Viper (Nighthawks MC Book 1)

by C. J. Pinard

  I counted to ten, fired up my Harley, and we followed at a safe distance behind him. We hadn’t even gone two miles before the guy pulled up to a trailer park, weaved around the homes, and parked in front of a large mobile home where all the lights were burning on inside.

  With no sight of the government vehicle behind us, we parked the bikes at the entrance to the trailer park and used vampire speed to rush toward the trailer. Gaps in the curtains showed one female and a small child inside. I watched through the back window to see the man enter the home and was greeted by the woman and child. It looked like a normal family evening except I knew the man was going to turn into a beast later. I could only pray the female was human since I didn’t think having a child around even one monster, let alone two, was wise.

  Looking up into the sky, I could see the moon was bright and full. I was still trying to understand the science—or was it magic?—behind their shifts. Did they have to wait until a certain time of the night? Old movies would show the wolves turning and then turning back if the clouds covered the moon. At least I knew that much was false.

  My cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out and flipped it open to read the message.

  Cobra: Fourth victim found behind Pete’s Tavern this morning. Left for dead, but still alive and IDed the man. It’s our guy for sure.

  I could see a photo was coming through and I waited patiently for it to load. I wrinkled my nose at the sight of the bloody woman, her face beaten and cut. I nudged Shadow and showed him the photo, then the text.

  “This fuckin’ asshole,” Shadow snapped. “Looks like he made time to do one last attack before the full moon was at its highest.” He looked up into the sky.

  So that was how it worked—they shifted when the moon was at its highest.

  “She was found this morning. Probably because he’d be busy tonight.”

  “Sick fuck,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Let’s go fuck this guy up,” I said with a growl, flipping the phone closed and pocketing it.

  Before we could make our way to the front door, headlights shone in our direction and I recognized the government sedan.

  “Real smooth,” I said dryly.

  “I say we just ignore him,” Shadow said. “Those cops ain’t gonna do shit if we kill this dirtbag. They only care if humans are getting hurt.”

  “True,” I said. “Still, let me do something real fast. Stay here.”

  I used vampire speed to rush over to the BSI cop as he killed the engine and got out of the car. He had his gun drawn, and was quite startled when I gripped both his arms. I looked into his eyes. “Get back in the car, put your gun away, and lock the door. Go to sleep. The stakeout was too boring to stay awake. Forget all about me being here.”

  He holstered his gun, slipped back into the car, locked the door, and rested his head back.

  I ran back over to the trailer and met Shadow. “What’s the plan? Knock on the door, or just bust it down?”

  He glanced in the window again. “They’re eating dinner like a nice little family. I wonder if this puke’s wife knows what he does at night, the sick, twisted piece of shit.” He looked at me. “Knock on the door, if he answers, we’ll drag him out. If she answers, I’ll go in after him.”

  I nodded. We went around front and knocked on the door. The goddamn kid answered it. Who does that? Continues eating and lets a kid get the door? He looked no older than five.

  I glanced at Shadow, then the child. “Is your dad home?”

  “Who is it, Tommy?” I heard a male voice say.

  “We need to speak with you privately, Mr. Morris,” I replied in my best cop voice.

  He came stomping over to the door and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Tommy, go back to the table and finish eating.” He glanced over his shoulder, then to us. “Who the hell are you?”

  Shadow disappeared into thin air and then reappeared behind the man. He shoved him so hard he busted through the screen door, tumbled down the three wooden porch steps, and landed on the ground.

  When he looked up, his eyes were yellow, and his teeth began to elongate. He growled and started to try to undress, but I pulled out my pearl-handled revolver and shot him in the leg. He howled in pain and yelled obscenities at us.

  Just then, a scream from the doorway had me turning around.

  “You a wolf, too?” I asked his horrified wife.

  She shook her head and with tears in her eyes, she said, “You shot him!”

  I saw Tommy appear next to his mother looking terrified.

  “Get that kid back in the house,” I snapped.

  “But you shot him,” she repeated.

