by Megan Hawke
"Ugh," I grunted. They came out more painfully than they went in. I knelt there a long second, forehead pressed to the side of the car. The wounds healed fast, and the pain became a mere memory. "Who the hell is trying to stake me?"
Aside from vampire slayers, of which I knew most, the Crimson Knot Killer was the most obvious would-be assassin. He would have to be able to see well in the dark. Of course, he could use an infrared or passive light scope.
"One might think I pissed Gustav or Philip off," I said. Surely only the real killer would be so bold as to assassin me. "Houston, I think we have a breakthrough."
Gunfire erupted across the street. I was healed, so I jumped up and ran zigzag straight at the killer's location, letting off a shot ever third zig. One more bolt streaked past me.
"Up there," Dane called as I crossed the street. "Be careful."
He was indicating a two story building. I jumped straight up there, pistol ready and held in both hands.
I found nothing.
"He's gone!" I called. Well, not exactly nothing. "He left his crossbow and bolts. Wait here."
I pulled off my jacket and sprouted wings. I cringed as I heard them rip through my T-shirt. Couldn't be helped. A second later I was airborne. I began a circling search from that spot, pistol ever vigilant.
He was gone.
Returning to the building, I donned my jacket and picked up the crossbow and three remaining bolts. A little hop, and I fell feet first to land next to Dane. Yeah, I startled him. Let me tell you, Dane could cuss a blue streak.
"Sorry," I said. "He got away."
"How? I just saw him seconds before you arrived," he said.
"He probably morphed into a bat and flew away," I said. I glanced back up at the roof. "He didn't leave any clothes behind. Some vampires can morph with their clothes, but not many. So that means he arrived here naked."
"He flew in as a bat?"
"Only if he left the crossbow up there ahead of time," I said. "Even a bat with vampire strength cannot carry that bulky crossbow. And the bolts are all loose, no quiver or anything to carry them in, so he had to carry them in his hand."
"So that rules out a wolf, too," Dane said. "Back to pre-positioning the crossbow."
"Looks that way."
"Who would plan that far in advance? Gustav or Philip?" Dane said.
"I would say Philip," I said.
"Time to visit the club," Dane said, looking across the street at The Crimson Knot.
"He won't be there," I said.
"Exactly, but the other one might be," he said. "If Gustav is over there, then we know the killer is Philip. And vise versa."
"You're a genius," I said.
I threw the crossbow and bolt into the back of Dane's Jeep and climbed in myself. Dane started her up while I squeezed water out of my sopping wet hair.
My phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Sable!" Sabrina screamed. "Oh God, help me!"
"Calm down, Sabrina. Calm down and tell me what's happening," I said.
"Penny's dead. Did you know? She's been murdered, just like the others," Sabrina said in a rush. "Oh God, someone's killing us all. Killing us all."
"Is someone threatening you right now?"
"Yes!"
"They are? Oh my God! Who?"
"How am I supposed to know that?" she cried. "I was being followed. I got my couch pushed up against the door. I don't know what to do. All my friends were killed in locked apartments."
"Don't move. We're on the way," I said, then turned to Dane. "Get us to Sabrina's apartment fast. Someone's after her."
Seconds later we were racing down Harry Hines. At Northwest Highway, called Loop 12, we hung a left. Thankfully nighttime traffic on Harry Hines and Northwest Highway weren't that bad. We ran a lot of red lights. Dane had an uncanny instinct when it came to knowing when he just had to brake and let cross traffic have their right of way.
As we drove I spoke to Sabrina, assuring her it would all be fine. Dane and I would take care of her. No one would be allowed to hurt her. I also took the time to strip out of my jacket, and move spare magazines to my back pockets.
Sooner than I thought possible we were skidding to a halt below Sabrina's apartment. It wasn't a pretty sight. Made my blood boil. They had to be Family. No one else had reason to go after Sabrina.
"Wolves," I snarled, spotting four werewolves right off. One was kicking at Sabrina's door, with his partner waiting behind starting to change into a wolf. The last two were guarding the stairs. "Shoot to kill. No mercy."
