She froze in place as she heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs and a figure came into the light.
Avery gazed in confusion into a familiar and mischievous face, “Caleb?”
It was Caleb alright, but he was pale, and his pupils were large and psychotic looking. He punched her square in the stomach, and she huffed out in pain, folding into herself.
“I owed you that,” he spat at her.
She gasped for air and stuttered, “I don’t understand… you’re…”
“Yeah, use those senses to take it in. I’m a vampire,” Caleb said sarcastically and smacked her across the face.
“When?” she hissed.
“It wasn’t my choice, but what can you do? No changing it now. So one of the first things on my mind when I woke up, besides blood, was getting some revenge on you and your boyfriend.”
“Caleb, don’t do this,” Avery exhaled.
He leaned down into her face, smacked her, and yelled, “Don’t tell me not to do this, bitch! You made a fool of me when you chose that murderous demon. But I see it now; you were drawn to his power. You liked it. He could protect you; you who are always doing the protecting. He’s doing a really good job of that now, isn’t he?!”
Avery tried to remain apathetic, though she was panicking on the inside, “So what are you going to do? Kill me?”
Caleb stroked the side of her reddened face where he had slapped her and smiled slightly. “Right now I have to do what I’m told. Keep you alive until nightfall tomorrow when you’ll be delivered to my sire.”
“And who might that be?” Avery tried to keep Caleb talking while she surveyed the room and unnoticeably wriggled her wrists to loosen her ties.
“I think you know him already,” Caleb trailed off as he followed her gaze to her sword in the corner. He walked over to the corner, unsheathed it, and twirled it around playfully toward her, mocking her.
Avery chided, “Hold onto that; I’ll be needing it in a few seconds.”
Before Caleb could register what was happening, Avery popped her foot up, kicking the sword out of his grasp. She jumped up and backward in the chair, her weight upon landing breaking the chair and freeing her body from its tether.
Avery hooked Caleb’s ankle, tripping him while she scrambled over to gather her sword from where it landed. Both Avery and Caleb were on their feet at the same time, but Avery held the sword across her body in defense.
“Why am I so important that I’m to be taken prisoner instead of killed?”
“Even if I could say, I wouldn’t. Your confusion delights me too much,” he mocked. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Avery hesitated, “You were a comrade; a fellow slayer. Even though you’re a vampire now, you don’t have to hurt people. It doesn’t have to be this way for you or between us…”
Caleb grinned at her, “Oh, but it does. When I woke up to this second life, my personality, feelings, and desires were amplified. I suppose I wasn’t really a nice guy as a human after all.”
“I don’t believe you…”
Caleb lunged at her. Avery could have sliced his head off at that moment, but instead, she dodged him. He kicked at her, and she responded by slicing at his leg. Caleb hissed and backed away from her.
“You figured out the vervain trick, eh?”
“Rose showed me,” Avery confessed.
“Rosie. She will be the only one whose imminent death saddens me.”
Avery raised her sword, though the confliction in her was overwhelming. There was still that good in Caleb that he cared for Rose. Perhaps he could still be reasoned with. She begged, “Please listen to me. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“You don’t get it, do you? Now that the original has risen, the time of the slayer is coming to an end, and the age of the vampire is upon us,” Caleb laughed.
“As long as there are vampires, there will be slayers to fight them.”
“Not for long!” Caleb bared his fangs and rushed for Avery once more.
Caleb knocked the sword from her hands and using his forearm, pushed her up against a mirror. It cracked against her back, but she refused to cry out, knowing it would please him more. She looked up to see him bare his fangs at her and it looked as if he were going to bite her. Avery pushed him back and kicked him in the chest, giving her enough time to rip the mirror from the wall. She hit him in the head with it, causing it to shatter to pieces everywhere. The head trauma caused Caleb to fall to his knees, giving Avery time to pick up her sword. He started laughing hysterically and looked up at her, “You can’t do it. It’s me. I’m your friend. Remember all the times I helped you?”
Those were the last words he growled before she brought the blade down on his neck, silencing him forever. “I do,” she said sadly.
Avery jerked her head up as the basement door opened. She tucked her body up against the wall as footsteps approached. She spun toward the sound, raising her sword, and was met with a scream. A young man shielded the girl next to him on the stairway.
College kids. “Get the hell out of here,” Avery spat at them. The couple hand-in-hand scrambled back upstairs.
Before she knew it, Avery slipped out the back door and was in the car. In case those kids had called the cops, she sped out of there like a bat out of hell. She dialed Talon’s number, and it went to voicemail.
She left a message, “Hey…I…just wanted to hear your voice right now. On my way.”
His hands were stained red and his nose tingled. He tried to hold back the urge to give in to a taste and grit his teeth. Talon returned his focus to the work still needing to be done. Since he hadn’t any weapons on him, he had to use his bare hands to rip off the heads of these people to stop them from changing. There were so many of them. They didn’t deserve this fate, no one did. Talon bent down and took a young man’s head into his hands as his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and before he could answer, he had gotten an inkling sensation that he was not alone in the room.
