Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) (23 page)

“
What were you doing in Switzerland?” I asked.

“
We went to a gathering of vampires and she tried to get others to side with her against Nero and couldn’t get anyone to help her. Then after the gathering, we came back to California. We tried to live on the fringes of Nero’s group, for protection against other clans, but Nero wouldn’t leave us be. Griffith Park has all of these vampires and they claim territories and fight each other for blood rights. They have the park all divided up.”

“
Wow,” Sam said. “Not today, but I’d like to talk to you, Kristin, about everything that happened and that you know.”

“
What clan are you with?”

“
None. I have a pretty normal life with my own kids. I have a job and a house.”

“
You have kids?”

“
Two of them.”

“
I don’t know other vampires with kids.”

“
They have to have them before they get turned,” Sam said.

“
That makes sense.”

“
What was that radiance thing that she did?” I asked.

“
That was all she talked about, Dad. Someday, she wanted to go into the radiance. I thought it was a metaphor.”

“
I’ve never heard nor seen anything else like that,” Samantha said.

“
I know it was like suicide, what she did, but maybe she did become a being of light. She was into spiritual things and prayer,” Kristin said.

I shuddered for what my poor daughter had been through.

“Daddy’s here now.”

“
Dad, that coat wasn’t what you thought either. I mean, the intimidation part was true, But she also made that coat from human hair wigs, not real victims, and each patch of hair symbolized a person she killed in her early life as a vampire. She wore her sin on her back, that’s what she said anyway. I didn’t understand it.”

“
Go on,” I said.

“
She thought that if she was repentant and became good, she’d be forgiven and someday, go to heaven.” Kristin turned to Samantha. “Do vampires go to heaven?”

“
I don’t know, honey. No one understands those things until they are standing there in the moment. And even then, we still don’t know what the radiance was that she went into.”

Kristin nodded. “Vampires are scared of my dad. He’s a legend. The Griffith Park vampires talk about him all the time. They’ll come for you, Dad, if they find out where you are.”

“We killed Nero last night and everyone else in the carousel nest.”

“
That’s incredible. There are other clans, though. They are dangerous, too.”

“
You seem to know a lot about vampires,” I said, horrified.

“
I
lived
with them, Daddy. Poor Delilah. It must have been horrible for her to keep your address a secret from me. I’m sure it was tearing her up inside.”

“
You’re a very sweet girl, Kristin,” Sam said.

“
No. I’m adaptable like my dad.” Kristin looked at Sam. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“
I may not answer, but go for it.”

“
I know you’re a vampire, but are you my dad’s girlfriend?”

If Sam could have blushed, she would have. “I’m Samantha, just a good friend.”

Kristin looked back at me. “Then…you probably have a vampire hunter girlfriend, right?”

“
Yes.”

Kristin frowned. “Do you still miss Mom?”

“Of course.” Guilt suffused me when her blunt, childish queries came off as…judgment.

“
Mom wouldn’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life. She wouldn’t want you to be sad. I don’t either.”

“
You’ve grown up.”

“
Living with vampires, you can’t help it.” She paused and chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “You should know…Mom tried to save me when they broke in the house looking for you. I saw everything.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Delilah held me when I cried over Mom and she never let me give up on my faith in you. She said you
would
come for me someday—to never stop believing that—and here you are.”

I hugged my little girl. “I wish you could forget what you saw.”

“Me, too. By the way, where’s the house, Dad?”

“
It sort of slid off the cliff.” I cleared my throat.

“
You blew it up because Mom died here, didn’t you?”

“
You know me very well.”

“
We can’t live here anyway. Would someone come for you, asking questions about what happened to Mom?”

“
I don’t know. What I do know is, we have plenty of room in the castle in Switzerland.”

“
That’s not my
home, though.”

“
Home is wherever
we
are, Kristin.”

“
Home isn’t even always a place. Sometimes, it’s a person,” Sam added.

“
Switzerland, huh?” Kristin thought about it for long moments and hugged me tight. “Okay, Dad, we’ll wing it.”

“
Easy for you to say,” said Samantha Moon.

She went behind a bush to transform into the bat-like creature that would carry us east, into the morning light.

The End

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The Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy

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Zombie Patrol

The Walking Plague Trilogy #1

by J.R. Rain and Elizabeth Basque

(Please enjoy the first 6 chapters)

Chapter One

I knelt in the prickly brush on the hillside and carefully took aim. The cougar sniffed the air, but I was downwind. About twenty yards away, Anna watched intently from the truck. I knew she hated this part, but she kept still and very quiet. As did I.

The cougar sensed another presence besides her two cubs
, but I had been doing this kind of thing for years. I knew to wait for the right moment. I gauged her at about seventy-five pounds; not too big for a wildcat. Actually, she looked thin. Probably hungry, too; these beasts didn’t come near civilization unless necessary. She’d probably wandered here from Griffith Park in search of food for herself and her two cubs, so I wasn’t absolutely sure just how strong she was.

