Midnight Guardian

by Tamara White

  A smirk starts at the corner of his lips. He must have a death wish to be so rash. Why would he jump when I so clearly threatened him?

  The hairs on the back of my neck rise as the others behind me decide now is the time to intervene.

  I drop the hand holding the vampire’s throat, using the dagger to keep him in place, and draw my gun, aiming it at the vampire’s heart. “One more move and he gets a bullet in the heart.”

  They all stiffen behind me, and I grin, feeling my scars stretch with the movement. The vampire no longer looks happy about the situation, instead showing a mix of arousal and fear.

  The fear makes him seem a lot younger than I would expect of someone with his level of power.

  “Now, are you going to be a good boy and listen, or would you like to lose your head tonight?”

  The vampire licks his lips, obviously trying to find the right words to pacify me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you, but it’s very rare I can play tricks on another vampire. It won’t happen again,” he tells me slowly, but I can tell by the sparkle in his eyes he doesn’t mean it. The danger is a drug to him and he’s getting off on the fact he’s so close to death right now.

  I sigh, tempted to rip his head off simply because I can, but then I’d be breaking my own rules. He hasn’t harmed any humans that I’ve seen, and until I’ve caught him trying to, he’s still technically an innocent.

  I take my gun away from his chest, tucking it back into my pants, and then pull my dagger away. I straighten, giving the vampire room to compose himself. He takes a step toward me threateningly, and I give him my sweetest smile. He halts, confused, and I move faster than he can see, raising my fist and punching him in his pretty little face.

  The force of my hit sends him back, the very distinct sound of a thud as his head hits the wall echoing down the alley. He slides down the wall, raising one hand to pinch his nose and stop the flow of blood now pouring down his face. His other hand goes to his head, touching the spot that hit the wall, his fingers coming away stained with crimson. His expression is one of surprise and fear.

  Vampires are the strongest supes to kill, so to make one bleed like he was nothing more than human has this one rethinking his next moves. At least, I would like to hope he is. Otherwise, it means he’s got one hell of a death wish.

  I turn my back on him while he just sits on the ground at a loss for words. The shifters are all watching me with fear, awe, and anger in their expressions. I smile pleasantly, not really giving a fuck how they feel. “Anyone else want to try something? Or do you just want to go your own way and pretend this never happened?”

  The tigers look at each other, having some kind of silent conversation. While they decide what action they wish to take, I study the bear and wolf. The guy who is clearly a bear shifter, judging by his huge stature and calming energy, simply smiles at me. His soft brown eyes sparkle brightly even in the dark of night. He doesn’t look bothered in the slightest by my display of violence.

  My eyes roam over his body, enjoying the sight very much. He has a beautiful olive skin tone that looks like it would be soft as fuck to run my hands over. When my eyes reach his pants, the outline of his semi-hard dick is taunting me, and the first thought to run through my mind is that he would make the night end on a very high note.

  Shit, not the best thoughts to be having right now. I really need to find a few more bodies to feed on before I go back. If my hormones are this out of check, it’s bad for everyone involved.

  Rather than continue to ogle the bear, I focus my attention on the wolf, my lip curling in disgust. Just because I can shift into one doesn’t mean I like them.

  His disdain is clear in his eyes, and makes it clear the feeling is very fucking mutual.

  His arms are crossed over his chest as he glares at me, and his gaze runs over me with contempt. When his eyes meet mine, his lips smirk cruelly. “You’re the infamous Midnight Guardian. Who knew it would be a chick?”

  My lips thin, but I don’t deny his claim. Why bother?

  Rather than respond, I simply leave. I don’t need to stay here. Not when I have other more important things to be doing.

  It’s not until I’m two streets away that I feel the energy of the five of them again, right before the vampire appears a few feet in front of me, his hands out in a peaceful gesture. “Just please, stop. We’ve heard of you, but we never thought you were real. I’m Tristan,” he explains, holding out his hand for me to shake.

