Rusted Veins: A Sabina Kane Novella

by Jaye Wells

  “Which is?” Adam said through the speaker.

  “Crack some skulls.”

  “Sounds like my kind of plan.”

  With that, Giguhl and I made our way across the street. It was late by mortal standards, nearing two in the morning. But I could see dim lights from near the back of the house. As we neared the rickety front steps, I could also hear the occasional bark of laughter or the impact of glass shattering. A radio somewhere deep inside the structure played grating music—the kind preferred by people whose senses were so numbed out by drugs they needed to be overwhelmed to feel anything.

  Giguhl shifted on my shoulder, his claws digging into my clavicles. “I have a bad feeling about this joint, Red.”

  “Drug dens are rarely happy places, G.” I rapped my knuckles on the door, putting a little English on it so it would be heard over the racket of the music. After a few moments of pounding, the door flew open.

  I stepped back as the odor of urine, vomit, and unwashed bodies blasted me in the face. The vampire who stood before me looked like Iggy Pop, only with faded red hair. The bad hair life wasn’t due to needing a salon visit. Instead, the effect of the drugs he was getting from the humans he fed from was leeching all the color from his body. If he’d been human, it would have sucked all the life from him, too, but I wasn’t really sure that was worse than an eternity of addiction.

  “What the fuck do you want?” he demanded. His lips were ashy and chapped, and his fangs were gray.

  “Hi there,” I said in my most chipper voice. “The Reverend around?”

  He squinted at me, noting the cat on my shoulder. “You the fuzz?”

  I tilted my head and smiled. “Any policeman you know walk around with a bald cat?”

  He sucked on his rotten teeth. “I thought I might be seein’ things.”

  “Understandable.” I waved a hand. “But no. I’m not a cop. The Rev?”

  “He ain’t here.” He started to slam the door, but I caught it.

  With a tight smile, I held the door open. “Then maybe you know my friend Cadence? She’s about yay big.” I mimed a height slightly shorter than mine. “With brown hair and blue eyes.”

  He smacked his pale lips in disgust before yelling over his shoulder. “Yo, is there a Cadence here?”

  A faint voice carried down the stairs. Female. Cadence? I’d never met her, so I didn’t recognize the voice, but then I could barely even make out the words. But apparently the drugs hadn’t hurt Iggy’s hearing.

  “Who wants to know?” he echoed the shouted question.

  “Sabina,” I said with patience.

  Iggy screamed my name up the stairs. A few seconds later, he cocked his head to listen. Then, with a resolute nod, he slammed the door in my face.

  “Well, that’s that, then,” I said. I spoke into the walkie-talkie. “We’re a go. In three…two…”

  Bam! I kicked in the door with my heel. Luckily I’d traded my stiletto boots for the more practical, low-heeled variety or the move might have broken my ankle.

  I expected a flurry of reaction—bodies flying, screams, the usual. Instead, Giguhl and I barreled into the foyer and found it totally empty. With my gun drawn, I rushed toward the back of the house. Here and there, vampires lay on the floor like blinking, languid cats in pools of sunshine. Only it was nighttime, the pools were yellow but definitely not caused by the sun, and something stronger than catnip had those dudes tweaking.

  I’d often wondered why vampire drug addicts didn’t cut out the middle man and just insert the drug of choice directly into their own veins or lungs or whatever. But I guess something about the narcotics mixed with blood made the effects stronger. Regardless, a vampire junky is just about as uncomfortable to be around as a human one, only vampire junkies have the added bonus of predatory instincts, superhuman strength, and immortality to go along with their need for speed, as it were.

  When no one so much as gasped at our entrance, I figured we were safe heading upstairs to try and meet up with Adam and Brooks. None of these lazy sons-a-bitches was capable of a rear attack.

  “Put me down, Red,” Giguhl whispered.

  “Trust me when I tell you, you do not want your bare paws touching these floors.” Each step I took was accompanied by a wet sucking sound as my soles struggled to free themselves of the sticky human stew covering the rotten wooden planks. “Just hold tight and keep your eye peeled for Cadence.”

