Vampires Not Invited: A Night Tracker Novel

by Cheyenne McCray

  Sprites had joined the fight, throwing weapons and rocks at the Vampires.

  More Vampires came after me. Ice morphed into his white jaguar form in midair before driving one of the Vamps to the floor and tearing into him.

  Mandisa’s poison-tipped arrows brought down two Vampires. They sprang to their feet and charged her. She planted one foot into the chest of one and sent him flying across the chamber. Then she grabbed an arrow from her quiver, rammed it into the other Vampire’s heart and twisted it, grinding out the Vamp’s heart. There was no growing that organ back.

  A Vampire neared me. I forward-flipped through the air, using my air element to project myself on the opposite side of the Vampires after me. They were too surprised and too slow to stop me from beheading two more of them.

  Kelly morphed into her bunny rabbit form, dodged between the legs of a Vampire, then transformed back. She caught the Vampire totally off guard. When he turned, she jammed a wooden stake through his heart. Seeing a fluffy bunny rabbit in the midst of battle would have had me laughing if I wasn’t trying to keep from getting killed.

  I had to get that box. I looked for it, but two more Vampires came at me. I used my buckler to behead one.

  I rammed my sword through the other, then saw that it was Chuck, one of the two Vampires from the Pit. I totally missed his heart and he snarled as he backhanded me and knocked me to the ground. My dragon-clawed dagger tore a jagged hole in Chuck’s flesh as I jerked the weapon out at the same time I fell.

  He started to heal at once. I surged to my feet, but before I could go after him, Lawan had engaged him in a fight.

  Nadia’s serpent swords flashed in the light as she swung them so fast they were a blur. She beheaded two Vamps at once.

  Vampire bodies and heads littered the chamber’s floor, but so did the bodies of dead Sprites.

  In the blink of an eye that it took to take it all in, I was grateful that I didn’t see any of my team members down, injured or otherwise.

  Shouts and yells echoed through the chamber that was filled with dust and splattered with blood.

  I grabbed hold of my fire element to fry another Vampire as I looked for the next one.

  All of the remaining Vampires were rushing for the exits with such incredible speed that I barely saw them move.

  The Vampires were gone before I could process what they were doing.

  “The box!” a Sprite shouted.

  I whirled to look at the spot where the box had been resting.

  It was gone.

  “No,” I swung my gaze around the room.

  My fear was confirmed when I looked toward the fissure I’d created and had buried Volod in, and saw that the dirt covering it had been blown away. The crack in the earth was wide, but there was no sign of the Master Vampire.

  “I saw him take it,” came the gravelly voice of one of the Sprites. “The Master. He grabbed the red box.”

  No. No. It can’t be. The Vamps couldn’t have taken the box.

  But it was gone.

  “We’ll split into three groups and go after them from all exits.” I pointed to each of them. “Kelly, Ice, Joshua. Take the exit to the left.” They were gone as soon as I gave them their assignment.

  I turned. “Lawan, Adam, Nadia, Ondrej. You get the right exit.” The moment they took off, I faced the remaining members of the team and with a nod indicated the entrance I’d come through. “Mandisa and Olivia, you’re with me.”

  I followed Olivia and Mandisa through the opening and jumped down into the abandoned sewer junction. I ran through the tunnels, toward the ladder I’d taken to get here, then hurried to climb up and to the street.

  When we were out of the manhole, five Vampires were running in all directions, in a star pattern to throw us off.

  Without my having to tell my team members what to do, they each went after a target. Mandisa gave a loud warrior cry before she used her bow and poison-tipped arrows to down one of the Vamps. It gave her enough time to reach him before he could disappear around one of the tall buildings surrounding us.

  “I’ll get this sonofabitch.” Olivia squared off with her Sig and shot another Vampire, but that one kept running. “You get your Vampire ass back over here!” Olivia tore after him, taking shot after shot. Each hollowpoint bullet hit the Vampire and slowed him down, but didn’t stop him because she hadn’t been able to blow out his heart. I wished we would have brought the garlic guns and the mini-stake crossbows that had been located in Paranorm Center storage.

