Angel: Private Eye Book One (27 page)

The vampire who'd made me sign the contract
– Betty – was staying at Sarah's place. And Sarah was strangely
cool with this. Apparently the two had struck up a friendship after
I'd left. There were so many things wrong with that that I couldn't
even begin to list them. Instead I just crammed my finger even
harder into my mouth. “Oh God, come on, there must be some kind of
clue here.”

I had a scribble pad beside my bed where I
was keeping rough notes from what I'd learnt.

Vampires, apparently, only ever ate eggs for
breakfast. Well, if there wasn't any blood. It was something to do
with protein balance and hormone production.

Fascinating. No really, it would have been
fascinating to somebody studying vampire biology. It was a goddamn
waste of time for a girl with four days left to kill a vampire
lord.

Eventually I grew suitably tired of thumbing
through the well-worn pages of the file book, and I shoved it back,
collapsing onto my bed with a suitable groan. “Oh God, God, I’m
going to die.”

Mr Marvelous was out again.

When Marvelous had signed me to his
detective agency, he’d promised me training. Supervision. He said
he'd turn me into the best private investigator in Hope City.

But here I was, agonizing over figuring this
out and saving my freaking life, and he was out. Doing what? I had
no idea. It didn't matter, though. I was alone.

Completely frigging alone. I wasn't stupid
enough to bring Sarah in on this, and Betty could hardly offer me
any help. The few times I'd been stupid enough to call her, she’d
just brushed me off, telling me to use whatever stupendous ability
I'd conjured to kill the glass demon. Preferably soon so she could
get back out on the town and hit the best vamp bars.

There was one person, however, who had
offered to help me, and someone who undoubtedly had the ability to
come through on that promise.

William bloody Benson. He'd offered to take
the contract off my hands, use his vampiric ability to null and
void it, and otherwise keep me safe from Theodore and my stupid
self. With only one catch. I had to come work for him. Sign my
little life away to the vampire king.

I, of course, hadn't done that.

Yet. As true nerves goaded me like a bull on
the rampage, I wondered how much longer I could hold out. Maybe
until the morning of my last day? Maybe I'd fall into his office, a
sobbing mess, scramble over to his shoes, kiss them, and beg him to
help me.

Just the thought of it made me want to
gag.

That day I sat around on my bed, mooching
between the kitchen where I'd made myself a massive batch of fudgy
brownies and back to my bed. I was in my slippers, my socks, and my
favorite pair of bunny rabbit pajamas.

Mr Marvelous would be out again all day, and
God knows no one respectable ever came to the shop.

In fact, nobody ever came to the shop at
all. Marvelous just seemed to know when we had a case, without
receiving a phone call or a letter or a message.

So I knew something was wrong when I heard
footsteps.

I knew something was wrong, because half a
second later, a terrifying, blaring alarm ripped through the
building. It was so powerful, it shook and rattled my teeth in my
skull.

“What the bloody hell is that?” I screamed
as I crammed my hands over my ears.

As the blaring continued, suddenly a bright
colorful red and blue ball shot down the corridor. It darted right
in front of my face and stopped a centimeter from my nose. A tiny,
tiny mouth appeared over its smooth surface. “The shop is under
attack. Repeat, the shop is under attack.”

My hands still crammed over my ears, I
stared at it in disbelief. “I don't understand. How can the
building be under attack?”

That small glowing ball of light darted to
and fro like some kind of confused fat dragonfly. “Building under
attack. We must repel attack, defend perimeters. Wait for
help.”

Just as I opened my mouth to scream at the
little ball that I had absolutely no idea what the hell was
happening, the floor suddenly lurched to the side.

It was very much like we were on a ship that
was suddenly rammed by another vessel.

Somehow – some goddamn how – the building
actually listed.

I was thrown sideways and had to lock a hand
on the wall as my face was pushed into it.

A second later, the building righted itself
with an ominous creak.

I was way past asking what was happening,
and skipped smoothly to screaming like a banshee.

