Home > Shadow Hunter (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill #1)(11)

Shadow Hunter (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill #1)(11)
Author: B.R. Kingsolver

After the stripper attack, I was always very alert while walking to the bus stop, and with Lizzy’s warning ringing in my head, I cast a personal shield when I left the bar. But that night the weather was nice and the walk and the wait for the bus were uneventful. The motion of the bus relaxed me, and I drowsed a little on the way home.

The bus always dropped me off half a block from the entrance to the apartment complex, but before I covered that short distance, three vampires stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of me. I could sense more of them behind me.

I had taken down one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in Europe, and I could feel the power of old vamps. The beings confronting me radiated none of that kind of power. They were young vampires, like the guy I threw out of the bar. Unfortunately, I had left my sword behind when I left the Illuminati. Decapitating a vampire with my fingernail would take even longer than doing it with the dull bar knife.

“Good evening, Hunter,” one of the males said.

“I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else,” I replied. “That’s not my name.”

“You’re the bitch who threw Jimmy out of Rosie’s,” one of the females said. “Then you hunted him down and staked him.”

“I threw a guy out of Rosie’s, yes. But that’s the last time I saw him.”

“Someone is killing us,” a male voice said from behind me.

“That might be because you’re hunting and killing innocents,” I said. “Does your master know what you’re doing? He can’t be happy if you’ve drawn a Hunter to town.”

The guy in front of me cursed. “We have no master. A Hunter killed him. The final death. And you’re the number one suspect.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. Did I have some kind of sign on my forehead that said ‘vampire killer’?

“Just because I threw a vampire out of a bar?”

“Well, if you didn’t kill him, at least we’ll eliminate one vampire hater,” the female said.

I fed power to my hands and feet as the vamps moved closer. Hands reached out for me, and someone behind me grabbed me by the shoulder. I punched the face of the guy directly in front of me, his face caved in, and he staggered backward. Dropping into a crouch, I wheeled around and extended my leg. The man behind me screamed and went down, his knee bent sideways.

One of the females grabbed my hair and pulled me off balance. My hand closed around her wrist and crushed it. She let go. I came up from my crouch and slammed my fist into her gut, feeling her ribs crack. She threw up blood and stumbled away.

A car engine sounded, and headlights shined in my eyes, outlining the vampires in front of me. The car rushed toward us, and the vamps turned to face it. A pink Mini-Cooper slid sideways, tires squealing, and hit two of the vamps, sending them flying.

“Get in!” Lizzy screamed.

I leaped toward the car, opening the door, but someone grabbed me from behind. I spun, elbowing him in the face, and lashed out with my foot, crushing his chest. As soon as he let go of me, I jumped in the car, and it accelerated away before I could even close the door.

We roared off down the street. Lizzy’s eyes were wide, and I could smell her fear. The knuckles of her hands gripping the steering wheel were even whiter than her face. My own hands were shaking, so I didn’t blame her.

“If you ever need a reference,” I said, “I’ll be glad to testify as to the accuracy of your predictions. I don’t think they’re following us, so you can probably slow down a bit.”

A laugh exploded from her, and a few seconds later, she let off the accelerator.

“Damn! That was crazy!” She shot a glance at me, then looked back at the road. “Girl, you’re hell on wheels when you get going!”

I had to laugh. “Liz, you’re the one with the wheels. And thank you.”

“So, what do we do now?” she asked.

I was buzzing with adrenaline, and her question caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure what to do. “Well, it appears they know where I live, so that’s out until dawn. Tell you what, let’s go back to Rosie’s and I’ll buy you a drink.”

We parked Lizzy’s car, and I cast a ward around it. The car was much too noticeable, and I didn’t want anyone trashing it, although I noticed a couple of dents in the side that hadn’t been there the last time I saw it. I pointed them out to her.

“No biggie. I know a dwarf who runs a garage, and he’ll take the dings out in exchange for a reading,” Lizzy said. “He’s addicted to trying to win the lottery.”

“Can’t you tell him he’s not going to win?” I asked.

She winked at me. “Oh, he wins a few bucks occasionally.” She chuckled. “It all depends on what numbers he chooses, and how am I supposed to know that?”

When we walked into Rosie’s, Jill, the overnight bartender, gave us a look.

“I thought you went home,” she said.

“I thought so, too. Sloe gin fizz and a double of Redbreast,” I said.

When Jill brought our drinks, I took a good swallow, then said, “I ran into a gang of vampires near my house, and Lizzy bailed me out. Figured it would be safer here until daylight.”

Lizzy laughed. “As though you needed bailing out. Jill, she was kicking ass.”