Suddenly he grasped at a pinch in his neck and pulled out a dart, falling to his knees as whatever was in the dart instantly weakened him. Talon looked up into the grinning face of his former friend.
“Eric?” he spoke in shock, disbelieving what he was seeing.
“Sorry about the tranquilizer old friend, but I can’t have you ruining our plans,” Gunner smiled as he stepped on the cell phone, crushing it.
“Our?” Talon stuttered. His vision blurred as two black masses picked him up by his arms.
“You’ll meet him soon enough,” Gunner said, nodding at those that held him. “Get him in the car.”
“What…” Talon started as he was on the verge of blacking out, “What are you planning?”
Gunner laughed to himself, “Well, the next part of the plan is to send someone to pick up your girlfriend.”
CHAPTER 18
Avery was zoned out, almost in a trance, watching the country road in front of her for deer. She glanced at her phone. No calls or texts. She tried to call Talon once more. His phone went straight to voicemail. She knew he wouldn’t ignore her call, so he must have been preoccupied at the moment. Avery hung up and continued her drive to his house. Our house. She wondered how long it would take for her to get used to that idea. Her phone buzzed in her lap. Finally. She answered without hesitation.
“Hello?”
“You’re in big trouble, missy.”
Yikes. Avery tensed. The voice on the other end was an angry Rose.
“Hey, Rosie…”
“Don’t you ‘hey Rosie’ me. I know you took the map.”
Avery cringed, “I know, I’m sorry. You know I couldn’t just wait.”
“Yeah, next time I’m putting that in a safe,” Rose griped. After a moment of silence, she continued, “So what did you find?”
I should tell her about Caleb. She deserves to know. “You’re not going to like it.”
“What happened, Avery?”
“Rose, Caleb is
….”
Avery was cut off and stunned into silence by a thunderous roar that reminded her of a Jurassic Park movie. She could just barely process what Rose was saying on the other end of the line.
“What was that sound?” her friend inquired, sounding just as disturbed as Avery was feeling.
Before she could answer, a large, dark mass landed on the hood of the Mustang hard enough that it made a dent. Avery dropped the phone and clung to the wheel as the car veered. A clawed hand thrust its way through the windshield and grasped at her. Panicked, Avery jerked the wheel hard to the right. In an instant the car was propelled off the road, rolling into the ditch. Avery held onto the wheel tight, clenching her eyes shut and shrieking as the force jerked her around in her seat, the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass all around her.
The car stopped moving, and Avery only needed a moment to assess the damage around her. She was hanging upside down, suspended by the seatbelt that dug into her lap and chest. What the hell was that thing? Hands shaking, she fumbled for the release and caught herself before her head could contact the roof of the car that was littered with broken glass. She pulled herself upright and searched frantically around her, finding her bag but not her cell phone. She scrambled out of the car window, realizing she could not get her sword because it was in the trunk of the overturned vehicle.
Avery pulled out a knife she had in her bag before draping it over her shoulder and turned in a circle anxiously to get an indication of the direction of her enemy. What had emerged into the dim glow cast by the car’s headlights made her jaw drop and take a few steps back.
Nearly seven feet tall, what she could only describe as a black, hairy demon with four horns that looked more like antlers stepped forward. She had never seen such a thing in her life.
A grumble escaped his clenched teeth, “You are to come with me human, or die.”
Avery trembled, but couldn’t help being a smart-ass, “Is there a third option?”
A loud growl replaced the grumbling as Avery held up her hands in front of her, backing away. “I’m honored that they sent such a…formidable opponent to come retrieve me, but really…I gotta go.” And with that statement, she turned tail and ran down the dark road to the nearest house. That chest-tightening roar sounded yet again.
Avery turned to check behind her and back in time to be clotheslined. The back of her head thumped against the ground. Avery cringed while holding her head, wincing upward into the dark to see the demon standing over her, reaching down to grab ahold of her. She rolled out of his grasp and got up as fast as her body would allow. She found her opening, throwing her knife into the chest of the beast. He let out a thunderous wail but simply pulled it from his chest, glaring at her with even more ferocity. Avery was frantic for a moment, and she watched the black blood spill over his chest as he slowly approached her.
She continued to run toward a little white farmhouse, banging on the door desperately. No one had answered, and all the lights were off save for one outdoor light in the backyard. Avery kicked in the door to find it was unlocked, to begin with. Not bothering to stop and feel stupid, she made her way to the kitchen where there was an old dial phone on the wall. As soon as she had picked it up, the demon came up behind her and back-handed her. Avery flung backward through the kitchen window. Her fall was short and luckily, with a leather jacket to shield her back and adrenaline pumping through her, she didn’t feel as if she had been pierced by any of the shards. The demon ripped the back door off of its hinges in pursuit of her.
