Vampire's Shade Discounted Box Set

by Vivienne Neas

I spent most of the day killing time, waiting for Carl’s call. I didn’t want to go back to Blade’s place where I felt trapped. Not until I absolutely had to. And I didn’t really have anywhere else I could go. Connor had pushed me away and Phil was unhappy with me. And in their own right, respectively, I could understand where they were coming from. I just didn’t think they understood where I was coming from, and that annoyed me.

  Why was I the person that kept understanding everyone else, but no one tried to understand me? Sure, Connor was angry, but if something happened to him because the bad guys were coming after me there, I didn’t know how I would be able to deal with that. The same counted for Phil, and the students. It was just impossible for me to bring the two sides of my life together.

  By the time the sun set I gave up and headed back toward Blade’s place. I didn’t like driving into that neighborhood, and I struggled to think that I’d lived there before. Everything felt ominous, with shadows everywhere and the feeling that something was going to jump out at me at any moment.

  And I didn’t think it was just about the fact that I was being hunted. In a way it felt like I was falling back to my past. But this time I was the one on the other end of the stake, and I didn’t like it. It was the worst of both worlds.

  I parked my bike and walked up to Blade’s front door. The shutters rolled up noisily. He would still be home, unless he was heading out literally the moment it was true dark. Like what it was now. But I didn’t think he would leave without me, not after Carl had asked him to watch out for me.

  I stopped at the door and leaned my back against the opposite wall. I tipped my head up so it was against the wall and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to do this anymore. I hated the mess I was in. I wanted to go home. I wanted to stop running for my life. I wanted everyone to stop being mad at me.

  I took a deep breath and held it for three counts before I let it out again, slowly. Tonight was the night it was probably going to go down. I would be surprised if I didn’t.

  I pulled myself together and steeled myself for what was to follow after Blade and I left the apartment. I pushed the door open.

  “Blade?” I called out. There was no response. I walked to his room and pushed the door open a bit, enough to see the bed. The room was a mess and the bed was unmade, but he wasn’t in it. I turned to the rest of the apartment, put my one hand on my hip and rubbed my forehead with my fingers.

  Had he really left without me?

  A whoosh behind me and a blast of air told me that a vampire had materialized into the house. I was relieved.

  “I thought you left without me,” I said, turning around, but before I could face the room completely, someone slammed me against the opposite wall, so fast the room shot past me in a blur.

  I hit the wall and gasped for breath, completely winded. I looked at the vampire, and my body went cold. It wasn’t Blade standing in front of me. It was Zane, and the hatred on his face was so real and so ugly, if I had a breath to spare it would have taken it away.

  “Well, you’re not that hard to find. I thought you were the alleged vampire killer, the one that no one could get their hands on. Seems to me like no one really tried, that’s all.”

  I moved my mouth, sawing my jaw open and shut, but I still had no air and I couldn’t say anything.

  “You know, when I started looking for you I had no idea where to look, and that was my downfall. You see, I was looking for a human, and humans hide in all the places vampires never would.”

  My breath was starting to come back and my body started sorting itself out. The knock hadn’t just winded me, it had also stunned me.

  “I thought you travelled with an entourage,” I said when I could finally speak again, and it really wasn’t the best sentence, but I wanted to keep him talking until I could fight. Because he was alone, and from what I saw, he didn’t do his own dirty work.

  I was betting that I could take him in a fight.

  “They’re not always the best company. It’s hard to find someone to really talk to, you know? I used to have my brother, but as you know, that’s not really a possibility anymore.”

  When he spoke of his brother his face grew darker and his eyes became dangerous. Revenge was dangerous, and the longer you harbored hatred, the more dangerous it became.

  This was something I had first-hand experience with.

  I didn’t give him time to monologue more. The next thing after the speech was going to be him trying to kill me, that was usually how it worked. I didn’t want him to get that chance.

  I shot up to him as fast as I could and the room sped past me. I knocked him in the throat with the base of my forefinger in the classic self-defense move I taught all beginners. It choked up the assailant for long enough to run away.

  Or in my case, long enough to do more damage.

  Zane grabbed his throat and choked and coughed as I’d wanted him too, but when I turned to deliver a kick to his head, he grabbed my ankle with his free hand. We stood frozen like that for a moment. Slowly he lifted his eyes, and the moment they connected with mine he flung me. The pain of the force ripped into my hip and my whole leg was numb. He had incredible strength. I fell against another wall and sunk to the ground.

  I’d underestimated his power, something I should never do. Silently I kicked myself for it.

  I tried to get up and it was hard with my leg having no feeling, but I had to get ready. Before I was up all the way, Zane was in front of me. He was powerful, with him almost in my face I could feel his magic prickling along my skin, and it was hard to breathe, almost like I was underwater.

  Zane grabbed me by the throat and pulled me up until my body hung down the length of the wall and my feet dangled in the air. He squeezed hard, and he must have had long nails because I felt him break skin in two places. I kicked and squirmed, but it did nothing. I couldn’t breathe and I clawed at his hands, but for all the difference it made I could have been doing nothing at all.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you,” he said, and his voice was a soft purr. He reminded me of a leopard, or a snake. His eyes were cold and hard. “At least, not yet.”