  With one of my dragon-clawed daggers in my hand, I forward-flipped three times, then landed on the back of one Vampire who wore a sparkling red sequined evening gown. I drove her to the ground, tearing the front of her gown with a loud ripping sound, and hitting her face against the asphalt.

  She screamed and hissed.

  Before I had a chance to take my dagger and remove her head, she flipped over, throwing me off with a strength that surprised me.

  My heart pounded as I skidded a few feet away on the asphalt, the small rocks and pebbles scraping my skin. I twisted and pushed myself into a crouch.

  The Vampire bared her fangs. It was the blue-eyed Vamp who’d hissed at me at the Pit the night Drago and Chuck had been tossed. The Vamp’s smell of old dirt and musty leaves was so strong that I knew she had to be at least as old as Volod, if not older.

  As the Vampire leapt toward me, her fingernails became long dagger-tipped claws. She swiped her jagged nails across my bare belly.

  Stinging fire burst in my gut and I let out a cry. Blood welled in the deep cuts she’d made in my flesh.

  Anger surged through me. Now she’d pissed me off.

  The Vampire grabbed my head between her hands and jerked me toward her at the same time she went for my throat with her fangs.

  I smashed my fist into her mouth, slicing my hand on her fangs right before I head-butted her.

  Stars sparked behind my eyes. I hadn’t known Vampires had such hard skulls.

  She screamed as she jerked my hand away from her mouth. Instead of looking stunned from the head-butt, she looked furious.

  The Vampire grasped my arm in her incredibly strong clawed hands and went for my wrist with her fangs.

  I ripped my other dagger from its sheath and swung it at her neck at the same time I jerked my arm out of her vice-like grip.

  My blade only sliced halfway into her neck. Blood spurted. She shrieked and grabbed my weapon hand in both of hers and squeezed.

  With amazing strength she threw me. My back slammed into a brick-walled building and my breath whooshed out of me. I slid down the wall and landed on my ass.

  I scrambled to my feet. The Vampire was righting her half-severed head on her shoulders and I could see her flesh and skin start to knit back together again.

  “No way.” I stumbled to my feet, then rushed her. “I’m tired of playing.”

  “Who’s playing, Drow bitch?” She had her claws waiting to score my skin.

  But I dove for her feet. I wrapped my arms around her ankles while at the same time slamming my shoulder against her knees.

  The crack of bone echoed in the dark night, along with the Vampire’s cry.

  I knocked her flat on her back, straddled her, and brought my dagger down in a high arc.

  She was reaching for my face with her clawed hands and didn’t notice the dagger until too late.

  Her last scream pinged off the buildings’ walls as her head rolled across the asphalt.

  For a fight that had probably lasted a few minutes, it felt like it had taken an hour to do away with her.

  I whipped my head around. In the distance I saw a Vampire running toward a motorcycle. He hopped on it, gunned the engine, and tore off through the night.

  I ran after him.

  FIFTEEN

  Who’d have thought? A Vampire getaway vehicle that happened to be a motorcycle. Of course I’d felt the same way about the penthouse being non-Vampirish. All of my illusions shattered. Well, some of them
.

  I run faster than an earthbound cheetah, faster than most paranorm beings, faster than a motorcycle at seventy miles per hour. It’s not so much running as it is gliding through the air and using my elements to push me, guide me.

  So that the Vampire on the motorcycle couldn’t see me in one of his rearview mirrors, I wrapped myself in an air glamour, making me invisible to him. This Vampire I didn’t plan to take down. I intended to follow him to see where he might lead me. Maybe he’d go to whatever lair Volod was hanging out in.

  I so wanted to get my hands on Volod. Actually, I’d have loved to get my hands on a wooden stake and drive it through his little heart.

  The Vamp raced the motorcycle down Ninth Avenue, turning toward the Lincoln Tunnel. Great. Running in the tunnel wasn’t exactly my idea of fun.

  Streetlights passed by in a blur of red, green, yellow. Too many scents enveloped me, changing as fast as I was running. But I was able to identify the Vamp I followed.