The best place to hit her was in the back of the neck, so I waited for her to turn to the right position. She growled a little as one of the cubs tugged playfully at her tail. She was in no mood for play—she was very intuitive. I could tell. This cougar was nothing to fool around with.

Suddenly, she glanced in my direction. I held my breath. I knew Anna did, too. The cougar’s long, direct gaze penetrated me. I was ready to pull the trigger if she so much as hinted at a move in my direction. I didn’t blink, I didn’t move. I waited. She waited.

It was
pre-dawn, still almost dark. Her vision was pretty much perfect in such light. Mine, not so much. She stood stone-still, watching me from slightly higher ground.

As quickly as she’d focused on me, she released her gaze and bent to sniff the ground.

I mouthed a word of prayer, and then...I pulled the trigger, launching the dart into the back of her neck. I quickly shot her again, this time between her shoulder blades. The cat screeched and ran, her cubs following obediently. I followed, as well. I knew Anna was dying to get out of the truck, but I signaled for her to wait a little longer.

One
just never knew how tranquilizers would affect a wildcat. I hoped my aim was true and that this one would go down quickly. As I reloaded my injection rifle, I rushed through the foliage, following her tracks. How I didn’t trip and fall on my face, I don’t know. I hated leaving Anna alone in the truck, but I was wearing protective arm shields as well as a vest. Anna only had the vest, and even then, it was a little too big for her.

I found the old girl some thirty yards further up the hillside, struggling to stay on her feet. I silently thanked the gods for the anesthesia’s speed, even though she hissed viciously. Her cubs were a little bewildered. They watched with curiosity as I slowly approached. Mama usually told them what to do but Mama was staggering now, darts hanging from her neck and back.

As soon as the cat went down, I heard the truck door slam. There was a quiet rustle from the back of the truck, and then, shortly, Anna was beside me, out of breath and smelling like perfume. Who wore perfume on a tagging mission? Either way, I was grateful that she’d insisted on wearing moccasins. Hell, she could move as quietly as this cat.

Our work here wasn’t done
, not by a long shot. I glanced over at the cage she’d carried with her. Anna looked up at me for approval. She always sought my approval, although she had already earned it the moment she was born. I almost winced at her beauty. Instead, I smiled and nodded a little. Her replying angelic grin made me glad I’d brought her along.

The cubs were still small, so I let Anna work on them as I bound the cougar’s paws, front and back. My
volunteer co-worker sat cross-legged on the ground, distracting the cubs and coaxing them closer, the cage not far away. They were wary. They wanted to stay near their mother. Anna scooted a little closer. She’d covered her hands with earth, as I had, to try to mask our human scent. It worked a little. Her easy spirit worked better.

My work done, I watched silently as Anna worked her magic. She held a branch in one hand, moving it back and forth on the ground
in a teasing motion. She held out her other dirt-covered hand, face up. Neither of us spoke. She merely held the cubs’ eyes and urged them to her. Slowly, slowly, they inched closer, spellbound by my daughter. She got them to play with the branch, and somehow, she maneuvered them closer to the cage, which was now also lined with branches.

I stopped breathing again when one cub climbed onto her lap. This was a critical time, and Anna knew it as well as I did. If either of us showed a hint of fear
, these wild cubs would pick up on it and flee. I looked at my watch. It was probably another fifteen to twenty minutes until the mother would stir. I still hadn’t radioed the zoo, and there wasn’t much time unless I injected the mother again, which I didn’t want to do. Anna knew all this. Now, it was my turn to wait.

With one cub in her lap
, she placed the branch nearer to the cage. With both hands now free, she toyed with the first cub as the second approached cautiously. Finally, it came close enough for her to grasp. Quick as lightning, she gripped each cub by the scruffs of their necks and slipped them carefully into the cage. I was by her side in an instant and, much to the cougar cubs’ dismay, we closed and locked the door.

Anna sat back and sighed. “Whew!”
She laughed, and regarded the two cubs mischievously. “I got you two buggers.”

The cubs cried for their mother as Anna cooed at them through the metal cage. I switched on my radio. I watched my fourteen-year-old daughter with renewed awe as I talked into the walkie-talkie.

“Brice,” I said.

“
That you, Carter?” came the voice over some static.

“
Ten-four. I’ve got your cougar here.”

“
You kiddin’ me?”

I turned to the mother cougar
, presently lying on her side. “I’m not,” I responded, “and there isn’t much time.”

Anna left the cubs and gingerly approached the big cat. My hand reached for the rifle. Anna shook her head at me in defiance as I motioned for her to keep her distance.

I gave Brice our location in the north hills surrounding the zoo. “Can you be here within ten minutes?” I asked. I was beside Anna now. She caressed the mother’s injection sites. She ignored my motions to stop. She didn’t even have gloves on.

“
Christ on a Christmas tree, Jack! Ten minutes?”