Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (21 page)

Scanning the next street over, I spotted him
a few blocks down on the opposite side of the street from me once again. Still
in stealth mode, I snuck closer as he looked around with paranoia in his eyes.
I ducked lower beneath the roof ledge and watched him enter an old office
building from a side door.

I stayed in that spot all night, watching
eight more vampires sneak into the same building. I had found the vampire lair,
and I wondered if breaking into every abandoned building in the city would have
been less time consuming. Sitting there made me remember why I didn’t take down
dens very often. It had been so long since taking out my last den that I forgot
how impatient I really was. Then, I had a ‘duh’ moment.

Why the hell didn’t I just wait until the
sun was almost up to watch for them? My mind was definitely overworked lately,
and my emotions were all over the place. I was stretched so thin.

When the sun finally showed up, I thought I
would be ready for a nap. It was always weird when inactivity made me tired. I
didn’t get it, but sitting around just seemed to make me more sleepy. It wasn’t
like me to do nothing though, so I have always kept myself moving, which is
what I needed to do before I fall asleep right here on the rooftop.

Slowly peeling myself off the floor of the
roof, I stretched my muscles to get them loosened up before making the big
bust. As the sun rose higher above the cityscape, I made my way closer to the
den. Avoiding the speeding cars, I crossed the street and examined the exterior
of the building.

The windows near ground level were mostly
broken out, likely from vandalism over years of dormancy. The ones that
attracted me were the boarded windows. These would be the rooms that housed
sleeping vamps. There were several boarded windows on the second floor all in a
row. That was exactly where I headed.

Creeping into the side door, I found the
nearest stairwell and treaded lightly up the steps. I went to the side of the
building where I saw the boarded windows and assessed the layout.

I first walked through a giant open area
that seemed like a big pit for cubicles. It was now just an empty space with
torn up carpet and a musty smell. There was a wide hallway toward the back of
the pit lined with several doors. Some had remaining labels on them that read
meeting room or office. The one farthest back on the right was where I
suspected the vamps to be hiding out. The sickness in my stomach also tipped me
off to their proximity. Light streamed down the entire hallway from the big
windows in the pit, and that would give me a very big advantage against nine
vampires.

I was getting very tired and wanted to get
this over with, so without a second thought I kicked the door open to announce
myself. In a scattered rush, vamps clung to the walls away from the light, but
one unfortunate bloodsucker got caught in the infiltrating light from the hall.
In a burst of flames, I had eight to go. I heard low growling and groans coming
from within the room. Old mats lined the ground, makeshift beds for vamps on
the go.

“Why don’t you come out and play?” I
taunted.

More hissing erupted and I stepped closer. I
felt at least four more in this room, which I could handle easily. They pounced
as soon as I crossed the threshold, stopping short of the light. It didn’t
continue all the way to the wall of boarded windows, so if I wanted to light
them up, I’d have to make a run for it.

Preferring a good fight, I reached for my
stake and snaked my arm out at the nearest snarling vampire. It struck the
intended target and one more burst of flames followed. The vamp nearest reached
out, grabbing my arm and threw me against the wall. The others were on me in an
instant, lashing out with fists of fury. Every time I regained my senses
another fist smashed against my cheek, my jaw, my nose.

Once I had some sort of clearance, I swung
my own fist in the direction of the front vamp, quickly followed by my stake in
the other hand. I missed the heart the first time because I couldn’t get a
clear shot, but I hurt him enough to earn a second chance at it. This time, I
didn’t miss. With two others coming at me, I was able to see the attacks before
they came, and it was over instantly.

With four to go, I scoured the rest of the
building until I found them in a room on the top floor that was a large space
with similar boarded windows. I eliminated two vampires without hassle but the
others threw me against the wall of windows. One of them slashed my arm, through
my thick coat, with a
knife
. The blood made them crazed. I wondered what
vampires were doing packing knives when they didn’t really need them.

