Chapter Four
Los Angeles, California
October, 2006
Vera Donna was the leader of a small faction of female warrior vampires with a special affectation for teenage human blood. Vera and her lackies frequented places such as bowling alleys, night clubs, malls--any place where a youthful male would hang out at night, alone and unprotected. You'd think they would be protected in such places, but it was exactly the opposite. It's always better to lure people away from crowded places; so much is going on that people don't notice the absence until it's too late. Vera and the others would lure their victims away into the darkness with promises of alcohol, drugs, sex, and eternal life.
I should have felt bad for the nine teenage boys killed within the last three months by Vera and her gang, but I honestly had no sympathy for them. I had been tracking Vera since that first murder, but it wasn't to avenge the death of the boy. That's terrible of me, I know. Being a vampire slayer is all about saving the innocent from the clutches of the damned, but I didn't care about saving the boys. I didn't care how many deaths it took for me to get to Vera. All that mattered was that I find her. You see, I had spent the last five years tracking those few vampires who might have known where Mikhail was hiding. I was still looking for him, still looking to avenge Cassie's death. If anyone knew where Mikhail was, it would be Vera Donna.
The night club where I was doing my hunting was called Eternity. To me it sounded like something out of a Nora Roberts book, but whatever floated the owner's boat, I suppose. Music pulsated throughout the building, vibrating its way into the patrons' bodies, leaving an insatiable desire to dance. As Rob Zombie sang about his desire for dead women, men and women alike writhed together on the dance floor. As far as I could tell, they were all helpless mortals, with absolutely no idea about the dangers that awaited them in the darkness.
Then I felt it. The slight ripple in the atmosphere that told me something was there that shouldn't have been. Something didn't belong with the rest of us. Vampires. Vera and her cronies out looking for another meal.
I kept to the shadows with a hand on my gun at all times. I was paranoid of everyone I got close to. I hadn't seen Vera in five years; even though I did sense vampires in the club somewhere, I wasn't sure if I could recognize them in all this chaos. But that didn't mean they couldn't recognize me. After all, I was practically a legend now. After our little gig at the warehouse every vampire--and some non-vamps, as well--knew my name, and knew that if they saw me, they were pretty much sealing their own death sentence.
To my surprise, I spotted Vera quickly. I immediately recognized that overly pale skin, pale even for a vampire. That long, curling black hair and those eyes that held nothing except a cold, barren wasteland. Vera felt nothing. Or, at least, she hadn't felt anything in five years. It surprised me that I still knew exactly what she looked like. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I still vividly remembered killing Vera's sister Eva, and since they were twins...Well, yeah. So maybe it wasn't so surprising after all.
Vera stood near the center of the dance floor. She danced with her back to a guy. He had his large hands on her hips and she had her arms up and behind her, resting around his neck. He look to be about twenty, maybe twenty-one. A little old for Vera's tastes, but I could see why she'd chosen him. He was fucking hot. But that's beside the point. In a fluid movement she moved in his arms so that she was facing him. She kissed him long and hard, and when she pulled away he looked slightly dazed, but he quickly shook it off. I saw the confusion in her face, and I felt it as well. She was well over five hundred years old; she should have been able to mesmorize a human with a snap of her fingers. Was this guy more than he appeared to be? Was he even human?
Vera stood on her tiptoes to whisper something in the guy's ear, and upon hearing what she had to say he got that look in his eyes--you know, the look every guy gets when they're about to get laid. She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the throng of maniacs that were dancing. I noticed four other female vamps follow her indiscreetly. I found it a little hard to believe that they were all going to feed off the one guy; I had gotten the distinct impression that Vera didn't like sharing.
Things got a little crazy at that point. The music stopped, leaving the club in relative silence, and the lights shut off. People cried out in surprise and anger as the seeming power failure, and I felt like punching someone. Complete darkness? Are you fucking kidding me? Vera and her denizens of the dark could be long gone by the time they fixed the problem. For all I knew, Vera herself had cut the power. No, probably not. She had ordered someone to cut the power. There.
Turns out, though, that it wasn't a power failure at all. After about five minutes of silence and darkness, lights came on, pointing to a stage that I hadn't even noticed when I walked in. People started cheering as a live band walked out with their instruments strapped to their bodies and their dreadlocks bouncing. White guys with dreadlocks. Live band. This was just fucking great. I looked around quickly, pulling out my gun. If it came down to it, I was prepared to kill vampires in front of all these people. It was time they forced themselves to accept the existence of things that go bump in the night, anyway. I could see Vera standing near the door; she hadn't been able to take the guy out of the club in utter darkness without exposing herself.