  If I knew where he was going I would have done my best to use the transference.

  However, it would likely not be when running seventy miles per hour. My father had told me I was much too young to be able to do the transference—go from one point to another by concentrating on it—because I was not yet a century old. I’d proved him wrong during the Werewolf case.

  Yes, it would come in handy now, if I only knew where we were going. But that was the point, to find out where we would end up. One used the transference when standing still, so it was pretty much a moot point. But it gave me something to think about as I ran. And ran. And ran.

  The tunnel was not too bad to navigate. We were in Jersey. The Vampire found his way to I-280. He kept going. And going. And going. After a while I began to think he’d never stop and we’d end up in Chicago.

  Finally, after almost an hour of running hard, we reached the area around Jenny Jump State Park and he slowed. He turned off into an isolated part of the hardwood forest thick with trees that were naked of their leaves.

  Elves don’t tire easily, but I have to admit that after that run I was hoping he would get to his destination soon. My breathing was a little heavier than normal and my skin a bit damp from perspiration.

  The Vampire guided his motorcycle along a two-lane dirt road that led deep into a wooded area. The area was rich with the scents of a forest. At least we were going somewhere that smelled nice.

  We traveled for some time, me jogging behind him while still in my glamour. Dead leaves crunched beneath the motorcycle’s wheels and winter’s breath made it appear chillier here than it was in the city.

  Now that we weren’t going so fast, the stinging slashes on my belly made me wince and my hand ached from the Vampire’s fangs ripping into my skin. I’d forgotten the injuries were there. They were already healing, but of course they wouldn’t be completely gone until I shifted.

  Eventually, through the trees I could make out what looked like a pyramid of smooth glass. Beams of moonlight peered through the surrounding trees and glimmered on the structure’s surface. Around the glass pyramid was an imposing stone fence that seemed to go on forever in each direction.

  I thought about calling Rodán but decided it was better to wait. When I got over that fence and into the fortress, I’d send Rodán and Olivia a text message to let them know I was all right and what I was up to.

  Then as long as I maintained my glamour—which meant keeping my distance from Volod if he was there—I could do some exploration on my own and report back to Rodán when I had something to report.

  The closer we came to the structure the more and more I was impressed with what was in front of us. Nothing but glass—make that mirrored glass—I couldn’t see any wood or concrete or brick. Strange, but the surface didn’t reflect the bare tree limbs along with evergreens that surrounded the compound.

  Around the mirrored pyramid an enormous and very imposing stone fence ran the perimeter. At least twelve feet high, the fence also had rows of razor wire around the top. Each barb looked as sharp as a Drow diamond arrowhead. From the looks of it, this was probably some kind of compound.

  I wondered if this location was on the Council’s list of known Vampire lairs, then decided it probably wasn’t. After what had happened, why would the Vampires go any place that paranorms knew about? I was sure it was a Vampire lair. Everything in my gut told me it was.

  A set of huge iron gates creaked open as the Vamp on the motorcycle slowed to a crawl. I walked behind him, analyzing the layout of the compound, looking for entrances and other ways of getting into and out of this glass fortress.

  I didn’t like what I saw. Or couldn’t see.

  The massive structure was like an Egyptian pyramid made of glass. Its dark, sleek walls swept all the way from its high peak down to the ground, the glass meeting the earth. Nothing broke the surface of each wall within view. No windows, no doors, nothing. From where I was, the only thing one could see was glass, trees, and dark earth.

  Leafless trees stood like a hundred ghostly sentinels around the compound, virtually hiding it from the sky. Then I thought of light reflecting off its surface during the daytime, which would produce a glare.

  But as I studied the pyramid, I realized it wasn’t reflecting the moonlight. The glass was absorbing it. As if the moon’s rays were being sucked into a black hole.

  Maybe that was why the compound wouldn’t be on the Council’s list of known Vampire lairs. There was no way it could be spotted.

