Aiming for his heart, she launched a second attack.
Roland dodged the assault. “I’m too quick for you, Kela. Always was, always will be.”
Kela feared he spoke the truth, but she had to stop him. Too many young women had died.
She lunged again, missing with the stake in her right hand, but tearing through his sleeve with the stake in her left. He’d easily deflected her blows.
“I’m getting stronger,” he said. “The day will come when that fancy cross won’t protect you.”
“Today’s not that day,” she said, taking a jab at him.
He feinted to the left, avoiding the pointed end of the stake. “One day I will possess you and your cross.”
“Then what will you do? Kill me?”
“Eventually, after I fuck you. You liked it, remember?”
Kela adjusted the angle of her stakes. “That was when you were a human.”
“Take off the cross, Kela. Come to me.” He stroked the front of his pants. “You’ll like it more than ever.”
“Is a massive ego a side effect of drinking blood?” she asked, thrusting out with her right and jabbing with the left.
Roland jumped backward, the pointed stakes barely missing him. “Catch me if you can,” he said, circling around her.
Kela spun on her heel and froze.
Oh crap!
Roland had positioned himself between her and the street. Standing behind him were a dozen young females with fangs protruding from their blood-red mouths. Ghostly pale, the women wore short dresses that clung to their bodies and emphasized their cleavage. Roland had always favored women with flesh on their bones—now he liked them dead and full figured.
“Take off the cross and no harm will come to you.”
Trapped, Kela planted her feet. “Never. I’d rather burn you.”
Roland pulled back his lips, displaying his fangs. “Meet my sweet darlings. My creations.”
Kela’s heart twisted. He’d created them, destroyed their souls and turned them into these hideous creatures.
“The cross,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Bring it to me.”
The women hissed and snarled, baring their fangs. He’d set her up.
The vampires lunged at Kela. Using both stakes she slashed, striking arms and lacerating hands. Their attack came in waves of four. Wounded, the first group retreated. Hissing, the second group flew at Kela. One grabbed her cross and shrieked, releasing it as black smoke streamed from her hand.
Despite the gashes and cuts Kela inflicted, Roland’s creations continued their assault. Arms burning with fatigue, Kela backed farther into the alley. Long, claw-like fingernails slashed out, ripping at her leather jacket. In the mayhem, Roland had vanished. Why hadn’t he stayed and finished her off?
Kela stabbed and jabbed, forcing two vampires to retreat. As quickly as the attack had begun, it stopped. As if on cue the vampires lifted their heads and sniffed the air. The vampires ran toward the street, then shrieked at the top of their lungs.
A head flew across the alley and smashed into the wall. Another head tumbled through the air, hit and bounced over the asphalt. A man with long, black hair, dressed in a black vest and black pants, holding a thin-bladed sword waded through the group of screeching vampires.
The remaining vampires split apart, slinking back against the walls, their fear of the sword-wielding man palpable. Leaving their fallen sisters behind, the vampires scrambled up the walls of the alley and disappeared over the rooftops.
The stranger turned toward Kela.
The path to the street blocked, fear spiked through her. Despite the adrenaline rush, she was no match for this guy. Raising the wooden stakes, Kela prepared for his attack. At least she’d go down fighting.
* * * * *
Sheathing his weapon, Ansara gave his full attention to the wild-eyed female. Her fighting skills were rudimentary, but the Earth woman had fought bravely and appeared to have survived the attack without being bitten.
“Back off.”
Hands clenched around sharp wooden stakes, the slender woman held them in front of her chest. Although she posed no serious threat, Ansara stopped short of her striking range. “I’m here to help you.”
A short crop of honey-colored curls framed a delicate face that belied the woman’s fierce expression. “I don’t need any help.”
Letting that fallacy pass, Ansara glanced at the blonde female crumpled on the asphalt a few feet away. “What about her?”
The neophyte fighter looked at the fallen woman and whispered, “Forgive me.” She pressed the back of her gloved hand against her mouth and gagged.
“What’s your name?”
“Kela. Kela Lance.”
Since Kela hadn’t lowered her weapons, Ansara wasn’t about to turn his back on her. “Step aside.”
When Kela skittered away, something glinted on her chest. A cross? Ansara’s breath caught. Not just any cross, but a Thasian cross.
The intricate design and blood crystal at the center were unmistakable.
That explained the urgency of his mission and the reason for the strength-sucking, back-to-back celestial jumps he’d made to get here. How had the Earth woman obtained a warrior’s cross?
“Is she dead?”
Ansara kneeled next to the blonde. She had multiple wounds on her neck and wrists. He pulled down the straps of her dress and looked at her full breasts. Both bore bruises and deep puncture wounds close to her nipples. A vampire had viciously fed upon the young woman. He placed his palm on her chest. Her heart had stopped and her skin was already cold.
“She’s dead.” Ansara turned toward Kela and reached out his hand, palm open. “Give me a stake.”
Kela stared at the victim. “How could Roland do this?”
Ansara wasn’t sure who Roland was, but time was of the essence. The young woman hadn’t turned yet. Instead of severing the blonde’s head from her body, a stake to the heart would suffice. “If she rises, she’ll be like the pack that attacked you. Is that what you want?”
Stakes still clenched in her fists, Kela shook her head.
“You’re a hunter. You know what must be done. Hand me a stake.”
Kela tossed the stake. Ansara caught it and drove the point deep into the blonde’s chest, straight into her heart. The young woman had suffered a terrible death and she deserved to rest in peace.
Ansara pulled up the straps of the dead woman’s dress and stood.
Kela had turned away. The would-be warrior was puking her guts out.
