“No planning and no preparation. This is going to be fun,” she said, smiling.
“I’ve often favored instincts above plans. Once I get close, I’ll be able to sense how many enemies are nearby so I can guide us.”
Victoria frowned. “They won’t be able to sense you?”
I shook my head. “I know how to conceal myself, much like I did at the auction. Even Mina didn’t recognize me until it was too late, and I’m doubting these vampires are stronger than her.”
She glanced down at my chest with a surprised look on her face. Then she sighed, shaking her head. I looked to see that my crucifix necklace had fallen free. I smiled, shrugging.
“Wear it. We could use the backup,” she said, her face hardening much like I had seen soldiers do before a war.
I smiled. “This is something I remember how to do very well.”
30
We crouched in a darkened alley across the street from the rear of the blood bank. A steady drizzle blanketed the street, and the cloudy sky rumbled ominously, threatening thunder and lightning. Luckily, there were limited lampposts in the immediate area, which would make our approach easier. The building was a large, three-story, brick warehouse that looked antiquated compared to its sleeker neighboring buildings. The third-floor featured windows along its entire perimeter, and we faced a large gate that opened to a loading dock—as Victoria had called it—that was butted up against the rear of the building. A tall brick wall surrounded the courtyard.
Several figures patrolled the courtyard, loading up a truck that was backed up against the building. I would have pegged it more as a prison than a blood bank. I counted four armed guards on the roof, all carrying long guns—rifles—that Victoria warned me were accurate at extremely long distances. They surveyed the property from their lofty perches, but I was hoping that the rain and darkened streets would mask our initial approach.
Victoria had some sort of scope in her hand and was scanning the building from left to right. I frowned, wondering what she was looking for since we had a clear view of the loading bay.
She held it out to me, and I pressed it up to my eyes. I gasped, almost dropping them as my field of vision drastically changed. The majority of the landscape became darker, colder colors of blues and purples, but flares of warm reds and oranges indicated the armed guards on the roof and those in the courtyard.
There were many more than I had seen with my eyes.
“The infrared binoculars are picking up on their body heat,” Victoria murmured. “The walls are too thick to get a reading inside the building, but can you see the warmer colors in the loading bay?” she asked, pointing at the rear of the building.
I nodded, amazed at the rainbow of colors. “It’s like a visual depiction of me picking up on their heartbeats—except this works from farther away.”
She nodded, accepting the binoculars back. We studied the building in silence, gauging the length of each guard’s rotation. I studied the streets, noticing only a single person on the sidewalk. He was huddled up under a blanket, hiding from the rain. A wheeled cart covered in blankets and dozens of plastic bags stood beside him.
“Homeless,” Victoria murmured, noticing my attention.
I grunted noncommittally.
“What really happened earlier? When Stevie mentioned Artemis,” she asked.
I continued studying the building, wondering how much I should tell her. Finally, I let out a sigh. “She’s the one who cursed me with vampirism. Well, one of them. It was a joint effort, really.”
Her eyes widened incredulously. After a few moments of utter silence, she spoke. “You’re being serious…” she said, trailing off.
I nodded. “Let’s get through this and I’ll tell you all about it. Stevie’s comment caught me off guard—to hear that she granted your ancestor a blessing when she granted me a curse. That she literally granted you immortality so that you could hunt down my kind—when I only exist because of her curse. Using your bloodline to correct a mistake she made.”
Victoria considered my words in silence. “I understand a little of what you’re going through,” she said. “Dracula killed my father, Van Helsing. He was trying to save Mina Harker from his clutches back when she was still human, but he failed. I was just a little girl, but I saw it all happen. My father didn’t hide anything from me, so I always knew I would one day become a vampire hunter. That moment sealed the deal, though.”
I studied her in silence. Then I placed my hand atop hers. “I didn’t know.”
She nodded, wiping at her nose. “Sorry. It’s just…I never thought there was anyone above Dracula. I just thought all vampires were the enemy. To find out that he wasn’t actually the first vampire, and that you want to kill him even more than I do. It’s…a lot to process.”
