Chapter 1: Trial By Fire By: DragonMouse ~( 8>
It was Friday night and where was I? Not out with one of my two boyfriends, no. I was prowling through the night, wearing all black, and carrying more guns than a Bruce Willis movie. The man next to me, Edward, and I were stalking a rogue vampire and his three twice bitten minions. They'd killed enough people that a warrant of execution was issued. Ted Forrester, Edward's good-ol'-boy bounty hunting alter-ego, and I were to be the ones to carry it out.
We had staked out the house of the most recent victims, Mr. and Mrs. Jennson, because when they were killed last night, their young daughter walked in on it. The cops figured they might come back to finish the job. They were right. At midnight, four dark shapes slunk across the yard and apparently entered
the back door.
Edward and I started across the lawn, silent but quick. We didn't want them to get away when they realized there was no one home, and we didn't want them to hear us coming. It was a fine balance, but we both walked it often enough, me as a licensed vampire killer, Edward as an assassin.
There was a chill in the air as we crouched and ran toward the back door that made me glad I'd worn long sleeves. About halfway to the back door, a noise cut through the silence that froze us in our tracks. It was a scream of horrendous pain. What would cause them to scream in pain? As the howls tapered off, we realized there were three voices to the tortured sound.
Our gazes locked and we nodded. Guns at the ready, we flattened ourselves against the wall and slunk along. Edward reached the corner first and swung around it, gun coming down to kill whatever might be there. He brought the gun back up and waved off me to follow. I came around in an imitation of his move. We probably looked like a pair of cops in a bad movie, but I didn't care, not if it kept us alive.
I took in the scene in front of me. It was absolutely... nothing. Nothing seemed out of place. The moon cast shadows across the lawn and caught on the tin roof of a big dog house. A chain stretched from its front to end near the edge of the small porch. I noticed the clip was broken off.
"Where's the dog?" Edward whispered, blue eyes flicking about.
"Hospital. Almost got his throat ripped out last night," I mumbled back. He relaxed a notch. It would really screw over our plan if a dog that size came out of a shadow and bit our legs off.
Then I noticed the back door, a fraction or a second after Edward noticed it. It was open just a hair, enough that it was noticeable, but not enough to attract attention. We snuck toward it, though if someone was waiting for us, they'd have had plenty of time to kill us. Oh well.
I stood ready as Edward pushed the door open. On the floor lay the three humans, curled into the fetal position and very still. While he covered me, I nudged one with the toe of my Nike. He rolled over bonelessly, either unconcience or dead.
I let out a small gasp when I saw his face, or rather, what should have been his face. The features were melted away, in some places to the bone. Another glance told me his hands and neck were the same, wherever skin was not covered. Edward spoke, startling me. "The others are the same, what did it?"
The only thing I could think of was acid and was about to say so when a bellow of rage and pain issued from further inside the house. My wide brown eyes met Edward's calm blue ones and we had a perfect moment of understanding. Let's check it out, but be careful, it said.
Proceeding slowly, it took five minutes to clear two rooms. We were not going to get caught with whatever got those in the other room. We were checking the shadows in a game room, when a shriek came again. I think even Edward jumped. It came from the next room. I didn't move for about 15 seconds, not from fear, but from confusion. What was happening? Someone was hurting them besides me. But who?
Edward had found out. "Anita, you coming?"
He was already in the next room. I dashed through the door and stopped next to him. Shocked by what was in front of me, I just stared, open mouthed, gun held loosely by my side.
A girl, anywhere from ten to thirteen years old, sat in the middle of the floor, three feet from the still body of the vampire. Her left leg was sprawled in front of her, her right knee to her chest, arms wrapped around the shin and resting her forehead on her knee.
As soon as I walked in the room, she sat bolt upright. From halfway across the room, she stared me dead in the nose, careful not to meet my eyes. Her eyes, behind blue rimmed glasses, were cold, blue-green, and intelligent. There were tear tracks down her cheeks, but the eyes hardly gave away the crying. Her voice was young but carried well when she spoke, "What are you?"