  Knowing the wolf would heal, I was losing my patience. “I said, get—”

  She shooed the kid away. “Tommy, go to your room.” Then she looked at me, sobbing. “I’m calling nine-one-one, you monster.”

  Oh, that’s rich.

  “Go ahead, tell them we’ve apprehended the Great Lakes Killer,” I snarled at her and turned around.

  “What?” she asked on a gasp. “That’s not… He’s not the…”

  Porch lights were popping on because of the gunshot, so we used vampire speed to drag him deep into the forest behind the trailer park. He fought and tried to bite us, but we were going too fast. I threw him up against a tree and aimed the weapon at him.

  “Start talking,” I said.

  He was writhing in pain and tearing his clothes off. Inhuman growls and grunts came from him, and I looked at Shadow. “Any way we can stop him from turning?”

  He shook his head. “No. And then he can’t talk. Make it quick.”

  A loud snap, followed by another, and then another as I watched his bones begin to break. He was almost completely nude now, down to just his boxers.

  “Hurry up!” Shadow yelled.

  “Erik Morris, you are hereby sentenced to death for the assaults and murders of four women. Any last words, Mr. Great Lakes Killer?”

  He was grunting and panting, his body sprouting thick, coarse hair all over. “Fuck. You,” he said in an echoing, otherworldly voice, fangs cutting into his lip, bloodshot eyes with a yellow pupil staring at us in rage.

  He looked like pure fucking evil.

  I looked at Shadow and shrugged, then back to the man—the wolf. “Go straight to hell,” I said before aiming the revolver at his head and firing a single shot between his eyes. Morris slumped to the ground, his body reverting completely back to human.

  Shadow pulled his big-ass buck knife out of its sheath and with one swipe, took his head off just to be safe.

  I made a face. “There’s no healing from that.”

  “Nope,” he said, lifting the head by the hair and tossing it several feet away. He wiped his knife off on his jeans. “There is not.”

  Sirens wailed in the distance. We ran at top speed back to our bikes and sped out of the trailer park through the back and into the forest, where thankfully a highway rested on the other side.

  Church was already in session when we got back to the clubhouse. The guys clapped as we walked in. Shadow took a bow. I just grunted and took a seat. I’d shot off a text to Cobra from a stoplight on our way back that it was done.

  “Do you think anyone can ID you?” Cobra asked.

  “His wife, maybe,” I replied honestly. “Their porch light wasn’t working, so it was dark, but the moon’s full.”

  “We weren’t wearing our cuts. Just this black clothing.” He pointed to his black tee and dark jeans.

  “We’ll have someone go compel her,” Cobra said, looking at one of the other lieutenants.

  “I’m sure she already talked to the cops,” Shadow commented.

  Cobra waved a hand. “It’s fine, she’ll be changing her story and sticking to it after a little chat.”

  “On it, boss,” Python said, grabbing a prospect and heading for the door.

  “Well, now that that’s done and over with, we’re going to be laying low for a while. Unless anot
her piece of garbage decides to go on a murdering spree.”

  He went on to talk about the shipment of weapons we had coming in, smuggled on a cruise ship. He assigned me, Shadow, and two other guys to be there tomorrow night to pick up the load.

  “And be on the lookout for those BSI cops. This is the shit they like to try to arrest us for.” He snorted out a laugh and shook his head. “If they can catch us.”

  The room laughed, except me. I forgot to mention the cop from earlier, so I decided to wait until after church was adjourned.

  “Hey, boss, got a sec?” I said to Cobra once most of the guys had wandered over into the bar.

  “Sure, man. What’s going on?” he asked, staring at me with intense blue eyes.

  “Nothing big, just thought I’d mention there was a BSI cop there tonight. He was watching Morris from the time he left Pete’s to when he arrived at his trailer park.”

  Cobra’s eyebrows dipped together. “He see you guys?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, but I compelled him into staying in his car and sleeping.”

