Vampire's Shade Discounted Box Set

Chapter 1I backed the vampire into an alley, myknife out with the blade low and threatening. It gleamed in thealmost-darkness of the alley, a reminder to me and my victim that theknife had silver in it. A black chain was looped over myshoulder, weighing me down, but I had trained like this. I coulddeal. I was just trying to scare the vampire with my knife. The shortsilver blade wasn’t good for a kill, not for a vampire. It would doin a pinch, because the silver burned their flesh – not enough, buta little – and I could work the vampire over if I wanted to, butthat would get my hands dirty, and I preferred to stake them. Or blow their heads off. I had yet tosee a vampire that could bounce back from that one. The vampire tried to dodge me andescape, but I had the upper hand. I knew about the vampire’s speed;it had underestimated mine. I was in front of it before it could getpast me. It skidded to halt, gaping at me. In a life-and-death fight, there isn’ta lot of time for questions. You get to choose – answers or life.The vampire had made the wrong choice. I let the chain slip off my shoulderand swung it around, sheathing the knife with my free hand. When Iflicked the chain, it twisted around the vampire’s wrist and theclip snapped shut around itself. This baby was going nowhere. Blue and red lights suddenly danced onthe street at the alley entrance, and we both froze. The battlebetween us was one thing; neither of us wanted the police involved. Ididn’t, because my work had a lot of moral pitfalls. The vampiredidn’t, because when a vampire and a human were caught in an alleytogether, chances were the police would take the human’s side. There was also the small technicalitythat I wasn’t exactly human, and I supposedly didn’t exist. When the car had gone past and thesilence of night fell around us again, I looked at my victim andsmiled. I stepped closer, looping the chain,until my body was practically right up against the vampire’s. Itsquirmed and tried to fight, but it had been a long run to get here,and I was fitter. The vampire squeezed its eyes shut, andI felt a hum emanating from it. It faded so I could see the brickwall right through its chest, but the metal I’d wrapped around itswrist stopped it from dematerializing completely, and when it stoppedtrying to, the humming stopped, too. I was going to win this one, andit knew that. I flipped my hair over my shoulder toget it out of the way. In the tussle, I’d lost the hairband thatkept my black mass of hair out of my face. I killed for a living, and my biggeststumbling block was keeping my long hair out of the way. Beauty was a b***h. I wasn’t going to cut it. It hunghalfway down my back, thick and healthy. My looks were just as deadlyas my skill. And I had a lot of skill. I whipped the chain around thevampire’s other wrist, too, and tightened it, pulling its hands uptogether. Then I slammed a silver stake under the vampire’s ribsand wrapped my fingers tightly around the smooth finish, fingeringthe pattern I’d carved out around its edge. I carried a lot of heat. I had a gun ina holster under my jacket and another tucked into my waistband at thesmall of my back. But guns didn’t work on vampires. Their abilityto heal rapidly was a pain in the ass when it came to self-defense orhit jobs. The vampire’s eyes were wild, wide,rolling around in their sockets. The split second before death wasnever pretty. A thick black mist surrounded us,choking me, making it hard to breathe. I gritted my teeth and ignoredit. It was almost like poison, the vampire’s last attempt to holdon to life, like an octopus’s ink, but I was immune. Never underestimate your enemies. An image of Aspen flashed through mymind, her eyes dull and lifeless. Her body was bent at an impossibleangle. Around her, the furniture was upside down and out of place,like a nightmare version of our home. Nearby, bloody fangs drippingmenace. A fire inside me threatened to consumeme, and I leaned against the stake, pushing it through the vampire’sflesh, forcing it into the vampire’s heart. Killing the memories. The vampire focused on me, questioning,its eyes draining of life already, and a flicker of recognitionpassed across its face. Fast reflexes, stronger than human women,immune to the mist – it knew what I was. The pain of betrayal wasthe last emotion it displayed before its face went slack, its eyesrolled back, and the body slumped forward. Yeah, this one was going to haunt me.Great start to my week. I swallowed and gasped for air. Thethick stench clung to my clothes even after the mist had gone, and Icouldn’t shake the feeling of darkness and death clawing at myankles. I shuddered. Guilt was about as ugly as death itself. I pushed the dead vampire off me,letting the body crumple to the ground. Then I wiped the stake cleanon my black leather pants and zipped my jacket up halfway to concealthe gun. The silver line of dawn was on thehorizon, bleeding into the inky night air, announcing the arrival ofTuesday morning. The rising sun would take care of everything else:the blood, the body. The darkness I just couldn’t seem to get awayfrom. I turned and walked away, but stoppedbefore I turned out of the alley. I bit my cheek and turned back. Ihad to frisk the damn thing. This part I hated the most. There wasnothing as bad as playing with the dead when you were the reason theywere dead in