Hunter's Blood Special Edition (Cursed by Blood Saga)

by Marianne Morea

  Hunter’s

  Blood

  Marianne Morea

  Coventry Press Ltd.

  Coventry Press Ltd.

  Somers, New York

  http://www.coventrypressltd.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2012 Marianne Morea

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions of thereof in any form whatsoever without written permission.

  ISBN-10: 0-9884396-1-1

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9884396-1-0

  First Edition: Coventry Press Ltd. 2012

  Cover Artist: Dara England

  Editor First Edition: Gateway Editorial Services

  Printed in the USA

  For my Dad

  Chapter One

  ***

  “Lily! Lily wake up! Your’re having a nightmare… Lily!” If there were ever a time when Terry Hess missed her human body, it was now. She lifted her translucent hand to Lily’s shoulder and tried to wake her, but only managed to raise goose bumps instead.

  “Lily Ellen Saburi!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, grateful her psychic friend was the

  Lily sat straight up in bed, her hand gripping the .45 Caliber pistol she had tucked under her pillow. Her eyes flew around the room, disoriented. Drenched in a cold sweat, she leveled the gun at shadows, her surroundings slowly becoming more familiar.

  “Jesus! Will you put that thing down before you hurt yourself? With the way you’re swinging it around, I ought to be happy people can’t die twice!”

  Exhausted, Lily slumped back against the headboard. She hadn’t slept much in the past couple of weeks. Two weeks to be exact. That’s all it had been since Terry died, and it wasn’t too long afterward that she had showed up in her new ethereal form.

  Lily exhaled, placing her gun on the nightstand and taking a cigarette from the pack next to the cheap lamp bolted to the pressed wood. She stuck it between her lips and lit it, blowing smoke into the already musty air. The room was dim, the ambient light from the motel’s neon vacancy sign its only illumination.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Terry said from across the room.

  “Which? Smoke, or wake up screaming from nightmares haunting me since the night you were murdered? Take your pick.”

  “Neither, but you don’t have to be so bitchy about it.”

  “Hmmmff. What time is it?” Lily asked, squinting at the clock radio adjacent to her gun.

  “Almost eleven p.m.”

  Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, Lily stretched. “Time to get moving.” With a wink, she took one last drag of her cigarette before stubbing it out in the half-filled ashtray. “It’s almost witching hour.”

  She padded barefoot into the bathroom and snapped on the light. Its harsh fluorescent glare made her lack of sleep all the more obvious, and she grimaced at her own reflection. The water in the tap was cold, but she splashed her face anyway, despite the gooseflesh that spread across arms. Lily looked up, droplets dripping from her chin to her chest, only to see Terry’s translucent form staring back at her from the mirror.

  “Don’t do this tonight, Lily. This isn’t who you are.”

  Lily grabbed a towel from the wire rack above the sink and patted her face dry. “Yeah, well, maybe that was true two weeks ago, but not anymore.”

  She dropped the towel onto the edge of the sink and walked out, leaving the bathroom light on as she headed over to the small round table in the corner of the room. On top, there was enough weaponry to outfit a small army.

  “Lily, please….”

  “Shut up, Terry. This isn’t your concern,” she answered, not even bothering to look up as she loaded another clip into the magazine of her gun.

  “It certainly is my concern! You’re my concern! Lily, for Christ’s sake, revenge is not the answer!”

  Lily’s lip curled. “Yeah, but it feels fucking great,” she shot back, but quickly lost her satisfied smile when she saw tears glistening like diamonds on her friend’s cheek. Terry was crying.

  Momentarily stunned, Lily didn’t realize shades could cry. Great, one more thing my psychic ability failed to pick up on.

  With a sigh, she put the gun down and walked around the bed to where her friend sat—well sort of sat—on the edge of the dresser. “Terry, don’t.”

  Lily reached out toward her friend but then shoved her hands into her pockets. She wanted to hug Terry, tell her it would be okay, but couldn’t. Her hand would just pass right through her like mist.

  At the impotent feeling, her anger bubbled to the surface again, fresh. It was fathomless, and every time she thought of what happened, it crashed through her thin veneer of calm, flooding her with bitterness. Pressing her lips together, she fisted her hands inside her black leather jeans, steeling herself against the onslaught.

  “Lil, you’ve got to stop this. It’s not going to do either of us any good. What’s done is done. What, you want to get yourself killed so you can join me? I’m a shade because I chose to stay on this plane, even though my time here is done. I’ve made my peace with what happened. Why can’t you? You’re the only reason I’m choosing to stay earthbound. You need to get past all this hate and resentment, for both of us.”

  She didn’t say a word, but sat on the edge of the bed and continued to pack her weapons. She could hear Terry’s frustrated sigh behind her but said nothing.

  “I’ve watched your guilt, and your anger eat at you, driving you crazy since I died. I convinced myself that it too would pass. Never in a million years did I think you were serious about this revenge ride you’ve been on—that is until you started your little practice runs. Christ, Lily! You tracked another vampire last night! What are you looking to do, become a vigilante against the entire supernatural world?”