  “Very good. Can he ID you?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I told him to forget I was there. No way he can ID Shadow. He was too far away. Hopefully he forgets the entire interaction. I’ve never been that great at doing that, though.”

  He clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s all good. If they come knocking, we’ll deal with it. They can’t prove you killed Morris. And even if he could, he’s not going to go to the real cops regardless.”

  “True,” I said.

  Suddenly, the sound of a shotgun blast had us both racing toward the bar.

  Chapter 26

  Days of Future Past

  Muskegon, Michigan – 2003

  Cobra and I rushed into the bar to find a burly, scruffy-looking man holding a shotgun aimed at everyone inside. “Who the fuck killed my brother?” he demanded, waving the gun around and looking entirely too mentally unstable for my liking. His wild gaze darted around the club.

  Every vampire and human in the place looked terrified, their arms up in surrender. A few of the humans had fresh piss stains on the front of their pants. The smell hit me hard.

  “What the fuck do you want?” I asked, alarmed but angry at his intrusion.

  The man scowled at me, pointing the shotgun in my direction. “Are you deaf, asshole? I want to know who killed my brother Erik, and I want to know right fucking now!”

  “Hey, put the gun down. Let’s talk about this,” Cobra said from beside me, hands up in the air as he slowly approached the man who looked entirely too much like the wolf we’d just killed.

  They could be twins. Like, identical fucking twins.

  Oh... shit.

  I glanced at Shadow, who also had his hands up. His eyes were wide like mine. Had we killed the wrong guy?

  But… it was still a full moon and this guy sure didn’t look like he was about to wolf out to me.

  “No!” Erik Morris’s twin snapped. “All you filthy vampires get on the fucking ground. Now! Someone’s going to pay for killing my brother and leaving his wife a widow, and my nephew fatherless!”

  “How is he not a wolf? It’s a full moon,” I whispered under my breath to Cobra. “And yet he knows about vamps.”

  Without taking his eyes off the gunman, he shook his head slightly and replied, “Could be the brother was bitten and not born. You said the wife was human, so maybe that’s the case,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Then his human side was the sick fucking rapist and murderer. A monster that got turned into another monster,” I whispered wryly.

  He nodded. “Unfortunately. Listen, you distract him, I’ll grab the gun,” Cobra said as we slowly began to lower ourselves to the floor of the bar to comply with this guy’s demands. If he really was human, he most certainly couldn’t hear our conversation.

  I nodded in compliance.

  “One, two, three,” Cobra said.

  “Let’s just talk,” I said loudly, my hands up but I was still on my knees, not flat on my belly on the floor like everyone else.

  When the man’s eyes diverted to me, Cobra rushed at him with preternatural speed. Unfortunately, Morris panicked and blindly pulled the trigger. Buckshot from the shotgun hit my boss and mentor straight in the head. I watched in utter horror as Cobra’s head pretty much exploded, blood and brains flying everywhere, just feet away from the shotgun-wielding psycho. When Cobra’s body quickly turned brown, then gray, then to ash, I shrieked out in grief, falling to my knees beside where he once stood.

  No, this wasn’t happening.

  This can’t be happening!

  I looked up to see several vampires collectively tackling Morris’s twin and taking him to the ground. By the time I could comprehend what was happening, the guy was nothing more than a huge mess of bloody pulp, his red life force quickly pooling on the hardwood floor, the shotgun lying discarded next to his right hand. My Serpent brothers were having a feeding frenzy, slurping and chewing at every vein and artery in the guy’s body, their black eyes wild with hunger. But all I wanted to do was scream. Cobra was dead, and I didn’t even have a body to bury.

  In my grief, I gripped my hair, raised angry fists into the air, and fucking cried.

  “But you’re needed here,” Python practically whined, looking at me with pleading eyes.

  I shook my head. “No, you’re the next in line, first lieutenant. Take over the Serpents. You’ll make a good leader. I need to get the fuck outta Michigan.” I thrust my cut at him before adjusting the backpack over my shoulder.

