Forever Night Sins (2 page)

A delicious tingle of desire slid through Egan. He might be tempted if she wasn’t wearing that hideous uniform and carrying an array of anti-vampire weapons. The ease with which she held a light wand told Egan she wasn’t new to the force. Recalling the smell of burning flesh from other vampire versus DSA encounters, Egan hissed. The wounds inflicted by the wands were near fatal to vampires but the lights were harmless to humans.

Egan studied the male humans; a handsome blond held a microphone and a bearded fellow shouldered a camera bearing the logo of a national cable network. The authorities preferred to keep the vampire community uninformed, but several satellite receivers mounted on the top of the Cemetery’s main structure kept information flowing.

The camera lens swung from the blond newsman to the DSA agent, then to the red puddle on the asphalt. The headlights of the vehicle illuminated the large patch of human blood. Why was there so much blood in the street?

If there had been a recent kill, the blood would be fresh and splashed around. A puddle this size would have been lapped up within minutes of the fatal incident.

But this wasn’t fresh blood, recently spilled. Egan closed his eyes and inhaled, deeply, slowly. The blood was human, but old.

Egan’s eyes popped open and turned red with anger. It was a setup to lure in vampires to be taken down by the DSA agent for a national TV audience thirsty for the death of a vampire. The enemy had hit a new low.

The soft swishing sound of fast-moving vampires brought Egan to his feet. Others were honing in on the scent of the humans and the blood. Vampires, three of them, were approaching from the opposite direction.

Egan waved them off and whistled, a shrill signal of danger, but the young vampires were on the hunt. Frenzied, the trio ignored his warning and scrabbled down the face of a nearby building and dropped to the intersecting street. The three were young and hadn’t been vampires for longer than a few months.

Two had been gangbangers in their human life, nasty youths that Egan despised. But Noah was a good kid, only fourteen, and more recently turned. Egan doubted that Noah had ever gone face-to-face with a DSA agent.

The gangbangers took each side of the street, and Noah moved to the center.

Seeing the vampires, the DSA agent lit up her UV wand and took a defensive stance. The cameraman turned the lens toward the puddle of blood.

Egan realized the bangers were sending Noah up the center, sacrificing the kid to the agent so they could go for the blood or the humans.

“Noah, stop!” Egan scrambled down the fire escape. “Stop, it’s a setup.”

The bangers hissed, and instead of stopping Noah ran at the agent.

Egan leaped to the street and raced after the teenager. Before he caught up with the kid, the DSA agent hit Noah right in the face with a beam of UV light. The kid screamed, a horrible wail of pain that tore at Egan’s heart. Noah fell to the asphalt. The bangers went for the blood, falling to their knees to slurp the nourishment off the street.

The agent spun around to attack the bangers, turning her back on Egan. Running full out, Egan slammed into the agent and sent her flying. She hit the asphalt hard, losing her burner. The weapon slid along the asphalt out of her reach.

The blond newsman was speaking excitedly as the cameraman filmed the event.

The DSA agent rolled to her knees and pulled a weapon. The bangers, blood running down their chins, sprang to their feet. The agent fired, hitting the young vampires in the chest. As they dropped, she pumped two more shots into each of them. Six shots. Instead of using a weapon that fired thin silver bullets that debilitated a vampire, she’d used wooden bullets. This agent was out for the instant kill.

The agent turned and fired, hitting Noah in the chest, twice. His screams ceased and his body convulsed, then stilled.

The newsman was talking into the microphone, giving a verbal blow-by-blow of the action. “Fearless Agent Harper Croix has destroyed three vampires. Only one remains. Her weapon is trained on the tall, fanged creature.”

Creature
?

Egan wanted to fly at the newsman and snap off his pretty head. Instead, he scooped up Noah and locked gazes with Agent Croix. Egan knew her weapon had a nine-bullet clip. An excellent shot, the agent had one bullet left.

Pointing the microphone at Egan, the newsman stepped in front of the agent, blocking her shot. “Speak to the people, vampire. Tell the public how you feel. Tell us your name.”

Egan ignored the newsman and retreated, walking backward and keeping an eye on Agent Harper Croix. He’d remember that name.

