Her Dark Destiny (Hunters of the Dark #1) Read online

  Chapter Ten

   

  The day passed rather uneventfully. The hunters checked into their rooms and had a chance to unwind, watching television or just talking, until evening loomed near. At one point, Rachel took a couple of the girls into the city to go shopping on the company credit card, as Valor promised them new things to replace what they’d had to leave behind. Shanna had opted to go with them. She hadn’t been able to pack much, after all, and would have to do some shopping shortly whether she tagged along now or not. Cameron had decided to come along as well once Shanna had expressed interest. Not that Shanna really minded, but she’d hoped to have more of an opportunity to bond with the girls.

  She had plenty of time to do so later, however. About an hour before their early dinner, the guys and girls naturally drifted apart to get ready for the night and hang out with their own gender. It was nice to talk to the girls, but Shanna often found her mind wandering to thoughts of Cameron anyway. He just had a way of putting her at ease with those big brown eyes of his, and his warm smile.

  At dinner, they sat beside each other in the hotel restaurant over club sandwiches and onion soup, where they had ample opportunity to talk and make up for their hour of missed company.

  “Are you nervous about tonight?” Cameron prodded at one point while the others were engaged. “You seem on edge.” He lifted a spoonful of soup up to his lips and blew at the steam softly.

  “Absolutely,” Shanna confided. “I’m worried about how I’ll perform with the team. I’m worried about how the people I’ve grown to like are about to be...” Shanna stopped, the thought stuck in her throat. She almost mentioned them being outed and marked as immediate targets. That would have been a major blunder. She couldn’t believe she’d almost done that, fouled up so soon. She would have to be more careful, keep her guard up.

  “About to be...?” Cameron pressed.

  Shanna looked over at him. “Killed, maimed, injured...take your pick. It’s...it’s just not something I’m looking forward to experiencing is all.”

  “Being a little pessimistic, aren’t we? I think we’re all going to be fine. But it’s not like everyone here doesn’t realize what they’ve signed up for. There will be casualties eventually. If not here, then somewhere else. But that’s war for you.”

  “That’s...yeah. That’s war.”

  ***

  The sun began its bruising of the sky early, burrowing into the atmosphere, bleeding it purple and magenta. They had two hours before it descended completely over the horizon line, giving way to Hecate’s dawn, the loathsome creatures’ reign beginning anew. The hunters would separate and scour the area before then, searching for any suspicious activity, particularly of the vampire variety.

  It was kind of interesting to see the other hunters decked in battle mode, carrying their weapons around with them perilously. Rachel didn’t look as much like a cheerleader with her crossbow in hand, a slew of arrows individually placed through slits in the strap that crossed over her upper body, Rambo’s female counterpart. Amelia didn’t seem as normal in a red leather outfit beneath a green cloak. And Jade certainly didn’t look as helpless with a whip at her side, a dominatrix salivating for hurt. It was a little surreal. She kept wanting to burst out with a happy “Avengers assemble!” At least Cameron would have been amused.

  Everyone, it seemed, was expected to carry a bar on them, like a baton, that released inner tubes when you whipped it down quickly while holding a button on the bottom. In this state, it resembled a club, and was presumably meant to be used as a non-lethal alternative to the hunters’ usual weapon choice. Shanna tried hers out a few times, opening it and closing it, whipping it before her so that it make whirring noises in the air. She decided that it was a nice little addition to her arsenal, that she could get used to with time.

  The hunters were separated into three groups in the end. Shanna and Cameron would investigate the warehouse district nearby where two of the missing hunters had constantly been surveying. Felicia was going to accompany them. “This is scout work,” she’d said. “I scout.” Somehow, they’d been suckered into taking the magick detector with them as well. Shanna wasn’t quite sure how that had happened. Something about it being too conspicuous in any other area.

  Jordan, Amelia and Brett were combing over the bar area in a seedier part of town, looking for any hint of a vampire hang-out they could maybe get some information from.

  The remaining hunters - Jade, Rachel and Natalia - were given the task of looking over the industrial area where several of the pregnant vampires had been sighted. The three groups would reconvene an hour after sunset, back at the hotel, to discuss their next course of action.

  And that’s that, Shanna thought to herself as she filed out of the room with her team. Her life as a team player was about to commence.

  ***

  “You know, Kitty Pryde used a star of David to ward off Dracula in X-Men,” Shanna informed Cameron and Felicia, working her favorite comic book character into the conversation.

  “A star of David?” Felicia asked. “What, like the Jewish symbol?”

  “Yeah. It worked in place of a cross as vampire repellant.”

  “Does it...actually work?”

  Shanna looked over at Felicia, giving a small shrug. “I saw my only vampire the other night, remember? And I barely knew what he was before he was dust.” She paused. She couldn’t believe it had only been the previous night. It seemed like she’d left her old life a lifetime ago.

  “Well, I’m sorry to say that might be the only vampire experience you’ll ever have the way things are going. Scouting can be tedious and exhausting, not to mention completely frustrating. This line of work requires a lot of patience, you know? We’ve been wandering these alleys for about an hour now and all we found was, what? A mugger too tripped out of his gourd to know which way to point his gun.”

  “Better than nothing. All I know is my lucky dagger has been...been...” Shanna felt her waist, then her thighs. No. She couldn’t have left it back at the hotel. It was what she’d used from day one of hunting, picked up in an antique store specifically for such a purpose. It was really precious to her and made her feel more confident in her hunting. Without it on her person, she felt a little...naked. “It’s gone,” she murmured. “I...” What if it wasn’t even at the hotel? What if she’d left it in Lime Bay or...even lost it somewhere else altogether? Her heart felt for her, giving an anxious flutter. Her stomach reeled.

  “Your dagger?” Felicia asked. “Do you have any weapons on you?”

  “Well, I have the club,” Shanna told her. “But my dagger...I always have my dagger. I thought I put it right here in my thigh sheath. But...” She looked around her frantically.

  “It’s okay, Shanna,” Cameron assured her. “It’s probably back at the hotel. Maybe it fell out of its sheath there or maybe...maybe you just forgot to put it on.”

  “I...” Shanna sighed. She needed to get a grip. She couldn’t fall apart just because she’d misplaced her weapon. Even if it was her special weapon. What a way to start out her career with The Agency. What a way to scare off any boyfriend potential. “I know. Sorry, guys. I just hope I didn’t lose it. But...if I dropped it while walking around out here, it could be anywhere. I usually double-check the sheath to make sure it’s secure, but...God, I don’t recall doing it this time.” She looked back the way they’d come, unable to help herself.

  “It’ll turn up,” Felicia promised her. “And if not, we’ll just buy a new one.”

  But you can’t just buy a new one, Shanna wanted to tell her. It’s special. It means a lot to me. It’s my lucky dagger. But how silly would that sound?

  “You know, I have an extra dagger, I think,” Cameron offered. “If you want, you can have-”

  “No, no,” Shanna interrupted him. “Thanks, but I’m alright. I just freaked for a second, but I’m fine. Really.” She bit her lip. At least she would be once she found i
t. She hoped suddenly that they would give up their search and head back to the hotel.

  “I’ll help you look when we get back,” Cameron offered, suddenly at her ear.

  Sending him a grateful smile, she tensed as his hand wrapped around hers comfortingly. After a moment’s hesitation, she acknowledged to herself that such a trifle made her happy. His hand was warm and attentive, giving her an occasional squeeze of reassurance. It was…nice. Very nice. She suddenly felt remorseful for how she’d been treating him. She just wasn’t the type to play hard-to-get like Rachel, whether that labeled her as immature or unsophisticated or whatever. Deciding then and there to put such silly games behind her, she squeezed his hand back and impulsively reached out and ran a hand through his chestnut curls lovingly.

