Bloodstorm (Heart of a Vampire) Page 2

  The vampires rushed her. She ducked their reaching hands. Nails sliced her cheek and the scent of blood welled into the air. They fought, moving deeper into the trees, away from the bar and the humans who would soon interfere.

  She slashed with her dagger and the new guy screamed to her satisfaction.

  In the parking lot, the cops ran towards them. Their steps were slow compared to the speed of the fight, but they’d be there soon enough. This had to end. She didn’t need the deaths of some small town cops on her conscience.

  Power and the thrill of the fight fired her blood. Her vision grew sharp and her canines extended.

  Grinning at the men, she allowed her fangs to show.

  Niki sliced her knife along his throat, hard enough to cut, but not kill. He tried to claw for her arm, but she didn’t miss.

  The other guy jumped into the party, slapping her hard enough to make her stumble. Her ears rang.

  “Bastard.” She punched him in the face.

  The cops crashed through the forest, getting closer. Niki reached down and drew a second, longer blade from her boot.

  She sneered. “Run. Or die.”

  They laughed.

  Fine. She’d do it the hard way. Bracing herself, she spun, kicking high. Her boot slammed into the snitch’s head. He sprawled backwards and crashed into another tree. Something cracked, him or the wood she didn’t know.

  Blades flashing, she sliced at the other guy’s chest.

  The scent of blood soaked the air.

  Someone shouted and air rushed through the trees, knocking her backwards. A snaking vine tangled her feet. It crept up her legs and yanked them together.

  Niki hacked at it with her daggers and it disintegrated. The man from the bar stood between her and the other two vampires. She met his gaze, and once more nearly stumbled as the intensity of sensations weakened her knees. He waved his hands in weird, symbol-like gestures. Must be a mage.

  On the other side of him, the vamps were clawing at their own vines. They managed to get free, only to send her heated glares which promised retribution before they melded into the shadows.

  Niki turned to leave, but low hanging branches swung together, blocking the way. Casually, she turned to the man. “That won’t stop me.”

  His brows drew together above narrowed eyes. “No?”

  The leaves rustled and Niki found herself in the center of a leafy cocoon, branches and vines holding her in.

  “Too bad your kind can’t shift like in the myths. I bet a bat could get out of there, but not much else. Certainly not you.” Anger tinged his voice, harsh and unbending.

  She inched her long dagger up, slicing through the cage. The branches fell open and she stepped out.

  His eyes glowed golden. As she stared at him, time seemed to slow, just as it had in the bar.

  Chocolate colored hair flowed down his back. It was loose, but for a small braid at his left temple. It framed a face carved from granite--high, prominent cheekbones, straight, almost hawkish nose, square chin. The only softness in his face came from the gold eyes and wide lips.

  Something inside her warmed. Blinking, she tried to ignore these strange sensations. She hadn’t felt like this in centuries. This man shouldn’t be able to affect her, not like this.

  Mage. Yes. But that didn’t explain it.

  She didn’t understand what was going on, but she couldn’t--wouldn’t--let such a feminine response to this guy get in her way.

  Leaves crunched and a twig snapped, the crack echoing in the silence. A uniformed cop stumbled from the trees, tripping over an exposed root. “Sheriff?” he called to the man staring at her.

  The sheriff turned. As their eye-contact broke, energy moved through her once more.

  She didn’t look back as she raced into the forest, hidden by shadows. Behind her, the man cursed.

  Niki soon left them far behind. She relished the freedom of running through the trees at night, but there were more important things to focus on.

  Like catching up with the snitch and his partner, and finding out where Thomas was hiding. Then, she could kill the man who’d destroyed every ounce of peace and happiness she’d ever known. The man who had made her into the monster she was now.

  Chapter Two

  Shane led his deputy back to the parking lot. The entire walk, Chase went on and on about the woman in the forest.

  “How could someone so pretty be such trouble?” the man lamented.

  “Because she’s a vampire, that’s why.”

  “One of MacDougal’s?”