With frenzied bloodsuckers coming at me, I
didn’t have time to ponder that one, so I reached up with my bloodied arm that
was already mostly healed, despite how deep it went, and tore the piece of
plywood from the window. It was nailed in tightly and groaned in resistance,
but with my strength I pried it free with ease. Light streamed through the
entire room and flames came close to singeing my eyebrows. Getting up off the
dirty floor, I wiped vampire ash off my clothes and went straight home to
shower.

After the shower, I slept. The exhaustion took
me immediately after hitting the luxurious bed I had grown to love so much. One
upside to fighting vampires during the day was not getting harassed or berated
by another vampire for being reckless. It felt good to finally get a little
action without interruption. I wasn’t looking forward to the aftermath,
however. I could almost hear the yelling already. In my sleep, I actually heard
him yelling.

It was what woke me up at night actually. He
towered above my bed, and he was very pissed off.

“What did you do?” he shouted and cursed. A
lot. His question was the first coherent thing I could make out in my sleepy
confusion. Jeez, he couldn’t have given me a few minutes to wake up?

“Relax big guy. I’m still alive, so all this
yelling really isn’t necessary,” I responded, lazily, still a little hazy. I
still felt pretty wiped out with last night’s fighting.

Although, his proximity was kind of like ice
water in the face. It was like having an electrical circuit running throughout
my body and I was hardwired to respond to him and him alone. It was scary as
hell, but the current coursing through me with his nearness was kind of a rush
that I kind of liked, which was the scary part. The electricity between us was
bound to burn me.

“You were hurt!” he accused.

“No, I wasn’t. I’m fine,” I said before
remembering the cut on my arm.

“Then where did the blood and slash in your
coat come from?” he yelled.

I thought I threw that thing in the dumpster
outside. So he
was
a stalker.

“I smelled your blood,” he said, as if
responding to my thoughts. “It was everywhere. I was afraid I was going to find
your body in the dumpster instead.”

“Now you’re just being melodramatic,” I said
dryly. “I’m fine,” I repeated. “But now that you mention it, when did vampires
start carrying knives?”

“You were cut by a vampire? What the hell
were you doing?” he asked. A thought occurred to me then. He hadn’t realized I
was hurt by vampires since it was daytime, so he was worried about me even when
I wasn’t entangled with fighting evil. I didn’t know why that made a
difference, but something about it made me take note, and a little insult,
considering he thought I must have fought a human and allowed myself to get
slashed.

“The city now has one less vampire den to
worry about,” I replied. “You’re welcome.”

If his eyes could have popped out of their
sockets, I think they might have in that moment. It was funny, because meeting
this guy for the first time, one might consider him to be in complete control,
a man of strict discipline. But when it came to me, it felt like all that
practiced self-control went out the window. He wasn’t the type who surprised
easily, but my
recklessness
continued to shock him.

It should have been predictable by now,
though. He should have expected something like that from me, but his expression
stopped me from mentioning that to him. He looked like he wanted to hit
something.

With tightly clenched fists, he moved toward
my bed. I was propped up on my elbows waiting for a response, and he leaned
down placing his hands on both sides of me to hold his own weight up. I felt
the need to brace myself for a shock that might have accompanied all the
electricity in the air now.

“Don’t ever do that again without me,” he
said slowly. The look in his eyes told me not to argue. “You are making me
crazy, woman.”

Something in his eyes stirred causing me to
squirm. He was too close, and I was trying very hard not to remember how his
lips felt against mine or how the hard planes of his torso felt under my palms.

“Can you move so I can get up? And wait
outside so I can get dressed,” I said, wanting to get out of the focus of that penetrating
stare.

It was too much right now, and I wasn’t able
to argue with him when he got that look on his face that showed how much he
actually worried about my safety. It was impossible to come up with a
compelling argument under a gaze that felt so protective and warm. Hunting down
evil was still my burden to bear, so he would just have to accept it.

I caught his eyes lingering on me a moment
longer than etiquette or professionalism permitted. He blinked and his
expression cooled, devoid of anything beyond business-like intentions. He spun
quickly, leaving me alone to dress in private.

When I walked out into the main room, he was
sitting on my futon. That image just didn’t seem right. The futon didn’t really
suit his extravagant style. He was dressed in a casual black suit that probably
cost more than one year’s rent for my apartment.

