by Jenn Windrow
Then I heard it. The sound of a struggle, of someone fighting for their life. The slurping of a vampire stealing what didn’t belong to him. I stood up and looked and listened. The sounds were coming from a break in the evergreens off to the left, just a few feet away.
Silently, I snuck up on two vampires kneeling over a second girl. Her legs shook and she pushed with her hands to fight them off, but they held her down. One attached to her neck; the other feeding from her inner thigh. They were so focused on their meal that they didn’t hear me come up.
Looks like you get to have some fun, I told Eddie before letting him loose on the unsuspecting bloodsuckers.
I pulled my stake from my boot and stabbed the one feeding at her leg through the back. The point punctured his heart. His body glowed red, burst into flames, and then dissolved to ash.
The second vampire looked up, a piece of skin he’d torn from the girl’s throat dangling from his mouth. He spit her flesh on the ground and charged me. I punched him. He hit the trunk of a tree a hundred yards away and slid to the ground.
Time froze when I looked at his victim. Her curly blonde hair and scared blue eyes reminded me of another girl, another time. Reminded me of my little sister, Lysette. Gone. Killed by the very monster who turned me into a vampire. I failed to save Lysette, but I wouldn’t fail this poor girl.
I knelt next to her. Her breath was labored, blood pumped from her wound, a growing puddle of red circled her head like a morbid halo, and her heartbeat slowed. She needed help or she wasn’t going to make it. I stepped closer, wanting to do what I could to save her, but the brand on my hip flared.
Kill the vampire now. Play nursemaid later. Eddie had a point.
Anger turned me toward the monster who had hurt her. Judging by his still rosy complexion, itty-bitty fangs, and pinprick pupils he was only a few days old, three at the most. I pulled Reva out of the sheath strapped to my hip, and waited for him to attack.
“Terrance told us you were dead.” The vampire eyed me from the base of the tree.
I really needed to find out who started that rumor. “Don’t know Terrance, but he lied.”
He pushed away from the tree and came at me. Fangs and claws bared. He didn’t have the experience to fight me and win. But he wouldn’t be around long enough to figure it out.
The bottom of my boot connected with his stomach. He went down, arms wrapped around his torso and puked up the girl’s blood.
The dying girl didn’t have time for me to waste playing with her attacker. With one swift move I swung my dagger, taking his head off. It slid from his shoulders. His body slumped to the ground, not fully dead until I drove a stake through his heart. Once the wood pierced his ticker, his body burned away leaving a pile of ash in the grass.
Eddie purred like Raja after a good scratching under her chin.
I sheathed Reva and rushed over to the girl. With an outstretched hand, I put pressure on her wound, but her blood called to Eddie. I scurried away, hand covering my mouth and nose. I wanted to help her, needed to save her, but the monster inside of me wanted to consume her.
She had one chance at survival and I wasn’t it. “Reaper,” I yelled, my voice full of desperation. “Help.”
Chapter Five
I raced to the nearest blue plastic swing and planted my hiney on my hands. “Don’t eat the girl. Don’t eat the girl. Don’t eat the girl.” I rocked back and forth and chanted over and over and over again.
The death of the bloodsucker controlled the lust, but I was a vampire and blood still called to me like cheap paper bag booze calls to a wino. By the time Reaper’s boots crunched up the path I followed earlier, I wanted to run screaming from the site of the blood pooling under the poor dying girl. But Eddie wanted to force me to my knees, to run my tongue over her wounds, to drink. I stayed on the swing and prayed for control.
It would taste so good. The strength you’d have. The power. You’d be unstoppable. I could almost feel him licking his lips.
I don’t want to be unstoppable.
You’re no fun.
Reaper knelt next to her, looked at the wound, and then looked at me. “Half the skin is missing from her throat.” There wasn’t any accusation in his voice, but I still felt the need to explain.
“The vampire did it after I killed his friend.”
He gently lifted her wrist, placed two fingers over the veins and searched for a pulse. “It’s faint, but still there.”
Reaper placed her hand back on the grass and tore off the edge of his shirt. He wadded the fabric and held it to her neck. Once satisfied, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “She’s not going to make it unless we get her help.” He tossed the phone in my direction. “Scroll through my contacts. Find James Coleman. Tell him you’re a friend of Reaper’s, where we are, and that we need an ambulance ASAP.”
I dialed the number, thankful to have something to do to keep my mind off my hunger. Seconds later a bored voice answered and announced I’d just called the VAU. My words caught in my throat and I took a moment to clear the large boulder they were stuck behind. I asked for James Coleman and, while waiting, I glared at the back of Reaper’s head and counted all the ways I could hurt him. When the Detective answered I relayed the information and quickly hung up.
I tossed the phone back to Reaper with a little more force than necessary. “You had me call the VAU?”
He picked it up and stuffed it in his pocket, his hand never leaving the girl’s throat and his eyes never meeting mine. “I have connections. Plus, this is a vampire-related incident. They need to know.”