  “No. A rogue.”

  Chase whistled. “Well that ain’t good. Those kind get up to all sorts of mischief.”

  He didn’t have to worry about vampires belonging to the local clan. Their Master made sure they ate plenty, since lack of real food could make them as crazed with hunger as the lack of blood. MacDougal also kept them supplied with blood from the local hospital’s blood bank.

  But rogues didn’t have anyone to provide, or keep them from deciding to snack on humans. And there were plenty of rogues who kept to historical views that humanity was nothing more than cattle for the taking.

  Hell, Shane had heard recently of a vampire who’d forsaken food to drink only blood. He’d lost the last remnants of his humanity, becoming a true monster of the dark before he’d been put down by the Magic Council.

  He replied, “Mischief isn’t the word I would use.”

  They crossed the lot, heading for their cars. The radio at Shane’s belt crackled and their dispatcher came on.

  “Sheriff? You there?”

  He unclipped it and hit the button. “What do you need, Becky?”

  “There’s been a call from Drayton’s Pharmacy. He’s got trouble.”

  “Of course he does. What’s the problem this time?”

  “Didn’t say.”

  “Fine. I’m at Henry’s bar with Chase. We’ll head over there.”

  The line filled with static, then Becky added, “Drayton was pretty worked up.”

  Friday night wouldn’t be complete without a call from Drayton, crabby about teenagers or anything else he felt deserved complaining about.

  “All right. Let him know we’re on the way.” He glanced at Chase.

  His deputy Frowned, eyelids drooping. Shane felt as tired as Chase looked. With the double use of magic tonight, he needed sleep. But duty called. “The quicker we’re done, the quicker we can get home and to our beds.”

  He waited as Chase headed for his Camaro, and started the engine. The deputy waved as he pulled out of the parking lot.

  Shane got in his pick-up truck, but just sat there for a moment. His thoughts turned to the woman. A vampire, he reminded himself. There’d been something about her he couldn’t push past. His grandfather would have told him it was fate. Grandfather saw signs in everything. Even Shane’s dad would tell him to look into it.

  He snorted.

  She was a vampire. It didn’t matter he’d felt a strong, unyielding pull towards her. She was off limits. Besides, it must’ve been some weird magic. Nothing else made sense. He had enough trouble on his hands trying to keep the peace between the local vampires and the shifters, without becoming interested in one of the Arcaine.

  Shane started his truck, the rumble of the engine sending a small flock of bats from the trees into flight.

  Damn.

  It had to be some strange magic. Something he’d never heard of before. Or the beer. Hell, his reaction could’ve been because of the strange, heaviness he’d felt all day. Maybe he just needed some sleep. Not that he’d be getting rest any time soon. Drayton would draw it out as long as the old miser could.

  Putting his truck in drive, he took the highway into town, unable to ignore thoughts of the beautiful stranger.

  On Main Street, he pulled in front of the pharmacy. Chase was already talking to Drayton, trying to calm the pharmacist down. But his deputy had a wide-eyed look Shane didn’t like. He tugged on his uniform shirt befo
re hopping from his truck and striding over.

  Peter Drayton wrung his hands together in front of his bulging belly. He turned to Shane. “Sheriff. You must check it out. Really. You need to do something.” The short, round man stepped closer. Too close.

  Shane glanced at Chase, who rolled his eyes. Trying to sound sympathetic, Shane said, “What’s the problem?” He bit off the words ‘this time’.

  Drayton pointed to the side of the building. “It’s in the alley. Some god-awful sounds, like someone was fighting. But it wasn’t animals, even though it sounded like animals. I tell you, you must do something.”

  Shane patted the man’s shoulder. “I’ll go check it out. You go inside and Deputy Campton will take your statement, all right?”

  “Don’t patronize me, just because you’re all newly elected. Again.”

  Shane held back a laugh. “I know. You voted for Herman. I’ll still check the alley for you.”

  Drayton’s cheeks flushed and he stormed back into the store.