“So, about that whole vampires-packing-knives
thing?” I hedged, as I propped myself up on the bar that served as the arm of
the futon. My feet were on the cushion where my butt should have been, but I
wanted to allow as much distance as I could between us. Discomfort aside, I
waited for his answer.

 He angled his body toward me, and with a
slight smile, he answered, “I’m glad you’re sitting for this because you’re not
going to like it.” He paused to allow me to get a grip on my self-control
before I absorbed what he was about to say. Then, he continued, “Some vampires
have willing donors who allow them to cut them and drink from them in hopes of
becoming like them one day.” He gave me another minute as if he expected an
outburst.

The more I learned about the world of vampires,
the more I hated it, but this was not something that shocked me. However, I was
not looking forward to becoming a full-time member of it. Maybe I could just
stake myself then. Why any human would want to be a part of that world was
beyond me. Was the idea of immortality that appealing?

One would have to really love himself in
order to withstand living forever with… himself. I hated myself but deserved to
live with my shame forever. Humans who chose that fate were simply ignorant of
the consequences. They were also naïve to think they had a shot at becoming a
vampire. They were just a fresh meal, but the hope must have been enough for
them to stay quiet.

“So what’s with the cutting then?” I asked.

“It’s less suspicious. Cut marks are easier
for a human to explain than bite marks,” he explained.

“Sort of like the cut marks on the latest
victims? It was easy for them to write it off as suicides when there was
cutting involved.” I understood the cover up with willing donors, however disgusting
it was, but I still didn’t get the homicide cover ups.

“Why drug them at all? That seems like a lot
of work for a vampire to go to just to keep the secret,” I said, thinking out
loud a bit.

He leaned in and said, “That’s what I’ve
been looking into. Remember what Trixie said?”

“Oh, you mean when she was throwing herself
at you? I don’t see how pickup lines have any relevance to what’s been going on
around here,” I said sourly.

He gave me a frustrated look, and then it
changed to patience before he responded. “I meant what she said about drinking
from intoxicated patrons for a good buzz.”

Suddenly, it clicked.

He saw me catch up and continued, “If she
got a buzz off of highly intoxicated people, imagine what lethal doses of this
new drug could do for a vampire.”

“Oh my God! They’re killing people not just
for food, but for the ultimate high?” That was truly sick. “They’ve reached a
new level of evil. Can we go hunt these sons of bitches now?”

I was getting worked up, but he remained
calm. “I went back to Trixie to get more information since she is so connected
to the underground. She narrowed it down to a few possible places where they
could be dealing out those kinds of drugs. She knows most of the vampire-run
night clubs, so it’s a start.”

“So there’s a vampire out there cashing in
off both innocent people and other vampires who are looking for a good high?” I
asked, still reeling from this new information.

“Yes, and I need to figure out who it is
before it gets any more out of hand,” he said, almost regretfully. Wait, this
was my burden. Why was he shouldering some of that weight?

As long as we had the same goal, I didn’t
really care, so I decided to make it a little easier on him. “I have a pretty good
idea of where this place is. As for the
who
, I have no idea.”

He arched a brow, as if it were so hard to
believe I could be a legitimate source of information. It was true that I was
ignorant to the inner workings of the vampire world, which is why I wasn’t
completely offended by that response, but he didn’t have to act like I was
completely useless. He smiled as if reading my thoughts. I scowled.

“I told you I can’t read your mind. I just
have a good sense for what you’re thinking. And I’m sorry if I looked so
shocked. Will you please tell me what you know?
Please
,” he urged in his
sweetest voice, a voice that made me a little breathless. “Please,” he
repeated, dipping his head but looking up at me with big puppy dog eyes that
made creases in his forehead. He was begging me.
Damn, that’s sexy
.

“I’m not a total waste of space,” I said
defensively. Apparently, I was still feeling a little insulted. It was my fault
for keeping my eyes shut to everything going on under the surface. I never
wanted to look too deeply, afraid of getting sucked in.

He looked at me softly, with a half-smile
playing on his lips, “I know. That’s not what I was implying.”

