by Liliana Hart
He gasped and it took me a moment to realize he was struggling to breathe. I was so wrapped up in what he was going to say, I only noticed the crimson pouring down his chest after he grabbed it. Then the sound I’d heard in the back of my mind registered. A ping, like something hitting glass. Shattering it.
He’d been shot. A scream that started in the deepest part of my being wrenched free and echoed in the room as another shot sent Sebastian to his knees. I collapsed onto him, covering his body as best I could, screaming as loud as I could for help.
A man outside walked up to the large plate glass window that faced the woods, but all I saw was Travis, the kid who’d shot the Padgetts 24 hours earlier. The man at the window was the geek, Yousefi’s tech guy. He held a sniper rifle in one arm and drew a pistol in the other. Just like Travis, this guy showed no emotion whatsoever. He aimed the pistol at my head and pulled the trigger.
In that instant, a moment of utter clarity took hold. I’d dropped, and it took me a little time to realize that the second I reentered my body, I would die.
I rewound time a few, precious minutes. I watched as Sebastian led my mouth to his. As he plunged his tongue inside me. As he caressed my neck and chin to hold me to him.
The beauty of his face stunned me. He was so sensual. So alluring. So desperate. It hurt to watch. To know what was about to happen. There had to be a way to save him.
I looked past the two of us and out the window of the cabin. A glint of moonlight caught my eye. I squinted and saw the tech guy pulling the butt of a rifle in to his shoulder. He leaned over the barrel, lining Sebastian up in his crosshairs.
I had to stop it. There had to be a way.
I looked back at the two of us as Sebastian tore himself away from me. I could get to him. There was still time. Maybe I could warn him somehow. He’d felt me before. I knew it. But nothing I could do would warn him of what awaited him.
I turned back to myself. I was there. Right there. I’d entered my body at a different time before. When I’d gotten lost for what seemed like years, I’d found myself in a coma and was able to reenter. But that had been in the future and the weeks, possibly years, I spent in the oblivion of time changed me. I wasn’t the same person when I came out as when I’d gone in.
I had to try. If I caused a rift in the universe, so be it. Sebastian Strand was definitely worth the risk. I rewound time to the second Sebastian broke off the kiss, then I stepped to myself, to my body. Could I reenter in the past? I glanced at Sebastian, at the pain and regret in his handsome face, then I released time, but this time I controlled it. I forced it back to where I stood. I forced myself into my body at that precise moment, and I opened my eyes just as I turned to look at him.
I sprinted forward and, catching him unaware, tackled him to the ground. He stared at me as though I’d lost my mind. I got that a lot. But I pointed and said one word.
“Sniper!”
Without a hint of hesitation, he dragged me across the floor, using the bed as cover, and dug out his pistol. Then he flattened against the carpet and slid under the bed, pulling me with him. I’d grabbed his phone and started scrolling through his contacts before realizing I had no idea who to call.
“Danvers,” he said without looking back at me. “Call Danvers.” He kept his gaze on the window, waiting for the sniper to show himself.
I found Danvers in his contacts and dialed the number. “Yes,” he said, exactly like Sebastian did when he answered the phone. I guess they could never be sure who was on the other end.
“We have a sniper,” I whispered into the phone. Not sure why. “Behind Agent Strand’s room in the woods.”
“On it.”
The call ended before I could say anything else, but it didn’t take the sniper long to figure out we were on to him. I dropped and watched him circle the cabin to the front.
“He went around,” I said the second I released time, and Sebastian immediately pulled me farther under the bed, rolling onto his knees on the other side and using the bed as cover.
I dropped again. “He’ll be at that window in two seconds.”
Then I heard a shot. And another. Three more split the air until my ears were ringing and, unable to wait another second, I scrambled out from under the bed to examine my protector. No holes. Danvers entered the room with gun drawn, but Sebastian gave him the all-clear signal.
“You sure there’s only the one?” he asked, and Sebastian gazed at me in question.
I dropped again and searched the entire area before popping back into the present. “That’s all I can see.”
“We need to get you to safety regardless, sir, while I call this in.”
Sebastian didn’t hear him. Or he didn’t listen. He was too busy studying me. “How did you know?”
The reality of the situation hit me so hard, I struggled to breathe under the weight of it. “He shot you,” I said, almost passing out with the thought. “He shot you twice. I tried to protect you, but he was going to shoot me in the head. And…and you were already gone.” My hands flew to my mouth in anguish as a sob ripped through me chest.
Sebastian pulled me to him roughly. And he believed me. He never doubted anything I said. Who does that?
An hour later, we were surrounded by the flashing lights of a dozen cop cars when Deputy Secretary Gill pulled up in a black SUV. He stepped out, adjusted his jacket, then walked up to us as we sat on the porch sharing a blanket.
“I take it you’re okay?” he asked Sebastian.
“Thanks to Andrea.”
He sat down beside me, his face grave. “I’ve thought long and hard about your situation, Ms. Grace.”
“Just Andrea, please.”
