by Lee Hayton
Probably folks as high up as the Pennyworths. Making decisions not based on common sense but on where they thought that next dollar was hiding. People like that lived so far away from reality that everything like this was just a board game, pieces being moved around so they could pass Go and claim their next two hundred dollars.
The guard unhooked two of the vampires from the gang and secured them to a hitching post on the street side of the building. The other eight he pulled around the corner, walking them out of sight.
I stepped forward, an urge to help to compelling me forward. The moon above my head was weakening—I had no idea of what force it had to be for this stupid curse to work.
Even from this side, I could hear the guard calling out the work orders. Soon, he’d come back around and do the same with these two fools. The vampires were so ingrained in servitude that they didn’t even raise their heads as I approached.
Swallowing over the lump in my throat was hard. I changed just enough that my hand turned into a weapon, my fingernails appearing more like scythes than claws.
If I hesitated, I would stop.
I struck out at the nearest vampire, slicing clean through his throat. A second later, I tried again, cutting into his chest and pulling out his dead heart.
The vampire fell to the ground, writhing in pain. His chained companion reared back and tried to run away, his chains catching and tripping him, so he tumbled and lay defenseless on the ground. The look of horror in his pink eyes was one I’d seen before. On the face of the humans I attacked at the convention center.
I’d been wrong then, I could be wrong now.
With the guard’s footsteps echoing off the footpath, I withdrew into the shadows of the park opposite once more. The unharmed vampire was so incoherent with fear that he didn’t or couldn’t indicate my position.
The vampire I’d attacked was writhing on the ground.
Interesting.
Even from across the road, I could see his form changing into something altogether more feline. Suddenly, his back arched with such severity that his head bumped back into the tips of his toes. He looked like cruel hands had folded him in half backward.
Then he dropped down to the ground, limp. In the small form of a dead cat.
The vampire mate pulled the chain free of the dead animal’s neck, staring at the empty choke with dread and wonder.
Meanwhile, the guard had pulled out his radio and was barking into the mic. “Something is happening. Someone attacked a vampire on the gang. Is anybody in HO available to help?”
I couldn’t make out the words of response, not between the distance and the crackle. The edge of disinterest coming from the radio was clear though. Even without tone, that would have been evident in the resulting posture of the guard.
“No. You don’t understand. I’m not calling on a whim. One of the vampires under my control had transformed into a dead cat. You think I’m bloody joking, mate? Tell me which bit of that you think is funny?”
A cackle of laughter traveled over to me on the breeze. Apparently, the operator thought the answer to that last question was ‘All.’
“First off, we’ve got that news report from a fortnight ago showing a thieving vampire turned into a bat. They’ve got that video circulating the BHI right now, showing two of the damned things transforming and flying away. Now, this? See how funny you find it when you’re explaining to high command why I’m bringing my crew back early. ‘Cause that’s what I’m doing, mate. I ain’t staying out here, not alone.”
For a minute, I thought the guard would take the dead body of the cat along with him. He pushed it with the toe of his boot and sniffed, then turned away.
“Get a move on,” he shouted at the sole vampire, as though the poor creature hadn’t been straining at the silver in a desperate bid to move farther away. “Lucky you, getting a night off.”
When he’d marched them back the way they’d come, I walked across the street and looked down at the cat lying in the gutter. Blood soaked the fur of its chest and spread in a stain around its throat.
“Sorry, little buddy. Didn’t mean to scare you, coming out of the darkness like that.”
I picked up the body and retreated to the other side of the road, taking a seat on the bench again in the relative shelter of the park. The cat’s body lay in the partition next to me. As the hours passed, the shape of its body became more evident. I’d been out long enough for the night to turn into dawn.
As the edge of the horizon turned to pink, a sharp contrast to the dark gray and steel that formed the skyline of the city, I sat back and the muscles in my body began to relax.
“You know what?” I whispered to an animal corpse that I fervently hoped would reawaken. “If this works, we might just be able to save the world.”
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THANKS FOR READING!
I hope you enjoyed the second book in the Misfits of Magic series, Blood Like Ice. The next stage in the misfits journey—Claws That Catch—will be released on the 9th April, 2018.
Join Miss Tiddles, Asha, Norman, Dory, and Percival as they attempt to free the vampires from slavery using their unique blend of oddball skills.
About the Author - Lee Hayton
Lee Hayton (a USA Today bestselling author) is the nom-de-plume of Katherine Hayton--a middle-aged woman who works in insurance, doesn't have children or pets, can't drive, has lived in Christchurch her entire life, and currently resides a two-minute walk from where she was born.
For some reason, she's developed a rich fantasy life.
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Read all the Things!
Blood Like Ice (Misfits of Magic)
Nerves of Steel (Misfits of Magic)
Magic Dude
Sigils and Spells: featuring Tohunga Rising
Ivy Kingdom’s Not-So-Fairytale Boxset (Grimmer Fairy Tales)
Gun
Writing as Katherine Hayton
Strawberries and Suffering (Sweet Baked Mystery)
Cupcakes and Conspiracies (Sweet Baked Mystery)
The Only Secret Left to Keep (Ngaire Blakes Mystery)
The Second Stage of Grief (Ngaire Blakes Mystery)
The Three Deaths of Magdalene Lynton (Ngaire Blakes Mystery)
All I Want for Christmas (Ngaire Blakes Short Mystery)
Christchurch Crime Thriller Boxset
Breathe and Release (Christchurch Crime)
Skeletal (Christchurch Crime)
Found, Near Water (Christchurch Crime)
