Unseen (5 page)

A white cat crossed in front of her. It stopped long enough to look her in the eye with its freaky, shiny eyes before scampering away and squeezing past a broken fence.

She released a breath and decided that the best way to tackle this errand was to get back out onto the main streets. The only creatures she was going to find in alleys tonight were stray cats and the rats they were chasing.

As exasperating as this could be, most of her hunting for vamps was done this way. She walked around, hoping to run into trouble. Having the Allure allowed her to sense and smell a vamp before they appeared in front of her, but if there were none around, then she didn’t have anything to do.

Like what’s happening right now.

Trina paused in front of St. Peter’s Church and stared at the façade of gray stone and spires. She knew both Father Constantine and Tomas were inside. If she waltzed down the path and knocked on the side door, they would let her in to chat about what she’d been up to and to inform her of any developments they felt she should know about. They’d also offer her something warm to drink.

But she wasn’t in the mood for strategic or casual conversation right now. Instead, she glanced at the three stone gargoyles adorning the top, shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and moved away.

Just as she turned her back on the church she could’ve sworn she heard a swooshing sound, like a giant bird ruffling its feathers. She also couldn’t shake the sense of being watched, which sent a prickling sensation down her back and made her shiver. But when she peered over her shoulder, she found she was alone on the street. All the stores across the road were closed, there wasn’t a car in sight, and the gargoyles were still statues sitting on the roof like silent watchers.

Trina turned on her heel and headed back the way she’d come. When she’d cleared most of the street and came to an intersection, she rushed up the side alley only so she could reach Riverbank’s main street that ran perpendicular to this one, quicker.

It was definitely busier here. Cars zoomed by with their headlights bright on one side of the road, and the constant red of their brake lights flashing on and off on the other. There were a total of four traffic lights just on this stretch of street alone, and even at this time of night the traffic was constant.

Riverbank wasn’t known for its nightlife, especially during the colder months. Every store was closed by six, unlike
Newtown
. That place was even busier at night than during the day.

She wrapped her arms around her chest, hugging the denim jacket a little tighter. She wasn’t really cold, but it always paid to appear as normal and vulnerable to both weather and danger as any ordinary human. That way no one suspected her of being strong enough to take care of herself until it was too late.

Stepping onto the tiled sidewalk, she peered up and down the street, then across the road. The 7-Eleven and pub were the only places still open. Other than that, a handful of stores had left a few lights on inside for security reasons, or their external signs glowed. The
remainder of the stores squatted in darkness, or were
hidden behind metal shutters to keep out vandals.

She noticed a few laughing couples heading into the pub. A lone man walked past one of the darkened stores with a hood pulled over his head and both hands stuffed into his pants pockets. Two women ran towards a waiting taxi by the curb, and a dark-haired man stood in front of a real estate office staring directly at her.

What the hell? She narrowed her eyes, focusing on him.

This week, her eyes were playing tricks on her. She could go a long time with perfect eyesight, provided she kept a constant ash drop going into the urn, and if it was a younger vampire she was pouring in, she needed to sprinkle it with a good dose of stronger, older vamps to get the full effect. With the number of newbies she’d been taking out lately, it was no wonder she couldn’t see properly. And if this kept up, she’d have to dust off her glasses and wear them again, which happened to be another throwback from the 1980s.

Trina peered past the traffic racing up and down the street, ignoring the blast of cold air each car swept up in its wake.

Yep, that guy’s definitely looking at you.
And why did he look so familiar?

She pushed a strand of hair away from her face and, without thinking, jogged across the road, deftly avoiding the oncoming traffic. No one beeped their horn or had to slam on their brakes because she made it across so quickly.

But when she reached the real estate office, the man was gone.

What the hell?
she
thought again. This didn’t make any sense.

She turned her head and glanced to her left.
Nothing.
Then she turned to the right and saw him standing at the end of the street, still staring at her. It was almost as if he was daring her to give chase.

Trina closed her eyes for a second, trying to get a feel for him but there were too many other smells and people getting in the way of her senses. Still, she could definitely feel the vibrations of vampire in the cold air around her, from somewhere.

The best thing to do was to follow. After all, if he was a vamp, she needed to take care of him. And before she did, he might be able to give her information that would prove or disprove Tomas’s claim.

She walked toward the hooded man, keeping a steady pace, her footsteps echoing around her. She peered over her shoulder every now and then to ensure she wasn’t being followed. After all, this could be a trap, and it didn’t have to be vampiric. Humans enjoyed toying with their prey just as much as vampires.

The man reached the end of the street and turned left. Trina quickly followed and found herself in a much quieter area. There were no cars here, though she could see the glare of oncoming headlights stopped at the lights in the distance.

She looked down the seemingly empty sidewalk until her eyes blurred and damned them for being so weak when she needed them the most. What had happened to the hooded man?

She stood quietly for a few minutes, in case someone decided to surprise her. Only the familiar slurp of bloodsucking now filled the background.

Her stomach turned. She hated vamps who slurped like they were drinking a milkshake.

What game was this hooded guy playing? Was he a vampire who wanted her to find him feeding on someone? She couldn’t help thinking about his sudden appearance.