  When we reached the top of the steps, Adam was just reaching the same level, only from the attic. He looked around, eyes wide. “Remind me to shower in rubbing alcohol when we get back.”

  “I’ll get your back for you,” Brooks said, patting the mage’s shoulder.

  Adam rolled his eyes but a smile flirted with the corners of his mouth. “Let’s split up. You guys take the two rooms at the front of the house. Brooks and I will get the rear.”

  I nodded and took off toward the first room I came across—a bedroom, filled with filthy bodies. In the corner, two lumps grunted under a ratty blanket. Junkies needed love, too, I guess. With a sigh, I realized that, just like downstairs, the inhabitants were a mix of human and vampire—no mage in sight.

  “Cadence?” Giguhl whisper-yelled. I thought about correcting him. After all, he was usually under strict orders to keep his trap shut in cat form. But I would bet cash money this was not the first time many of these people had witnessed a talking, hairless demon cat. The only difference was this one wasn’t a figment of their scrambled minds.

  A groan made my ears perk up. Over in the corner, I saw a flash of dirty brown hair—instead of vampire red—as a person rolled over. Was that a random vampire moving in her sleep or Cadence trying to stay hidden? No choice but to wade through and see.

  I tiptoed through the garden of junkies, picking my way gingerly lest I step on a hand or a foot or a needle still attached to a vein. Finally, I was close enough to see my target in the corner. Nope, not Cadence. Not even female, as it turned out. Although, to my credit, it was pretty hard to tell. Everywhere I looked, there were bodies emaciated to the point of androgyny.

  “Do you see her?” Giguhl whispered.

  I shook my head. “Let’s try the other room.”

  I expected more of the same in the next room. However, when I opened the door, I realized I’d stumbled onto the main feeding room. While the areas I’d witnessed so far seemed to be the lounging spaces, this place was where the real action happened. Iggy was there, sitting in the corner, feeding off a teenaged boy—probably a runaway. If the rude vamp noticed us, he didn’t show it. Instead, his eyes rolled back in his head, showing nothing but the whites as the drugs from the teen’s blood hit his own bloodstream.

  I dismissed that pitiful scene because something far more interesting demanded my attention. A female vampire bent over a female’s neck and eagerly slurped at the bloody wound. “Cadence?” I said carefully.

  The female vamp’s head jerked up. Her fangs and chin were covered in red and her eyes were dilated full black. The girl between her legs looked up more slowly, but the instant those two hopeless blue eyes met mine, I knew we’d found our girl.

  “Cadence.” Louder now. Not a request for attention. A demand.

  Unlike the other inhabitants of the house, Cadence looked relatively healthy. Her skin wasn’t covered in scabs and her body hadn’t begun to waste away into a heroin skeleton. But her arms were covered in alternating needle tracks and fang marks. And those eyes were too haunted.

  “I told you to leave,” Iggy said from across the room.

  “I know.” I kept my eyes on Cadence. “I’m not a very good listener.”

  Slowly, the vampire straddling Cadence pulled back. She didn’t bother to wipe the blood from her face.

  She flashed her gray fangs and growled, “No one wants you here.”

  I speared the junkie with a glare that would have made a sober being think twice about crossing me. With casual slowness, I raised my gun and pointed it between her black-hole eyes
. “Get the fuck out of here before I deliver something even more toxic than smack to your system.”

  She laughed, the sound not unlike an ass’s bray. “You stupid bitch. Bullets won’t hurt me.” She spread her arms wide, as if daring me to shoot her.

  “You’re right. The bullets won’t hurt you until the apple cider embedded in their core takes effect.”

  Her eyes widened. Apples were vampire Kryptonite. It went back to the origins of our race in the Garden of Eden and Eve’s apple, which robbed humans of their mortality. Since Lilith, the mother of our race, had already fled the garden by then, she’d remained immortal. As her children, vampires were also immortal—unless their blood was exposed to the forbidden fruit.

  The vampiress shot a worried glance at Iggy. His face morphed into a pained expression. Apparently this was all too taxing for his system.

