Ravana looked over to Delia. “Does it say what that combination was? The formula?”
“No, it just says it had more to do with the blood of the hunter mixing with the blood from Dracul. He tried alchemy compounds to duplicate his results. Then when he was down to the last of Dracul’s blood, he decided to mix his blood and Dracul’s with his hosts. He had two candidates. When the first one appeared to have worked, he repeated the process with the second. In the case of the male, he reverted slightly. More monster than hunter, or human. The second host was an exact match. He would have made more, but he was out of Dracul’s blood.” Delia stopped talking and looked at her boss. Then to me. “He decided he wanted an army of his kind.
“You were the first, obviously, since you’ve been more vampire than human. However, there is a small section in here related to your condition. I just have to translate it.”
I didn’t know what to think. I knew the facts of the story. These were written accounts of his experiments. “Who wrote this book?”
“It looks like he wrote it himself. Other books I found that hint about him are from after this period. The cult world has tried to keep tabs on the Ancient One. That’s all he’s referred to as after this point. Though it’s nothing we haven’t already known. He disappeared after losing his two soldiers. Though none of the texts ever said why he lost you. This one reads like a journal.”
“A journal? Does it say how he lost us?”
“Yes, and he seemed quite distraught by it. Massimo was with him the longest, but that you know.”
“Yes, I remember. I lived with him for five years before he brought Ravana to us.”
“Yes, then he talks about taking her. How her family had tried to kill her for being who she was.”
“Family? I had a family? Does it say who they were?”
“No. I’m sorry. Don’t you know?”
“No. When I woke, I had no memory of them or of myself. I had no idea who I was or what I was.”
“You were amazing.” I don’t know what made me say it. Surely, she had to have known I had a few of the answers she sought. Why hadn’t she asked?
She rolled her eyes at me and left the room, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her making Delia jump and the book fall to the floor.
I let myself sulk for about ten minutes, and that was enough. Finding out I had a family, and they didn’t even miss me when I was gone was not a scenario I had envisioned. I had always thought they were beside themselves with grief for losing their daughter. I never thought they would have been the ones to order my execution.
Then it sunk in and I realized I had never considered the fact that Massimo had in fact been turned well before I had. He would have information regarding my family and who I was before Emerick murdered me. Could I believe him? His sole reason for working with the Order was to get close to me. I knew that was his only reason for accepting. Unless he truly just wanted to be what he once was. A protector of the innocent. That’s what all the books say, according to Delia.
Hunters were born with the abilities to match the creatures we were meant to destroy. Since I don’t remember my life before my death, I had no idea what I was born to do. I only knew what I could do since I died. Now, thanks to Delia’s books, I knew I was murdered.
Massimo left the building behind me when I’d emerged from my room. Steely-eyed as ever. I slipped on my Louboutin’s and then headed straight for the elevator. I wasn’t interested in hearing anything more from Emerick’s journal. How did that damn thing end up in my home anyway? I wasn’t paying attention when we ended up in the Industrial District and walked head-on into a group of vamps.
“Red, I think you might want to pay attention now.” I could hear Massimo say behind me.
I spun around, letting my hair whip around me. “Why?”
“If I had known it was going to be this kind of night,” a familiar deep voice said from across the street. “I would have worn a nicer suit.”
“Kyron, you only have the one suit.” I turned once more, slowly. Turning on my usual seductive charm for the demon facing me.
“Red, I see you’re keeping curious company this evening. Or is this man bothering you?”
“The only thing bothering me is your aftershave.” I winced at the aroma as Kyron came closer, moving up on the curb at my side.
“You really do try to hurt my feelings, don’t you?” He waved a hand. “No, matter. I have more important things on my schedule this evening and regret I won’t be able to stick around and entertain you.” He snapped his fingers and we were surrounded by his henchmen.
“Kyron, for once I wasn’t looking for you. You’re free to leave and take your goons with you.”
“How thoughtful. No, I think maybe a few should stick around. You know that’s not how our arrangement works.”
“Kyron, just leave,” Massimo finally spoke up.
Whether he knew I was about to snap, or he just wanted to get me alone, I don’t know. He had questions, and answers to my questions. I knew we would have to speak eventually, but I just wasn’t in the mood.
“Sorry, my dear. I just can’t do it. Unless you have an inquiry.”
“Fine.” I put my hand up to Massimo. “What do you know of The Ancient One’s reasons for his experiments?”
“Oh, Ravana. I told you before. He wanted an equal.”
“Yes, but you never said he was also after that equal to be his mate for all eternity.” My temper was rising, and I didn’t know what would put it out.
“Red, calm down,” Massimo chided from behind me, but that definitely wasn’t going to work.
“Tell me, Kyron. How would he have used me? Why would he let me go?”
“He didn’t let you go. That’s the thing you’ve always gotten wrong. I’ve tried to tell you. The word is escaped, not abandoned.” He moved past me and then Massimo without a word. His men followed along, and I let out a long breath.
“What was that?”
“We have an understanding. He answers my questions and I don’t try to kill him. No answers and he’s dead. Without a question,” I looked around us for any stragglers, “he wouldn’t be safe. So, he’d leave his men to make my evening less boring.”