“Fuck,” Avery panted as she staggered toward the garage. The beast kept his pace, like a bad horror film, taking his time as if he knew he was going to catch her no matter what she did. She slipped into the garage and narrowed her eyes, trying to see what she could use as a weapon with what little light there was. She had found her weapon of choice and scrambled with it, “Please, please work.”
The demon stood at the entrance of the garage, looking around for her. His long ears twitched at the sound of her approaching from behind him, and he turned around. Avery had yanked with all her might on the cord of the chainsaw in her hands. As it started, the now wide-eyed demon roared over the sound. Avery raised the chainsaw with all her might and brought it down the front of the beast. He shrieked as it ripped him open from neck to stomach. She looked away and pressed her lips tight as black, thick blood flew left and right, and caked her chest and arms. The saw stalled, and she threw it to the ground next to the creature. There was no way he would recover from that.
Avery, using what little energy she had left, shuffled back to the kitchen and used the old phone to call for a cleanup, giving directions to where she and the car were. She wiped the receiver clean of her fingerprints and found a small bathroom to wash in. Looking in the mirror, Avery felt some of her hair had matted in the back of her head with blood. She could feel something hard there. She found a pair of tweezers in the bathroom and plucked a small piece of glass from her head.
“Son of a bitch,” she hissed.
Avery walked out of the house when she heard vehicles arriving. It was a white utility van and a black sedan. Two men in hazmat suits, carrying trash bags and spray tanks on their backs, approached her.
“He’s in the garage,” she mentioned before they could ask. They took off in that direction, and a woman approached her.
“The normal police were called to the scene of your accident before we could get there. You need to simply tell them you hit a deer, swerved off the road, and went looking for a phone. We’ve got things handled here.”
“What about the doors and windows?” Avery inquired.
“We’ve got it,” the woman smiled.
“Wow, okay. Ummm…thanks.”
Avery stumbled back toward the road, heading toward the blinking red and blue lights ahead of her. As she approached, a figure of a man in a trench coat paused and looked her way. He ran toward her.
Avery slowed as she recognized who it was, “No,” she agonized to herself.
“Miss Langdon, what happened?! Are you hurt?!” Detective Jace Ashford frantically assessed her for injury.
“Avery,” she whispered.
Jace paused and gently grabbed her by her shoulders, “Avery. What happened here?”
“I hit a deer. I went looking for a phone,” she robotically responded.
Jace studied her eyes, looking for truth in them before going along with it. “Does anything hurt?”
“My head had a piece of glass in it, but I got it out,” she started before he spun her around. She cut off immediately what she was going to say to wonder what in the hell was going on. Why was the detective so worried about her?
Jace found the spot on her head and analyzed it, “You should have the paramedics look at this.”
Avery turned to face him, and something in his hazel eyes had shocked her into silence for a moment. Still, in a weird daze, she allowed him to lead her over to the EMS vehicle. They cleaned her up and checked her for a possible concussion before giving her the go ahead. A tow truck had arrived to pull the Mustang out of the ditch, and Avery winced at the sight. Talon was not going to be happy about that.
“Hey,” Jace grabbed her shoulder from behind. “The police report is done. Get in the car. I will drive you wherever you need to go.”
Being alone with the detective in his car was one of the more awkward things Avery had ever experienced. “Keep going down this road,” Avery directed.
Jace broke the silence by clicking his tongue, “That was quite the accident. A deer, you said?”
“Yeah,” Avery responded.
“By any chance, am I taking you to your boyfriend’s house? He lives out this way, right?”
She tensed, “How did you know?”
“Sorry. I’m a detective. It’s in my nature to snoop.”
Avery remained silent, but Jace continued, “Where was he at that he couldn’t come get you?”
She shrugged her shoulders and stared out th
e window, “Dunno. He wasn’t picking up his phone.”
“That was a really nice car you totaled. What does your boyfriend do for a living?”
Avery hesitated, “He doesn’t really have a job. He likes to do stock market stuff.”
“With what money,” Jace pressed.
“Inheritance,” Avery sharply stated.
“You know, I got a sixth sense for knowing if someone is telling me the truth or not,” he paused. “Is Talon his real name?”
“Why would you ask that?” Avery raised her voice.
“Well, that vehicle is registered to a ‘Talon Arthur Campbell,’ but when I looked up that name in the system, there were no records.”
Arthur? Now she’d really have to tease him. “Of course there weren’t, he’s not a criminal.”
Jace sternly cut her off, “I mean no records period. No credit cards, social security number, not even a birth certificate. So I’m gonna ask you again; what’s your boyfriend into? You don’t have to protect him.”
Avery huffed. “This is ridiculous! Let me out, NOW.”
“If he’s innocent of any wrongdoing, why are you lying to me?”
“NOW,” she reiterated.
“You’d rather walk than answer a simple question?”
Avery crossed her arms and kept silent. Jace pulled over the vehicle, and Avery ripped open and slammed the door in a huff. The detective rolled down his window, “It was nice seeing you again Avery. I hope you have a speedy recovery from your injury.”
Love and Bloodlust: The Sacred Objects Page 16
