Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire

by Slay (epub)

  Our last mission together, he was pissed I’d saved him from death. “You shouldn’t be the one protecting me.” His muscle-bound body taut with anger, he said, “I’m the man. I should be protecting you!”

  “You’re not making any sense.” I pleaded with him.

  “No woman will EVER be over me!” He stormed into the assembly hall and refused to take the oath like the other guild members and that’s when things changed.

  Jealousy turned into an addictive obsession but by then he knew all of my secrets. He knew everything about the Guild. He even knew what would happen to the ten Guild members who’d pledged their loyalty to me.

  If they all died, the prophecy would grant me the strength of their souls and powers. As long as they lived, I could have a real family—a normal life but if they all died…I couldn’t think about it. All I needed to do was get rid of Calvin and things would return to normal. I’d have the family my heart desired all around me. I headed toward the hall but stopped.

  My stomach knotted as I moved through what was once our safe space. My Guild members, my second family’s, broken bodies tossed around like abused dolls—dismembered arms, torsos, and legs were scattered along the hallway. I counted eight bodies with the parts then remembered Sam, which made nine.

  I took a deep breath.

  Don’t worry. Leslie got away. She knows how to hide.

  My instinct was to survey and see what, if anything I could do, but I had to find and finish Calvin before he got to Leslie.

  That explosion meant he'd found my family’s totem, an emblem of our lineage and heritage. Daughters of the Goddess, Oshun, standing as an intercessory between the heavens and the destruction of the human race. The emblem carried the symbol of the ever-vigilant female vulture protecting the weak from the undead—the last vampire huntress.

  I stumbled across a body. From the low light, I made out the face.

  Gerard.

  He'd been one of my lieutenants.

  His body twitched. Was he undead now?

  I had to chop his head off, just in case. Had they all been turned prior to the explosion? I took no pleasure in doing it. I reached behind me to find my sword holder and whipped out then raised one of my twin machete swords.

  I sliced Gerard's head from his body. His pale white face and gray eyes stared at me. It was cruel but better safe than sorry. He would’ve done the same to me.

  I forged ahead.

  Calvin had done too much damage.

  His desire to have me all to himself—to control everything about me was what forced the other guild members to excommunicate him. They threatened then drove him away.

  He vowed to get even.

  I sensed Calvin watched and waited for me as I entered the assembly hall.

  “Here she comes!” he screamed as he stood next to a gaping hole in the wall.

  The explosion had blown apart my office and provided the secondary opening. Making exaggerated movements, he mockingly plopped down in the leader's chair, my chair.

  I sighed, “I should’ve killed you that night…two months ago.” My voice cracked—all these deaths are my fault.

  “But you didn’t.” He looked smug and shrugged, “You missed me, love me and you know, I love you.”

  He was right. I missed him.

  “You know what will happen if you kill all the vampire hunters, the decision that I’d have to make.” I studied him. I had to finish him, if I wanted a life free from the prophecy.

  I hoped I could…

  “I know,” he said with his chest puffed up. “And I’ve been thinking. You don’t have to accept the call. You can become a normal woman and be all mine.”

  He held my family's sacred totem, squeezing it—trying to destroy it.

  Calvin continued, “Now that I’m a vampire. I’m strong. I can protect you.”

  I slowly walked down the center aisle. I must finish him now. Could I kill him?

  “I know you’ll choose me—over the vampire hunters and your family legacy. You need me like I need you.” He crookedly smiled.

  Then he stood. Moving unnaturally fast, he reached down behind the desk and pulled up a whimpering body. He stood at the head of the room next to the white board where I assigned tasks to the Guild.

  “Leslie!” Terror raced through my body.

  Before I could think, I took off towards him. But I was too late. He snapped her neck and tossed her broken bloodied body aside.

  Everything stopped. She didn’t move. She was dead.

  My heart sank.

  Leslie hadn't gotten away. All my Guild members were dead, and it really was my fault.