The agent scrambled to her feet and pushed the newsman aside. “Surrender, bloodsucker! Or face the same fate as your friends.”

The cameraman swung his lens back and forth to film the showdown.

Egan had to admire her. She wasn’t drenched in sweat like the men, and she wasn’t backing down. He let Noah’s head drop back, exposing his burned face to the camera. “His name is Noah, Agent Croix. I don’t want you to forget.”

Tossing Noah’s dead body over his shoulder, Egan leapt toward the fire escape and grabbed the metal ladder. He climbed, moving fast. A bullet zinged past his head. Drawing on his strength and power, he jumped from platform to platform, without touching a stair.

He was in a race for his life. He had to reach the roof before the agent lit up the fire escape with the ultraviolet floodlights mounted on the roof of her vehicle. The fear of being burned spurred him upward.

Reaching the top, Egan jumped onto the roof and dropped. Like a shot, UV light lit up the building and the area above him. On his knees, Egan dragged Noah across the rooftop as far away from the lights as possible.

He laid out Noah, said goodbye to the boy and left the area. Sunrise would cremate the remains. Sunset would bring Egan back to the streets for revenge.

Harper checked her weapons before sliding into the driver’s seat of her vehicle. Alone, she drove toward the Cemetery to begin her patrol. She was pleased to finally be rid of the TV crew, but thanks to Hays she now had a pissed off vampire bent on revenge.

She’d done the right thing protecting Hays and his cameraman, Gus, but Noah’s burned face stayed with her. Along with another face Harper wasn’t likely to forget. The vampire she’d let escape.

She’d had one bullet left in her clip. If she had missed the shot the vampire would have attacked. Unarmed, she was no match for him.

But she’d had a clear shot before Hays had stepped between them. Why had she hesitated? Why hadn’t she fired and taken down the vampire?

Harper had mulled over that question too many times to count.

He was unlike any vampire she’d encountered. He’d cared about the kid, unusual for a vampire. Strong, he hadn’t attacked nor had he lapped blood off the street like those ravenous vampires she’d killed.

This vampire was different. His eyes had mesmerized her. Vampires had dark eyes, but his were silvery. Harper shivered at the memory. He looked about thirty-five, maybe younger. His hair was black, his face chiseled and attractive. Very attractive. Downright handsome. All male. And that rich voice, so controlled even while he threatened her with eyes blazing red with anger.

His vampire age was difficult to judge, but he wasn’t a newbie. He hadn’t made a foolish rush for the pints of blood Hays had poured onto the street. He’d remained in command of his actions. Although he’d cradled the boy in his arms, the vampire was wily enough to use the teenager as a shield. Incredibly strong, he’d carried the boy up the fire escape with speed and ease. He might be decades old, even centuries.

Vampires were dangerous, but old ones were also intelligent, powerful and cunning.

Just fucking great, she had an old one targeting her ass.

As long as she remained in her vehicle, the old one shouldn’t be a problem.

Harper drove along the street bordering the Cemetery. Part of the job was letting the vampires know the DSA owned the streets. She circled the Cemetery and drove the streets fanning out from the vampire prison, never driving the same pattern.

The politicians referred to the places like the Cemetery as vampire housing, but if it has walls around it and the occupants aren’t supposed to leave, it’s a prison.

Around midnight, Harper made another pass by the Cemetery. Her headlights caught a flicker of movement. Then Harper saw something moving in the street. She slammed on the brakes.

Lying in the street was a woman in a low-cut blue dress. The woman lifted her arm, flailing at the empty air as if warding off an attacker.

Harper called dispatch and reported the situation. She flipped a switch and flooded the area with UV light, and jumped out of the vehicle.

Barely conscious, the young woman had two puncture wounds on her neck. Protected by the UV floodlights, Harper stayed with the victim until the ambulance arrived. She scanned the area for signs of vampires. Obviously, she’d interrupted the vampire’s meal and had forced the bloodsucker to drop the victim and run.

After the young woman was loaded into an ambulance, Harper returned to her vehicle and dictated a few notes into her dashboard recorder. She’d file an official report at the end of the shift. Right now, she wanted to find the biter.

