Tainted Night, Tainted Blood

17



I had every intention of going straight home, but I found myself riding back roads, avoiding the main part of Columbus. The night was clear, a bit on the chilly side, and that chill helped clear my head of all the swirling thoughts threatening to invade. I didn’t want to have to think about Delai or Levi or anything else for that matter.

So much for time away. Going to the town hadn’t helped. It only made me even more confused.

A howl lit up the night, so loud I could hear it over the wind whipping around me and the muffled sound of my Honda. Ethan had worked on the bike, making it quieter than a normal motorcycle, but it was still loud when you were sitting on top of it.

I coasted to a stop and listened, almost certain the sound had been a figment of my imagination. It had sounded like a werewolf ’s howl, not a dog’s or a regular wolf. Real wolves didn’t run around Columbus much, if at all.

A minute passed, then two.

Then the screaming started.

I leaped off my bike and pulled it just off the road where someone wouldn’t hit it. As soon as I was satisfied it was far enough out of the way that no one would see it, I started toward the sounds of screaming and howling.

The road I’d been traveling was mostly deserted. It was one of those run-down places where rogue wolves tended to haunt. Very few Purebloods could survive out in a place like this. My best guess was that the fight ahead was some sort of territorial dispute.

It was just what I needed to bring back my edge.

While there weren’t a ton of trees, they were still heavy enough I couldn’t make out where the screams were coming from. I could see a house back behind me through the branches, but there were no lights shining inside. By the time I could see another house, the one behind me was hidden by the brush.

I drew my gun and sword, and my fangs started to extend. The blood oozing from my gums energized me. I was ready for this. It had been a while since I’d been in a real fight.

Another scream tore through the night. I couldn’t tell how many wolves I was dealing with. It could be anywhere from a couple to a half dozen.

I patted my pocket, making sure the silver packets were still inside. I didn’t really want to use them outdoors because a freak breeze could blow the dust back into my face. Small amounts would sting for hours. More than that, I would be helpless and paralyzed. I never wanted to feel that way again.

Another howl started but was cut off suddenly from somewhere up ahead. A roar followed in the brief silence.

My step faltered. I wasn’t so sure I was ready for this. The fight sounded as though it was moving away, though the screams and howls kept coming. This wasn’t a fight where the wolves would all walk away. There were going to be casualties.

I regained my rapid pace after only a slight hesitation. I couldn’t be worried about a few rogue wolves. Even if a vampire Count had decided to kill off some rogues hiding out, I could take them. I almost hoped there would be more to it than that.

Something crashed in the trees ahead and I trained my gun on the sound. I waited for it to come for me, but whatever had snapped the branches wasn’t moving anymore. I wondered if it was my howler.

I approached warily, ready to fire. I didn’t have all the information here. I could be walking in on just about anything, including a torture house, something I never wanted to see again. Once long ago was enough for me to never want to repeat the experience.

An arm came into view, covered in blood. The fingers were twitching and I leveled my gun where his head would be. It was hidden by the base of a tree. I stepped around, ready to fire, but lowered my aim as soon as I saw what was lying there.

The wolf had started to shift but hadn’t made it very far. His plaid shirt was torn in the front, as were his throat and chest. It looked like his heart had been ripped from his body, a sure way to kill both a vampire and a werewolf.

The fingers stopped twitching. Dead eyes fell on me, the life already drained from them. It had taken him a few moments to die, but die he did.

I stepped around the dead wolf and crouched down to look through the few remaining trees, into a clearing where a double-wide trailer sat. There was no sign of the killer or the dead wolf ’s heart. The house was the only thing visible. The windows were still intact and lights were on inside. The back door was hanging open but showed little of what might be hiding inside.

There was blood in the yard. As my eyes scanned the grounds a second time, I noticed another body pressed up against the base of the house. I’d overlooked it before because there wasn’t much left of it. His head and arms lay scattered around the tattered torso like so much debris.