  Cameron rewarded her with a look of pleasure at the gesture.

  “I knew you two were sick,” Felicia announced in a sing-song voice. “Exhibitionists. It’s always the quiet ones. Some people just can’t exercise restraint.”

  Cameron smirked. “Is that your way of saying ‘get a room?’”

  “Damn right.”

  They’d been moving at a leisurely pace, keeping a sharp look-out for anything out of the ordinary. Not much moved along the docks aside from the occasional gull or rat. Nobody seemed to be out and about. They had the place to themselves if appearances weren’t deceiving. It seemed to be a waste of time. Shanna could only hope the others were having more luck.

  As her thoughts strayed to the other hunters, it naturally conjured up guilt for her part in this mission. She was basically about to turn their worlds upside-down on them. They would never be able to leave The Agency and be normal again after they were “unmasked.” It was a lot to have on her shoulders. She imagined the disbelief in Cameron’s eyes as he discovered her role. Would they have gone along with Valor if they’d been in her shoes? She was merely speeding up the process, after all. But what if they didn’t realize the consequences of being a part of The Agency? Was it really up to her to destroy any hope they could have of keeping their identities hidden? What if one of them died on this very mission because she’d gotten them marked for assassination now? Would she be able to live with herself then? She banished such notions from her head as she found her hand stray to her sheath to gain comfort, where none would be provided.

  Boats bobbed gently in the water, clanking occasionally against the docks they were tied upon, as a steel chain fastens a boulder to the incarcerated. The sun was sinking to a sliver low in the sky, so they would have to call it a night in another hour.

  “The wind’s picking up,” Felicia noted, shivering in her t-shirt. “It’s freezing.”

  “Yeah, for a psychic, you sure don’t plan these things out too well,” Shanna laughed.

  “Ha, ha,” Felicia glared good-naturedly.

  “Do you want my jacket?” Cameron offered her, politely. “I’m not cold at all.”

  “How sweet,” Felicia said. “But I think I can manage the wind if I can deal with the undead. But, hey, chivalry’s a good look on you.”

  “Uh…thanks.”

  Shanna hugged herself as she smirked at the exchange, wishing she had thought of bringing a jacket. She wished she’d known they’d be right on the ocean, the wind blowing in from the sea.

  Suddenly brushing her hand against a strap at her back, Shanna recalled the magick detector she’d brought along, and pulled the microphone attachment free of the device and flipped on the switch, bringing it to life with a light whirring noise. It crackled a little at first, but quickly became silent as it began to work.

  “If that thing explodes, blame Jade,” Felicia told her, keeping her distance.

  Cameron followed suit, falling back as Shanna swept the area. “That’s the magick detector, right?”

  “Yeah,” Shanna concurred, turning it off and explaining that Jade had warned her to only turn it on from time to time to conserve the batteries. “I just wish I’d remembered to use it before now,” she murmured. “Although, it doesn’t seem very useful for what we’re doing here. Vampires don’t practice magick. The most we can hope for is to stumble across a nest of faerie or something.”

  “Faerie?” Felicia raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t know. Something like that.”

  Shanna walked a little ways behind Cameron and Felicia as they continued on, eyeing them warily. Felicia didn’t seem too upset by the whole targeted-for-death thing. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal to be identified as a hunter. It’s not like Shanna ever considered wearing a mask or anything. It was just a sort of risk that came with the occupation. She cocked her head. That and she’d never really considered that the monsters might actually be very well-organized during her lone hunting. When she hunted down puss-faced demons in caves, it didn’t exactly strike her that they were internet-savvy and communicating with one another, pondering the threat of hunters. The idea of it would have been almost comical at the time.

  “It’s really creepy out here,” Felicia said all of a sudden. “It’s too quiet, not to sound like a walking cliche or anything. The rats just aren’t enough company for me, you know?”

  “It’s Saturday night,” Cameron reminded her. “People are out having fun.”

  “Saturday night,” Shanna breathed. “It sounds so normal. I can’t believe it can be the same world I was living in just days ago. Life really does just move on, doesn’t give you a chance to breathe and settle in.”

  “I’m happy to be here,” Felicia said. “I don’t know. I like knowing that I make a difference, that I’m not just average and…I don’t know, a soccer mom or something. I like having a cause to fight for.” She looked at Shanna. “I felt that in you too. At Styx.”

  Cameron’s eyes widened. “You saw something there?”

  “More like felt,” Felicia admitted. “I’d say Shanna has the marks of a great leader.” She glanced over at her. “I bet you’ll surprise yourself someday.”

  “Okay, okay. You’re just embarrassing me now,” Shanna shook her head with a happy smile.

  “What I’m here for,” Felicia held up her hands to profess guilt. “That and, you know, to live in that awesome mansion.”

  “And get a sweet car,” Cameron reminded her. “I can’t wait to go shopping for my Mustang.”

  Felicia scoffed. “Mustang? I’m going for a Viper.”

  Shanna watched their faces light up with the thought of what they had now, but couldn’t find it in herself to feel too happy about it. Her life hadn’t been great before, but at least it had been her life. Now she had to answer to people. She had more responsibility on her shoulders. She couldn’t do just anything she wanted to.

  But look where that got you before, she thought to herself. Taking nights off, getting friends killed.

  She turned on the magick detector again with a sharp crack. The hand went into the yellow for a second before it fell back to green and grew quiet again, not picking up a thing. Felicia sneered at the machine, like it was a nuisance. Cameron didn’t seem to enjoy it any more, having backed away quickly.

  “I think that’s enough of...” Shanna began, but let her voice trail off as the arrow spiked back up into the yellow, then edged into the red. She stopped and looked over at the others, then down the alley that was open before them. The sun was extremely low, just holding out with a shred of light, so it was nearly midnight down the alley where the buildings on either side painted it with deep shadows.

  Biting her lower lip, Shanna held the microphone extension into the alley a little ways, causing the arrow to go even further into the red. “Yeah. Thought so. That’s just great. It had to actually work, didn’t it?”

  Felicia rubbed her hands over her shoulders, as if to warm them. “Well, I know you guys don’t want to go down that alley, but hey, it’s what we do, right?”

  “Right,” Shanna agreed weakly with a glance in Cameron’s direction, wishing that someone more confident, like Jade or Amelia o
r Natalia, were with them. With a deep breath, she moved cautiously into the alleyway a few feet. After a moment, she turned off the magick detector and looked back at the others nervously.

  Cameron nodded encouragement and stepped into the alley after her. Felicia followed closely.

  Step after tentative step, they intruded upon the recesses of darkness, the oil-slick scene refusing to reveal its secrets.

  A quarter of the way into the alley was a large pile of black garbage bags beside a green dumpster pitted with rust. As they grew nearer, Shanna could make out the shape of a man among the bags, covered in dirt and grime, as if he hadn’t showered for months. He was also dead, blood all around him.

  No glitter here, just dirt. Don’t think about it.

  “There’s a bite mark in his side,” Shanna whispered back at the others, just able to make out a gouge in the man’s side.

  Cameron surpassed Shanna and knelt down before the man. He parted the flannel shirt that partially covered the bloody wound - a half football-shaped wound that had taken out half his side.

  “Wow,” Shanna whistled, quite unsettled. “Now that’s a bite.”

  “I can’t tell what kind of bite,” Cameron said.

