Footsteps whispered across the night, the sounds so soft regular hearing wouldn't have caught it. They were pacing me, watching. Worse still, the raw taste of their excitement and blood hunger tainted the air.
Young vamps, I thought. Great. I dug out my badge, holding it toward the building as I kept on walking.
"Directorate, folks. Mind your own business, or there's going to be a heap of trouble."
I didn't bother raising my voice. They were close enough that they'd hear me, even though I couldn't see them through normal vision. And I didn't want to see them through infrared. Just knowing how many there were might get a little scary.
The blood hunger abated a little, but I had to wonder what had them so worked up. If they were old enough to control their hunger, then why had the sight of me caused it to rise so sharply?
I could think of only one thing that would cause such a reaction - blood. The scent of fresh blood was a call few vampires could ignore, and with the young it stirred the blood hunger to life, making them react hungrily to even the slightest beat of life.
And yet the night seemed free of that scent. Or was the aroma of vampire overwhelming everything else?
I didn't know, but I had a suspicion I'd soon find out. And if Ben's friend was a wolf and living with this lot, then he was a braver soul than me.
The vamps were still following me, and my skin crawled with the sensation. I breathed through my mouth and pretended to ignore them. Though, being vamps, they'd hear my accelerated pulse rate. I was just hoping they'd take it as readiness for action, not for any sort of fear.
Of course, if they decided to attack en masse, I was one dead puppy no matter what. I might have a vampire's strength and speed, but I'd still be one against dozens. Not great odds, in anyone's book.
I loped up the steps and through the smashed glass front doors. The yellow light of a solitary bulb broke across the darkness, making the corner shadows seem even deeper. Thankfully, there were no vamps in those shadows. Not yet.
The building had two elevators, but neither of them seemed to be working - one was sitting on the fifth floor with the floor light flashing, and the other had no numbers lit at all. I hesitated, switching to infrared before looking down the left, then the right, corridors. As I suspected, it was pretty scary. There had to be at least twenty vamps crowded against the walls, their eyes glinting brightly and their sharp canines prominently exposed.
I still couldn't smell blood, but a vampire's sense for life's nectar was far sharper than mine. And it was obviously still calling to them.
This would not be a pleasant place to be if things got out of control.
I flicked the small stud in my ear, turning on the two-way com-link - which had been inserted when I'd been going into a madman's lair, but was now standard equipment for all guardians. Jack didn't like losing his people, and the com-links also doubled as trackers.
The vamps melted back into the deeper shadows as I headed for the stairs, so hopefully that was a sign they didn't want any trouble.
But I wasn't about to take a chance on that.
"Hello, anyone listening?" I said softly.
"What now, wolf girl?" Sal's tone seemed even sharper than normal, coming though the tinny confines of the com-link.
"What, are you pulling a double shift or something?"
I ran up the stairs as I spoke, heading for the fourth floor. Thankfully, the vamps didn't follow, though the scent of them didn't lessen any. Meaning there were plenty more ahead.
"Yes," Sal snapped. "I am. Now what do you want?"
I used to get awfully bitchy when I had to sit double shifts, too. Combine that with hunger, and it definitely explained her attitude. "I'm investigating a possible vampire attack at my current location. We got anyone in the area, in case I need backup?"
"What, teacher's pet needing backup?" She sounded positively cheerful at the thought. "I think you've just made my night."
"I'm so glad." Not. "What have you got on this apartment block?"
Keys tapped, then she said, "Not a lot. It's an old government housing development that has been listed for demolition for the last ten years. It's become a squat for itinerants and the homeless, apparently."
"Well, it's now the home of a rather large vampire community. A youngish one, too."
"Impossible. Vampires don't pack like you wolves do."
"Well, tell that to the vamps here."
She grunted. "There's nothing in the files here about it."
"Then you'd better make a note and let Jack know. He may want to investigate."
"It's noted. Talvin's nearby if you need him."