I nodded, squeezing her hand. “When did this happen?”
“1890. About one hundred and thirty years ago. Almost.” I arched an eyebrow, caught off guard. She batted her eyelashes playfully. “I told you I understood what you’re going through. I’m older than I look.”
I leaned back, shaking my head. “I had no idea. So, you’ve lived through all these changes?” I said. “Electricity, cars…”
She nodded. “Yes. But that was over decades. You’re not even a day old.”
I chuckled. “I’m just a babe,” I agreed.
“Are our shared ties to Artemis why I can feel something between us? Some sort of bond?”
I looked over at her sharply. “You can?” I asked, surprised to hear she’d felt anything similar. I’d thought it was just me, but it made sense. Our powers came from the same source.
She nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. “I thought it was more…personal,” she said, struggling for the proper word. Then, she continued on in a rush. “Because I felt a little jealous when you drank from Natalie. Well, not just a little. A lot.”
I glanced over at her to find her blushing, lowering her eyes. I smiled. “I’ll admit that I had similar hopes,” I said, wanting to be honest after her confession. Because a very warm sensation suddenly ran through my body at her words. Nothing magical, but something deeply personal.
Water dripped from her chin as she smiled, staring down at the ground. “Oh. Good. Because I felt it back when you were masking your powers, too. It changed when I saw you after you killed Mina, though. They felt like different sensations to me.”
I gently lifted my hand and touched her cheek. “Perhaps it is both…”
We broke apart, crouching low as a van suddenly pulled up to the gates. “New delivery,” Victoria murmured. “We’ll have to wait until they settle down. It looks like that van on the right is leaving soon.”
I sighed. She was right. It would be too risky to attempt our incursion right now.
“Looks like we have time for a story,” she said, smiling hopefully.
I closed my eyes, leaning back against the alley wall. “It’s not a pleasant story,” I said.
“It’s better than thinking that Dracula was the first vampire.”
I nodded. “Perhaps.” I took a deep breath. It would feel nice to tell it to someone, and Victoria did have a unique perspective. She was also immortal and had been blessed by the gods—at least indirectly. Trying to tell Nosh my story wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting. I turned to her and sighed at the hopeful look on her face. “I will tell you some of it,” I finally said.
She nodded eagerly, pressing up beside me against the wall. “Ready.”
“I grew up as an orphan on the streets. It was a difficult, unforgiving life. As a young man, I heard about the Oracle of Delphi, how the Sun God, Apollo, spoke prophecies through her. I traveled far to see if this Oracle could tell me my fate. But when she finally addressed me, she only had three things to say: the curse, the moon, the blood will run.”
I shifted in my seat, feeling uneasy about telling the story but forcing myself to continue.
“I struggled with my prophecy, obviously distraught. On
my way back to the Oracle the next morning, I ran into a beautiful maiden of the temple named Selene, who just so happened to be the Oracle’s sister. Long story short, we fell in love, and planned to leave Delphi at sunrise to start a new life together.” I clenched my teeth for a moment, taking a calming breath. “Apollo punished me for trying to take his maiden away. He cursed me so that sunlight would burn my skin, preventing me from meeting Selene the following morning.”
Victoria blanched, shaking her head. “That’s terrible.”
I shook my head. “It gets worse,” I promised her. “I went to a nearby cave that led to Hades, God of the Underworld, begging for his help. He gave me a wager. If I could steal Artemis’ magical silver bow, Hades would grant Selene and I protection from Apollo in the Underworld. But I had to leave my soul with Hades until I succeeded, forfeiting it if I failed.”
Victoria was staring at me, riveted by the tale. “You gambled your soul for a chance at love?”