  Felicia inched closer and leaned in, kneeling before the body. “It was something with a big mouth. Definitely not a vampire.”

  “A big mouth? Thanks for the insight,” Cameron snorted.

  “I have a cell phone,” Felicia announced, ignoring him. “We should call Valor.”

  Shanna shifted on her feet as her eyes strayed. Litter was strewn about everywhere. Rats darted in and out between trash cans. She heard a clatter from the other side of the garbage pile, from the dumpster. She held her breath. Just rats?

  Felicia climbed to her feet after attempting to dial Valor on her cell phone. “I can’t get any reception here. We should...” She froze then and touched her knees. When she pulled her fingers away, they were covered in blood. She looked at the others with wide eyes. “It’s warm. It’s still warm.”

  They all looked about wildly, acutely aware that they could still be in mortal danger. Shanna turned on the magick detector; It sprang to life, jumping deep into the red. “I think we should get out of this alley right now.”

  A low growl resounded from a stack of cardboard boxes a few feet away from them. Shanna, who was closest to the alley exit, backed up slowly. Felicia lifted her tranquilizer gun in front of her like a shield.

  A bluish green head poked out from the top of a cardboard box. It looked like a Doberman in a way, with an absurdly large mouth, no nose or ears, and glowing yellow eyes like the end of a poker that had been stewing in a fire. Its skin looked rotted, like it was in the process of decay. Two more heads appeared at various intervals around the boxes, compelling a long shudder of a breath to wheeze out of Felicia like a deflating balloon.

  Cameron seemed to recognize them immediately and gave a name to their prey. “Devoura goblins.”

  “Devoura goblins?” Felicia asked in a very controlled tone of voice. “Quick background?”

  “Just hit them with all you’ve got.”

  The goblins attacked as one, darting out of the cardboard boxes in one fluid motion, as if they’d been rehearsing a cheer.

  Each of them attacked a hunter. One went for Cameron and was met with an immediate chop in the shoulder from his dagger. Shanna sucked in her breath, recalling Valor’s fervor for capturing new creatures when possible. Silver blood dripped from the wound like mercury, but it didn’t slow the creature down, it just bared its teeth and came back for more. Her heart leapt in hopes that he would be alright fending it off himself. And then she remembered that he at least knew what he was dealing with.

  Felicia tagged hers with the tranquilizer gun immediately, but only got in one shot before the creature knocked her down.

  The other devoura goblin came after her. As it rushed her, Shanna grabbed a lead pipe lying on the ground and swung with artless ferocity. She missed by a wide margin and cussed, wishing she had her cross dagger more than ever as she made another attempt, swiping its side as it jumped her.

  Shanna heard another tranquilizer shot, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from or what it had hit, since she was concentrating on keeping the mouth of the goblin on top of her from reaching her face. It strained over her, getting its face as close to hers as was possible, within inches. Then it did something that Shanna hadn’t expected. It vomited on her. Blue-green slime covered her face and upper torso, including her hands which were growing slippery and losing their grip on the creature.

  “Damn it,” Shanna choked out as the fishy flesh of the goblin slipped from her fingers.

  Its mouth opened wide, wider than she would have ever expected and its teeth retracted into its gums. It could have fit a grown man inside its mouth, and Shanna realized with wild eyes that it was planning on swallowing her whole.

  Another tranquilizer dart went off in the chaos around her, followed by another, and the mouth stopped its descent over her head, opting to go limp.

  She felt the weight of the creature knocked off of her before she actually saw it fall away, and was helped suddenly to her feet by Felicia. Shanna looked around as she wiped the slime from her face and saw Cameron standing over a rapidly-decomposing devoura goblin, his dagger buried deep within its body, a solemn look on his face.

  “Someone’s going to need a hot shower,” Felicia laughed. “Whoo. Somebody should tell these things that throwing up on a girl isn’t always the way to a girl’s heart. Although, you know, some people like that sort of thing.”

  “Ugh,” Shanna wrinkled her nose. “God, that sucked. I think it was about to swallow me whole.”

  Cameron nodded. “Devoura goblins are supposed to be the ghosts of dead dogs and other animals. They can swallow someone and store them in sacks on their back in a form of suspended animation.”

  Felicia hugged herself and nudged at the one closest to her with the tip of her shoe. She paused and leaned over the creature. “This one seems…swollen.” She looked up. “You’ve fought them before?”

  “Just one.”

  “Wait…why do they store people?” Shanna asked.

  Cameron shrugged. “To eat them later. Or...sometimes witches control them too. Which would explain the...magick detector.”

  “What do witches use them for?”

  “I don’t...remember. Maybe as familiars? I think they might use their sacks to store bodies or something too.”

  Shanna nodded. “Well, maybe the witch is around...” Her voice trailed off and her tongue suddenly went numb. She tried to say something, but realized it wasn’t just her tongue, but her whole mouth. Cameron was staring at her and reached out with concern when she slumped to the ground. Her whole body was frozen. She couldn’t move a muscle.

  Felicia appeared above her, joining Cameron’s face. She kept looking from Cameron, whose mouth was opening and closing rapidly, to Shanna. It felt like she was swimming in a dream, wading through gelatin. Why couldn’t she move? Why couldn’t she hear what they were saying?

 

  Chapter Eleven

   

  Jordan found it a little unnerving to go hunting without Jade. She was like his security blanket in these situations. She watched out for him in the field. But while settling into their new rooms today, they’d come to a decision - not to rely upon each other so much. This was a dangerous line of work and they needed to be able to hunt without that extra comfort at their back. They needed to be able to hunt with the others.

  Glancing over at Amelia and Brett warily, Jordan wished more than ever that they hadn’t come to that conclusion. It just didn’t feel right without Jade. He wasn’t sure he could trust the others. They were all so different. They were good at fighting solo, but in a team capacity? What if they just didn’t work that way very well? He at least knew that Jade would have his back when he needed her to. They had that special familial bond that t
wins shared, a little psychic rapport that flowed between them. Something that didn’t exist with these other two. These strangers.

  “Hey, if we don’t find anything, we can at least grab a beer,” Brett grunted, glancing around the sleazy bar area with renewed interest.

  Amelia raised an eyebrow and muttered just low enough for Jordan to hear. “And kill the rest of your brain cells?” She sent Jordan a little smile that made him feel a little better about the situation. In truth, she was probably the person he felt most comfortable fighting with aside from his sister. She seemed in tune with her surroundings, very confident. Not that he didn’t like the others. Far from it. Shanna was fast becoming a great friend and she could handle herself with the best of them. He knew that she was ridiculously embarrassed about her episode at Styx, but he’d understood completely. After all, how would he react if anything ever happened to Jade? He shuddered at the thought.

  “Aren’t you a witch or something?” Brett asked Amelia all of a sudden. “Can’t you just whip up some mojo or whatever it is you do to find out what’s going down here? Isn’t that what you do?”

  “I use magick to fight magick, but I’m not that advanced,” Amelia told him. “It’s not as if I can do anything I wish.” She paused. “I think you would be surprised though.”

  Brett didn’t reply, but squinted down a dark alleyway that they passed.

  “So, what are we doing here?” Jordan asked. “Do we really have a plan of action or are we just wandering until we meet up with some stroke of luck?”

  “I say we just keep haunting these dark streets until we spot a vamp,” Brett said. Jordan glanced over at Amelia, seeking her stance on the subject. But she was concentrating on something, her brow furrowed. Maybe she’d decided on a spell that could help them out after all. If...spells were what she did. Jordan really wasn’t very sure. All he’d seen was a floating green ball.