"Thanks. I'll yell if I do."
"Don't yell too late, wolf girl. Talvin doesn't appreciate picking up the bits."
"Well, I don't appreciate being bits."
I slowed as I neared the fourth-floor landing. The unwashed scent still clung to the air, and my infrared sight picked out several vamps hovering down the right-hand corridor, the heat of their bodies standing out sharply against the surrounding darkness. I looked left. No vamps.
Fortunately, Ben's friend lived in apartment 41, which, according to the signage on the walls, was the very last one on the left. My boot heels clicked sharply against the threadbare carpeting, the sound echoing across the thick air, as steady as a heartbeat. Just not my heartbeat.
The closer I got to apartment 41, the more tense I became. The soft scent of blood was now beginning to perfume the air, but there didn't seem to be any unusual noises coming from the apartment. No sounds of fighting, nothing to indicate anything was out of order.
Maybe Ben's friend had simply gotten a little paranoid about living amongst all these vampires. Or maybe he'd cut himself shaving and had panicked about the consequences.
I stopped when I reached the door, then flexed my fingers and raised a hand to knock.
That's when I heard it. A soft, hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-raising moan.
The sort of moan that came from the dying.
I stepped back, raised a foot, and kicked the door open. It smashed back against the wall, sending dust and plaster flying. The thick smell of wrongness and vampire rushed out, overwhelming my senses and making me want to gag. Or maybe that was a reaction to the sight before me.
A naked man hung from a ceiling rafter - not from his neck but from rope around his wrists. Rope as bloody as his shredded back and butt.
The man causing all the damage was the source of both the vampire scent and the wrongness. And his scent was one I recognized.
"I told you - " he began, as he swung around, then stopped. His expression changed from one of annoyance to surprise, then, without the barest flicker in his bloodshot brown eyes to warn me, he turned and bolted for a doorway at the rear of the living room.
I sprinted after him, the smell of blood, sweat, and fear heavy in my nostrils as I ran past the naked man. The wrong-smelling vamp had disappeared into what looked like a bedroom.
I ran into the room just in time to see him leap for the window. Glass shattered, spraying outward into the night as he plunged through and down.
The drop wouldn't kill a vamp. It might damage him, but vamps were a resilient lot. Unfortunately, in this case.
I cursed and spun around. I might be able to take a seagull's shape, but hitting the ground from the height of a fourth-floor window would be a hell of a lot harder than hitting it from the top branches of a tree. And while I had flown briefly - and successfully - today, I didn't feel like putting my life on the line to test out my new-found skills. As I ran past the bloodied and still-bound Ivan, I said, "He's running. I'll be back in a minute."
"Wait," he said, voice hoarse. "Wait - "
I didn't. The vamps out in the corridor had drawn closer, perhaps lured by the sharper scent of blood.
"Touch him and you all pay the price!" I dragged my badge out of my pocket again and thrust it in front of me. I didn't know if it would actually help, and I couldn't afford to hang around and find out. Not if I wanted to stop the vamp.
Because a vamp willing to go to such extremes of torture before tasting his victim's blood was a vamp who would not stop at just one victim.
Once upon a time, I might have taken care of the living before chasing after the dead, but I'd learned the hard way that such actions generally only resulted in more deaths - and I had enough of those on my conscience right now.
I just had to hope the vamps in this building feared the Directorate more than they wanted to taste Ivan's blood.
I pounded down the stairs and out the shattered glass doors. Even against the thick reek of vampire that clung to the night, the odd scent of my quarry was easy enough to pick up. I raced across the barren ground of what once might have been a playground, and out onto the street. The vamp was nowhere to be seen, but his scent pulled me on.
"Sal, the vamp is on the run." Headlights swept across the darkness, tearing away the shadows. The vamp became briefly visible - stringy hair flying, his legs almost a blur, arms pumping. "He's about half a block ahead of me. If Talvin's near, can you call him in as backup?"
