The Vampire Next Door

Cherie Marks-2

The last thing she needed right now was more attention from Sup Co, otherwise known as the Supernatural Council, the group of supernatural beings who oversaw the paranormal world and worked to protect its secrecy from humans. They were already aware she was changing, and they’d sent him to watch over her during the transition. Though they refused to intervene once the change was in motion, she would now be in constant danger and need to be guarded. Other vampires would fight to the death for a taste of her in her current state of being. Her transition phase held certain desirable side-effects for supernatural beings, and many would be willing to kill for them. It was his job to keep her safe for the next month, until the change was complete.

He’d done this many times before, but somehow, something about her was different for him.

She grew restless again, turning onto her back and pulling her thin, cotton t-shirt tight across her chest. His gaze was drawn to the pebbled points showing off the feminine curves rising and falling as she breathed. He felt like the worst kind of voyeur and forced himself to shift his gaze elsewhere.

He traced his gaze to her face instead. Flawless skin, plump lips that slid into an effortless smile when she was awake. Everything about her facial features drew his gaze. Her auburn hair spread like a fan across her pillow. She was a sight for fantasies. He wished he hadn’t noticed. He was having a hell of a time keeping his body in check as it was, and it was sabotaging his mission.

His job was to protect her without alerting her to his presence. Fledglings tended to run if they knew they were in danger, which almost always ended in them placing themselves even further into trouble. But it was becoming evident he wouldn’t be able to continue with this particular job. He’d have to put in for a transfer in the morning and let someone else take over.

How could he keep an eye out for intruders when he couldn’t take them off her?

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement as a shadow passed the balcony doors, and he reluctantly looked away from the beauty on the bed. A tall, wide-shouldered silhouette filled the doorway. Someone or something was outside, and this was exactly what the council had hired him to take care of.

He inched toward the exit and waited at the side as the figure unlocked the door from the outside and slipped into the darkened room. Interesting. Campbell reached to his belt and pulled his gun. It looked like an ordinary 9 mm handgun, but the bullets were anything but ordinary. It would take much more than lead bullets to incapacitate a supernatural being. Hollowed and filled with a manufactured chemical created with a base that combined substances that weakened nearly every paranormal beast in the world, this weapon could take out an eight-foot troll, charging full-tilt. When aimed at a rogue werewolf, vampire, demon, or any other criminal parabeing, this weapon could stop an in-progress attack with little effort. This creature would be no different.

Campbell needed to wait until whoever it was entered completely, then he’d give the creature a chance to surrender before unloading his weapon into its upper body, successfully ending its plan of attack before it even knew what happened.

The figure stood tall in front of the doors of the balcony, whole once again. Campbell tensed and lifted the weapon. The creature took a couple steps toward the bed but stopped cold at the sound of the gun safety being switched off.

“That’s far enough. Turn back around slowly, keeping your hands up where I can see them.”

Campbell had spoken low, in a register some humans couldn’t even hear, but his meaning was clear.

“Stand down soldier.” Recognition clicked immediately. Campbell lowered his weapon, unsure why his superior officer was here, but together enough mentally to at least follow the order. He was still confused and didn’t dare relax his guard yet. This was highly irregular.

“Forgive me, sir. I didn’t expect you.”

“We’ve received some intelligence about the fledgling. Information you need to know for the mission.” He moved back toward the exit and Campbell hesitantly holstered his gun and followed. Something still felt off about the situation, but he knew better than to question his superior.

Once they were outside the apartment, on the balcony, he glimpsed the familiar features of

Commander Riley Spencer and with a glance at the ground below, noticed a fellow freelancer, Kerenth Zeitler. He nodded and Campbell dipped his chin in return before shifting his focus back to his commander. Spencer’s stern jaw tensed as he faced Campbell and crossed his hands over his broad chest. “I realize I took you off guard, but we’ve hit a complication.”

Campbell hated complications. He did his best to avoid them at all costs, but this case seemed to be rife with complications from the get-go.

“With each case, it’s important for us to know where the transformation began, whether it was natural or unnatural, whether the human sought the change or unwittingly stumbled into the paranormal.”

“Of course. Standard protocol.”

He ran a hand over his buzzed hair, too short to appear anything but brown and released a heavy breath before explaining, “This fledgling’s transformation is nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

“I don’t understand.”

He hesitated briefly, as if choosing his words carefully. “Conjecture is that she was injected in the research lab where she volunteered for a standard pharmacological study, but none of the experimental drug samples we tested had vampire serum in them. We also haven’t linked any of the employees or personnel to our world. Something’s off.”

“Wait. How do you know she was injected in the lab if nothing contained the serum?”

Spencer gritted his teeth. “We received an encrypted message outlining who she was, that she’d been genetically altered, a hybrid of unknown origin and...” He paused, looking at the ground before continuing, “...that she will become a monster we’ve never seen before and have no means to control.”

Hybrid? In the paranormal world, hybrids had been outlawed around five hundred years ago, around the time Campbell had become a vampire. Too many variables with the resulting mix of creatures caused more issues than could be controlled. Witches burned at the stake, plague, massive wars and invasions—all due to a few out-of-control hybrids. Campbell sighed loudly. If she was a hybrid, that changed everything.