  He let me down a little so that my face was the same height as his. I had my hands wrapped around his wrists and I felt the pressure build in my head, my face no doubt red and puffy.

  “I’m here to warn you. You can run, but you can’t hide, and I’m going to find out and make you pay.” He smiled and his fangs showed, and it was menacing. I hadn’t seen a face that scary in a while. It reminded me strangely of my dad’s face after he’d attacked my mother, even though Zane didn’t look like my father. Maybe it was the menacing look in his eyes, the hatred, the snarl on his face.

  “I left a little present for you. Come daylight, I’m sure you’ll find it. Enjoy your last night, while you have it, young one.”

  He said it like I was a vampire, and through the fuzzy feeling in my head I wondered if he thought that was what I was. A purebred.

  “Where’s Blade?” I managed to ask in a hoarse voice.

  Zane put me down and shrugged.

  “I only keep track of the people I wish to harm,” he said, and the next moment he was gone.

  I put my hand to my throat where he’d held me, tried to breathe properly and erupted in a fit of coughs. My throat hurt when I swallowed and my voice was strained.

  Blade had left without me, then. I had a bone to pick with him when I saw him again. The apartment was supposed to be like a safe house, with eyes all over. And Zane had come right in. He could have killed me if that had been his intention, and nothing had happened.

  I didn’t feel safe at all, and I was getting angry. Anger was better than fear or panic, and it was a great go-to.

  Where was Blade? Where was Carl? Two of the people in my life had disappeared, two had decided I wasn’t welcome in their lives anymore. I sighed and sank down onto the couch. That was four of the six people I had on my side. Great. What was I going to do now?


  Chapter 6

  I wound up in front of Aspen’s house. Aspen and Joel were the only people I had left – I’d come full circle. After I’d chosen a new life I’d gained friends, people that I was able to trust. Having people to rely on, even if it was just a handful, was a sensation I’d come to love.

  But just as it was that I could love them, that I was surrounded by friends, having more people in my life meant that there were more people that could get hurt. More guilt that could fall on my shoulders. More things that reminded me why I was better off alone.

  It had happened again. I’d lost so much, even though the people were few. And they’d gotten hurt in some way or the other. Whether it was physically – I still didn’t know what had happened to Blade and I’d heard nothing from Carl – or emotionally. Destruction followed me wherever I went.

  When I switched off my bike and pulled off my helmet my hair fell over my shoulders and I breathed out a sigh. “Please let this end soon,” I said. I didn’t want this anymore. I was tired and I wanted out. Out of this life that kept coming back to haunt me. Out of this world that just didn’t seem to have a space for me.

  The door opened and Joel stepped out into the night.

  “I thought I heard your bike,” he said. I swung my leg over and got off the thing, walked up to the porch.

  “Sorry to barge in on you guys. I just needed to see a friendly face.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re practically family.”

  With him dating Aspen he was almost a brother to me, but he’d been a very close friend for much longer than that. I walked up the steps and he stepped aside so I could enter the house.

  Aspen was on the couch with her legs tucked under her. Her wheelchair was folded up and to the side. She smiled when she saw me, but her face fell when the smile I returned was watered down.

  “What’s wrong?” she said.

  I sighed with a shudder. I shouldn’t have come here, but I had no one else left. And judging by what Zane had said just before I’d come here, there would be no attack tonight.

  Aspen wasn’t in trouble. It was the only thing I’d done right.

  “It doesn’t matter where I go or what I do, I keep messing up,” I said and sat down on the couch next to her. Joel offered to make us coffee. It was his way of staying out of the way so we could talk.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Aspen asked after Joel disappeared with the orders.

  I shook my head, paused, and then nodded. I had to talk to someone eventually.

  I took a deep breath and told her. Everything. Her face changed as I went on, getting darker. Her eyebrows clenched together and her lips thinned out into a straight line. After I was finished, I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face.

  “So what are you going to do?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I can go up against this guy. I don’t know if it’s worth it.”

  “Don’t talk like that!” Aspen reprimanded.

  “I’m sorry.” I knew I was sounding pathetic, all depressed because of the situations I’d caused myself. But without Connor I didn’t really see the point. I loved him. If he didn’t want me… As for Phil, well, he’d been in my life a long time, although only as a friend for the last year. Still, the job with him was a kind of security.

  And I still didn’t know if the death of another person, maybe even two, was on my hands yet. I was nervous about Blade’s disappearance. And Carl’s. The last time something had happened to Carl I’d had to bail him out of jail.

  “I know this is hard, Adele,” Aspen finally said when Joel came in with coffee, “but this can’t carry on forever.”

  “Really?” I asked. It felt like it was going on forever. How long since I’d been out of the business of hunting and killing vampires? More than a year?

  Come to think of it, that wasn’t so long. Maybe not nearly long enough. The thought that more might be coming to haunt me before it was over was sickening.

  “You’re just going to have to ride this one out. Sure, it’s hard and it’s dangerous and it’s scary.” She swallowed hard like there were emotions behind what she was saying that she was swallowing down. “But it’s something you’re going to have to deal with before you’re home free.”

