Page 1 of Hunted in the Shadows
1
Sylvia
Vampire blood and stale popcorn smelled just as bad mixed together as I had imagined.
According to Jon and Cliff, Blockbusters like this were the epicenter of human weekends several decades ago. Thanks to the miracle of streaming services, they were now obsolete. This particular Arkansas location had shut its doors nine years prior, but like many places sheltered outside the public eye, it hadn’t stayed empty.
Beyond rows of shelves coated in layers of grime and neglect, the musty air was charged with a vampire presence—only one left, I thought with tentative relief.
Five had been nesting in the abandoned store when I’d flown in behind Cliff and Jon thirty minutes prior. A small coven, but that didn’t mean much when even one vampire could outrun a speeding car and rip a human apart like wet paper.
Unfortunately, I could attest to this personally after only two months of traveling with a pair of hunters.
I struggled to tear my eyes off the headless body Cliff was knelt over. The half-lit glow of the flickering fluorescent lights cast his familiar face into shadow, making him look like he’d emerged from a cautionary fireside tale about hunters. Unnatural, syrupy blood stained the machete gripped in his right hand and smeared across his hands and jeans like molasses. The decapitated head of his kill stared up at me from the faded blue carpet.
“Hey!” Cliff snapped his fingers twice to get my attention. “Don’t puke.”
“Any other sage advice?” But my attempt at nonchalance couldn’t hide that my dinner churned in my stomach.
Three other bodies were strewn across the floor like demented breadcrumbs leading deeper into the store. Each corpse had a gaping blackened hole where its heart used to be, courtesy of an oak stake. An earth fairy would have certainly worked wonders in a vampire hunt, but I made do with ice.
The final vampire’s aura made my senses pulse erratically. He was on the move, perhaps harboring more self-preservation than the coven mates who’d been staked and decapitated before his eyes. Rather than make a stand and lash out at the hunters in a vengeful rage, he ducked behind theAnimationshelves and made a break for the back hallway.
Jon bolted after him from across the store, his stake dripping with dark blood. The weapon was one good strike away from splintering for good. Jon was fast, brimming with adrenaline, but no human was a match for a vampire’s speed. I chewed my lip anxiously, once again thinking how this hunt would have been more straightforward if they’d had silver bullets; the hunters’ seemingly endless supply had finally been depleted—the last two rounds embedded in the back of the now-headless vampire lying facedown on the carpet. Silver wasn’t enough to kill a vampire, but it certainly slowed them down.
I zipped away from Cliff to catch up, pressing my palms together as I whispered a spell. Throwing my hands out, I conjured a shimmering orb that tore across the room. As it made contact with the vampire’s back, the light exploded into a burst of crystalline spikes. Many shattered against the unnaturally tough skin, but enough broke through to make him stagger.
Howling, the vampire caught himself against a nearby wall and reached back to wrest the icicles buried in his flesh. Though his back was painted in blood, the wounds were swiftly regenerating.
My attack slowed our target long enough for Jon to close the distance. Without an ounce of hesitation, Jon seized him by the back of the neck and turned him round so they were eye to eye, pinning him against the wall. The stake was a breath above the vampire’s chest, ready to plunge.
“Pathetic,” the vampire gritted through sharpened teeth. He kicked Jon’s six-three frame back like he weighed nothing. He slammed into the adjacent wall, knocking a few faded letters from theNew Releasessign, along with a shower of old DVD cases.
“Jon!” I half-expected a blaze of pain to shoot through my body to match Jon’s, though our Ancient bond had been severed for months. I lunged to assist him, inadvertently putting myself within the vampire’s reach.
The monster seized me from the air with his stars-forsaken speed. His blindingly tight grip didn’t allow me to draw enough air to scream. If he’d held me any longer, my bones would have caved, but he was still in a frenzy to escape. The world spun as he pitched me away from him, perhaps hoping to break my neck on the central counter.
My wings cramped and my vision was spotty, unable to distinguish up from down. I tried to orient my flight, but I couldn’t slow myself—
A shadow engulfed me, and my descent stopped short as I found myself safely in Cliff’s hands. He staggered to his feet, breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
I coughed, blinking away my double vision. “Can I puke now?”
“Not onme, that’s for damn sure.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Jon scrambling to his feet and kicking aside cases. The vampire vanished into a back room and slammed the door so hard that I thought the building would collapse. That was nothing compared to the Earth-shaking impact of Jon throwing his weight against the door. Amazingly, it didn’t budge.
“Coño,” he growled, pacing in front of the lock.
With a grunt, I pushed myself up and ignored my aching muscles. At least my wings were in working order.
“Maybe we should go around the back,” I said, approaching Jon with cautious flight. “He could be running for an exit.”
“No time.”
Jon instructed me to move back, and when he squared himself in front of the door, I hurriedly gave him space. He delivered a powerful kick near the door handle. The metal squealed in protest. Charging forward, he dealt another blow that might have leveled a tree. The door swung inward with a deafening splinter of wood.