“Andrea. If people find out about you, even people in my own department, you will be in danger. Some will see you as a risk to national security. Some will try to exploit your gift for their own gain. And some will try to have you locked away for the rest of your life.”
I nodded, understanding all too well.
“That’s why I’d like to invite you to be a part of a special investigations team headed by our newest director, Special Agent Sebastian Strand.”
I glanced at Sebastian. “I hear he’s a bit of an ass.”
“Now, now,” Gill said. “I only called him that one time, and he deserved it.”
“I did,” he told me. “He’s right.”
“We’d love to have you on our side, Andrea,” Gill said.
“I need to learn a lot more if I’m going to do this.”
“I’m sure Agent Strand can help with that. Yours is a very special talent. I have a feeling you’ll be teaching us a few things.”
“I’d love to,” I said, feeling for the first time like my life had purpose.
“Wonderful. We’ll get on this immediately.” He stood and started to walk away when he turned back to us. “And I’d like to remind you about our strict non-fraternization policy.”
My eyes rounded, and Gill chuckled as he walked back to his waiting ride.
“For real?” I asked Sebastian.
“Hey, he did just appoint me the head of the unit. I bet we can bend the rules a little.”
I placed a serious gaze on him, because it was time to get serious, in my humble opinion. “I’ve only had sex one time in my whole life.”
He blinked in surprise. “And how’d that work out for you.”
“It was awful. I want good sex.”
Fighting a grin, he said, “We’ll put that in your contract under benefits.”
“Works for me,” I said as we watched the horizon turn pink with the promise of dawn. “And I want my watch back. And my phone. And I seriously need clean underwear.”
“Just hold on, now. Don’t get carried away. The state of your genital hygiene is between you and your underwear.”
I giggled as he wrapped the blanket around us tighter, but not because of the cold. He apparently decided to check the state of my underwear himself. I fought to stay still as a blisteri
ng heat flooded my nether regions. Such a talented man.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all the amazing authors who leant their incredible talent to bring this project to fruition. I am so very honored to be beside you. I would also like to thank my incredible editor/copyeditor for this project, Theresa Rogers. Girl, seriously, you rock so hard. I know when you put the words “blah, blah, blah” in my manuscript something has gone extremely awry. Thank you for your guidance and encouragement. And I’d love to thank my superhero assistant Dana and my wunnerful, honey bunny of a sister Netters. Without the two of you, I am an empty, gelatin-like substance that scares children. Just thank you.
Darynda can be found at:
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Also by Darynda Jones
First Grave on the Right
Second Grave on the Left
Third Grave Dead Ahead
Fourth Grave Beneath my Feet
Fifth Grave Past the Light
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Seventh Grave and No Body
Eighth Grave After Dark
Death and the Girl Next Door
Death, Doom and Detention
Death and the Girl He Loves
STONE COLD DEAD
Shea Berkley
Copyright © 2014
For you, my readers.
Chapter One
Boston
Anara
I recognized the scream. It came from the gut, a brutal, terrified scream that echoed through the night. It rattled my bones and chilled my blood. Another victim had been found.
Rooftop gravel crunched under my feet. I slipped closer to the edge and peered down into the secluded dark alley. The tang of a heavy mist from the harbor filled my lungs as I searched the muted tones of the night.
A fast gait pounded the pavement. A group of people sped beneath me unnaturally fast.
Vampires.
I followed, quickly finding who they pursued. The woman hobbled more than ran from the group that stalked her, a worn suitcase in her hands. They had already marked her. Red spots pocked her body, drawing the vampires to her with the smell of fresh blood.
One of the vampires caught up and cut off her escape. Their kind lived for the chase. Gloried in bringing their prey to heel. At their mercy. She swung the suitcase toward him, showing an unusual fire. He laughed, easily batting it away. “Why fight us? Lose yourself in our ways and you will have everything you now lack.”
She took a swipe at him again, and this time the corner of the suitcase connected with his cheekbone, and he lunged back. Her breathing grew labored, making her words choppy, yet distinct. “I’d rather starve penniless than be like you.”
She darted past him only to be brought up short by the others who had caught up with them. They quickly surrounded her. “We can make you a queen,” one said in a hypnotic voice used to lure the weak and desperate. “You can live forever.”
The horror of what they wanted jerked her back as if she’d been burned. “There’s nothing you can offer me that I want. Nothing, do you hear me?” Tears sprang to her eyes. “Leave me alone!”
This obviously wasn’t a simple kill. There were far more vampires than necessary for a hunt, which meant there was something special about this woman.
The vampire yanked the suitcase free and tossed it away. On hitting the ground, it burst open revealing an assortment of garments. Nothing expensive and all necessary. Not one frivolous item. She was a woman of limited means. Alone. Abandoned.
My heart instantly went out to her. I knew the anguish of being cast aside. Of finding no one who cared enough to offer protection.
