The Vampire Files Anthology

by P. N. Elrod

  I dove for the pile of silverware that had scattered across the floor. I grabbed a steak knife and rolled onto my back.

  I flung the knife across the room. It flipped end over end and then buried itself in the fake Olivia’s heart.

  CHAPTER 3

  Becky’s screaming was like a shrill alarm clock in the background. I was tempted to shut her off, but she was nothing more than an ignorant pawn, who hadn’t tried to kill me, which meant I had to return the favor. Still, I kept her in my peripheral vision just in case.

  I started toward the archway where the not-Olivia had crumpled to the floor. I automatically reached for one of my dragon-clawed daggers when I realized I was still in human clothes and wasn’t wearing my weapons belt. I ground my teeth. It wasn’t likely they’d had the courtesy to bring my handbag along with me, much less my leather fighting suit and weapons.

  Rodán and the other Trackers needed to know what was going down, and I needed backup.

  “Give me your handbag.” I held my hand in Becky’s direction. The flour-coated simpleton stopped screaming as she grabbed her purse from off the floor and clutched it to her. Idiot. Facing her possible demise and she was protecting her Ferragamo purse from me. She had only one of her matching heels on; the other was near Carl’s body.

  With my hand still extended, I scowled at her. The floor started to rock again and Becky screamed and threw her handbag at me.

  I caught it and she yelped as I jerked the purse open in a not-so-delicate manner. I dug through it, found her cell phone, then dropped the purse on the floor. Becky started to scramble toward it but stopped when she got a good look at my expression.

  That’s right, lady. Don’t mess with a pissed-off blue-haired amethyst female Tracker.

  A sense of urgency made my skin feel like ants were crawling over me. I flipped the phone open and called our Proctor, Rodán, who was also my mentor and former lover.

  It didn’t take me long to explain everything to Rodán. He pinpointed my location by the cell phone signal and would send the Paranormal Task Force to clean up the mess and take care of Becky.

  I would have called Adam, who was an NYPD detective, or Olivia, but both were human and couldn’t enter—or know about—the Paranorm Center. Chills prickled my arms. I didn’t even know if Adam was alive. Or Olivia for that matter. Had the Metamorphs gotten to my lover or my partner?

  I pocketed the cell phone, scooped Carl’s gun up from the floor, then grabbed the elemental-magic-treated wrist and ankle cuffs. My eyes narrowed and my jaw set, I approached Becky.

  “No!” Her high-pitched voice was a squeak. “Don’t hurt me!”

  “Shut up.” I knelt in front of her, grabbed one of her wrists, and cuffed her to the handle on the door of the pantry. For good measure I cuffed her ankles, too. The PTF would be here in no time and take care of her.

  I stepped over the dead doubles of Adam’s and Olivia’s bodies before rushing through the archway. Pictures had fallen off the walls, lamps had toppled from end tables, glass from broken picture frames had shattered on the carpet from my mini-earthquake.

  From the looks of the place, the Metamorphs had taken over some human’s apartment. The front door of the small place was steps away. I tucked the handgun in my waistband and was out that door within seconds.

  I jogged down a set of stairs and pushed my way through a pair of double doors. Cool winter air filled my lungs as I ran around the building until I reached a fairly busy street. Amsterdam, close to West Forty-second Street. Now I had to get to the Paranorm Center which was below the Alice in Wonderland unbirthday party sculptures in Central Park on the Upper East Side.

  I pulled a glamour, making myself invisible to humans—who might freak at an amethyst woman with blue hair—and ran. As my bare feet met slush and snow, I wished desperately for my leather boots. Dark Elves generally don’t have a problem with cold, but having bare feet in polluted slush from melted snow was on the chilly side.

  My air element helped push me faster than my already enhanced speed. I would have been a blur to humans if they could have seen me.

  When I finally reached the unbirthday party sculptures, Angel was already there. She was walking the circumference of the sculpture counterclockwise, reciting the engraved nonsensical poem to open the door. “‘ ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.’” I had no idea what the poem was supposed to mean, but it would open the door beneath the toadstool.