  The vampiress grew bored waiting for his reply and clapped her hands together. Sparks flashed between her fingers. “I’ll zap you before the bullet leaves the barrel.” She’d been drinking mage blood, which meant she could do rudimentary magic. But she couldn’t control the power enough to be a real threat, and besides, I was a motherfucking Chthonic demigoddess.

  Before I could inform her of this fact, a throat cleared. I turned to see Adam standing behind us. “If you don’t leave right now, that bullet will be the least of your fucking problems.” He raised his hands. An arc of bright blue power flashed from his fingers to hit a chandelier overhead. The next instant the light fixture crashed down in a spray of crystal and metal not a foot from where the vamp-bitch stood.

  After that, she was nothing but a blur of red as she fled past us. Iggy followed, hot on her tail.

  I hoped she would wise up enough to just remain scarce until we left, but as tweaked as she was, she’d probably shamble back with reinforcements.

  Adam rushed across the room, where a shell-shocked Cadence remained on the floor. If the altercation with the vampire had scared her, she didn’t show it. In fact, when Adam reached for her, she scrambled away, albeit sluggishly. “Don’t touch me!”

  “Cadence, it’s me—Adam.”

  “I know who you are,” she hissed. “Get out! I have nothing to say to you.”

  “I have plenty to say. Later. In the meantime, we’re leaving.”

  “Not me,” she said. Her tone was languorous and thick. “But you’re welcome to go.”

  A gasp sounded from the doorway. I rounded and saw Brooks try to rush in just before Adam restrained him.

  “Candy!” Tears ran down Brooks’s face. “What are you doing to yourself? Listen to Adam. It’s time to leave, baby girl.”

  She licked her lips and shot Adam an angry glance. “I can’t believe you brought Brooks here.”

  “I can’t believe you brought yourself here. What the fuck, Cadence?”

  Cadence pulled herself into a standing position with unsteady movements. “Take your judgment and get the fuck out, Adam.”

  See, this was where things were going to get hairy. No one, but no one, talked to my male that way. Especially not junky ex-girlfriends we’d risked our necks to save. My first instinct was to forcibly remove her from the house, but given her anger and the drugs skewing her judgment, chances were good one or the both of us would get seriously injured. I tensed with indecision but quickly received a nudge from the demon cat on my shoulder.

  “Let him handle it,” the cat hissed in a low tone.

  “I know you’re angry,” I said in a calm voice. “But you’re not punishing anyone but yourself.”

  Her eyes snapped toward me. “Who the fuck are you?”

  My mouth fell open. I shouldn’t have been surprised she didn’t know me, but I was. Before I could tell her, Adam stepped between us, blocking me from her sight. “Don’t worry about her right now.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  “Let me take you out of here,” he said in his most persuasive tone. Then he whispered things I couldn’t hear.

  I clenched my fists and tried to remind myself he was just trying to get her to agree. Still, it wasn’t easy to watch.

  “It hurts, Adam.” Her voice wobbled. “I just don’t want to hurt anymore.”

  He nodded and took a cautious step forward. “I know it does.” When she didn’t balk at his advance, he took a couple more steps. “But I’m here because I care about you. Let me help you.”

  “You can’t help me.” Her words were thick, like her tongue had swollen to twice its normal size. “No one can.” She swayed on her feet.

  Adam rushed forward to grab her. She tried to fight off his assistance but stumbled into his arms instead. I stood nearby feeling helpless. She thought drugs could erase her pain, but she was wrong. Only time and getting real with yourself could heal emotional wounds.

  Cadence sobbed into Adam’s chest. He patted her back and murmured soothing words, but his gaze was on me. He raised his brows to ask what our next move was.

  “What the fuck is going on in here?” a male voice boomed from the doorway.

  I turned slowly to see a man standing in the doorway with a small army of vampire tweakers behind him. He wore the collar of a holy man, but the long bleached hair, blue jeans, and crocodile boots ruined the pious look of the ensemble.

  “The Reverend, I presume,” said Giguhl from my shoulder.

  “That or someone’s dressed up for a Halloween party,” Brooks said.

  “Which is it, mister?” I tilted my head. “That a shitty costume or are you really the Reverend?”