The girl moaned and Reaper lifted the blood-soaked cloth. “It may be too late anyway. Her pulse is barely there.”
“Let me help.” I knelt on the other side of her and licked my fingertips.
Reaper removed the cloth and I rubbed my saliva over a few of the shallow cuts. The puncture holes knitted together, scabbed over, and within seconds healed. The skin around the wounds turned purple, yellowish-green, pink, and then finally flesh colored as the bruises disappeared.
I sat back on my heels and wiped the blood from my hands onto my pants. “Just a dab’ll do ya.”
Tonight wasn’t the first time Reaper had seen the healing power in my spit, but today he looked at me like I had grown a second pair of fangs. “You should have thought of that sooner.” This time his voice was filled with accusation.
“You wanted the vampire with super blood lust to stick her finger in the bleeding woman without someone here to make sure she didn’t eat her? Next time I’ll remember.”
Reaper waved me over to the next wound, the worst of all of them. “Stop wasting time. Put some on this wound, just enough to keep her from bleeding out.”
The VAU was on the way, I didn’t think this was the best idea, but the girl needed help or she wouldn’t be alive when help arrived. Kneeling down, I barely wet the tip of my finger, and placed it in the center of the blood-filled wound. Being this close to her pulsing veins sent Eddie into a frenzy. I swallowed, took a deep breath, and forced him to comply. My finger slid over the slick surface, finding the artery, and the bleeding stopped, but I couldn’t even begin to heal the gaping holes left behind.
Just one lick. A small taste. I wouldn’t ask for more. We both knew it was a lie.
Eddie would never be satisfied with just a taste.
No chance.
Her blood coats your hands, such a simple thing to let me feed.
I ran my hands through the grass to remove as much blood as I could.
Weak.
The dead vampires were your payment. That’s all you will ever get.
Eddie stayed silent.
Reaper and I stood guard over the injured girl. An uneasy quiet formed between us, until the high-pitched wail of the cavalry broke through the night.
“Get out of here.” Reaper pointed in the direction of his car. I hated getting sent away like a naughty child.
“Now.”
Footsteps, voices, and squeaky wheels moved closer to my hiding spot. The fear of being caught played kick-the-can with my insides. I hunkered down farther and waited until the black and red uniforms of the VAU agents passed by before peeking my head out.
Five years ago, before the start of the Eradication, I would have lent a hand to the humans to save her life. That was before a few greedy vamps started their own all-you-can-eat blood buffet and all of humanity turned against us. Now vampires weren’t allowed out of the shadows. If you were found, you were executed. No questions asked. No slaps on the wrist. No second chance. No begging for mercy, because mercy didn’t exist for creatures of the night.
“I did what I could to help her. Now it’s their turn,” I reminded myself and leaned out farther from between the heavy foliage.
The medical experts hurried to the injured girl’s side and officers closed off the area with yellow crime scene tape. A stout man in his late thirties, dressed in a charcoal grey pinstriped suit, with a cockeyed red tie, ran his hand through his short wavy dark hair before stopping in front of Reaper. They shook hands, and patted each other on the back, the way old friends do.
“James, it’s been too long.” Reaper’s voice carried over the hustle of the emergency team. Both men turned and watched the paramedics work around the girl, checking her pulse, heart rate, and wound. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“I’ve called. You haven’t answered.” The detective’s words were laced with concern.
Reaper looked at his gleaming black combat boots before answering. “It’s been difficult.”
The detective placed his hand on Reaper’s shoulder then slowly let it fall away. “What happened here, Reaper?” The detective’s baritone voice switched from concerned friend to the commanding tone of a man who was used to being in charge.
“My friend and I were out walking and found her like this.”
The detective looked around the park.
“Where’s your friend now?”
“Sent her home. The blood was too much.”
The detective pinched the bridge of his nose, and blew out his breath. “God damn it, Blake.”
Blake? Must be Reaper’s real name. File that away for future torment.
“You did this for three years. You know I need to talk to every witness. Immediately.”
Reaper had been a VAU agent? Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t work so hard to piss him off.
You should never put your trust in a human.
I don’t have a choice. Caleb stuck me with him the same day he stuffed you into my subconscious.
I went back to listening to Reaper’s conversation. “I can give you all the information you need.”
The detective’s narrowed eyes said he wasn’t buying it. “She’s a witness. I need to talk to her too. Hear her side of the story. Find out if she saw anything. Heard anything. You know the protocol.”
“I don’t think I can bring her in.”
“What are you hiding?”
“Nothing” The word left Reaper’s mouth like a bullet from a gun.
“I’ve known you since we were eighteen years old.” The detective put his hand on Reaper’s shoulder and gave it a shake. “We’ve been through war and tragedy together. I can tell when you’re feeding me a line of shit. Bring her to the station tomorrow night.”
No way. He can’t bring me in the station. Tell him, Reaper. “I’ll try.” He’ll try? Was he insane? Had he lost his marbles?
The paramedics loaded the girl on a stretcher and covered her face with an oxygen mask. A large bandage covered her neck and a mobile heart rate monitor beeped at her side.
