Authors: Yolanda Sfetsos
Unseen
UNSEEN
A
Prequel to
Unnatural
***
by
T
his is dedicated to the first person who read Trina’s book and encouraged me to delve into her world.
You know who you are.
I’d also like to thank Linda, for giving
The Hidden
a wonderful home.
Other Books by
Coming Soon
Unnatural
Copyright
ISBN: 978-1-61026-087-9
Unseen:
A prequel to Unnatural by
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Cover design by Patricia Lazarus
Cover credits:
Aleksandr
Frolov
, Dreamstime.com
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Chapter One
Humming along to songs about wearing sunglasses at night, shattered dreams, and girls having fun wasn’t exactly how Trina Martin had expected to spend her first solo shift behind the cash register at the stationery store. She’d been employed with Pen, Paper & Beyond for just over a month and had been looking forward to working alone at the customer service desk, but now kept yawning.
She stepped back until the counter pressed against the small of her back. From this vantage point she could pretty much see the entire store. The many tall aisles were fully stocked with whatever stationery items, or latest tech gadgets, customers desired. The office furniture display was situated at the back of the store, and the electronic technology near the front desk. She’d already gotten caught up in the familiar jargon and labels her coworkers used to refer to products or sections of the store.
Then again, the training they provided had been extensive. Unlike many of the other jobs she’d had before this one, where she was expected to learn things by osmosis, Pen, Paper & Beyond actually seemed to care that their employees become familiar with their products.
A new song started, and her mind took her back to an incident that had provided her with a successful bounty.
It’s a little strange that you remember what you were doing when these songs weren’t just department store fodder, and were actual new releases.
And it wasn’t because she’d grown up with them, like several of her workmates probably had. Nope, she’d been the same age for a long time. Well, technically she still gained a year every time one passed, but she didn’t display the usual signs of aging, nor did she know her birth date. That small detail had faded into oblivion. Too many bad things had interrupted her life when she’d been young enough to be considered fully human. Before she was stripped away from a tranquil life and thrust into chaos.
Unfortunately, most of the bad stuff was still packed inside her head. But the good, if there’d been any, was mostly forgotten.
Just cut it out, think about the 1980s.
She couldn’t help laughing at the thought. She’d had much bigger hair then, kept puffy by a lot of teasing with a comb, and half a can of hair spray each day. Ah, there was nothing like a slow night to encourage reminiscing.
A gush of air lifted her hair as the automatic doors opened behind her. Winter had totally gripped
Sydney
this year.
She was about to turn around to take a look, and maybe smile at the customer who’d dared to brave the cold night to buy stationery, when a bubbly voice said, “Hey, Trina, I’m ducking out for my break, okay?”
Trina looked at her coworker, a tiny blonde with a big smile. Millie was working the electronic technology shift, and always seemed to be smiling.
“Sure, take your break,” she replied.
“If you need help with any questions you can’t answer, just call Zeke.”
Zeke happened to be the manager on duty tonight, and the guy responsible for training Trina. He’d been very patient as she’d asked one question after another and pretended she needed him to hold her hand for a lot longer than necessary. She’d learned how to use the register instantly, but while listening to the gossip around here, she’d been led to believe that new staff got a lot of shifts at the beginning, to help them get into the swing of things, before being dropped down to twenty hours a week. She’d decided it was better to take advantage of the opportunity now, and had insisted she needed more training before being dumped on her own.
“Trina, did you hear me?”
“Sure, Millie.
I’ll get Zeke if I need him.”
“We
always
need Zeke,” Millie said with a wink as she strolled toward the staff-only stairs.
Trina snorted. It was no secret that most of the female population in this store considered Zeke to be a
hottie
. While Trina hadn’t really noticed, she’d seen how the other girls scowled at her when Zeke paid her attention. But he was only training her. The sooner she knew her job, the less work for him. It made sense to put in all that extra time. Besides, Zeke was just one of those naturally friendly people who was willing to offer a helping hand and didn’t seem to let anything get to him. Plus he always had a smile on his face, like Millie, but he didn’t have the annoying, high-pitched voice.
Putting up with her fellow workmates was starting to grate on her nerves. Most of them were in their early twenties and were always chatting about themselves, bragging about their weekends, or planning outings with each other. She avoided those conversations without much trouble because she was new and most of them were still testing the waters, but she knew that eventually they’d start asking her to join in the fun. Zeke had casually mentioned it one time already, but she’d lied and said she needed to go home to feed the cat. She didn’t have a cat.
