The Dark War: The Dark War, Book 1 Page 8

  “I said no magic, witch.”

  I let the spell fall and at the same time leaped forward, thrusting the stake up, using my momentum along with the power burst spell to slice through the man’s flesh and muscle. The old guy’s eyes flew open wide and he released Wyatt, who yanked another knife from his belt and thrust up through his gut. I took a few shaky steps away until I pressed my back against the wall.

  “You’re the hunter. Back to kill me, I suppose.” The old man smiled in a crazed, manic-like way. He attempted to shrug despite his obvious pain, stumbling back a few steps. Blood poured from his wounds. “I don’t want to live like this.” He slumped to his knees and Wyatt followed, releasing his hand on the knife to hold the man upright, his broken wrist and savaged arm hanging uselessly. “Don’t let me hurt anyone else.”

  Wyatt nodded solemnly. He stared into the old man’s eyes. “As you wish.”

  He reached around and yanked my stake from the old guy’s back then helped lower him onto the concrete floor. Wyatt glanced up at me, something flicking across his eyes. He moved around so that his knees straddled the vampire’s head, then leaned forward and clutched the stake with one hand. He took a deep breath, readjusted his grip then, with a bellowing yell, yanked it forcefully upward, ripping open the muscle and flesh until it stopped at the vampire’s sternum. He did it quickly, but even still, the old man’s eyes flew open and his mouth gaped in a silent scream. Wyatt didn’t hesitate. He reached into the cavity and tore out the vampire’s heart. The vampire’s face froze, his wide eyes staring, his mouth slack and unmoving.

  I cringed, bile rising to my throat, burning there as I struggled once again not to vomit. “Is he dead?”

  Wyatt shook his head. “No, not completely.” He held out the beating heart. “We only have a short time before the body will come looking for it.”

  I raised my eyebrows, this was information the average person didn’t know. How to kill a Dhampir was desperately guarded by the species. So how come Wyatt knew?

  “You mind blasting this with a little power?” He held the heart up higher.

  I frowned. “Why don’t you?” Something was definitely wrong here. “I mean, your spells have always been better than mine. You do it.”

  Wyatt’s eyes flashed with anger. “Kali, I’m in excruciating pain here.” He motioned with the heart toward his broken wrist, his bleeding arm.

  I cringed. Okay, right. Fuck. “Sorry.” I motioned for him to put the heart on the ground.

  “Fire, Kali. It needs to be fire,” he said as he dropped the heart.

  I hesitated. I’d never been great with fire spells. “Maybe we should get the hell out of the house first.”

  Wyatt raised his brows.

  I shrugged. “Like you said, my spells are unreliable. Things could get…um…dangerous.” And explosive. My fire spells tended toward the demolition side of things.

  Wyatt snagged the end of his shirt and yanked it up to his teeth. He ripped a slice of fabric away then quickly began to wrap it around the laceration that marred his arm. Blood soaked through immediately.

  “Let me do that.”

  Wyatt shook his head as he ripped another piece from his shirt. “No, let’s just get out of here. Do what you’ve got to do.”

  I helped him up, walking with his bulky body practically draped onto me. It was unnerving seeing him weak. I didn’t like it. “It would be easier if you just—”

  “Kali,” he growled.

  “Okay, okay.” I sighed. “But don’t blame me if things get a little messy.”

  Chapter Twelve

  So, I blew the house up. That was what happened. Just as I feared, my spell went wonky and I blew the goddamned house to bits. More like splinters actually. No more vampire. No more body. Great in that sense, perfect type of clean up. Just one huge gaping hole. We’d also managed to get far enough away before the police, fire and ambulance arrived, their sirens fading as I gunned the engine, racing back to the hotel before Wyatt bled out.

  “You won’t let me take you to the hospital, right?”

  He shook his head stubbornly. “And tell them what? Got attacked by a crazed vampire, stitch me up please?” He curled his arm into his chest. “I’ve got a med kit in my luggage. I’ll stitch myself up.”

