Force of Knight Magic (14 page)

“Never will you see me again
,
old man.”
Laughing
,
she stabbed the opener straight into his sputtering heart and watched him struggle to take his last breaths.
“You are a pitiful excuse for a human being and I will enjoy killing the cop that you talked to.”

A noise on the stairs had her jump back and when the door opened
,
she could see the light beginning to fill the sky.
Rushing by the woman in her robe and slippers she knocked her over and was out the door before the first scream echoed through the house.
Theresa laughed all the way to the house just down the street and climbed into the basement from the crawlspace just as the sun crested.

The house was surrounded by red and blue lights when she ventured back.
Most of them hurt her eyes
,
but she stayed.
She wanted to see who would come by and who would figure it out that it was her.
She smiled when a policeman came out of the house holding his belly. She was disappointed that he didn’t puke like she’d seen them do before.

There were so many people around that she didn’t need to hide this time. Theresa walked up to the house and stood by the ambulance that was opened up.
She wanted to tell them it was too late for this thing
,
but didn’t think it would be a smart move this close to the killing. She started for the house when she got a scent.

He was here.
Phil Campbell, the vampire from the hotel was here.
She looked around
,
wondering what he looked like
,
when she saw the woman. The woman that she’d wished for days now that she’d taken out instead of the wimpy one in the back room.
Moving closer to the smell
,
she could almost touch him when she saw him stiffen. She’d only just managed to step behind the big man beside her when the vampire turned.

Good golly
,
h
e
was handsome.
Much prettier than her b
eau
Mr. Richardson
,
and so much taller and more muscular.
She watched him as he reached out for the woman and that’s when Theresa realized that they were together.
She had taken two steps forward to tear her apart when he looked right at her.

“You should know that I have your scent now.
And as soon as I can
,
I will cut your head from your shoulders and watch you incinerate.”
Theresa put her hands over her ears to block him out and his laughter was still there deep inside of her head.
“You can’t hide from me.
I will hunt you down like the insignificant scum that you are.”

“No,” she said aloud.
“No, you can’t do this to me. I’m…I’m only a kid.
I…what makes you think I did this anyhow?”

“Speak with your mind,”
he commanded.
“You did this and more.
I have a long record of your crimes against humans.
The list is now noticed by the Trustees and I’ve been sent to hunt you down. And so that you know, I will take great pleasure in killing you.”

He moved forward and would have caught her if the woman hadn’t said something to him.
She looked at Theresa too and she could see the hatred in the other woman’s eyes.

“What is that person, that woman next to you about?”
Theres
a
said
,
speaking with her head this time.
She’d never done that before and might have found it fun i
f
the vampire she’d wanted for the past weeks hadn’t threatened her with it.
Well, two could play that game.

“She is my mate,”
he growled at her.
“And you’d do well to keep your distance from her as well.

Theresa laughed h
eartily
.
Several people turned to stare at her
,
but she didn’t care, this was between her and her newest enemy. She had no clue w
hat
a
“
mate
”
was
,
but she figured it had to be something like a girlfriend or something. She thought about biting the woman and draining her and her fangs dropped down.
Letting the two of them see them
,
she stepped back when he did the same.
His were not only bigger than hers
,
but they looked sharper too.