  “So, you and Rachel, huh?” Jordan asked Brett as he scoured the area with his eyes.

  Brett nodded. “Yeah. I mean...we’re not...messing around or anything, but it’s only a matter of time. You know how women are. They like a chase.”

  “You make her sound like a rabbit.”

  “Well, you know what they say about rabbits. Hopefully, once I get her in the bag-”

  “Can you two shut up for a second?” Amelia grumbled, her eyes closed. “The wind is telling me things.”

  Brett rolled his eyes at this, but stopped to listen to what she had to say.

  Jordan watched her. Was she being serious? He wondered briefly if she was a little delusional. Monsters were one thing, but this magick stuff just seemed a little too...farfetched.

  “There are two people...two vampires...next block over, walking out of a bar.” Amelia opened her eyes and glanced at the two hunters. “If we hurry, we can probably catch them before they disappear.”

  Brett nodded to Jordan. “Well, you heard the lady. Let’s roll.”

  The shadows danced with more fervor as they skulked through an alleyway to the next block, sticking close to the walls as they observed two men walking along the street, away from a noisy bar. They seemed to be taking their time, strolling as if without a care in the world. Every so often, the hunters could hear the pair laugh loudly or shout obscenities, but for the most part, they couldn’t hear a thing, as they followed carefully, keeping a respectable distance between them to remain inconspicuous.

  “Shouldn’t we check out the bar they just left?” Brett asked, interrupting Jordan’s thoughts.

  “No,” Amelia whispered back to him. “If it’s merely a human bar, we’d be right back where we started. This way, we know we’re getting what we’re seeking: vampires.”

  “But we’re looking for a place where they meet, to get info. What if that was it? Shouldn’t at least one of us-”

  “No. We need to stick together. We can retrace our steps later.”

  Brett nodded silently.

  “Can you hear them?” Jordan asked Amelia.

  Amelia shook her head slowly. “No, I...they’re frightened of something, but I’m not sure what. I can only catch bits and pieces.”

  “A vampire is scared of something?” Jordan murmured. “That makes me a little nervous.”

  “What are they like?” Brett looked over at Jordan, looking a little annoyed that he didn’t know himself, had never battled a vampire.

  Jordan grinned, savoring the moment. He doubted he would get many questions like this from Brett. “Well, they’re fast and vicious when you get right down to it. And they can get a bit hissy if you throw a cross in their face.”

  “And they’re pale,” Amelia threw in. “Don’t forget pale. They haven’t, you know, seen the sun for awhile.”

  Brett cracked a smile. “Oh, yeah? Never would’ve guessed.”

  “You’ve seriously never seen one?”

  “Not a one. But I hear they’re...they’re bad asses. Tough.”

  “You’ve got that right. They’re probably second only to werewolves.”

  “I haven’t seen one of those either.”

  Jordan and Amelia exchanged looks. Specializing in werewolves, Jordan knew first-hand how hard they were to take down, how hard it was to even track one. And they were the scariest things he’d ever seen. But that didn’t stop him. The key was that they were usually dumb enough to fall for traps, given they were all animal ferocity in wolf-form. And traps that left them wide open for attack were enough to easily take down the monsters with long-range weapons, set with silver bullets or arrows. Jordan had only been up close to one werewolf in his life. And it had been behind bars. But vampires? They were such different creatures. Unlike werewolves, they could be reasoned with, talked to, discouraged. But they were smarter too. It was kind of a give and take between the two, a dance between what made them similar to humans and what separated them.

  “I thought you were a game hunter,” Amelia said. “In this for the kicks, the trophies to mount up on your wall. You know, all red-neck Neandethal.”

  Brett shrugged, obviously choosing to ignore her last comment. “Yeah, but I go after the giants. I haven’t gotten too much further than that yet. But hey - no qualms with them. I can’t wait to kill my first wolf - his head is going right over my closet. I want it to be the last thing I see before I go to bed at night.”

  Amelia snorted. “How romantic.”

  “The ladies like it.” Brett said with a knowing smile at Jordan.

  “You know,” Amelia said, “The first vampire I ever met was actually in a graveyard behind a witch’s hut who was...” She stopped suddenly, perking up. “Oh. They’re saying good night to each other. They’re separating.” She looked over at the others as she picked up her pace a bit.

  “Which one should we go after?” Brett asked as the two vampires split up at a corner ahead.

  Amelia looked from one vampire to the other as they closed in on them.

  “Come on,” Brett hissed. “Left or right?”

  Jordan suddenly broke away from them, going after the one who’d gone right. “You two take the other one. We can meet up with the others at the hotel.”

  Brett nodded and started to follow the other vampire.

  “Jordan!” Amelia hissed. “We can’t just split up. You might-”

  “I’ll be fine,” Jordan assured her. “I’ve fought werewolves before. Brett hasn’t even seen these things. Go help him.”

  Amelia looked back to see Brett moving along at a fast clip. She cursed and turned to follow him. “You be careful,” she called out to him. “If something happens to you, your sister will have my head.”

  Waving her away, Jordan focused on the lone figure that was moving along quickly up ahead of him. The shadows seemed deeper on this street, allowing the vampire to keep vanishing into the darkness whenever the poor lighting was interrupted, a fish jumping from pool to pool.

  Jordan let out a long sigh as he watched his prey intently, trying t
o act casual as he walked along. Just a guy out for a stroll after a few beers. Yeah, right.

  I shouldn’t have done that, Jordan realized as he was momentarily highlighted by a street lamp. That was dumb. I could really get hurt out here alone. Look at what happened to Shanna when I was separated from her at Styx. I misjudged the situation then - who’s to say I’m not doing the same thing now?

  But then again, he reasoned. I’ve been doing this without The Agency for a long time and New York is right next door to where I used to live.

  Despite this small comfort, Jordan was kicking himself. He knew the real reason he’d separated himself from the others. Because he was uncomfortable. He couldn’t feel completely at ease fighting with others. He wanted to be with Jade. More than anything, he wanted his sister to be at his side just then, to reassure him, to give him that comfort he needed. He’d taken the easy way out.

  It was funny - this was the sort of rash move that Jade was usually the one to make. He was usually the one to chide her for taking unnecessary risks. Perhaps he was trying to reclaim the feeling of hunting with his sister in some weird way.

  Jordan was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed the vampire up ahead duck into a doorway. Jordan perked up and kept his eyes glued to the door as he drew up to it, to make sure he was acknowledging the right establishment. At the doorway, Jordan slowed his speed and studied it, moving right on past it so he would remain inconspicuous. When he was a few doors down the street, he stopped and stepped back into the shadows to think about his next course of action.

  The word “tavern” had been framed over the door in fancy calligraphy. And posted to the door had been a poster: A negative of a struck match that read “sponsored by the black flame.” It didn’t sit well with Jordan, this anonymity. It was the type of place that was meant to be passed over by people, to blend into its surroundings.

  He’d only seen the vampire from behind, but he reasoned he could just stand around and wait for him to come back out. That seemed like the smartest move, since he was afraid that if he walked in through the front door, he would find himself in a room full of vampires and ultimately, suffer severe blood loss. He might be a little crazy for following the guy alone, but he wasn’t suicidal by any means. Suicide was a coward’s way out and he wasn’t that much of a coward.

  How long will he be in there? Jordan wondered suddenly. An hour? Four hours? Maybe I should just take mental notes of where this place is located and come back with reinforcements. It seems like a sane thing to do, if anything.

  Instead, he stood back in the shadows.

