As to Friday night, he had found himself out of position to help. His judgment let Lam and Alad pursue carelessly. If he had been with them, as leader he might have been able to advise against entering the alley and prevented the close call. On the other hand, his caution had kept him in position to catch the vampires off guard and helped save his people because of it.
“I may have been too cautious on both accounts, but the voran wasn’t trying to kill you. He was just defending himself and had plenty of opportunity to go for the kill. I couldn’t bring myself to attack him for so little reason.”
“Is that why you had us avoid killing his vampire friends as well, because they didn’t attack us?” she asked without accusation. It was as if she was attempting to help him work through his issues.
“You know that they smelled wrong. Alad might try and kill everything that isn’t human, but we might have allies here because we didn’t attack them needlessly. They are vampire hunters alongside the voran. They kill what we kill and save the ones we save.”
Shaking her head, Lam added, “They don’t send the spirits on their way in such a way that they can not come back like we do.”
“Their silver swords do enough. The vampires risk pain and their own deaths using silver, you know. They are just as at risk from the silver as any foe they find, in fact, they bring the means to accomplish their own deaths,” he said showing his respect for the vampires of Nick’s coven. It still perplexed him that a vampire hunter would spare a small group of the creatures and even gave them humanity. He wanted to meet these strange vampires to see if they were everything the voran said. If they were evil, the kasha would still send them on their way to the other side.
“Nick said that we are sloppy. You used the silver nitrate spray to make dust out of their husks tonight,” the girl said suddenly looking to the northeast as she spotted movement.
Following her gaze, Shedu made out the third kasha and he was ahead of schedule by a few minutes. Answering her half asked questions, the panther man replied, “He was right. We were being too cocky. After a couple easy wins stolen from Nick and his vampires, we thought we could handle anything only to nearly lose you two to an ambush.
“As much as Alad will hate it, we need to be more careful. Daring every vampire to come attack us will only get us killed. We have the weapons and tactics trained into us, now we just need to think like hunters rather than executioners or vigilante heroes.”
“Yes, he will hate to hear you tell him that,” Lam agreed as the third kasha closed the distance to join them looking at the building.
“There is no fresh movement from our little friend anywhere beyond that building. He didn’t escape above ground. As long as these vampires haven’t started finding ways into the sewers and subways, they should be congregating here,” he reported.
“Good, we will leave to make sure that they have no reason to believe that they are compromised. A day attack will take care of this nest,” Shedu nodded to the others before leading them back towards the car. While a part of him was tempted to continue searching for other strays, it was nearly 2 AM and as fewer humans were available the vampires would begin to head for their lairs to avoid unnecessary attention if they were smart.
Dinner with the two ladies, dressed in their beautiful dresses and just the right amount of jewelry sparkling on wrists and ears, was more comfortable than he would have thought. A French restaurant situated in a skyscraper on the east side of the city overlooking the lake set a perfect scene as the moon, only a day after full, glimmered on the distant waves in a rippling pattern. Boats could be made out as dark shapes against the sparkling water and a nearly cloudless sky suggested the entire meal’s view would be uninterrupted.
One man with two women wasn’t necessarily as unusual as Nick thought, though there were only couples and a few groups of four eating as the three took their table and ordered. The waiter was a young enough man that Nick caught a few overly impressed looks sent his way, though his eyes also strayed to the beauties quite happily.
While not known as a dance club, there was a small cleared area with a woman to sing and a small band backing her up for an opportunity. It was nice and much quieter than the usual night clubs they usually attended. For a man born a hundred thirty five years ago, the simpler, classical feel fit him better than trying to follow the new dances and loud music of the day. Generation after generation seemed to find new ways to make music and to make noise. He had adapted, but this was closer to his true tastes.
Nicola was almost a hundred years old. For the vampire, who knew most of the dances from the last eighty years with her background as a dancer, this was more what she had seen as a young girl. As a teen, she had been raised on classical music as she learned ballet. New York in the late twenties and thirties also ran the gambit from speak easies to finer night clubs. She had come from Eastern Europe missing the Roaring Twenties in America, but the woman had discovered the other types of music and dancing from the period even before meeting Marek. A bit of a wild child and pretty enough to get into most clubs, during a time where you had to know someone to find alcohol; Nicola had some early experiences just outside of the law as well as finding new ways to express herself in dance.
Of the three of them, Charlotte should have been the most out of touch with this kind of world, but she was cultured as might be expected from parents who could raise both a doctor and lawyer. When Nick took the young woman onto the dance floor, after giving Nicola the first two songs, she seemed almost as comfortable dancing traditionally.
The only hiccup he had was the feeling in the back of his head as his radar picked up on a vampire not only in the building, but in the same room. Nick’s eyes wandered from his beautiful dates to look for the source of the feeling. Charlotte’s nose began to twitch and Nicola started to look as well. If they could pick up on the vampire, then he would probably pick up on them as well.