  Joel nodded and reached over from where he was sitting to take Aspen’s hand. I didn’t know how much he’d heard from the kitchen, but judging by his reaction he was right there in the conversation with us. And I didn’t mind. Joel went about as far back as the hell in my life.

  I sighed with a shudder and then nodded.

  “I’ll help,” Joel said. Aspen shot him a hard look, but he glanced at her and then looked at me, nodding to confirm. “Just with ammo and stuff. If you’re going to fight this one properly, you’ll need to get everyone sorted.”

  I chuckled without emotion. “Everyone… you say that like I have people on my side right now.”

  They both kept quiet and that just made me feel miserable because it just showed how true it was. We sat together in silence while I wallowed in self-pity. Finally, I nodded.

  “I suppose the only way is forward,” I said. I knew that I had to get this sorted. Running wasn’t an option, I had too many people that would stay behind, too much to lose. And giving up would just be a different kind of loss. I had never really been the type to roll over and die, anyway. And all of that just left one more option.

  “Nothing’s going to happen tonight,” I said. “But I have a feeling tomorrow night will be the night.”

  “And you’ll be ready for it,” Aspen said warmly. I nodded, even though I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. It was better than giving up though.

  There was a knock on the door. We all looked at it. Fear clutched at me and I brought it back down. It was being ridiculous. Zane Masselli wasn’t going to come to Aspen’s door and pick a fight right here.

  At least, I prayed he wouldn’t.

  I held my breath as Joel walked to the door. He opened it, and his eyes widened. I half-expected an army to storm in with guns and take down everyone. Instead Joel’s hand went to his mouth.

  “Who is it, love?” Aspen asked. I was too scared to go and look, Aspen was crippled so she couldn’t. Joel looked at Aspen like he only just remembered we were there. His face had taken on an ashen color.

  “Come in,” he said in a hoarse voice, and stepped to the side.

  A moment later Carl walked through the door. I was relieved for a second, before dread washed over me. Aspen gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.

  “Oh my god,” she breathed.

  “Carl?” I asked, suddenly not sure it was him. He was taller and lankier than he was before, with a pale skin and his eyes seemed like they were a shade darker than before. His hair was the color of his skin.

  Carl was a vampire.

  He stood in front of us, looking like death warmed up. His face was grim as he looked at Aspen.

  “When we couldn’t get hold of you we were worried,” she said in a voice that was barely audible.

  “Well, you had reason to be,” he said, and he pegged me with a hard stare. A finger of ice trailed down my spine and covered my body with goose bumps.

  “Who did this?” I asked.

  “Your buddy Zane Masselli.”

  I remembered his threat in Blade’s flat, that he was leaving me a present. This was what he’d been talking about.

  “Carl,” I said and I stood up. This was worse than anything that he’d been through before, I knew. I knew more about his past now because of our little episode in Fort Atkinson when he’d been accused of murder. Vampires had killed his birth parents, and then vampires had taken him in and raised him. And still he’d become a vampire hunter.

  And then he’d dated a vampire girl, who’d been killed by another vampire and he’d been framed.

  Carl’s life with vampires had been bittersweet. But I knew that being one was never an option. Never som
ething he’d wanted to be. I knew what it was like denying myself, but I had half a vampire from the start. I couldn’t image the pain, especially for him.

  He took a deep breath and it was like he still wasn’t used to his new body. He moved his limbs around like he was still trying to figure out how to use them.

  “I’m so sorry,” I breathed. I didn’t have any doubt that this was all my fault. Everyone that got involved with me got hurt in one way or another. Sometimes it was permanent, like death, or in Carl’s case, changing.

  Carl opened his mouth like he wanted to speak, and I got a flash of his fangs. But instead of saying something, he hissed at me. Before I knew what was happening, he moved. He was so fast it was just a blur and then he had me pinned against the wall. The knock took the wind right out of me and I scrambled instinctively against him.

  He was better with his new body than it had looked, apparently.

  “This is what comes from helping you,” he sneered at me, his face so close to mine our noses almost touched. “I can’t decide if I should just kill you, or if I should hand you over to Masselli myself.”

  I heard his words, felt his anger, but he was pressing against my chest and my throat with his newfound vampire-male strength and I was thinking too hard about breathing to be panicked about what he was saying.

  I was vaguely aware of Aspen shouting for Carl to let me go, and Joel was hanging on his shoulders, but as a mere human Carl could just ignore him. Finally, the vampire let me go and I sagged to the floor, gasping for breath.

  “This is your fault,” he said, his voice still hard. “I help you, and this is what I get?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, choking the words out. “I’m so sorry.”

  I didn’t know if he’d expected a fight, but my apology took the anger right out of him. His face changed, sagged and then crumpled and he sank onto the couch next to Aspen.

  “Oh, god. What do I do now?” he asked. “My life is over.”

  Aspen put a hand on his arm, careful that he saw her coming. A new vampire could be jumpy.

  “We just keep going, Carl,” she said. “We just keep going.”