Authors: Melanie Tomlin
I smiled at him slyly, narrowing my eyes. “Oh, you’re evil all right, Danny, just not the kind of evil you’re talking about.”
18.
Unwanted Attention
The vampire — I’d grabbed a female — didn’t struggle, which surprised me. I turned her around. She had a glazed look in her eyes and a pained expression on her face. There was something about her scent that made me hesitate. It seemed tainted somehow.
“Danizriel,” it was annoying having to call him by his real name, “if you’re not busy, can you come here for a moment?”
Danny appeared a few moments later, tensed for a fight. He glanced around quickly to assess the situation, and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, relaxed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I pulled the vampire over to him. She didn’t resist — more zombie than vampire. Could she be some sort of freaky cross-breed?
“She doesn’t seem right,” I explained. “Her scent is mixed up with something I don’t recognise.”
Danny sniffed the air around her. He examined her head, neck and hands, and rolled up her sleeves to inspect her arms. She’d been a junkie in her previous life. The scars were still bright red.
“Did they think they could drug me, via her blood?” I asked, incredulously. Then the uncertainty set in. “They can’t, can they?”
“No. There are no drugs in her system. What you’re smelling is arsenic.”
“Arsenic. Why would anyone want to shoot up arsenic?” There was only one reason I could think of. “Could that
kill me?
”
“I doubt it very much, although the amount that’s been injected into her would likely have weakened you greatly, and possibly impaired your judgement and senses. You see how she looks — her eyes, and the lack of resistance. I suspect they thought it would make it easier to dispose of you if you were in the same state as this poor wretch.”
“Why would she let herself be used as a pawn like that?” I asked.
Danny continued to inspect her. “She’s very new. They probably created her for this very purpose. She wouldn’t have had any say in the matter whatsoever.”
It made me angry. How many lives had been wasted because of the power others sought or wielded?
“They don’t really care, do they?”
“No. She’s a means to an end. I seriously doubt she’s the only trap they have in store for you, though. You’ll need to be more vigilant.” Danny took me by the arms and looked into my eyes, all serious. “Nothing rash, promise.”
“Yes, yes,” I replied petulantly, shaking off his hands.
Gees, he’s big on asking for promises.
“I won’t do
anything rash
. But, is it likely they can inject something into one of their own I won’t be able to detect?”
“No. Anything in a vampire’s system that is
not
blood will change their scent for as long as it is in their system. Most substances, once in the blood, are hard to get rid of.”
“So is there something we can do to remove the arsenic from her blood?”
“She’s a vampire, Helena,
why
would we help her?”
“I’m part vampire at least … you helped me.”
“That was different.
You’re
different.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I wonder …”
“What?” I asked, hoping he’d thought of a way to fix her blood.
“I wonder if they do want to capture you, and not dispose of you. I wonder if they
do
know how to extract something like arsenic from the blood. Too many questions, as usual.”
“As long as I don’t fall for something as pathetic as this we’ll never find out.” It wasn’t worth the risk.
“I can take care of this one if you want,” Danny offered, seeing how her condition upset me, “if it pains you too much.”
I pulled out my knife and quickly dispatched her myself. I didn’t want Danny to think I was weak. I didn’t want him to do the dirty work I couldn’t stomach.
The odour was more pronounced as the arsenic reacted with the air.
“I’d always been led to believe that arsenic didn’t have a smell,” I said.
“There’s a
lot
that mortals can’t smell,” Danny replied. “Vampires and werewolves are good examples.”
He reached down and turned her body to ash with a simple touch.
“Do you think you can whip up something I could use to torch the bodies with? Something I can keep here? I haven’t gotten around to exploring the mine shaft yet, and I know you’ve got to start patrolling again, otherwise questions might start being asked.”
Danny looked thoughtful, his eyes lost somewhere in the distance, but unfocused. He blinked a couple of times and his focus returned.
“I
do
need to report in more often. I might be given a fair amount of free rein, but even that has its limits. No doubt I’ll receive a dressing down from my superior for my laxness. I’ll still come on some of your raids, though. At least a few times a week. You’re quite graceful and it’s very
sensual
to watch.” He cleared his throat and clapped his hands together. “What would you prefer, flammable liquids and matches, or sulphur filled syringes?”
Which would be better? I didn’t know. “Can I try both and make a choice later?”
Danny created a small hole in the ground near one of the trees, complete with a cleverly disguised trap door. In this he placed five containers of lighter fluid, waterproof matches — I didn’t even know they existed — and half a dozen syringes filled with a yellow substance that stank like rotten eggs.
I was looking forward to trying them out and finding out which burned the body to ash the quickest, and was the easiest to employ. At this stage I was leaning towards the syringe — one step instead of two.
“Shall we be off to work then?” Danny asked.
I pulled him to me and kissed his lips, a long lingering kiss that suggested his work would not be finished when the day was done.
“I’ll meet you back at the cottage at sunset,” I replied. “Don’t be late or I might fall asleep.”
Danny walked away from me chuckling. He waved a hand behind him and disappeared. I was going to head back to where there’d been recent werewolf activity to see if I could pick up a fresh scent.
It turned out there was one recent scent trail, not more than eight hours old. Being able to determine the age of a trail seemed to be an instinctual thing. It was something I’d inherited from Chris when I’d been changed, but did not come to fruition until after I’d gained full strength. I ran swiftly, following the trail as it wove in and out of the trees and changed directions. A number of other scents crossed its path. I made a mental note to come back and follow them later on.