Trevor, Josh, and Jolene came over from where they were sitting. “Gang of vamps?” Trevor asked.

“Yeah. Six of them,” Lizzy said.

“That’s unusual,” Jolene said. “They usually hunt alone.”

I shrugged. “You know that guy I kicked out a few nights ago? Seems he got himself staked, and they decided I was the one who did it.” I took another sip of my whiskey and shuddered at the burn as it went down.

“Were you?” Josh asked.

I gave him an are-you-really-that-stupid look. “Oh, yeah. When I get off work here, I’m always keyed up, so I go hunting vampires to burn off a little energy. And when I can’t find any vampires, I wrestle with demons.”

More people had come over and gathered around us.

“There is a rumor of a Hunter in town,” Josh said.

Sliding off the barstool, I stepped before him, pulled my jacket open with my hands, and asked, “Do I really look like a Hunter? One of the baddest paranormals in anyone’s mythology?”

Considering that the top of my head came to his chin and he outweighed me by at least sixty pounds, I knew I looked slight standing next to him.

Everyone laughed, and Josh looked sheepish.

“Well, Hunters are supposed to be strong mages.”

“That’s me! And since I don’t have a big-ass sword, I just bite their heads off.”

His face turned red at the laughter.

“To be honest,” I said, “they fell prey to a pink Mini-Cooper. Left a couple of dents. If you don’t believe me, go take a look at it. It’s parked across the street.”

That deflected everyone’s attention to Lizzy, who told everyone how she had seen the vampires attack me and driven into them to rescue me. By the time she finished her story, someone had bought both of us another drink. A few people went outside and then came back, telling of the dents in Lizzy’s car.

The conversation turned to the number of recent vampire attacks and theories about the vampire deaths. Some people agreed with Jenny that a vampire gang war was going on. Someone else said the vamps and the shifters were warring. And everyone had heard the rumor of a Hunter, but since no one had ever seen a Hunter, that theory gained little traction.

But I had to wonder. Someone with a very sharp or spelled sword was killing vampires. If it was a Hunter, then I was in danger as well. Not a very comforting thought. I downed the rest of my whiskey, and saw my hand was still shaking. Maybe the run-in with the vamps scared me more than I was willing to admit to myself. Or maybe it was the thought of a Hunter finding me.

Chapter 9

At sunrise, Trevor drove me and Lizzy home in her car, with Josh and Jolene following us. I had lost track of how many drinks people bought me, and I certainly wasn’t in any shape to drive, even if I had a license. Lizzy was close to being passed out.

I dragged myself out of bed around noon and went into work early so that I could talk to Sam. Of all the people I had met, he seemed to have the most common sense, and the most knowledge of the paranormal-supernatural scene in Westport. And in spite of myself, I liked him. I admitted that I might have some kind of weird daddy fetish, and was trying to substitute Sam for Master Benedict. But the fact was, I needed a sounding board. I had a lot of tactical experience, but my elders had always handled strategy, and I felt out of my depth. I hadn’t mentioned my conversation with the vamps to anyone, but I wanted Sam’s take on things.

He was behind the bar when I arrived, and I took a seat there.

“Heard you had some excitement last night,” he said. “Hungry?”

“Yes to both,” I answered.

He took my order for breakfast and sent it into the kitchen, then came back. I told him what had happened, including my short conversation with the vampires.

“They said that?” Sam asked. “They said their master was killed by a Hunter?”

“They think so. ‘The final death’ was the phrase he used.”

“Damn.” Sam leaned back against the back bar, one arm resting on his stomach and supporting his elbow, the other hand stroking his chin. After some time, he asked, “And he said they had no master?”

“That’s what he said.”

“Well, that’s a shocker. The Master of the City, Lord Carleton, has been here since the late eighteen hundreds. He really was a lord, First Baron of Dorchester. Born in 1724. I don’t know when he was turned, but supposedly it was during the Revolutionary War. He was in charge of all British armies in North America and was the Governor of Canada.”

The kitchen boy came out with my breakfast, and Sam poured me a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.

“From what I know,” Sam said, “a vampire that old could only be killed by a Hunter, a powerful mage, or another old vampire.”

   
Most Popular
» Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up #5)
» Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4)
» The ​Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash
» Lover Unveiled (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1
» A Warm Heart in Winter (Black Dagger Brothe
» Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32)
» Shadowed Steel (Heirs of Chicagoland #3)
» Wicked Hour (Heirs of Chicagoland #2)
» Wild Hunger (Heirs of Chicagoland #1)
» The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club
» Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club #
» Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2)
vampires.readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024