Chapter 3
I spun around and saw Duskin standing behind me with Nick following closely behind him. “What the hell are you in here for? Unless someone’s being attacked by a hell beast, I don’t want to hear about it.” I turned back and started cleaning the room so I could actually sleep through the day when Nick piped up.
“Come on, I’m sober and I really want to know how deep in shit this mission’s going to get me before I make plans to get drunk again.”
Is there even ever a day when you’re sober? I went for a voice that added some ice to my emotionless tone. “We’re to kill the head of the major drug company Miracle because he’s been experimenting on hybrids. We’re fairly certain he’s a Taint, so watch your fucking back Nick. You won’t live to see another dawn if you underestimate him.” Good, that should keep him clean for a few days at least…Well, I hope.
I turned and watched the two of them stiffen. Men try to keep their emotions dammed; it’s a tactic with which I’ve discovered I’m exceptionally good. These boys, not so much. Their faces showed the fear I knew they were feeling. Duskin, because he was the rookie and had never been in such a situation, Nick, I wasn’t sure. The instant I looked at Duskin, he put on a casual act. Men. Ugh. Well, at least Nick lets me know if he’s scared shitless. He started speaking slowly, as to keep the biting fear from his voice. “I guess that means you and Zainah aren’t in the best of positions.”
Sigh. “I can smell your fear. Don’t try to bullshit me. We’re in danger, so what? We’re always in danger and this time you’ve got your own neck on the line rather than being safe on the sidelines. If you can’t come to terms with the fact that you’re afraid, I’ll send your sorry ass back to Dan and let him deal with you.”
He blinked. Nick stood behind him laughing his ass off. Well, Duskin had just gotten the initiation of how much of a bitch I can be. He might be tempted to stay the hell away from me now at least. I really didn’t need his constant supervision. I’m ninety two for Christ’s sake. I don’t need some kid bullshitting himself that he can protect me any better than I can myself.
Deep breath Katrina. “I’m scared myself, but there’s not much I can do about it except harness the energy and convert it to blood lust, which I really am going to have to debrief you and Lia on. Right after a battle, you need to stay the hell away from me. Kailee has better control over her vampire side since she lives with it day in and day out. I, on the other hand, only access it during battle. I don’t recognize anyone when I’m like that. So unless you’re suicidal, stay the fuck away. Not doing so will probably end up with you dead and Dan pissed at me for killing a rookie. God knows we lose enough to Taints already.” My eyes itched again. I felt the colour drain away and be replaced with a deep burning black that I felt all the way down in my core. Apparently I had somehow managed to piss myself off.
Nick’s jaw almost dropped when I admitted that I was scared myself. With my ability to mask myself, I don’t think he could smell it. Quite the opposite, Duskin relaxed and the musk of his fear drained from my nose. I probed with my mind to see if he was just hiding it. I almost fainted in shock when he asked, “Stop doing that.”
Did he feel that? “Stop what?”
He narrowed his eyes to horizontal slits. “Stop reaching out. I can feel it you know. I won’t get sick if you continue, but I sure as hell will be pissed.”
He swore, finally. And he talks like I do, that’s a little creepy. “Fine then. That also means no bothering me. You’re better off if you don’t know how easily I can break your spine.” His face twitched. Was that a smile or am I just seeing things? “I trust Zainah put the sheets on your beds, I’ll see you at dusk.” With that said, I shooed them out of my room and crawled into bed to sleep before the sun roused the rest of the world into consciousness.
***
I woke only a few hours later. Everyone had turned in for the morning, leaving me to cope with the brightness of the day. Zainah was dutifully sleeping on the other side of the bed half morphed. In the state she was in I would never find out where she had gone. I figured that she probably had gone out to find other Weres to associate with. Nick wasn’t the easiest to get along with when there was no mission up front and centre and she was on his hit list from the ear-boxing incident. I wiggled out from under the sheets and stood. I hopped into the shower, dressed, grabbed a protein bar from the back on the fridge and left my house to enjoy the heat of the sun.
I pulled my iPod out of my jeans and set it to play The Night for the next while. For once I could allow my mind to wander through the music and not have to worry about upsetting someone by not listening to them.
I began to ponder my current situation and how I ever even came to be. Since when do vampires and humans mate? There were more of the human and Were cases than my own. Among the races, I was unique. There were no other recorded cases of human/vampire hybrids. Zainah might be uncommon among her own kind, but at least she had others like her that understood and could empathize. Though she may have a slight idea as to what I was, she could never fully understand what it’s like to be truly alone in the world.
Vampires were feared greatly, but accepted in the public’s eye. Weres were embraced with open arms by animal lovers across the globe. Hybrids were as rejected as bastard children. Why didn’t Duskin get it through his thick skull to leave me the hell alone?