Trina took a deep breath, exhaled and followed the sound and scent of the vampire. With every step, her pulse quickened, pushing the beat of her heart against her ribs a little harder and setting her adrenaline on fire. Confrontations always fueled her with strength and gave her a sense of righteous power. She’d be a liar if she said she didn’t enjoy the challenge every time it popped into her path.

Besides, she was now close enough to
feel
this wasn’t some idiot newbie
. The strong push of age seemed to drip from the vamp, and she couldn’t wait to bag him.

She quickened her step, treading as lightly as she could, until she finally spotted a dead-end alley. A vampire stood in a crevice housing a filthy Dumpster, shielding him from the street.

What the hell is going on?
The vampire wasn’t the hooded man, she was sure of it. So who was
this ?
Was it possible the hooded man had actually led her to a vampire?

Trina gagged at the smell rolling off the Dumpster, made so much worse when it mingled with the odor of blood, but didn’t stop her approach. As she drew closer, she noticed the vamp holding a victim against his chest, sucking away as if he hadn’t drank in years. The vamp’s frenzied feeding was echoed in his satisfied groans, and it made her as sick as the stench of garbage. She also suspected that the human was already dead. He hung from the vamp’s arms like a weightless rag, head lolling to the side, giving the vampire more room to bite.

“Hey!” Her voice echoed up the enclosed alley.

The vampire continued slurping, as if she wasn’t even there.

“Hey, freak, I’m talking to you!” She raised her voice, but it didn’t seem to make a difference, so Trina stepped close enough to smack him on the side of the head with her palm.

An angry screech filled the silence. He finally stopped drinking long enough to say, “You’re too late.”

“Too late for what?” she asked, her heart beating so fast she could feel the excitement of what she was about to do crawl up her spine. This wasn’t the hooded man she’d chased down the street, so where was
he?
She could also see that he wasn’t the vamp’s victim either.

She’d worry about him later. If she bagged
this
vamp, she’d be able to kiss away the need for glasses for a long while.

“You’re too late because he’s already turning.” A slow chuckle turned into laughter as the old vamp lifted his head and met Trina’s gaze. His eyes were as dark as night and glistened like a demon’s. Greasy, curly black hair framed his hollow cheeks. His thin mouth was covered with blood as he flashed pointy fangs while he laughed. He was so emaciated she wondered if he had any strength left at all.

“Here, catch!”

Before Trina had a chance to react, the vampire shoved his victim at her, sending her sprawling on her ass beneath a bloody, dying man. She tried to squirm out from beneath the man’s dead weight, but it was too late. The vamp had already raced down the alley and was scaling the brick wall that should have blocked him. He might look pale and skinny, but obviously he was still very powerful.

And I’ve just lost him!

“Shit.” She pushed the man off her body. Her jacket was ruined, stained with blood. Blood happened to be one of the hardest things to get off clothes, and she couldn’t afford to replace every article she wore after each confrontation. Sometimes she felt as if that was all she spent her hard-earned money on. No wonder she never had a cent to her name.

There should be some sort of clothing concession from the Church. Then again, they barely paid for her services as it was.

“
Mmm
, you smell pretty,” the man, who’d just recently been a victim, said. He crawled on top of her, licking his lips and staring hungrily at her.

“Get off me,” she spat.

“But I want to taste your blood. I’m so hungry.” The whole right side of his neck and shoulder were raw and bloodstained. She could see the tendons and muscles work every time he moved or spoke.

Oh, shit. That’s what the jerk meant.
This poor bastard had already been turned, but it shouldn’t have happened this fast. She glanced toward the wall to see the vamp scampering away like some sort of spider. He paused at the top of the brick wall, his nose lifted into the air until his beady eyes zeroed in on her. She didn’t look away, kept looking at him, grateful her eyes were at least good enough for her to notice the sudden change in his mannerism. He lingered, hands gripping the wall to keep him steady, even if he looked just about ready to jump down and return to where she stood.

Could he be the rogue vampire Tomas had mentioned? If so, maybe he got a thrill out of making new vamps and setting them loose in suburbia. It would explain the appearance of so many newbies, but it didn’t explain who took care of them afterwards. That was probably where the vigilante came into the picture.

“So it’s true,” he whispered into the wind. “You do exist.”

Trina
waited,
her heart pounding as she waited for her Allure to drag him back down, and kept a hand on the new vamp so he wouldn’t chomp on her.
Come on, you old bastard, come to me.

The vamp hesitated a moment longer, before shaking his head, grunting and disappearing down the other side of the wall.

Shit!
No matter how long it took, she’d eventually hunt the bastard vamp down and get her answers. There was no way she’d let any vampire keep doing this, especially now that she knew how ancient he was.

The recently dead man stopped his approach just near her knees, long enough to curl up into a ball and clutch his stomach. “I’m so hungry it hurts . . . and you smell . . . so nice,” the newly created vampire whispered.

That old bastard’s mine, but first I need to put this one out of its misery.

Trina withdrew the stake from the waistband of her jeans and jammed it into the guy’s chest.
One less vampire in the world is always a good thing.

Chapter Six