As soon as there was enough light to see where everything was, Vera took the guy's hand again and pulled him towards the exit. The bouncer hardly paid attention to them. Cursing, I hurried after them. I was still a good hundred feet away. It was a big ass night club. I broke out into a run once they had stepped outside. I had come too far to let her get away from me now. I pushed people out of my way, some of them didn't even know what had happened while others yelled at me and called me names I'd rather not repeat here.
I didn't see them when I got outside. At first I panicked; how far had they gotten? Was I too late? Had Vera already killed the guy and left? I had almost given up when I heard a struggle coming from the alley next to the night club. Vera's voice floated upon the air: "You can't fight us forever."
I stayed quiet, although inside I was doing my own little happy dance. I kept my gun close to my chest, hiding it from view under the lapel of my coat yet not obscuring it incase I had to use it quickly. I was kind of surprised at what I saw when I stepped into the alley. Vera and her vamps were having a standoff with this guy, who looked like he was having some sort of conniption. Aha, I knew he wasn't human. His fit only lasted about two minutes, and when he started acting normal again he had sprouted patches of fur and was sporting claws. He was a lycanthrope, but had only transformed about half-way. Did he think he could take on Vera without being in full wolf form, if a wolf was even what he could change into?
Vera looked surprised that she had chosen a victim who wasn't human. She stared at him for a few moments, and then sneered, baring her sickly long fangs. "I will tear you to pieces, shapeshifter," she threatened.
"I'd like to see you try," the lycanthrope said. His voice had changed as well as his body. It sounded like two voices--a higher pitched voice and a very low pitched voice--talking at the same time.
As much as I would have enjoyed watching the lycanthrope rip Vera to shreads, I needed her. I needed her alive long enough to tell me where Mikhail was. So I did what I had to do. I pumped a bullet right between the eyes of the vamp nearest me. A little blonde thing with no hips or breasts--a giant toothpick with a wig. She let out an animalistic scream and then turned to ash. Three other pairs of eyes, plus Vera and the lycanthrope, turned to me. I shrugged.
"You're going to be sorry you did that, human," Vera hissed. Oh, shit. Maybe she didn't recognize me after all. Most vamps I dusted at least knew my first name.
"Vera, Vera, Vera," I said, shaking my head to add emphasis. "That's no way to talk to an old friend."
A look of confusion filled her dark, empty eyes, and then she smiled. Smiled so horribly, and if there was ever a smile that could cause death by being looked upon, it was Vera's. "No, it can't be...Kayla? Kayla Atrelic?"
I bowed my head a little, careful not to let my guard down lest one of the three remaining lesser vamps decided to attack me. "The one and only," I said. Then I turned to the lycanthrope and added, "Why don't you run along home, lycan?" I wouldn't call him a "shapeshifter" like Vera had; that was insulting to lycanthropes, since shapeshifters were a whole different species.
"I'm not leaving," he said. So, the lycanthrope had an attitude. Attitude could get you killed in this game.
"This isn't your fight, shapeshifter," Vera told him, knowing that the term "shapeshifter" would get under his skin.
"You were going to kill me," he snapped. "I think that makes it my fight."
I didn't have time for this. Without missing a beat I pulled out my other gun and crossed my arms so that it was pointed at his heart. "I won't hesitate to kill you, too," I said. "Now leave." He growled at me, and I just raised an eyebrow at him. Snorting, he turned and ran off into the darkness. What a shame. Even when he was almost wolfed out, he was still fucking hot.
"I heard you were alive," Vera told me. She took a step closer, and I didn't back away. I wouldn't back away from her like some coward. I was here for one purpose, and that purpose was to find out where Mikhail was. If I had to kill Vera in the process, well, I guess she would just have to die. "But I didn't know you were here in L.A."
"I manage to keep a low profile," I retorted. "Unlike you. Nine boys in three months? Vera, didn't you ever learn how to hide a body?"
She sneered at me. "I didn't want to hide the bodies," she said. "I wanted all creatures to know that this city is mine."
I laughed at her. "You're not a master vampire, Vera."
She seemed to take offense to that, because her dark eyes became tinged with red as her anger grew. With a savage look about her, she motioned to her three remaining lackies. "Kill her!" she screeched.