Kill the next target. My mantra was one I had kept and cherished through my long life. It helped me get through the aftermath of my father’s death when I found out what I was and why my mother told me never to tell a soul what I was. I had promised her, but my line of work had caused me to break that promise several times. If my team members didn’t know what I was, it could get them killed while the blood lust drained from me. Kill Dmitri Lesage. Then I can sleep peacefully again. It was all that kept me going.
I decided to case his home in the upscale part of the city. Kinda convenient isn’t it? That his house is only a thirty minute walk from your own? I took mental note of where I could see the guards and the patrol paths they took, where the cameras were located and where they were pointed. I used my senses to reach out across the grounds to see beyond what the normal eye could, what even my vampire-enhanced vision couldn’t see. So what I can see is only the initial punch. You’ve got those fucking monsters back there to finish your dirty work. Now I know you’re a Taint you bastard.
The hell beasts were caged in the deepest shadows that even the noon-day sun couldn’t penetrate. They glowed a deep red that pulsed with heat, their mouths a mass of teeth and their feet sporting razor claws. Hell hounds and…what the fuck is that?
It looked like a horse with flames dancing on its body. It snorted every few seconds, like it was getting extremely agitated with being locked up. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I saved a mental picture of it in my mind. A regular camera, or even the modified ones made by Pread himself, wouldn’t capture the image of a horse dancing in the inferno. If you could see for yourself what happens to horses when they’re trapped in a burning barn, you’d picture this thing.
It didn’t smolder like a regular hell beast. I wondered if it was the apparition of a horse burned to death then forced into the form of its final minutes. It wasn’t even black like a hell beast. It was the pure white of virgin snow, the same colour as Sira and all her kind. The only black parts of its body were its mane and tail. Very peculiar, and fucked up.
I dove deeper into my vampire side and released immense heat from my body. I had practiced with it daily for years after I left my mother's home. After the shameful incident I had mostly blocked from my mind. The memory still walked through the darkest corners and drove me mad in my dreams. I exist only to run from it so I’ll never have to face it again. The last time I did, I blacked out for hours and when I woke, I found a young woman in front of me beaten to death. I was never sure if I just found her like that, or if I had done it myself. Don’t think about that dammit!
Through my senses, I saw the horse, if you can even call it that, begin to snort harder, more frequently and stamp its gigantic hooves into the soft dirt. I felt the earth blacken into soot underneath it, dying. Shit, I don’t know what this thing is or what it’s capable of and I’m pretty sure I pissed it off, I’m getting the hell out of here. I spun 180° and took off down the street with The Night still pounding in my ears.
I wandered around the city, my city, and window shopped to Façade, the rhythm of the drums soothing my frayed nerves. The story of the abused woman in the song who tried to cover everything up, to stay with her abuser, saddened me, because it sounded so much like myself. I cover all my emotions while they beat me to death from the inside. It never ends unless I can somehow allow myself to be pulled into the music I listen to and leave my body on autopilot. The beat of the drums thundered through my veins until I finally let myself go, to float between them, anyone who spoke to me now I would ignore and continue walking wherever my body felt like walking.
Or not.
“Katrina? What are you doing out here?”
Huh? Who the hell has the right to disturb me while I’m trying to repair every bit of damage I’ve ever done to myself? Oh, it’s the rookie. Fuck. “Duskin, what the hell are you doing following me?” I countered.
He looked extremely nervous now. I think he knew that I was now pissed off and since I had warned him I could be a loose cannon, he was being cautious. He drug his fingers through his hair. He’d done it enough in my presence in a very short amount of time that I suspected it was a nervous habit he had developed a long time ago.
My eyes followed his movements and when his hand fell to his side I stared at him straight in the eyes while I felt my own itch and change to an inky black. I think that change disturbed him slightly, it disturbed most people. “I, uh…” He pressed his lips together in a line, like he was fumbling for an answer that wouldn’t make him sound like an idiot.
I narrowed my eyes into slits, the black leaking further into their whites. I needed to get control over myself but I couldn’t do it then. “Spit it out dammit and don’t play games with me. Fucking with my head is not something most people live to regret. So either you tell me, or I’m tying you to that lamp post and leaving you there until dusk.”
Well that got his attention. I opened the door to my senses. I knew it scared him when I did it. I didn’t reach out at him; just let him know that I followed through on my promises. Except that one. I felt the heat in my core turn to steam in the air, sending up little spirals all around me. When he finally stopped tripping over his own words I was almost surprised.
