by J A Campbell
About an hour into our journey, Judas, who had been staring blankly out the window, straightened.
“What is it?” I asked, unsettled.
“Francis, hurry,” Judas called out the window. “Something is wrong with Justin.”
I frowned and concentrated. We shared a bond by blood that let us generally sense the other members of our House, but I didn’t normally get much from the connection. After a moment, even I could feel Justin’s alarm.
“Maybe we should ditch the carriage,” I said.
“I think you’re right.” He opened the door and leapt out. I followed.
Francis saw us go, but continued on toward home. It wouldn’t be the first time we had ditched the carriage in favor of vampiric speed.
Though I couldn’t sense much from our family connection, Judas and I both staggered and fell to our knees when it was severed.
“Justin,” I gasped. “No—”
Judas didn’t say anything. He just pulled me into his arms for a brief hug before he dragged me to my feet again and we sprinted for the manor, though it was already too late. We weren’t close enough to believe we would catch whoever had done this, unless they were planning on taking up residence, but we needed to make sure the family who served ours was safe.
We arrived to find several of the staff dead, and we already knew Justin had been killed. Fortunately, whoever had done this hadn’t been completely intent on killing humans. Just Justin.
“I’ll check the grounds,” Judas said.
I ran inside.
Rose, the current head of the household, had survived, and she wept, clutching her husband’s body to her chest.
I sank down next to her and put my arm over her shoulder. She wrapped an arm around me and we cried together.
Sometime later, Judas returned.
“Rose, what happened?” he asked.
“Men came. Vampires, I’m sure you can tell. Justin tried to get them to leave, but they refused. Justin is a warrior, but these vampires were as well. He was outnumbered. Bernard, he,” she broke down sobbing again. “He and a few others tried to help. The rest of us hid. We’re so sorry.”
“Rose, you did what you should have. There’s no shame in that. I’m sorry for your loss.” He sank to the ground next to her and hugged her close. “I must steal Ekatarine away. Do you need any help making arrangements?”
“No. Thank you, Judas.” Her shoulders lifted slightly. She had work to do, and I knew it would help to give her some purpose.
He tugged me up from the ground and led me deeper into the manor house where our rooms were.
“We will have to talk to Hawk, but I suspect this was a move to prevent us from becoming too powerful,” Judas said once we were alone.
“But why?” I scrubbed tears from my eyes. “We have no political ambition. We just want to be left alone.”
“Be that as it may,” Judas said. “Others do. Perhaps they saw us as a threat.”
“Why?”
“Because we get along,” Judas said softly. “Justin always said that was our House’s greatest strength. Our unity. He asked Hawk to come join us, because he was worried the other Houses would begin to fear us. Hawk is a master tactician in battle and behind the scenes. Justin had hoped to prevent something like this, with Hawk’s help. We moved too late.”
Anger slowly burned away the sorrow. “He died because other people were afraid we would become ambitious?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll kill them all,” I growled.
“Ekatarine…”
“No. They’re going to die. Everyone who was involved with this.” I glanced at the window, but I knew it was too late in the night to start. The sun was climbing over the horizon as we spoke.
Judas sighed, but didn’t say anything else, other than to tell me to get some rest.
I would have liked Hawk a lot more if he had agreed to go on a vampire killing spree with me. He was just as angry as Judas and I were, but he also expressed the need for caution.
“Damn it, we have to do something.” I got up and headed for the door. I had dressed in trousers that night in anticipation of a hunt, and I headed for the door, intent on doing just that.
“Kitten, where are you going?” Judas asked.
“To kill something,” I snarled back.
Before I could get out of the door, someone grabbed my arm and yanked me back, and not gently.
It was Hawk.
“Do you think you can stand against the vampires who killed Justin? Are you as good a fighter as he was?”
I glared at him. “What would you know about it? And yes.”
He ignored my first question. “Are you better than he was? Because you will have to be, to go up against the ones who killed him.”
Glancing at Judas got me no help, so I yanked my arm away. “I will find out, I guess. We can’t do nothing.”
“I am not suggesting we do nothing,” Hawk replied. “I am simply saying that we can’t do anything right now.”
I said something impolite and attempted to storm out of the room.
Hawk again grabbed my arm, but this time he threw me to the ground, following with a knee aimed at my face.
I jerked out of the way and kicked out, catching him in the leg. Unfortunately, it didn’t bring him down.
While I would like to say I won that fight, and while I have won fights with Hawk since, he destroyed me in our first confrontation. I didn’t give up until he had broken several of my bones, and he practically had to sit on me before I stopped.
“You’re good, but you’re not good enough,” he said. “We don’t need to lose more of our House. You will stay put.”
I glared at him. “And who put you in charge of me?”
“Justin is dead,” Hawk snarled. “I’m taking over House Veronis.”
Eyes wide, I glanced at Judas. He simply looked relieved that the duty hadn’t fallen to him.