“Cat and mouse.”
“Exactly. He has his uses. Something the Order detests, but it’s my call.”
We wandered into Georgetown in literal silence. For a change, it didn’t seem much like anyone was out and about. I kept my glamour up anyway and when I looked back at Massimo, I realized he had done the same. I saw the shimmer around his body, but the look of him didn’t change for me.
His hair fell over his eye, but he made no attempt to move it. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t be able to tell he was staring at my every move. When he caught me looking at him, he started to scan the area. He didn’t look much different from any other time I saw him. Brooding, dark eyes, black jeans, black t-shirt, and his signature leather jacket. He wore black work boots, though they were never laced all the way. He had a very laid-back rocker look about him.
There was one thing I never noticed. The scar above his right eye. I don’t know how I never caught that before. It healed all wrong, making it look as though it had reopened before finally scaring over. That had to have happened to him when he was human. We didn’t get injuries that left scars anymore. Although, as a hunter, he should have healed entirely. So maybe it was more recent.
“You don’t remember either, do you?”
“Red, what are we doing out here? It’s dead. Literally.”
“Deflecting. So, that’s a no. You don’t know any more than I do about your life before.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it. There is no sense. Over a hundred years of trying and we’re never going to get it back.”
“I do want to talk about it.” I stopped him by the arm and made him turn to me. “You know. To some extent, you know about my life before he murdered me for his little game. Massimo, tell me.”
“Tell you what?” he yelled at me and the birds nesting nearby flew away.
I looked down to the ground. My hand fisted at my sides. I was starting to feel like the old me I had been this whole time was changing in his presence, and I didn’t like it.
“Tell me what you know about me. He didn’t just pick me off the street.”
“No, he didn’t. He chose you. Hand-picked you over a village of hunters. He sent me to study you. Your movements, your habits, likes, and dislikes. He wanted to know every intimate thing about you. When he finally felt like you were the right one, he made me grab you. So, yes. I know about you and your family. Not that I’d call them that.”
“Why won’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s something I swore I’d never share with you. Not until the time is right. Now, is not that time.”
“Why?”
A growl stopped us both dead. It was no animal hiding in the night. It was muffled and held a bit of derision and revulsion. The scent I picked up was demonic in nature, and I could tell Massimo was understanding that as well. This would be no ordinary vampire, which pissed me off more than the interruption.
We stood back to back trying to gauge where the beasts were coming from, but the noise never repeated. Instead, the large black form of a demon jumped from the trees to our left, and another two from the right. Whatever they were, they roamed on all fours like a dog. A hell-spawn sent to collect souls. Their black fur stood up, down their backs like spikes. Their eyes were as red as my hair, and they had fangs that far superseded any vampire.
They circled us, three against two. I wasn’t worried so much as thrown off guard. “We good?”
“Red! I don’t think we can do this.”
“You better not wimp out on me now. You want me? Prove you’re worthy.”
“Seriously? That’s the card you’re playing?” The beast closest to me lunged forward then pulled back, his jaw snapping the air in front of me. Toying me.
I moved, one foot going backward, fists up in front of me in a defensive stance. “Yes,” I said in a whisper, then yelled as the three of them lunged at us. “Now.”
I kicked off the ground and spun, slicing the animal with the silver edges of my heel. Its howl tore through the air and it closed its muzzle around my forearm. I screamed in pain.
“Red!”
I moved back nursing my arm once the beast released me. I saw Massimo out of the corner of my eye. He pulled the Sai from his back and had the first beast pierced through the neck. The hellhound that tried to eat me started coming back. I pulled my sword from my hip and ran toward it. Its nose went down aiming for my legs, but instead, I jumped up using the ground to launch me up over its head. One heel landed on the top of its head the other on its back, but not piercing it’s hid with my heels. I twisted my body and landed facing it from behind. When it stopped to turn around, I took off at a run heading straight for it. Instead of repeating my maneuver, I dropped to the ground alongside it and slid past its massive form. The blade of my sword reached out slicing its underbelly in the process. Blood fell to the ground below it, and the beast fell as well, struggling with its pain.
Massimo was underneath the open mouth of the third one. Sheathing my sword, I ran, leapt on two feet and landed on its back, straddling the hound.
“Now, where was that enthusiasm last night?”
I pulled twin daggers from my back reaching up and over its massive head and sliced the steel and iron into its throat. The beast dropped onto Massimo and he gasped under the weight of it.
“You’re right; that was fun.”
It wasn’t until I moved off the dead hound that I realized the other one hadn’t died when I cut it open. The giant creature lunged for me, and my response was off. An arrow landed in the hound’s eye and it dropped at my feet.
“Where did that come from?” Massimo was looking around, having crawled out from under the dead weight of the animal.
“I don’t—. I mean, that’s happened before. I guess I always thought it was you. Some convoluted way of helping me without interfering completely.”
“Huh.”
“I thought it was kind of sweet.”
“Wait… That would have earned me brownie points?”
“Had. Had earned you brownie points. Now, they belong to someone else.”
“Well, that’s hardly fair.”
“You’re not the hero with a bow.”