My throat constricted as I considered that. I glanced back at the wolf behind me, really looking him over. His chest hadn’t been cut open with a knife. I could see scrapes on his face and arms that could only be made by werewolf claws.

And his friend out there? I’d have to get a closer look, but it would be a shock if his head hadn’t been severed by a blade.

This was exactly what I had been looking for.

A surge of excitement shot through me. I scanned the rest of the yard, but there was nothing within sight that would give the attackers away. I could still hear scuffling somewhere outside. It didn’t sound like it was coming from within the house. It sounded too far away for that.

Someone screamed and I stepped out of the trees, making for the side of the house in a low crouch. I could see the driveway from where I was. A pickup truck was parked just off it. The doors were closed and weeds had started to grow up around the wheels. It had been there for a while.

I pressed my back up against the side of the trailer, straightening. I peeked through a window and, seeing nothing, moved on. The fighting was definitely going on outside. I just had to find the combatants and put an end to it.

I moved silently and quickly, keeping myself low. My eyes never stopped moving. If something so much as twitched, I was going to put a bullet into it. I wasn’t positive we were dealing with our murderers, but it was a good bet I’d stumbled onto them. I was taking no chances.

I glanced around the corner of the house and when I saw no one, I slid around the side to work my way to the front.

An agonized wail was silenced almost as soon as it started. It sounded close, closer than I expected, and I froze. Something growled from about a dozen feet away, though I couldn’t see it from where I stood.

The sound of tearing flesh came soon after.

I crept the rest of the way around the side of the house, gun trained ahead. As I reached the corner, two men came into view. The first was clearly dead, his head barely hanging on by a thread. Blood was splattered across the grass, turning it black in the dim light coming from within the house.

On top of him was something I never expected to see.

The beast’s head was down, face buried in the man’s sternum. Long claws came from his nearly human fingers. Shaggy hair covered a large portion of his nude body, though not all of it. His legs looked normal, his arms a little hairier than they should be, but they looked human.

My aim went straight for the beast on top of the dead wolf. My hand was trembling and I had to take a few deep breaths to steady it.

I’d seen this before. It was becoming an all too common sight these days.

Before I could pull the trigger, there was a barking command from somewhere out of sight. The creature’s head snapped up at the sound and his eyes immediately fell on me.

“Shit,” I said as the thing leaped for me. His face was a strange mix of wolf and human, one eye blue, the other a feral yellow. He opened a partly shifted maw to expose teeth that were all too human.

He came at me fast and hard, almost too fast to believe. I pulled the trigger and the thing fell face-first into the grass as my bullet took him in the chest. He shuddered, whimpering, and I quickly made my way to where he lay. I raised my sword and without giving it a second thought, severed his head from his body.

My mouth was dry as I wiped the blood off onto the grass. The sound of fighting had stopped, though I wasn’t sure if it was because everything else was dead or if the sound of my gun silenced them.

I raised my gun and started scanning my surroundings. The road was to my left, but no one was over there. To my right and straight ahead were more trees, obscuring my view. It was likely anyone watching me would be there.

“Come on out,” I said. My hands had stopped shaking, though I couldn’t say the same about my insides. No wonder House Telia had been destroyed. While these part-vampire, part-werewolf creatures were still susceptible to silver, they were pretty much impervious to pain. Telia and the rogues they had been killing weren’t like me. They didn’t use silver.

A rustle in the brush brought my gun around. I tried to spot some hint of movement, but whatever had moved had fallen still. I kept my back to the house, not wanting to give anything the chance to sneak up on me.

I waited, trying to keep my mind focused on the task at hand, but it was hard. These creatures didn’t hunt in packs. Either the one I had killed had been set loose on these poor rogues or someone was controlling the beast somehow. Whatever vampire was in charge was in serious need of taking down. Controlling werewolves was bad enough. Something like this was unheard of.

Savage. That was the word that came to mind. Any vampire who could control such savage beasts was extremely dangerous. Most vampires wouldn’t even consider the mixing of blood because of the consequences. Not only would the other Houses look down on you, but the result was impossible to control.

