Natalie suddenly noticed. "Nick! You're bleeding!"
Everyone looked over at Nick.
"It's just a scratch. It doesn't even hurt much," he lied and it was obvious.
Jasper called him over to her. When he was close, she placed her right hand over his wound. The red glow appeared and both Jasper and Nick winced slightly at quick pain. The glow faded, and Nick's arm was completely healed.
"Why does it hurt you?" Janette asked Jasper.
"With healing spells, the caster shares the pain with the object of the spell," she explained. "The more damage to the person, the more pain transmitted."
"That would explain why Natalie screamed," Nick mentioned. Jasper nodded to that.
From the open door, LaCroix could tell that the sun was almost down. "This Sorin has quite upset me," he informed the group. "I look forward to ripping his head off his shoulders."
No one disagreed with him.
Suddenly, the phone rang and the answering machine started playing: "Hi. This is Nick Knight. I can't take your call now. Leave a message; don't take it personally."
The machine beeped and the voice of Nick's boss, Captain Joe Reese, bellowed over the tape:
"Knight, it's Reese. I know you're upset about Tracy, but we need you here tonight. The sun's not even down, and we've had 5 different homicides. Two were shot, two more burned, and one had a wooden pike through her chest."
"Familiars," Jasper said, her voice low. "Sorin's looking for me."
"We need you here, Nick," the voice repeated. "If you see Dr. Lambert, tell her that she's needed in her office." Click.
"And he'll never know that I almost wasn't available tonight," Natalie muttered, and she grabbed her coat.
Nick also went for his jacket, grabbing his badge, key, and gun as well. "We can work this from different angles," he told the group. "Natalie and I will take the professional side and try to find a pattern, see where he'll hit next. Jasper, since you know best about this guy Sorin, you go with LaCroix and Janette."
For once, his master didn't argue with Nick for taking charge.
Everyone got up and headed out: the cop and pathologist by his or her car and the remaining vampires by flying.
**************
The dark figure also started his pursuit. He knew that he was not going to be completely safe until he destroyed the hunter after him.
Chapter 6
As Nick walked into the precinct, he could tell that everyone was tense. Between Tracy's death and these recent homicides, all nerves were on edge. So Nick was not surprised when Reese burst out of his office, yelling, "Nick, where the hell were you?"
"Slept late." Nick briefly wondered what would happen if he told Reese the truth. "I told Natalie that she was needed at the morgue."
"Thank goodness," Captain sighed. "There's been 3 more since the sun went down. We needed to find this guy, Nick."
"We're on it," Nick said under his breath. Then out loud, "Does he have any patterns?"
Reese shook his head. "Completely random. We examined the bullets. This guy's filling hollow-points with garlic. He's shoving stakes through hearts. He's a psycho who's hunting 'vampires.'" Reese used sarcastic quotation marks, but Nick still cringed at the mention of the word.
"He may be crazy, but he's still dangerous," Reese continued. "Before you go out to find this creep, you'll need help." A late twenties-early thirties man came forward. "This is Ryan Watkins. He'll work with you on this case."
"Captain, I don't think..." Nick started.
"I know you don't want a new partner this soon after Tracy," the captain interrupted, "but you'll need backup."
"Okay, I'll give it a shot," Nick told him.
"I'm counting on you two to catch this guy," Reese said and then he went back into his office, shutting his door behind him.
Nick turned to Ryan. "We'll take my car."
**************
In the Cadillac, Ryan was talking a blue streak.
"So, after the Academy in Boston, I moved to Austin, Texas, but the police force there was crap, so I moved to Tallahassee, Florida, but it was too hot, so now I'm here and I think..."
"Could we focus more on the case please?" Nick asked.
"Sure," Ryan agreed. "Can I ask you one question though? Why this car? I mean, you don't look like a Cadillac guy. Plus, the color. I mean, can you say bizarre?"
Nick stopped him. "Look, while we're working together, don't criticize the car."
"Alright, whatever," Ryan continued. "So, we're looking for a 'vampire hunter.' I guess we have until daylight to find him," he chucked.
Nick rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long night.
**************
LaCroix, Janette and Jasper landed on the roof of the Raven.
"You closed my club?" Janette questioned LaCroix angrily.
"I was planning on moving on tonight," he remarked. "I did not figure I'd be playing detective."
"Thank you both for helping," Jasper said. "It means a lot to me. There's a better chance of success now, since there's strength in numbers."
"Not that much strength though," cried a voice from above.
As the three vampires looked up, Jasper's eyes widened with fear, then set in hatred. "Sorin."