A man on a date with a fetching young woman in a short black dress, suddenly encouraged his date to leave. Her initial protest was dampened by a look from his eyes. A glamour cast on the woman, the two tried to leave the restaurant after the vampire left some twenties to cover his bill. Drawing as little attention as he could, the couple was soon in the hall waiting for the elevator to take them down from the restaurant.
Nick excused himself from the girls since he wouldn’t be noticed as easily by the vampire. He had been touching both girls, but a lingering scent with them in the room wouldn’t make it as obvious since he would also smell human.
Waiting in front of the elevator, the voran nodded to the couple even as the man’s eyes continued to dart to the hall. The vampire’s nose twitched as he noted the scents on Nick.
“There are a lot of beautiful women here tonight,” he said making conversation easily. It wasn’t his first time sidling up to a vampire. “You brought your own lovely date, but I was lucky enough to dance with a couple beauties my self.”
The vampire nodded appearing to believe his excuse. “There are many beautiful women here, though you need to be careful of some of them. You never know when one of them will hide something important from you.”
Chuckling at the notion, Nick nodded but replied, “True, but for the right one it doesn’t matter, especially just for a dance. The blonde with the amazing eyes, I might be willing to risk finding out more about her later,” he said running his hand through his hair intentionally. The bite marks on that hand were noticed by the vampire as intended. Being just another victim of a vampire sneaky enough to move in human society, the man was dismissed by the undead.
The ding of the elevator sent the three inside simultaneously. Looking at Nick curiously, the vampire asked, “You are alone tonight?”
“I came with friends, but I was dancing with that blonde and suddenly began to feel tired. I must be coming down with a bug. She suggested I go home and get some rest,” Nick said playing up the subtlety of a vampire’s glamour.
“Hmmm, very nice of her
to let you go so easily,” the man replied with a sly smile. “You do look a little pale,” the vampire stated trying to use his glamour on Nick. Apparently he didn’t wish to harm the girl, at least for now.
“I do?” he said a little distantly. Nick knew the routine and would give the vampire a chance to resist his desires. Like he had told the kasha, he hated killing if a vampire could be saved. He hadn’t found any outside of the coven since he had begun slaying the monsters, but the voran still looked.
Moving closer to the voran, the vampire nodded as he tried to use his glamour. “In fact, your eyes are getting pretty heavy. You might want to close them and rest where you stand.”
As the vampire moved in to bite from his neck, an aura blade lanced out catching the creature on the left side of its chest. It wasn’t a killing blow as the voran wanted to ask the vampire a question, “How long have you been a vampire?”
Its breathing restricted, the man still managed to say, “For ten years. What are you?”
If he were a policeman from a television program, Nick might have told him that he asked the questions here, instead he said, “Someone immune to vampires. How do you feed? Do you kill your victims or just drain their blood in small amounts?”
“What? Are you insane? You are stabbing me with a light from your hand. I... can’t move. You can’t be human, but no vampire or werewolf can do this and I would smell it in you.”
Noting the numbers descending over the elevator door, Nick pressed the emergency stop button. An annoying alarm sounded. There was a camera behind the vampire and his left hand short circuited it with a second blade to prevent them from watching further.
“What I am, is the judge of what will happen to you. Now answer me, do you kill or just take small amounts preferably from willing humans?” Nick asked. The creature could attempt to lie, but he was looking him in the eye and would notice it easily.
“I try to just feed on a few friends. I haven’t killed anyone in years,” the vampire said wincing. He didn’t appear to be lying, however.
“I’ve been looking for a rare man like you. I’ll tell you what. Pull out your wallet and cell phone and let’s get to know one another better,” he said genuinely surprised to find a vampire that might have restraint.
As the vampire did everything with his right hand slowly as the aura blade affected most of the creature’s body, Nick gestured to the woman with his head. She hadn’t reacted to the attack and seemed in a daze even now. “So who is this?”
“My girlfriend, as you might have guessed; we can never marry because of my blood type.”
Looking at the license in the wallet, he asked, “And what is your girlfriend’s name, Mark?”
With a photographic memory, the voran memorized the data on the license as he verified the photo.
As the phone was produced, Nick exchanged it for the wallet while Mark answered, “Her name is Natalie Horner.”
“So she is someone you love or is this just a short term relationship? Or maybe you’ve decided to turn her while she is still relatively young and beautiful?”
A frown furrowed the vampire’s brow bringing his retort, “I think I do love her and she loves me, but I can’t bring myself to turn her. It is very hard to control your appetite. It is very easy just to kill.”
“Do you know other vampires?”
Shaking his head, Mark replied, “I try to run from them like tonight. Of course, smelling a wolf made it seem more dangerous for me in there.”
“They’re my girlfriends. They only kill vampires who kill without control. I’ll tell you what, Mark. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. My kind are excellent trackers and I’ve made a bond with you here; so if you try to run, I can find you. Just go about your life normally and don’t kill anyone. I’ve loaded my number into your phone. If you come across other vampires, like the ones I am pursuing; then call me.