  ***

  “I can’t believe he did that,” Amelia muttered. “You, I would expect that from. Jordan should have known better.”

  Brett shook his head. “You’re starting to piss me off with your little remarks, Lady. What do you have against me anyway?”

  Amelia threw him a dazzling smile. “What? You can beat a dim creature to a pulp but can’t take verbal sparring with the fairer sex?”

  Brett shook his head. “You can be a real bitch.”

  “Well, we agree on something then.”

  Brett stopped abruptly as Amelia came to a halt ahead of him. “Whoa. What the hell are...oh.” He looked up ahead of them and realized that the vampire they’d been following had disappeared. “He’s...”

  “Maybe he just slipped down an alley,” Amelia suggested. “If we hurry, we might catch up to him before he-”

  “Kills you?” a voice demanded as Amelia was knocked to the ground suddenly, as if the sky had hammered her with a fist.

  Amelia wiped at the blood that trickled out from the side of her mouth with the back of her hand, looking up at the vampire who’d caught her by surprise and glaring at him.

  “Do you think that I’m stupid?” the red-headed vampire demanded of them as he shoved Brett against a brick wall roughly, moving faster than either of the hunters were able to. It seemed that some of his movements were blurs that their eyes couldn’t catch up with. “You’ve been following me for a long while. Before I bash your heads in, I want to know why.”

  “Fuck you,” Brett spat. He pulled a cross out of his pocket and held it before the vampire. The creature retreated immediately, hissing, baring the fangs that were in place of his canines. As Brett looked closely, he realized that the vampire’s eyes were marbles of black and green, flowing like a storm, or like two liquids that refused to mix.

  Brett suddenly put down his cross, hardly aware of his actions.

  “That’s a good boy,” the vampire said in a soothing voice. “Watch the birdie.” He suddenly tensed and turned his head ever so slightly to the side.

  “Feel that?” Amelia asked into his ear. “That’s your death certificate, Asshole.” She slammed a mallet down upon the stake she held beneath his shoulder. She didn’t hit it in deep enough to puncture his heart with the first hit and the stake stuck out of his back as he pushed away from her, frantically reaching to withdraw the poison that threatened to extinguish his existence.

  A swift kick from Amelia’s foot sent it straight into his heart however, and the vampire fell to his knees, his body transferring quickly to dust.

  “Holy shit,” Brett swore. He touched the ash of the vampire’s body, touched the ash eyes, the ash teeth. “Holy shit.”

  Amelia bestowed a smile upon him. “Congratulations, Brett. You’ve just seen your first vampire.” She twirled her finger around in the air and, in turn, the air conceded to her whim, sending a whirlwind over the ashen figure, taking it apart layer by layer, like a beach slowly worn away by the tide, until nothing was left and the vampire’s remains were scattered to the four winds.

  ***

  Jordan fingered the cross around his neck as he watched the vampire venture into a city park. He felt a little wary going in alone, but he’d been following this guy for a very long time and he wasn’t about to stop now. There were no muggers or punks he couldn’t take. What did he have to lose?

  The vampire had been in the tavern for barely ten minutes before leaving again. He hadn’t even glanced in Jordan’s direction as he’d taken off at a determined pace once more. A good sign. But where was he going? Was the park a short cut?

  Remember now, no eye contact if you face him, he coached himself. Switch up the moves, keep him guessing. Don’t listen to his promises of immortality - they love to seduce using that pitch, get people willing to lay their lives down. Although, lately I haven’t really heard that one. Once they realize I’m a hunter, they seem to want nothing more than to bash me into the ground, no small talk, just brute force and skill.

  Looking around carefully, Jordan walked past the first set of trees at the park entrance. The shadows were thick here. Anyone could be hiding in any number of bushes or branches, ready to jump him. The wind rustling in the trees was gusting just strong enough to cover the sound of Jordan’s footfalls, but it would also cover anyone else’s if they planned to surprise him.

  “Where’d you go?” Jordan whispered to the wind as he walked slowly along the small paved trail. He approached a bench and paused, trying to catch a glimpse of the vampire.

  The tiniest noise from overhead warned him of danger just a moment before the figure leapt into the space Jordan had previously occupied.

  Jordan stepped into a defensive stance, unsheathing a pair of sai, their sharp, deadly edges reflecting in the pale moonlight as the fangs of his adversary reflected the light in an even more menacing fashion. He worked well with knives. Sai, machetes, daggers, swords…it hardly mattered what, each had its time and place. As long as it could cut, he could use it. Sai were the easiest to conceal, so he’d chosen them for this particular mission, though if he were honest with himself, he'd prefer the solid weight of a machete any day.

  Up until that moment, Jordan hadn’t seen the face of his foe. As he looked upon his face now, he was a little startled by it. This vampire seemed to be his own age. An illusion, to be sure. This boy had
died at his age, had transformed into the twisted creature that now stood before him. But he had a lovely face. A strong, pale face with flushed cheeks and full lips. A mane of dark brown hair framed his face. Long eyelashes accentuated his deep chestnut eyes that sparkled with a hint of mischief. He was dangerous, but alluring at the same time. His body, built lean, rippled with his movements, like a panther, beneath the form-fitting button-up black shirt he wore. The top buttons were undone, giving a glimpse of his smooth chest, his sleeves rolled up to draw attention to powerful arms.

  Jordan could only stare for a moment, struck dumb by the creature’s beauty, like staring into the eyes of a snake. In that moment, he understood how Eve had felt. He’d never even considered that he might find himself vulnerable to a creature’s appearance. He could brush off the most skilled vampiress seduction. This vampire...this man...wasn’t even trying to pull anything yet, and here Jordan was completely captivated.

  I must see myself reflected in him, Jordan thought. Yes, the potential of what I could become. Another form seduction takes - temptation of power. But my will is strong and I’ll overcome this as well.

  “You shouldn’t wander into the park at night,” the vampire warned smugly. “You never know what kind of creeps you could run into.” He tilted his head as he studied Jordan, his eyes running over his body as if using his hands rather than his vision. “That goes double for following strange men into the recesses of darkness, hunter.”

  “I am not afraid of darkness. Nor strange men.”

  “Maybe you should be?”

  Jordan was acutely aware of his breathing all of a sudden, the cycle of inhaling oxygen and exhaling waste. Inhaling, exhaling, his chest rising and falling with each breath.

  The vampire didn’t have these motions, these rules. He stood stark still. It made him appear more in control.

  Jordan felt the blood coursing through his veins and arteries, particularly the throbbing that seemed to be much more intense at the base of his throat. The vampire did have this motion. The pounding of blood in his inhuman heart. The only difference between the two was that the vampire got his oxygen through a human’s blood, his own lungs had shriveled into deflated, decomposing bags long ago. If the vampire went for too long without blood, he would begin to feel the effects of asphyxiation. He would panic, need that nourishing oxygen. But he wouldn’t die without it. He would shrivel into a fleshless skeletal specter, but he would still survive, trapped within his shell.

  Jordan snapped to attention as the vampire shifted, his left leg moving forward with the slightest nudge.

  “I am Noel,” the vampire offered suddenly, a charming smile springing to his lips.

  Jordan watched him, unsure of what he was plotting.

  “I like to know the names of the hunters I kill,” Noel told him. “If you indulge me now, I won’t have to force it out of you later.”

  Scoffing bitterly, Jordan wielded his sai expertly in the space before him, making a sound as if ripping the very air between them. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to decline your generous offer.”

  “Some love their pain. But I hold no qualms. You may make the first move, hunter.”

