Tall, Dark & Fangsome

by Michelle Rowen

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. Blood and guts is hell on a manicure.”

  “So, do you think you could take me in a fight?” he asked.

  I eyed him. He was big and brawny and looked tough enough to smash beer cans against his forehead if he was so inclined. “Let’s never find out, shall we?”

  His expression soured. “You’re not too friendly, are you?”

  “The least friendly person I know, actually.”

  “I don’t normally take any shit from women. My ex-wife used to cost me a fortune in alimony. She was a total bitch.”

  “Was?” I asked, tentatively.

  “Yeah. Was.”

  “Look, I don’t want any problems tonight.”

  “Do I seem the type to give somebody like you a problem?”

  “Actually, yes.” My heart rate had picked up. “Very much so and regularly. And I’m not in the mood to deal with any extra strife in my life so if you wouldn’t mind leaving me alone so I can go home to my Slayer of Slayers lair, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “You didn’t answer my question before,” he said.

  “What question?”

  “Do you think you could take me in a fight?”

  “I don’t think so,” I answered honestly, a chill going down my spine. “So why don’t you go away now and I won’t have to scream my head off for help.”

  “Nobody’s going to help you,” he said. “Nobody helps anybody anymore. It’s everyone for themselves, dog eat dog. Kill or be killed.”

  “If you’re thinking about mugging me, I think I have about five bucks in my purse. Hardly worth the effort.”

  He laughed. “I don’t attack women. What kind of a monster do you take me for?”

  I finally exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “You were seriously freaking me out. Then why are you acting like this?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like somebody who is going to attack somebody.”

  “I’m stalling for time.”

  I frowned. “You’re… stalling for time?”

  “Yeah. You walk really fast. I needed to let my friends have a chance to catch up.”

  “Friends,” I repeated, feeling the churning, sick feeling in my stomach begin to radiate out to the rest of my body.

  He nodded. “I think they’re here now.”

  I heard footsteps approaching from different directions and the outlines of several men appeared in the darkness.

  “Good job,” one of the men told the bouncer. “You definitely earned your finder’s fee.”

  The bouncer looked at me. “Who says slayers and vampires can’t be friends?”

  I glanced at the other two hunters who already had their stakes in hand.

  Three hunters. One me.

  Those weren’t very good odds at all, were they?

  Chapter 11

  Right. So here we were again. Cornered by vampire hunters. The story of my life. Did I deserve a stake through my heart for making questionably intelligent choices?

  Probably.

  Was that what I was looking for every time I wandered outside after dark?

  Maybe it was. My actions did seem to speak louder than words.

  I’d been staked before. Obviously I’d lived, since it hadn’t hit my heart, but it still hurt like hell and added to my selection of nightmares from my subconscious juke box.

  If these losers were going to try to kill me, I sure hoped they had better aim than the last guy.

  “She’s so quiet,” one of the other hunters observed. “All reflective and shit. Is she going to fight us or what?”

  “Not sure,” the bouncer replied. “But if you wouldn’t mind settling up, I’ll leave you to your mayhem.”

  “You have been mighty helpful, Bruce.”

  The bouncer smiled widely. “And for the right price I’d be happy to be helpful in the future as well.”

  My throat was dry. “You’re selling out vamps just to make some pocket change?”

  Bruce the bouncer shrugged. “Survival of the fittest. Blood ain’t cheap, you know.”

  My hands felt sweaty. “How much did I go for?”

  “A thousand.” Bruce looked at the hunter.

  A thousand? A measly thousand bucks? If I wasn’t so scared I’d be insulted.

  “You know—” my voice shook more than I’d like it to “—I once knew a vampire who sold out other vamps to hunters for money.”

  Bruce snorted. “Yeah? And I care about that, because?”

  “Because now she’s dead.”

  He mock-shivered. “Ooo, scary. Let me guess… you killed her?”

  I shook my head. “Hunters don’t exactly make the best business partners.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

  Then he gasped.