  Lily shrugged noncommittally. “Pretty much.”

  It amazed Lily how easy it was to recognize supes now that she was attuned to them. She had spotted the vampire last night as it tracked potential prey in Grand Central.

  As much as she hated to give them credit, the bloodsuckers were patient hunters, but then again so was she.

  She watched the supe focus on a solitary male as he headed unsuspectingly out the Forty Second Street exit. But wasn’t until its potential victim crossed Fifth Avenue, and past the darkened entrance to Bryant Park, that it attacked.

  Stepping out of the shadows, Lily pointed her gun at the vampire’s head. “Hungry tonight?” she taunted. The fanged creature jerked its head in her direction and hissed, baring its fangs.

  What sounded like a half-swallowed whimper sprang from its intended victim followed by the pungent smell of urine as the terrified guy stood there too scared to move.

  “Now would be a good time to run,” she said not taking her eyes off the vampire. Reading the creature’s fury and its thirst, Lily knew it was going to strike. With its fangs dripping saliva, the vampire lunged, its clawed hands reaching for her throat but Lily was ready.

  She swung her crossbow out from under her duster and shot the bloodsucker point blank in the chest with a wooden arrow. It didn’t even see it coming.

  “Well at least this kill didn’t make the papers,” Terry grumbled, her voice an aggravated sigh.

  “Vampires are already dead, Terry, they just turn to ash when you stake them. There wouldn’t be anything left for the papers to report. Then again, remember th
e naked guy they found in Central Park near the fountain? He had been shot in the head, right?” She arched an eyebrow for effect. Tagging the werewolf had been a hard chase, but worth it.

  “Lily, please tell me that wasn’t you, because I’m seriously starting to get scared. I convinced myself this was just one of your knee-jerk reactions, like in high school when you spray painted phallic symbols all over Chris Crowley’s car for cheating on you senior year. At least then, no one got hurt! And it kills me that it doesn’t bother you in the slightest you took those lives—that you plan on taking more.”

  Lily stiffened at Terry’s choice of words. “I don’t understand why this is so hard for you! And in case you forgot, it was a werewolf that killed you Terry, not me.”

  She couldn’t face her friend. Squeezing her eyes shut, Lily swallowed hard against the guilt that bit into her gut. All she wanted to do was scream or cry, anything that would drown out the little voice in her head chanting, your fault…all your fault.

  Tightening her jaw, she turned, forcing herself to meet Terry’s translucent eyes. “Every one of the supes I hunted was out to take a human life. I was in their psyches, Terry. I saw their intents. Whether you want to admit it or not, my actions saved a few innocent lives.”

  Except for the one that mattered, the little voice countered.

  “But what about innocent supes?”

  Lily snorted. “Don't hold your breath, but I’ll let you know if I come across one.”

  “So now you've dragged us back to Maine in the hopes of what? Finding this one particular supe? And just how do you propose to locate this creature or are you planning to use yourself as live bait?”

  “I’ve sensed it in this area for a week, and managed to narrow its trail to a stretch of woods not far from here.”

  “That’s even if it’s still around. It might even be dead,” Terry said running her hands through her hair causing it to glitter as it floated back into place.

  “It’s not dead. I’d sense it—come on, Terry, even you’d sense it. I’m going, regardless of what you say. All my practice runs as you call them, have been nothing more than a prequel to this. I will kill the creature that took your life or die trying. So would you please stop nagging me?”

  “You didn’t even take the precaution of telling anyone you were coming here. What if something happens?”

  “Yes I did. You’ll know.”

  “Considering the fact you’re the only person who can see or hear me, that’s not such a great plan,” Terry replied.

  Lily shrugged, shoving wooden stakes into the side of her boot. She was hunting tonight, regardless of how much Terry disapproved.

  Loose bullets suddenly ricocheted past Lily’s head, clattering against the wall. Narrowing her eyes, she shook her head. “You know, if it weren’t for the fact my hand would pass right through you, I’d punch you dead in the face right now.”

  “Dead is the operative word, don’t you think? Don’t go, Lil. I’ve got a terrible feeling about this in the pit of my stomach.”

  “First off, you haven’t got a stomach anymore. Second, forget it. I’m going—and no, you cannot come with me, so you can stop with the cheap parlor tricks!”

  “Oh, I’m coming with you all right, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I move decidedly differently from you these days in case you’ve forgotten, and I can sense where you are and what you’re doing at any time. So don’t piss me off!”

  Lily smiled at her friend. Shade or not, she was still the same old Terry, and Lily’s throat tightened even as her heart ached once again. She cleared her throat. “If you’re coming then let’s go, we’re wasting time.”

  Picking up the last few things from the table, she turned toward her friend, her car keys dangling from her fingers. “Would you care to drive?”

  “Funny, I always said you should have been a comedian,” Terry answered dryly. Then without a word, she blew right through her friend, leaving Lily shivering in a seventy degree room.

  Lily rubbed her arms, grumbling before shrugging into her leather jacket. “Always has to have the last word,” she mumbled, snapping off the lights and closing the door behind her.

