by Nina Walker
We’re three on three. The vampires are ten times stronger than we are, but we have weapons and an Ayla-sized load of willpower on our side. No way are we letting our girl get hurt.
“You!” Kenton points to the vampire who tried to bite Ayla. “You asked for this.”
He swings his stake with the force of a twenty-year-old who lifts weights on the daily. The vampire deflects his blow, but Kenton was only a distraction. Using the training techniques we’ve been working on, Felix swings around back to sink his stake into the vampire’s heart from behind. The beast screeches and explodes into dust. His two companions hiss and jump at us, as if they didn’t just get the memo that attacking us gives us grounds to exterminate them. This is the way the treaties work. We’re not supposed to hunt unless we’re attacked first, not that we give a crap about the treaties most of the time. If we don’t get caught, then we don’t get turned into the VEC. Vampires can burn in hell for all we care.
I fight off my attacker and plunge the stake into his heart. I miss. He growls and backs off, his body healing almost instantly. “I’ll kill you for that.”
“Not if we kill you first.” I lunge for him again. By now his remaining companion has also been killed, this time by Kenton. It’s three to one, we’re hyped up on adrenaline, and this creep doesn’t stand a chance.
He must know it because he hisses and bolts.
A saner person would let him go, but I must be a little crazy tonight because I chase after him without a second thought. Something within me can’t let him get away. He’s a threat to not only my kind as a whole, but also to me directly, and now that he’s seen our faces, he won’t forget us. Last week Tate taught me that most vampires are excellent trackers. They get a whiff of their prey and they can follow the scent to the ends of the earth. I can’t risk this guy having a personal vendetta against me and my friends.
My feet pound the pavement and my hand grips the stake even tighter. All my senses narrow in on the blur of black sinking into the inky darkness of the tree-lined street. He’s too fast. I’ll never catch up. But that doesn’t matter now. I know exactly where he’s going; I don’t know how that’s possible, but I just do.
I continue running, my instincts telling me when to turn left or right. I weave deeper into the neighborhoods surrounding the college, but soon those turn from residential, to businesses that are closed up tight for the night. I run and run and run. I only have one focus now––hunt and kill.
I’m approaching The French Quarter when a black SUV pulls up beside me. “Get in,” Felix calls out.
I don’t want to. I can feel that my target is closer now. He’s slowed down. He’s not far. Maybe he doesn’t realize I’m on to him, that I’m hunting him. Maybe he thinks he’s lost me.
But he doesn’t know me.
I ignore Felix and continue to run, going deeper into the The French Quarter until I’m on world-famous Bourbon Street. It’s packed and music pulses from speakers. I snake through the raucous crowd until I come out on the other side and it’s much quieter and empty again. I keep going, turning down street after street. Many are too small for Felix’s SUV and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost them but I haven’t lost the vampire. I can still sense him ahead of me. I end up back on one of the main roads and spot Felix’s SUV again. He flashes his lights. I wave but ignore him, darting into another tiny alleyway. I hear my friends getting out of the car in the distance and can’t help but feel slightly annoyed that they’re making too much noise. I’m going to lose the element of surprise if they don’t shut up.
The summertime humidity curls its way up and around my legs under my dress. It’s a good thing I wore my Chuck Taylors tonight. I might never wear high heels again, come to think of it. I slow and walk on the balls of my feet, crouching low. I can sense the water in the air, the stillness of the night, the lack of a breeze, the stench of old garbage in the bins, and the acute awareness of everything happening around me.
Voices break the silence up ahead. It sounds like a man is reprimanding another man. “Foolish,” he barks.
“But I was ordered to spy on her.” The voice is defiant and I recognize it as the one who threatened me. I’ve found my target.
Maybe there are two vampires now. No biggie, I’ll just kill them both. My confidence is growing. I can’t help but feel like these kills are a sure thing.
I inch around the corner of the building, listening for the muffled voices. “Did you let her follow you here?”
No more time to think. I jump from my hiding spot and zoom toward my enemy. He doesn’t have time to react before I’m sinking the silver tipped wooden stake into his heart. I feel the moment when I hit the intended target this time. The flesh of his heart gives so easily.
He bursts into dust.
Then I swing around, prepared to kill again.
“I thought I told you never to come back here.”
I blink up into the face of Adrian Teresi and my blood freezes. It’s like all the confidence I just had has rocketed clean out of my body. He narrows his murderous eyes and steps closer. He’s going to kill me. It’s then that I realize we’re in an alleyway behind The Alabaster.
“I didn’t realize,” I whisper.
Just then, my friends shuffle up behind me, Ayla included.
Adrian peers at them and then back at me, his mouth curling in utter disdain. “What’s all this? Did your friends come to kill innocent vampires, too?”
I scramble back. “None of you are innocent.”
“And yet you were the one who hunted tonight.” He glares at my stake. “And by the looks of it, you’ve done this before.”
I open and close my mouth, unable to find words. I know what Adrian’s capable of. How’s he going to feel about me being a vampire hunter? And what will it mean for me now that he knows? Will Tate kick us out of the program? Vampires aren’t supposed to be able to identify us. I have so many questions, all of which I’m afraid to know the answers to.
