Chapter One
Fucking hell.
Not another one.
I sighed. I knew better. There was always another one. I was in a fucking graveyard, for God’s sake. To be honest, there were a thousand other places I’d rather be on a Friday night, but nevertheless, here I was anyway.
Hunting.
The rips and snarls from a freshly risen, pain in the ass vampire echoed off the stone walls, reverberating loudly enough for anyone in the nearby vicinity to hear. Quickly, I spun around the corner and pressed my back against the rock wall of the two-story crypt behind me, using the cold stone as cover. Gripping a thick pointed stake in my fingers, I prepared myself for the next inevitable fight. I was slightly winded from the vampires I’d already killed, but I was ready to take down whatever came at me next. I was looking forward to the moment I drove the wooden stake into each demon’s heart, ending the inevitable reign of terror before their afterlives even began. I always enjoyed watching as their remains quickly desiccated into nothing but shimmering dust bunnies that ultimately drifted away with the wind.
It was almost cathartic in a weird sort of way.
I had trained for this all my life. Ever since I was young, I had been a part of the Demon Hunters, an organization of humans that worked together to defeat the evil that walked the Earth.
It was dark, the moon rising high overhead, and the twinkle of only the brightest stars shone down through all the high-rise buildings surrounding the cemetery. I’d been sent here tonight because there were whispers of a new threat, but so far, I’d only just found the usual newbie vamps stumbling as they struggled with coming to life once more. The only thing I’d been able to tell was there were more of them than usual. Our sources had hinted at a very strong vampire, one of the oldest in existence. Not much was known about him, but recently, there’d been a surge in vampire activity, both old and new. It almost appeared as though someone was building an army. Whatever it turned out to be, I was going to stop it.
I took a deep breath, preparing myself for battle, and spun out from behind the ancient stone tomb I’d been hiding behind only to come face to face with not one, but two newbie vampires. They turned their heads in an unnaturally quick way, their red angry eyes finding mine. They reminded me of snakes in the way they bobbed their thick skulls. Their lips rolled like a feral animal’s and I drew in an excited breath. I lived for this.
One of them was as big as an NFL linebacker. The other was only a little smaller, but formidable looking all the same. They’d been young when they died, maybe in their early twenties, and freshly turned. Their eyes were bright red, indicative of their newbie vamp status. Their sharp pointed teeth had just sprouted, bright white under the light of the moon. Pale faces flared with anger at my direct challenge and I readied myself for the fight, keeping low and bending my knees so I’d be as maneuverable as possible. They’d be strong and very fast, abilities that would allow them to catch their prey despite their fumbling, fledgling status. They took a step toward me, hesitant like a newborn fawn. Then they took another, and I tensed.
They’d be ravenous for blood. Human blood. My blood.
I gritted my teeth, squatted down a bit deeper, and surged forward, using their momentary confusion to my advantage. They would expect me to lie down and let them take me, but I wasn’t about to give in like that. I was strong, incredibly fast, and I’d killed a fair number of their kind. Using the muscles in my legs, I used my heel to deal a powerful kick to the smaller one’s chest, knocking him back about a foot while I swung my fist around to catch the bigger one in the chin.
The big one snarled and I chuckled in return.
Fucking stupid meathead.
The big one ducked low and reached for me, but I dove out of his reach just in time. I twirled in a tight circle, catching the smaller vampire off guard. I punched him once square in the nose and caught his jaw with a tight right hook after that. He staggered backwards and I spun as swiftly as I could before plunging my stake deep into his chest, spearing right into his cold dead heart.
The bright red of his eyes flickered for a moment. The look of shock on his face was obvious, but it didn’t last very long. I watched as his body withered into dust, only to be carried away by the breeze that was making its way through the cemetery. The other dude roared in fury and rushed at me, trying to get revenge for his dead friend. As quickly as I could, I shifted my weight from one leg to the other and ducked, just missing his grimy fingers grasping at my shirt. Damn, he stank. It was rancid. Why did new vampires always smell like ass?
He came toward me, but his movements were slow and not very calculated. He was bigger than me, but I’d fought worse than him before by a longshot.
A rumble passed through the air. It felt like thunder, but it carried with it something far more sinister and powerful than just a simple storm. It reeked of magic and I wrinkled my nose with displeasure as a tingling sensation raced across my skin. What the hell? I looked around, trying to determine the source, but there wasn’t a single clue for me to go off of. It felt like it was everywhere. Chewing my lip, I figured that there was something far bigger at work here than I had originally thought. Maybe someone had convinced a witch, or more likely a group of witches, to do their bidding or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, I had a feeling I was about to find out.
The very air around me crackled with electricity and the big vampire’s eyes rolled back in his head. After a brief second, his pupils reemerged, only there was something different about them now. Instead of his irises being simply just red, they were a much deeper scarlet and there were flecks of black and gray within them. It gave him a certain otherworldly quality, one of an ancient evil that I’d never seen before. I took a step back and drew in a nervous breath.
“Ruby...” the vampire murmured, his voice low, gruff, decidedly alpha male, and very different than the grunts I’d heard out of him only just moments earlier. He crossed his arms over his chest as he cocked his head toward me. How the fuck did he know my name?
“You’re not the newbie vamp I was just fighting anymore, are you?” I asked tentatively, and he grinned with an unnerving cocky arrogance in my direction.
This was really fucking bad.
I sucked in a breath, my mind trying to understand
what was happening, and then it hit me.
Holy shit. He was possessed. By another demon.
Possession from one demon to another like this just wasn’t possible. As far as I knew, witches could only attempt it on another human and it was temporary at best. None of the Demon Hunters’ books, scrolls, or writings mentioned the possibility of an ability for someone to take over a monster’s mind. Not like this. Magic this powerful must be ancient or have been extremely well hidden for a very long time. I chewed my bottom lip, staring at the man. Who the hell was this?
The left corner of his lip curved up in a smirk. An arrogant expression of confidence passed over his features and I hissed low in response.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded. I pulled back my shoulders, doing my best to cover up any hint of the rising fear that was boiling in the pit of my belly.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, little human. How you’ve been killing my soldiers. How you’ve been thwarting my efforts to turn the tide in today’s world. You’ve been killing my monsters for a long time, Ruby, haven’t you,” he chided.
The more he spoke, the more uneasy I began to feel. I shouldn’t have come out here alone. Logan had insisted I take a partner with me many times, but I always found that another slowed me down. I was stronger and faster on my own, but right now, I was beginning to question that decision more than ever. Shit. What do I do now?