"What?" Dane said.
They were after my sister. That fact meant they had to die. Especially werewolves or vampires. If they wanted Sabrina they would hunt her down. Killing them stopped the hunt. Stopped it dead.
"Sable, four more behind us," Dane cried, starting to shoot.
When I started shooting the two wolves down below split up. I think they were trying to lure me away. This little vamp girl didn't fall for it. Jumping with all I had, I smashed through the living room window head first.
Sabrina screamed bloody murder. I hit the floor and rolled to my feet. Seconds later I ran up to the door, reached out with my vampiric senses and located the two wolves outside the door.
Two shots. Bang! Bang! And two wolves dropped. Dead. Silver did that to werewolves, and it didn't have to be blessed silver, either. Two flares flew in the smashed window, and a fire started immediately.
Sabrina screamed, ran over and overturned a fish tank onto the fire. It was her roommate's fish tank. Where was her roommate? I did a quick search of the apartment with my vampiric senses. No one else there. No dead bodies. I would smell the dead, and didn't.
"They're trying to burn us out," I said. I looked her over quickly. No injuries I could detect. She wore jeans and running shoes, blue and red SMU T-shirt, and a short red leather jacket. School clothes. "So we're going to make a run for it. Dane's Jeep is in the parking lot, jump into the back as fast as you can."
I ejected the Glock's magazine and pushed a new one home. There was already a round chambered, so I didn't have to charge it. The discard magazine still had some rounds in it, but I wanted a full magazine for the run to the Jeep.
"You don't happen to have a pistol or something, do you?"
"No, but I will by this time tomorrow," she said.
"Okay, then stick close to me. No matter what happens, do not run away from me unless I tell you to," I said. "We make a beeline to the Jeep."
"Got it," Sabrina said. "Lead on."
We charged out the front door and headed down the stairs. Bullets ricocheted all around us. Halfway down the stairs I heard automatic weapon fire. Uzis by the sound. Dane was crotched down behind the Jeep returning fire with his Glock 31.
"Dane!" I cried. A wolfman ran around the Jeep and swung his firing Uzi around toward Dane. I leveled my pistol on him, and pulled the trigger three times. Hit him three times, and he slumped to the ground. "Get in the Jeep and go! I have Sabrina."
I shoved my pistol into my holster, wrapped both arms around my sister and sprouted wings. Sabrina tensed and gasped.
"Holy shit!" she cried.
"Jump!" I cried, and leapt up as high as I could. Not very high with Sabrina's dead weight, but my wings began flapping immediately, and we began a slow spiral upward. Sabrina gasped again, and clutched at me. "I have you."
Dane's Jeep took off across the apartment grounds, scattering two groups of wolves firing at me and Sabrina. As we vanished over the apartment building the werewolves headed for their cars.
"Why didn't you tell me you had wings?" Sabrina said.
"I'm enough of a freak of nature without pointing out that fact," I said.
"Do all vampires have them?"
"No."
I headed for Kale's house. The sky really opened up halfway there. I used my powers as best I could to force her body to produce more heat, but there was only so much I could do while she was being soaked with cold rain.
&n
bsp; No one was home but Kale when we arrived. He was watching a John Wayne western when we arrived. I introduced them, and got Sabrina out of her wet clothes and into a nice warm pair of sweats. Then I wrapped her on a blanket and plopped her on the couch.
"What the hell is going on, Sable," Sabrina said. "Was that a gang of vampires after me? Is it a gang of vampires doing the killing?"
That made me stop and think. She really didn't know.
"Kale, could you get me some blood, please? I'm famished," I said. Then I turned back to my sister. "Those weren't vampires. They were werewolves."
"Werewolves? But I thought the killer is a vampire?"
"He is," I said. Noticing I was dripping all over the place, I headed for the master bedroom. "Give me a second to change out of these wet clothes."
As soon as the door was closed I morphed into a bat, and back to human. Perfectly dry. Lost all my makeup, if there was any left after flying through a rain storm. More irritating, I lost the nail polish on my fingernails and toenails.
