V for Vampire Hunter #2
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I stalled in my forward trek.
Head twisting, I looked the direction I felt its presence.
Eyes dodging left and right, I scanned the area.
The scent I registered was enough to put weight into my stomach.
The gleam of pale eyes stole my focus, and without realizing what I was doing, I took Nigel by the arm and towed him over to his car with enough strength he nearly dragged beside me.
Only seconds after shoving him inside the driver’s side, a strong impact echoed inside my chest, and I slammed into the car door with a sickening thud.
Glass cracked, and Nigel’s eyes widened as I groaned and pushed off the door with shaky arms.
That’s going to bruise in the morning.
Blade already out, I sliced into the arm reaching out for me. The vampire retreated with a hiss as holy water soaked into his skin, burning pure-white flesh. I evaded another swipe and threw an arm out before catching the bastard by the neck and throwing him to the floor.
I’m a god!
A cloud of dirt billowed up around us before I was yanked forward, and then pinned to the ground.
Coughing, I kicked my knee up and caught the bastard in the stomach.
With practiced movements and years of Hunter training under my belt, I forced his weight to the side and pushed my blade into his chest.
The vampire grunted and took hold of my shoulders—my hands failing to pry his off—then tossed me like a weightless doll across the dirt-covered ground.
I rolled and hit every damn rock imbedded in the ground before coming to a full stop.
To my eternal chagrin, I was grossly covered from head to toe in muck and blood.
That’s going to be a bitch to wash out.
But I didn’t have time to recover or bemoan my destroyed outfit. I was quickly dodging another attack; one that flaunted a twelve-inch blade that could easily decapitate me if I lost focus.
On my stomach, I pushed off the ground with enough force to loft me to my feet and blocked another assault aimed at my throat. Roundhouse kicking the bastard so hard it’d break bone, I sliced through his finger with my blade, and the vampire recoiled to stabilize his injured hand.
“Hunter,” the vampire spat. “I should’ve known. You little bastards are hard to fight off.”
I dodged another attempt when he reached for me and kicked out my foot, sending the thing colliding with the floor.
Dust took flight again in a great burst and distorted my view before it settled.
But he was gone. Stake in hand, I searched the area and backed up several steps to go where Nigel was trapped inside the car.
If I didn’t sink this into the bastard’s chest soon, there was no telling how long I’d last with someone to protect.
Unfortunately, with how fast and strong this one was, it was very likely he was hundreds of years old.
I wasn’t trained enough to take on one that strong.
Grams had even warned me against it, saying calculated retreat was sometimes the only option.
But with someone relying on me to keep them safe, retreat wasn’t an option.
Older vampires were harder to kill. A stake would need to be followed up by decapitation, and I’d need to be in top form.
“Lestat makes more sense now that I’m thinking about it,” I mumbled, panning the area again.
The world around me was quiet. Nothing stirred in the wake of battle, and I couldn’t detect the bastard’s presence.
With my mind cycling through tactical retreat plans, I gripped the stake tighter and glanced at Nigel.
To my surprise, he wasn’t freaking out. I mean, not really.
Not in the way I’d seen before. Granted, shock took many forms. It was likely he hadn’t registered what was happening yet.
There was a memory tonic Grandma Rose taught me to make that erased memories.
It wasn’t always successful, so the Organization—our vampire hunter operation—employed several professionals to work through the “visions” and “hallucinations” of an evening spent fighting off a creature of the night.
But Nigel looked almost calm by comparison to all the others I’d encountered.
Turning back, I shifted from one foot to the other, agitated by the silence. If not for Nigel, I’d be chasing the bastard down. But old vampires were bad news and had years of experience evading and fighting off my kind. My lack of training and handicapped state spelled death in every case but one.
Escape.
I peered at Nigel, decided. “It’s time to get the fuck out of here.”
“V!” Nigel called out just as another blow forced me into the unforgiving metal of the car, smacked into it like a pancake.
My head collided with glass and it cut into my skull, all but ruining my updo. Dazed, I coughed out blood and collapsed to my knees. Darkness swirled around me, and my consciousness wavered as I tried to steady myself on all fours. A loud ringing echoed in my ears, smothering out all other sounds.
Shit on a stick, this night was already off to a terrible start. And all in front of the boy I liked. How lovely.
On my feet again, I cradled my side and opened my legs, assuming a defensive stance.
But then my heart was in my throat. Nigel wasn’t in the car.
The window was broken out and glass glittered dangerously all over the dirt.
I traced the footsteps on the ground, but my vision was swaying too much to infer much more than the fact that whoever it was, they’d run off.
Did I pass out?
“Nigel!” I called out, taking ginger steps.
Dammit, my ears were still ringing.
Senses slowed, I didn’t move in time to evade another attack.
I struck the already cratered car door and was showered with the leftover glass from the window.
Shaking to get rid of the fog in my head, I blocked a hand full of razor-sharp fingernails, then slammed a brass-knuckled fist into the creature’s chest. But it wasn’t enough to stop him.
With another loud bang, my back hit the car door, and a strong hand wrapped tightly around my neck, depriving me of air.
Struggling, I kicked a knee out, but the vampire merely smirked and pushed it away. The pressure in my head built up, alerting me to the fact that I was going to lose consciousness if I didn’t get this damn thing off of me.
I threw my arm down across my offender’s outstretched one and sunk a foot straight into his chest, vaulting the bastard away from me with enough strength to do damage.
The vampire collided and slid across the ground, his clothing finally displaying large tears across the front.
I stared, vision still suffering slightly, and tried to make sense of what I was seeing.
Why were Lestat’s clothes shredded like he’d been cut by claws and not blades?
Before I could get a better look, a dark beast the size of a bear darted out and landed with a stomach-turning thud on the collapsed vampire. Sharp white teeth gleamed before the beast tore through the vampire’s throat, decapitating my foe just as a shrill cry echoed out into the night.
I wasn’t a stranger to torn flesh and severed limbs.
I had even seen a decapitation or two before the vampires I fought turned to ash.
But this was the first time I’d seen a beast the size of a bear tear out a vampire’s throat, effectively severing its head with the bite.
Even worse, nothing would ever prepare me to witness such a brutal, horrific demise.
Especially because I wasn’t sure what to make of this beast—friend or foe.
I stumbled backwards, shoulder landing on the door I’d been previously thrown into. “What…?”
Gold eyes flicked up from the mangled corpse on the ground before the slaughtered vampire disappeared into ash and took to the sky like a dark cloud of death.
Eyes of the purest, brightest gold continued to bore into mine before the beast reshaped and stood in front of me as the man I’d spent a lifetime crushing on.
Nigel came forward and touched a sore spot on my head.
Gasping in surprise, I recoiled and molded myself to the car, suddenly more scared than I’d ever been in the presence of any vampire. “Werewolf? But…they’re not real.”
Nigel offered me a bitter smile. “You believe in vampires but not werewolves?”
“I…but…”
“We’ve stayed relatively hidden from your kind, believe it or not.
Found ways to control our transformation and live practically like humans,” Nigel started conversationally, kneeling down and lifting me into a princess hold.
If not for being immobilized by surprise, I would’ve complained I was able-bodied enough to walk myself.
“And if not for tonight, probably would’ve stayed that way. Here, at least.”
I swallowed around my surprise before realizing what knowing his secret as a vampire hunter meant. “So…I imagine you’ll have to kill me, then?”
“Kill you?”