  Angel was a beautiful blond Doppler with corkscrew curls and was a squirrel in her animal form. She looked like a bubbly cheerleader but had graduated from Harvard and had been an intern with NASA.

  “Have any other Trackers made it here?” I asked when I came to a full stop.

  “Not that I know of.” Angel was now at the back of the sculpture, and the door beneath the toadstool began to open. She scanned me with her brilliant blue eyes. “You look amazingly healthy considering your clothing is bloody rags. Kind of like you’ve been engaged in some one-on-one with a leopard and he got in a few good licks.”

  “We have to hurry.” I didn’t have time to go into anything but what we were here for. “If the information I was given is correct, they’ve already replaced the council members, and that leaves us with two tasks.”

  “Find the real council members,” Angel said.

  “And stop the charade going on now.” I glanced into the darkened park. “We’ll take care of this. Other Trackers will have to save the real council members.”

  We started down the winding set of stone stairs. “How did the Metamorphs find out that the council meeting is really being held here and not at another location?” Angel asked.

  “Long story.” Inside I groaned. The Metamorphs had tricked me by making me believe that was my Adam they’d had as their captive. I’d spilled it out of fear for him—but I’d also been sure I would have the opportunity to escape come sundown. And I would stop the Metamorphs.

  The Paranorm Center was a throwback to the Otherworld most of us originated from, some centuries, if not thousands of years, ago. Everything reminded me of home in the belowground realm of the Dark Elves … so medieval.

  Torches flared to life to light the way into the darkness as the door slid shut behind us. Dark Elves have incredible night vision and I didn’t have to watch my step as I took the twisting turns of the rock staircase, which went almost as deep into the earth as the Realm of the Drow was in Otherworld.

  When we reached the bottom we were in the enormous main foyer, which had five separate archways. We paused and then each took a side of the archway that would lead us to the main area of Paranorm Center. The massive hallway was empty. Quiet. The council chamber doors were closed.

  “Some sentries they are,” Angel said beneath her breath as we looked at the Dryads sleeping in their towering wooden columns. “Their sense of smell sucks or they would have identified the Metamorphs.”

  “I’d bet my cat that the guards that are usually inside the council chambers are Metamorph replacements, too,” I said.

  Angel rolled her eyes. “That’s no stretch. I’m not even sure you like that blue Persian.”

  Very possible. Kali had shredded so many of my Victoria’s Secret panties that I’d probably take a turtle in trade for the snotty cat.

  The council doors were thick and heavy enough to completely mute any sound or voice inside. “I think they might consider backup security after this.”

  I was wishing for one of my dragon-clawed daggers when Angel said, “You could use this.” When I turned my gaze to her, she carefully tossed a wicked-looking eighteen-inch-long dagger to me so that I caught it by the hilt.

  With a quick nod of thanks, I slipped around the archway, wielding Angel’s dagger in my right hand.

  “Halt.” A deep but musical bass of a voice sounded like thunder in the great hall and I came to a stop. “You are not allowed to wield any form of weapon here,” an ancient Dryad said from one of the thick columns. “You know
this, Trackers.”

  We didn’t have time to argue. “Who passed this way most recently?” I asked.

  The Dryad narrowed her brow. “I do not answer to you, Tracker.”

  “My apologies.” I wanted to scream with frustration. “All we can tell you is that Metamorphs have probably taken council members hostage and their doubles are inside the council chamber in their places.”

  Dryad whispers echoed up and down the hallway at my words. The Dryads had no way of confirming this, because the Paranorm Council was para noid about any of its discussions being overheard.

  Who knew—the mystery of the chamber could be that it was actually a spa where council members all got foot massages and pedicures. No one could really say what went on behind those doors, and council members kept their meetings secret. All we heard out of them was an occasional ruling, a new law, or a modification of an existing paranorm law.