  Chapter Two

  ***

  Lily pulled her car to the side of the road and cut the engine. Except for the wind and the distant echo of the waves crashing against the cliffs, it was silent. Mouth tight, she closed her eyes, focusing all of her clairvoyance on the psychic thread she’d been following for the last few miles.

  Her senses were spread thin and taut as trip wire in all directions, and the hair on her arms rose as her body tensed. Looking down the deserted stretch of rural highway, she took note of her position and where she was in conjunction to the thread pulsing in the wind and decided to go on foot. “Showtime,” she whispered getting out of the car.

  “Why are you parking so far away from the perimeter?” Terry asked, materializing behind her.

  Lily whirled into a defensive stance. “Will you please stop doing that? It’s starting to creep me out!” she hissed through her teeth, embarrassed at being caught unaware.

  “Some psychic! Don’t you think it would be wiser to park a little closer in case you need to get away in a hurry? You can’t just dematerialize like me, you know.”

  “Shhh, I know what I’m doing so just hush up, okay? Don’t distract me anymore. If you’re going to be here, then just hang around and be quiet. Why don’t you float to the top of a tree or something? Just stay out of my way.”

  Terry hmmphed but didn’t say another word. She knew it was best to leave Lily alone—at least for now.

  Quietly making her way across the road, Lily trudged lightly through the scrub on the other side of the shoulder and stopped, just inside the woods to check her weapons.

  With a .45 caliber pistol shoved into the waistband of her leather jeans, and a 9mm semi-automatic at the small of her back, the feel of cold steel sent thrills shooting across her belly. The same thrill of anticipation she always got before a hunt.

  A crossbow was slung low across her back, as well, and a silver-plated bowie knife and sharpened stakes were tucked firmly into her boot. No matter what kind of supe crossed her path tonight, she was ready.

  Lily glanced at the sky. Its quiet blackness reminded her of the weekend hunting trips she and Terry took as teens with Terry’s dad. He had trained them well—regardless of how many times Terry’s mom had balked at the idea, muttering how a girl’s weapon of choice should be her charm and not a gun or a bow. Somehow, Lily knew tonight would be the one exception to that rule.

  It was dark and cold, but the refracted moonlight coming through the clouds gave her just enough light. The sky had been ominous all day, but the snow held, covering the ground with barely an inch of fresh powder. The air held a lonesome quality, and the forest was still, almost too still.

  Squatting down, she sent her senses out again, tracking the exact direction of the thread before heading deeper into the woods. She opened herself up entirely, not wanting any more surprises tonight.

  The creature’s trace pulsed like a neon sign in her mind, and she smirked. It was almost too easy. She moved quickly, following the thrum through the dense forest and navigating trees and brush like a familiar obstacle course.

  As she rounded a wide thicket, she caught a flicker on the edge of her mind. The feel of the new trace was different, and its pulse loosely cloaked. She needed to investigate, but out here she was too exposed. Ahead, low brambles twisted into a rough, barren hedge, and she crouched down beside it for cover.

  The trace’s cadence was human, but not, and its feel was unquestionably male. He was headed southeast toward the cliffs, the same direction as she. Lily exhaled, sending a quiet stream of expletives into the wind. She’d be damned before allowing anyone or anything to get in her way tonight.

  With a cleansing breath, she focused her senses and grabbed hold of the new pulse. She needed calm and absolute stealth before merging her mind with hi
s. A wave of vertigo hit as she made contact, overwhelming her senses with the sensation of flight.

  Lightness enveloped her, yet she remained aware of her body’s position in the scrub below. Nausea crept up the back of her throat, and she grimaced. The last thing she needed was motion sickness when she was stock still. Perhaps this was some version of astral projection, but whatever the feeling she needed to be the one in the driver’s seat.

  Lily scooped up a small handful of fresh snow and wet her tongue. She swallowed back on her queasiness and adjusted her focus, attuning herself to the peaks and valleys of the man’s flight. Whoever this guy was, he was too intent on his target to distinguish her presence. But what was he hunting?

  She soared along with him above the tree line and watched as he canvased the ground below. His distraction made it easy for her to advance, and she crept further into his mind, allowing herself to see through his eyes.

  The outline of reflected body heat from potential prey radiated in shades of red and blue from the ground below, but it was clear his interest was elsewhere.

  Either he doesn’t know I’m here, or he does and just doesn’t consider me a threat. Maybe he’s just out for a joy ride, and I’m imagining all this. No. Supes are never just out no good reason. He’s hunting something…

  A disgusted sound left her mouth and she sat back on her heels, chewing on her lower lip. This was too much of a coincidence for her not to be sure. She dug her fingers into the earth on either side of her legs to ground herself, before dropping deeper into his psyche. Her stomach clenched with the effort, her mind spinning from the unaccustomed depth of her probe. Within seconds, a snarl reverberated up her spine, and she shook under the weight of its menace. If he didn’t know she was there before, he certainly knew it now.

  Without warning, he reached out with his own mind and seized control of their merge. His mental grip was like iron, but effortless. Panic threatened as she struggled against his hold, gulping down air while trying to stay calm enough to focus. What the hell was he?