  “Get his statement,” Shane told his deputy. “I’ll see whatever there is to see.”

  Chase glanced around uneasily. “You sure you don’t want me backing you up?”

  “It was probably some stray cats having a go at it. If I need you, I’ll radio.”

  Chase shook his head, but headed for the pharmacy. Shane grabbed a flashlight from his glove box, then eased into the alley.

  He wasn’t stupid. No matter how silly Drayton’s calls always were, one thing he’d learned during his time in the city was to always act like you were headed into a fight.

  With that thought, he unsnapped the strap across the butt of his gun.

  Back to the wall, Shane stopped at the corner. He took a quick look into the alley.

  Nothing.

  Slowly, he continued into the shadows. The pharmacy’s back door and part of the dumpster were illuminated by a single bare bulb. The rest of the alley lay in varying degrees of darkness.

  He blinked, letting his vision pick up the auras everywhere. Colors melded together. Nature’s earthy tones. A small, bright shape darted from shadow to shadow.

  Cat.

  On the fence separating the alley from the back of the supermarket, two darker shadows took human shape.

  No life remained in the bodies.

  Drawing his gun, he stepped soundlessly into the alley, searching for anyone living or undead nearby.

  Nothing.

  He let his vision fade back to normal and clicked on the flashlight, shining it on the bodies. They’d been strung up against the wooden fence. Ropes kept them in position. The woman faced the male with her chin tipped up so their faces nearly touched, as if they were lovers about to kiss.

  Steps came around the building, heading his way.

  Shane spun, gun up.

  Officer Zach Miller, no more than nineteen and barely out of the academy, came around the corner. Light hit Shane’s eyes, blinding him for a second. Miller stopped, turning the light away. It shone on the fence, spot-lighting the two dead bodies. The kid gasped air like a fish on land.

  Shane wished Chase hadn’t called for backup, especially not this kid.

  Reholstering his gun, he said softly, “Go help Deputy Campton get a statement from Drayton.”

  Miller swallowed loudly. His flashlight trembled, swinging from the bodies and crossing the ground in shaky circles.

  “Kid. Zach.” The boy finally looked at him. “Go help Campton get a statement from the pharmacist.”

  “Um. Yeah. I mean, yes, sir.” He raced back around the corner.

  Shaking his head, Shane rubbed his hands together. “Ya’áí,” he called in Apache. A glowing ball of light lit the alley. It rose from his palms and hovered in the air just above his shoulder.

  Shane drew closer to the bodies, took a deep breath and studied their faces.

  Death stripped personality from everyone it claimed. These two were no different, their slack features expressionless and almost wax-like. It always disturbed him on the deepest levels of his soul.

  He didn’t recognize either of them. But the man... “Son of a bitch.” His light flickered.

  Shane wanted to kick something. Hard. Over and over, until it became an unrecognizable lump. Anything would do.

  “Hey, boss.” Campton stepped into the alley. The deputy studied the bodies. His mouth thinned and he scratched his ear. “Both out-of-towners?”

  “Yup.”

  “Vampire bites. MacDougal doesn’t let any of his clan kill humans.”

  Shane fisted his hands. “Take a closer look at the male.”

  Campton leaned in closer. “What am I looking for?”

  Shane rubbed the scruff on his chin. “Shifter.”

  A vampire attack on a shifter. The truce between the clan and pack was fragile. Lately, tensions between the clan and pack had everyone on edge.

  This could cause an all-out blood war, the Arcaine fighting until all were dead. Including any innocent mortals who got in the way.

  “Well, dayum,” Campton replied.

  Shane turned to stare up at the nearly full moon, his thoughts running. “Call Greg Hanson. He can take pictures of the scene so we can untie the bodies. Then he can get them to the morgue.”

  As Campton pulled out his cell phone to make the call, Shane studied the night around the scene. If this wasn’t MacDougal’s clan, which he felt certain... He knew of only one rogue vampire in town recently. The woman from the forest. And didn’t that just make his damn night.