"Will do."
The car moved past, the headlights sweeping onto me. I threw up a hand to protect my eyes and kept on running. I was getting closer. Slowly but surely.
He swung right into a side street. I reached for more speed, not wanting him out of my sight for long, and felt the twinge of protest in my bruised and battered leg muscles.
I ran into the side street. The rich smell of barbequing meat filled the night, making my mouth water. The vampire was nowhere to be seen, but his lingering scent suggested he'd crossed the road and wasn't that far ahead. I flicked to infrared, and realized the strength of the scent was misleading. His body was a fading blur up ahead. Fuck, he was fast.
I upped my own speed again, and the twinges in my legs became outright pain. I ignored them and ran on.
The vamp swung left into another side street. It was almost thirty seconds later before I skidded around the corner. Who'd have thought a vampire with such skinny little legs could have so much sustained speed?
Under the glow of infrared, the street was empty of life. I frowned, looking left and right, seeing the glimpses of life in the houses along either side of the street, but nothing that indicated my would-be murderous vampire was anywhere near.
I couldn't have just lost him. No vampire could move that fast.
Yet his scent was not only fading fast, but dispersing in all directions. As if he'd stopped, and something had scattered the smell of him.
I looked upward. No vampire in the nearby trees, no unusual shape in the sky. Not that vampires could actually fly - not unless they'd been a bird-shifter in life, anyway.
Though with the sheer wrongness of his scent overwhelming everything else, it was possible for me to have missed the scent of shifter on him.
But if he was a bird-shifter, why hadn't he taken flight when he'd jumped out the window? He could have gotten away much easier and cleaner.
Unless his intention all along had been to drag me far enough away so he could go back and finish what he'd started?
"Sal," I said, as I turned and ran back as fast as my aching legs would allow. "My target has flown the coop and I've lost him."
"Well, shit, Riley, that's slack."
No doubting that. "He's five ten, gaunt build, with brown eyes and stringy hair. Can you put out a bulletin? I've got a bleeder in an apartment block of vamps to attend to. Send an ambulance ASAP."
"What about Talvin?"
"Can you ask him to patrol the building's grounds? Just in case our rogue decides to return?"
"Will do."
The graffiti-strewn building felt no safer going in the second time than it had the first. The vamps still hovered, their hunger stinging the air.
At least there was no sense of a feeding frenzy. No overwhelming aroma of blood filling the air.
I pounded back up the stairs, wondering if I was even going to be able to walk tomorrow after everything my poor muscles had been through today.
The vamps on the fourth floor had stayed back, as ordered. I slowed as I neared the end apartment again, my breathing short, sharp gasps that filled the air. I raised an arm to swipe at the sweat trickling down my cheeks and entered the apartment.
Ben's bloodied friend still hung by his wrists, and the odd-smelling vampire was nowhere nearby. Relief filtered through me. For once, fate hadn't chucked me a curveball.
"Please," he croaked, "get me down."
"There's a knife in the kitchen?"
He shook his head, sending droplets of blood flying from the cut on his cheek. "Not strong enough. Bedroom."
I raised an eyebrow, though given his living arrangements, I guess it wasn't such a bad idea. Personally, I'd be keeping a few handy stakes within reaching distance, too.
I found several large hunting knives in the bedside table, along with several smaller throwing knives. I picked the biggest and headed back out.
To find we were no longer alone.
"Fuck," Ben said, his expression both shocked and angry as he stopped just inside the doorway. "I didn't expect this."
"No," I agreed. I waved the knife in the direction of his friend. "You want to support his weight while I cut him down?"
He moved forward quickly, his big arms going around the waist of his smaller friend and taking the weight off Ivan's torn and bloody wrists.
Ivan groaned, though I wasn't sure whether it was in relief or pain. I dragged a kitchen chair up to them both and climbed up.
"There's an ambulance coming. It should only be a few minutes."