his lips, clearly amused. “You see? My experiment was a success,” Drake said looking over at Zac. “And now that I have him, what do I need with you?” then he knelt over my body, with a knee on either side. He looked closely at the knife’s long blade, then into my eyes. “Now that I know all I need is your blood or his, what do I need you for?” Then a sneer lifted the corner of his lips, “After all, he’s filled with your blood.”

  “Get it over with, Drake,” I taunted, my eyes flaring. “Go ahead and kill me. You always were a coward.”

  Drake’s eyes narrowed. “Coward? I am no coward!”

  So, I’d struck a nerve. “Years ago, my father invited you into our house to talk rationally, but you were too much of a coward to comply. Obviously, you were too scared to come into the house because you didn’t know if you were outnumbered or not.” I took a breath, feeling it go into my lungs as feeling within my chest started to return. I had to keep him talking. “So being the coward that you are, you called him out! And then you gunned him down like a dog in our front yard where you knew the odds!” I stopped, my eyes flaring, then continued. “My father had more guts in his little finger than you ever had! Even after all these years!”

  Drake’s eyes flared as he sat on my chest. At first, I could feel nothing, then feeling slowly began to come back, step by little step. “You have no idea of what you are speaking, Star! He was a traitor!”

  “No, you were the traitor, Clark!” I said, as my breath finally started coming back and my fingertips began to tingle. “My father came out into the yard, unarmed! He wasn’t afraid to face you! He gave his life to protect me! And like the coward that you are, you gunned him down like a dog!”

  Drake smiled, then ran the knife along the side of my cheek as a sneer lit his lips. “That may be well and good, Star. But who won in the end?”

  “You’re a coward!” I yelled into his face. “And nothing’s changed! Look at you now! The only way you could defeat me was to render me helpless! You don’t even have the courage to fight me like a man! No, instead, you’d rather attack me when I’m down … literally! You were a coward then and you’re still a coward now!”

  Drake’s sneer turned to a scowl as he raised the dagger high into the air, holding it in both of his shaking hands. “Go to Hell, Star!”

  “You first!” a male voice yelled from the landing. Drake’s head snapped up quickly, just as a bullet pierced his brain, right between his eyes. A look of horror filled his eyes as he looked down at me, then his eyes suddenly glazed over as he fell onto me, across my chest.

  I heard footsteps behind my head, stepping purposefully toward me, when suddenly a face appeared within my vision. “What are you doing down there, Star?”

  “Verus!” I sighed in relief. “I thought you’d never get here! Get this oaf off me, will you?” Verus laughed as he pulled Drake’s body off mine and the feeling slowly returned to my hands. “What the hell did he do to me, anyway?”

  “He hit you with a thousand volts of electricity,” Verus explained, as he turned Drake’s body onto his back. “It disables shape shifters, vamps, too, but it prevents you from shifting.”

  “No joke!” I replied, wondering what he was doing. “It prevented me from even moving!”

  “Don’t worry,” Verus explained, reaching into my boot, “It’ll wear off soon.”

  “What the hell are you doing, V?” I asked, watching him pull up my pant leg where my Ballistics knife was strapped to my ankle.

  “You mind if I borrow this for a bit?” Verus asked matter of fact, indicating the knife.

  “Sure,” I replied, then added. “As long as you don’t use it on me.”

  Leaning across my leg, his wavy light brown hair fell lazily across my leg as he unstrapped my knife with a laugh. “As tempting as that might be, you’re safe with me. Don’t ever forget that.”

  I nodded, as feeling started to return to my arms and legs.

  “How are you feeling, anyway?” Verus asked, matter of fact, as if we were on the veranda sipping iced tea, watching the Kentucky Derby.

  I laughed and shook my head. “I’ve felt better, but the feeling’s starting to return.”

  “Wait just a minute,” Verus said, as if watching the winning touchdown in a football game.

  “What the hell?” Drake asked, reaching up to dig the bullet from the center of his forehead.

  “I’ll be right back. I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” Verus said to me without looking, then turned his attention to Drake. He walked purposefully toward Drake and fell to his knees, straddling his chest. He raised my Ballistics knife high into the air as his green eyes flared. “On behalf of Priscus, myself, victims of the wars, and any other person who has suffered at your hands, I send you to Hell!”

  “No, no, Verus!” Drake said, raising his hands in protection like the coward that he was. “You can’t do this! I created you!”

  “No,” Verus said, shaking his head. “God created me! Now I’m sending you back to him! But I have a feeling he doesn’t want you, so I’m sending you to the devil! Have fun, Titus, … in Hell!”

  And with that, Verus brought the knife down hard into Drake’s chest, then twisted the knife, as blood poured from his mouth. Soon, his eyes became fixed.

  Chapter 19: Home

  Feeling was slowly returning to my body, allowing me to sit up. I looked over at Zac and relief filled his eyes. I smiled, knowing he would be fine.

  “Well, aren’t you worried about me at all?” another voice came from the landing; a voice I would always know, pulling my attention momentarily away from Zac.

  “Rick! You’re alive!” I exclaimed, turning to face him. And John was on his heels, smiling.

  “Of course! What did you think? That I was going to die and let you have all the fun?” Rick asked, sitting on the ground beside me. “John came back for us. Once we dug out the bullets, Verus and I healed pretty quickly.” Then he ripped open his shirt. “You wanna see?”

  “Please, Rick!” I exclaimed, shielding my eyes. “Too much info!”

/>   Rick laughed, until he saw Annie lying lifeless upon the floor. “Annie!” he exclaimed as he ran to her side. Slowly I got to my feet and followed.

  Rick knelt beside her and I knelt on her other side as tears filled my eyes. For here was Annie—my friend Acantha for so many years—lying lifeless, face down upon the floor.

  “Annie,” Rick said as tears streamed down his face. “Annie you can’t leave me! Not after all these years.” Then he gingerly turned her onto her back as her head lolled to the side. “Not when I’ve finally found you again.” Then he smoothed locks of her light blonde hair gently away from her face. “I love you, Annie,” he whispered into her ear, as tears filled my eyes. Then, with tears streaming steadily down his cheeks, he gingerly kissed her still lips.

  Then her lips responded as they slowly kissed him back.

  I started laughing through my own tears.

  “I can’t believe you, Acantha!” Rick said, pulling back to look at her face as she slowly opened her eyes. “You’ve been awake this whole time! You made me worry about you just to hear me say those things!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Annie replied with a devilish grin.

  “You’re a piece of work, Acantha, a real …” But his rants were suddenly cut off as she silenced him with her lips, and he responded, pulling her into his arms, his lips never leaving hers.

  I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to Zac, while Verus and John gathered the weapons lying nearby, leaving the vamp body parts on the floor littering the great room.

  “Zac, how are you feeling?” I asked, kneeling beside him as my wavy brown hair fell across his chest. “Do you have any feeling yet?”

  Zac smiled mischievously, then replied, “I can feel my lips now.”

  “Oh, you can, huh?” I answered, laughing. “Can you feel this, too?” I asked as I gingerly kissed his beautiful cheek and my breath caught. He was beautiful before, but his perfection was going to take some getting used to. And his soul was still the most beautiful of all.