  Smiling, Jordan nodded and jumped into the air since his combatant would probably expect an attack with the weapons immediately. He was right and placed a kick squarely into the vampire’s startled jaw.

  Noel pressed a hand to his cheek and smiled as he licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. “Well placed.” He struck out with a wide swing that clipped Jordan’s shoulder, sending the hunter spinning in a daze from which he didn’t recover until he felt the vampire’s fist meet him squarely in the back, putting him down in the grass.

  Jordan immediately leapt back to his feet, just in time to block another swing and slice at Noel with one of his sai. Noel caught Jordan’s hand as it missed his side and forced him to let go of the weapon in that hand, taking the sai for his own.

  “Now we are evenly matched,” Noel announced smugly, holding the sai up to taunt Jordan.

  Stabbing his remaining sai into a hole in the vampire’s defense, Jordan pierced the skin of the hand the vampire held the sai in. The vampire let go of the weapon more out of surprise than pain, but immediately disarmed Jordan with a jab to the hunter’s arm.

  “Evenly matched again,” Jordan countered, swinging at Noel with his fist, aiming for his head.

  Noel ducked and rushed Jordan, his head striking the hunter’s stomach as he plowed into him, pushing him back off of the trail and into the bushes off of the path.

  “I was in the mood for a good old-fashioned tussle anyway,” Noel laughed as he grabbed the back of Jordan’s shirt and shoved him into the trunk of a tree, ripping the hunter’s shirt off in the process.

  Recovering quickly, Jordan wound the remains of his shirt around his knuckles to protect them from the blows he was ready to inflict upon Noel.

  “I have to say,” Noel said with a sly smile. “It will be a shame to destroy one so beautiful.”

  Jordan was as startled by the comment as by the attack, as Noel seized him by the very hands he had placed before him and pinned him back up against a tree.

  Noel gazed into Jordan’s eyes for a moment, as if searching for something, then licked a cut that had appeared on Jordan’s cheek. “You taste as delightful as you look, hunter.”

  Summoning up his strength, Jordan kicked the vampire’s legs out from under him, yanking him to his feet a moment later by the front of his shirt, ripping the buttons apart as the shirt hung open. He threw the vampire into a nearby bush and stomped down where his head was located a second earlier.

  “That was an expensive shirt,” Noel informed him, ripping off the rest of the material and tossing it aside. “But I suppose we could call it even once more?”

  Jordan took a few deep breaths, trying to appear as if he weren’t tiring as quickly as he was.

  Noel was sizing him up, taking in every detail of his sparring partner. He grinned after a moment. “You’re really sweating there, hunter. Need a break?”

  Letting out a deep breath, Jordan shook his head. “I’m good.”

  Noel shrugged and leapt at Jordan suddenly, pinning Jordan to the ground with ease, the hunter’s back painfully forced upon a gnarled tree root.

  Jordan struggled as Noel watched him squirm happily. After a moment, Noel let out a small laugh. “Stop twitching. You’re finished.”

  Jordan opened his mouth, then closed it as Noel brought his face closer to his, dug his fingers into his wrists a little bit tighter, grinned a little bit wider. Jordan stopped struggling.

  “Like a little frog pinned to a tray, ready to be dissected,” Noel muttered. “Although, admittedly, castration is a little messy for my tastes. What do you say, hunter? Slow or quick?”

  Refusing to answer, Jordan watched, mesmerized as the beads of sweat gathered on Noel’s chest and ran down his flesh, dripping onto Jordan’s own skin. Noel followed his gaze and looked back at the hunter as he realized that they were both soaked in sweat from their exertion.

  “That’s what I call a good rustling,” Noel commented. “So, your name? I think I’ve earned that much.”

  “I’m...Jordan.”

  “Jordan,” Noel tried it in his mouth, letting it roll off of his tongue, as if tasting it. His fangs grazed his tongue as he mouthed it once more. “Lovely name for a lovely opponent.” He picked himself up and helped Jordan to his feet with one strong arm.

  “What are...you doing?” Jordan asked, a little confused.

  “Letting you go, obviously. I can’t bring myself to kill you. I just wish for a small payment in exchange for your life.”

  “A small...”

  Noel was watching him.

  Wanting nothing more than to end this, Jordan sighed. He had been defeated. He had lost. Why not let him have some of his blood? He could have killed him, after all.

  Noel didn’t say anything more as he approa
ched Jordan slowly, pressed up against him and kissed him on the mouth, deep and slow.

  Jordan couldn’t help but be startled at the turn of events. He’d been caught off-guard by his comment earlier, but this...this was something else. He couldn’t help but think that this was much more preferable than getting his blood lapped from a neck wound. In fact, he found himself returning the immortal’s kiss, as if he were enjoying it. And then it was over. He kept his eyes closed a moment more, wondering at what had just occurred before opening them.

  And he found that he was alone. He put a hand to his pulsing lips and picked up Noel’s shirt with its missing buttons. He pulled it over his naked torso and began the long trek back to the hotel, mixed feelings coursing through his mind.

  Another guy... What was going on? He wasn’t…gay. He bristled at the word as it echoed in his head. No, he wasn’t. His sister was, and it was cool, but not him. Not him… He’d slept with several women over the course of his youth. He’d never felt anything for… Then why did this encounter with Noel leave him flushed? Leave him wanting more? Why did this excite him more than any encounter with a woman ever had?

  Closing his eyes, he gripped the cross in his pant pocket, yanking it out angrily and displaying it over his chest by a chain. Why hadn’t he thought to pull it out before now? Why had he been so blinded by…that demon?

  Jordan shook his head futiley as the past snaked into his mind, drawing out memory and confusion alike.

 

  Chapter Twelve

   

  “So, the reaction to crosses and holy water would have to be mystical in origin,” Jade stated, glancing up at Natalia to see if the other girl was listening. “Nothing rational could create a repellant with so much variance. Crosses can be made out of nearly any material known to man. The only connection is religious significance, nothing physical.”

  “What of psychological?” Natalia asked in the bored tone that she always seemed to be using.

  “Psychological? To all of them? Hey, that seems highly unlikely, don’t you think? Unless the vampirism that passes from one vampire to another holds a virus that…that compromises the brain somehow, but I mean, why would it be sensitive to crosses? And blessed water? What kind of virus makes those kind of distinctions? Or maybe its roots stem from the psychological damage of the swap of fluid itself, maybe thinking that God doesn’t love them if they can be damned....but no. Atheists, Buddhists - it doesn’t matter. They’re all still afraid of the crosses and water. I think it goes all the way back to when vampires were first created, some clause in the curse or...or whatever that brought about their existence in the first place.”

  Natalia merely nodded.

  Rachel scoffed from where she walked a few feet behind them. “You guys sound like a vampire support group.”

  “Hey, we’re just trying to figure things out,” Jade retorted, looking back. “You know, the big picture.”

  “Sounds like you’re romanticizing them to me, making them all tragic and brooding.”

  Jade smirked. “Maybe. But vampires have always been sort of romantic figures, don’t you think? The eternal kiss? The embrace of death?”

  “They’re more like serial killers to me with the whole stalking of dark streets and, oh yeah, the whole cutting throats and sucking blood angle.”

  “Yeah, but what a lonely life. What a tragic figure, doomed to darkness forever, cursed to drink blood for sustenance.”

  “Okay. I knew too much time stuck in a lab was bad for you. And I’m not just talking about the complexion.”

  “Come to think of it,” Jade brightened, addressing Natalia once more, “I’m not even sure when the first vampire appearance was. Do you have any idea?”