  Python threw the vest to the ground and scowled at me. “We need you, Viper. Cobra loved you like a son. You need to take over the club.”

  I looked into his desperate brown eyes and took in his dark mocha-colored skin his short salt-and-pepper hair. Python, whose real name was Percy Johnson, stared at me, confused, and admittedly, hurt.

  I lowered my voice, compassion oozing. “No, I’m not the one, You, brother, you got this. You’ll make a great leader.” I pounded my chest. “I know this deep down in my soul.” I clapped Python on the shoulder and walked away.

  “But…”

  I painfully ignored his pleas. It had been over a month since Cobra died and I couldn’t take this shit anymore. I needed to be free. I was sure Python could handle the club. After years in the northern tundra of shitty-ass winters, I was done. I was heading south.

  Alone.

  The backpack was heavy on my shoulders, but I didn’t care. I started up the Harley with a rumble that was music to my ears and looked out across the parking lot to the clubhouse. I glanced one last time back to where I’d called home for the past few years, and prepared to leave.

  Until a desperate-sounding voice called out. “Wait up, Viper. Wait for me!”

  I craned my head around to see Craig—Shadow—looking at me, a large backpack slung around his shoulders. One minute he was across the parking lot, the next, he was two feet in front of me, his gray eyes boring into mine. “I go where you go,” he said firmly, his jaw set in determination.

  “I ride alone,” I replied, annoyed because I just wanted to hit the open road and drive south while I wallowed in my own misery.

  He adjusted his backpack and pointed behind me. “Nah, I’m going with. We’ll fuckin’ grieve this shit together. You lead the way. Boss.”

  I briefly glanced at where he had pointed to see another Harley parked in the back of the lot. Shaking my head, I revved the engine and headed toward the highway. Craig could follow me or not. I didn’t have enough fucks to give at that point to care if he did or not.

  Yet, after a few dozen miles, a strange yet warm feeling of comfort washed over me when I realized Shadow was right behind me. He had my back and showing his loyalty to me wasn’t anything I would ever forget.

  Exhaustion blanketed me as I drove all night until the sun threatened to rise and kill me—kill us. With no choice but to stop for the day, I checked into the first motel I could find before
dawn hit.

  Shadow was, of course, hot on my heels and had parked his bike beside mine within seconds. I slogged into the motel without looking behind me.

  “One room, two beds,” I told the clerk behind the front desk.

  Shadow came up behind me. “I’m so fuckin’ tired.”

  “Me too,” I murmured.

  The clerk handed us two keys to the room, and we headed down the hall with our backpacks.

  I was too exhausted to even shower and collapsed on one of the beds after tossing my backpack on the floor, shrugging off my leather jacket and kicking off my boots.

  Shadow slid the heavy blackout curtains closed and made sure there were no gaps of light before he too collapsed on his bed.

  My eyes began to flutter shut as my body sensed the sun quickly coming up.

  “Do you think the Serpents will be okay without us?” Shadow asked quietly.

  My eyes opened and I turned my weary head in his direction. “Yes. We’re fucking warriors, all of us. They’ll persevere and keep the club going.”

  “I have this nagging feeling we shouldn’t have left them,” he commented.

  I blew out a breath and sat up on my elbows. “Listen, Cobra wasn’t always there. Someone led them before him. Someone will lead again.”

  His gaze bored into mine, his arms also crossed under his head as he glared up at the ceiling. “You’re right. I just can’t believe he’s dead. It happened so fast.” He blew out a breath and ran his hand over his shaved head. “I just hope we made the right decision to leave.”

  I let out a humorless chuckle as I lay back on the pillows, utterly exhausted. “I have no idea if we did. I had to get out of there, though. The northwest is not for me. I just can’t believe you wanted to come with me.”

  Shadow made a scoffing noise. “Well, while you’re a fucking dick, I know a leader when I see one. I, too, needed a change. I’ve been a Serpent ten years and, no joke, Cobra was the only motherfucker I gave a damn about. The rest of them could burn to ash for all I care.”