  I ignore it, hand on my hip, waiting for him to move. When he realizes I’m not going to say anything, he steps back and I follow him with my eyes. He flits behind each of his friends, introducing them like a super excitable puppy.

  “These guys are tiger shifters, and they happen to be brothers. This is Marcus.” He pauses to shake the man who was in my dorm before moving onto the second tiger. “This lovely soul is Jesse, and while he can be a bit abrasive, he’s a softy at heart.”

  The tiger in question bares his teeth at me, making Tristan’s statement seem pretty untrue.

  He moves to the olive-skinned man, who I notice is still sporting a tent in his pants. He grins as Tristan slaps him on the back. “This bear of a man is Adrian, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, he shifts into a big, burly bear.”

  I nod once, the only indication of my intrigue toward him. The vampire moves to his last friend, the wolf who outed my identity. “And this jackass is Quinn. He’s... well, he’s a wolf.” Tristan flushes like he’s ashamed of not finding something nice to say about the wolf, but I can see from the blue eyes that burn into me that this Quinn fellow doesn’t give a shit what I think of him any more than I care what he thinks of me.

  “Okay... What do you want? In case you haven’t noticed, I have more important places to be,” I snap, not hiding the bite in my words. “If you want my autograph or some shit, you’re outta luck.”

  Jesse the tiger takes a step away from the group with a sadistic smile. “Oh, I don’t know. I reckon you have all the time in the world for us. After all, we hear the council has been looking for the vigilante taking the law into their own hands. I bet they would reward us greatly for giving them your name and location.”

  Panic consumes me, and before I can stop myself, my gun is drawn and aimed. My ears are ringing with the fear of facing the council before I’m ready. My gut tells me to dispose of the threats here so they can’t lead them back to me before I’m ready. My mind is telling me to stop, but the trigger is pulled before logic catches up with me.

  I’m tackled at the same time the shot rings out, and that’s the wrong thing to do. Fire rages in my veins, begging to be free. Suddenly, the body on me cries out and jumps away, giving me the chance to get to my feet. I pull a dagger and hold it in one hand while I try to gauge where my gun fell.

  It’s right beside me, so I bend slowly, keeping my eyes on the wolf called Quinn. He was the one to take me down, and he’s watching me with weariness and fear. My eyes go to each of the others, and I imagine I must look crazed to them.

  Jesse is clutching his arm tightly, stemming the flow of blood from his wound. My head is a little clearer as I stare him down, but my heart races with fear I don’t recognize. Ever since I left the council’s clutches, I’ve dreaded going back there. Afraid that if they really caught me, they would force me to hurt another. Something I would rather die before doing. I know it’s only a matter of time before I have to face them, but I can’t do it alone and before my plan is fully in place. To do so would mean my death.

  “If you call the council, I’ll make you suffer pain the likes of which you have never felt before. I will hunt your family to the ends of the earth, killing anyone who is remotely related to you. Then, when you have no one left on this earth, I will take your life.”

  Marcus steps in front of his brother with his hands raised as if to ward me off. “Woah, settle down there. He didn’t mean anything by it. We won’t call the council. I swear it on my life.”

&nbs
p; I study him for a moment, sensing his intentions and come to the conclusion he’s being sincere. I lower my gun and click the safety on again before putting it away. The tiger I shot peeks around his brother.

  “I’m sorry. I was bluffing. None of us like the council and would never call them.” Jesse’s gaze quickly flicks to Tristan before coming back to me.

  “Good, because the council and I have a complicated relationship. I’d hate to kill you simply for interfering in business that doesn’t concern you.”

  Jesse smirks, opening his mouth to retort when his face distorts in pain, and his body starts to seize. He drops to the ground, his form shaking uncontrollably as the poison from my bullet starts to work its way through his system, making its way to his heart. Oh, shit.

  His brother and the others all drop to his side, trying to hold him down. “What the fuck did you do to him?” Marcus screams at me, his eyes filled with panic.