“I’ll check in on you from time to time. If you are doing as you say, then we won’t have a problem.”
He released his aura blade and the vampire settled back against the far wall rubbing his chest. There wasn’t even a tear in his suit coat to reveal the blade’s existence.
“So you police vampires and date a vampire... and a werewolf,” the man questioned disbelievingly.
“I am the human reaction to vampires in the world. God or nature made it possible that I can fight with a vampire on their terms. I can and have killed them, but I don’t think of myself as just a monster hunter. Vampires and werewolves and other creatures that aren’t human can live with humanity safely. If I can find those who see life that way, then I spare them.”
He had released the emergency stop and the last floors passed quickly. At the ground floor as the door opened, Nick added, “Take good care of her and try to do as I said, Mark.”
The vampire snapped his fingers and Natalie blinked in surprise. “Are we leaving?” she asked.
Nodding to his girlfriend putting out his arm for her hands to hold onto lovingly, Mark said to the young woman. “It was a little too crowded in there. Let’s go home and we can make you a nice ice cream sundae.”
Letting the two of them go, Nick hoped that he had made the right choice. It would have been so much easier to just kill the creature in the elevator. He would have simply been a clod of dust on the floor that would have needed to be vacuumed and otherwise ignored; but he had seen the look of love he had for the woman as they had left the elevator. The vampire hunter would give him a chance and perhaps even one day offer him some voran blood to avoid needing to bite anyone again.
Chapter 18- Given the Shaft
When his phone had rung early in the morning, Nicola was still awake though beginning to tire from the sun’s first rays. Charlotte had retreated to bed when they had returned home from the dining and dancing, and they found Logan and Kate were also in bed despite the relatively early hour. Though it was doubtful that they were asleep by eleven, the previous night had been a full moon and had taken a lot out of all the werewolves followed by a mentally hard day returning to Eric’s pack.
Nicola on the other hand was very lively and they could only hope to not keep everyone else awake.
Having basically decided to take a night off from patrols, Nick had spent some quality time with the vampire. She hadn’t complained about his going with the wolves for the full moon or acted hurt by his bonding with Charlotte either. In fact, the vampire seemed almost to enjoy having them all together as if it bonded the two like sisters.
When the phone rang in the morning, Charlotte was already up as well, though barely. She had joined them on the couch with a cup of coffee just talking between the three, a strangely comfortable thing, Nick noted. It was as if the three belonged together though who had fated such a thing must have an odd sense of humor to put them together.
When Nick noticed the name on the caller ID, he answered the phone questioningly, “Shedu?”
The voice coming through the speaker greeted him, “Nick, I know this might be quicker than you had thought to talk, but we discovered a large nest of vampires. You had said that our mission was the same as yours. We plan to hit the building at noon, if you wish to join us.
“There are over a dozen vampires in this one site, so we are a little hesitant to try with just our three.”
Frowning as he considered the idea, Nick asked, “You have scouted this and know that there is that many in one nest?”
“We followed one of three that we let believe he had escaped while destroying two others. When we followed him, he tried to throw us off by using misdirection, but his scent led us to a shut down furniture store. We couldn’t get closer than the buildings surrounding it, but we came across enough trails leading into it to know what we are facing.”
Considering it for only a moment, Nick agreed, “I’ll meet you there, text me the information.”
After he had ended the call, both women were looking at him disapprovingly. Nicola was the first to voice the complaint, “You ar
e joining these people on a vampire hunting mission only two days after meeting them? It seems awfully soon to be calling you for help, doesn’t it?”
Charlotte added, “I’m going with you. Maybe Logan and Kate will come as backup.”
Patting the air as if to ward off their worries, the man said, “Take it easy. Take it easy. We have to start the trust somewhere, don’t we? I said that I would help them and asked them to leave the coven alone. If I expect them to honor my wish, the least I can do is go see what they have planned.
“Shedu said they just ran into this vampire last night and found a nest. If these are members of Cyrus’s group that have finally banded together, then I should be there to help end the chaos that he caused.
“If you want to come along, Charlotte, that is fine. I told them that I have allies from both the pack and coven, so they shouldn’t be surprised if you or the others come as well.”
Nicola looked like she wanted to argue further, but now he was taking back up. With Charlotte there, it was like being there by proxy. The two women were his night and day. Like two sides of the same coin in their cycles, the two were remarkably similar in many other ways, which was probably why they got along so well.
“I wish I could go with you also,” the pretty blonde said with a bit of a pout.
Nick smiled and replied, “I’ll have Charlotte with me. There will be times when it will be night and best for the two of us to work together. Other times I might need to do things like this with Charlotte. Having both of you around means I can always find someone who has my back.”
Nicola didn’t look as convinced, but she knew her limitations, besides Nick had been working alone in daylight his whole life. A vampire girlfriend couldn’t change that, but there was Charlotte now.
Looking a little more evil, Nicola suggested, “Do you two want the bedroom for a little while? I can hold off going to sleep for awhile longer, if you two want.”
Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) Page 24