  The hair raised on my neck and arms.

  The totem called to me. Join your foremothers.

  “No.” I said out loud.

  Calvin laughed.

  "It's you and me, now," he said, very happy with himself.

  I knew that I was the only one who could hear the ritual of the ancestors. My stomach twisted as the magic compelled me.

  Choose, Daughter of Oshun!

  Spirit drums played. My heart thumped to the beat. The Adinkra tattoos on my arms flared to life.

  The first, Gye Nyame, symbolizing God is supreme. Next Aya or the Fern, endurance and resourcefulness. Finally, the Sankofa Bird, signifying remembering the past. Each symbol hummed and streamed along my arms in gold, as ancient West African magic radiated throughout my soul.

  Calvin licked his fangs and continued, "We can be together forever!"

  My mother's ghostly voice and all the women in my bloodline resounded in unison, "When all the mighty hunters have fallen, one woman with the resourcefulness of the vulture, of royal blood will pledge her heart, soul and twin blades to defend the innocent from the undead."

  I made a steadfast slow march up the aisle. My stomach in knots at what I was about to do. He’d been so handsome with his honey-colored skin, buff body, and infectious smile. The first and only man I’d ever slept with. In another time and place, I could be marching towards him with true happiness in his eyes instead of the manic madness, they now possessed.

  Calvin tried to smash the totem, but he couldn't. “Turn your back on your family's legacy.”

  I spoke the words my mother taught me. "Because of the bones of the fallen…”

  He scooted back as I marched forward with fear in his eyes. “Shut up!”

  I continued, “I pledge my heart…”

  Calvin gripped my family totem frantically trying to smash it. "Choose me over your foolish Goddess prophecy!”

  I stared at him and finished my pledge, “… soul, and twin blades to protect the innocent from the undead."

  His hands heated with the light of the totem.

  “Dammit!” He screamed. “Kendra, Don’t do it!” The totem burned him, but he did his best to hold onto it.

  I bowed my head and lifted my heart as the totem flew from his hand towards me, sinking deep into my flesh and attached to my heart. My body lifted from the ground and Oshun’s golden magic wove around me. Warmth spreading throughout my body. I’d been hesitant but now I was resolute in my decision. It was the only choice I could’ve made.

  "I become the vulture and the Last Vampire Huntress!" When I said those prophetic words, a tear streamed down my face. Now, I was cursed and blessed like all the women in my blood line with a shortened lifespan but the power of ten vampire hunters.

  Calvin's eyes widened. “No.”

  My body floated back to the ground.

  Calvin lunged from the front of the room. “You will always be mine!"

  I stilled then pulled my gun.

  One shot-one kill. I pulled the trigger.

  Calvin ducked, and the bullet hit the wall.

  "It won't be that easy." He laughed, leaping with vampiric speed. He was almost on top of me.

  I unsheathed my two blades, one for each hand. I went down on my knee, turned then twisted, slicing his leg from underneath him.

  With his eyes wide in surpri
se, Calvin tumbled.

  "No," he said. “I’m a vampire and I’m stronger than you.”

  Then he whispered. “You love me…”

  I almost hesitated until I saw Leslie's body twitching. She was rising as an undead creature. If he died, then anyone he sired would not rise. Leslie could rest in peace.

  Calvin looked back to Leslie and then gave me a bloodied, fanged grin.

  “You can't do this. You won’t.” He cowered like he did two months ago when I was on patrol and stopped him from draining the blood of an unsuspecting victim…when I believed he’d been a victim, too, and felt sorry for him.

  “You love me? Right?” Calvin studied my face, searching for the answer he wanted.

  That night I wanted to hunt down the vampire that turned him so he could be free. So, we could be together but instead I took him home to my bed too soon. I fed him my blood for nourishment. I begged him to tell me who his master was, but he refused. His obsession with me grew worse. Each day his behavior devolved. I finally put him out last night. I just couldn’t bring myself to end him.