Or so I thought.

More rustling from within the trees brought my head around. I couldn’t worry about the who or why right then. I needed to stay alive first; then I could worry about tracking down whoever started this mess.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, centering myself. The world came into sharp focus. Every leaf sprang to new life. My vampire-enhanced vision showed me every root, every twitch of a branch from the breeze.

A shadow shifted next to a tree and I fired.

A startled yelp came next, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

“Come on out!” I shouted. “Or I’ll kill you one by one.” I had no idea how many were out there. If they were all mindless beasts like the first, then they probably didn’t understand me anyway.

A growl and a sort of bark that sounded almost like speech answered me. Five figures stepped out of the trees. Before I could get a good look at any of them, there was another bark and two of the things charged me.

I turned my gun on the first and fired. It took the wolf-thing in the chest. He went down hard, writhing as the silver coursed through his blood. I swung my gun around to fire on the next, but he had moved too damn fast. He was on me before I could take aim.

Claws raked at my face and I just managed to jerk back in time. I rolled away as another bark sent two other mixed-blood beasts after me. The last was obviously the leader.

I rolled to my feet and fired at the closest beast before he could fall on me. The bullet took him in the stomach and he dropped. Like all the others, it wouldn’t be a killing blow, but it would incapacitate him long enough for me to subdue the rest before I went about beheading them all.

I didn’t have time to raise my gun on the other two. I was forced to backpedal, and I moved to put the house against my back again. The two creatures attacked me from either side. Neither looked sane, yet they worked together like they knew what they were doing.

What the f*ck?

I dropped into a forward roll as the two charged. I swung my sword in an admittedly wild swing. I got lucky and my blade caught one of the beasts in the leg. He cried out and dropped as the silver did its work.

I was just about to finish the roll and swing toward the other beast, but I was yanked to a stop when he caught hold of my coat and yanked me backward.

Claws tore through my coat like it wasn’t even there. They ripped into my back, tore the flesh, and buried themselves into my muscles. I screamed and tried to pull away, but I was trapped. Hot breath blew against my neck as the beast tried to bite me. I jerked away just enough so that its teeth sank into the leather of my coat instead of my neck. The claws in my back dug deeper, dropping me to my knees. Both my hands spasmed as if the creature had hit a nerve, and both my weapons fell harmlessly to the ground.

More blood poured from my gums as my teeth pushed fully through. The pain had brought my monster to the fore and with it, even more strength. I jerked forward and the claws tore out of my back. The pain ripped another scream from me, but I was free.

I spun, reaching down to the hidden sheaths at my waist, and pulled both my knives free. The creature leaped at me, snarling, bloodshot eyes boring into me, with an utter disregard for his own safety.

He hit me hard and we went down together. He vibrated on my chest, saliva dripping from his maw. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and warm blood spilled out onto my hands and over my torn clothes.

I twisted both knives in his gut as I pushed him away. I didn’t want to get too much blood on me, not with the wound in my back. Though it normally took a lot, it still would be all too easy for the blood to mingle, turning me into a mindless creature like him, especially if the wound was as bad as I thought it was.

I pulled my knives from the creature as I stood. I turned to face the last of the beasts, ready to finish the fight and all my troubles at once.

My eyes fell on the face and my entire world fell out from under me. All the pain I had ever felt, all the misery I had suffered for all these years, came crashing into me. My grip on my weapons eased and they fell harmlessly to the ground. A strange, choking sob came from somewhere, and it took me a moment to realize it had come from my own throat.

“Thomas,” I said, his name slipping from my lips like a gasp of pain. My eyes watered. My knees trembled and nearly gave out.

My brother bared his fangs at me, no hint of recognition in his mad gaze. The coarse hair on his face bristled with the movement. He raised a rusty sword in front of him, adopting an aggressive stance.

He snarled, growling like the animal he had become.

And then he charged.