  If hearing a cat talk shocked the human, he didn’t show it. He tossed his long hair and sneered. “Who the fuck’s askin’?”

  “Who we are is less important than why we’re here,” I said.

  Behind me, I felt magic rising on the air as Adam prepared for a showdown. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but I was also prepared to cut through those junkies like a needle through a vein.

  “Well?” the Rev asked.

  “We’ve come to get our friend.”

  The Reverend’s eyes narrowed. “By whose authority?”

  I pulled my gun out and pointed it at him. “Smith and Wesson’s.”

  He laughed and removed a gun from the hollowed-out Bible in his hands. “They’re gonna have to take it up with my old friend Mr. Glock.”

  I sighed. “Look, asshole, you’ve got a lot of junkies there, but I’ve got two mages, a Changeling, and a demon with me.”

  “And what are you?” he said, sounding unimpressed to be facing down a bunch of dark race badasses. “Some kind of mixed-blood?” He spat the term out with enough venom to tell me he was acquainted with dark race politics. Mixed-bloods were the lowest of the low up until the leaders revoked the law forbidding interracial mating. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as well versed as he thought if he didn’t realize who I was.

  I smiled. “My name is Sabina Kane—maybe you’ve heard of me?” He didn’t look impressed, but I wasn’t done. “And all you need to know about me is I have an itchy trigger finger.”

  “And if I were you, I’d be worried about the call I made to Damascus White just after I was alerted to your intrusion.”

  The sounds of screeching brakes sounded from out front.

  I frowned at him. “You work for Damascus White?”

  The Rev shook his head. “We’re business partners.”

  “Ah,” I said, “he gives you protection in exchange for a cut of the blood money you get for pimping addicts to vamps?”

  The Reverend smiled in a way that reminded me more of the Devil than a man of the cloth. “Yes, ma’am.”

  If Damascus White really was behind the Reverend’s operation, he’d likely arrive with a lot of goons, like those he’d had with him the other night. Which meant things were about to get really fangy and unpleasant.

  “Why would Damascus White tell Sabina about this place if he’s the one behind the operation?” Adam said.

  “Probably assumed the girl would be dead and dumped before you got here
.”

  “Why would he assume that?” Adam demanded, his voice edged with acid.

  The Rev shrugged. “Because he called me right after your meeting and asked me to kill her before you came snooping around.” He frowned at me. “Which would have worked if you hadn’t moved so fast.”

  Anger boiled in my midsection. I’d known Damascus White was dirty, but he’d managed to fool me into believing he wasn’t involved. “Sorry to fuck up your plan, but we’re taking her with us.”

  “Sabina, we should go,” Brooks said, his voice high with panic. The Changeling was more a lover than a fighter.

  “Not just yet,” I said. “I’d like a few words with Mr. White first.”

  I started to step toward the door, but Adam’s voice rang out like a shot. “Stand down, Red. We’re leaving. You can deal with Damascus later.”

  “Bullshit.” I rounded on him. “They can’t just—”

  Adam’s gaze was hot as he stared me down. “We can’t risk it. She needs help now!” He glanced down at Cadence, who was passed out in his arms. A rivulet of blood dripped down her throat.

  Before I could answer, several things happened at once. Giguhl shouted something, and at the same time, a loud bang split the air. Searing heat exploded in my shoulder. I looked down to see blood blooming under my white tank top.

  “Ouch! Godsdammit!” I shouted. “This is my favorite shirt.”

  The Reverend’s expression morphed from satisfied to terrified. “But…but why aren’t you dead? That was an apple cider bullet.”

  I smiled wide enough to flaunt my fangs. “I’m a demigoddess, dumbass.” I marched forward and grabbed the gun from his hand. “Fuck!”

  The good news was I was fine, except for the searing pain to both my shoulder and my pride. The bad news was, the gunshot spurred Damascus and his goons to speed up their entry. The front door crashed open, quickly followed by the sounds of boots on stairs. “We’ve got to go, Red!” Adam yelled.

  I realized then that if we tried to fight our way out of the drug den, we’d all be leaving with more holes than we entered with. No, walking out wasn’t an option. That left—