Hovering above them was a tall, dark figure. His long brown hair blew wild with the wind, and his eyes pierced the dark with their gold glow. His muscles tensed as he reached for the sword at his side.
"So, you're the one the Tremeres sent after me?" he laughed. "You're nothing more than a child."
He looked down upon the young girl and traced her figure with his eyes. Her straight eclair hair hung full around her face and shone in the moonlight. Her eyes were a dark brown, now speckled with gold in her anger. A swarmy smile appeared on his face as he followed the curve of his body but vanished quickly when his eyes settled on the red glow starting to form around her hand.
Jasper knew she had been caught, and she had to act fast. When she pointed her hand at Sorin, a crimson ball of fire shot from her hand at him. Sorin flew to the side just in time to dodge it. Then, he drew his sword from its sheath and dove toward the girl.
LaCroix and Janette, who had been watching with wide eyes, knew now was their time to fight, and they took to the sky so to intercept Sorin.
"No, don't!" Jasper cried, but it was too late. As the couple raced toward Sorin, the warrior swung his sword, cutting Janette across the upper arm. LaCroix was not so lucky, for Sorin's blade sliced him across the chest.
The two fell back to the roof in pain, and Sorin stopped in mid-air.
"This is pathetic," he growled at Jasper. "You're nothing close to a decent opponent. Against my better judgment, I'll give you until dawn to get out of Dodge, so to say. This is my town now, and I don't want you or any of your weakling friends around here." He pointed to the fallen LaCroix and Janette. "If you're still around after dawn, I'll kill you myself." With that, Sorin flew off, leaving the three behind.
**************
Nick was getting tired of listening to Ryan ramble. Instead, he drowned him out by letting his vampire senses wander. His sight focused on the individual heat patterns of the city, picking up reds and oranges of the people. He defined his hearing so he could hear everything, from individual conversations to the cry of a tomcat. He specifically listened for any sounds of a fight.
"Are you listening to me?" Ryan's voice echoed in Nick's ears.
Nick flinched and turned toward the annoying person now all of three inches away from his face.
"Back...off." Nick demanded.
And Ryan did.
Chapter 7
Jasper rushed over to LaCroix's side. Janette was already there, holding her arm where the sword had cut her.
LaCroix's wound should not have been fatal to a vampire, but he was fading fast. He couldn't understand why until Jasper explained.
"Sorin's sword is dangerous to anyone. He had the blade blessed by a priest, making it holy. Then, he killed the priest."
With that, she placed her hands over his chest. "This is going to hurt," she prepared LaCroix and herself.
As the red glow appeared, both of them screamed in pain.
**************
In his car across town, Nick heard the screams. Quickly jerking the wheel, he turned into an alley, heading cross-town. In the process, Ryan was slammed into the side of the interior. Nick smiled at that as he sped toward the sound.
**************
LaCroix wasn't perfect, but he was feeling better. He was amazed at how much Jasper's magick had helped.
Janette was also feeling better. After Jasper had helped LaCroix, she had turned to Janette and helped her. The pain was now gone, and the stiffness was fading.
Jasper, on the other hand, was too weak to move. Between the attack on Sorin and the healing of her friends, she was almost drained of all her power.
"At least he gave us until dawn," she mentioned. "I don't think I'll be strong enough to move before that."
"I can't fly yet," LaCroix added. "We'll have to walk back to the loft."
"Nicola should be checking in soon," Janette said.
Together, they all walked carefully down the fire escape and headed back to Nick's loft.
**************
Five minutes later, the Caddy pulled up next to the Raven, and Nick got out. After taking a quick look around, he went back into the car.
"They must have left already," he said aloud.
"Who must have left?" Ryan asked.
Nick turned to Ryan Watkins. "Just people I use as sources." He paused for a minute then turned the car on. "I need to make a brief stop at my loft really quick."
"Okay, whatever," Ryan said.
So, Nick headed off to his loft.
**************
When Nick arrived, he and Ryan went up to the loft, only to find it empty.
"They're not here," Nick mentioned.
"Your sources know where you live?" Ryan inquired, but Nick ignored him.
"They'll be here soon. We'll wait for Jasper and the rest to arrive."
"Jasper? Is she one of your sources?" the mortal asked curiously.
"Actually, she's a friend of a friend who needed a place to stay," Nick explained. "She's just a little girl. I hope she's okay."
"Well, while we're waiting, can I have something to drink?" Ryan asked.
"Sure, I'll get it."
As Nick turned away from Ryan and toward the refrigerator, he didn't notice that Ryan had drawn a dagger from his coat until the mortal stabbed the blade right between Nick's shoulder blades.