  “There have always been legends in one form or another,” Natalia replied. “Evidence would suggest that at the very least, belief in vampires predates Christianity. Whether that means they were actually around at that point or if it was superstition, remains to be seen.”

  “Superstition? What do you mean?”

  Natalia glanced over at Rachel.

  Rachel nodded. “Well, people from Serbia and Walachia used to exhume bodies and kill them. That was recorded in 1725 by occupying Austrian soldiers.”

  “Exhume bodies?” Jade repeated before she could stop herself. She flushed as she reminded herself that she didn’t need to give Rachel a bigger head than she already had. She was probably loving this, feeling all superior and smug in her field.

  “Ever heard of Peter Plogojowitz?”

  Jade shook her head.

  “He was a local who’d died. The first in a series of deaths in subsequent months. Vampirism was a way for many cultures to understand epidemics before humans had a comprehensive knowledge of human biology and contagions. So, the first person to die was usually seen as the culprit, a vampire that came back from the dead, unable to rest. Peter Plogojowitz was such a ‘vampire.’ The following victims of the epidemic claimed to see Peter in dreams, probably brought on by suggestion more than anything.”

  “Well, what happened?” Jade became impatient. “They exhumed his body?”

  Rachel glanced at her. “Of course. And as is typical, they found his nails and hair had grown in death and what is called skin slippage, where the top, dead layer of flesh gives way to fresh skin. These were seen as signs of a vampire.”

  “Wait, that’s all normal?” Jade asked with a shudder. “Creepy.”

  “They also found fresh blood in his mouth, surely coming from his lungs, but these locals believed it to be evidence that he’d been drinking blood. And…well, there were other signs.”

  “Other signs?”

  Rachel smirked. “He had an erection.”

  Jade laughed. “No way!”

  “It was simply bloating that resulted from decomposition, but vampires are sexual beings, you know.”

  “Bleh. But it’s still hard to tell when it all became reality if it wasn’t at that point.” Jade sighed. “Maybe vampires are as old as humanity. Older even.”

  “Reality is subjective,” Natalia noted soberly. “So is time.”

  “Reality is…” Jade cocked her head. “You think they might not be from our reality at all? Like…oh. Like not from Earth even? Extraterrestrial. Interesting theory and…hey, you might actually have something. No, I think you really might. I mean, if vampires didn’t come from some mystical origin, it couldn’t have been from Earth at all.”

  Natalia blinked. “Yes…while this rhetoric is fascinating, I believe it would be best if we kept silent so as not to warn any potential prey that we’re upon them, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Finally, a sensible suggestion,” Rachel muttered.

  Jade cocked her head and nodded, already off in her own little world, deliberating over the possibilities.

  Scanning the rundown area they walked by on the edge of the industrial district, Rachel surveyed the empty plants and junk yards, poorly lit and hastily locked up, lining either side of the narrow street they walked upon, still and abandoned.

  They stopped for a moment as Natalia gave pause to examine their surroundings more thoroughly with a gesture for them to be silent.

  “Oh, what now?” Rachel muttered. “The bloodhound catch a scent?”

  She glanced around anyway, assuming something should be noticeably wrong. She didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, however, and turned in time to catch Natalia as she narrowed her eyes. Upon following Natalia’s gaze, she was startled to see the shadows shift in the recesses of a junkyard in that particular direction, an omen that sent adrenaline through her bloodstream. She tried to convince herself that it was most likely a watchdog or a vagabond, but she knew she would only be fooling herself. The shadows danced again, sending a dark, clawed hand over a pool of light, disappearing so suddenly that it made her wonder if it hadn’t been her imagination.

  “What was that?” Jade whispered. “Did you guys see it?”

&nbs
p; “Yeah,” Rachel replied in a hushed tone, eyes glued to the area as if hypnotized. “We saw it.”

  “Something has been observing us,” Natalia told them calmly.

  “Observing us? Like what?”

  The hunter didn’t answer, but took off across the road and was over the chain link fence as if no obstacle had stood in her path at all, jogging around a mound of tires and out of view before the others had even reached the fence.

  “Great,” Rachel muttered as she finally touched ground over the fence. “Doesn’t want to be bogged down by her back-up or anything, does she?”

  “Back-up?” Jade glanced at her.

  “Of course. Miss Elektra Natchios in there is our big gun. If you think we’re anything but in the way, you’re fooling yourself.”

  “Why do you think that? We’re all on a team together for a reason. If she could take out this threat on her own, The Agency wouldn’t have bothered to send us the invites.”

  Rachel gazed around them warily, shrinking unintentionally from the scraps of metal and decrepit cars that stood around them, as if in waiting, as if contemplating the two that dared venture through their jungle of glistening moonlight, their valley of death. “I looked through some Agency archives, Hon. We have some high clearance passwords, after all. It seems our chicky here was raised by The Agency to be a warrior, the perfect spy. She’s been on hundreds of missions, deep undercover. She’s ripped the heart out of some evil organizations before they had time to blink.”

  “A spy? Well, even if that’s true, The Agency obviously doesn’t share your confidence or they wouldn’t have bothered with the rest of us.”

  “Unless they didn’t want the monsters focusing their efforts on her.”

  Jade looked at her sharply. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that all of us are expendable. All but Natalia.”

  “That’s ridiculous. It’s a stupid little conspiracy theory you dreamed up.”

  “I could be wrong. I admit it. But you sure did get awfully defensive just now, didn’t you?”

  “Well…”

  “Well, nothing. Natalia’s the only one of us with a record with The Agency. They poured a lot of money and training into forming her. Don’t be surprised if she’s off on missions solo more than the rest of us. That’s all I’m saying.”

  They moved quickly through the maze of discarded rubble, bathed in an inkiness that seemed to deepen the further they proceeded, as if the fathoms of the abyss were awakening before them. The lights blinked unearthly violets over their flesh, transforming the scene to an underwater world, the decrepit ruins of Atlantis.

  “Jesus,” Rachel muttered, breaking the silence merely to hear her voice and stave off the enchantment that seemed to be doing its utmost to overwhelm them. “She’s like a cheetah or something. She does realize us baseline humans are gravity-challenged, right?”

  “Oh,” Jade gasped, pointing out a shadow moving in the light before them. A claw, just like before. As they watched it, mesmerized, the shadow fingers danced like spider legs weaving a deathtrap with an elegance inherited from an alien instinct.

  Hovering near a lamp post as it was, Rachel thought to search for its source as it lay suspended. As if sensing this intent, the shadow quickly snapped its claw closed over the light of the lamp, sending glass and light alike splintering into the air with a crash that hardly met their ears, they were so completely captivated by the enthralling theatrics.

  The next three subsequent lights shared their brethren’s fate, blackening one side of the path, showers of glass pelting the swelling darkness and filling the sky with a thunder of abused, whining electricity searching futiley for the next link of wire.

  “Applause, hunters. Applause,” a cold lone clap of shadow hands danced over the remaining lights.

  Rachel glanced at Jade, unnerved by the mocking darkness, the bodiless voice.

  “Applause to you, for you join your brothers and sisters this night.”

  “Big words for shadow puppets,” Jade called out defiantly.

  “Big words for something hiding from us,” Rachel did her one better.

  Shadows churned and roiled in reply, a slew of mobile figures that formed into a cohesive outline in the end, a long human shadow boasting those same spindly hands, hands of a demon. The hands reached and reached across the light to where the hunters stood, struck dumb. Rachel watched their rapid approach with a rising fear, a fear that was realized as the shadows consumed them in their depths.