  The motorcycle rumbled as it came to a rolling stop to the right of the structure. I stood behind and the exhaust from the motorcycle made me wrinkle my nose but warmed me at the same time. The nighttime breeze caused my invisible hair to rise around my shoulders.

  I put my hands on my hips and had the strong desire to tap the Vamp on the shoulder and tell him to get on with it. I’d had enough of chasing and waiting and I wanted to get to work.

  The ground rumbled and shook beneath my feet. On the right the ground quivered and began to rise. A great door slowly opened the earth, a door about the length of two buses, nose to end.

  As the motorcycle Vamp drove into the cavernous opening, I followed. The earth slanted down, down, down. We finally came to a concrete parking garage.

  The motorcycle’s headlight flashed across other vehicles and the engine’s roar vibrated through the garage as the Vampire guided the machine into a parking space next to a couple of other motorcycles. He cut the engine and the light, leaving darkness and silence filling the garage.

  Dim lights suddenly illuminated the garage and twelve nice vehicles shone beneath the low lighting. Fifteen counting the motorcycles, most of the vehicles costly. Parking spaces for plenty more cars lined the garage that went as wide as it went deep.

  What kind of place was this? Maybe a whole bunch of Vamps all living together in a Vampiric commune. Or perhaps it housed a kind of Vampire intelligence operation. Maybe they even called it the VSA—Vampire Security Agency. Who knew?

  Back in Manhattan, I had a sleek black Corvette. I found myself having car envy, though, when I spotted a beautiful red Ferrari. Nice. Part of the garage’s residents also included a yellow Hummer, red Jeep Wrangler, silver Lexus, black Chevy Silverado extended-cab truck. And a charcoal Prius.

  A Vamp driving an eco-friendly car? I pictured one of the Vampires taking the hybrid down the HOV lane, flying past other vehicles in the slow lanes, and I almost laughed at the image.

  Although a Vampire driving a Silverado truck or a Jeep Wrangler seemed almost as absurd.

  I still hadn’t seen the face of the Vamp who I’d been chasing. He shoved his motorcycle keys into his front jeans pocket, adjusted his leather jacket, and walked toward the back of the garage. I started to follow but stopped when he came to an abrupt standstill.

  The Vampire slowly turned and looked in my direction. Right. At. Me. I caught my breath. A creeping sensation rolled along my arms.

  It was Drago, one of the two Vampires who had been kicked out
of the Pit—the Vampire with green eyes. An intensity was in his eyes now as he stared where I was standing.

  Drago couldn’t see me, could he? No, it wasn’t possible. He shouldn’t be able to and really shouldn’t have the ability to sense me either. Volod was a very powerful and very, very old Master Vampire and I had let my guard down around him at his penthouse. That was why he’d been able to sense me.

  But this Vampire … he couldn’t be a Master because Vampires had only one Master per clan, I thought. From his scent, I didn’t think he could be as old as Volod, but his green eyes were mesmerizing. And dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

  The Vampire’s expression was cold as he continued to stare in my direction. My hand moved to one of my daggers. If Drago kept looking at me the way he was, I was afraid my glamour would drop. I don’t know why, but I had the sudden urge to run—with nowhere to run to. A strong glamour requires no loss of concentration and limiting emotions such as fear.

  The Vampire let his gaze slide from me to the rest of the garage. When he turned away and started walking again, I said a silent prayer and let out my breath in a slow exhale.

  Drago’s footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent garage. He had walked the length of a basketball court away from me by the time I felt even slightly more relaxed. I watched as he stepped off the concrete garage floor and onto a dirt path that took him through an archway and into a nightmare dark hallway.

  The rapid beat of my heart didn’t let up until Drago vanished from sight. I wanted to trail the Vampire, but I felt like I’d come too close to being discovered.

  The dim lights in the garage shut off. I heard the huge door begin to close with a shudder and a groan.

  A quick sweep of my gaze showed no other obvious exits than the one Drago had disappeared through. The idea of having possibly the only means of escape closed off was not appealing in the least. I needed to do a little reconnaissance and find entrances and exits to and from the compound before I managed to get myself trapped inside.