  “Yes. I’ll always love you,” I replied.

  I raised the other blade and sliced through Calvin's neck like it was butter. His head rolled toward me. His light-brown eyes stared in disbelief.

  “You were and always will be my first and only love.” I stared back into those once beautiful eyes. “I’m the last vampire huntress, now, and I’ve taken the oath to stand between the heavens and the undead.”

  The magic receded and I slid the rest of the way down to the floor. I'd lost everyone that I’d ever loved but there was more for me to deal with...

  Since I'd slept with Calvin, I hadn't had a cycle. I thought it was stress. On a whim, I'd taken a pregnancy test.

  “I’m going to be a mom, now.” The tears rolled freely down my cheeks.

  Calvin was the father. Honestly, it never occurred to me that a vampire could get me pregnant, but here I was two months with child.

  If I could’ve found the vampire who sired him and chopped off his head…

  If Calvin had not killed all the vampire hunters…

  If I hadn’t taken the oath…

  “No more ifs,” I said.

  I rubbed my belly. I had to think about my baby girl, raise her like my mom raised me and love her fiercely for as much time as I had left to live.

  I am the Last Vampire Huntress and I stand as intercessory between the heavens and the undead.

  Gritty Corners

  Jessica Cage

  Gritty corners. Dirty Streets. Sounds of pain and suffering. Sharp fissures, ripped through my shoulder as it fed from me, and when it was done, my body was discarded. Tossed behind the club’s dumpster in the alley. This was the hot new place to be. It was where you could find all the cool kids and apparently blood thirsty monsters.

  That’s that memory I was left with as every moment of the world’s agony echoed inside my head. The pain in my shoulder had stopped, but the throbbing remained. I could still feel that thing, whatever it was, clutching me in its hold.

  My name is Kyla and that was how my life as a vampire started, a discarded, unfinished meal of a reckless vampire. A vampire, I’d spent the better part of five years trying to hunt down. It should have been easy; they say you’re supposed to be connected to the one who turned you. Unfortunately, the one who turned me knew that I was out for revenge.

  I was in the prime of my life. My natural hair care line had just made me my first million dollars. It was the reason for my friends insisting that I go out that night. Instead of dancing the night away, dripping in melanin and magic, my life as it were, came to a blood-soaked ending.

  “Are you ready?” Milton, my vampire mentor, stood behind me. To look at him you’d never know he was hundreds of years older than me. His black suit fit him like a glove and his short hair was perfect, as usual.

  Milton found me hours after the attack. Dizzy, in pain, and trying to get a cab, I would’ve killed the driver if it wasn’t for him.

  “I’ve been ready for years.” I adjusted the collar of my leather jacket. “You know this.”

  “It’s going to hurt, you know, if you kill him. You’ll feel his death. You two are connected.” Milton gave me the same warning he had a thousand times before.

  “I’ll feel it and I’ll revel in it.” I turned to him. “It’s taken me nearly five years to find this man. Look at him.” I pointed to the condo’s open window. It was across from our position. My attacker lay with the limp bodies of four half-naked women. “He is still just as reckless. How many women’s lives do you think he has ended? How is it that he acts this way and goes unchecked?”

  “He is well connected. By now,you know how this works. You’ve seen countless others just like him.” Milton leaned on the edge of the roof as he watched our target. “He probably has a cleanup crew on standby right now.”

  “Well, let’s give them some work to do!” My fangs flashed as I grinned and lifted the mic to my lips. “Everyone in place?”

  “Diamond, I’m ready for action.”

  “Myra, eyes on the target.”

  “Sass, over here perched in perfection!”

  “Good luck ladies.” Milton nodded as he turned to leave. In his position, he couldn’t risk getting his hands dirty, but the rest of us had no such qualms. Milton was high in the vampire society, and his dealings with our little group if ever found out would ruin his status. I would never ask him to do that.

