Amy Blankenship - Night Light

They’d discovered the body of the vampire’s latest victim sprawled out on a well-manicured lawn. With their sense of smell, they’d been able to catch up with the bloodsucker just as the vampire reached Rodeo Drive. From there, Trevor had to hold Kat back a bit explaining that there were too many people around for them to just run in blindly.

Now, here they were, following a vampire on foot and neither one in the mood for conversation. Next thing they knew, they were on a city bus not really paying attention to its destination. Finally, the vampire reached up and pulled the cord to get off. Kat and Trevor rode down to the next stop and got off themselves before resuming their pursuit. The vampire continued walking and Kat growled in frustration.

“I’m starting to think this vampire is on drugs. We’ve almost made a complete circle.” She complained. “We’re only a few blocks away from the club.”

“There he goes!” Trevor exclaimed and ran toward an alley where the vampire abruptly vanished.

Trevor’s sneakers made a skidding noise when he reached the mouth of the alley and peered into it. Kat stood beside him, ducked down a bit so they could both peek around the corner.

“Damn,” Trevor cursed and drew out his 9mm.

“I still don’t understand why you carry a gun,” Kat said even though she knew Nick carried one too. It wasn’t the gun Nick relied on… it was the specially made wooden bullets that filled it. “Those things are useless against vampires.”

Trevor smirked, “You forget who I work for. These bullets are specially designed to explode on impact and the center is hollowed out and filled with just a bit of muriatic acid. That shit will eat through just about anything.”

“Why doesn’t the acid eat through the bullet then?” Kat asked, secretly gathering info to bribe Nick with.

“There’s an inner casing placed inside the bullet when it’s hollowed out that the acid can’t eat through. I forget the name of it at the moment.” Trevor explained. “It’s strong enough to not be damaged by the acid but fragile enough to break when it collides with something.”

Kat slowly stood upright, “Shall we go in?”

Trevor tightened his grip on the gun and headed in first, followed by Kat who had a razor sharp dagger in each hand; courtesy of Trevor. They combed the entire alley before they realized the vampire had vanished.

Trevor released his stance and let his gun arm down. “He’s gone!”

Kat released a frustrated sigh, “Well, since we’re this close, we may as well go back to the club.”

“As much fun as I had tonight leading the two of you idiots all over the city,” a voice said from behind them. “I must insist that you stay for dinner.”

Kat and Trevor whirled around toward the voice and froze when they saw the vampire they’d been tracking along with five others.

“The son of a bitch knew we were following him,” Trevor growled as he brought the gun back up and steadied it.

With walls on three sides and the vampires in front of them, Kat knew she and Trevor would have to fight their way out of here. She crouched down low when the vampires quickly closed in on them. One with flaming red hair leapt up hoping to get the drop on them, quite literally.

Kat immediately pushed up from her crouch and tackled the vampire in mid-leap. Her long nails now resembled claws even though no change had taken place. They crashed to the ground with the vampire on his back beneath her.

The bloodsucker gripped her right wrist so tight, she felt the bones start to grind together painfully. Swallowing the sickly pain, she flicked her wrist downward, driving the dagger into the vampire’s wrist as payback. Gaining her freedom, Kat wasted no time driving her right hand into the monster’s chest and pulling out his heart.

Trevor took aim and fired at the vampire they’d been tracking all night. The bullet hit the creature in the throat and, for a moment, he just stared at Trevor with an expression of disbelief before he started to scream and claw at his own throat. The scream abruptly cut off when the acid released from the bullet reached the vampire’s voice box.

Trevor didn’t actually see what happened next as he was immediately attacked by another vampire. His body was thrown against the alley wall where he slid to the ground. His 9mm went flying while he tried not to count the stars forming in his vision. The other vampire was closing in when Trevor felt something against his leg. Looking down, he saw the head of the vampire he’d shot and reached for it.

Taking the severed head by the hair, Trevor threw the still disintegrating object at the approaching bloodsucker. The creature dodged it and snarled at him, ready to pounce. Something shiny flashed across his vision and Trevor saw a long dagger sticking out of its chest. Turning his head, Trevor saw Kat standing there looking like a bloody mess.

“Look out!” Trevor yelled.

Kat raised her other dagger and gasped when the vampire took hold of her hand and drove the blade downward at an ark, directly into her inner thigh. The pain alone gave her the strength to push the vampire off her. She quickly stumbled backwards toward Trevor and managed to pull the dagger out of her thigh. Warm liquid quickly followed and made a path down her leg.

Trevor knew something had to be done. They were both injured now. He could feel the pain in his ribs and shoulder where he’d hit the wall and was finding it hard to breath. Looking up at Kat, who was standing protectively in front of him, he thought about their next move.

He needed to shift into something big enough and strong enough to fight them and survive. The downside was if he shifted, he’d give away his true nature to Kat. His kind had never gotten along with the other shifter tribes because of their diversity. They could blend in with any of the clans and disappear without a trace, sometimes for decades at a time. They were the perfect weapons in a war.

Because of this, any animal he chose would always be ten times stronger than that particular animal. In his human form the same rules applied, but it hadn’t helped them much so far. However, if he didn’t shift, their asses were goners.

Suddenly Kat dropped her weapon and hunched over. Because of her injuries, the change was seconds slower than normal. Her body shifted until she was on all fours. The clothes fell from her body and a beautiful tan and black spotted fur coat took their place.

One of the remaining vampires attacked and Kat rose up on her hind legs, blocking him with some kind of wrestling hold. Her claws dug into the creature’s shoulders and her long teeth were bared at him. Without thinking twice, Trevor chose that moment to shift.

The two remaining vampires hissed angrily when the human they were closing in on transformed into a Kodiak bear. Trevor swung a giant paw at the closest one and took the entire half of its body clean off, leaving the legs to fall lifelessly. Knowing the vampire wasn’t dead, Trevor ambled over to it anyway and crushed its head with his powerful jaws.

He rose up on his feet to help Kat when the last two vampires attacked him full force. Trevor stumbled back a few steps before roaring loudly and pulled one off, throwing him down the alley. He roared again when the last one sank its teeth into his shoulder blade. He heard Kat’s jaguar scream and felt the brick wall ram into the side of his temple before he fell from the impact.

*****

Quinn and Warren had combed the entire area in a five-mile radius from the club.

“There’s nothing around.” Quinn stated and tried to let go of his frustration. Something wasn’t right… he could feel it in the air.