  The hunter next to him had taken the opportunity to sink a stake into his chest. “The lady’s right. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice, okay, chum?”

  “Damn.” Bruce the bouncer dropped to his knees and looked down at the sharp piece of wood protruding from his heart with wide eyes. He pulled it out a moment before he disintegrated into a dark puddle of goo.

  “Are you going to kill me now, too?” My voice sounded oddly emotionless.

  The hunter studied me for a moment. “Have to say you’re not making this half as much fun as I thought it would be, given your reputation and all. Are you positive you’re the real Slayer of Slayers?”

  “That’s what it says on my business cards.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Why did your eyes turn black all of a sudden?”

  “Because that’s what happens when I take off my accessories.” I slid the gold chain I’d removed during the slayage of Bruce the bouncer into my pocket.

  Sure, I perhaps had a bit of a death wish now, but I wasn’t a total victim. Desperate times called for desperate measures, after all.

  I exhaled the last breath I actually needed and felt my head clear of any racing, frightened thoughts. My heartbeat came to a slow and sudden stop. The night around me ceased to feel even slightly cold and my vision narrowed in on the three weapon-carrying vampire hunters facing me.

  “Leave me alone,” I said evenly. “And I won’t have to star in any of your future nightmares.”

  The first hunter laughed and looked at his buddies each in turn. “Do you hear that? I’m scared now.”

  When he returned his attention to me I grabbed him by the throat. “Leave. Me. Alone. Was that hard to understand? I thought I said it rather clearly.”

  With a shove I launched him backward. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He coughed and sputtered, then raised his furious gaze to mine. I saw him in tunnel vision now. Just him. No one else. And his throat did look rather appetizing with my handprint on it.

  “Vicious, evil creature of darkness,” he growled. “The world would be better without you in it.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Right back at you, sunshine.”

  He was about to rush me, stake held high, but a hand clamped down on his shoulder and he turned to face whoever was behind him.

  A punch landed across the hunter’s jaw and he spun back around. A thin line of blood and saliva flew from his mouth. Gideon stood there wearing a black scarf that partially covered his face—but not enough to shield his identity.

  “You should leave my friend alone,” Gideon said. He was talking to the hunter.

  The hunter looked up in shock, holding the side of his face. “My God. Gideon Chase? Is that you?” He shakily got back to his feet and glanced at his two friends. “I can’t believe this. You’re supposed to be dead!”

  “I am, aren’t I?”

  The hunter nodded. “I went to your funeral.”

  “Thank you for that.” Gideon cast a quick look in my direction and then at the other two surprised hunters on either side of him. “I assume it was a good turnout?”

  “Of course.” The hunter nodded enthusiastically. “
Very fitting for a great man like yourself.” He looked at me. “We cornered the Slayer of Slayers. Do you want to do the honors?”

  “No. As I said, Sarah is my friend. Or at least—” his eyes narrowed on me “—I thought she was. I’m not so sure anymore.”

  My nightwalker was very excited to see Gideon again. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him. I firmly muzzled and restrained her.

  The hunter frowned then. “I don’t understand. You’re friends with a… a vampire? That doesn’t make any sense. What happened? Were you injured in the fire?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Your body wasn’t recovered. You were presumed dead. You must come with me and we can tell everyone—”

  Gideon’s arm moved and I saw a glint of silver under the moonlight. The hunter clutched his throat and made a sick, gurgling sound as Gideon slit his throat. Dark blood welled between the hunter’s fingers.

  “Actually,” Gideon said evenly, “I’d prefer you didn’t tell anyone about my little secret if you wouldn’t mind.” He arched his arm and the next-closest hunter got the blade embedded in his chest. “That goes for you as well.”

  Both men fell to the ground dead.

  Since I wasn’t currently wearing my chain, the fear and shock I should have felt at witnessing these murders felt distant to me, as if I was watching this on television. But this was real. Gideon had killed two out of three of the hunters without even blinking.

  In front of me was a great deal of blood that filled me more with hunger than fear. I raised my black eyes to the man in front of me.

