Slayer's Prey

by Crystal-Rain Love

  “I can drive her back,” Petie Joe said, his sly grin stating that he was offering much more than a ride. He rolled his gaze down the length of Nyla’s body with slow deliberation, making it clear what he wanted to do with her. Nyla simply grinned, knowing she’d break him in two before he had a chance to unbutton his fly.

  “Yeah, right, I’ve seen that Lifetime TV movie,” Jake said bitterly. “Nyla drives herself back to town, and if any of you so much as lays a finger on her, I swear before—”

  “Jake. It’s all right, honey. I can take care of myself,” she said, stopping him before he could threaten anyone’s life and earn another night in jail. “Will I be able to bail him out?” she asked Peewee, already knowing the answer.

  “He stays the night, maybe more, I haven’t decided whether I’m filing formal charges, but if I do let him go in the morning, I’ll want y’all to leave town immediately.”

  “Of course.” Too bad that won’t happen, she added silently while sending Jake an apologetic look.

  She took the keys from his pocket, and his cell phone, knowing they wouldn’t let him have it with him in the jail cell, and gently caressed his chiseled jaw. “You be a good boy, Jakie. Don’t get into any more trouble.”

  “You take care of things.”

  “I promise.”

  “Get him out of here,” Peewee barked, and Jake was led out the door. “You need to go now, little lady,” the sheriff added, directing his loathsome glare on Nyla.

  Although she despised being referred to as “little lady,” Nyla knew better than to press her luck. It was nighttime, the time vampires liked to prowl, and there were only two people in the whole town who stood a chance against them. And one of those people was going to be behind bars, stripped of his weapons. She couldn’t mouth off to Peewee and wind up in the same predicament.

  “I’m leaving,” she said, but risked a glance at the woman and child who sat huddling together on the couch. Their frightened eyes beseeched her for help, and she couldn’t deny them their request. With a subtle wink and nod in their direction, she turned and left, silently promising to return the minute Peewee left.

  “THEY’RE HERE.”

  Curtis glanced up from the body lying before him to where Demarcus stood in the spill of moonlight shining through the small basement window. The furry vampire was grinning devilishly and laughing to himself.

  “How can you be sure?” he asked, placing his scalpel on the metal table. He’d finished carving his last clue into the victim’s deceased body only seconds before Demarcus had awakened, rising from his coffin in a joyous mood.

  “My children have relayed to me that there is a small, beautiful, dark-haired woman questioning them about any missing vampires. Who else could it be except Nyla?”

  Curtis shivered, unnerved by the fact Demarcus’s vampire children could telepathically speak to him, even while he slept. What unnerved him more was the fact he was surrounded by the creatures. Demarcus had formed an army of vampires, and all of them lived in the house with him. And at any time, they could communicate with each other without Curtis even knowing it.

  He would escape Demarcus eventually, but the whole vampires-sleep-during-daylight thing was only true in movies. Sure, they slept during the day, but not all day long and not all of them at the same time. There was always someone awake in the house, and whether or not Demarcus was sleeping, they could mentally warn him if Curtis tried to make a run for it.

  Instead, he stayed with the beasts he’d hated for two lifetimes. The part of him which was Alfred, his great-grandfather, enjoyed dissecting and torturing the vampires Demarcus provided him for experimentation, but the part of him which was Curtis hated it. As much as he disliked what the vampires were, he also felt sorry for them. They’d been people with families and lives before Demarcus turned them, unwillingly, into monsters.

  Alfred would enjoy killing them all, but Curtis couldn’t do it. He let Alfred control him when he was forced to experiment on the vampire and the victims Demarcus brought to him, but Curtis always took control before the soul of his ruthless grandfather began to destroy the vampires living with Demarcus. Part of him did it because he felt the newly-turned vampires were innocent victims themselves. Another part of him wrested back control from Alfred because he was afraid Alfred would get him killed.

  So instead of doing anything to stop the evil around him, he hid clues on the victims’ bodies, trying to warn the two who could save him and the rest of the innocent people of Hicksville. That was the one thing Alfred and Curtis agreed on. They had no problem with the cat-woman and her man killing Demarcus.

  NYLA DISCREETLY pulled the curtain aside, peering through the motel window. Petie Joe had followed her all the way back to the motel, and apparently he was under orders to make sure she stayed there. With his hawk eyes on her, she hadn’t been able to leave the room or get weapons from the trunk of the car.

  “You seem anxious to go somewhere,” a voice said from behind her, startling a small yelp from her throat.

  She whirled around to find Seta, looking beautiful but deadly in a black ribbed turtleneck and black jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a long French braid, the dark mass as sleek and shiny as the black leather boots adorning her small feet.

  “You startled me.”

  “I noticed.” The elegant beauty stepped over to the window, sneaking a peek outside. “Why are you under surveillance?”

  “Jake’s cousin is the sheriff. He arrested Jake and made sure I’m stuck in here. There was an attack earlier, and we think it was a vampire. Of course, the sheriff and his men think we’re loons.”

  Seta’s eyebrows arched. “Did Jake sense a vampire?”

  Nyla drew back, surprised. “You know Jake is a true slayer.”