  “Let’s do this!” I growled, took ten steps back, and ran like hell. The last foot fall pushed me into the air and my dark skin was bathed in the moonlight as I cut through the air with grace and of course a bit of flare. Okay, I had to admit, this part of being a vampire was cool.

  I landed on the roof of the target’s building and made a mad dash for the service door. I had to be quick, my jump was timed to avoid the roof’s camera. Alec, the asshole, who was now covered in the blood of his most recent victim, had more enemies than could be counted and was always on the alert.

  I managed to get inside without the camera picking up my movement. And as I shifted my weight to descend the ten flights of steps that would get me to Alec’s location, I made one miscalculation. The soft closing of the door behind me alerted the vampire guards below. That would give me approximately fifteen seconds to prepare for battle.

  I pulled the blades from the sheaths at my side and stepped back into the dark corner. I hadn’t planned on giving up my position so quickly, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the opportunity to kick some ass. It might be good to burn off some of my rage before I made it to my target.

  Three deep breaths and then I was silent. No moment, stone like the building around us as they raced up the steps.

  “What the hell was that?” The tallest called from below as the shorter guard checked the door. He stood not 2 feet from me.

  “I don’t know. I swore I heard the door open.”

  “Man, I told you to lay off that laced blood. Let’s get back to our post. If Alec notices us missing, he’ll be ready to move again.” The tall one headed back down the steps.

  This was my moment.

  “You think he’d just stop pissing people off,” the short one said as he turned to head back down the steps.

  I reached out and in one quick motion snapped shorty’s neck. I caught his weight before he could hit the ground and pulled him into the corner. It took some finesse, but I had him propped up in the corner. I released the breath and tapped my mic three times. This was the cue; the ladies would know I’d made it inside. We never spoke when in movement. Vampire ears were too sensitive, and it would give up our cover.

  Quickly, I descended the steps, big and tall would notice his missing buddy soon so I needed to quiet him before he could sound off the alarms. Light like a feather, I raced down the steps. The specialized padding in my shoes, Myra’s invention, muffled the noise of my footfall giving me an added advantage. The irritated guar
d noticed my presence about one second before the knife removed his head and five seconds before he would have been able to tell the others.

  Four taps on the mic this time. It was time for them to move into action. I waited for their response before moving.

  I had to navigate through five flights of steps to get down to Alec’s level. There was a guard on every level and the closer I got to him, the tougher the opponent. It wasn’t until the fourth guard that I had trouble. An error in judgment cast a shadow that exposed my position. I was able to take the guy out, but not before he alerted the others.

  By the time I made it to the fifth level, little Miss Sunshine was ready and waiting. The bubbly blonde was no more than five feet tall and wore yellow from head to toe. She had eyes the wide eyes of a lunatic and the crazed grin to match.

  “Cover blown; I’m moving in.” Diamond spoke over the mic.

  “Shit!” I dodged a blow from the tiny powerhouse. “Whatever you do, don’t let him get away!”

  “You’re going to die this time.” Sunshine threatened and pointed to her jaw with a wink. The last time we faced each other she got the upper hand, leaving a scar beneath my left eyes as a memento. Vampires healed quickly, but it wasn’t always without flaw.

  Okay, so I couldn’t tell you what her real name was. I’d faced her a few times before. She was small but strong, but after a few encounters with her, I knew that speed wasn’t her strongest suit. As long as I didn’t let her get her hands on me, I could beat her.

  She reached out for me the same as always, but this time I was ready. I dodged her intended chokehold and kicked off the opposite wall using it to bring as much force as I could into the punch. She fell back, but I knew I had to keep the assault going. Hit after hit left my hands and her face bloodied. After the last blow, a roundhouse kick to the side of her face, her head smacked against the cement step and her eyes rolled back.

  I opened the door to Alec’s floor and walked right into two guards. The fight was swift, I used one for leverage while my boot kicked in the jaw of the other. I could hear his bone breaking beneath the force. I moved fast before his partner could sink his fangs into my arm. Two broken necks later and I was ready to move ahead.