  He was a healer, which meant his body mended itself at an expediential rate. He’d need to give it a starting point, make sure the skin was aligned, the bones in place so that the healing worked properly. It also meant he was out of commission for a while.

  “You gonna tell me how you knew what to do with that Dhampir’s heart?” It’s not like they shared the information. They couldn’t be killed the same way as the Strix, with a stake to the heart. Dhampirs were harder to kill for good which is why most people didn’t know how do actually do it.

  He grumbled something unintelligible, his head lolling to the side, smacking with a thump against the window.

  Leave the man alone, Kali.

  I drove us back to the hotel in silence, a lot of thoughts and questions whirring in my head.

  The time for drilling would come later.

  * * * * *

  My cell buzzed and I moved into the bathroom, not wanting to disturb Wyatt, who was lying on the bed. He’d taken care of his injuries and said he needed to rest for a few minutes. I’d seen him this way before. He’d be out for the count before long, his body sucking away his magic as it tried to heal itself.

  “Kali, it’s Billy.”

  “I was just about to call you. Got anything for me?” It was early afternoon, an hour past lunch. I was hungry for both information and food.

  “Yeah, I’ve got a name. Ivana. That’s your witch.”

  Ivana. Okay. “That’s great, Billy.”

  “I’m working on something else—an informant who might have information.”

  “A witch?”

  “Yeah, he’s playing hard to get. I’m going to send Sam and Clive to talk to him later. I’ve got a few other leads though. Some addresses you might want to check out.” He hesitated. “But I’d really feel a lot better if you waited for the team to come with you on this one.”

  “Why?”

  “Vampire dens.”

  “Huh?”

  Billy sighed. “I have some leads that Ivana has been bouncing from vampire den to vampire den. I’m working a case right now, but I could get to you before sunset.”

  “I just don’t get it. Why the fuck is she frequenting vampire dens?”

  This was so not good. I could feel it, right in the pit of my stomach. A witch and vampires teaming up? Yeah, not on the list of things that spelled team building for positive human growth. Was this what Mom was seeing? Some kind of coup planned? And how far reaching could it be if she was predicting a war?

  “I’m not gonna lie, Billy, I can’t wait until sunset.” I calculated the hours until then, knowing full well that I’d be beyond stir-crazy waiting around, time wasting away. Nope, no way.

  “Kali, we’re talking vampire dens here. With vampires inside.”

  I shrugged. “So I won’t go inside. I’ll just sniff around the outside and see if my bounty has a trail leading in.” After all, the Strix were nestled in their cozy coffins, or whatever, by this time of day, which meant things would be relatively safe for me to snoop around. I’d kill a few hours then backtrack and wake Wyatt up. “I’ll be fine, Billy, really. No unnecessary risks. Promise.”

  Wyatt was soooo gonna kill me when he found out.

  Billy sighed long and hard. “Keep in touch by phone. If there is even the slightest hint of trouble, you get your ass out of there, understood?”

  I smiled. “Yes, sir.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll text you the locations. Talk soon.”

  I slipped my phone into my back pocket, then glanced over at the bed. “Wyatt?” I whispered.

&
nbsp; His arm was draped over his eyes, his breathing steady. I dug my weapons holster out of my bag and slung it over my shoulders.

  “Wyatt?” I raised my voice a tad louder than conversational.

  Nope, nothing, not even a twitch.

  Good.

  I pulled on my jacket then picked his wallet up from the desk, took a few hundreds from his wad. Seriously, who carries this much cash? I had limited funds in my weapons bag, my credit cards sitting in my demolished foyer somewhere. I needed food. I needed more weapons. Wyatt was just gonna have to deal with funding it.

  I slid a couple of knives into place, securing them in the sheaths at my waist, then zipped my jacket up. First stop, after food, was going have to be a hunting store. I picked up my weapons bag and headed to the hotel’s diner.

