Chapter One
THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
THE RANCID SMELL of the beast, the huntress had tracked down, permeated the night air. She gagged but quickly regained her stealthy composure. Luce hid in the shadows of the trees within the forest. Her team, several feet behind her, waited for her signal. Static crackled over the airwaves of the radio.
"It's all clear from my line of sight. I'm going in further. I want you men to hold back till I have a confirmed sighting. Understood?" Random ok's echoed in her earpiece. "If anything goes wrong, you guys are to fall back and get the hell out of dodge. No heroics. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yah, yah, we hear you. Just don't go and get yourself killed, got it?"
"I hear you loud and clear, Jacob." In a crouched position, Luce made her way forward.
The moon was hidden behind dark ominous clouds but she knew that it was the vampire using his powers to shield its light. The darkness made no difference to her; it was her ally as well. Slowly rising to stand up with her back flat to a tree, she switched the Browning Hi-Power 9mm to her left hand and with her right pulled out an antique short sword from a sheath at her waist.
Luce pushed aside a naked tree limb from her line of vision. There, in the clearing, stood the vampire with his back to her. His misshapen head faced skyward. With a subtle mental push she was able to know that he was already aware of her and her team's presence, their exact locations. Cursing under her breath, she spoke into her radio.
Fearful for her teammates, she yelled the warning. "Fall back immediately! He knows we're here! Get the hell out of here! NOW!"
The vampire slowly turned to her, a devilish grin on his face revealing hideous decaying, black blood-stained fangs. "Well, well. You surprise me, my dear. I would not have thought that you were going to be able to track me, but I guess I underestimated you. I'd like to thank you for bringing dinner along with you. Your human friends will make quite a feast for my comrades. You though are mine." With lightning speed he was suddenly beside her, grasping both her wrists tightly.
Shrieks could be heard in the distance, men crying out in pain and terror.
The vampire's breath was hot on the skin of her neck, its horrid stench making her dizzy and sick. Even with the breaking force holding her wrists she kept a firm grip on her weapons. Twisting the handle of the lethal blade around in her hand, she slashed it down into his forearm. The poisoned tip broke through and through. The vampire roared in anger and threw her hard into the tree where she crumpled to the ground.
"You bitch, what the hell did you dip that blade in!" He yanked out the dagger and stabbed it into the trunk of the tree only an inch from her head. He swayed slightly and blinked as he tried to clear his vision. "You will pay for what you have done." He leaned forward to her exposed throat, his fangs sinking deep.
Searing-hot pain laced through her body. She screamed at the same time she lifted her left hand and placed the barrel of the gun under his chin. The sound of the gun firing was deafening at the close range, her ears rang. The vampire fell back, the front half of his head missing.
Luce got shakily to her feet and stood over the vampire and emptied the magazine into his heart. Bending back down to retrieve her knife, she hacked away at his neck, decapitating him. On the ground near the tree was her backpack that held the lighter fluid and matches. She made quick process of setting the corpse to flames.
Applying a gauze pad and bandage to the gaping wound on her neck, Luce collected her things and ran through the forest. Where the vampire's blood touched her skin it scolded as if fire was licking just underneath; like a thousand tiny knives were digging into her flesh and tearing her from the inside out.
She tried to contact her men on the radio, hoping that some of them were able to escape. None ever reported back.
