by Lucinda Dark
Flipping through the contacts, I sent a text to Torin, letting him know that we were doing reconnaissance on the warehouse. I winced as I sent the text, knowing how he’d feel. I was still furious with him about the blood. But the dream had made me crack. And that crack widened with each thought of him that went through my mind. Torin wasn’t bad. He wasn’t cruel or mean. He just wanted to protect us. It had saved me.
And that image of him that I’d seen…
My heart thudded against the inside of my ribcage. It’d only lasted for a brief moment. I’d only caught a glimpse, but that had been all I needed to feel rocked to my core. I didn’t know much but I knew this—whatever had happened to Torin in England hadn’t been good.
Maverick and I sat in silence for the rest of the drive. Neither of us even reached for the radio. Instead, I turned and searched the back, pulling out the holy swords Torin had given me and holding them in my lap. I’d said we were going to do reconnaissance, but I knew myself, I knew the truth. The dashboard clock clicked past 1 a.m. by the time we got close to the warehouse and I was tense. My muscles bunched. The darkness outside of the window seemed to come alive with threats and warnings.
Humans, despite being the weaker species and mostly ignorant of the supernatural creatures that lived in the night, were naturally built with warning signals. That moment before an attack when a person’s senses suddenly heightened, the rush of adrenaline amped their nervous system, and the bone-numbing brought a person’s chances of survival rocketing up from nil to almost hopeful. But against creatures such as vampires, it was so rarely enough.
They underestimated you because of what you were.
Satrina’s words echoed in my mind. What I was, what I had been. Human. I wondered if I still smelled human to them. Torin’s vampire had been close when he’d said my scent had changed. It wounded my pride to be underestimated, but at the same time, it gave me a better chance for survival. If vampires were going to be stupid enough to underestimate my abilities, then they’d know soon enough when my blade pierced their cold, dead, unbeating hearts.
Maverick pulled the truck up to the curb across from the warehouse and killed the lights. Unexpectedly, it looked worse in person than it had in the grainy black and white photos. The roof was caving in. Numerous windows were either completely shattered or cracked and grimy. I turned and looked back over my shoulder through the back window of the truck. There were at least two street lights on this road that weren’t working, leaving less than a handful of working ones that were either too dim to be of much use or blinking on and off.
“Do you have the file?” I asked.
He nodded and reached into the back, withdrawing a manila folder of the papers he’d shown me before. I flipped the file open and perused the information. A click of a magazine being loaded made me lift my head.
“What are you doing?” I snapped as Maverick reached for the door.
“I’m not sitting here for shits and giggles,” he said. “I’m going to check it out. Get your swords and let’s go.” Before I could say anything, he pushed the driver’s side door open and slammed it behind him.
Cursing him, I snapped the file shut and threw it to the floorboards as I hurried to follow. Maverick was already across the street and creeping along the side of the building by the time I got out of the car. Silently threatening to disembowel him, I strapped one of the swords to my back and booked it towards him with the other clutched in my hand. When I reached him, I turned and let my back slide up against the brick exterior of the warehouse, peeking around him to the side entrance.
“I’ll go in first, you follow,” he said.
“Not a chance in hell,” I replied. “I’ll go in first—I have the most experience. You can provide backup if I need it.”
“Barbie—”
“You have a long distance weapon,” I cut him off. “It’s better this way.” Then, without waiting for what I knew would be another argument, I slid around him and headed for the rusted metal door hanging slightly ajar.
Curling my fingers around the edge of the door, I inched it open, waiting for the inevitable moment when it would creak or moan. Thankfully, it did neither of those things as I made the opening just wide enough for my whole body to slip through.
The interior was even darker than the street, but from what I could see, the warehouse had no second floor. Instead, it held a massive open space littered with the remains of whatever had once been stored within its walls. The row of windows we’d seen from the front of the building cut across the upper half allowing the muted glow from the working street lights to intrude, casting shadows in every direction.