  The Dryad nodded, the creak of wood accompanying her movements. Angel and I hurried to the enormous council chamber doors.

  “Open,” bellowed the vibrating voice of the Dryad we had been speaking with.

  The council chamber doors swung open.

  Six male and female council members turned their heads to look at us.

  I sucked in my breath. Now would have been a really good time to have employed a little stealth.

  No thanks to the Dryad who had opened the doors to the chambers without giving us a chance to assess the situation. Dryads have no tact and no sense of battle strategy.

  From the corner of my eye I saw that Angel wasn’t there any longer. It was no surprise to see a blond squirrel’s bushy tail disappearing beneath the council’s draped semicircular table.

  The strong odor of alyssum emanated from the room, which could only mean Metamorphs. How could the Dryads have missed it, even if they aren’t known for their keen scent of smell?

  Light flickered from wall sconces throughout the room. The torchlight cast shadows across the dim room, giving an almost eerie feel to the place. It smelled faintly of smoke and crushed rose petals.

  I gripped Angel’s dagger, and in a quick scan I saw two guards at the back of the room, and I saw that the Metamorphs had done well in replacing five of the six council members. If I hadn’t known they were replacements. I wouldn’t have known the difference.

  Chief Council Member Leticia—the real Chief, not a Metamorph—looked both perplexed and upset at first glance, as if something wasn’t going right. Leticia, a Doppler, perched on a throne at the center of the crescent-shaped table, and she also represented all others of her race; the Drow and Light Elves had one delegate who served on the council for both of our races; a Siren had been voted in by the Fae to represent all fifteen-plus races of Fae; a Shifter was in attendance for all Shifters; a Werewolf was the envoy for all Weres; and a Vampire represented his kind.

  In the mere moment it took me to process all of this, I saw that to the side of the council table, in a chair beside a witness stand, was a black-haired Witch dressed in a white sparkling beaded dress. The sophisticated-looking Witch had a pensive, almost confused expression. No doubt she was the real deal and had been appointed to represent all Witches in their appeal to be on the council … and this council meeting was not going according to normal standards.

  And on the witness stand—

  Smith.

  The head Metamorph flashed me a look of complete shock; blood drained from his face. So this was how the Metamorphs were planning to get Smith on the council. He represented his entire race to gain admittance, while all of the council members had been replaced by Metamorphs with the exception of Leticia. He couldn’t lose.

  But I was going to shut him down.

  My rapid appraisal ended with my gaze meeting Chief Councillor Leticia’s.

  “Tracker.” Leticia frowned from her center perch. “Leave at once. This session is not public.”

  “These aren’t the real council members.” My voice rang through the hall as I spoke. “They’re all Metamorphs. They’ve kidnapped the real members.”

  A prickle raced up my spine. I caught a flash of silver in the corner of my eye. I ducked into a crouch. A Dryad screamed from inside a wooden pillar as a dagger buried itself in her midsection. Damn. I had moved instinctively and hadn’t realized a Dryad was behind me.

  I turned to see two guards coming at me from the great hall. A low growl rolled from inside me along with my fury. The dangerous white light flashed in my eyes as the poor young Dryad sobbed and sap bled from her belly. I would kill the guards just for what they’d done to the Dryad.

  One of the guards had a bow, a gold-feathered shaft nocked in it. The arrowhead glinted in the light cast from the chambers as the guard let it loose. I reached up and caught the arrow, then flung it back at the guard, my air element pushing it even faster than my own power.

  I pierced the guard through the heart all the way up to the golden feathers.

  “What in the name of—,” Leticia shouted from her seat.

  Angel transformed from her squirrel form and appeared behind the chief council member. She yanked Leticia out of her seat and pushed her under the table. “Stay down!” Angel shouted at the Doppler. “These Metamorphs will kill you.”

  I was aware of everything, but it all happened so fast it was a blur.

  The guard who had thrown the dagger came charging forward, brandishing a sword. The floor rocked as I ordered my earth element to shift through the stone hall floor. A crack in the stone tripped the guard. With another command my air element twisted both the guard and the blade so that the guard landed on his own sword and severed his neck to his spine.