I draped my wet clothes over the bathtub to dry, then pulled on another pair of jeans and black tank top. My sister's jaw dropped when I walked out of the bedroom. She was looking at my suddenly dry hair. Hearing the microwave beep, I hurried to the kitchen. She didn't need to see me drinking blood just yet.
"You want some coffee? Tea? Cocoa?" I called.
"Green tea if you have it. But I'd rather have a beer," she said.
"Green tea it is," I said. While I prepared her hot tea, I ran through my evening with Kale. Thankfully, he agreed she'd have to stay there for the time being. "Thanks, I owe you."
Kale and I returned to the living room, with a mug of hot green tea for Sabrina. She sipped her tea, looking back and forth between us.
"Are you two sleeping together?"
"No," I said. "There is no sleeping involved."
Her big blue eyes got a bit bigger for a second. Then she smiled and nodded.
"Just sex, huh?"
"More than 'just sex.' We're lovers," I said.
"Everyone living here is having lots of sex with everyone else," Kale said. "Two vampire babes, and two minions. What do you expect?"
"Two vampires?"
"Heidi Mainz," I said. "I accidentally Changed her."
"That name sounds familiar."
"The girl Dane...um, dated after me," I said.
Sabrina's face lit up, "You bit his new girlfriend? Wow, that is so cool."
"No, it's not," I said. It was the one thing I was truly ashamed of since becoming a vampire. "Anyway, you'll have to stay here until we get all this crap sorted out. It's not safe for you to be out on your own."
Sabrina stared into her tea a long time. I watched a full array of emotions cross her face. Finally, she sighed resolutely and looked up at me. Looked me dead in the eye.
"I'm a full partner," she said.
It was my turned to be confused. "I beg your pardon?"
"It's my butt on the line here. I want to be a full partner in hunting down the vampire that killed my friends," she said. "I can handle myself." She gave a little wave in the general direction of her apartment. "I just wasn't prepared for this tonight. Whatever this was. Werewolves? Where do the werewolves come into this?"
"It's complicated," I said.
"I have time," she said. "Do you know who the killer is?"
I looked to Kale for support, but he just looked expectantly back at me. I think he was on her side.
"I have a strong suspension," I said. "Nothing I can prove. Yet."
I hadn't felt that uncomfortable since my last meeting with my parents. I didn't know what to do. On one hand I hated the idea of outing someone who was innocent, but on the other she had every right to know. Knowledge was power.
"Who?"
"Well, I'd rather not say until – "
"I'm a full member. Remember? Tell me," Sabrina said. She was determined. "Tell me, Sable."
I sighed gustily. What choice did I have? "Either Gustav or Philip."
She gawked at me a second, then her eyes widened again. Understanding was dawning.
"They are both vampires?"
"Yes."
"But...but, they don't have fangs. We checked," she said.
"Some vampires have their fangs ground down to help fit in," I said.
She stared off into space a long moment. Sabrina did not look pleased. Kinda grim, in fact.
"Anyone else a vampire I should know about?"
I was hoping she wouldn't ask. There was no lying to her. She had a right to know. But I was afraid Roger would lose her as a friend, and he so needed friends. Poor Roger was such a lost soul.
"Just one other I know of," I said. "Roger."
"Roger? My Roger? Roger Rippner?" she said, incredulous. "You've got to be kidding. Roger couldn't be a vampire. He's so...so...."
"I know. He's not a very good vampire."
She just stared incredulously at me a moment.
"He's afraid of the sight of blood! Or is that an act?"
"It's no act. Roger the vampire cannot stand the sight of blood," I said, shrugging. "It's not easy being a vampire with hemophobia."
"I can imagine. But I can't imagine Roger killing anyone," Sabrina said. "He's afraid of his own shadow."
He had more fight in him that anyone gave him credit for. I've seen him fighting, even fought with him and against him. Roger was really a cornered rat kind of fighter, and fought viciously when cornered.
"What about Gustav and Philip?"
She thought about it. Really thought hard, face screwed up and staring off into space thinking. Then she shrugged.