I nodded. “With no other way to approach Selene—for fear of Apollo punishing her—I wrote her notes, leaving them in our meeting place for her to later read. I wrote her poems. For forty-five days. I managed to finally steal Artemis’ silver bow through trickery and deceit, but she found me before I could reach Hades’ cave—cursed me so that silver burned my skin, forcing me to drop the bow.
“Artemis demanded an explanation, so I told her everything. That her brother, Apollo, had cursed me from sunlight, forcing me to make a deal with Hades to steal her bow. She took pity upon me after learning that I had done it all for love. For Selene. She made me a deal, granting me the powers of a great hunter, with the speed and strength of a god, immortality, and fangs to hunt. But Selene and I had to agree to worship only her, and none of the other gods, especially not her brother, Apollo. But Artemis was a virgin goddess, which meant Selene would have to remain a virgin, and that I could never kiss or touch her, but we could love each other from a distance. Selene agreed and we spent many years together…”
I trailed off, glancing up at the moon as it shifted into view from a momentary break in the clouds. “What happened to her?” Victoria asked, and I realized her eyes were glistening faintly.
“I was immortal,” I whispered, glancing back down as the moon slunk back behind the clouds. “Selene was not. She began to age, and I knew I had sold my soul to Hades so I would never see her again. I begged for Artemis to make her immortal—honoring us for our years of worship to her. Artemis took pity on me, allowing me to touch Selene one time. That if I bit her neck, she would see to it that we could stay together forever.”
Victoria gasped. “To make her a vampire?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know anything about that yet. I was young and foolish,” I said dryly. I took another breath, gathering my thoughts as I decided how best to end the story. “Selene begged me to bite her. I finally did, drinking her blood, eager to spend the rest of my days with her. But her body did not rise. Instead, a great light zipped up into the sky, making the moon glow brighter. Artemis had deceived me. Selene became Goddess of the Moonlight. Every night for my long, immortal life, Selene is always by my side, touching me with her moonbeams, but never more.”
The alley was dead silent as Victoria stared up at the sky, tears leaking down her cheeks. “Thank you for sharing that with me, Sorin. I…had no idea the gods could be so cruel.”
I cleared my throat, choosing not to comment in my current mood. I watched as one of the vans pulled up to the gate, preparing to leave.
“Victoria?” I asked softly.
She jolted, turning to look at me with sad, red-rimmed eyes. “I really feel like killing some vampires right now,” I whispered.
The moon briefly pierced the cloud cover again, striking her moist cheeks. I felt one of those beams touch my own cheeks and I shivered at the thought of Selene bathing both of us in her embrace, wondering what it meant. Selene…
“Okay, Sorin,” Victoria whispered, licking her lips and wiping at her cheeks. “Let’s go kill some vampires.”
She held her hand out and I smiled, placing mine in hers. “Thank you for listening, Victoria.”
She squeezed my hand and then pulled me to my feet by way of answer. The van was already driving down the street, and the gate was closed.
Time to get to work.
31
I drew on my powers, making sure my vampire abilities were masked from detection. The sky rumbled warningly, and I saw a flash of lightning high up in the clouds. A real storm was coming to the warehouse—in more ways than one. Nature—the thunder and lightning—and nurture—the father of all vampires—was coming in to destroy everything in their wake.
Victoria did a quick check of the various weapons attached to the straps and buckles beneath her short, tight jacket. When she clasped the front closed, I couldn’t see any of the implements of violence, but I knew they were only a quick reach away.
As I watched her work, a stray beam of moonlight struck her face and I almost gasped in surprise. Her pale blue eyes drank in the moonbeam, and reflected it back in a vibrant royal blue, somehow seeming to sparkle and transform their natural color as facets deep within reflected the moonlight back like precious sapphires.
“Sapphires and moonlight,” I breathed aloud without meaning to, awed by the stunning transformation of her eyes, and the ripple effect it seemed to have on her pale skin, making it glow like white marble. The faint scar on her cheek flashed like freshly-polished silver—as if the substance had been used to heal her wound and still resided inside the scar tissue.
“What did you say?” she asked distractedly, glancing up at me with a curious frown.