I blinked when she said what instead of who, but I answered. "I'm Anita Blake, a vampire executioner." I gestured to Edward. "And this is-"
"Edward," he said, shocking me. The girl's eyes ticked to his and she favored him with a slight, but sweet, smile, as if she knew that was information not given to everyone. Then she returned her attention full back to me.
I took a step forward, trying to be kind to the child, but her eyes hardened and she brought a gun from somewhere. It was aimed right between my eyes, but the gun looked really strange. No matter, I froze. "You didn't answer my question. _What_ are you? You've got power," she looked confused, but the gun never wavered. "He doesn't, he's just, different. Now, what the HECK are you?"
I thought the gun was a little much, but if I were in the same position, I'd do it too. So I answered. "I'm a necromancer."
Sudden awe filled her face and she lay the gun down in plain view. "Wow, it is true. I'm Crys Jennson. Could you sure he's, um, dead? He hurt my ankle, or I'd do it. And, um, could you look around for my rat? He attacked the vamp, then the jerk threw him across the room. He's five inches long, has pink ears, tail, an' nose, black eyes, brown an' white fur, and he comes to Riley."
I noticed Edward raise an eyebrow about the rat, but he walked away, calling "Riley," while I advanced on the vampire. He was on his side, turned away from me. Kneeling, I rolled him onto his back, gun trained on him. The first thing I noticed was the machete sticking out of his chest, then the acid-like burns of holy water on his face. I figured if I looked further, I'd find more markings.
"What did you use for the holy water? There seems to be almost a pattern," I asked, turning my attention to the brown haired girl.
She looked at me with sparkling eyes and a big grin, an I-know-something-you- don't-know grin that we learn not to do when we learn tact. Crys lumbered over to me in a crab walk, not using her left foot. Then she reached back and grabbed the gun. She held it out to me with both hands and pointed things out as she described it. "A Spyder paintball gun. Original single trigger, CO2 powered with an extended perforated barrel. Twenty rounds of ammo on top."
The girl was cocky, so I assumed that was a good thing. To me, it looked like a gun from a B-rated sci-fi flick. I felt Edward's presence behind me. Where he'd gone, only heaven knew. Crys looked up at him, "Is the house clear?"
He nodded as he put the Baretta in his shoulder holster. Damn it, the kid knew more of what was going on then I did. Of course, she was probably more on edge then I was, but I started to make a conscience effort to notice things. But now it was time to get down to business.
I took my long knife, a short sword really, from its new spine sheath. The kid uttered a gasp of mixed shock and awe. I glanced at her and her eyes were a bit wide, but I could tell she liked the knife. "Whatcha gonna use that for?" Now she sounded like a little kid, timid, overwhelmed, and a bit excited. I knocked her age to under 12.
Edward answered for me. He simply said, "Behead him."
"And then take the heart?" Edward nodded. A determined glint caught in her eyes as she leaned forward. In both hands, she grasped the hilt of the machete and held it down firm in the vampire's chest. She turned to me, saying, "If it comes out, he'll get up, right?" I nodded and she nodded back, keeping pressure on the protruding knife.
I took careful aim and swung my blade down in an arc. It went almost all the way through before catching on bone. Blood spurted when I pulled the knife out with a jerk. I didn't swing again, but sliced cleanly with two strokes.
The task complete, I glanced at Crys again, to check her reaction. Edward was watching her, too, but there wasn't much to see. Her eyes were hard, her face expressionless, only the tight set of her jaw said that she had watched someone being decapitated. She tore her eyes away from the severed head and the blood to meet mine. They weren't dead like those of my companion, or dangerous like mine, but I knew she'd lost a bigger piece of herself tonight then even when her parents died the night before. A drop of blood, from when I'd gotten messy, rolled down the right lens of her glasses, but she let it go, not really noticing.
~( 8>