by Crymsyn Hart
“You were saying about orders?” He turned his attention back to Lori.
“Look, Tris, I don’t question; I just do. If you have issues with what we’re supposed to do, then go see Joe. I don’t want to bother him, but hey. Why don’t we get the bloodsucker, deliver her to Joe, then come back and relax? I have things I want to do. We’re not always on business. We do have lives, at least the H’s and I do, but you always want to be on the job. I happen to enjoy the privileges we are afforded, with our status as Fallen. It could be worse.”
Tris snorted in a halfhearted laugh. It was true. It could be worse, considering his past, but that was another awful memory for another day. “Right. Come on, then. Let’s go find this bloodsucker and deliver it to Joe. After I’m done with it, I’ll gladly go on trying to get a life.”
Lori laughed. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Your idea of a life is sharpening weapons and training. It wouldn’t hurt for you to go see a movie once in a while. Hell, even take a moonlit walk on the beach. Maybe even get laid.” Lori picked up the manacles and slipped them into an inner pocket of his jacket, giving Tris a glimpse of the array of blades he had lined inside of the coat.
Tris readjusted his sword so it fit snugly in the sheath nestled along his spine. Then he grabbed his coat and slipped it on, making sure he had easy access to the curved short sword at his waist just in case he needed to take a head tonight. “Let’s go.”
His friend flashed him a smile and disappeared. Tris heard the flutter of the other angel’s wings and felt the powerful puff of air that came from them. Tris stretched his own wings and followed after his brother. They flew so quickly that time seemed to stand still around them, so if any humans noticed them, it appeared they popped in and out of reality. When they landed, they were at the same warehouse from the night before. Tris sensed the life around them and the coldness of those who were already dead, the vampires they were hunting.
The air held the chill of the oncoming winter and he could smell the snow on the breeze, giving the wind a metallic scent. When he inhaled deeper, Tris realized it was not the aroma of an encroaching storm, but the fresh copper of human blood that was recently spilled. The fragrance turned his stomach at the idea of what the undead things were doing to the poor souls who had fallen victim to their wiles. And Joe wants us to take one of their females alive. What is that all about? We should eradicate the nest and be done with it. Then I can spend the night relaxing and sharpening my weapons. He smiled at what Lori had said to him.
Lori touched his arm and motioned for him to follow when he found the door that led into the lair. It was pitch dark, but he could still see as they made their way up four flights of stairs, not making a sound. They got to the landing of the fifth floor, and the perfume of death filled the space. He pressed his wrist against his nose to try and dampen the pungent scent, but even that did not work. Light filtered through the crack underneath the door, and he heard the sounds of the nest feasting on their latest kill. The opportune time to take them unaware was during their blood frenzy.
Tris put a finger to his lips signaling they had to be quiet. Lori nodded and held up his hand to count down.
One.
Tris took his sword from his sheath, hoping they would get to exterminate the nest.
Two.
Lori gripped the handle for the door with one hand. Tris’s heart raced with the excitement of the hunt. His instincts kicked in, and he remembered why he enjoyed being a Fallen. This was what it was all about, not just sitting in Heaven and singing or praising flowers.
The three did not come. Instead, Lori opened the door and they both slipped into the nest. In the center of the room were seven vampires and four humans, or what was left of them. The vampires were nearly finished with their meals. He counted three females and four males.
They looked up at him, but many appeared to not see them. One male paused and dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood into some gruesome resemblance of a deranged clown. He stood, straightened his clothes, and smiled at them.
Tris tightened his grip on his sword and held it at the ready.
“My, my. Children, what do we have here?”
The vampires stopped their feasting and looked up with only one thought on their mind. Tris could see it in their eyes. They did not recognize the danger they were in. All they saw was another meal. One female slowly crawled over a body, covering her clothes in the blood, and slithered closer to Tris and Lori. He held back his disgust.
“We’re not here to cause any problems with you, Balthus. We only want the female,” Lori said.