  Angel battled three of the five Metamorph imposters. Her side kick sent one sprawling across the room. She grabbed the arm of a female Metamorph and flipped her onto her back. The third, Angel grabbed by the head and snapped his neck.

  At the same time I was fighting off the two guards and the other two fake council members who came at me from inside the chamber.

  One guard had a gun and I flattened myself to the floor. As he missed me, I rolled toward the other guard, tripped him, and gutted him with Angel’s dagger.

  A Metamorph jumped on me but I flipped onto my back, grabbed him by the head, and rammed my knee into his face. He screamed and blood and tears flushed down his face as I broke his nose and his jaw.

  The fourth Metamorph had a gun, too, and he and the first guard began shooting at me.

  I wrapped myself in a cocoon of my air element and called to fire.

  Torch flames from inside the council chambers roared into fiery life. A dragon of fire swooped down and swallowed the guard and the Metamorph, burning them to ash as it carried them down the great hallway.

  Another guard came out of nowhere.

  Before I had a chance to do anything, a burst of green light came from the Witch. Plant tentacles wrapped themselves around the guard, taking away his ability to move.

  A green Witch. I glanced up at her intense face. Witches never killed, but they would fight to protect themselves or others using whatever power they commanded. Hers obviously came from nature.

  All thoughts and actions happened within moments.

  Seven down. I glanced in Angel’s direction. Her three were down.

  That left Smith.

  I cut my gaze to the witness stand.

  Smith was gone.

  Warning chills scrabbled up and down my body.

  Too late.

  Fiery lead pierced my abdomen and then my thigh before I could react. Blood flowed from the bullet wounds.

  Smith had slipped out of the melee and around to my side.

  Pain seared me like my fire element had seared the two men.

  I gritted my teeth and forward flipped twice toward Smith.

  Shock was on Smith’s face as I knocked the gun from his hand, grabbed his head, and slammed my forehead against his.

  “Stop. Please.” His begging only made me angrier. “We’ll go away. You’ll
never see us again.”

  I jerked his head down with my fists full of his hair. I rammed my knee up and into his face just before I snapped his neck.

  For a moment, silence filled the chamber and the hall. Dead bodies. Blood everywhere. Cracked floor. Destroyed furniture. Burnt clothes and bones. Stench of charred flesh. Odor of rotting, molding hay.

  It was over.

  As my eyes met Angel’s, I started to feel dizzy. I looked down and blood was flowing freely from my abdomen.

  Two Dryads left their columns and caught me from behind as I slumped.

  Then passed out.

  CHAPTER 4

  “What happened to you?” Olivia eyed me up and down as I pushed open the door to our PI office; the Fae bells jingled as the door slid shut. “Get sucked in through a jet engine this morning?”

  “Feel like it.” I’d taken a shower and dressed in fresh clothing, but I did feel like I’d gotten caught in a helicopter’s rotors.

  I grinned when I saw Olivia’s T-shirt.

  Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

  The real Olivia.

  I wanted to hug her but I knew she’d get even by shooting me with one of her eraser-loaded rubber bands.

  Last night I’d made sure Adam and Olivia were okay by having a couple of other Trackers check in on them. After being shot, I couldn’t do anything until I shifted back into my human form. To say I was relieved when I was told they were okay—well, we’ll just keep it to “that’s an understatement.”

  “So tell me why you look like you got chewed up and spit out in little pieces,” she said.

  “I’m fine. Just a rough night tracking.” I smiled my way through my aches and pains. It’s much easier to heal when shifting from human to Drow than it is shifting from Drow to human. I’d mostly healed from my wounds, but not totally. What was more important was that Olivia was here and well. “I am so glad you’re okay.”

  Olivia gave me one of her looks . “And why wouldn’t I be…?”

  That made me feel even better. If she didn’t know, then nothing had happened to her at all. “Nothing.”