by Megan Hawke
"Cool your jets, Heidi," I said. "We don't need you getting us all horny and distracted."
"Where is he?" Henri said.
"Still in hiding," I said, warily watching as Mercedes hurried over to join us. Guess she didn't trust us around her boss. "He probably senses all of your wolves standing around, being all menacing and all."
"How can he sense us if we can't sense him?" Mercedes asked.
"Because he is a vampire," I said. I felt a dozen men suddenly become tense. "Cowboy up!"
No hesitation. I leapt in the air, shooting my wings out at the same time. I heard Henri and his four undead goons gasp. Surely Mercedes had told him of mine and Roger's wings. Seeing is believing. There was a good possibility I made an impression.
Gunfire erupted from a dozen locations. They were all shooting silver. Priest blessed silver. That made me wonder. Would our wings vanish if Roger or I were shot with sanctified silver? I know I couldn't morph if blessed silver was piercing my skin or deep within my body. Also, according to Desiree, if I was a bat or wolf and got shot with silver, I'd change back to human immediately.
Getting shot out of the sky by Mercedes' wolves would just be rude. And painful.
I cleared the top of the trees at the same time Roger did. We saw each other. Roger was filthy from his long day underground. He turned away from me, and flew off southeast. I was in hot pursuit, and within a moment or two we'd flown out of sight and gun range of the werewolves.
I heard Henri and his four vampires morph into bats and follow. There were other bats in the air, too. Some of them might've been real bats. It's kinda hard for me to tell.
"Roger! The vampire mafia is after you now!" I called. Rattling his nerves might slow him down, or get him to make a fatal mistake. "Hear the bats all around us! Trudeau Family. Whitney and Nessa belonged to them. See how badly you fucked up?"
"I didn't know!" he cried. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Own up to your crimes, pig!" I called. "Stop blaming everyone else. I didn't cause you to do this. Angela didn't cause it. None of the victims forced you to be a stinking serial killer. You did it."
Roger turned and attacked me.
He tried to thrust both wing spikes into my heart. I swept them aside with a sweep of my right wing, and then I seized his hair as I streaked past. I must've been doing twenty or thirty miles an hour when we passed in the night sky. I just managed to seize his ponytail.
"Gotcha!" I cried in triumph. Then his wing spike drove up under my chin, up through my mouth and into my brain. My whole body spasmed violently and my wings vanished. "Uggh!"
A second later he ripped the spike out and flew off. I hit the ground before I recovered. There was nothing I could do but lay there gasping, spread-eagle on the sidewalk, for several minutes. The tingly itch of knitting bones filled my body as I recovered. A small crowd of rush hour business men and women, leaving work, gathered around me to gawk.
"Don't touch her!" I woman cried when an older man started toward me to help. "She's a vampire."
They all stepped back. Most stayed to gawk, but some of the more prudent, more intelligent people hurried away.
As I lay there I listened to the Trudeau bats attacking Roger above me. He didn't get far before they converged on him. A little bat is no match for a vampire, but there were a lot of them, and some of them attacked and tore up his wings. Being a vampire meant his wings healed fast, but it was enough to slow him down.
"Forget about vampires," I said as I rose to my feet. I extended my wings to their collective gasps. I pointed at two wolves running down the street, eyes skyward. One had dark brown fur, while the other had blonde fur and bright blue eyes. "It's the damned werewolves you have to worry about. They'll bite anyone."
Leaping up high, I beat a hard track straight at Roger. Flying straight up was much harder than taking a circular route. You felt the pull of gravity more.
Roger was about one hundred fifty feet up. About even with the tenth or eleventh floor in most of the surrounding high rises. As I approached the Trudeau bats scattered. Leaving him to me? What, no help for me?
"That hurt, bastard," I said.
I pulled my pistol and shot him in the heart. His wings vanished, answering my question. Roger groaned pitifully as he tumbled out of the sky. Lucky bastard got his fall broken by a small live oak. I land on hard concrete and he gets a cushion. Figures.
I power dived after him. He landed a good hundred feet down the street from where I crashed. Poor Roger wasn't making much progress in his escape. It was a little park area between downtown and the highway. On the other side of the highway was Deep Ellum.
Roger was on his feet before I reached the ground. He was digging for that silver bullet. I landed five feet from him and pulled my sword. Bullets hurt. Sword killed.
"Hello Roger. Ready to die?" I said.
"Have a heart, Sable!" I cried. "I'm sorry. How many times do I have to say it?"
"You've gone rogue, Roger," I said. "Now I have to kill you. You know the rules."
"Those are your rules, not mine," he said.
His hand was thrust inside his belly, blood flowing. He couldn't even look at it. The expression on his face told me how sickened he was by being forced to do that bloody deed. Pain twisted his features.
"Actually, you've told me on more than one occasion that all vampires should be killed," I said. "You always warned me that all vampires are capable of evil. I'm fixin to end the evil called Roger Rippner."
He threw the silver bullet at me and charged. I parried the thrust of his right spike, ducked under the left and slashed his ribs with the sword. The right spike thrust at me again, and my sword caught the wing just inside the spike, severing the bone of that wing.
