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Henry sighed. This big dope was turning out to be more trouble than even the vampires were. "What if I make it easy for you? I have some explosives you can rig up to the house.
The blast will be strong enough to kill her, the head vamp, and anyone else with them. How much easier could that be?
You don't even have to get your hands dirty. What do you say?"
Dennis chewed his lip. "I don't know. I guess so. But I don't have any training in explosives. What do I do?"
"It's easy as pie. I'll show you some pointers and even write down all the instructions for you. So do we have a deal?"
"I don't know, man," Dennis said. "It just seems kind of wrong."
Henry placed his hand on the other man's shoulder. "It's not murder, Dennis. She's already dead. You went to her funeral, remember?"
Dennis nodded. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I am. You're going to be a hero when this is all done, Dennis. Just focus on that, and try not to think too much."
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by Michelle Marquis
Chapter Seventeen
They had just arrived back from the evening's hunt when Sin noticed it first. She stared at the wires stretched across the bottom of the garage door and was immediately suspicious. Blackjack got out and was just about to trip one of the wires when Sin grabbed his jacket and made him stop.
"What's with you?" he asked, frowning down at the hand still restraining him.
Krysis came over and gave her a curious look.
She met her lover's stare. "Something's wrong," she said.
Sin gestured down at the trip wires only an inch from the ground. "I don't remember those wires being there when we left."
Krysis crouched down to get a closer look. "That's because they weren't there when we left."
Kat parked her motorcycle in the driveway and joined them by the door. "What's going on?"
"A booby trap," Krysis said. "The only question is who set it up and why?"
"Must be those damn ghouls," Blackjack said.
Krysis stood up and began tracing the wires with his eyes.
"I don't know. Seems a little too sophisticated for them.
Maybe it's your old boyfriend." He stole a glance at Sin.
Dennis? Could he be capable of creating a booby trap?
Well, he did read some odd books, so he certainly wasn't beyond suspicion. "I thought you scared him off. You still think he's trying to kill me?" Sin asked Krysis.
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"I think those ghouls are still keeping after him to kill you, yeah."
They followed the wires behind the garage, where a body lay slumped on the floor. His right hand and part of his left had been blown off. Even though the body lay in a pool of blood from the hand injuries, the face was intact, and Sin recognized Dennis immediately. She rushed over and checked him to see if he was still alive, but when she touched him, he was cold.
"He's dead," she said, taking a step back. "From the looks of things, it appears he managed to blow himself up trying to activate a bomb. He probably bled out from his injuries before we got here."
Kat folded her arms and sighed. She looked at Krysis.
"Now what do we do with the body?"
"We'll bury it along the fire road in the mountains. Then we hunt down those damn ghouls before they find another patsy to do their dirty work. We need to finish them off once and for all."
"If you have their complete names," Sin said, "I might be able to hunt down their last known address. Then at least we'd have a starting point."
Krysis nodded. "Good."
After the others had gone into the house, Krysis said, "Are you all right?"
Sin sighed. "You mean about Dennis? Yeah, I guess so. I feel bad that he's dead, but . . ." She grinned. "Better him than me."
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Krysis put his arm around her. "I hear that, but I'll only feel better when we manage to hunt down his puppet masters. Because this time, they've made this personal. It's us or them now."
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Chapter Eighteen
After less than an hour searching the police data banks, Sin not only had the phone number of the head ghoul, Henry, but she also had his last known address. She printed it out and beamed with pride at Krysis. "I've got him."
Krysis pulled the paper out of the printer and examined it.
"And to think he's less than a mile away in that abandoned cemetery. I should have guessed. No wonder he's been able to keep such close tabs on our whereabouts. He's probably been tailing us through this whole city."
Sin rocked her chair. "There's just one thing. I'm not feeling too good about killing someone I've never met."