The elder vampire chuckled and motioned toward the others. “Take your pick. We have several to choose from. I’m sure they can satisfy whatever desires you gentlemen have. Granted, we don’t get many of your kind here.”
The females rose on command, waiting for the elder vampire’s order to pounce.
So which one is it? Tris asked his partner silently.
Lori barely glanced at him and saw the slight raise of his eyebrow. The other angel did not know.
“Joe didn’t tell you which one we were supposed to take with us.”
“No. He said look for a butterfly. You know him and his macabre messages.”
Tris rolled his eyes. Wonderful. He lifted the sword and stared at the vampires before him. Balthus’s lips spread into a wider smile.
“Well, gentlemen, it seems none of my wares are to your tastes. Shame, really, because if you had a flare for the exotic, I have the thing for you. Of course, we would have to come to some arrangement where we get to keep our heads.”
“Sorry. It doesn’t work that way,” Tris muttered.
“I agree with my partner.”
Balthus snarled his response, baring jagged, blood-stained fangs. The other vampires hissed and rushed them. Tris reacted and swung his sword. The satisfying sound of a head hitting the wooden floor made him feel a slight moment of gratification, but it was fleeting because a male vampire tackled him. Caught by surprise, he dropped his sword and hit the back of his head.
Dazed, Tris had but a second to react before fangs grazed his flesh. He seized the male vampire by the throat and held him back with all his strength. The creature gashed at his flesh, but Tris brought up his knee and thrust it into the vampire’s groin. The slight grunt and grimace that passed over the beast’s face gave him the opportunity he needed. Tris propelled the beast off him and retrieved his sword. By the time the vampire rose, Tris swung his sword and detached his head. Blood spattered across his face and down his coat. He wiped it from his face with the back of his arm. He quickly took stock of Lori and saw three headless bodies around him, and he was now cornered by two others. Tris stabbed a female through the back, making sure his silver sword pierced her heart. When he pulled the blade out, the blood smoked on the metal. Lori took the time to behead the other one, catching Tris with a splash of blood across the face. He shivered at the acrid taste and spit out what landed in his mouth. He willed himself clean again, and he was. That was one good thing about his kind: he could will himself clean and pull clothes out of the aether. He preferred the normal way of bathing in the shower, but in this case it was best to will the filth of the vampire away unless he was contaminated by it, although there was no fear in that because there was no way he could become a vampire. He glanced around at the massacre before him.
“Wonderful,” Lori murmured.
“What?”
“Do you see Balthus?”
They had slaughtered the whole nest, and there were no survivors to bring back to Joe. He did not see the elder vampire among the carnage. “No. So what do we go back and tell Joe?”
Lori sighed. “We tell him the truth. They rushed us, and we had to defend ourselves. Let’s search for survivors. Maybe they kept a few alive. At least then, this won’t be a total failure.”
Tris wiped the sword on his thigh and sheathed it. He knelt down and stared into the vacant eyes of one of the vic
tims. His soul had fled the way of the three other victims the brood had feasted upon. No blood had been shed from the victims. Tris shivered at the fear-locked expression on the man’s face and closed his eyes before moving on to search the rest of the floor. Lori motioned that he was going down one hallway, and that left Tris to explore the other side of the warehouse. He slowly made his way down the corridor, checking the empty offices. Inside of a couple he found mattresses, suggesting the vampires used the individual rooms for their sleeping chambers. Tris slipped into the last room at the end of the passageway. It was the biggest one he had come across and was split into two separate rooms. A large desk was shoved against the wall with drawers missing and papers strewn around the floor. He leafed through one of the folders and came away with nothing. He turned to leave, and a slight movement caught his eye. Something had fallen on the other side of the office, papers sliding down a large pile. It could have easily been caused by a rodent, but he went to check it out anyway.