the first place. I ignored the seed of guilt thatthrobbed deep down inside me. I tried to shake the image of thevampire’s face when it had realized what I was. I might have been ahalf-breed, at least fifty percent one of them, but genetics was asfar as it went. My loyalty lay with humans. My phone chirped in my pocket and Ianswered it, clamping it against my shoulder with my cheek. Smallmiracle I hadn’t lost it in the fight. It wouldn’t have been thefirst time. High tech was worth nothing if it fell out of my pocket. “Are you coming in before dawn?”Ruben’s voice was clipped. “I’m on my way to the office now.” “Cutting it a bit close, aren’tyou, Adele?” “I don’t tell you how to do yourjob, Ruben. Let me do mine.” My boss was a hard-ass i***t whobelieved he knew everything there was to know about night creatures,even though he never set foot outside his office until sunrise. Heknew what the dangers were, and he wasn’t going to take the fall.He trusted everyone about the same amount, which was not at all. Iliked him best when he was riled up and it was my fault. “Just get in here to do thepaperwork. I don’t want any mistakes. That damn Clemens woman washere again tonight, and I don’t want a story about you in thenews.” “Since when do journalists donighttime visits?” “Since you don’t have the dayshift. I don’t want to start my week like this, Adele.” Like it was my fault. Ruben hung up the phone, and Ishuddered in the silence that was left behind. Not a lot of peoplebelieved in half-breeds, and those who did wished us dead. I shook off the feeling of forebodingthat had come with the phone call, and headed downtown. I worked as a vampire slayer for aliving. I was good at what I did, and Ruben paid me well for it. Itwas quick work, even though it wasn’t always easy. And it wasn’tjust the physical side of the business that was a problem. Every jobhad its emotional downside, and some people needed TV time to winddown after the daily grind. I probably needed therapy. I worked for a thickset, sleazy man ina dirty world. Ruben Cross was about as human as they came, but hisscent disgusted me. I could smell his blood, which was laced withalcohol most of the time. He was dead set on ridding the world ofvampires. For him, it was a religion as much as it was racism. From the outside, his company lookedlike a standard accounting firm. His after-hours advertising wasdirected at a few chosen individuals, a private affair among peoplewho heard of us through word-of-mouth whispers around corners, andonly a handful knew about what we did when night fell. We weren’t exactly on the radar, andI liked it that way. My entire existence was under the radar. Theunlicensed killing meant I never had to own up to anything, and wedidn’t speak about a job once it was done. Vampires didn’t fallunder any constitution of the existing laws. They were seen as partof society now, but those who didn’t fear them shunned them, anddiscrimination was everywhere. Human rights got a little blurry whenthe person involved wasn’t human, and the fewer questions asked,the better. Vampires had a strange hierarchy. Theones we ended up taking out were the mundane vampires, the youngones, the ones that didn’t mean anything in the vampire world. Thehit jobs were usually ordered by humans. The vampires that meantsomething, the powerful ones at the top of their own food chain –those, we left alone. They never had quarrels with humans, and wenever ran into real killers. Still, when a cop found a body in thestreet, supernatural creature or not, it was going to attractattention. The common consensus was that humansand vampires couldn’t breed. The existence of half-breeds was justa rumor; as far as most people were concerned, Aspen and I couldn’teven exist. Ruben knew what I was, but he kept me on because as ahalf-breed I had the ability to pull off looking completely human. Ialso had vampire characteristics, which gave me an advantage abovethe human slayers. It upped my chances of tricking the purebloodvampires and putting them down before anyone could worry about moralissues. Betraying our own kind was a big deal,but I had a hatred for vampires that almost equaled Ruben’s. Whydid I hate them? He had his reasons; I had mine. I had a strict don’task, don’t tell policy. So far, it had worked for me. When I stepped into the lobby of theoffice building where Ruben holed up, Carl was just coming down thestairs. He was a lot of man: muscle that made his shirt stretch tightover his arms, and thighs that threatened to pop out of his pants.But muscles were no good when they were only for show. If it camedown to a life or death fight, I could have taken him easily. Muscleis worth nothing against a gun. “Oh, you’re here too,” he said. We didn’t often rub shoulders, notsince he’d taken me out on his first kill so I could learn theropes. He was always sarcastic about the job, calling it something awoman wouldn’t be able to do. But we both knew that within in aweek I’d become better at his job than he was. When I looked at him closely, I saw thetoll the last couple of years had taken on him. He had new wrinkles.He didn’t look like the young, strapping lad who had taken me underhis wing anymore. He looked worn. I wondered if the same was true forme. It was hard to stay in this line of work and look fresh at theend of the day. “Just doing the final rounds, Carl,”I said. “I don’t feel like