"I can certainly understand that," Krysis said. "But that's because you're still looking at them as people. They're not, Sin. They're immortal like us. You can't reason with them or appeal to their humanity because they have none left. And worst of all, they have just one agenda, to kill all vampires because we are a threat to them. So the way I see it, we really don't have much choice in the matter. We can either leave them be and wait for them to finally be successful in killing us or we can finish them off and try to catch up with the selfish vamps who are creating them."
"There's no way to imprison them?" Sin asked. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she remembered Dennis.
Although she hadn't loved him, she was angry that they'd used him to try to kill her. And there was no mistaking that 75
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they had tried to blow her up. It was naive to think they wouldn't try it again and again until they finally got it right.
"Even if we did imprison them, they would have years to find an escape. And who's going to guard their worthless hides? You, Sin? Are you willing to give up your freedom to guard a bunch of lowlifes determined to murder you?" Krysis asked.
Sin rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm just trying to consider all the possibilities." After a long silence, she finally said, "Why would somebody do something like that? I mean, why did their creators just dump them? Why not nurture them through the change?"
Krysis paced the floor, growing restless. "Because the vampires who created them didn't care about the consequences of their actions. All they wanted was to feed, and they didn't care who it was they fed upon. That's why the ghouls are the conniving criminals that they are. Most were pimps, drug dealers, and other criminals, the usual people out at sleazy places at all hours of the night. The majority of them aren't the innocent victims they would have you think they are."
Sin gestured to the paper in her lover's hands. "What do we do now that we know where to find them?"
"We assign our group roles in the raid and hit the ghouls at first awakening. Unless, of course, you want to stay behind. I know this might be hard for you being an ex-cop," Krysis said.
Sin shook her head. "No, I'm in all the way. I just needed to make sure we were doing the right thing."
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"Are you convinced now that we've had a chance to talk?"
"Yeah," she said, coming over and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thanks for being so understanding."
"You're welcome, my love."
* * * *
Night came again in a blanket of divine darkness. Sin woke up and stretched, happy to be in her lover's arms. His pale blond hair was like white gold splashed across the pillow, and his Germanic good looks made her pulse race. Sin took a moment to study every detail of his face.
Then his light blue eyes opened and blinked at her
. "Good night," he whispered, amused.
"Good night to you too," she replied, grinning.
"Ready to rid the world of evil?" he joked.
"I was born ready, willing, and able to rid the world of evil.
Let's go." Sin got up out of bed and pushed her feet into fuzzy pink bunny slippers.
"Some vampire you turned out to be," Krysis said, slipping out of the bed on his side.
"Watch it, you, or I'll open up a can of whoop-ass on you."
Krysis grabbed her around the waist and kissed the back of her neck. "When this is all over, I plan to hold you to that."
They both dressed quickly and headed out to the car where the others were waiting. Krysis handed Sin her old service revolver. The last time she'd seen her weapon was just before the car crash. It brought back sad memories, but they didn't feel like hers, but rather like someone else's who lived long ago.
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"Where did you find this?" she asked.
"The highway patrol buried it with you. I kept it safe just in case you ever needed it. We may be vampires, but we're not really immortal. You never know when you might need a little help to even the playing field."
* * * *
The old cemetery and mausoleum where the ghouls lived was situated behind an old steel mill. The mausoleum was a grey building covered with Spanish moss and bordered by dead weeds. To Sin's eyes it didn't look like there was any life here at all, let alone ghouls.
Krysis, who was driving the Cadillac, leaned over the car's backrest to make sure everyone knew their part. Blackjack and Kat repeated what they were to do once inside, and then Sin told Krysis her job. Once all confirmed their roles, they all spilled out of the car. Krysis and Sin took the front while the others covered the exits on the sides and back.
Sin rushed into the mausoleum with her weapon drawn.
From the far end, she could see Blackjack and Kat coming in through the rear exit and about five ghouls running around trying to escape. Two ghouls came racing at her waving their arms and yelling for Sin to let them out. She fired a warning shot over their heads, but they just kept on coming.
"Stop right there!" she warned, pointing the weapon at them.
The ghouls completely ignored her and kept on closing the distance between them.