  “Aren’t you going to thank me?” Gideon asked.

  “For what?”

  “For saving your life again?”

  Thank you, Gideon, my nightwalker chimed inside me.

  But I said nothing.

  They hadn’t threatened him. One hunter had even wanted to help him.

  “Just a moment.” Gideon held up a finger. “There’s one more for me to deal with, isn’t there?”

  But the third hunter wasn’t there anymore. I heard the slap of hard-soled boots as he ran away down the street. However, there was another man standing in his place. This one wore a red mask.

  “Your hunter is getting away,” Red Devil Thierry said. “Shouldn’t you be in murderous pursuit?”

  Gideon smiled broadly. “See, Sarah? I had a funny feeling that if I followed you from my hotel tonight as I did last night there might be a chance I’d catch a glimpse of the elusive Red Devil again. But this is more than I’d hoped for.”

  I reached into my pocket with a shaking hand. I knew I had to get my chain back on while I still had some semblance of control. I couldn’t feel it. Frantically I scanned the alley. There it was. On the ground a half dozen feet away. It must have slipped out when I tossed the hunter away from me.

  My gaze tracked back to Gideon and Thierry, who studied each other intensely. For the first time in several minutes, my fear completely slipped through to the surface. My heart let out one small, barely noticeable thump.

  “This doesn’t have to happen,” I managed. “Not here. Not tonight.”

  Gideon bent over and pulled his knife from the dead hunter’s chest. “It was a little earlier than I’d planned, but I can adapt.”

  “I’m told you have a grimoire.” Thierry still spoke in that low, raspy voice.

  “Has naughty little Sarah told you all my secrets?”

  “You will need to give me the grimoire and then leave her alone. Permanently.”

  “I need to, do I?” Gideon glanced at me. “Just look at her, though. How could you possibly want to break her curse? She’s so powerful like this. Can’t you feel it? She’s better than a normal vampire. So unbelievably powerful. It would be a waste to snuff out all of that possibility.”

  “Give me the grimoire,” Thierry persisted.

  “I’d be happy to give it to Sarah if she still wants it. But first you need to die.”

  Thierry grabbed him by the front of his shirt and glared at him. “You first.”

  Gideon easily twisted around and out of Thierry’s grip like the trained, athletic hunter he was. I watched, half entranced, half panicked at what would happen next.

  “Stop this,” I said, taking a step toward them. “Please. Nobody has to get hurt here.”

  “Stay back,” Thierry said.

  “Thanks to Sarah’s blood last night I’m feeling much better than I was before.” Gideon clutched his knife tighter. “That’s why I sought you out—the infamous Red Devil. My last kill as a fully human hunter. Let’s make it a good one, shall we?”

  Thierry didn’t have a weapon, but he lunged at Gideon anyhow, his fist connecting with the hunter’s jaw. Gideon’s head snapped to the side. I knew Thierry was very strong, a strength that had grown over all of his centuries. How did Gideon think he had any chance against him?

  But Gideon was fast, and he easily ducked the next blow. The silver of his knife flashed bright a moment before it made contact with Thierry’s chest, sinking in deep enough to make Thierry gasp in pain. He shoved Gideon back from him.

  Thierry glared at him. “You missed my heart.”

  “True. A bit unsatisfying.” Gideon glanced at the knife. “However, considering this silver blade is coated in dead blood I think I’ve done enough.”

  “Go to hell, hunter,” Thierry growled.

  Dead blood. I searched my memory for what I’d learned through my recent vampire research. The blood of a dead human could be used as a poison against vampires. But the hunter had only just died minutes ago. The blood on the ground was still fresh enough to be appetizing to me. I thought “dead blood” had to be much older than that.

  Blood. My nightwalker self moved closer to the surface of my consciousness. So much delicious blood.

  Thierry staggered back a few feet, now favoring his injured side. Seeing the sudden weakness, Gideon moved toward him again.