“And you,” he said before I could continue. “Are going to America before you get yourself killed, because I know damn well you won’t stop this fight until you’ve won.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off again. “If you want to avenge him, you will study with every master you can find. Once you can stand up to me in a fight, I promise we will have our vengeance.”
“If you’re so good, why don’t you go and take care of it?” I snarled back.
“Because, even I can’t do this alone. Besides, it will take some time to determine who is involved. You will go to America. I will send Victor with you. We have to keep ourselves safe. We have to keep you safe.”
And that’s how I ended up on a boat to America with another member of our House I barely knew. We arrived not long before the American Civil War broke out.
I hated Hawk at first, even though he truly had saved my life. I hated Judas because he had given in so easily.
I didn’t speak to either of them in letters for years. That only ended when Hawk showed up on my doorstep with a list of vampires he wanted us to quietly kill. We weren’t in a political position to take out the, but the little fish, well…as soon as I was able to keep up with Hawk in a fight…they died.
Those stories I may tell later: my early years in America, our vengeance. The final vengeance, we didn’t accomplish until later, but House Veronis didn’t forget. We were able to be patient, regardless of how I had actually felt at the time.
These stories follow events that shaped my current present.
Enjoy.
Trucks and Trouble
South Carolina, Late 1980s
“You know it would probably be cheaper just to buy a different truck. There’s a reasonably honest used car lot down the street.”
Intrigued, I wandered toward the front of the shop.
A lean, sandy haired man in khakis and a polo shirt was on the other side of the counter. He glanced at me, his cool eyes meeting mine, appraising me quickly. He had dangerous eyes.
“Besides, we ar
e closing. Wouldn’t even be able to get to it until Monday,” Jason said looking up from the schedule book.
“I can pay extra,” the sandy haired man said, managing to sound completely calm and very desperate at the same time.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
Jason spun around. I could hear his heart skip a beat. “I didn’t know you were in,” he gasped.
I smiled. “Just got here.”
Jason took a deep breath and nodded.
“This gentleman’s truck got mangled. He wanted us to fix it.”
“We don’t normally do body work,” I said.
The sandy haired man arched his eyebrows. “You work here?”
I laughed, “I own the place. Sometimes I do work on the older vehicles.”
“I’m Cade.” He held out his hand.
I shook it briefly. His grip was strong, but not crushing.
“Kat.”
“It needs more than body work,” Cade said. “You come highly recommended.”
“What happened?” I wondered who had recommended me.
“I was, uh, attacked and my car damaged.”
Warning bells went off in my head.
“Is it out front?”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “It is a mess.”
“Show me.”
Cade, still studying me in a way that was becoming alarming, nodded. I followed him outside, noting that he was armed with at least one gun and several other odds-and-ends. The weapons weren’t obvious, but the faint bulge at the small of his back screamed gun.
His truck was older, a late ’80s Chevy, blue and, yes, mangled. Large rents were torn down the passenger side as if something large, with claws, had attacked the doors and bed. The front end was caved in on one side and the windshield was shattered. I could smell the faint acrid stench of an electrical short and suspected that parts of the dash were torn out. I wasn’t sure how Cade had gotten his vehicle here, but I would be surprised if it were drivable. Blood mingled with the scent of scorched wiring.
I shook my head and refrained from laughing.
“Jason is right. You could get a replacement cheaper.”
“I like this one. Besides the engine is fine.”
“Let me guess. You need it fixed yesterday?”
“No, today would do fine,” Cade said.
I sighed. “Jason, open the back bay.”
Jason frowned.
“I don’t have anything better to do this weekend and if he wants to pay, I might as well work on it. That old Vette is done by the way.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Yes, I am.”
Jason ran around the side and I heard the rumble of the garage door.
“It still runs?”
“Kind of. I got here, anyway.”
“Get in, we’ll push it.”
Cade seemed about to protest then thought better of it and got in the battered truck. He seemed like he was moving a little stiffly, and the scent of blood was stronger. Maybe he was hurt.
Once it was inside I patted the hood. Cade released the latch and for a miracle I didn’t have to try very hard to get it up. Once we had the hood up, I could tell why he wanted to keep his truck. The engine he had in it would rival a semi for power and my Firebird for speed.
I did laugh this time.
“I can’t do a lot of the body work, but I can fix the major dents.” I paused, feeling the sidewalls. They were reinforced.
“Okay. I can beat out the front end, but you will want to have whoever did this work do the rest of it.”
Cade nodded.
Jason was frowning. “What do you need so much engine for?” he asked.
“Racing,” I said before Cade could answer. “Isn’t it time for you to go?”
“Yeah, I’ll finish closing up.” He frowned at the truck one more time before leaving.
“Racing?” Cade asked.
“So, the creature that did this,” I said, ignoring his question. “Do I have to worry about it showing up?”
Cade muttered something about a bear.
“So, this bear do I have to worry about it following you here?” I asked again.