She pushed off the counter and made her way toward the counter drawers, hoping to spend a few minutes rifling through them to make the time go faster. Though she knew it wouldn’t work for long. As she grabbed the drawer, a familiar scent tickled her nose.
What the hell? What’s one of those idiots doing in here?
Trina dropped her hand from the red drawer—every surface was painted bright red—and instinctively reached behind her.
Damn!
The weapon she was looking for wasn’t there. It was sitting inside her locker upstairs. She could conceal her weapon while outside in the dark, but in a fully lit place like this, she’d decided it was best not to risk attracting any unwanted attention. Besides, how could she have known a stupid vamp would decide to take a stroll in here?
She tried to get her bearings by taking a longer sniff, but the vamp seemed to be moving a little too swiftly to keep track of. As cliché as that sounded, if a vampire was cocky enough to risk coming into an almost-empty stationery store, it most likely had evil intentions in mind.
Trina shivered as she strolled around the customer service desk and out of her temporary square prison. She slowly made her way around to the other side of the register, grabbing a stack of pamphlets. She straightened them before stepping in front of the counter to sort through the stacks of clearance items on display, but still couldn’t see anyone suspicious. She did hear Brenna’s now-familiar nasally voice as she explained the ins and outs of mechanical lead pencils to someone.
The customer didn’t respond, probably too entranced about the topic to interrupt. She snorted. Yeah, right. She couldn’t see them from where she stood so she walked in that direction. When she’d almost reached the second register, she noticed someone turning into one of the back aisles beside the office furniture. The person had moved too fast, and she hadn’t been able to get a reading, so she assumed it was just a customer.
Maybe you’re just imagining this.
The last few weeks had been a little slow on the vamp-hunting side of things. She’d even decided to take a little hiatus from her weekly meetings with Father Constantine and his trusty sidekick, Tomas the scholar. It didn’t stop Tomas from calling her every other day, but if there was nothing to report, what was the point of popping into church?
As she was about to head back into her little hen-house, she caught sight of Brenna rushing down the aisle toward her. She dumped some scissors on the counter, offered Trina a smile, and swung around, heading towards the right side of the store.
Trina paused, watching as the girl in charge of stocking the shelves and helping customers with standard-issue stationery pushed past the thick plastic swinging doors leading into the docking area.
Only a second later, someone else pushed past the plastic barrier, and a shrill cry filled the store. Others probably hadn’t heard or seen anything out of the ordinary, but Trina had noticed both the motion and the sound. Someone had followed Brenna into the back, and she was betting it was some bloody vamp trying to score an easy meal. What a brazen attack! He’d probably asked Brenna for something that wasn’t on the shelf, and being the helpful girl she was—as their training drilled them to be—Brenna headed into the back without a care in the world.
Trina raced across the aisles, headed straight for the back, before she could stop herself. Because, even if she had to pay for it later, she wasn’t willing to let some bloodsucker ruin her first real shift.
She needed to keep this job. It had enabled her to subscribe to cable TV, and she now had several cans of hot chocolate in her pantry. She wasn’t about to let some moron ruin her small pleasures in life.
Besides, once she made the bloodsucker pay, there would be a reward left behind for her.
As soon as she’d swiped the plastic doors aside and stepped into the darkened area, she swallowed against the horrid stench of vampire and body odor. It made her stomach turn, but she kept moving. Someone wasn’t keeping up with their hygiene. Maybe it was her lucky night, and she was about to bag a newbie—a weak excuse of a vamp still learning the ropes—and he wouldn’t be much of an opponent. It would certainly explain this sloppy attack.
I can finish this and be back at the service desk before anyone notices I’m missing.
Trina rushed forward, turned a corner, and found a male vampire hunched over Brenna. The idiot should’ve been facing the opening, not have his back to it.
Oh well, that’s his last mistake.
She coughed to get his attention, confident that he hadn’t bitten the girl yet. “Hey, get off her. She’s got a job to do!”
A low growl filled the space between them, and the vamp spun around to face her, one arm still wrapped tightly around Brenna’s front. He smiled at Trina and pushed his victim’s collar aside.
“She’s a pretty one, don’t you think?”
“Just let her go, and I promise not to make this too painful for you.”