"I couldn't imagine anyone at the club killing someone, much less being a serial killer," she said. "Before tonight. I just figured it was one of the vampires we rejected getting back at us."
Oddly enough, it never occurred to me it could be a vampire whose membership was denied. But if that was the case, shouldn't there be victims outside of their little clique?
"Whoever is killing your friends is going after your specific clique," I said. "One or two of you might be a coincidence, but not all four. Have you noticed any jealous or resentful behavior by anyone?"
"No. We're all one big happy, kinky family up there," Sabrina said.
"What about Gustav or Philip? Did they show any jealousy of Roger?" I said.
"Why would they be jealous of Roger, of all people? None of us ever had sex with Roger," she said. "And we all had sex with Philip and Gustav."
"Really?"
That didn't seem fair. They supposedly all cared more for Roger, but he was the one they refused to sleep with? No wonder he was such a mess.
"Grow up, Sable. I'm a big girl now, and I like sex," she said. A car pulled up outside. Sabrina's eyes got big, and I suspected she didn't feel like such a big girl anymore. "Who's that?"
"Sounds like Heidi," I said. I could hear the cadence of her heels on the concrete sidewalk. I opened my mind to her, and there she was in the front yard. "She lives here."
"With you? After you turned her?"
"Changed. Vampires are Changed," I said. She gave me a "whatever" look and stuck out her tongue. We heard the jingle of keys, and then the door opened. Heidi walked in and Sabrina gasped. "Do you know her?"
"No, but she's so gorgeous," Sabrina whispered.
"Thank you," Heidi said. She looked Sabrina over with relish, even licked her fangs. "Who is this? Dinner, I hope."
"No dinner jokes involving my sister," I said.
"Oh! I see it," Heidi said. "You two are practically twins. Is the other sister this beautiful, too?"
I didn't care for the way Heidi was sizing up Sabrina.
"She's the married one, so maybe she's more beautiful," I said.
"Why does she live here if you turned her...I mean Changed her into a vampire?" Sabrina said.
Both Heidi and I paused, and glanced at each other.
"I don't know," I said, and I didn't. There was no compulsion on Heidi to
stay. She could leave anytime she wanted. Heidi didn't want to go. "I can't get a straight answer from her on that either."
"I like it here. Isn't that enough?" Heidi said. She looked at my bare feet and makeup free face, then at Sabrina's wet hair and blanket. "What happened? Nothing good, I imagine."
"Werewolves tried to kill me," Sabrina said. "I think it was a whole pack of them. They were everywhere."
"That's odd. It's not even a full moon," Heidi said.
"Do they go crazy on full moons?" Sabrina said, eyes big.
"No. That's an old wive's tale," I said. Like I was an expert. But I'd recently done a lot of research on werewolves, mostly to help find the werewolf that was killing vampires. "They are rather obsessed with full moons, though. I don't know why. Maybe they don't either."
"Did you know that if you're bitten, you don't actually turn into a werewolf until the next full moon?" Heidi said.
"Yes I did," I said.
"Really?" Sabrina said. "That's weird."
I frowned at Kale, who grinned and shrugged. Sabrina and Heidi witnessed our little exchange.
"What?" Heidi said.
"We were discussing the Crimson Knot murders when you came in, and now you've taken us off on some wild tangent," I said. "About par for you."
"Oh," she said, looking all offended.
I laughed. "Don't be mad. That's just you. You have that effect on people."
Heidi gave me a wary look, like maybe I was mocking her or making her the butt of a joke. I gave her my most winning smile. She pursed her lips, considered me a moment.
"Okay," I said. Turning back to Sabrina. "I need your help here, Sabrina. I have to get the killer fast, or bad things will start happening. Very, very bad things."
"Like the werewolves?"
"The werewolves will be a big part of it," I said. "They are vampire mafia goons. Whitney was the local vampire mafia boss's minion. If I don't find the killer by this weekend, he is going to kill everyone that is a member of The Crimson Knot."
"Oh."
Fear exploded inside Sabrina, deep and cold. I didn't want it to frighten her so much, but I needed her to focus. She could have vital information that would put a face on the killer.