“Those vampires showed up at our college party looking for blood. As far as we’re concerned,” Felix interjects, “they started it.”
Kenton nods. “And we ended it.” He grips his stake tighter.
What my friends don’t know is it sounds like those vamps showed up at the party because they were spying on me. That guy I just staked said someone had ordered him to go. They probably followed me to the party and saw an opportunity to take advantage of partiers, or more likely, lured Ayla away so they could question her about me. Adrian sighs as if dealing with a bunch of young hunters is the last thing on his to-do list for the night. He’s not afraid of us. He’s inconvenienced.
“I won’t kill you,” he says at last, like he’s doing us a favor. “But only because those idiots weren’t my protégés and, quite frankly, had no business in our coven to begin with.” He chuckles darkly. “You may have just done me a favor, come to think of it, but that doesn’t mean you can show your faces around here again.” He flicks a hand toward us. “Now shoo.”
And then his body levitates up and up until he vanishes into the darkness.
Ayla yelps. “Did he just?”
“Yes,” Felix growls. “I’ve never seen one of them fly, but I’ve heard the stories.”
“Only the oldest and most powerful, and therefore the creepiest, can do that.” Kenton whistles low. “C’mon people, let’s get out of here before more fangers show up.” He wraps an arm around Ayla’s shoulders and tugs her in close. “I think you and I should have a little chat before you head up to college tomorrow about not going off with random strangers.”
Ayla doesn’t reply as the two shuffle ahead of me and Felix.
“You know what they say, right?” Kenton continues in a lighter tone.
“What?” Ayla’s voice cracks.
He winks. “Some guys are only after one thing.”
And in the case of vampires, it’s nothing good.
Chapter 14
“How’s the new roommate situation going?” I as
k Ayla. She’s on speaker phone while I sit on my bedroom floor and apply matte overcoat to my freshly black fingernails.
“Getting better. She’s cleaning up after herself now that we had that little talk. Hopefully she doesn’t hate me, but we’re sharing a room, have some decency.”
I look around at my cluttered bedroom and snort. Ayla’s a clean freak, but her new roommate is the opposite. It’s a good learning experience for both of them, if you ask me. Not that anyone has . . .
“How’s the training going?” she replies. “Any more run-ins with vampires?”
“Not yet.”
It’s been a few weeks since my bestie left for school and things have mostly gone back to normal. Well, as normal as they can be with my favorite person gone. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it’s been so nice to talk to her about this crazy vampire stuff. Lucky for me, she wasn’t mad that I lied about the internship. On the contrary, the woman took it all in stride, saying she’d have done the same thing to protect me and was grateful we were able to save her that night. She’d gone outside to bum a cigarette with that guy, something she does every now and then at parties, but promised she’d never be so careless again.
I believe her. In fact, she’s been at school for two weeks and hasn’t gone to a single party, let alone left her dorm room after dark. She’s going to have to live her life eventually, but right now she’s still too traumatized by what happened. I’m glad she’s safe, but I also hope that she can learn to trust again. I doubly hope that she can sense vampires better now that she’s had direct contact with some. They’re not always easy to spot since they look like glorified versions of their human selves.
The phone beeps and an unknown call comes through. I almost send it to voicemail but instinct tells me to answer it. “Hey, I gotta take this call, talk later?”
“Later, babe. Stay safe.”
My heart drops a little. The Ayla I know would’ve ended the call with something akin to “don’t do something I wouldn’t do” or “make me proud” or even “see ya later, alligator”––not “stay safe.” I sigh, switch the call over, and answer with a quick, “Hello.”
“Hello, is this Evangeline Blackwood?” The woman’s voice is glossy and professional.
“This is she.”
“I’m calling about your mother. You’re her emergency contact, correct?”
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s okay, but you need to come pick her up. She refuses to leave and she’s already donated well above the allocated amount of blood for her weight.”
My body goes cold. “Where are you calling from?”
Not that I have to ask.
“I’m a nurse at The Alabaster Heart Hotel and Casino.” Her voice changes from cool professionalism to an urgent whisper. “You need to come quickly. This won’t end well for your mom and she’s refusing to leave. Vampires aren’t great at saying no to blood donations.”
Vampires aren’t great at saying no to anything they want, who cares who they hurt in the process.
“I’ll be right there.”
I hang up and jump up with a curse. My nails aren’t dry and I don’t have the car and I can’t even believe this is happening right now. I consider calling Felix to come help, but he’s pulled away since the frat party, placing me squarely back in the friend zone, and I don’t really want to let him in on my family problems. Mom has the Corolla and taking the bus will take ages at this time of night, so I suck it up and order a taxi. Riding into the city will cost double during prime time, but none of that matters right now. I have to get to Mom.
I blow on my nails and hope for the best, gathering my things and running out the door, making sure to lock it behind me.
I know what I’m risking by walking in here. The risk was always there before, but this time it’s tenfold, and I may as well be signing my own death certificate. I keep my head down, my curtain of black hair covering my face, and power walk toward the nurses station. It’s set up right next to the cashier. No surprise there for an establishment that runs on blood and money.
“I’m here to get Virginia Blackwood.”