  I move closer, noticing the foam that’s started to bubble up from his mouth. I debate leaving him there, but then a little shred of humanity tells me I’d be no worse than the council if I left him to die.

  Fuck, I should just leave him to die, but seeing Marcus in such torment over his brother, it reminds me of what I would do for Jarrod if he was still here.

  Sighing in resignation, I wave my hands dismissively. “All of you need to move.”

  Marcus glares at me, his eyes clearly showing his incredulity at my words. “Yeah, because we’re just going to let him die. You’re a fucking sociopath!”

  I roll my eyes. “He was poisoned by my bullet. There are two ways this can play out. One, you can think you can save him and he will die a quick but painful death. Or, you could trust me for one second and move out of the fucking way so I can save him.”

  “And why should we trust you?” Quinn snarls venomously. His body is vibrating with the need to shift, his wolf’s urge to protect his pack and take out any threats is strong. Something I actually admire. Not many shifters would take others under their wing. The supernatural world seems to be pretty divided by each species.

  I sigh, doing something I swore I wouldn’t. I just have to hope that saving their friend will stop them from revealing my secret. I bend down, roll up the jeans at my ankle, and unzip my boot to let them see my mark. “Because I’m the Supreme Alpha. Only I can save him now.”

  In truth, even the Supreme Alpha shouldn’t be able to heal such wounds, but like I’ve learned in the past two years, I’m not exactly normal, even in the supernatural world.

  All of them look skeptical and I decide I have no choice but to act now before the tiger dies. I move faster than lightning, ripping each male from Jesse and flinging them away. I’m sure they are all rushing to right themselves and come at me, but they don’t make it far before I sit the tiger up enough to sink my fangs into his neck.

  The moment I start drawing his blood into my body, I can taste the foulness of the bullet and realize it didn’t go all the way through, so I move a hand to his arm, using my fingers to probe the wound and rip the bullet from him. I feel the tiger losing his life as I drink, and I know I have to share my life with him. I break from his neck to rip into my wrist and feed him my clean blood, blood filled with my power to heal. It won’t be permanent, but it will stop him from dying tonight.

  At first, he fights the hold as I press my bleeding wrist to his mouth, but soon he’s sucking on it like his life depends on it, and it really does. I can take his tainted blood, leaving only the clean, but if too much is stained, he won’t have enough to heal properly.

  When I no longer taste any hint of silver or iron in his bloodstream, I flick my tongue over my bite mark, watching it heal instantly. My eyes are burning, and I know they have turned the golden hue they usually do when I take another’s lifeforce, but thankfully I didn’t kill this tiger. I already have enough deaths on my conscience.

  The tiger suddenly stops sucking on my wrist, jumping to his feet with speed almost like my own. That side effect will wear off soon, but for now, he will be nearly as fast and strong as me. His eyes, too, have changed to gold, which surprises me. I’ve never had that happen before. Must just be because my powers have grown since last time.

  I get to my feet, dusting off my pants. “Well, he should be fine now. Give him a day at least before being around other supes though, or he may hurt them. He has some of my power for the time being.”

  I begin to walk away when Marcus calls out, “How did you do that? You were a vampire, but I felt the shifter energy in you too. What exactly are you?”

  “I wish I knew,” I mutter, knowing full well he heard me. They all would have. I walk off into the night, needing to put as much distance between me and them as possible. Tonight, all I wanted was to feed enough to sustain me for the week, but now I’m gonna need more than I ever planned.

  Chapter Eleven

  Isobel

  Two hours later, I’m cursing my stupidity. Since I left the tigers and their merry band of supes, I’ve killed but haven’t fed. And now I’m out of time to hunt. At least if I want to get a good night’s sleep.

  “Fuck, what am I going to do?” I mutter to myself, beginning to make my way back toward Midnight Society. If I don’t feed on somebody, I’m going to be weak all day tomorrow. And that would leave me open to an attack. It will also result in me being one hell of a hormonal bitch, which could end in someone being assaulted for pissing me off.