  “Of course I do. I’m a witch. Back to my question, did he sense a vampire?”

  “No, but there’s something strange going on in this town. There’s a bulletin board outside the sheriff’s office covered in pictures of missing people. Jake and I killed seven of those missing people last night after they attacked us outside a cemetery. They were flying vampires.”

  Seta’s brow furrowed. “Did you say flying vampires?”

  “Yes.”

  “Vampires generally don’t develop that skill until they’ve lived at least five hundred years, unless, of course, they’re extremely powerful or carry some special ability.”

  “Do you think that many recently changed vampires could be fliers?”

  “Not without some sort of tampering. They’d all have to be witches or have psychic gifts, and I doubt there would be that many gifted people residing in the same town. We’re pretty rare.”

  “Well, someone is changing over the residents of this town, and they’re being made into fliers.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.” Seta’s brow crinkled in thought. “The Dunns are scientifically gifted, and maybe they could develop something which would turn vampires into fliers, but why? Carter Dunn despised us, and when he kidnapped Eron a few months ago, he wanted to develop an immortality serum, but he wouldn’t have done anything that could turn us into a more ruthless race in order to develop it. Like his great-grandfather, Alfred, he wanted our kind wiped out. On the other hand, Curtis didn’t seem to want any part of his brother’s research, which is one of the reasons we let him go instead of tracking him down. We didn’t think he was a danger to us or anyone else. Obviously we were wrong, but that still begs the question, why would he create fliers?”

  “Do you think someone else is involved?”

  “There has to be. You need a vampire to make a vampire.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Seta nodded. “Yes. A vampire has to drain a mortal to the brink of death, then let the mortal feed on his own living blood. The act can’t be mechanically reproduced.”

 
; “I’m sure there are other ways.”

  “Like you?” She shook her head. “You’re a rarity.”

  Nyla gasped, fear creeping along her spine. Seta knew she was a vampire?

  Seta simply smiled at her, looking very pleased with herself, as she said, “Please, Nyla. Did you really think I couldn’t sniff the vampire on you?”

  “But . . . but Jake didn’t.”

  “True, a fact I find very amusing. The great slayer is fallible after all. Or maybe he wasn’t meant to harm you so fate has protected you from his inborn vengeance.”

  “Why would you think he wasn’t meant to harm me?”

  “You share the same aura, young one. The two of you were meant to find each other.”

  “Why?”

  “That is for fate to decree,” the witch said with a negligent shrug. “Have you seen the Dream Teller?”

  Nyla nodded.

  “Then you should have your answer soon.” Seta sat at the end of the bed, crossing her legs at the ankle, very proper and refined. “Now, what are we to do about this situation? I’ve questioned local vampires, but none of them knew of a missing vampire. It struck me as odd how new they all were—and how closed off their minds were. Now I know why. They’ve been tampered with and, in fact, are probably covering for the vampire who made them.”

  “How is that possible? If you’re a witch and they’re newly turned, you should be able to read them easily.”

  “They’re protected. Carter Dunn did something similar. It’s why I couldn’t track him easily. He’d worked with Satan, and when you work with Satan, he has ways of protecting you, but good always wins in the end. We’ll win this fight. Now, what did the oh-so-genial Jacob Porter do to get himself incarcerated?”

  “One of the newly changed vampires returned to his home and stole his son. We followed the sheriff and his men to the house, offering our help. When we refused to leave, Jake was arrested.”

  “A vampire returned to steal his own son?” Seta repeated, her eyes dark and cold.

  “One of them. The younger one is still there.”

  “If the vampire took one son, he’ll likely return for the other. We have to protect him.”

  “That was the plan, but I can’t leave here with old hawk eye out there watching me.”

  “Why can’t you just shift into a cat and leave through the window?”

  “Because I need to get weapons out of the—” Nyla’s jaw dropped open as she realized what Seta had said. “How did you know I’m a shifter too?”

  Seta flashed her a cat-ate-the-canary smile. “I read you the moment I saw you. I sense you are blocking someone dark and sinister, your sire I suppose. It makes sense. Many do. Anyway, you are blocking him so hard you allowed me to sneak right in.”

  “So you know everything?”

  “Not everything,” Seta answered, shaking her head. “The mind protects even when not instructed to, but I know enough. I know you are a pantherian, a race I’ll admit I thought a myth, and that you were given vampire traits from a single bite. I also know you saved Jacob Porter’s life and have protected him ever since, loving him with all your heart.”

  “You do understand that I can never tell him what I am, right?” Nyla asked, terrified of what would happen if Seta told Jake about her true identity.

  “Who you are, dear, not what you are. You’re not a beast.” Seta rose from the bed, laying her hand against Nyla’s cheek. “And I know you will have to tell him eventually and trust him to see the truth.”

  Nyla shook her head sadly. “No. He’ll kill me.”

  Seta looked away, but not before Nyla saw the sympathy in her eyes. “It may be hard, but if fate has declared a union, it will be so. Don’t worry so much. Now,” she said, returning her dark gaze to Nyla, “let’s make sure that little boy is safe, and then we’ll go rescue your man.”