That little ball flew right up to my face.
Though it didn’t have eyes, somehow I was certain that its
expressive mouth locked into a pleading frown. “You must repel
borders. Stave off the attack until the master can return.”

The master was obviously Mr Marvelous. That
was the only obvious thing about this entire situation.

As several chunks of dust flitted down from
the ceiling and covered my sweat-lined brow, I shunted forward.

That little ball of light followed me like a
lost puppy, squeaking by my side. “Repel borders. Repel
borders.”

“Stop telling me that and start telling me
how the hell I’m meant to do it,” I screamed.

“Fire at the vampires climbing the outside
walls.” The little fat dragonfly finally squeaked.

“What? What the hell do you mean vampires
climbing the walls?” I shrieked.

As the building listed again like a
submarine threatening to go under, I punched out a hand, locked it
on the wall, and tumbled through an open doorway. It led to one of
the many file offices that lined the shop.

As the building jerked once more, and I
rolled towards the wall, I caught sight of a window. Gritting my
teeth and balancing long enough to haul myself up the wall, I
stared outside. And shrieked. And shrieked. And shrieked. Move
over, banshees. I no longer sounded like a screaming fiend of Hell;
I took on the pitching voice of an army of screeching piglets.

There were vampires climbing the sides of
the walls. Faces absolutely crumpled with thin-lipped, sneering
consternation, they looked exactly like they wanted to punch their
way through the window and suck me dry.

I shrieked again for good measure as I
shoved violently away from the wall. Heartbeat thundering through
my ears, I crumpled onto the floor, and wrapped my shaking hands
over my head. That, of course, wasn't going to stop the attack.

That magical ball kept swooping in and out
in front of my face, the flying equivalent of somebody clutching my
shoulders and shaking them. “No time to sit down. No time to rest,”
it said, “Must repel borders. Must buy the shop some time.”

It would have been so easy to ignore that
irritating orb, crumple my arms around my head, and try to pretend
everything was a bad dream. Or, at least, it would have been easy
if the building hadn't chosen that exact moment to start shaking
like a leaf in a hurricane. I was thrown over the floor and rolled
until I managed to clutch hold of a desk leg.

The magical ball began to screech. “They've
reached the main door. Reached the main door. They’re trying to
blow it open. You must attack. Attack.”

“I don't have weapons,” I screamed back.

“Use the charm guns,” the magical ball
darted forward and did the hovering equivalent of pointing at the
charm bracelet jangling around my shaking wrist.

My gaze darted down to it. I didn't have the
time to stare at it and wonder if loosening a charm locked around
the gold bracelet would actually do anything against a horde of
invading vampires.

A second later, the window behind me
shattered.

I screamed as I crumpled forwards, locked my
hands over my head, and tried to scoot backwards under a desk.

I wasn't quick enough.

A vampire lurched towards me. It wasn't an
ordinary jump. Wasn't even the kind of gymnastic leap a human
Acrobat could manage. It was primal. Predatory. Had all the
snapping grace of a leopard bounding down from its perch.

The vampire snapped a hand around my throat
and dragged me to my feet.

I lashed out with everything, trying to
catch hold of his face and scratch at his eyes, trying to kick at
his shins and shove him off.

It wouldn't work.

The guy was 100 times stronger than me, and
as I saw a flash of his gaze, I realized he was 1000 times more
brutal.

He jerked my head forward until he sneered
into my face. I expected to smell fetid disgusting breath like you
would on a wild animal. I didn't.

He’d just brushed his teeth, and the rather
pleasant minty aroma of mouthwash filled the air.

Obviously vampires always prided themselves
on their dental hygiene. It was probably the equivalent of a
soldier always checking their gun before going into battle.

I had just a few seconds to look up into his
face and realize he was the creep who'd messaged me with the
placards.

He brought his sneering smile down, ran a
long, pointed tongue over his teeth, and jerked my head to the
side, intention obvious. Just before his glistening, saliva-covered
fangs snapped down around my neck, his warning hissed by my ear,
breath pushing my hair against my face, “Theodore is sending a
warning, Lizzie Luck, no more games.”