Cursing herself for her weakness, Kela prayed she wouldn’t retch again. Seeing what the vampires had done to the blonde woman was beyond comprehension. Without hesitation, the stranger had helped the victim. He’d done to the blonde what she hadn’t had the opportunity to do to Roland. Her failure hit her with a powerful mixture of disgust and guilt. How many young women had died?
“We should leave this place,” he said.
Kela wiped her mouth with her glove and straightened, turning toward the stranger. Although she still held a stake, Kela didn’t fear for her life. If he’d wanted to kill her, he’d had ample opportunity while she’d lost her dinner. “Who are you?”
He stepped out of the shadows. “Ansara.”
Ruggedly handsome, despite the scar on his right cheek, Ansara’s face was chiseled with features worthy of an ancient coin. He wore an earring, a cross dangling from his left lobe and wide metal bracelets adorned with silver crosses around his wrists. More crosses embellished his belt. “Thanks for coming to my aid.”
She waited for him to respond, perhaps explain his timely arrival. Instead, he remained silent and walked toward her. His shoulders were broad and his arms bulged with muscle. Beneath the open vest, his chest was smooth. He looked like a pro wrestler. All he lacked was a name like The Holy Decapitator.
Kela shoved the stake into the holster hanging from her belt and adjusted her leather jacket. The crisscross of rips and slashes were irreparable. “Damn vampires.”
Ansara touched a forefinger to her chin, moving her face to one side. “One of them scratched your face.”
“She was trying to take my cross. Roland ordered them to take it.”
“Tell me about Roland.”
“He was my fiancé, until he became one of them.”
“When did this happen?”
“A few weeks ago. He fell in with a bad crowd.”
“We must leave before they regroup.”
He didn’t have to explain who
they
were. “My car’s a few blocks away.”
“Let’s go.”
Kela looked at the blonde. “We can’t just leave her.”
“We can’t take her with us. She’s drained. They have no further interest in her. When we’re away from here, you can call the proper authorities.”
“Okay.”
Now all she had to do was find a working payphone. Kela wasn’t about to identify herself or use her cell phone. The police already thought she was a nutcase.
Kela had to hustle to keep pace with Ansara’s long stride. The street was empty of foot traffic, yet Kela sensed they were being watched. Ansara was as eager as she was to leave the area. When they reached her SUV, Kela pressed her remote key.
The moment they were inside her vehicle, Kela locked the doors and started the engine. She hit the gas and the SUV lurched forward. At this hour, vehicle traffic was light. Her hands trembling, Kela gripped the wheel and glanced at her new friend. “The vampires were watching us.”
“Yes.”
She stopped at a traffic light, drumming her fingers on the wheel until the light changed. She punched it and shot through the intersection. She tapped the brake at a stop sign, glanced both ways and accelerated.
“I could feel vampires all around us. So many of them watching and waiting. Why didn’t they attack?”
“The demon didn’t want me to decimate his army.”
She looked at Ansara. “Demon?”
“His name is Vakkar,” he said, reaching out to steady the wheel. “I sensed his presence in the area.”
A chill slid down Kela’s spine. “Demon.” Half expecting to see a gargoyle-like creature, she checked her rearview mirror and glanced to each side. “Not only are there vampires, but there’s a demon?”
“Where there are vampires, there are demons. The vampires are the foot soldiers, the demons rule. Do you need me to operate the vehicle?”
Kela looked at him.
“You shouldn’t travel through the red signals, correct?”
“I ran a light?”
“Stop at this one!”
Kela slammed on the brakes, stopping in the crosswalk. She had no idea where she was going. All she’d wanted to do was get away from that alley. The thought of crawling into bed and hiding beneath the covers was appealing, but dawn was still a few hours away.
When the light changed, she pressed the accelerator and kept within the speed limit. The adrenaline rush over, Kela’s whole body ached with fatigue. “Where can I drop you?”
“I think we should stick together. Do you have a place where we can rest?”
“I have an apartment.” Kela had moved from the suburbs and rented a studio in the city. After she’d quit her job, had begun drawing on the trust fund she’d inherited from her father and had started a new career, vampire hunting.
Her life was simple and frugal, devoid of pleasure and nothing like the one she’d planned with Roland, but at least it had purpose. “I only sleep there during the day.”
Ansara placed his hand on her shoulder. Even through her jacket, Kela felt his heat and strength. “I’ll make it safe for us to sleep there tonight,” he said.
Was it possible? She was exhausted both mentally and physically, the thought of driving until sunrise was sheer misery. When was the last time she’d slept at night?
“I think the vampires know where I live,” Kela said, recalling the scratches she’d discovered on her front door just last week.
His warm fingertips grazed the scratch on her cheek and a feeling of calm settled over Kela.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he said.
That was good because she wasn’t going home in the dark without him. After weeks of being alone, Kela didn’t give a second thought to staying with Ansara. Right now she needed an ally. She needed someone who didn’t think she’d gone around the bend and someone brave enough to fight vampires.
Kela drove around until she found a working payphone. She made the call, provided the location of the blonde’s body and disconnected without identifying herself. Knowing that the cops would find the young woman within minutes gave Kela a sense of relief but didn’t lessen her guilt.
If she’d been able to stop Roland maybe the blonde would be alive. How many others would be alive? God forgive her, Roland’s sins rested on her shoulders.
Fifteen minutes later she turned off the street, driving down a short ramp. Kela punched the remote control attached to the sun visor and the gate to the parking facility opened. She pulled into her assigned parking spot and killed the engine.
“I’m on the fifth floor.”
Kela opened the door and climbed out of the SUV. Ansara followed. They shared the elevator ride in silence.