Swinging my arms out from beneath my poncho, I reveal my weapons. They crackle and hum, the rune markings lighting up. The vampires aren’t afraid, more curious than anything.
“Put your pants on, Mikey. You’re going with my buddy over there.”
“Over my dead body,” the woman hisses. “We made a deal. He’s mine to feed on.”
Mikey, who’s probably close to my age, is still drunk from the effects of her venom. The pathetic guy sits there with his legs sprawled out and bleeding dick jutting out, a lazy grin on his face.
Jude sure knows how to pick ’em.
I’m about to pull the worthless asshole up when the female decides to attack. Wrong move, bitch.
The red haze I’ve become one with emits from the stake as white lightning flips out around the stake like tiny whips, desperate to end evil. I slash my arm to the side, plowing the sharp point into her throat. She cries out, a gargled sound, but she’ll live from this wound. If I want her dead, I have to stick her in that dead heart of hers.
“Leave,” I bellow, projecting fire into my voice, warning the other two vampires.
A sickening thud can be heard from the other side of the room, but I don’t have time to check on James. He can handle himself, contrary to Jude’s belief.
The female claws at me, snapping her teeth. While the other two seem more reasonable, looming behind her and not attacking me, this one is out of control.
“I really didn’t want to have to do this,” I grind out as I drive the other stake with precision through her chest.
Her body glows red as the power of my ruby stake slashes through her, attacking her blood one cell at a time. The sizzle of the magic cuts through her, eradicating the evil within seconds from the inside out. Unlike the usual staking, mine causes the beast to catch flame, the red haze and white lightning rolling through the flames. Soon, she’ll be nothing but teeth and bones, a grotesque warning for those like her who test the power of the ruby stakes.
This has Mikey’s attention. His mouth is parted as he fumbles to put away his messy dick. The other two vampires are retreating.
“Tell your friends—the ones in your nest who aren’t here—business is closed,” I instruct them. “Don’t come back no matter what Leroy offers. I have crap to do and you two seem reasonable unlike your friends.” I dart my gaze between the bones at my feet and the pile of ash at James’s.
“You can’t do that to my brother, man,” Mikey grumbles. “We got a good thing going with them and—”
“We’re through here,” one of the vampires says.
“Ricardo,” Mikey tries. “Hear me out.”
“No,” Ricardo snaps. He levels me with a hard glare. “The girl has said enough on your behalf. Goodbye.”
Ricardo and the other vampire start out the door, but James blocks their path.
“Why should I let you go?” James asks, licking his teeth. “You seem like trouble to me.”
“Lizzie was trouble,” Ricardo admits, “but your daughter took care of her.”
“She’s not my daughter,” James grits out. “Jesus, do I look that old?”
“Don’t answer that if you value your existence,” I blurt out to Ricardo. “What was wrong with her? Why do you say she was trouble?”
Ricardo turns to me, his red eyes flashing. “Tainted. Bad blood. Sick. Something was in her system, making her act erratically. I’m looking into it.”
Interesting.
“You know the nightclub run in the catacombs beneath The Basilica of St Patrick’s Old Cathedral here in Manhattan?” I ask, wiping Lizzie’s blood off my stake with my poncho.
Ricardo nods. “Been there a time or two.”
“I’ll be there thirty days from now near midnight. If you find information on what was in her, let me know.” I walk over to him after I’ve stowed my stakes away and offer my hand. “Do we have a deal?”
The other vampire grumbles.
“Enough, Victor,” Ricardo states. “We’ll play nice with the child.”
I’m used to assholes seeing me as a young, weak girl. Their words don’t insult me. You’d have to care, which I don’t.
“Good,” I say, thrusting my hand out again. “Shake on it.”
I know these vampires, especially the old ones. Most are reasonable and don’t mind co-existing. How he got mixed up with Leroy’s smarmy ass is beyond me.
He lets out a soft sigh and then clasps his icy cold hand around mine, his long fingernails biting into my flesh. His grip is strong and unyielding. He holds on longer than he should, clearly thrilled by the way my heart rate kicks up a few notches.
“We have a deal, young one. Are we dismissed?”
“Goodbye, Ricardo. Don’t make me hunt you down for information.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he says, baring his sharp incisors.
With a flash, he darts past James, his buddy following behind.
“Why couldn’t we just kill them?” James complains.
“Because you know Jude. He values information above everything. Ricardo seeks information that could be useful to him.” I shrug. “Grab your guy and let’s bail.”
He stops me with a hand to my throat, squeezing just enough to let me feel his strength. “I was wrong about you. You’re quite something, aren’t you?”
“Quite.”
His lips curl up on one side into a handsome grin he’s yet to show. “After I drop off this idiot, why don’t you and me—”
“No,” I mutter, pulling his hand from my throat. “I don’t date.”
“No one said anything about dating, darlin’.”
“James, there will never be a you and me. I’m not going to be your fuck buddy now that you deem me worthy. I don’t date. I don’t fuck. I just work.”
“Sad life, little one.”
“I already have my happily ever after,” I explain with a shrug. “Now I need to keep the villains away so I can keep her.”
“I knew you were a lesbian,” he grumbles.
I don’t correct him. Instead, I slip past him and on to my next destination.
Loey.
Castilla
The pulse of the music grows louder the deeper I descend into the nightclub. Being that it’s in the catacombs beneath The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, you only go there if you know it’s there. It’s a hub of paranormal activity being that it’s a portal to other dimensions. Prudence, my old lady friend, knows all about traveling through dimensions. While in one of the other realms, she picked up an ability to transport within the same realm. It’s quite ironic how she can hold on to your arm and flash you to your destination within seconds, but it’ll take her ten minutes just to walk from her office at Headquarters to the restroom. She runs me home all the time, but I think that’s because she has grandmotherly instincts over Mercy, not that she necessarily wants to be my ride.
“This ain’t a daycare, runt,” a huge guy with a green aura says from the nightclub entry door.
“Elton knows me,” I drawl out. “Give him a call.”