My senses were on red alert as I walked on silent feet across the concrete flooring. Crumbling boxes, old metal machines, and wooden pallets were littered everywhere. I scanned the space, searching for some sort of entrance to the basement Maverick had found on the blueprints.
I stopped when my eyes paused on a darkened doorway several yards from the entrance and I headed straight forward. In the open expanse of the room, I felt vulnerable to attack. Keeping to the side of the room, I crouched and hurried along until I came to the doorway. I paused and listened intently.
At first, I heard nothing, but my body refused to move. Though I knew what it would do, I reached deeper, seeking out Satrina’s power and pulling it to the surface. I closed my eyes and pushed that power outward. It left my body, an echo that ricocheted back like sonar and brought with it the information I needed.
With human ears, I couldn’t hear shit. But with Satrina’s abilities, I knew what lay beyond this doorway. My brows drew down hard as the power I’d sent out pinged against my senses. Not once. Not twice. But several times. Another and another.
Holy shitballs on a fucking stick, I thought. Maverick was right. This warehouse was a nest for vampires. A fucking big nest.
I cursed myself and Maverick. This wasn’t just stupid, this was plain fucking moronic. A bad fucking idea. We should’ve listened to Torin. I shouldn’t have let Maverick come.
I backed away from the doorway as my thoughts snapped through my mind. More pings hit me. More vampires. A cold sweat worked against my palm as I clutched the sword in my grip. Even with my new demonic power, this wasn’t a good idea.
I glanced back sharply as I heard the side door creak as it was pushed open farther to accommodate a much bigger person. Maverick. My eyes widened even farther and I shook my head at him. He couldn’t see me in the dark, and I watched in utter horror as the door was pushed the rest of the way open and a loud, echoing shriek emitted from the groaning metal.
Behind me, the rustling of creatures emerging sounded.
“Fuck. Me,” I hissed as the first fanged fucker shot through the doorway, plowing right into me. If I survived this, I was going to kill Maverick.
Twenty-Three
Barbie
I turned on my way down and shoved upward with the sword in my grasp. The tip of my blade pierced the creature and a horrible, ear-drum shattering shriek melted into a distant memory as the vampire disintegrated into ash, coating my upper body in his remains. Gross. But I didn’t have time to consider the fact that I was covered in someone else’s ash.
I bolted back to my feet and booked it towards Maverick who stood, frozen, just inside the entrance. At least he’d managed to yank his Glock out. His face was pale and shocked, his eyes wide as he gaped behind me.
I shook my head. “Run!” I screamed as my legs pumped.
“Jesus … fucking ... Christ.” I heard his words a split second before something heavy hit my back. The sound of his gun discharging reverberated throughout the room, so loud it nearly shook my damn bones. More ash rained down on my face.
My knees hit the concrete and I felt skin split beneath my jeans as I landed and rolled over the second vampire. Bringing my sword up, I stabbed straight down. The creature struggled as I sliced upward through its heart and a moment later, I sat on nothing more than a pile of dust and rotted clothing that smelled like
old blood and urine.
Scrambling back to my feet, I realized the futility of our escape. There were too many. The next one that came close, got a blade across the throat. Blood splattered the concrete floor. Droplets slapped my face and raced down to my chin, smearing across my cheek as I spun out of the way of an oncoming attacker. More shots rang out as Maverick aimed and fired.
Claws raked across my chest and down my arm. I panted and reached back, curling a free hand around my second sword and withdrawing it with a quick movement.
Satrina, I called. I need you.
I felt a soft heat begin to build behind my eyes. My lips tingled. My chest tightened.
Inhale, she ordered.
I frowned and ducked when another vampire bulldozed me. My back slapped a large wooden crate, shaking the thing and cracking the wood as I reared back and headbutted the red-eyed, snarling creature before me.
Sharp tipped nails scratched against my wrist as it held one hand down. I winced, biting down on my tongue when the monster squeezed and something in my arm popped. My wrist. Fuck! He’d broken my wrist.