Moonlight streamed in the window and illuminated the space. Stacks of paper were shoved into a large bookcase, and through the open shelves he saw a sofa on the opposite side of it. He peered through a small opening and saw the top of a head ducking behind the couch, wedged between it and the wall. Tris walked around the bookcase and pulled his sword once more from his sheath in case it was another vampire.
“Tris, you find anything?” Lori asked from the doorway.
He put his finger to his lips and pointed over to the sofa. Lori held his sword and stepped behind Tris, going around the bookcase. The couch had a ragtag, handmade quilt crumpled up on the seat. The dark head of hair he saw was hunkered down even lower and trying to become one with the wall.
“Tris, there’s the butterfly,” Lori said to him.
Tris saw a fairly large critter fluttering in the air. It was black, with stripes of crimson on its wings. It hovered for a moment, flew over to the survivor in the room, and landed on the arm of the sofa. It lingered and meandered off again. He lowered his sword and wondered why this butterfly was in a warehouse with vampires. How could such a beautiful creature end up being among such filth? Tris shook his head and sheathed his sword. They had exterminated the nest and Balthus was on the loose, but he would find the vampire one day. It was not over between them.
“Hello. You can come out now. They won’t hurt you anymore,” Tris called out to the person hiding behind the sofa.
It took a minute, but a woman slowly came out of hiding. Dark curls framed a heart-shaped face. She was quite attractive, with mocha-colored skin, and the moonlight that streamed in brightened her dark eyes. Gold flecks burned deeply among the brown. Her lips were rosy, and her clothes clung to all the right places. He glimpsed the shapely curve of her calf as she stepped out from behind the couch. She curled her fists into her shirt and glanced frantically between him and Lori. The poor creature was frightened beyond her wits. She was only a little bit of a thing, maybe only standing five three or four at the most. Her ample breasts strained the fabric of her shirt and after seeing her wide, luscious hips, Tris’s cock hardened at the thought of seeing her naked. Few humans had this effect on him.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked in a low, husky tone.
“We’re not going to hurt you. We took care of the monsters that kidnapped you. If you come with us, we can return you to your home,” Tris said to her, glad they had found one survivor.
“I’ll come with you if you promise not to hurt me.”
“Of course we’re not going to hurt you.” Tris smiled. How had this bit of a thing escaped the bloodthirsty creatures who had taken up residence in the abandoned factory? He went to take her hand, but Lori grabbed his wrist. “What now?”
Lori leaned in close to his ear. “This is the one Joe wants us to bring back.”
Tris looked between him and the small woman before them. “Are you serious? She doesn’t feel like one of them.”
“Our clue was the butterfly. It landed next to her.” Lori pulled out the silver manacles and approached the woman.
How could she be a vampire? She did not have sallow skin or the dark circles under her eyes that were tinged purple. Her eyes were not haunted, and her cheeks were not sunken from the thirst. His partner had to be mistaken. They had killed the nest, and she had to be a survivor. It had to be a mistake. Lori slipped past him and held out the shackles. The vampire retreated until her back hit the wall. Shadows fell across her face as the moonlight slid along her flesh, but she did not vanish into the darkness and disappear. Maybe she was incapable of it, or this was all part of a trap they had been lured into. He did not sense any other vampires in the nest or any other life besides the vermin that already called the factory home. Lori held out the fetters to the bloodsucker. Tris drew his dagger and pointed it at the female vampire.
“What is this all about? What is this nest of yours plotting?”
She shook her head. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. There are no plans. Do whatever you want to me, but make it quick.”
“Let me see your hands. We aren’t going to harm you.” Lori took her hands and clasped the handcuffs on her.
The woman winced once the silver touched her skin, and she hissed. Faint wisps of smoke wafted from where the metal touched her. Tris gripped the dagger at his waist and grabbed the chain connecting the restraints. He dragged the woman behind him. What was so important about this one? Why was she so complacent? Vampires always fought. Joe had to be wrong about this one. She grunted from being towed around. What did he care if she was in pain? She was just another bloodsucker. They walked through the hallway, and he kept tugging until she yelped. Then there was a thud. When he glanced back, she had fallen to the floor.
