Kissed by Darkness(9)

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Inigo, you are way too young for me.”

He just smirked some more. “Twenty-four is not that young. I’m certainly old enough for what counts.” His grin turned unbelievably lascivious and my mind went straight to some very naughty places.

Great, just what I needed. Out of control hormones in the middle of a hunt. And it wasn’t Inigo’s out of control hormones I was worried about. “Oh, yes, I’m sure you’re very, ah, good in that department. But I’m very busy and important and don’t have time for your nonsense,” I said loftily and I stomped off down the street. When in doubt, a grand exit was always appropriate. Especially when one was trying desperately not to jump one’s best friend’s cousin’s bones.

Dear gods, I was in some serious trouble.







It was just gone 2:30 a.m. when I got home. I stripped down to my underwear, yanked on a T-shirt, and crawled into bed. I was starting to think I was getting way too old for this shit.

Granted, twenty-nine wasn’t that old. It’s like the new nineteen, right? But I’d been hunting vampires for three years now and it never got any easier. In fact, it seemed like the more of these things I killed, the more new ones popped up.

And now this whole Sunwalker thing. As if my life wasn’t weird enough, I was suddenly on the hunt for a mythical creature that supposedly hadn’t existed, if it ever existed at all, for hundreds of years. Great. Just great.

To top that off, I had some mystic palm reader telling me that the guy I was supposed to execute might not be a bad guy, after all. Wasn’t quite sure I bought that. I mean, a vamp was a vamp, even if he could walk around in daylight. I know about all of the fairy tales Hollywood likes to produce about the sexy undead, but the truth was, vamps would just as soon eat you as do anything else with you. The bloodlust was all consuming. I’d never met a vamp where it was otherwise. How could a Sunwalker be any different?

I jerked the fluffy duvet up to my chin and stared at the ceiling. If Sunwalkers did exist, then how on earth did one kill them? And why would a centuries old vampire that could walk around in daylight steal a worthless necklace from some rich guy? I was starting to think there was a lot about this case that wasn’t going to make any sense.

So many questions and not a lot of answers. In fact, the further into this thing I got, the more questions I seemed to have.

I let out a sigh. Sometimes I wished I was back living my old life, before the vampire attack that changed everything. Just doing the day to day thing at a regular nine to five job. Going about life doing all the normal ordinary things that normal ordinary people did.

Then again … naw! I wouldn’t miss this for the world.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face and dreamed of a man with golden skin, eyes like the ocean and a mouth made for sin.







I was up to my armpits in dirt. Digging was hot, dirty work, plastering strands of long, dark hair to stubbled cheeks. I swiped a forearm across a sweaty brow. Two of my fellow knights worked beside me, their dark eyes gleaming with excitement in the torchlight.

We were all convinced there was something under the Temple, something of great value. Some said it was the Ark of the Covenant. Others whispered rumors it was the lost writings of Mary Magdalene. Whatever it was, if we could find it, it would change everything and bestow on our Order power greater than that of kings and even the Church.

My shovel went through the floor, chunks of dirt falling through to another level below. There was a cavern under there. I gave a shout to my brother knights and we all began digging furiously. “Bring a light!” Torches were brought and the three of us clambered down into the cavern below, leaving our falchions behind in our haste.

It was a small, naturally formed cave. The walls were painted with brightly colored murals depicting, at a brief glance, a terrible battle. The cavern was otherwise completely empty except for two corpses in the middle of the room.

I cautiously approached the bodies, followed by my fellows. The two bodies lay sprawled across the floor, one cradling the other like a child. One was nothing but bones, ancient beyond belief, and dressed in some sort of armor. The other …

The other looked as though he’d died just hours ago. His body was perfect, though his clothes were rotted nearly to dust, and he cradled the bones of the dead warrior like a child. In his hands he clutched an amulet. It appeared to be made of gold, but dulled by age and dust. One of the others leaned down to pick it up. Some part of my brain screamed at me.

“No, stop!”

It was too late. The corpse became horribly and suddenly alive, fangs I hadn’t noticed before sinking deep into my brother knight’s neck. The living corpse dropped the nearly dead knight and grabbed the next, rearing back to strike again. The screams were hideous and chilled me to the marrow.