Barbie. Inhale, Satrina repeated. Focus on the intention to consume your target and inhale.
Inhale, I thought. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.
Don’t think it! She all but shouted in my head. Do it!
Right. I focused on the monster in front of me and distanced myself from the sound of gunfire elsewhere in the room. I brought my other arm up, second sword still clasped in my hand, and dropped it before grabbing the creature’s face.
Red eyes widened as I met them and leaned forward. My lips parted. My other senses dulled. Everything else in the room disappeared as I concentrated on my target.
… Consume…
… Devour…
… Inhale…
Satrina’s power urged me until I couldn’t resist it anymore. I listened. I tipped my head forward and I inhaled.
At first, I didn’t see it. But as I dragged in more air, small dark tendrils of smoke-like material began to waft from the vampire. It screamed and tried to scramble backwards—away from me. I locked my hand around its jaw, my nails sharpening until talons emerged and sank into its skin. Blood welled up and dripped down my fingers. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t interested in vampire blood. I wanted that smoky stuff.
It hit my system like a drug until one inhale wasn’t enough. I opened my mouth wider and sucked in more. I could feel the smoke slink past my skin and into my pores. It filled my lungs. It wove through my hair. The harder I inhaled, the more the vampire in my grasp deteriorated. His skin went from pale to gray. Long, dark, greasy locks of hair whitened, gray erupting from his roots and sliding down to the ends.
The vampire was aging. As if that wasn’t shocking enough when I finally felt like I’d had enough, I closed my mouth and released my talons from his jaw, moving down to clasp his throat in my fist. And with a little more than a sharp squeeze, I crushed his windpipe. My wrist—the one he’d broken—had been released in the madness. It tingled around the section that the vampire had squeezed, but it no longer hurt. I lifted it up and stepped forward—holding the vampire out an arm’s length away as I reared back and shoved the end of my sword through his throat, slashing out one side.
The body dropped from my grip and hit the floor. I stared down, completely frozen in place. There was no blood.
Vampire’s get their power from blood, Satrina answered my unspoken question. You inhaled his power. Therefore, he has no more blood.
Well, that might explain the aging, I thought. I lifted my sword up over my head and finished severing the creature’s head.
Perhaps it should have bothered me more. What I had just done wasn’t normal. I’d never seen or felt anything like it. My bones felt alive beneath my skin. I felt powerful, more driven and lighter than I ever had. I glanced around the room at the remaining vampires. Few had noticed what I’d done. The single one that appeared to have seen was a young vampire girl with wide set eyes and an inky fall of hair over half her face.
I bent down and retrieved my fallen second sword. When I stood back up, she was gone. Not just gone, but she’d vanished. I turned my attention to the remaining vampires. More had fallen under Maverick’s bullets, but as I stepped farther into the room, more than one pair of red eyes landed on me.
I spread my arms out, swords in hand, and smiled. “Buffet’s open, bitches,” I said with a laugh.
“Barbie, what the fuck!” Maverick’s expression was almost comical. Or it would have been had I not been dead serious.
The power flowing through my veins was like straight up liquor. It relaxed my muscles and made swinging the heavy blades at my sides feel like dancing. The first attacker went down far easier than any other. I slashed across his abdomen first and then his face. A single line of blood welled up over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose before the entire upper half of his head slid away. Blood cascaded across the floor as the body fell. Screams of agony sounded from his gaping mouth. How painful it must have been to be alive when half of his head was severed, but he wouldn’t die unless I removed the entire thing or stabbed his heart. The screams weren’t even true screams of pain—though they sounded like it. The brain was mostly gone, so it was pure reaction. Air being sucked into the vampire’s lungs and expelled to alert the body that it was in terrible danger.
Not for much longer, though, I decided. The danger would be over as soon as I killed him. I sank the tip of one sword through his chest, penetrating the ribcage and twisting it into the dead, unbeating heart that rested inside. The body gave way to ash beneath my booted feet. I threw back my head and laughed, letting the sound echo up into the rafters of the warehouse.