"Son of a – !" he cried, pulling his wings back into his body. He staggered back two steps, gawking at me. Then he turned and leaped into the air. His wings sprang out perfectly formed, and carried him away. "Let me go!"
"No," I said, and flew off after him.
Bats attacked Roger as he flew towards Deep Ellum. He caught one, and pulled his head off. The vampire morphed back to human and fell to the ground, dead. Another vampire flew at his neck from behind, and at the last second morphed to human and crashed into him. They began tumbling towards the ground. Roger threw him off but crashed on the roof of the Black Rose club. It was too early in the evening for the club to be open.
I landed beside Roger and laid a savage roundhouse into his face. That flipped him completely over. His wings came up. I pulled my pistol. A silver bullet would ground his ass. But a wing spike impaled my forearm, and the resulting convulsion released my grip on the pistol.
His other wing spike slammed into my rips, shattering ribs and impaling my liver. Exquisite pain ripped through me. Then the first spike was driven into my heart. My back arched and I threw my head back and screamed.
"Die!" Roger growled, picking up my dropped pistol.
I reached up over my right shoulder, and grabbed the katana's hilt. He pointed the pistol at my face, and smiled cruelly. Pulling the sword, I brought it down across his forearm, severing the pistol wielding hand. His hot blood fountained into my face as Roger wailed and fell back.
I scrambled for the pistol. Roger flew away before I could shoot him. Holstering the pistol and sheathing the katana, I cussed like a sailor and took off after him. Both of us were healing bone, so we weren't at one hundred percent. I was much better off, since my body wasn't trying to regrow a hand and half a forearm.
Being lighter, I had greater initial speed. He was close, so I caught him just fifty feet above the street. Roger did a quick forward loop and surprised me by coming back up behind me. Before I could react he hit my lower back with both feet, and pulled the katana from the sheath.
I tucked my wings and fell straight down, hearing the "swoosh" of the blade over my head in his missed attempt to decapitate me. I landed on the roof of a passing car, caved in the roof, and sprang straight back
up, extending my wings.
"You cannot get away!" I cried.
Roger did a double-take, with a "what-the-hell" look. I smiled grimly. He dropped down at me, and we smashed together midair. I grabbed his sword wrist, and he opened up with his erotic power. Oh, I felt it, too.
"Not going to work this time," I said, feeling some of my resolve sucked away, but still way too angry to be seduced. Not even vampire magic could dampen the rage I felt. But it did give me an idea, and I promptly kneed him in the groin. "Bet that hurt."
We hit the ground amid the sound of screeching tires and startled shouts. That surprised both of us. Why did I keep forgetting that once I stop flying and start fighting I fall down?
"I don't want to die!"
"You should've thought of that before going rogue and murdering all of your friends," I said.
"Let me go and I promise to never hurt anyone again," he said.
"Not how the game is played," I said.
Reaching for my pistol, I found the holster empty. I looked all around for the pistol. Nowhere to be seen. Roger had the sword. He pointed it at me, and took off flying.
I followed. Bats attacked him from all directions. He cut two in half. That effort slowed him down, and that was enough to allow me to catch him. Another bat swooped down, and attacked his face. Roger impaled it on the katana, and he morphed back into Henri. The vampire mafia boss wrapped his hands around Roger's throat.
Old instincts are hard to break. You cannot strangle a vampire. Period. Doesn't work. We don't need to breath. But it is instinctive to try. And it is instinctive to panic when being choked.
Roger had learned his lesson. Even though Henri was pulling him down, trying to strangle him, Roger's wings kept up their strong beat. He was still rising, but slowly. I grabbed his ponytail again, and held on while driving my heels into his lower back. I stopped flapping, since I didn't want him to stay aloft.
"Die!" Roger croaked out, and laid the edge of the katana across Henri's throat.
Henri's eyes went wide. My eyes went wide. You know they would find a way to blame me if Roger killed the vampire mafia boss. Mafia types are crazy like that.
I couldn't reach Roger's hand or the sword, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I knifed my hand into his back, just below the wings. Roger gasped and arched his back, wings suddenly flailing about ineffectually. I grabbed his heart, and squeezed with all my might.
"Time to die!" I cried. I ripped his heart out. "Go to Hell!"
Henri morphed into a bat and flew away.
Roger looked at me with big, sad eyes. Then those eyes rolled up and he started to fall from the sky. I pulled the sword out of his weakened grip and started flapping my wings.
I hovered twenty feet above the street as Roger crashed into the intersection below. All I could do was just stared at his crumpled form below. I'd never felt so cold and empty before.
"It's Black Heart!" someone cried below.
I didn't know if it was a cheer or a curse. Many, if not most, of Deep Ellum's denizens were vampire loving thralls. They didn't like slayers, living or undead. But everyone understood the need to stop rogues. Well, almost everyone.
Wolves began gathering around the body. Mercedes ran up in wolfman form a moment later and knelt beside the body. Henri joined her. When they turned to look up at me, I saluted them with a flourish of the sword.