They stopped next to Detective Coleman. “The scene’s all yours.”
He rested his hand on the girl’s calf and closed his eyes. Moments passed before he reopened them. “Thanks. Please keep me posted on her condition.” He nodded to the paramedic.
They wheeled her toward my hiding spot. I hid deeper in the bushes, and pushed aside the limbs and leaves, hoping to see her wound, check if it was still healing, but it was covered tight. I worried that my decision to help her would bite me in the ass.
“Tomorrow night?” I couldn’t tell if Coleman’s words were a question or a command.
Reaper shrugged.
“Don’t brush me off.” Coleman rubbed the back of his neck. “I need your witness. This isn’t the first girl attacked, but she’s the first we found alive.”
I didn’t have to hear Reaper’s next words to know that we would be making a visit to the VAU. “I promise, we’ll be there.” Reaper extended his hand and the detective shook it. “I’ll leave you to your job.” Then Reaper turned on his heels and walked away.
“See you tomorrow,” Detective Coleman yelled after him.
Reaper passed my hiding spot. “Meet me at the car.” He didn’t even turn his head in my direction, just issued his order and continued walking.
I took a different trail through the trees and bushes because I was afraid I might have a close encounter with one of the many VAU agents lurking in the area.
Fifty feet away Reaper leaned against the hood of his muscle car, arms crossed over his chest, head down, lost in thought. When I approached he glanced up. The look on his face wasn’t anger, or rage; it was despair, sadness. A look I wasn’t used to associating with Reaper. Sometimes it’s easy to forget he had a life other than our nightly vampire hunting expeditions.
He pushed off the car, and opened the passenger side door for me. His act of chivalry caught me off guard. “We need to talk.” He slammed the door after I got in.
I fidgeted in my seat. Reaper with emotions made me nervous. On edge.
He didn’t say anything until we pulled out of the parking lot and picked up speed on a deserted rural road. “We’re going to the VAU tomorrow night.”
“The hell we are.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“In the two years we’ve worked together I’ve never asked you for one single thing.”
I flipped my hands out, palms up. “Why start now?”
“Because, I made a promise and I intend to keep it.”
“Why should I get involved?”
“Don’t you want to catch the monster who did that to those girls?”
And he got me. There still had to be an easier way than walking into a vampire execution chamber. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a VAU agent?”
Because the vampire hating human would love to see you fry like the ones he helped fry before you.
I hated to admit it, but Eddie had a point.
“You never asked.” Reaper responded.
“Are you setting me up?”
Reaper showed his pearly whites like he had a secret. Frankly, it was frightening. “What makes you think that?”
I help up my hand and began ticking off the reasons, starting with my middle finger. “One, you had me call the VAU tonight. Two, you neglected to tell me you are an ex-VAU agent. Three, You’re insisting I visit the one place that could get me killed.” I moved my fingers closer to his face. “Three very good reasons for me to be concerned.”
Reaper smiled again. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
“Asshole.”
“So, you’ll do it? For her?”
Damn him to hell. Of course I’d do it for her, for the young girl who looked like my baby sister. Saving girls like her was the reason I teamed up with Caleb in the first place. “Fine. But you owe me.”
We pulled up to my place, but before opening the door, I said, “Meet me at the VAU station one hour past sundown.”
“Can you pull this off?”
“Does
it really matter to you if I can?”
“No.”
“Then, just meet me at the station.”
I slammed the car door and Reaper took off. Gravel kicked up from his tires and showered my shoes. There was no time to worry about Reaper’s rude departure. I had a costume to prepare.
Chapter Six
Reaper was fucking late. Reaper was never late. The clock on the bank across the street from the VAU station read 7:32. One hour past sundown. When he finally showed up he better be bleeding profusely.
If he wasn’t he would be.
I waited far back in a shadowed corner, hidden behind a large stone pillar and a potted fern, and rested my shoulder against the chipped brick wall and waited. My only company a daddy longlegs spinning a silky web in a corner.
Where the hell was he? The six bags of blood I guzzled to give myself a nice rosy complexion would only last so long. After all, I had to put on my best human disguise to walk into the VAU.
I tapped the toe of my gold sandal against the chilly concrete, and looked at the clock for at least the hundredth time that evening. 7:33.
The VAU. The one place any semi-intelligent vampire stayed away from, and here I was waiting to walk past the heavily guarded doors. I was beginning to question my own intelligence.
That makes two of us.
I gave Eddie the internal middle finger.
I wanted to believe everything would be okay. That I wouldn’t end up as a pile of ash on the over-waxed linoleum floors or as the star of my own televised execution. But the annoying tremors that ran up and down my spine wouldn’t let me.
Even hidden from the eyes of the agents walking in and out of the building I felt naked and exposed. I missed my leather and weapons.
My finger slid over the soft cotton of my red sundress and traced the branded angel wings on my hip. The familiar loops and curves of the raised skin comforted my frayed nerves.