  The only thing I can do is ride the day out and hope to fucking hell my temper doesn’t get too out of hand. I can hunt again tomorrow night and plan it better. I should have never saved that tiger. It’s weakened me too much, more than I realized.

  It’s caused the bloodlust to rise and once that happens, it’s very easy to get lost in nothing but the kill. I got so caught up in slaying, I didn’t realize how many I’d killed without feeding before it was too late. It’s not the first time it’s happened either.

  The first month I was out of the council headquarters was the worst. I was dealing with shit no woman should ever have to and was depressed beyond belief. All I wanted was death and revenge on those who caused me such pain, but to do so would put me back in the same place I ran from and I wasn’t that stupid.

  I’m drawn out of my thoughts when the energy around me changes. I freeze, relaxing only when I realize it’s the same tigers from earlier.

  I couldn’t be bothered going on the bus back to Midnight while in this mood so I decided to walk down the large stretch of road that will eventually lead me home. My guess is they are also finished with whatever they came to the city for.

  “Do you mind if we join you?” Jesse questions, as he comes up beside me. The only thing that made it immediately obvious which tiger he is are the glowing gold eyes.

  Marcus comes up on my other side and I tense slightly, not liking the fact I’m between them. It makes it easier for them to corner me if they wished to. Marcus must sense the change, because he moves slowly around me to stand on his brother’s other side.

  “Are you going back to Midnight Society?” I inquire, not acknowledging Marcus. There is a connection between Jesse and me now, one that will fade in time, but for now, I can feel his emotions, sense when he’s lying to me. He, too, will feel those things, but I doubt it will affect him as much as me.

  My role as Supreme Alpha makes me especially connected to all of the supernaturals in a way, but when blood power is shared like that, it creates a tighter bond between two people. At least that’s how it was with Jordan and me. When we first started sharing blood, it was an accident, but after we both got off on it, we started to include the activity in sex, gradually increasing the frequency until it occurred almost daily.

  I believe it’s the reason why I can’t go long without the hunt anymore. I think I grew addicted to the blood, much the same way a person becomes addicted to gambling.

  “Yeah, we’re going back. I’m going to crash with Marc tonight.”

  I nod slowly and continue w
alking on the side of the road, glad the traffic is practically nonexistent the farther I get out of the city. Soon we’ll be walking on the desert road and it’s going to be completely empty.

  We walk in silence for a few minutes and I can tell that the men both want to ask questions. They probably want to know how I’m their Alpha when no announcement has been made by the council. According to the witches I’ve spoken to since leaving, that’s what should have happened when I first turned. There should have been some big announcement that the old Alpha was dead and I was now in charge. Only for some reason, the council never made that known. It’s how I’ve been able to survive out of the council compound without being identified.

  For ten minutes we walk side by side, the sound of our feet scuffing the road and the loose rocks that are on the side. The trees sway softly in the breeze and the scent of the two tigers becomes more and more appealing with each step I take. Until the shakes start. I can tell both guys notice, and I stuff my hands in my jacket pockets, hating the way my body betrays my weakness.

  It’s my own damn fault, but still, the shakes show my hunger more than anything else ever could. And no matter how much real food I eat, it won’t be enough to fill this craving.

  “You know we never did get your name,” Marcus comments, but I know he’s curious as fuck. I bet it kills him not knowing more about me.

  Rather than be a complete bitch and make him wait until classes tomorrow, I relent and give it. “It’s Isobel.” I don’t tell him more, because he doesn’t need to know my last name or my family history.

  Jesse smiles softly. “So, Isobel, you gonna tell us what’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I reply, brushing off his concern.

  He and his brother exchange a worried glance before I turn back and focus on the road ahead. In the distance, I hear the telltale sound of a coyote on the hunt, and I smile at the thought of the animal searching for its dinner.