Winter gave a little nod to acknowledge her before quickly turning down another aisle. Sometimes the dead didn’t realize they had passed on. He wondered if maybe she’d suffered a heart attack while jogging and just continued to the store following death. Others realized and pleaded with him to help them, but there was nothing he could do. All that unfinished business talk was bullshit. It didn’t matter if they accomplished one last deed or not, they moved on eventually to whatever came after this place.
Some held on longer than others, but in the end, they all faded.
Pausing at an endcap, Winter spotted one vampire sprinting up an escalator to the second floor while another cut to the right side of the store. The last vampire was working his way down the aisles closest to the camping supplies. Winter smirked and hurried ahead of him.
He stopped and opened the doorway between worlds just enough to stick his hand through. Snatching up a long bundle of rope, he pulled it back inside and closed the opening again. He repeated the action, grabbing a large knife and a hatchet. Yes, this was just perfect.
With his weapons tucked around his body and rope slung over his shoulder, he cautiously circled to where the vampire was still creeping through the left side of the store. It was easy enough to move behind the man since he was invisible to him. The vampire was a large brute with a shaved head and tattoos across his throat. The creature didn’t feel as if he were more than a couple of decades old as a vampire. Practically a baby. Winter almost felt guilty about what he was going to do. Almost.
But any guilt was easy to shove aside since he knew these fucks were plotting to kill his family. He just needed to get a little information first.
Slipping behind the vampire, Winter opened the doorway again and grabbed a fistful of the man’s shirt before pressing the point of the knife against his back.
“What the fuck?” the bastard snarled.
“You’re coming with me,” Winter whispered. He pulled the man until he was in the dead world and closed the opening behind him. This wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do—it required more energy to keep the other vampire held in this world. It was as if the dead knew he didn’t belong here and the energy in the world kept trying to spit him out.
“Wh-what…what the fuck? What did you do?” the vampire stammered.
“I brought you to my world,” Winter replied with a little chuckle. “I hear you want the Variks dead.”
“Your clan is destroying our kind,” the vampire spit out, but there was still a little waver to his voice.
“Unlike Damon, who wants to set vampires loose on all of humanity like a horde of locusts.”
“We’re predators. Humans are prey.”
“And Damon is insane,” Winter muttered. He released the vampire and allowed him to stumble away. Baldy bounced off the nearest shelf with enough energy to impact the living world, rattling the displayed items slightly.
“Damon’s not crazy.” His eyes darted from Winter and looked around him, taking in his new surroundings and possibly looking for an escape route. “He’s going to be king. The prophecy said so.”
Winter grinned and started to stalk his new plaything. He didn’t have a lot of time. He was growing weaker by the second, but at least he didn’t have to worry about the other vampires finding them.
“Yes, the prophecy. I heard someone mention the prophecy inside of Christopher’s lair. Tell me about this prophecy.”
“Fuck you!” Baldy snapped. He slowly backed away from Winter, his hands opening and closing at his sides.
“Tell me, and you might get out of this alive.”
“No! There—” Whatever he was about to say was cut off with a startled scream when he spotted the ghost jogger across the store. “That’s a fucking ghost!”
The woman looked up and threw him a disgusted look before going about her business.
“Yes, we’re dead here,” Winter murmured.
“Dead? I’m not dead! I’m a vampire! I’m not dead!”
Winter chuckled. “You’ll stay dead if I don’t release you. Now start talking.”
Baldy’s gaze jumped to the ghost again and then to Winter. “A witch…a witch will bring the downfall of the Varik clan. A witch has the key to changing our world.”
“A witch?”
There was no keeping the skepticism out of his voice. Like his brother Bel, Winter had trouble believing in witches. He’d known of only one witch—Zelda—and he’d never actually met her. Just heard stories of her. And there was never any mention of her performing any magic. Just a little so-called prognostication, and even that was so vague it was practically useless.
But then, just a couple of years ago, he would have said there was no such thing as werewolves, and now Bel was mated to two of them.