getting into a brawl tonight.” “You’re in the wrong job for that,”he pointed out. I shrugged. Carl was just a human. Ididn’t know how he managed to do his job – the first night I’dseen him, he’d been quick, and that had been his only asset. Still,Ruben had kept him on, so maybe he had something going for him. Maybehe charmed the vamps to death. With his chiseled jaw and jet-blackhair, he could get any woman to look twice. Maybe his icy eyes didthe trick, hypnotizing the vampires into believing they shouldn’trun. I passed him, and he tipped hisshoulder so it knocked me in the arm. In the world of vampireslayers, there are no courtesies for women. I jabbed my elbow backfaster than he could blink and caught him in the kidney. He made astrangled sound. “You’d better watch your back,Adele. Sometimes humans can hold grudges too.” “If you’re talking about yourself,I’m not exactly going to lose sleep over it. But thanks for thewarning.” He snorted and walked out into thesilvery dawn. Carl wasn’t a bad guy; I just didn’tlike him. There’d been a time when we’d gotten along, but he’dgotten cocky about his kills, and somewhere along the line he’dpicked up that I was a half-breed. That had made all the difference.He didn’t see me as an equal anymore. Good thing I’d never really cared. Iwas good at working alone, and his smoldering looks might have workedon other females, but I didn’t have time for dating. “That’s what I’m talking about,”Ruben said when I walked into his office and dropped the ID card andkeys I’d taken off the vampire on his desk. His salt-and-pepper hair looked likehe’d spent the night sticking his hands into it, and he was wearinga jersey over his shirt that I would bet hid the fact that it wascreased. The smell of whiskey hung in the air, laced with the day-oldsmell of his cologne, and I crinkled my nose. He picked up the ID and looked at thephoto. He nodded, satisfied. “It took Carl a week, and he stillcouldn’t put this one down. And you do it as a quickie on theside.” “Not my fault you’re not delegatingright, Ruben,” I said. “I told you this one wasn’t going to godown easy. Some of them you have to get hot and heavy with.” “Nothing as hot as a vampire slayerwilling to get personal.” He shook his head. His amber eyes werebright, despite the fact that he looked like he could do with a yearof sleep. “I wish there were more people like you on my team. Carlis good, but he’s not you, and I’ve already got your quotafilled.” He leaned on his desk and intertwined his fingers. “Aboutthis journalist. You need to watch your back. She’s not lettingthis one go.” “Nothing I can’t handle. You knowthat.” He stretched his arms up, and hisjersey pulled taut over the expanse of his body. When I glanced down,I noticed he was wearing slippers. I guessed if I’d been stuck inthis office all night, I’d do something to get comfortable too. “You’re not immortal, Adele. Ifanyone finds out what you are, what you’re doing is only going tocount against you.” “I’m doing what most humans are tooscared to.” “And you’re an abomination…” I turned and walked out of the officebefore he could finish his sentence. He didn’t have the right tohire a killer and lecture her. He had to stay clear; I beatmyself up enough without him joining in. “You make sure you’re back here bysundown,” Ruben called after me. I didn’t bother to answer. Being a half-breed meant there weresome rules that didn’t apply to me. My human genes had won out moreoften than not. I had a perfect set of blunt teeth – no fangs –and I didn’t need blood to survive, even though I could smell itand sometimes it called out to me. Sunlight was uncomfortable, but itwasn’t going to turn me into ash. Ruben knew that, but we worked on aschedule that stretched from sunset to sunrise. He had me working allnight as it was; I wasn’t going to give him a chance to put me ondouble duty. Daylight was a better time to huntvampires, if you could find where they holed up. But I had a thingabout killing something helpless, even if it was a vampire. I’dseen enough of that in my life to know that everyone – everything –deserved a fighting chance, at least. I refused to slay in thedaytime. Personal policy. Besides, everyone needs some downtime, andthat included me. I found my motorcycle three blocksaway, in the opposite direction from my home, on the outskirts ofWestham’s Business District. It was still sitting where I’dabandoned it, when the vampire had hopped a fence my motorcyclecouldn’t. I was attracted to raw power, and theMV Augusta M4CC was just that. It had a black body with smoothcurves. It was an orgasm on wheels. How had a civilian like me, with aslightly above average income, gotten her hands on something as rareas an Augusta? Vampires have resources, and I had happened to killthe right one. Who would have thought my job had perks. The bike purred underneath me and thewind wrapped around my body as I raced down the street. The speedgave me the illusion that I was actually escaping for a change. Ipreferred riding to walking, not just because the Augusta was a hotpiece of metal, but because the neighborhood wasn’t a great one andI was a girl who got attention. Not that I ever had any trouble. Thelast man who had his hand up my thigh after I’d politely asked himto back off was still trying to figure out which way was up. Still,my ride was a reward, and after a night of kills, I wasn’t in themood to play nice. I turned into my street. It was anothercouple of blocks to my apartment building, and shadows were lurkingin between trashcans and down the narrow alleys. I twisted the throttle and ate up thedistance. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the place. It was justthat the threatening shadows reminded me of what could hide in them.Once you opened yourself up to the creepy-crawlies of the night, youcould never really escape them again, and I wanted to be off duty atsome point. I didn’t like killing after hours, and Ruben wasn’tgoing to pay me overtime. A sharp scent flowed in through the airvents in my helmet and pulled my head to the right. I slowed down thebike, stopped, and backed up with my toes on the asphalt until Icould almost feel the smell inside of me. I fought the urge, but itdrew me. Being a half-breed meant blood couldcall out to me, and I wasn’t as immune to it as I would have liked.It was a weakness I didn’t like to acknowledge. I knew the smell of vampire, and it wassometimes my downfall that I couldn’t ignore the call if it was onthe right frequency. This one had something else to it too. SomethingI couldn’t quite place. The draw was stronger than usual. I switched off the bike and got off,pulled my helmet off and left it hanging on the handlebars. My hairfell into my face, and I shook my head irritably and followed mynose. It wasn’t the safest place to leavethe bike unattended, but I didn’t plan on staying very long. Ilooked up and down the street, but I was alone. In all-blackclothing, I was camouflaged at night, but I stuck out against thesilvery color of morning. The scent pulled me, and I sniffed itout like a bloodhound. I walked into an alley that had walls reachingthree stories up on either side. It ran into a dead end at the back,a chain-link fence that looked onto a dumpster. My nose prickled withthe pungent smell. It was sour, and it spelled trouble. When I moved the dumpster, a pale handfell onto my foot, and I jumped. I wasn’t nervous as a rule, butthis could be a trap as much as anything else. I reached behind me and pulled the SIGSauer P226 from my waistband. I’d left my stake with the bike, andthis gun wouldn’t do much damage to a vampire who could heal atwill and had the force of fury behind him, but it would slow the vampdown long enough for me to get away. I wished I had more bullets for mySmith & Wesson. The 500 packed a punch that could kill a largeanimal, and I had yet to meet a vampire that could hold on to itshead after a good aim. The gap between life and death was only ahairline crack when you were staring down the right barrel. The hand on my foot was limp. I pointedmy gun and trailed it up a well-shaped arm. On the other end of it, Ifound a male vampire. Its skin was tight over its skull and almosttranslucent on its neck. It was unconscious, its cheeks sunken, darkcircles around its closed eyes. Its skin wasn’t as pale as that ofsome of the older vampires I’d seen, but the dull, almost colorlessappearance of its hair made it look washed out, and it had freshpuncture marks at the base of its neck. A couple of them, with theskin bruised around the bites. This vampire was freshly turned, andhad been left out here in the alley to die. Why? I looked around, preparing for company,but the alley around us was empty, and I couldn’t smell anyone. A vampire didn’t become a vampire byaccident. It took a lot of work – a person had to be held for anumber of days and drunk from at regular intervals until there wasnothing left to give. Then, the body had to mutate to survive. Death by consumption. I smiled at myown joke. Generally vampires bred to make morevampires. But humans were turned sometimes, too. Usually with goodreason, but what that reason was remained a mystery. After the sire had taken all thattrouble to recruit this new vamp, why would it be left here to die atsunrise? Unless it had escaped… I considered returning to the bike toget my stake. I should kill it right here; then there’d be one lessvampire to deal with when the time came. But when I looked at its face, Icouldn’t do it. My values were twisted, but I had a set of rules Itried to live by. I couldn’t just turn away and shoot itpoint-blank. I grabbed it by the ankles and draggedit down the alley towards the street. The sun would be heading thisway soon, and even the first rays of dawn were fatal for a pureblood.It was heavier than it looked, but I was stronger than most girlsbecause of my supernatural gifts. Its arms flipped up, and the shirt rodeup. The concrete was going to leave a hell of a graze, but if thevamp survived, it would be healed up in no time. Possibly even beforeit woke up, if it ever did. I worked my way across the street,keeping an eye out for danger, but it was deserted. When I got to theother side, I kicked a closed garage door. It lifted enough on itshinges for me to work with. I worked my fingers underneath, and itrolled to the top with a groan. Clearly, no one had lived here foryears. The vampire would be safe, and ready to dematerialize bysundown if another predator didn’t sniff it out first. I shoved the body into the cold garageand slammed the door shut again without looking at it, then dusted myhands on my pants. As I walked away, I knew I was going to regretsaving the vamp, but I didn’t like going after vampires who hadn’tdone anything wrong. I would get it another time.