  ***

  Niki raced after the snitch’s scent until it disappeared in town. It was aggravating to come so close, yet be so far from her quarry.

  Then the wind brought her the rotten, blood-soaked stench of her true prey.

  Thomas.

  Like usual, his scent led to death.

  Keeping to the shadows, she surveyed the alley. The disturbing sheriff, now in uniform, stood with two deputies. An older man took pictures of the dead.

  With vision better than any bird of prey, she stared at the bites on the victims’ necks. The woman had been bitten cleanly, her blood drained by the paleness of her skin.

  But the male... the raggedness of the bites, too many to count, showed there had been a fight.

  She sniffed the air, drawing in the scents. Sure enough, she smelled wolf. Few but a shifter could put up a fight against a vampire as strong as Thomas.

  “You know this might be the straw, Shane,” the old man said to the sheriff.

  “Yeah.” Bitterness colored Shane’s voice. “If the shifters don’t retaliate...”

  Startled, she stared from the dead man to the sheriff. There was nothing obvious the man was anything other than human. Yet the sheriff knew, just as he’d marked her earlier at the bar.

  How?

  Sure, he had magic, but it didn’t explain... Niki stiffened, pressing against the brick wall at her back, hiding deeper in the shadows.

  Unless he was a Keeper--one appointed by who-the-hell-knew to keep the peace between the paranormal Arcaine races.

  Staring at the sheriff, she tried to think how this would affect her plans for killing Thomas. She might hate being called a Rogue, but to the Council and their guard dogs that’s exactly what she was.

  No sire to claim her--Thomas would never bother with such a thing, especially considering the vampire wanted to kill her as much as she yearned to kill him--and no clan for protection, she had no recourse against anything other creatures did to her.

  She was in a clan’s territory. If they were behind this attack, the Master could easily toss all the blame at her. They would be within rights to execute her as well.

  “MacDougal wouldn’t condone this,” Shane said with certainty.

  The deputy from the bar spoke up. “What about that pretty little rogue we saw earlier?”

  Her gaze snapped to the sheriff. He shrugged. “I need to talk to MacDougal. If it’s the woman we saw earlier, he’ll help us deal with her.”

&n
bsp; The old man lifted the camera strap from his neck and nestled the bulky camera in a large, padded bag. “All set.”

  The two deputies started cutting the ropes holding the bodies upright as the old man pulled Shane to the side. Unfortunately, it was in Niki’s direction.

  She huddled against the wall, debating whether to leave and come back later, or stay. It looked like they were almost done. Besides, she refused to run merely from the uncomfortable feelings the sheriff stirred inside her. She wasn’t a coward, and refused to act like one.

  The old guy shook his head. “You know as well as I, if you take this to MacDougal and the woman you told me about is innocent, she could still be put to death just for being in the Master’s territory.”

  Shane shrugged, but his brow creased as if considering the old man’s words. “Not if she followed protocol and is here with MacDougal’s permission. Besides, she’s a vampire. She’s not innocent of murder, whether responsible for these two or not.”

  Her blood fired with anger at the insult. So he was that type of Keeper. He held to the Council laws, kept the peace between Arcaine races, but thought them all monsters.

  Could her night get any worse?

  The old man slapped Shane upside the head, not nearly as hard as Niki would’ve liked to do. “Boy, you better get over the chip you’re hauling around lately. The Fates chose you. Your brother--”

  “Has nothing to do with it,” Shane interrupted.

  The old man rocked back. “Tell me your sister doesn’t have anything to do with it either.”

  The sheriff didn’t say anything, but his lips tightened and his eyes glowed brightly.

  “That’s what I thought.” The old man sighed. “Glory has the right to make her own decisions, boy.”

  Niki tried following the conversation, curious about what his sister’s choice might be.

  “Not this choice,” Shane grumbled.

  “Stubborn boy.” The old man looked around slyly. “I ought to call your parents.”

  Shane’s mouth dropped open and a flush spread up his neck and cheeks. Niki found it uncomfortably.... endearing.