The woman broke away and armed herself with a piece of rusty iron rebar she found near a trash bin. Holding it in front of her, she turned toward her tormentors, panting from her exertion. It didn’t seem rational she could hold them back. They were ten times stronger. Yet they held back. Her spirit intrigued them. Few of their victims fought back like her. Even I didn’t understand her viciousness. She fought like a lioness amidst a pack of hyenas, knowing she would lose, but not willing to give up.
“I will never willingly let you turn me into what you are.” Her conviction rattled the cobblestones beneath her feet.
They all laughed and one of them dared to draw closer. “That’s what we all said, yet here we are.”
She swung the rebar, standing against them, beautiful in her poverty and strong despite her suffering. Admiration rumbled through the unholy group. They saw what she could be. Her beauty was her allure, but her strength…that excited them.
Pride surged within me. She had courage, something I had lacked a long time ago, but she couldn’t keep going, not for much longer. Human strength was finite and this woman’s was waning fast. My heart beat faster. I understood her dilemma. She wanted to live, but not as a monster. Though the risks were great, I had to help her.
I stood straight and tall. My armor flexed as I filled my lungs with air, readying myself for what was about to happen. Stoking the fire of hate in my belly, I stepped off the roof and free fell to the hard ground below. The pavement cracked beneath my feet when I landed, bent knee and one hand to the ground for stability. The sound drew everyone’s attention. Head still bent, I peered past my lashes, my gaze hot and deadly. I straightened, and with a flick of my wrists, my cloak fluttered over my shoulders, exposing my armor and allowing me access to my swords.
“Who the hell is that?” one of the vampires asked.
Blank looks followed his question. I’d surprised them, and it felt good.
I didn’t have to invite them to engage. They willingly threw themselves at me, as if their sheer numbers could overwhelm me. I slipped to the side and dispensed with the first to reach me, easily removing his head from his shoulders. Ash appeared where he’d once stood. I twirled and ran toward the brick building, drawing them away from the woman. Three steps up the side of the building, and I flipped over the head of the closest vampire and neatly embedded my sword in his skull. Ash filled the air, and I immediately swung it toward the next in line. Monster after monster threw themselves at me. One, two, three at a time. I tossed one on a broken chair. A ragged wooden leg plunged straight through his heart, and he instantly disintegrated. Another rushed my back. I jammed my sword into his belly, turned and gutted him before trampling his dead heart to dust. Without blinking an eye, I moved on to the next kill. The ash of the undead grew thick….so thick that for a moment I couldn’t see the woman. A break in the choking cloud showed me one of the vampires had her and was holding her close. Too close.
Time to end this. Slashing and stabbing as I went, I sprinted toward the woman. Using my momentum, I shoved my sword into her capture’s spine. With a jerk upward, I split him in two. His bones and flesh quickly burst apart. The woman crumpled to the ground. She was on the edge of death, too close to save, yet lingering. She would die, but she wouldn’t turn. I’d been able to save her from that horror. My gaze found the last three vampires scampering away. I needed to follow them.
The woman’s lungs rubbed against her ribs in a painful gasp for air, drawing my attention to her. She really was beautiful. Her thick golden hair fanned brightly against the dark pavement. Her sky blue eyes blinked rapidly, revealing her determined grip on life. Full lips, once red but now pale and rimmed blue, moved in an effort to speak. I may have saved her soul, but not her body. I had wasted time evaluating the risks involved in showing myself to the enemy. I should have jumped in. Surprise had given me the upper hand. Why hadn’t I jumped in? I stood helplessly over her. Helpless and guilty.
Her faint voice met my ears. “Please…”
I couldn’t ignore the plea. I ripped off my helmet revealing my long silver white hair dotted throughout with tiny braids decorated with silver beads and leather and knelt beside her. Those summer blue eyes blinked again, then stared intently at me. “You’re a woman.”
It always shocked people.
&
nbsp; Her hand inched toward mine, but she wasn’t strong enough to reach me. I didn’t move as her voice rattled in her chest. “Save them. Please. You can do what I couldn’t. Keep them safe.”
“Who?”
“My daughters...they want my girls.”
The plaintive cry twisted my heart. It explained the ferociousness of her actions. She hadn’t been fighting to save herself. She’d been delaying death, knowing the longer she kept the vampires busy, the more time she gave her daughters to get away.
All these years, I’d taken pride in being stone cold. It was the only way I could survive living for five-hundred years without the comfort of friends or family. I couldn’t afford to care now. It had taken centuries to dull the hurt, to silence the small part of me that was still human. Yet witnessing this selfless act of love awoke the pain I’d tried so hard to eliminate.
Her head jerked back and forth. “They’ll track them down. That’s how they found us. They’ll do it again.” Her words were frantic, unsure she’d be able to say everything she needed me to hear before her life ended.
I whipped my head in the direction the three vampires had gone. They weren’t running from me, they were running after her daughters.
“Please…save them.”
I hesitated. Rarely did I give promises, they were too easily broken, but I couldn’t look the woman in the eye and not see her heart breaking. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t finish what this woman had valiantly tried to do.
“I promise.” Even though my head told me I was being foolish, in the light of this woman’s selfless act, I couldn’t deny her request.