At one point, twelve other scent trails collided with the one I was following. This was a hunting party. Were they hunting werewolves or did they think they were hunting me? Another hour along the trail and the answer became clear. The vampires had surrounded two werewolves. Another werewolf lay dead on the ground.
The werewolves sniffed the air, their ears twitching. Their sense of smell was much better than that of the vampires — and mine — and they’d already detected my scent. I wondered what the werewolves would think of me. Will they be wondering if I was friend or foe? If it suited my purposes, I’d be a friend for now. Between the three of us we might be able to take down half of the vampires before they scattered.
With only an hour left before sunset — I didn’t want to be late home — I’d have to work quickly. Should I go in for a quick snag or suddenly appear in the thick of it, standing
with
the werewolves. Wouldn’t that give the vamps something else to think about!
It was decided then. A couple of snags to put them on edge — they’d be torn between concentrating on what was going on inside the circle, and what was going on outside the circle — then into the middle. By then the werewolves would know I was no friend of the vamps.
In and out, in and out, faster than the blink of an eye — two vampires gone in less than ten minutes. The rest of the vamps were shuffling nervously from foot to foot, scanning the horizon and trying to determine where the next attack would come from.
Fear rolled off the vampires in waves and the wolves could sense the change. They snapped at the vampires, trying to distract them and make the task of my picking the vamps off easier — they’d realised that helping me could only benefit them.
“Here’s hoping I’m right and they think I’m one of the good guys,” I mumbled, appearing between the two wolves. They stiffened when they realised I was there, but maintained their positions.
The vampires snarled, yet not one of them made a move towards us.
“Check it out,” one of them said mockingly. “A knife on one arm, a feather on the other. What’s she gonna do, knock us down with a feather and tickle us with the knife?” He sniggered. “Who does she think she is — an angel?”
“Shut up, Adro, she’s dangerous. I don’t want her getting mad at
me
.”
It was a voice I recognised.
I nodded in her direction. “Hey, Shae, how’s things?”
“Same old, same old, Helena,” she replied, the acid apparent in her voice, “and you?”
I waved her question away as if it were old news, boring news. “The usual — killing vamps and scaring the shit out of the preacher.”
“The preacher?” she asked. “You
saw
the preacher?”
“Yeah,” I fake-yawned. “I just wanted to make sure he was behaving.”
“Bet he got a kick out of that,” she laughed.
I could have almost forgotten we were on different sides of the line. We chatted easily, like old acquaintances, even though she was bitter and twisted.
I relaxed my stance, my face becoming quite animated. “You should have seen the look on his face when I crushed the bust on his desk into a pile of rubble — with
one
hand. It was priceless!”
I heard a low throaty growl beside me. The werewolves were not impressed with my casual banter.
“Sorry, Shae, it seems the wolves don’t want to be here.” I looked at each vampire in turn. “If you want to live to fight another day, I suggest you leave now.”
Two vampires turned and fled.
“
Cowards!
” Shae yelled after them.
I gently brushed my fingers through the wolves’ fur, not touching any skin, and their hackles rose. They might be willing to put up with me if it helped them gain their freedom, yet touching them with such
familiarity
made them angry.
I let my hands drop and dashed forward, my knife unsheathed and swinging as I reached the first vamp. The wolves struck at the vampires behind me. As the blade finished cutting through the first vamp I swung it in an arc to decapitate the next in line. When my blade struck the second vamp, another one thought to rush me. I’d seen the movement out of the corner of my eye. My free hand darted out — a snake striking — to close around her neck the moment she was within reach. Our eyes met. She could see the hatred mine held and shivered involuntarily. I lifted her into the air, her body dangling like that of a rag doll. I held her there, brandishing the knife at any who sought to stop me, shaking her body gently so that her arms and legs jerked like those of a marionette.
You’re my very own puppet on a string!
Each of the werewolves had killed two vampires — by ripping out their throats — and I was on my third. The four remaining vamps scattered and the wolves took off in hot pursuit.
“A
thank you
would be nice!” I yelled after them.
I checked the bodies. Shae wasn’t among them. Part of me hoped she’d escape the werewolves and part of me hoped they’d catch her. It wasn’t that I bore any animosity towards her. On the contrary, I admired her. Like me, she was a survivor. It’s just that now she was on the wrong side.
That could have been me,
I thought,
normally I’m on the wrong side.
I had two bodies to burn. It would require two trips to the ranch — I couldn’t carry two bodies
and
two heads! It’d be safer to take the bodies and heads separately, in case they accidentally reattached themselves while I was gone.
Maybe I should invest in a builder’s wheelbarrow!
It only took a minute or so to transport all of the body parts — heads in one pile and bodies in another. I retrieved the matches, lighter fluid and a syringe, then liberally sprayed lighter fluid over the heads and one of the bodies. Three matches, for three body parts.
The stench from the fire was almost as bad as the stink of the ranch, though I could barely smell that anymore, with my good luck charm strapped to my arm.
A huge cloud of dark smoke billowed upwards. If the vamps didn’t see it and know what it meant they were dumber than I thought.
While the flesh popped and burned, I knelt by the remaining body and injected it with the sulphur. I heard a sizzling sound, and before the other parts had completely burned, the body imploded, a pile of ash settling on the ground.