Cade gave me a surprised look. “I’m a bit ahead of it,” he said cautiously.
“So, in other words… Yes.”
Cade frowned, reevaluating me. “I will stick around in case it does,” he finally said.
I shrugged. “You shouldn’t be bothered here. Go find a place to stay and get some rest. I’ll get as much done as I can.”
“How long?”
“It will probably take me all weekend.”
Cade nodded.
“Now get out of here so I can get to work.”
He seemed about to protest again then shrugged and left, still moving very stiffly.
Just what I need in town. A Hunter, I thought. Damn.
I got started on his pickup. The sooner I got him out of town, the better.
Within the first several hours, I had the front end mostly straightened out, the headlight replaced, and a new windshield (courtesy of a friend of mine) installed. I was contemplating its mangled dash, debating whether to finish the engine compartment or start on the electrical first, when someone knocked on my side door. I glanced at the clock, already knowing it was Cade. I wondered what he was doing here this late.
“Yes?” I said opening the door a crack.
“Hey, it’s Cade.”
I opened it further since he didn’t have a gun in his hand.
“What’s up?”
“Not sure. Feeling uneasy and I didn’t want to leave you undefended if something happened.”
I frowned, glanced around behind him, and then opened the door, letting him in.
“Most of the time, bears don’t attack mechanics.” I crossed my arms and studied him closely, inviting comment.
Cade ran his hand through his hair, looking nervous. “You aren’t going to believe me,” he finally said.
I grinned. “Let’s start this way. What kind of were did this? Or was it a vampire?”
Cade blinked, looking stunned.
I already knew it was a were. I smelled the blood. I sniffed: the blood smell was stronger, noticing again that some of it was Cade’s.
“You’re hurt.”
He nodded. “It’s a scratch.” The strain in his voice was more pronounced. “Got me across my back. Knife fortunately. And it was a werecat. She took exception to my presence. I wasn’t even hunting her, just stopped for food at a diner.” He stopped, as if realizing how much he’d said.
“Perhaps you should go to a doctor.”
Cade shook his head. “Knife wounds attract police attention.”
I shrugged. “Fine, but sit in a plastic chair. I don’t want to have to replace any of the cloth ones.” I smiled and went back to his truck, deciding on the engine compartment.
“So,” Cade said after an extended silence. “How do you know so much about,” he hesitated, “stuff,” he finished lamely.
I grinned. “I’m just a mechanic for fun.”
“And,” he said, when I didn’t continue.
“So, this cat. Do you really think she will follow you?”
Cade shrugged. “Yes. Apparently, a Hunter killed her mate, and she’s made it her quest to kill as many of us as she can.”
I nodded.
“I injured her enough to get away but, well, that doesn’t mean she won’t follow.”
“Probably will then, if she can find a way to track you.”
“And you are taking this so calmly because?”
“I have been known to hunt the odd vampire, now and again.”
Cade was quiet for a while, and I managed to lose myself in the engine compartment, cataloging damage, before he spoke again.
“I see.” He didn’t sound like he believed me.
I didn’t care.
Cade stood, grunting in pain. The hot coppery scent of fresh blood tickled my nose and I was glad that, except for the
ever-present desire for blood, I wasn’t particularly hungry. I unclenched my hands and jumped down off the pickup.
Cade’s skin was rapidly draining of color, giving him a death-like pallor under his tan. He took a step toward me and wavered.
Damn it.
I wiped my hands on my coveralls and hurried to his side.
Cade seemed surprised to see me. “Where?” he stammered.
“Cade, it’s clearly not just a scratch. Sit down before you fall down.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered as he collapsed into my arms.
“Right.”
I hauled him awkwardly toward a cot I had stashed in a back office, blood warm on my arm, scent strong in my nose. I resisted my desire and got him to the cot without biting him. Once I had him stashed, I stripped out of my greasy coveralls and scrubbed rapidly at my hands, trying to get clean.
Cade groaned and I decided I was clean enough. My emergency kit was in my car and, while I never had to sew myself up, I still carried a needle and thread just in case.
Cade was semi-conscious when I hurried back into the private office, lying on his side on my cot.
“What?” he said weakly.
“If you won’t go to a doctor, you are going to have to let me fix you up.”
It seemed like he wanted to protest, but didn’t have the strength. I had to cut off his shirt and, once I removed it and the bandages he had managed to apply, I could see that the knife wounds on his back weren’t just a scratch.
“Cade,” I whispered, catching his eyes and hoping he was too out of it to remember. “Sleep.”
He mumbled something and passed out.
It took me a couple of hours to stitch his back. I wasn’t great with a needle, but I was good enough for someone who wouldn’t go to a doctor.
I gently cleaned his back with a cloth, then bandaged it as best as I could. Cade had lost a lot of blood, but Hunters were resilient, and I thought he’d be okay.
“Wake when you are ready,” I whispered, then covered him with a blanket from my car and left him alone. I needed something to drink after all that blood.