Two blocks away, she saw a vampire slinking along the side of a building and flipped on a roof-mounted UV spotlight controlled by a joystick on the dash. The blue light shot across the urban canyon but missed the vampire. She drove down the street, one hand on the wheel and the other on the joystick. If she caught the vampire in her blue beam the bloodsucker would be toast, literally.

She caught a flicker of movement, a dark shadow darting across her path. She twisted the joystick but missed her prey. Instead of disappearing into the bowels of a building or onto a rooftop, the vampire played cat and mouse with the blue beam. Unable to tag the vampire, Harper chased the bloodsucker through the deserted city caverns.

After the vampires were forced into the Cemetery, the humans abandoned the surrounding buildings, leaving apartments and businesses deserted. The dead zone between the living and the undead was Harper’s beat.

A shadow moved and Harper turned the joystick. The vampire ducked into a dead-end alley.

Harper hit the gas and turned into the alley, then slammed on the brakes. The patrol vehicle’s headlamps illuminated the narrow canyon. At the far end of the alley, a door stood open. The vampire had escaped, and only a fool chased a vampire inside an abandoned building alone.

Harper swore and put the vehicle in reverse. She started to back up but stopped. Something pink was visible at the edge of the doorway. A scrap of cloth? A ribbon? Another victim?

Vampires rarely wore color, preferring to blend into the night.

Flicking a switch, Harper lit up the alley with all the roof-mounted ultraviolet lamps before climbing out of her vehicle. Light wand in hand, she approached the open door. Harper picked up the pink ribbon and pulled. The ribbon stretched, taut with resistance. Fearing the ribbon was attached to someone, Harper unclipped her sidearm and ignited her wand.

Going inside was dangerous, but Harper had to find out if another female victim was inside. A shiver slid down her spine. She should call for backup and wait for another agent.

Harper exhaled. The encounter with the old vampire had spooked her.

Squaring her shoulders, Harper stepped into the dark windowless space. She swung her wand back and forth in a protective arc. If she saw a body, she’d race to her vehicle and call dispatch for assistance. Heart pounding, Harper followed the ribbon’s trail.

A rush of cold air came toward her, but before she turned to address the threat her hands were grabbed from behind and crushed by cold, powerful fingers.

Fear exploding in her brain, she struggled, kicked and tried to angle her UV wand. The pressure on her hands increased, the pain forcing a cry. She was spun around and her hands were slammed together. Cold fingers wrapped around her wrists and yanked them above her head. Then she was lifted up, the toes of her boots barely scraping the floor. The reinforced wristbands of her uniform protected her from bites, but not from a bone-crushing grip. Despite the pain, she held onto her UV wand.

“Remember me, Agent Croix?”

She recognized his silky voice. The old one had caught her. “I meet a lot of bloodsuckers,” she said, dismissing him.

He hissed, his face so close to hers Harper shivered. “Not like me.”

The reinforced collar of her uniform protected her neck from his fangs. If the vampire eased his hold, she might have a chance. One hit with the UV beam would do it. The door was only fifteen feet away. All she had to do was reach the light surrounding her vehicle and she was home free.

“Release me before the entire DSA squad lights up the area.”

“Not going to happen,” he said, yanking her light wand from her hand. He turned off the beam and tossed the wand aside. “Your coworkers are busy chasing shadows. Cost me dearly, but having you all to myself is worth the coin.”

When the world economies tanked, the old vampires hoarding metals benefited, but all the gold and silver didn’t help them when the human masses turned against them.

Harper’s brain worked furiously. She wore a fully loaded weapons belt and had slender wooden stakes hidden in the side pockets of her pants with no way to reach them. “My hands are going numb.”

“Housekeeping first.”

He removed her helmet and tossed it across the room, then relieved her of her weapons belt. The bloodsucker was dangling her like a puppet on a string and had stripped her of most of her weapons. Advantage vampire.

Harper had no idea what he had planned for her, but vampires didn’t pass up fresh human blood. Blood gave them strength and made them horny. Harper groaned. She was going to get sucked and fucked.

The vampire lowered her to the floor, took each of her hands in his and spun her around. He yanked her arms behind her back.

She gritted her teeth. The bloodsucker had nearly pulled her arms out of their sockets.