“I thought your kind couldn’t come out under the sun. With you being part vampire, I assumed that you would have to follow the same rules. I’ve only been following you for the past few minutes.” He stopped for a moment with a confused look on his face. “Eh, that sounded worse out loud… I tried calling you,” he added quickly, “but I guess you couldn’t hear me with the headphones in your ears.” That suddenly made me realize that they were still in my ears and pounding out Injection. I pulled them out and continued listening to the boy. “Your kind of hybrids don’t follow the traditional rules, do they?”
My kind of hybrids don’t exist. I’m the only one you fucking moron. I pulled myself up to stand a little straighter so that I wasn’t completely dwarfed by him. Why does he have to be so fucking tall? I only stood about two inches shorter than him now. “I guess Dan didn’t tell you then?”
He was certainly listening now. “Tell me what?”
You stupid fucking moron…I say fuck a lot…“Tell you that there are no other hybrids like me. I have no kind. And to the public I am simply a bastard child of the devil. You want hybrids with a kind, talk to Zainah. She’ll tell you where to find them. Now you should be leaving me the hell alone. This is your last warning before you are used to settle my craving for blood. I am told the experience is enjoyable only until you wake. That’s supposed to be the time that the immense pain sets in. I really don’t think you’d enjoy your pretty little neck being marred by scars of my nature.”
I turned to walk away; feeling satisfied that I had finally gotten rid of him. I walked quickly down the street, my shoes making no noise against the pavement. I heard a sigh behind me and then running feet right before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned back, hissing, to find Duskin keeping me from walking any further.
“You don’t let anyone else talk do you?”
Huh? “No I don’t when I feel the conversation has ended satisfactorily. Now let me go.” I swiped his hand off of me and continued walking only to feel his hand there less than a moment later. Decent reflexes.
“Shut up and let me talk dammit.”
The kid’s got balls standing up to a girl who can kick the shit out of him. Right now, I feel like I just might do that. “What the hell do you want? I’m close enough to exploding on a normal day without you lighting another fuse.” That should get him away from me. I knocked his hand off my shoulder. “And don’t fucking touch me unless you’d rather be flat on your ass.”
He sighed as though I wasn’t getting the point. “I’m sorry, alright? How the hell am I supposed to know that there aren’t any other vamp hybrids?”
I felt the black bleed into the whites of my eyes until I knew that there was no white left. “The public dipshit. No one is even supposed to know that I exist. Now I’m going to find a bathroom to sit until I can feel the whites of my eyes again. I’d rather that no one else know what I am. It would scare them too much.”
I didn’t move. I knew if I did he’d probably grab me again and I didn’t want him touching me. As a Tracer he’d know what I was feeling and where I was. That was just too weird for me to handle at this point. I wanted my head to be my own, not in the hands of someone I’d only known for a few hours.
“You aren’t leaving until I figure out why you’re so pissed at me.”
What the hell? I think I made that point clear already. The dipshit. “I already told you. I’m leaving it simply at you’re a fucking moron, that you won’t leave me the hell alone and that you won’t stop touching me. If you’ll lay off, I won’t be so pissed at you. Now run off like the kid you still are and let me figure out what the hell Lesage has guarding his house dammit.”
It was his turn to narrow his eyes. If he was a vampire I’m sure they’d be as black as mine by now. “You’re walking away from it, not towards it. That only leaves the assumption that you’ve been there already. Send me back to Dan if you want, but don’t lie to me.” For a guy who seemed fascinated by the fact that he recognized me before we ever met, he was being a real ass.
Ugh. Like I said, fucking moron. “I’m not lying to you. I’ve been there already, yes, but I don’t know what one of the creatures guarding it is. You’d never see it; I couldn’t even see it with my eyes. I had to use my senses to see it. Even having the Tracing ability won’t get you close enough to notice any more than a slight dent in your ability to feel. I’m going to a fricking library to see if anyone has ever seen such a creature or has any information about it.” I let the anger drain from my voice. I was pretty sure he got the point that I was pissed at him already. “I’ve never seen or heard anything about the creature I saw in a cage in the dark shadows on his home. Never.”
His look softened a little bit but still looked like a carved statue. I was just as sure mine was as hard. He just said flatly “Describe it.”
Didn’t it worry him that I had never seen anything like this thing in my long life? Dammit. “It was in the form of a horse. Its body was white with a black mane and tail. It smelled like a hell beast and its body had flames dancing across it. That a decent enough description for you?”
He paled a little and stepped out of my personal space. I said “Now that that matter is settled, can I go and see if anyone’s got information on this damned beast? I’d sleep better if I knew what it was and what it’s capable of. Go away and leave me the hell alone. I mean it.” I walked away and didn’t feel a hand on my shoulder this time around. Thank God. No, God hasn’t done shit for me except turn me into a killer for his own usage.