Terry Spear - Vampire Read online

  KILLING THE BLOODLUST

  By

  Terry Spear

  Triskelion Publishing

  www.triskelionpublishing.com

  Published by Triskelion Publishing www.triskelionpublishing.com

  15508 W. Bell Rd. #101, PMB #502, Surprise, AZ 85374 U.S.A.

  First e-published by Triskelion Publishing

  First e-publishing February 2005

  ISBN 1-932866-76-0

  Copyright © Terry Spear 2004

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Triskelion Publishing

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places,

  and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

  persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  A light whiff of spice drifted to Crystal Anderson when she stepped into her dark apartment. Her stomach clenched with a sense of foreboding. Where had she smelled that scent before?

  With trepidation, she groped for the light switch then flipped it up. The place remained as black as an underground cave, just as she feared. Her heartbeat quickened. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a retractable knife.

  Snapping the knife open, she stepped forward, leaving the front door ajar in case she needed to make a hasty retreat. Her knee came in contact with the sofa. Using her hand to feel her way around, she bypassed the loveseat. Not one to give in to flights of fancy she skirted the coffee table and headed for her portable phone. Before she assumed the worst, she had to determine if anything else was amiss.

  After grabbing the phone, she turned it on, and raised it to her ear. No dial tone. Damn. The electricity being off wasn’t a coincidence.

  Time to depart and regroup. She dropped the phone and hurried for the door – then stopped abruptly.

  The door was closed tight. She’d never even heard it shut. The blood rushed in her ears as she contemplated her next move. Her hands grew clammy. How could she get caught without a backup plan for dealing with the menace?

  Suddenly, her phone rang, jarring her already raw nerves. A shiver slithered down her spine. She whipped around to face the phone. Whoever had turned off the electricity, was in the house. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to control the panic rising in her system. The tantalizing scent of spice drifted to her again. Then she recognized it. Nicolai’s scent. How did he get in without an invitation?

  The phone stopped ringing and her answering machine took over.

  Games. He loved playing games with her to show how clever he was – and how powerless she could be. She took another deep breath. Nicolai was close, but where? His night vision surpassed hers. Undoubtedly he watched every move she made. He wanted to prolong her fear...taste it. But she was determined not to show how rattled she was. Her eyes might not adjust to the dark the way his could, but she knew the position of every piece of furniture. She wasn’t totally disadvantaged.

  She crossed to the kitchen and eased open the drawer where she kept her flashlight. Her trembling fingers touched cold metal wrenches and screwdrivers, but no flashlight. Had he moved it? Or had she misplaced it again?

  Once more, she drew in his spicy scent, but couldn’t judge where it came from. The hair on her arms stood up. She headed for the breaker box in her bedroom closet.

  The metal breaker door squeaked open, shattering the silence. One by one she clicked up the switches. Her living room lamp came on with the third flip of a switch. Just as quickly, the bulb broke was broken with a crash.

  Adrenaline coursed through her body as she dashed back into the living room, knife at the ready.

  The front door closed with a slam. Crystal hesitated. He wanted her to follow him outside.

  After locking and bolting the door, she turned the lights on. Then she searched each of the rooms, making sure he didn’t have an accomplice hiding in the apartment. In her bedroom, a note sat on the ice blue satin pillow. She grimaced. He’d made it personal this time. His last note was only placed under her windshield wiper. This time it was not only on her bed, but a rose sat on top of it. Blood red.

  She pulled off her Army boots and Battle Dress Uniform, replaced them with black denims, a matching turtleneck, and black boots. He’d targeted her and she had to kill the bloodsucker before he got her first.

  Even if she couldn’t kill Nicolai tonight, she had to try to get some of his blood-bonded family. She’d prove to Nicolai she’d retained her huntress abilities even without her family’s support. She’d prove that she wasn’t going to be an easy target just because she had misgivings about killing them.

  Grabbing the note off her pillow, she unfolded it and read, “Lovely Crystal, as a vigilante force of one, you’ll never beat me. Join me instead. You’re not cut out to be a huntress. Yours truly, Nicolai.”

  She crumpled the note and tossed it into her wastepaper basket. He was right, of course. Preferring a real job, she’d obtained her bachelors in business administration and become a personnel officer for the Army. Her family punished her by shutting her out. Well, for taking the job in the Army and for being different...especially for being different.

  She lifted the rose to her nose and smelled the sweet tea fragrance. Dammit, she couldn’t help that she had an aversion to killing vampires.

  Most vampire hunters didn’t work a day job. They killed vampires and were paid bounties by local authorities. Often they received additional rewards from families once their wealth was reclaimed from vampires who’d taken the victims’ money and properties.

  But none of the vampire hunters went against the family’s wishes without living to regret it. None, but Crystal.

  She glanced in the mirror and ran her hand over her cheek, reddened from the cold. Being a huntress ran in her blood, a calling that all her line had from birth. She couldn’t ignore it...it’s what made her so intriguing to Nicolai. A huntress who hated hunting. At least that’s what she believed interested him in her.