  “You’ve definitely earned your grimoire, Sarah,” he said, flicking a glance in my direction. “And my renewed trust.”

  He arched the knife toward Thierry’s chest again, but I quickly moved toward him and grabbed his arm to feel the hard bicep underneath.

  “What are you doing?” he snapped.

  “Stopping you.”

  “Let me finish him.”

  “No.”

  He frowned at me. “Let go of me or you won’t get your precious grimoire.”

  “You can shove the grimoire.”

  I clamped my grip down on Gideon’s wrist until the pain made him drop the knife.

  “Sarah, what are you—” He gasped in surprise when I wrenched his head to the side and sank my fangs into his throat as the dark thirst swept over me. He weakly pushed back against me as I pressed him up against the brick wall—our positions the opposite of those we’d had in his hotel room.

  My mind went blank to everything except the salty tang of blood that spilled into my mouth.

  Almost blank. My hand sought out the pocket of his pants and I pulled out the BlackBerry. I slipped it into the pocket of my jeans. He didn’t feel a thing. After all, he was a bit preoccupied dealing with my teeth in his neck.

  Only a short taste, unfortunately—and not nearly long enough to transfer the vampire virus to him.

  Thierry hauled me off him so forcefully that I staggered across the alley to whack my head against the hard wall, and I fell to the ground. It was the second time that day I’d hit my head.

  But this time I wasn’t knocked unconscious. Something else happened. Thanks to the pain now ringing through my skull, the nightwalker fog cleared a little. Enough to allow me the chance to crawl on the ground until I found the gold chain. I scrambled to put it back on as quickly as I could, and my head immediately cleared.

  I gasped for a breath of air. My heart began to beat again.

  Thierry crouched next to me. His gray eyes behind the mask were filled with concern.

  “Are you all right?” he demande
d. “Did I hurt you?”

  I blinked rapidly. Did he hurt me? Is that what he asked?

  “I’m okay,” I managed. My eyes widened. “Gideon—”

  I looked over to where I’d chomped on the hunter in question only to find that the alley was empty now except for the two of us.

  And the bodies of the two hunters.

  And the dark stain of Bruce the bouncer.

  Thierry got to his feet before helping me to mine, and then grimaced in pain. He held a hand against his injured chest just under his heart. I could see the blood. There was a lot of it. Instead of hunger, my stomach twisted with concern.

  “Gideon said the dead blood on the blade—”

  “It’s fine.” It was the first time I’d ever heard that much pain in his voice. “It won’t heal as quickly as normal, but it’s fine.”

  “You’re lying.”

  He looked over at the bodies. “I need to call somebody to take care of this mess.”

  He took a step back from me and faltered, then braced himself against the wall.

  A sharp line of panic sliced through me. He so wasn’t fine. At all.

  “Then call somebody,” I said. “But you’re coming home with me.”

  That earned me a glare, but not an argument. I felt sick at the thought that Gideon had managed to hurt Thierry, but why was I surprised? That had been his goal—to kill the Red Devil—just as it was his goal for me to turn him into a vampire tomorrow at midnight.

  The man had a lot of goals.

  In one fell swoop I’d betrayed his confidence and attached myself to his jugular—as well as siding with the Red Devil and thus diminishing my chances of ever getting my hands on that grimoire. Not a great way to win friends and influence people.

  I wouldn’t think about what the repercussions would be just yet.

  One thing at a time. I had to make sure Thierry was okay, whether or not he’d ever admit his true identity to me. Then I’d deal with Gideon. Because if he still wanted me to sire him tomorrow, he’d just experienced a sneak peek.

  Despite his assurances that he was feeling just peachy keen—my words, not his—by the time he’d made a quick phone call to whoever might be the local go-to guy for corpse clean-up and we’d made our way back to George’s house, the “Red Devil” was very pale under his red mask. He even leaned on me slightly as we walked up the driveway. I knew he wouldn’t do that unless he was feeling pretty badly. After all, the closer he got, the more likely it was that I’d discover his big fat secret.