I looked down but felt his eyes on me. He
was by my side in an instant, his hand warming my cheek. “Do you want to talk
about it?” he asked softly.

I kind of wanted to kiss him.

Focus, Lucy
.

Shaking off his hand and my lingering
self-pity, I looked back at him. “No. Remember the club you found me at a while
back?”

“You think that’s the one?”

“Call it an instinct,” I said. I knew there
was something unusual about it when Holly and I were there. It made sense now,
the dazed and confused vampire on the dance floor, the one that came out of
nowhere before I sensed him. I had a feeling all the drugs were administered
upstairs in the VIP section, and the feeding happened in an underground level
under the stage.

Appreciative of the new information, he
smiled, and said, “Okay. I’ll check it out.”

“Uh-hem, don’t you mean, we? We will check
it out,” I corrected.

“Absolutely not. You’ve done enough for one
day. You really should be resting more,” he said.

“You’re the one who woke me up. There’s no
way I’m letting you go without me.”

“Well, in this case, I’m overruling you.
Take it easy for a while, go hunting, do anything but go to that club,” he
said.

“I have to go. I need to see this through,”
I said, my temper rising.

“You’re not going. If you try, I’ll stop
you,” he threatened.

I had no doubt that he could, but I was not
going to take this sitting down. I shot up off the futon ready for a fight, but
he used my momentum against me, shoving me back down on the cushion, like a
play toy.

Before I could bounce back up, he was in my
face. “Please don’t argue with me on this. I need to scope out the club and get
closer to the operation without raising any red flags. If you go bursting in
there looking for a fight, it would spook them, and they would probably just
set up shop somewhere else. If you want to shut it down, we have to use
finesse. And who knows how many of them have seen you. If they recognized you,
it would be over.”

“Finesse, huh? Why don’t you try using a
little more finesse on me,” I said, shooting a look at his hands around my
upper arms, which were currently cutting off my circulation. He was the one
getting worked up now.

He immediately released his grip, backing
away. “If I recall, you seem to respond to finesse with just as much anger as
you respond to aggression. Why don’t you just save me a lot of trouble and tell
me what I can do to get through to you?”

“Nothing, but I especially hate authority
figures, so why don’t you ease up a little on my hunting activities?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be
over-protective, but I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you,” he said
like a broken record.

“My life happened to me. That’s bad enough.
In fact, it can’t get much worse.”

“Your life is what you make of it. You can
choose to do good, and you have,” he said.

“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t erase
the bad I’ve done,” I shot back.

“You didn’t kill anyone. It’s not your
fault,” he said half-heartedly, as if he already knew this was a losing battle.

“I still feel responsible,” I said. “So stop
getting on my back about hunting, because I’m not going to stop,” I said.

“I don’t have a problem with you hunting, as
long as you’re careful,” he said.

“You know me,” I said ambiguously.

“That’s exactly why I worry,” he said dryly.
“I’ll find you when I learn more about what’s going on, but will you please,
please stay away from that club until I do,” he begged.

“No promises,” I said, shooting him a sweet
smile.

“You know, I was serious when I said I would
stop you if you tried, even if I have to tie you down or chain you up,” he
said, with an even sweeter smile, making it a little scarier than mine.

“Try me,” I blustered.

I was sure he could take me if he wanted. At
first I just wanted to stand my ground against him, but the air between us
changed. The long pause began to fill with the accompanying thoughts associated
with the double meaning of that last bit of the conversation. There was a
sexual undertone in it that began filling the air with that electricity and
heat and, again, filling my thoughts with memories of the last big heated
moment we shared. I definitely did not need to remember how he felt between my
legs.

Yikes. Lock it up, Luce.

Without another word his eyes drained of
that annoying arrogance, and he swiftly left. He didn’t even bother putting in
the last word. What was up with him?

Well, there was no way I was going back to
bed now, so it was off for another round of patrolling, with a shiny new reason
to kick some ass. I always welcomed any motive to kill vampires, and the fact
that they were using humans for their own personal meal-on-wheels was damn sure
good enough to add more fuel to the raging wild fire inside of me.