  She and her kind were much stronger than the humans, having a superhuman strength, but they weren’t as strong as the bloodsuckers. That’s why the hunters hunted together...traditionally. The biggest problem facing the hunters was that vampires turned humans into their own kind whenever they wanted, whereas hunters’ special genes didn’t pass on to all of their offspring, making vampires vastly outnumber the hunters.

  But it would never be Crystal’s problem. She’d never be suitable for any man, not when she couldn’t kill vampires without hesitation. She’d risk a hunter mate’s life as well as her own because of her reluctance to kill. She blinked away the tears. Having a child would never be an eventuality for her.

  Taking a deep breath, she considered her appearance in the mirror. Her blonde hair had loosened from the upswept bun she wore to work. She pulled the pins out. Clasping a gold clip over it, she fashioned it into a ponytail. Her blue eyes sparkled, but wearing all black made her appear paler than normal. Easily she looked like one of the human hosts, giving up their blood for the sensual arousal they derived from it. The idea disgusted her.

  Her thoughts returned to Nicolai, her main concern. Once he’d found out about her, he’d wanted her for his own, a vampire huntress who’d been cut off from her family...vulnerable and alone. Was it that Nicolai wanted her special abilities and he wouldn’t stop until he’d turned her into one of his own kind?

  But he couldn’t turn her, could he? She’d always been taught a vampire couldn’t bite a hunter- hunter blood was poisonous to vampires. But the only way a vampire could turn anyone was to bite them.

  If he knew he couldn’t turn her, what did he want
her for? To kill her slowly? To prove to the other vampires that the hunters weren’t all powerful? She wouldn’t be safe until she killed his converts and him. And yet the idea repulsed her.

  She took a ragged breath, determined to keep her Army boss from learning about her nighttime activities.

  Some in the military didn’t want hunters in their ranks, feeling that they were ruthless nighttime vigilantes, barely better than the creatures they killed. Her boss was one of them. It was a warped view, but nonetheless, one that permeated the branches of the Armed Forces. If he discovered her evening excursions, her Army career could be jeopardized. Her only recourse would be to kill vampires for the rest of her life. The job she hated most.

  She strode toward her front door.

  Killing never came easy. Couldn’t her family understand? She put them all in danger every time she hunted with them due to her reluctance to kill.

  Minutes later, Crystal slipped into her black Cougar. The cool damp air chilled her. The Texas spring weather entered the scene with the same kind of unpredictability as Nicolai’s actions.

  Finding one of his lairs wouldn’t be difficult. Not tonight. Not with Nicolai wanting to toy with her. He’d have one of his many minions posted somewhere so she could follow him...like he’d done before.

  She’d tried to make them understand she didn’t want to kill them, but they weren’t receptive. With dread pooling in every fiber of her body, she was determined to attempt to convince them again.

  First, she drove south, hoping she’d see one soon. Yawning, she knew she needed more sleep before she ventured into one of their bashes. Her stomach clenched. Undoubtedly, her apartment manager had welcomed Nicolai into her apartment. Now Nicolai could enter her place anytime he wanted.

  Would he visit her sometime in the night again? Most assuredly. And then what? She had to end the game soon if she ever wanted to have peace of mind. But she wanted to end it peacefully...not by killing more. He wasn’t giving her a choice however. She refused to be his.

  Then she saw one of Nicolai’s converts. He stood on a corner with a woman, and pointed to his blood red Mustang.

  Crystal pulled up to the curb on the opposite side of the street, turned off her lights, and let the car idle.

  Dressed entirely in black, he spoke to the petite woman, who wore a cocktail-length black dress and heels. Her straight black hair didn’t match her blonde brows. And her skin was as pale as the full moon on a cloudless night. She was a vampiric human host.

  Crystal shook her head. The woman must be crazy to mix with vampires, allowing them to feed on her, without turning her into one of their own. She’d be easy to kill, if she got in Crystal’s way, though the family code taught avoidance if possible.

  The vampire assisted the woman to the car, with a backward glance at Crystal. He knew she was the huntress.

  And he lured her just like he lured the host.

  To her utter annoyance, she yawned again. All night duty at Fort Hood the previous night had tuckered her out. And with a repeat performance the next evening, she had to turn in earlier tonight or she’d be a zombie the next day at work.

  Once the Mustang took off, she turned her car around, and followed him from a distance. She lost him at a light, but soon picked him up again as he paused on the side of the road.

  The element of surprise wouldn’t work tonight. She glanced in her rearview mirror. No one followed her. She turned her New Age music on, attempting to placate her nerves with the sounds of pipe whistles and flutes of a South American band.

  She hadn’t killed for four years. Not since she’d left her family’s way of conducting business. The vampires had left her alone too. Until recent weeks.

  Somewhere along the line, Nicolai had caught sight of her and wanted her for his own. For weeks he’d stalked her. And she’d had to kill again, against her wishes. Three times his minions had attempted to take her. Three times she’d killed. She shuddered, the vision replaying in her mind again as the handsome creatures turned into white raisin-skinned, bony monsters at death.

  But tonight was the first time Nicolai had actually entered her home...her only place of refuge during the deadly evening hours. Why the change in strategy? Had he tired of the cat and mouse game? Was he ready to end it now?