"Whitney's killer is dead," I said. "Leave me and mine alone!"
With that I flew way, Roger's heart clutched in my hand.
Chapter 19
Amazing how time heals. After two weeks we barely thought about the trials and tribulations of Thanksgiving weekend. Things were looking good, too, what with us all being infected with the Christmas Spirit.
During the day Kale, Dane, and Gabe put up the outside decorations on Kale's house. Desiree and Sabrina decorated the interior. Heidi and I awoke that evening to a gorgeously lit up exterior and interior. But what excited me the most was the ten foot blue spruce in our living room. They found the perfect Christmas Tree.
And it was as naked of decoration as the day someone cut it down. That tree begged for my attention. I was more than eager to get started, because decorating the tree was in many ways the best part of Christmas.
The women all dressed in our Christmas sweaters, with reindeer antlers and Christmas Tree balls for earrings. We sipped eggnog and brandy, munched on popcorn and Christmas cookies while Christmas carols played, and decorated the tree. Okay, Heidi and I had alcohol free eggnog and no brandy.
"It's good to have the whole family together," I said, beaming my pleasure at my little vamp family – Sabrina, Dane, Desiree, Kale, Heidi, and Gabe.
While Gabe and Sabrina threaded popcorn on strings for the tree, Dane and Kale wrapped the tree in twinkling, multicolored lights. None of that sterile all white lights crap for me. I loved color.
"I really have to start my Christmas shopping," I said. "I only have two weeks."
"You always wait until the last minute," Sabrina said. "I'm almost finished."
I wouldn't have to worry about paying for Christmas. I had all of Roger's money now. I got his laptop with all of his account information, and was quickly draining it. I also took possession of his gray Mustang, and traded it in on a brand spanking new black on black Mustang Shelby GT. The interior was black leather. Even the windows were tinted illegally dark. That was the most badass looking car I ever saw. I loved it.
We cleaned out Roger's house, and sold everything. Boney hooked me up with some shady vampires who paid me half of what Roger's house was worth, and took possession.
I had a realtor and was looking at homes. I haven't decided if I would rent or buy. My prospects were looking up.
"Dane, I still need a list of what you want," I said. "Heidi, that goes for you, too. Mind reading isn't one of my powers."
The phone rang around eight. Kale answered, it being his house and all. We all quieted down. Most of his calls came from his family, who didn't know of his new lifestyle.
"Yes, she's here. Hold please," Kale said. "Sable, uh...uh, it's for you."
His heart was pounding and he was all flush. I was instantly alert. Who was calling me that could set Kale off like that?
"Who is it?"
"You have to take this," he said, holding the phone up.
Everyone was nervous now. I walked over, every eye on me. He handed me the phone, smiled weakly, and backed off.
"Hello?" I said.
"Sable?" my mother said.
"Hello, Momma," I said. "Is there anything wrong?"
"Of course not," she said. "Why would you say that?"
"Well, you haven't called me since...since my unfortunate accident," I said. "How did you get this number?"
"Sabrina gave it to me," she said. "Sorry about not calling."
Her words just petered out. Neither of us knew what to say next. I recovered first, probably because I'm a big bad vampire.
"Merry Christmas, Momma," I said.
"Merry Christmas to you, too," she said, sounding relieved I broke the deadlock. Knowing Momma she probably wanted to know how unholy abominations like vampires really celebrated Christ's birth, but she kept her mouth closed on that. "I'm calling to find out if Christmas Eve or Christmas Day would be more convenient for you."
"I beg your pardon?" I said. Surely I misunderstood what she said.
"Would it be better for you to come over Christmas Eve night, or Christmas Day night?" she said. "Surely you don't think you'll be allowed to miss two holidays in a row?"
Yeah, it was official. Vampire could cry. Sabrina, Heidi, and Desiree rushed over to me as I sank to my knees.
"Ch-Christmas Day would be good, Momma," I croaked out. Momma must've picked up on my reaction. I heard her sniffing on the other end. "Thank you."
My mother really hated crying. She cleared her throat, sniffed loudly, and continued with only a little hoarseness in her voice.
"Great. We expect you to bring tha
t wonderful green bean casserole you make," she said.
"Of course," I said.
"Well, then, we'll...uh...We'll talk before then, I'm sure," Momma said. "Bye-bye."
"Bye-bye, Momma. I love you," I said, and hung up.
THE END
~**~**~
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Check out these other novels by Megan Hawke:
Hunger Within – Book 1 of the Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Series
Dark Hunger – Book 2 of the Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Series
Blood Hunger – Book 3 of the Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Series
And coming soon:
Slayer's Moon – Book 4 of the Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Series (April 2017)
Blood Moon – Book 5 of the Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Series (June 2017)
Author bio:
Megan Hawke is an Urban Fantasy writer. She has a passion for vampires and kick-butt women, and loves her some witches and shifters, too. She loves nothing more than spending her free time weaving stories of paranormal adventure and mischief.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
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About the Author
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Table of Contents
