The air was brisk, the sky mottled purple.
Vampires would be out soon, if they weren’t already. The rays of the sun were only dangerous when they came direct from the source. The reflection of light was as harmless as tap water to the creatures of the night when the sun dipped below the horizon.
I drew a deep breath into my lungs, held it in, and exhaled through my nose.
I had to be calm. I couldn’t lose my nerve.
I quickened the pace and pushed my busted knee harder than I knew I should, although it wasn’t easy. The sharp, burning ache had become a simmering fire that throbbed all the way to the bone. I slapped the newspaper from my right hand to my left, giving myself room to inspect my pocket.
My butterfly knife, rosary and emplacement charm were still there.
Thank the Lord almighty.
At least I had something to protect myself with.
I craned my head to the side and reminded myself I had another measure of security.
Or did I?
I was marked as Disco’s familiar, but was I vulnerable without him around?
A lot can take place in a century.
Where was he? What had happened to him in the time I had been missing?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answers to my own questions.
I cut down an alley, deciding on a short cut. Each step I took became more painful, the roaring agony in my knee now a blazing inferno. I was several blocks away from The Razor and I wasn’t sure I could go the distance. The sun had vanished, the faintest trails of white littering the sky as dusk lingered in those brief moments prior to the moon’s takeover. The heaviness in my gut warned me it wasn’t good to be caught outside at night, when the creepy crawlies came out to play.
My necromancer sixth sense started shrilling. I drew in a deep, ragged breath.
A vampire was close, damned close.
Since Disco had opened the mark between us and fully introduced me to the source of my power, I was able to distinguish a hell of a lot more—including vampires anywhere in a twenty-to thirty-foot radius. From what I could gather—which, if I was being honest, wasn’t shit—there was only one. But one was more than enough cause for concern when you were a mere crippled mortal.
Not now, damn it.
I didn’t bother trying to hide as I was already at the halfway mark. A vampire would know I was in the area. Our uncanny senses honed in on each other, creating an undeniable pull. Sort of like a fly uncovering a steaming pile of shit—it was impossible to ignore.
Yin and Yang. Sonny and Cher.
You got me, babe.
The vampire made her appearance at the other end of the alley. She approached slowly, taking her time.
Her hair was short in the back and sides but full on the top, with inch-long pieces styled into a semi-Mohawk straight out of the eighties. I was pretty sure she bleached it since the strands were a blaring, platinum white. Her pale skin was bright and lovely, her full lips stained with bright, tomato-red lipstick. The black heels that clicked over the pavement made her impossibly tall—well over six feet—and she was garbed in leather. The black garment covering her lower half clutched and molded seamlessly to her hips, while the skimpy vest surrounding her torso stopped at her ribcage, displaying her smooth and lean stomach.
“Animator bait,” she rasped in a throaty voice and stopped several feet from me. She shifted her head, looking past my shoulder, as if she expected to find someone in my accompaniment.
“I’m not fishing, sister,” I replied and came to a stop.
“Is that so?”
My pride stepped up and I answered evenly, “Yep, that’s so.”
“I smell them.” She sneered, her nostrils flaring wide. “Their stench clouds the air around you. But the question is: How did they come across you?”