  The food was just as I would expect it to be—hot and greasy, but tasty and filling. I downed two cups of coffee while I ate, skimming the newspapers for any word on recent homicides that reeked of witch. Nothing popped up, which didn’t really mean anything. The human police were notoriously naive when it came to supernaturally caused murders. Witches in particular were very proficient at getting rid of bodies.

  After thanking the waitress and leaving a generous tip from Wyatt’s wad, I walked outside to the main street and hailed a cab.

  “Where to, lady?” My cab driver glanced at me through the rearview window.

  “I need a hunting supply store. You know of one around here?”

  I felt more than saw the tension roll off the cabbie. He narrowed his eyes at me. “What do you need at a hunting store?”

  I frowned. “A crossbow for one.” Mine hadn’t made it out of the condo when Wyatt hauled me over his shoulder. I didn’t have any stakes left either, but I couldn’t exactly manufacture new ones in the time I had.

  “Don’t know many women who hunt.”

  Um…sexist much? I leaned forward and slid a fifty-dollar bill over the seat. “I just need a ride there and to a few other stops this afternoon. I’m not interested in chitchat. You think you can handle that?”

  The cabbie turned his head to stare at my fifty, his mouth a firm line of disapproval.

  “There’s another hundred in it for you if you keep your thoughts to yourself.”

  That seemed to be the motivation he needed. He snatched the money from the seat, shoved it in his pocket and punched the meter. “No meter today. It’s gonna cost you five hundred if you want my car exclusively.”

  “Three hundred.”

  The cabbie looked like he was about to tell me to go to hell and I almost relented to his demands for five hundred, but all of a sudden, he shifted the car into drive and took off in the direction of the strip, sending me sprawling to the back of my seat with the sudden jerk of motion.

  Thirty minutes later, I had a shiny new kick ass crossbow, a bag full of bolts, knives and a couple of pairs of handcuffs to add to the ones I already had. I’d have to reinforce them with magic so vamps couldn’t break out, but I’d have time for that later.

  I gave the cabbie the first address and sat back, crossbow on my lap, smiling into the rearview mirror, daring him to say another fucking word about women and weapons.

  * * * * *

  That was about the most excitement I had all afternoon. We went from location to location and I hit four of the six places that Billy had texted. I sent out wide tracking spells in hopes that I would pick up on my bounty’s signature by sheer luck, but I had no success.

  The sun had already disappeared beneath the horizon as we reached the next address. I knew I should have given up after the last failed attempt—dusk was definitely pushing me out of my safety zone—but this place was on the way back to the hotel, too tempting to pass up. All I had was a name and address and it turned out to be a bowling alley, which was very disarming in and of itself.

  Vampires bowled? Who knew?

  My cabbie even asked if I had the right address, all the others had been houses or industrial buildings. I’d double-checked when we pulled into the parking lot. Cabot’s, 142 Eagle Way. My information matched the sign over the door of the sleazy looking place. Yep, this was it.

  I heaved out a deep breath, then pushed myself one last time from the back seat. “This is it for the day. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “You’d better make it fast, lady. I’m supposed to get this car back to headquarters in ten minutes.”

  I nodded as I left the cab and closed the door behind me. I’d make it fast all right. My skin was crawling with something close to panic at the look of the place. It might have seemed innocuous, but it was creepy too. There was a vibe that didn’t sit right in my gut.

  I’d only taken a few dozen steps away from the cab when my cell phone rang, blaring impossibly loud in the still quiet of the parking lot.

  It was Billy.

  “You were supposed to keep in touch.”

  “Um…yeah…shit, sorry.” I surveyed the area in front of me, feeling the same tingles of unease creep over me as I had in the other Strix locations, but this one was worse. This one actually made my stomach lurch. “I got distracted.”

  “You okay?

  “Yep, just fine. Turning up jack-shit with the addresses though. You got anything for me?”