Before he had a chance to start the discussion of his lack of being in my good graces, I threw a hand up to stop him. Twigs snapped, leaves rustled, and I could smell the sticky copper tang of blood that did not match the animals. I placed my finger to my lips and moved further into the darkness given to us by the trees above.
“What in the bloody hell?” The tall blonde I’d seen with Massimo on occasion stepped out of the trees. He was moving from the opposite direction we had come from. A bit coincidental to be traveling not far behind the hellhounds he was studying. His hair was long, down to his shoulders, so it covered his face as he bent slightly to take in the dead form. Another tall blonde moved from the tree lines behind the first. His hair was trimmed short to his head and he had a fearful look in his eyes when he took in the sight of the beasts on the ground.
“What in the ever-living fuck are those things?” I could tell by the look on his face that he was a newborn.
“You turned him.” I was thinking. Seeing the newborn vamp made me jump out of hiding and confront Nunzio. “What were you thinking? Do you know there are laws against that? Of course, you do. You just don’t give a shit.”
“Oh, so this is the spunky red-head that has your head all twisted,” Nunzio spoke to Massimo as he stepped into the clearing.
“Not a good time, Nunz.”
“When is it, mate?” Nunzio eyed the newborn as he crouched beside the bodies of the hounds. “Oh, come now, pet. Let’s not get too close. They may be dead, but they are still very deadly to our kind.”
“He really doesn’t give a shit, does he?” I turned on Massimo.
He stood with his hands in his pockets and was actually laughing at his friend. “Nope, not at all.”
“That’s not entirely true. Take Jeffery here. I care about him. He hasn’t left me for some cockamamie idea of bedding a nasty little red-head with a severe bitch problem. This here is more woman than you can handle, my friend.” Nunzio was clearly talking to Massimo and pointing at me with a steady hand. While Jefferey looked close to nervousness.
I didn’t think. My hand closed into a fist and Massimo started to protest against Nunzio’s tirade. However, as he was still talking, he didn’t hear him before my fist crunched his windpipe.
“She loves that move.”
Jeffery moved to Nunzio’s side and gave me a nasty look, then settled on Massimo who shook his head.
“I wouldn’t try.”
While Nunzio waited for the healing process to help his breathing problem, I took my phone from my back pocket and called Delia. One hellhound was unheard of. Three was no coincidence. I also grabbed the arrow, now upset with myself for not thinking of it sooner.
“Is he going to be ok? He better be,” the newbie said with an expression of anger most seen in a lover.
“Seriously? What do you think you’re going to do about it if I kill him? It’s my job, and to be honest he annoys me enough to do it for fun.”
“Wow, bitch much,” Jeffery snapped back.
“Yes, it’s a part of my DNA. What’s your excuse?”
“Ladies, the claws. Let’s retract them,” Massimo started, then pointed to Nunzio. “Look, Jeffery. He’s going to be just fine. Didn’t he tell you about our abilities?”
“Of course, but…”
“But nothing. Stop being a little whine ass. How the hell is this guy going to make it with his head intact?” I snapped as I waited for Delia to answer.
“Easy, darlin. He has me.” Nunzio finally started talking again but made several failed attempts to do so
without coughing.
I forgot how slow it was for a vampire to heal itself. I usually reserved that kind of treatment for Massimo but figured that had to change since we were now working together. Although come to think of it, he did heal almost as fast as I did. That’s what made it so much fun.
“Then I guess he doesn’t have a chance.” I turned around paying attention to the phone in my hand. I had called Delia now, three times. Each one went to voicemail. She was on my schedule, so she should be available at a moment’s notice if I needed her.
I hit the end call button on the phone and dialed another number. When the call was answered a nasal voice said hello on the other end.
“Moon here, I need a check on Star. She’s not answering,” I said and almost disconnected the call. I put it back up to my ear. “I need sodium hydroxide. Enough for three hellhounds.”
“Three?” the voice spoke back.
“I didn’t stutter, did I? I need it now. Georgetown, Oxbow Park.”
“Ten minutes.” The phone went dead and I shoved it back in my shirt.
When I turned around, I just caught the blur of Nunzio moving from across the clearing to the spot before me.
“What?”
“Oh, you know what. I think I was saving you, for Mo. You see, my friend has been going out of his oyster over his feelings for you. So, I’ve been nice. You do that fucked up shit again and I might not be so nice.”
“Nunzio,” Massimo pleaded with his friend.
I held up a hand to Massimo to stop, and he took a step back. His hands went back to his pockets and he started scanning the area. We were still working after all.
I moved a step closer to the vamp, so my chest was close enough that we could touch if I swayed in the right direction. My hand went to his chest and started to caress the muscles I could feel beneath his Pink Floyd t-shirt. Being indifferent didn’t mean my touch wouldn’t throw him off. Regardless of his preferences, having your personal space invaded made everyone jumpy.
“Listen to me. If I decide you’re not worth my time, you die. If you get in my way, you die. If I think for one minute that you’re going to come after me,” I blurred over to Jeffery and placed my hands on either side of his head, “he dies. Understand?”
The Darker Side of Me (Ravana Moon Book 1) Page 8