I clamped my mouth shut and pretended to be studying the warehouse, embarrassed. “Nothing.”
“Okay, that should be—wait!” she said, patting her coat anxiously. She sighed in relief as she pulled out two ornate silver sticks—the same ones she’d worn at the auction—and flipped up her hair, stabbing the jeweled sticks through to hold it in place. “Okay. Now I’m ready.”
I arched an eyebrow, pointing at the sticks. “Hidden weapons?” I asked, nodding my approval.
She grinned. “I think the chop-stakes look pretty from a distance, and deadly from up close.” She winked. “They look even better when I shove them into naughty vampire eyes or throats. Or ears. Once.”
I winced. “Chop-stakes,” I shuddered. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“Consider that your reminder.”
I chuckled. “Okay. I’ll take lead since I can sense the vampires. I’ll point them out to you.”
“I think I can fit through the gate, but I’ll be right out in the open for all to see. The exact opposite of stealth.”
I nodded. “I’ll go first. Let’s hope some of my old tricks are still handy.”
“Maybe you need a dose of fresh blood?” she asked, blushing as she grinned at me with her teeth.
I grunted. “As lovely as that sounds, we might lose focus of what we’re here to do. And I’m not sure what would happen if I tasted your blood, given our shared ties to Artemis. Perhaps your blood is poisonous to me since you’re supposed to hunt down my kind. I doubt Artemis intended you to seduce me in a dark, rainy alley,” I said, hoping to take the sting out of my words.
She shot me a troubled look. “You could have a point.”
“We will figure that out later. Now, it’s time for some good old-fashioned beheading.”
“I like it when you talk dirty,” she said, licking her lips as she stared at the compound. I smiled at the merry twinkle of death flashing in her eyes, feeling oddly aroused by her familiarity with murder and combat. Two hunters of Artemis—created to stand on opposite sides as some bitch of a god laughed at the cruel irony.
Later.
My eyes drifted towards the homeless man. Hopefully, he was asleep. I rose from my crouch and lifted my umbrella, extending my arm for Victoria. She accepted and tucked in close to me, dramatically nuzzling against my sh
oulder to get out of the rain.
Because we were pretending to be a happy couple trying to escape the rain. But my body stirred restlessly as her scent filled my nostrils. She tugged on me, urging me to cross the street in an indignant, light-hearted squawk. “Let’s get out of the rain!” she laughed.
The homeless man stirred as we jogged across the street, hopping over puddles. I cast my power wide, questing for how many vampires might be lurking on the opposite side of the brick wall. There could be a dozen pressed up against it or in a shelter of some kind, manning the gate we wanted to break through.
My power sensed no immediate vampire threats beyond the wall, but it sensed one only ten feet away and I almost stumbled in surprise.
The homeless man was a vampire.
I managed to disguise my reaction as slipping in a puddle, continuing my fake laughter as I changed course to bring our theatrical jogging closer to him. I flexed my bicep, hoping to let Victoria know something was wrong. She squeezed back twice before letting go and reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a wad of cash as she neared the fake homeless man.
He was actually a scout, which was particularly clever. Hidden in plain sight.
“Oh, you poor man!” Victoria blurted as more thunder rumbled in the sky overhead, the rainfall increasing. “Go get yourself some warm soup,” she urged, waving the money in front of him.
The vampire jolted, momentarily taken aback by her adamant charity, before he nodded, extending his hand. He was clean-shaven and his hair was perfectly trimmed beneath his shoddy raincoat. And his shoes didn’t look cheap, confirming my vampire senses.
I lifted my umbrella high, sensing her body tense in preparation of swinging a figurative executioner’s axe. She didn’t disappoint. In a blur of motion, Victoria dropped her money and gripped the homeless vampire’s wrist, contorting it sharply enough that I heard the distinctive pop of bone or cartilage snapping. Her other hand shot forward to punch him in the throat before he could cry out in alarm.
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