  Then there was cold. Cold and utter darkness. Rachel had never felt so cold in her life as she felt in that moment, never realized one could feel it so completely, her very soul frosting over at the touch of this evil being. For she knew it was evil. She could tell that much from its shadowy touch, its groping hatred that made her want to vomit on the spot, it was so potent and full of malice.

  Suddenly, mercifully, the claws retracted from their hearts, leaving them to catch their breaths, which vacated their bodies amid white clouds.

  Rachel glanced up at the shadow, quickly turning in time to catch the monster who cast such wicked things, who could extend evil to that mere part of Earth that it blocked from light.

  A sharp gasp startled Jade into joining Rachel in her examination of the seven-foot monster before them, atop a pile of car bumpers and toaster ovens.

  It was a disheveled barbaric-looking creature with extraordinarily long legs and arms, ending in long, menacing fingernails. A swollen, ruddy face capped a fat neck, where the flesh seemed stretched over its frame as parchment over canvas, taut and strained. The dark yellow color of its skin made it seem sickly and very corpse-like, especially given that its face was framed with wild dark hair, lightly curling, unacquainted with any grooming device. In contrast to the thick hair along its jaw line, the creature’s head boasted but wisps of hair. The majority of its body was hidden, thankfully, beneath a linen shroud, dirty and loose, giving it the appearance of a vagabond or escaped mental patient in the end, although much more terrifying and…demonic. Its mouth, when opened to let out a resounding laugh and bestow a malicious grin upon its victims, was toothless. Rachel nearly gasped at the revelation, as any self-respecting vampire would need a fine set of fangs, at the very least. But this creature didn’t seem to desire any association with vampires, as its black gums loosed a crackle from its gruesome shell of a body, notably missing its pristine cloak or priestly black garbs, favoring instead the simplest rags of a street rat.

  “Bear witness to the future ruler of your people, hunters. Applause and then cease to be.” It made a fist of its grubby limbs and their shadowy counterparts had gotten ahold of the hunters once more, but only for a moment, for a gunshot shattered the scene and the hunters were free once more, Rachel collapsing to her knees, hands over her freezing chest, as if she could warm her heart from without.

  “What the hell is that?” Jade gasped, as the creature turned to look at Natalia, trench coat billowing behind her romantically.

  Natalia’s eyes narrowed as the creature was suddenly before her, the bullet she’d loosed upon it in the palm of its thin claws. “Nice trick.” She kicked her leg out and caught the creature squarely in the face.

  Rachel cried out as the monster stumbled back, surprised at such a normal reaction to a physical blow. It immediately countered, trying to rake her face with its long, sharp fingernails, the hunter easily able to bounce back out of the way, as a taunting boxer biding her time.

  “Try and keep it still,” Rachel called out, fumbling in her jean pocket and holding her cell phone out before her. “I’ll take a picture with my cell.”

  Rachel hardly blinked as Jade grabbed her crossbow, as well as a wooden arrow out of its slot on her back, loading the arrow with one fluid motion, taking aim at the creature. Rachel glanced up from her cell phone, mesmerized as she followed the monster trading blows with Natalia, or as near as one got to trading blows with the hunter as none of its
swings came even remotely close to landing on Natalia’s person. She imagined they were too close together to take a shot without risking hitting Natalia. And who was to say an arrow would harm it anyway? It had been able to catch a bullet, after all.

  Natalia suddenly pulled a short stick that resembled dynamite from her coat and whipped it down, sending several segments to fall into place, extending the piece to three times its original size. It was one of the clubs that they all carried.

  The creature provided an opening for a shot then, stepping back to assess Natalia’s weapon before attacking her again. Rachel felt more than witnessed Jade pull the trigger of the crossbow, releasing the arrow into the fray. She watched carefully as the arrow flew toward their adversary, honing in on its heart with each passing millisecond. Rachel was briefly excited as the creature made no move to block the shot, but wasn’t, in the end, surprised in the least when it glanced off of the creature’s shoulder, where it barely even registered to the being.

  Letting out a low whistle, Jade didn’t seem as unimpressed as Rachel. She watched as Natalia beat the creature, unsure of what to do herself, but eager to aid the hunter in some fashion.

  “I think I got a good one,” Rachel cried suddenly, squinting at her phone. “Definitely. I am good.” She smiled triumphantly.

  “Then maybe you can stop playing photographer and help us here?” Jade snapped.

  “Help you what? You’re standing around, gawking.”

  “What is it?” Jade demanded, ignoring her comment. “Some kind of vampire?”

  Rachel hesitated. “None I’ve ever encountered. But...but there have always been rumors of different breeds of them.” She turned back to the action, amazed to see Natalia relentlessly beating the monster with her club, receiving no retaliation whatsoever. She didn’t seem to really be harming the creature either, but moved in for a fatal wound, stabbing the sharp end of the wooden rod toward the monster’s chest, its cold, black heart.

  The monster didn’t allow it to get too far, however, as it grabbed the club with lightning speed as it was less than an inch from its chest. It flung the club away and grinned a horrible toothless grin at Natalia.

  Rachel gasped, but Jade didn’t wait to see what happened next. She let out a roar and flung herself up the junkpile quickly, bombarding the creature with her fists, landing her blows wherever she could. It was Natalia who ended up incapacitating Jade, sending her sprawling into a pile of sheet metal.

  Rachel raced over to her fallen comrade and helped her to her feet. “Told you we were bogging her down.”

  Jade glared daggers.

  When Rachel looked up next, the monster was holding a car over its head. Granted the car was very rusty and was missing its tires, it still had to weigh a ton. She was positively stunned as it hurled the car at Natalia with as much ease as it would have shown throwing a basketball.

  “Shit,” Rachel screeched, throwing herself and Jade to the ground and covering their heads mechanically.

  Dust replaced the air for a full minute, rendering the scene behind the screeching metal and thunder crashes even more devastating and mysterious than it was.

  When the world reasserted itself as mute, Rachel and Jade moved back-to-back, watching the area around them wildly, presuming the creature would attack amid the disorienting screen. It never did, however. By the time the dust settled, it had disappeared, leaving the hunters gawking at the demolished, shattered heap of metal and glass before them.

  “That was a car,” Jade stated in an astonished voice. “That was...an actual car.”

  Rachel nodded. “I’ve never had a car thrown at me before.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure Natalia will come along and start gloating any minute now.”

  Sticking out her tongue, Rachel examined her cell phone and was happy to find that one of her shots had indeed turned out. “It’s all about the accessories,” she surmised with a triumphant grin, allowing Jade an eyeful. It was grotesque, with its disproportionate limbs and freakish face. A real medieval monster.

  “You’re too rash in the field,” Natalia informed Jade, suddenly in their midst. “You have to be more careful or you’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “I’m too rash? You’re the one who shot the thing, pissed it off in the first place.”

  “Uh, I recall shadow hands,” Rachel corrected her. “And your smacking it like a trained monkey was absolutely ridiculous. You have to admit it.”

  “I was forced to remove you from the scenario,” Natalia said calmly. “Don’t get in the way again.”

  “Or what?” Jade demanded.

  Rachel smiled. “You’ll get killed?”

  “Whatever. Look, I fight my way, you guys fight yours.”

  Natalia stared at Jade for a moment before turning her back, leading them on.

  Letting out a sigh, Rachel shook her head, feeling partially responsible for Jade’s attitude, given her suggestions of Natalia’s purpose earlier. She had only been voicing her own concerns, but may have gotten more than she’d bargained for in return. She glanced at Jade’s angry back, the steam that seemed to rise from her. Way more.

 

  Chapter Thirteen