“Get up.” He clutched her arm and hauled her up.
“You don’t have to be such an ass. I’m going with you.”
“Quiet. You will do what we say. Is that understood?”
“Fine.” She bit her lip and stared at him with those wide, doe eyes.
His partner cleared his throat and got his attention. He swung around, almost ready to take Lori’s head. “What now? We got the creature that Joe wanted. Let’s deliver her and be done with it.”
“Fine, we’ll bring her, but you don’t have to be so horrid to her. She once was a human being.”
Tris rolled his eyes. “Used to be is the operative phrase here. See her over there? Disgusting evil monster working for the Grigori and scheming, I bet.” He could not help the revulsion that rolled through him dredging up ancient memories.
“I’m not scheming. Please, I’ll do what you want, but can you take these off me?”
“Let’s get her back to Joe, and then we can talk about it,” Lori suggested. He walked before him and helped up the vampire.
Tris ran his hands across the straining muscles on his neck and the faint twinge of pain where there was none from his past exploits. He tried to massage the tension away, but he was not sure that anything could. Lori ripped a section of his shirt off and wound it around the shackles so most of the metal did not touch her flesh. Tris shook his head and wondered why his partner was being so amiable toward the vampire. If it was just orders to take her back unharmed, then he was following them to the letter. It seemed there was something more behind it. Did Lori know the vampire? Maybe when she had been human?
Lori wrapped his arm around the bloodsucker and held her tight. Tris saw a quick flash of midnight blue, and he felt the great whoosh of his partner’s wings blow back against him. They were headed for Joe so he glanced around the factory, hoping to catch a glimpse of Balthus so he could take the elder vampire’s head. However, he felt a tug deep within him and knew he was being summoned. He focused on the jerking and willed himself to follow the connection.
* * * *
Daniella tried not to panic as she was being led by the hunters. It took everything in her to face them. If she had tried to escape, then they would have cut her down the way they had the rest of he
r nest. Their agony had descended on her as each was slain. That was not what had driven her to hide, nor was it the hunters. She had been in her lair long before they had shown up. When Balthus returned with dinner so they could all share a communal meal, her stomach had turned at the thought of such innocent victims being chewed on. Balthus had tried to coax her into feeding with them, to sate her burning thirst, but she lost her appetite when she saw the others gnawing away at the victims’ veins. Her hunger might have risen, but she was not going to indulge in it or let the beast win.
Then the hunters came. They did not realize she was one of the brood at first. Maybe it was one of the reasons they had not found her the night before. Maybe that was one of the reasons her master said he was keeping an eye on her. Tonight she had stood in the shadows while the cool moonlight played over her skin and if she had known how to ride the shadows, she would have fled into them wherever the darkness would have taken her. But that was a resource she could not take advantage of yet because she still did not know how. Balthus said it was a skill she would learn over time. Whenever Daniella reached for the power to blend with the darkness, it was not there. Balthus had tried to describe it to her. It was like breathing for vampires, if they could breathe anymore.
The blond one had been horrible to her. It was the red-haired one, Lori, who had been kind and tried to ease her discomfort from the silver chains she wore. Even now, their power was cold and warm upon her skin at the same time. The one who had hauled her along seemed to hate her because she was a vampire, but that did not make her a bad person. Was she even still a person because she was dead? Daniella tried to remain in touch with her humanity and not end up like the others in her nest, turning into monsters. They might have been her brood, but she did not feel any of them were her companions except Balthus, who had turned her. He was the most handsome thing she had ever seen, and he had offered her forever.
“Are you okay?” her red-haired captor asked.
She studied him. He was well over six feet tall, nearing seven from what she could tell. He was powerful, but wiry. He carried a curved blade at his waist, but he made no move to threaten her with it.