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Then, just as the first one got close enough for her to smell the rot on his breath, she saw him smile wickedly. He didn't want to escape. He was planning to tear her throat out with his teeth. This time Sin didn't hesitate. She fired two shots, hit one ghoul in the chest and another between the eyes. He dropped in his tracks, but the other one kept advancing, his voice shrill with an animalistic battle cry. Sin pulled the trigger, and the other one fell immediately.
The other vampires busied themselves finishing off the rest of the ghouls.
Krysis came up and stared down at the two dead ghouls.
They looked almost human, their eyes staring up into the emptiness of death, and Sin had to admit she felt a little guilty about shooting them.
"Nice shooting," Krysis said.
"It's the first time I've ever shot to kill. It feels weird."
He rubbed her back in a slow circle. "You didn't kill them,"
he reminded her. "They died a long time ago. You just deprived them of the ability to move around and talk. They're at peace now, real peace."
"And me?" Sin asked. "Am I going to find peace as well living as a vampire?" Finding the leather holster on her hip, she put the gun away and ran her sweaty palm along her pant leg.
Krysis moved his big hand around the back of her neck and pulled her against his chest. "I think you're doing just fine," he said. "We'll continue your training, and you will learn to adapt to your new life. It gets easier with time."
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"Sorry," she said. "It's just hard to switch gears from being a cop to being . . . something else. I mean, everything I was taught about life, death, and justice has been turned on its head."
"Justice is the same, Sin," Krysis said. "It's just your old definitions of life and death that have changed."
Sin smiled despite how confused she was. "Well, I guess when you put it that way . . ." She squeezed his hand. "At least I have you."
Kat came up looking flushed and excited. "We got all of them. And guess what else we found?" She moved aside as Blackjack came up. In his hands, he held a long-range rifle with a scope.
"Loaded with silver bullets," Blackjack said, giving Sin a grim smile. "My guess is they wanted to kill you so bad they had moved on to plan B."
"Nice," Sin said sarcastically.
"Okay, the field trip is over," Krysis said. "Let's get these bodies buried and head back home. I think some celebrating is in order."
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Epilogue
Sin was standing on the balcony watching the waves lap gently at the shore. The crescent moon shone high overhead casting silver light onto her ebony skin. The effect made her look like a queen. For an enchanted moment, Krysis didn't make his presence known. He just watched her, wondering what she was thinking. Was she happy? Sad? There was no way to know from just her appearance alone.
Unable to restrain himself any longer, he joined her. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her lean frame. Then he leaned in and kissed the back of her neck. Sin relaxed in his arms, welcoming him by gliding her hands along the forearm that crossed her belly.
"It's almost time to hunt," he whispered in her ear.
Sin turned around and faced him. Her beautiful brown eyes searched his face, as if she were memorizing every detail about him. Krysis loved her so much that he thought his heart would burst from his chest. Taking her face in his hands, he placed a tender kiss on her lips. Sin kissed him back, pushing against him and fanning his desire.
Then she broke the kiss and said, "I love you."
"And I you, my beloved," Krysis said.
"Do you believe in 'happily ever after'?" she asked playfully.
"For us I do."
"Well, then I think I do too." Sin smiled, flashing long white teeth. Her full vampire fangs had come in at last. Now 81
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she was truly one of them, and her power would increase with every year that passed. Krysis finally had the right woman, an equal in every way. It was a good feeling.
"I wish we could stay in tonight and cuddle," she complained.
Krysis laughed and kissed her again. "We'll have plenty of time to cuddle when we get back. In fact, we have centuries to enjoy each other." He took her by the hand and led her out to where the car was waiting. Krysis and Sin climbed in and snuggled in the back corner of the limo. Then Blackjack put the car in gear and drove them all toward the glittering night lights of the city.
* * * *
The End
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About the Author
Michelle Marquis is the pen name for author Michelle O'Neill. Michelle has authored many erotic adventures for the internet over the years. For more about Michelle and a complete list of her books, please visit her Web site at www.michelle-oneill.com.
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