The nurse offers me a grim expression and points. “She refuses to quit. I can’t take the bag out without her consent. The vampires have a policy.”
Mom is practically slumped over the edge of the Texas Hold’em table and that stupid bag hangs next to her, nearly bursting with her blood. The nearby vampire pit boss eyes her blood bag like it’s his dinner. Someone’s placed a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of orange juice next to her chips, but the goodies are untouched.
“You’re kidding me,” I growl at the nurse. “You can’t take it out of her? There are laws about this.”
“Humans only get to donate every so often, so the vampires don’t like us to cut them off once they are hooked up to a bag.”
“But the laws––” I press on.
She laughs bitterly and nods toward the pit boss. “He’s the law tonight.” It’s a different guy than the one from last month, but even if it were the same vamp, I don’t think it would matter.
Feeling helpless and pissed off, I charge toward my mother. “It’s time to go.”
She startles and turns on me with a grim expression. “What are you doing here? I’m fine. I know what I’m doing. Did that nosy nurse call you?”
She motions to the pit boss. “You’d better get a handle over your employees. Your nurse called my daughter, who by the way, isn’t old enough to be in here.”
Mom’s never been like this with me. I can’t even count on all my fingers and toes the number of times I’ve come to pick her up here. She always resists, but she’s never so volatile.
“Why are you being like this?” I growl at her.
She widens her eyes and motions to her sad stack of chips. “The more blood I donate the more chips the house will give me to play with. Don’t worry, I haven’t had to touch the ATM yet. It’s the weekend,” she laughs cruelly, “why aren’t you out with your friends? You know, having fun, like I am?” She sighs toward one of the patrons sitting next to her. “You’d think an eighteen-year-old would know how to have a better time than her old mom, wouldn’t you?”
The greasy man grins down at her, his eyes traveling to her exposed cleavage and back up to her ruby hair. “Not everyone is as easy going as you are, Virginia.” The way he says “easy” makes my stomach twist.
“Gah! Don’t be a perv,” I hiss at him. He only laughs. “Mom, we need to go. I’m serious. I can’t be here and I won’t leave you like this.”
She turns her back on me and continues playing as if I’m not even there, as if I’m a bother to her and not her own daughter. I can’t stick around. Adrian might’ve been alerted to my presence and on his way to kill me. I also can’t make her go, she’s a grown woman. “Will you at least let the nurse take that thing out?”
“Fine!” She throws her hands up and the blood bag shakes. “Send that busybody over and then go home, Evangeline.”
I turn away with a huff, find the nurse to send her back over to my ridiculous mother, and make for the door. I don’t ever want to step foot in here again. Mom is a lost cause because she won’t admit the problem, she doesn’t want help, and she’s going to end up killing herself. Tears well up in my eyes, and my cheeks grow hot. What am I supposed to do? Just let her go? Ditch my own mother? She’s the only family I have, but it feels like there’s no other choice, and she’s never been this mean before.
Arms of steel grab me from behind and lift my feet clear off the floor. I scream just as a black bag is thrust over my head. I claw at my attacker, but something hits me on the back of the head and everything fades to black.
Chapter 15
I wake up sputtering to icy water splashing my face. I blink and try to clear my head, but my thoughts are too heavy to catch and my eyes flutter closed again.
“Wake up,” the voice is cruel. I know that voice . . .
More water.
I careen ba
ck and find my arms and legs tied to a chair. “What the hell?” I force my eyes to stay open this time and take in my surroundings despite the pulsing headache at the back of my skull.
I’m in a small room. I think it’s in a basement because it’s shadowy and cold and barren. The walls and floor are all concrete. A single light casts most of the small room in shadows. Thick and scratchy ropes bind my wrists. Standing above me is none other than Adrian Teresi. A sour look is plastered to his face as he stares down his nose.
“You kidnapped me?” It’s not a question though. It’s the cold, hard truth. Is he going to torture me before killing me? I shouldn’t have tested my luck by coming to the casino because it’s painfully obvious that it’s run out, and nobody is coming to save me.
His fangs extend.
They’re about half an inch longer than the rest of his teeth. He leans in and breaths in my scent. “Evangeline Blackwood, I can’t decide if you’re an angel or a devil.” His lips brush against the delicate skin of my neck. I lean away, but that only exposes more of me.
“You’re the devil.”
He clicks his tongue. “Careful. Your blood smells hot and fresh. It’s practically begging to be mine.”
I jerk my head back. “Please . . .” I don’t want to beg, but I find myself doing it anyway. “Please let me go or kill me now, but don’t play with me.”
“Where’s the fun in that, huh? You must want to be played with considering you keep coming back to where you don’t belong. The Alabaster Heart is a casino, after all. Does the little lamb want to play a game with the lion?”
He twists around until his face is inches from mine. Everything about him is dangerous and beautiful. Gooseflesh prickles all over my body.
“I can hear your heart beating.” He possesses my gaze with his. I can’t seem to look away. “It’s the sound of an invitation. I could rip it from your chest right now.”
This time, I don’t beg. There’s no point. But I won’t go down without a fight. I thrust my head forward and crack my forehead into his nose.