So this is what freedom feels like, I thought. It was heady. Addictive. A drug I wanted to take again and again.
The rest of the nest had frozen, their red eyes wide as they stopped several feet from me and stared. They weren’t the only ones. Maverick’s gaze was heavy on me as I looked up to meet it. With his brows drawn down low and his lips pinched, he frowned at me as if he didn’t recognize me. What wasn’t there to recognize? I wondered. I was far more myself than I’d ever been before. Why had I been so unwilling to use the full extent of Satrina’s power again?
Because you humans are so conservative with sex, most of you anyway, she answered.
Ahhh, so that was it. Sex. The end all be all to the succubi’s powers.
Yes and after the amount of power you’ve used, you’ll have to have it before you leave here tonight, darling, or the only way you’ll be leaving is in a body bag, she warned.
I giggled at her words. Actually fucking giggled. Who would care? This kind of power was worth the risk.
I took a step towards the remaining three vampires and every single one of them backed up. Well, wasn’t that a rush? I thought with another laugh. They were afraid of me.
As they should have been in the first place. The feeling rose up from the depths of my mind. It was neither Satrina’s nor was it anything I’d ever thought before, but I agreed with it. Wholeheartedly.
The three remaining vampires weren’t jumping on the opportunity I’d handed to them. “How rude,” I said, taking another step forward as they stepped back. “Silver platter and all and what do you do?” I tilted my head at them. “You just stand there.” I clucked my tongue.
“Barbie?” Maverick’s call didn’t even sway the vampires’ attention. They watched me with a mixture of curiosity and fear. I inhaled again, but this time just the scent of it. Acrid. Vile. Addictive. That was their fear and I loved it. It felt so fucking good to turn the tables for once.
I tightened my grip on my swords and pushed forward. I bolted to the closest vampire, moving low when she moved to swing talon-tipped fingers at me. My blade slipped through her chest and I kept going, not stopping until I reached the last remaining vampire—a tall, skinny man with hungry eyes in an old stain covered shirt. As I stomped towards him, he must have decided that with the rest of his n
est decimated, running was a good option. In a blur of movement, he ran for the door. To Maverick’s eyes, he would have been nothing more than a black smudge of a person. To my new demon eyes, however, I could see him quite clearly.
I released one sword and watched as it arched through the room, handle over blade. Again and again until it slammed into the vampire’s shoulder and into the wall behind him, cracking brick as it sank into a sliver of space between brick and mortar. I tsked as I approached him. He howled as he tried to jerk himself free from the wall, but it was useless. Smoke curled upwards from the festering wound. I could smell rotting flesh. He whimpered as I came to a slow stop before him.
“Was your nest responsible for the missing homeless people?” I asked.
He cursed and spit at me, snarling like a starving animal. I wiped the spit away and looked at it on my fingertips as Maverick approached me from behind. I heard each of his footsteps in the now mostly silent warehouse interior.
“Barbie, we know it was—” he started.
I held my free hand up, stopping him. “I want to make sure.” I turned back to the vampire and hefted my other sword in my hand. The vampire’s eyes darted to it and then back to me. The smell of fear rose. I grinned. “Do I need to repeat my question?” I asked.
He considered it for a moment. His eyes glowed bright red, staring back at me, and finally, he caved. He nodded sharply. “Aye, t’was Effie’s—” I brought my sword down on the arm opposite of the shoulder pinned to the wall. An echo of his scream lifted into the rafters as the useless limb fell away. I looked down at it as more smoke rose from the vampire’s new wound. Blood spurted and coated the wall and floor.
“Huh,” I said. “I thought it would turn to ash.”
He hissed and fought harder against the sword pinning him back. “I told you what you wanted!” he screamed.
I shrugged. “I never said I wasn’t going to kill you if you did.”
“Barbie, you don’t have to fucking torture him,” Maverick said.
