Existence

by Mel Teshco

  I shrugged. “Don’t sweat it. I’m a big girl. I agreed to come along. Now that we’re here, let’s kill us some vamps, yeah?”

  A goofy grin was his only reply. When we turned a corner, the dimly lit, narrow passageway opened up into a cavernous room. The stark brick walls held small fitted lights, but they let off hardly any illumination. Our prey was standing in the back, casually leaning against the wall when we entered. His eyes glowed yellow in the small beam of moonlight that filtered down from an overhead grating. Even from ten feet away I could smell the stench of death and decay on his breath. The room was just bright enough to see the vampire’s wide, toothy grin.

  “Well, it’s about time y’all showed up,” he said with a lazy Texan twang. “I ain’t got all night, ya know.”

  I took a few steps farther into the room to get a better look at the creature. He was wearing pale blue, flared denims and a floral shirt. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the seventies-in fact, he probably hadn’t taken them off since the seventies. That would certainly explain some of the stink. But the strangest thing about him was his relaxed stance and calm demeanour. Most vampires feared hunters on sight. Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out my favourite silver- tipped stake.

  “Oh, I’d put that away if I were you.” He swaggered towards us and the stench increased, clogging up the already stale air until it was all I could smell. Some days, I really hated my damn job.

  I shrugged. “Sorry, no can do.”

  “Someone could get hurt,” he mused.

  “Not someone,” I corrected. “Something.” It was damn near impossible to think of a vampire as human when their humanity had departed along with their soul. ‘Mindless, emotionless killers’ was the only term that fitted.

  His grin broadened. “Details,” he drawled, with a swish of his hand.

  As we stared at each other silently, my mind went into overdrive. There was something off about this whole situation. His relaxed manner made me jittery. Vampires were undoubtedly the most conceited of the supernatural species, but he would have known we were hunters. So he was either stupid enough to think he could take us or he had a death wish. Of course, there could always be a third alternative-he wasn’t down in the sewer alone and that fact was giving him false confidence.

  “Matt, pick up the slack,” I instructed.

  My eyes never wavered from the soulless creature in front of me. In the ten years we’d worked together, Matt and I had come to understand one another pretty well so I didn’t need to elaborate. In my peripheral vision, I saw him nod then walk back down the tunnel we’d just come through.

  “Well, well. Not as stupid as you look.” As the creature neared, his haughty smirk exposed yellow, razor-sharp fangs.

  I was about to respond with something equally banal when a fight broke out in the tunnel behind me. The harrowing sounds of fists hitting flesh and snapping bones reached my ears along with Matt’s shouts of rage as he fought what sounded like four or five vampires at once.

  “Raven! Raven, help me!” Matt shouted.

  Damn. I thought about dealing with the creature in front of me first, but then a sound rang out that made my stomach lurch violently and all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Matt screamed- quite literally screamed. The chilling sound echoed off the damp sewer walls, reverberating through my body like it was a physical entity that had taken me by the arms and shaken the living daylights out of me. It was excruciating to listen to.

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  About the Author

  Mel Teshco is an award winning, Amazon bestselling author with a love for the written word, along with a short attention span that sees her juggling a variety of genres and heat levels in her stories. From contemporary to paranormal, inspirational to erotic, she hopes there’s a little of something for every reader out there to enjoy.

  Her gypsy-like upbringing saw her living in many places along Australia’s east coast. Each new home stimulated an already over-active imagination, where she spent as much time dreaming about fantasy worlds as the real world—the fantasy sometimes being much better.

  Now living on a beautiful rural property with views of the mountains to keep her fat horse, three cats, hyperactive Belgian shepherd and Rotty dogs happy, she is happily married to Mr Patience, and adores her three children and two grandchildren.

  Email: melteshco@yahoo.com.au

  Mel loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.totallybound.com.