  “I can turn into a cat and get out of here, but how will you . . .? Oh, I guess you’ll do that poof thing.”

  “Poof thing?” Seta looked genuinely confused.

  “You know, that thing where you vanish.”

  “That’s teleportation, dear, and it takes a lot of energy. I like to keep my reserves as high as possible so I only use that ability when absolutely necessary.”

  “So how will you get out of here? That cop out there isn’t going to let anyone leave this room.”

  Seta chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, seeming to mull over ideas. “Okay, I’ll do a little magic, and you won’t have to shift at all. We’ll get your weapons too.”

  “How?”

  “Watch,” the vampire-witch said impishly, walking over to the door and flinging it open. “Come along, young one. Trust me.”

  Shaking her head, Nyla did as she was told and followed Seta out the door. Petie Joe sat straight up in his truck, watching her every move, but she had faith in Seta.

  She felt a shift in the wind and heard a faint buzzing. Her skin began to warm as energy crawled across her flesh, and she realized Seta was working some kind of magic. She glanced at the vampire-witch, startled to see she radiated energy while standing perfectly still, her eyes closed and her lips curved into a serene smile.

  Seta opened her eyes, looked straight at Petie Joe and blew him a kiss. Petie Joe fell forward against his steering wheel.

  “What did you do to him?”

  “He’s only sleeping,” Seta answered. “Now get your weapons and let’s go. Unlike you, I have a curfew, you know,” she added, looking meaningfully toward the night sky.

  Chapter Seventeen

  THE DIRT ROAD stretched out before them, seeming to grow along with Nyla’s unease. The feeling of impending doom she’d felt before the journey to Kentucky was making a comeback, shooting pangs of warning through her skull.

  “Something’s wrong here,” she said to Seta, bringing Jake’s Malibu to a stop. Bright flashes of light darted before her eyes, bringing a blaze of pain on the tail end of each one.

  “Do you feel something?” Seta asked, her voice curious.

  “Yes. Don’t you?” Nyla snapped. Worry was making her short-tempered. “You’re supposed to be the witch.”

  “Yes, but we both have magic running through our veins.”

  “What are you talking about?” She frowned at the witch beside her.

  Seta’s lips slowly spread into a smile. “You really have no clue what you are, do you?”

  “I’m a pantherian vampire.”

  “Pantherians are born of magic, Nyla. You were not born a shifter. You were made into one.”

  “Yeah, I know. Through the ritual.” Nyla shook her head. “But what does that have to do with magic? I’m not a witch. I don’t get visions.”

  “No, but you can locate Jacob Porter no matter where he is or how far apart the two of you are.”

  “So?”

  “That’s not exactly a normal thing, young one. Both of you have powers you don’t realize.”

  “Yeah? Like what?” Nyla rubbed her temples as little sparks of pain shot through her head.

  “Jacob can sense vampires, as you know, and you can sense when you or he are in mortal danger. You’re sort of his guardian angel.”

  Nyla nodded, unable to dispute Seta’s claim. She’d become attached to Jake the very first moment she’d seen the twelve-year-old enter that alley so many years ago. “Why? Why should I be the one to watch over him when I’m exactly what he hates?”

  “We’ll figure that out soon enough. What we need to know now is what danger you are sensing.”

  “I sense his death.”

  “You sense that he’s dead right now?” Seta’s eyes widened until they looked like round saucers.

  “No, no. His impending death. Something is going to happen in this town, something fatally wrong.
”

  “You can prevent it. That is why you are getting these feelings. They’re omens.”

  “But I don’t know what is happening, so how can I prevent it?”

  “You know enough. Curtis Dunn is somehow linked, and there is a rogue vampire involved. We find the rogue, who’s the source of these newly turned vampires, and we’ll find the answer you need.”

  “Why do you seem so willing to help a man you know is a true slayer?”

  Seta glanced out the window, studying the area. “We should go by foot the rest of the way. If any of the sheriff’s men are patrolling the area, we don’t want them to hear the engine,” she explained, opening the door and exiting the car.

  “Seta!” Nyla called after her, exiting the car herself. “Answer me. Why do you want to help a slayer? Are your motives pure?”

  Seta turned and gazed back at her, a look in her eyes so grave Nyla’s legs wobbled before she pulled herself back together.

  “There’s rumor of a war coming, a supernatural war between good and evil like no other war ever waged before. Let’s just say if the rumor is true, I’d much rather have Jacob Porter on my side than have to go against him.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be on the good side.”

  “I am.”

  “Then why would you fear going against him? He’s good.”

  “He’s a true slayer,” Seta said, her tone grim. “So far, your presence is the only thing that has kept him from drowning in his own inner darkness. He’s as capable of being a monster as any other supernatural being. Maybe even more so.”

  JAKE SAT ON THE dirty floor of the small cell, trying to sort through everything he’d learned in the past few days. He found it hard to concentrate with images of Nyla constantly appearing at the forefront of his mind, but there were three slaughtered women in need of justice and a woman and child who’d been frightened nearly to death that very night. They deserved his undivided attention, so he would have to shove his feelings for Nyla aside until this case was figured out.