  “Yeah, got our informant to agree to a meeting.” Billy chuckled. “He’s a little on the stubborn side and he has some…um…stipulations…”

  “Like what?” I growled. Witches could be total pains in the ass when it came to trading information. They expected a lot.

  “Well, he wants a boon from you.”

  “Like hell!” I scanned the area around me once again, my eyes catching movement at the other end of the darkening parking lot. “What the fuck does he need a boon for? He’s a fucking witch!”

  “He’s a lazy witch. He already got a boon from Sam, wants one from you too. A promise to call in later he said, when he’ll need it.”

  I shook my head. “Sam gave up one already?” Boons were tricky gifts to bestow. It meant you had a tether to the person you gave it to. Whenever they called it in, you were compelled to give it to them…no matter how far you had to travel to do so.

  “She got some info from him too, don’t you worry. It was a fair trade for her. Besides, she said she owes you, wanted to help you out.”

  Owes me? Yeah, okay, I’d helped her out on one of her bounties and hadn’t taken credit for it. So what? It wasn’t worth a boon. “It’s a high price.”

  “He says he can tell you exactly what you need to know about Ivana.”

  “And he’s trustworthy?”

  “He’s come through for us more than a dozen times.”

  I hesitated. Could I find out this information on my own? Not likely. I hadn’t had much success so far.

  “He also mentioned a connection to the dark war. You know something about that? Could it be what your mom was talking about?”

  Fuck. “Okay, I’m hooked. What time is the meeting?”

  “One hour, I’ll text the location. He only wants you though.”

  Wyatt was never going to go for that. Maybe I’d just have to head to the meeting and bypass the hotel for a while.

  “Okay, no problem.”

  “I wouldn’t send you alone if I didn’t trust him. Besides, if anything happens, you have permission to smoke his ass.”

  I chuckled. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, Billy. I owe you one.”

  I disconnected the call and slid my phone into my pocket, my eyes riveted to the movement ahead. What is that? I squinted into the limited light, leaning forward slightly. It was then I heard the squealing tires and turned just in time to see my cab taking off.

  When I opened my mouth to yell after him, I realized my mistake. A muscular arm circled my middle, iron strong, lifting me from the ground, my crossbow falling useless to the pavement in a cla
tter as a hand covered my mouth.

  Cold lips pressed intimately to my ear. “Hi, sugar, you lost?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The words to every spell I knew vanished from my mind and panic surged when I felt fangs once again scraping along my throat.

  Shit, shit, shit.

  “Yummy. You’re a tasty thing aren’t you?”

  I struggled, feebly trying to raise my foot and kick behind me, but my captor just squeezed tighter and all the air in my lungs burst out, giving me nothing to draw on. Any thought of flight died when the movement I’d seen moments earlier suddenly turned into a couple of large vampires headed my way. Their eyes glowed with predatory excitement, fangs gleaming, smiles hungry. They weren’t just interested in my blood.

  With my lungs empty and unable to suck in more air, my head began to swim in a foggy, dizzy haze. I tried to pull my arms free but they were pinned against my sides by the preternatural strength of my captor.

  “Look what I caught, fellas! Dinner and entertainment all in one delicious package.”

  I shuddered as the vampires laughed, my mind reeling. I needed to concentrate, focus on a spell—any spell that would distract them.

  “Looks like she’s armed too.” Lips pressed against my ear. “You hunting vampires, little girl?”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Latin words fluttered through my foggy brain, old spells that should have come easy were getting all tangled up. Nausea rolled over me as I realized I couldn’t latch onto anything of use. My panicked mind was pulling out random phrases that would amount to nothing. Darkness dotted my vision and white noise invaded my head.

  One vamp touched my face, his hand sliding over my cheek, rubbing along my bottom lip. He pulled a knife from the holster under my arm, then forcefully brushed his hand against my breast, the blade tracing a pattern there next. Not enough pressure to cut, but enough to hint that would come.

  “You want a little vampire meat tonight, sweetheart?”

  My lungs screamed for air. Had to stay conscious. Had to.