With that, the guy doubled forward, a drop
of his saliva running down and settling on my neck.

I jerked into action. More for his benefit
than mine. Let those fiendish fangs draw even a drop of my blood,
and I knew full well what would happen.

My hand latched on one of the charms around
the bracelet, and I tugged it free with a frenzied pull. At the
same time, the little magical ball zoomed over and struck the guy
hard on the back of the head. It was more than enough to get his
attention. More than enough to buy me the time to throw the charm
right in his face.

God knows if I was doing the right thing.
There was probably more finesse and nuance required to casting a
charm bracelet spell. Finesse and nuance could go to hell because
right now all I had was gut-punching fear.

Miraculously, the charm didn't strike the
guy in the nose and do nothing more than make him sneeze. Instead,
it stopped half an inch from his eyes, revolved to the right, then
to the left, then… then it frigging exploded in a hail of magical
sparks.

Smoke erupted from it. Enough that I had to
double back, cram a hand over my mouth, and heave my lungs out.

Suddenly, somehow, miraculously, impossibly,
the vampire’s nose broke. The snap of bone and crunch of ligament
echoed through the air so loudly it was as if it'd been recorded
and played back on an echoing PA system.

The guy jerked backwards, cramming both
hands over his face as blood spluttered from his nostrils and leapt
down his cheeks.

I lay there on the floor, body a mess where
he'd thrown me, and stared up at him, completely, absolutely,
frigging shocked.

It had worked.

A snapped second later, the vampire got over
his crushed nose and lurched towards me. He was down on his hands
and knees, and moved forward with the ferocious speed of a
tiger.

He was upon me again, grabbing my wrists,
nails digging over the sleeves of my pajama top.

I screamed as I tried to bring up a knee and
force it hard into his gut.

Though my knee connected, it was a little
like trying to bat away a speeding rhinoceros with nothing more
than a tap of your hand.

Something terrifying happened as a few
droplets of the vampire’s blood slipped off his nose, sailed
through the air, and splashed on my pajamas.

They started to burn.

And as one single drop fell from his cheek
and splashed on my neck, I screamed. With everything I had.
Because, Christ almighty, I’d never felt pain like this. In one
frantic, panicked snap, my head threatened to explode.

At first the vamp appeared taken aback by my
strong reaction to his blood. Then he appeared to figure it out.
With a godawful smile crumpling his lips, he unlocked one hand from
around my wrist, brought a finger up, carelessly dragged it over
the blood along his cheek, then brought it down.

Playfully, happily, like a puppy innocently
chasing a butterfly, he tracked the blood over my cheek.

In a snap, I went beyond screaming. Because,
in a snap, my head exploded in pain. Stars swarmed over my vision,
and my whole body became rigid as if I was seconds from dying.

I had just enough time to hear the vampire
laugh once more until I felt him reach down and touch one
blood-covered finger over my lip.

And I, Elizabeth Luck, passed out.

I woke up. And unimaginably, I was tied to a
chair.

These didn't feel like ordinary silver
magical ropes locking me in place this time, though. Though I was
too dazed and fatigued to open my eyes and inspect my binds, they
felt more like chains. Massive chains with inch thick steel links,
kind of like the ones you used to tie up a boat. Not to lock an
ordinary woman to a chair.

Agony tore through my body. It felt as if
I'd soaked every cell in acid.

This wasn't ordinary pain. Even in the same
realm as every day ache.

I… it was so hard to explain. But it felt as
if somebody had assaulted the very nature of my being. That ever
elusive source of my magic.

Finally, wearily, I managed to open my
eyes.

I was in a room. I couldn't tell how large
it was, where it was, whether there was a window, or even if there
was furniture lined up along the walls. Because all I could see was
myself. My chair and I were lit up by a single globe dangling from
the ceiling above.

The light coming off the globe was powerful
enough to illuminate me completely, and yet strangely dim enough
that it could not penetrate even a centimeter further than my
form.