  She sped along the road keeping up with the Mustang, only slowing when a cop hiding in the dark caught her eye. But he never followed the speeding vampire’s car. Had the bloodsucker wiped the cop’s mind of his breaking the law?

  Probably.

  Crystal lost him at another light, but beyond this, found him parked curbside waiting for her. He pulled out once he saw her headlights. Goosebumps trailed her arms. The notion that he led her to their lair unnerved her.

  For several miles she drove after the Mustang, then slowed as his brake lights colored the night cherry. He parked at a curb.

  The two-story Greek revival house painted gray with dark gray shutters, illuminated inside with cheery lights, welcomed her.

  Entering a vampire’s home without the element of surprise was suicide. Using a show of force usually worked well too, but going it alone? She must be as crazy as the human hosts.

  Glancing at the cars parked on the street, she noticed her twin brothers’ blue Trans Am. Had they crashed the party catching the vampires unaware?

  She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her brothers wouldn’t like it that she’d arrived there too.

  To hell with them. She had an open invite.

  The vampire helped his host out of the car, glanced in Crystal’s direction, and smiled. Then he led his victim up the brick walk and entered the house.

  Crystal waited. Nicolai must want her badly. But she wasn’t sure why. If he wanted to kill her, why had he waited so long to strike? She couldn’t fathom any other reason. Unless he considered a vampire huntress living alone, interesting prey…great sport, until he grew bored with her and terminated her.

  She grabbed the door handle. A dark-haired man exited the house. She paused. His dark brow wrinkled as he strode down the path. Tall, broad-shouldered, chiseled facial features, as handsome as a smooth-faced god.

  Too bad he served as another idiot host, apparently, judging by his short-cropped hair. Most vampires wore their hair long, usually secured in a ponytail...unless this one had recently been turned.

  She opened the car door. He looked in her direction as she stepped out of the vehicle and glared at her. Her heart skipped a beat.

  But then she tilted her head up in defiance. Maybe he was a vampire and not a host after all.

  After slamming her door shut, she watched the six-foot tall man, wary that he might attempt to strike her as she headed for Nicolai’s house. He was dressed in black clothes, just like everyone else. He seemed to wish to speak to her as he parted his lips slightly, making her hesitate.

  Suddenly, he veered off toward his car, a white convertible of some sort. Maybe he was a host after all. She’d never seen a vampire driving a white car.

  She strode up the walk, though her mind told her to sneak around through a back window. But they knew she was coming. Most likely they observed her from the house. They’d know too, then, if she attempted to enter the place in some other manner.

  Before she knocked on the door, she turned to see why the man in the white car hadn’t driven off yet. He watched her. Human hosts didn’t care anything about other hosts. Did he think she was a vampire? She hmpfd. What an insult. Then she laughed inwardly. Maybe he hoped she’d feed off him next.

  Before she knocked on the door, it opened.

  The female human host, who’d ridden in the Mustang, motioned for her to enter. “Do you have an invitation?”

  “Nicolai invited me.”

  The woman’s blue eyes widened. “He’s not holding this party.”

  Crystal’s heart stopped. If Nicolai hadn’t lured her here, who had?

  The vampire who’d brought the woman to the party joined them. “She has an invitation. Let her
in.”

  “But, she said Nicolai had invited her. He’s not holding the party.”

  The man smiled. “She has an open invitation to any of our parties.”

  What was Nicolai up to?

  The man standing before her bowed his head slightly. “I’m Kostya. Come in.”

  “Who wants me here, then?”

  “Me,” a deep voice said behind Crystal.

  She whirled around to face him. The man had an uncanny resemblance to Nikolai, who she’d met only once face to face. Same square jaw, shoulder-length hair pulled back in a leather strap, same penetrating raven-colored eyes, similar Roman-style nose, and shoulders broad enough to carry her away. His brother?

  He seemed to read her mind. “Nicolai’s older brother, Dimitri.”

  Damn. Now she had two of them to kill. If she killed only Nicolai, his brother would come after her. It had quickly become a family affair.

  “Come, enjoy some wine.”

  A glass of wine, as tired as she was, would put her under for certain.

  Soft classical music of piano, harp and flute melodies played in the background. A soothing tune to relax their human hosts for the evening meal. Vampires and their hosts stood talking in small groups of two to three. Dark and somber, they all looked like they attended a wake. Several vampires glanced at her with interest. The intensity of their gazes made her skin crawl.

  Was it because she was an unknown commodity that intrigued them? They undoubtedly knew she served as a huntress...and they knew Dimitri’s brother wanted her. That alone made them interested, too.

  Dimitri cleared his throat to get her attention. She turned to him. Like the others, he stared at her, his thin lips smiling slightly, his eyes concentrated on hers. He tried to control her mind. She smiled. He couldn’t. Just because she didn’t hold with her family’s tradition of vampire hunting, didn’t mean she didn’t have their abilities any longer.

  Her fingers twitched. Like vampires had difficulty controlling their bloodlust, she had to curb the innate urge to destroy the bloodsuckers. She couldn’t help it. The huntress gene she carried made her that way, but her heart wasn’t in it. That was the problem.