“Well, that sounds like a big bag of what-the-hell.”

“Understatement.” Spencer braced his hands on his hips. “Kerenth and I are here to assess the immediate situation, but after that, the council’s putting in a new protocol that involves you.”

Campbell shook his head back and forth as he explained, “I’m putting in for a transfer in the morning. My head is no longer clear when it comes to this particular fledgling.”

“Then do whatever you have to do to clear it. The council is counting on you to keep an eye on the situation here. You’ll move into the apartment next door, get close to the target, ferret out the creator, and if necessary, protect others from whatever monster is developing in that bedroom.” Campbell watched, slightly perplexed by the look of melancholy that slipped into Spencer’s gaze as he looked toward the closed door.

With a muttered curse, Campbell turned away from Spencer and locked his fists on the balcony railing. Kerenth looked up a few long seconds before returning his focus to scanning the area. Damn complications. “The council will just have to get someone else. I...” Frustration made his chest tight, but long ago he vowed to live the remainder of his so-called life with honor, and that meant divulging anything that might compromise the mission. “...I find...that is...the target is an attractive woman. I’d be remiss to mention I might not be able to remain objective on this case.”

Spencer growled and tensed at his confession, and Campbell got the feeling Spencer would like to throw a fist into Campbell’s jaw. “Keep your d**k out of this, soldier.” He sighed loudly.

“The council is counting on you. I’m counting on you because you’re the best I’ve got, Reid.

You’re the only one I trust to do this right.”

“What about Kerenth?”

Spencer spared a glance to the soldier below. “He’d do the job,” he looked back at Campbell and continued, “but you’d do it right.”

Spencer stepped to the side of Campbell, staring hard at his profile. “Now, are you going to do your job and take care of this situation, or am I going to have to do it myself and blow the whole thing the minute the creator makes me?”

Dammit! He was right. Campbell’s job was to go unnoticed, to be a ghost, and he was good at what he did. As far as he knew, outside of his immediate superiors, no one could identify him as a Sup Co guard. On the other hand, Spencer was a well-known commander and councilmember. His identity would be obvious to anyone familiar with the supernatural world. If this job was going to turn out right, Campbell would have to fight his body’s reaction to Mia Alexander and do what he had to in order to save countless lives, both human and beyond-human.

“I’ll do what I have to.”

“Expected nothing less from a soldier of your caliber and experience.” Spencer backed toward the balcony railing. “Just keep your damn hands off her.” The threat in his voice held an unexpected heat, but Campbell nodded and Spencer seemed somewhat satisfied.

Campbell was hundreds of years old and had soaked up a lot of knowledge throughout the centuries. He’d experienced just about every possible historical event, repeatedly, as history tended to do. He’d battled in skirmishes, fights, small and major wars and come out the winner every time. Yet, something told him all that caliber and experience would mean nothing the minute he locked gazes with Mia Alexander. Damn complications.

Chapter 2

THE MINUTE SHE STEPPED out of her apartment door, Mia was nearly blinded. She fumbled for her sunglasses and quickly set them on her face. Was it just her, or was this whole global warming thing happening, like, now. Stinging prickles dotted her skin wherever the sun hit, and the thought occurred that maybe she should forget her classes, go back inside, pop open a bottle of wine, and wait for some clouds to roll in.

Wait! Was she really wishing for a rainy day? Something was seriously wrong with her brain.

She released a heavy sigh, adjusted the bag slung over her shoulder and locked her front door before walking toward her Chevy Traverse, parked in one of the covered slots in the row of spaces assigned to her particular section of the complex. She felt a little relief when she stepped into the shade of the structure covering the cars. As she approached her own though, the car next to hers drew her attention. It was a Jeep Wrangler, but more to the point, it was new. She’d never seen it here before. It was probably just a guest, visiting someone in an apartment close by, but guests were given specific spots to park. This space was reserved for residents only.

She was probably just being paranoid, so she shook off her concern and unlocked her car. It wasn’t like she was going to the management to complain or anything. And it wasn’t like whatever creeper was in her apartment the other night was going to move in next door and become her neighbor. That was too far-fetched to even consider.

As she was climbing in, a large rumbling sounded from around the side of the building. Too drawn out to be thunder, it didn’t look like she was going to get a break from the sun today. She looked up just as a large moving truck rounded the corner and began to slow right behind her in the parking lot, blocking her exit.

Aaah, c’mon! Timing was everything. A few seconds earlier and she’d have been on her way, but such was the way things were going lately.

Two men climbed from the cab, one short and rotund, the other slant-shouldered and skinny and walked toward the apartments, passing her car in the process. Hello? Didn’t they see her?

Couldn’t they hear the foul words flying through her mind right now? Couldn’t they feel her desperation? Clearly her mental telepathy was broken. She’d just have to do this the oldfashioned way and threaten them within an inch of their life if they didn’t crawl back into that metal behemoth and move it the hell out of her way.