“I’m going to kill your girlfriend then I’m going to have all kind
s
of sex with you before I kill you too.”
Brave words
,
she knew
,
but didn’t think he’d move on her with all these people around.
She grabbed the first person who walked by her
,
pulled
him
to her mouth
,
and bit.
“Fuck you,” she said aloud when she dropped the bleeding man to the ground and ran.

~~~

Holly watched the paramedics work on the young policeman.
He was going to make it
,
they said
,
but w
eren’
t sure what had happened.
It looked like he’d been cut.
She knew that he had
.
Phil had pulled his own knife out of his pocket and had cut across the two puncture marks before calling for help.
Smart man
,
her mate.

“They’re going to take him to the hospital now.
They all believe that he fell against some glass and was lucky someon
e
found him when they
did
.”
She grinned at him.
“Well, that’s what they’re saying anyway.”

They walked into the house, Holly showing her badge
, one
she’d taken from one of the many ID’s that she had stashed in the vehicle.
Phil had one too
,
but his picture identification had been stolen
,
he’d told the on
-
duty cop.

Everyone cleared out when they went into Gregory’s room.
Holly walked over to the man lying prostate on the bed and looked down at him.
The rogue had done a great deal of damage before she’d killed him.
Holly looked at the letter opener still in his chest.

“Why do they think this it’s an animal killing?
I’ve never known of any species that uses letter openers
,
do you?
And the preciseness of the stabs to the eyes is just to
o
perfect.
I don’t understand this at all.”
She walked to the other side of the bed and schematized each thing she saw.
“There’s a picture here.
I think it’s like the one you showed me.
It’s all bloodied
,
but still
,
you can see her face.”

“There are some notes here too.
I think he was putting together a file or something for someone, probably the other cop, Myles.
These are very neatly done.”
She glanced over as he moved the papers into a neat stack.
“I’m going to make copies and then give them back to the granddaughter.
We might be able to—
”

“Where is she
?
” a man asked as he slid into the room.
“Oh my God.
She killed him
,
didn’t she?”

They both turned to the man in the doorway.
She could tell that Phil was shocked. So was she.
The man had gotten past five or so cops that were supposed to be keeping the room off limits to all personnel. Before she could speak, Phil did.

“It’s the cop, Myles Kramer. The other man from the meeting in the hotel.”
He walked toward him, speaking to him softly.
“Yes. Do you know who she is? Where she can be found?”

“How did you know about…have…Did Gregory tell you his tale too?”
The man looked ready to collapse and she was glad when he sat in the room’s only chair.
“I didn’t want to believe him.
I even went up to his hotel room that night thinking I’d destroy everything in it so that no one would ever know. But I got there and started reading his notes and realized that there was just too much information there that sounded like something I’d heard before.”

“So you investigated. What did you find?
Other than he’d been telling the truth, what did you find out?”
Holly moved away from the bed as she spoke
. T
he man wouldn’t look toward her while she stood near the body.
“We know it was her here tonight. We both can smell her.”

“How did you get past the police
?
” Phil asked before the man answered her question.
“There must be fifty cops out there and you came right though them.”

Anye stepped forward and Phil bowed before he could think not to.
Holly simply growled low in her throat at her. When Phil looked over at Myles
,
he was surprised to see that the man was
n’t
freaking out
. Phil
figured most humans would be star
t
l
ed
at someone just simply appearing
,
but he stared
at her as if he’d seen her before.

“I let him in.
He’s going to need to work with the two of you
,
or…”
She looked over at Myles then back at him.
“Or he can’t be allowed to remain.”

Phil wanted to protest
,
but Holly beat him to it.
“Can’t remain? What the fuck…you mean he has to be turned?
Into which of us?
Because if I have to change him, there will be hell—
”

“No, not change him.”
Phil nodded
,
understanding.
Holly looked shocked then sat down on the floor.

“You mean kill him,” she said softly.
“Just like that, you’ll kill him as if he means nothing at all to someone.”

“I’m sitting right here. And if I get a vote, I’d prefer that we listen to the young lady here.
I might be a tad used up
,
but I don’t think I’m ready to be murdered just yet.”
Phil noticed that he’d not even pulled his weapon
,
something he was sure the man had on him.

“Noted.
But you must be trusted with all their secrets
,
as well as this man’s here.”
Anye pointed to the body on the bed.
“You’ve learned much too much now to be left as you are.
Phil?”
He looked at her when she said his name.
“Do you wish to trust this human or do we destroy a means to our end?”

“You are not killing him.
I mean it
,
bitch
. I
f you so much as lay one finger on him
,
I will hunt you down and rip your fucking ass apart.”
Phil stood up just as Holly began to let her beast go after threatening who was essentially his boss.

“Enough,” Myles shouted.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on here
,
but I’m reasonably sure we can settle this without killing me or doing whatever you were about to do with this…person.”
Everyone quieted and Phil had to hide his gri
n
.
Myles might prove to be a worthy human.
“Okay.
First and foremost, I want to know what the hell you are.
And don’t even try to bullshit me.
I may be…human
,
but I’m not stupid.
Now, someone fess up.”

Phil laughed as he pointed to Holly.
“She’s a werewolf, she-bitch they call them in her pack.
That woman there is a vampire
,
as am I.
She is my boss of sorts and the wolf is my mate.”

They all watched Myles
,
who looked from one of them to the other.
Then he nodded.
“The woman who killed those people, she’s which one of you?”

“Vampire
,
though she’s what we would call a rogue.
A vampire that has gone bad and must be—
”

Myles cut Anye off.
“I’m well aware of what a rogue is
,
ma’am.
So you knew about her and are just now trying to bring her down.
Not terribly smart of you to wait until she’s been killing this long
,
is it?”