Kissed by Darkness(66)

One minute. If Kabita didn’t show in the next sixty seconds I was going in alone, stupid idea or not. Something was wrong, I could feel it. Every instinct I had was screaming at me that I needed to get into that building.

I paced some more, checked my phone again. Thirty seconds. Before I could continue pacing, a scream shattered the still night. It was a scream that chilled to the bone, a scream of someone in mortal terror.

Forget Kabita. Forget the danger of going in alone. I ran for the door.





Chapter Eighteen





Just before I hit the door, headlights flashed down the block. I slid my sword out of its sheath across my back and waited in the shadows as two figures got out of the car. Kabita and Inigo. I breathed a sigh of relief. Without waiting for them to catch up, I hit the door to the warehouse. I could hear Kabita cussing up a storm behind me.

The warehouse door led onto a short, dark entry with a set of narrow metal stairs. It was pitch black, the only light streaming in from the streetlights outside the open door. Kabita clicked on a flashlight and shone it low on the steps. Major points to girlfriend for being prepared. I’d have gone up without the light, but then my night vision seemed to be getting better these days. My mind shied away from thoughts of just why that was happening. No time for that; we had vamps to kill.

Our feet made clunky ringing sounds on the metal treads. “Which way?” Kabita pointed the flashlight beam up and then right. We’d hit a landing. Another flight of narrow stairs led up into the darkness. To the right was an equally narrow doorway.

I focused on that tight tingling at the back of my skull that warned me when a vampire was near. Now that we were inside the building, I could feel it again. They were close, but not close enough. “Up,” I pointed up the stairs holding back a sneeze as a little cloud of dust trickled down from between the floorboards above our heads.

Kabita raised an eyebrow, but Inigo nodded in agreement. He didn’t have quite the same sense for vampires I did, but he still had a way of feeling things out that went way beyond that of a normal person. With a shrug, Kabita led the way, shining the light in front of her. This was going to get interesting if we had to fight in the dark.

The stairs opened onto a cavernous room. This was it. I could feel them all around us now, hovering in the dark. I placed my left hand on Kabita’s shoulder and squeezed gently, letting her know without a sound that we’d reached the right place. She halted, Inigo and I ranged out behind her. I might have been the official vamp killer, but she was the boss and she wanted to make sure the bloodsuckers knew it.

Her light played over a figure sprawled out on the floor, blood oozing from dozens of vicious tears in the flesh. For just a moment, I thought they’d killed someone while I’d been waiting outside. Then the body moved and I realized it was a vamp. They’d tortured one of their own to try to force my hand, hence the screams. Sick bastards.

I touched Inigo’s hand and leaned in close to his ear. “How many?” Sometimes, when it came to details, his senses were better than mine.

“A dozen. Maybe more.”

I tried not to sigh aloud. That’s what I figured; at least a dozen. Shit. “See if you can find a light.” Light would give us the advantage. A very slight advantage, but I’d take it. Vamps didn’t see very well in the light.

Inigo nodded and slowly edged away. I turned and placed my back to Kabita’s. Never a good idea to leave yourself exposed from behind. Good way to get dead. Plus I could see better with the light at my back.

I shifted my weight, a floorboard creaking under my feet. Not that it mattered. The vamps already knew we were there and exactly where we stood in the room. They were just waiting for Kaldan to order them to attack. I had no idea what he was waiting for. Toying with us, probably. Kind of like playing with your food. Older vamps were sometimes sick that way. I guess after a century or two of the same old diet, they needed to alleviate the boredom somehow.

Eddie had warned me against using the whole Darkness thing, but right now I needed it. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and focused on all that darkness around me. I imagined it as a thick, black cloud. I focused on drawing it into me. Nothing. I tried again, this time visualizing the darkness as inky ocean waves. No good. Shit.

I felt a rush of wind against my face and leaned back just in time to avoid getting my throat ripped out. I heard the flashlight hit the floor and circles of light danced crazily against the walls as it spun out of control. For one panicked minute, I thought something had happened to Kabita before I realized she’d dropped the light so she had both hands free for weapons.