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He looks up at me, and surprise, surprise, he’s wearing the damned sunglasses again. He always is when I see him, though I wonder why. He shouldn’t know about my other ability. No one should.
“Miss Baker,” he says with a nod.
“That’s my name,” I mutter to myself. How he got to the top with his insistence to state the obvious is beyond me. A slow smile spreads over his face. Oops. He heard me then. Bugger, that wasn’t part of the plan. “You wanted to see me,” I say louder, hoping he ignores my previous comment. Though I don’t know what he can actually do about it. His precious guild needs me.
“I have an assignment for you.”
Well no shit. And here was me thinking I’m just here to make small talk, but apparently not. The idiot.
“Thank you,” I say through gritted teeth. I never really want to go on assignment. Even if I’m good at it, this isn’t the life I’d have wanted if I’d been given choice. Of course, I’ve been here since I was six, so choice wasn’t something that factored in.
He hands me a sealed envelope and I take it instantly, best not to let him see how reluctant I am. I turn it over and rip across the top , hoping I don’t tear the instructions within. That’d just make me look bad.
“You’re sending me on my own? There’s no stopping the surprise in my voice. The assignment is a big one. A nest of ten vampires, including a higher one. A.k.a an assignment normally carried out by three hunters. I’m good, everyone knows it, but even I doubt I’m that good.
“Can’t you handle it?” He smirks. Damn, he knows he’s got me there.
“Of course I can,” I snap. “Just surprised.”
His smirk widens. Never a good sign if you ask me. No one smiles like that for good things.
“Great. I expect you to be on your way within the hour.”
“Yes, sir,” I reply. An hour is nothing, but I’m used to it. We normally have to be out on assignment quick. Sometimes even faster than that if a vamp is on a rampage.
Chapter Two
The house looks deserted, which is weird. Where are the vampires? They aren’t normally so quiet. And oddly, they don’t normally like the dark. Well they do. But natural night. Sunlight burns them. But they don’t normally like their homes in darkness. There’s almost always candles about at the very least. Or there has been at just about every raid I’ve ever been on, and I’ve been doing this since I was fourteen. Huh. Ten years of vampire hunting. I wonder how many vampires I’ve ended in that time? Probably best not to think about it.
I approach the house slowly, looking around me. Just because I’m good, it doesn’t mean I have to act stupid, and checking for an ambush was definitely a good idea. In fact, it should be a prerequisite for just about any situation.
Seeing nothing, I hasten my pace, an uneasy feeling coming over me. As smoothly as possible, I withdraw one of my sai. Just the one though. I need to keep my other hand free. Opening doors tends to be difficult with a hand full of weapon. Except, I don’t have to open it. It’s already open. Not. Suspicious. At. All.
Even so, I can’t return to the guild without even trying. My options are pretty much kill all the vampires, hope none get away or die trying. If I don’t try, then I’m pretty much dead anyway, so it at least made some sort of sense.
I creep through the door, shivering slightly as I take in the rundown look of the place. It’s everything I expect a haunted house to be. Spider webs everywhere, things falling down, and even the odd gargoyle. This place could be the set for a horror movie. Talk about cliché. I like to think most vampires have better taste than this. I certainly would if I was undead. All that time to develop a style and this is all they can come up with. Typical.
A sharp scream cuts through the air. A very human scream. Shit, not good. Everything I know about how I should be acting right now, flies out of my head at the sound. How could it not, really? Someone is in trouble, my instincts are to help them. Even if that technically breaks the rules of the guild. Yep. Apparently we’re supposed to leave other humans to die if there’s a choice between that and killing vamps. Totally shit if you ask me, most likely the guild has forgotten that we’re human too. That they’re human too.
I skid into an even more depleted room. But this one isn’t deserted. In the middle, there’s a woman tied to a chair, thrashing about and desperate to get free. I run over to her, dropping to my knees without hesitation and sawing through the ropes with my sai.
The woman wriggles free, and I sigh in relief. At least she isn’t too hurt to not be able to do that. I wasn’t all that great at first aid despite all my attempts to learn. Guess I had to be bad at something, and this was it.
“Hold still,” I mumble as I almost manage to cut her. The idiot. Squirming isn’t always the best idea, you know. Stupid humans. I know I shouldn’t say that. I mean, I am a human. But still, I’m not this stupid.
“Or what?” she bites back. Huh, hadn’t expected her to be so sassy. I’m here to save her after all, I don’t want to hurt her or anything.
“Or I’ll accidentally hurt you, I don’t really want to do that,” I point out through tightly clenched teeth. I’m not a people person. Probably should mention that.
“Are you sure?” she asks, and I properly look at her for the first time. She’s blonde. Like proper bottle blonde, with a huge rack. Damn, she’s glamour model worthy, which just makes me feel great with my boyish figure, small breasts and unruly dark red hair. You know, not the type anyone really looks at twice.
But what gets me most about her, is the pair of sharp white fangs that press against her bottom lip. Oh. Not so good. I’m freeing a vampire. That’s stupid to the nth degree. I’m not stupid, so why am I acting it? This is frustrating as hell.
I spring back, pulling out my other sai as I do. Got to be prepared, especially as I have no idea if there’s any more of them about. The paperwork said there were ten, so I’m going to work on the assumption the others are nearby. Probably lying in wait for me to do something idiotic like fall for their trap.
The female vamp lurches towards me, and I raise my sai just in time to block her claws. Well, not claws, fingernails, but I still don’t want to be scratched by them, Lord knows what kind of infection could be underneath them.
Except that’s not right. It’s not how the vampire curse is spread. Works for werewolves, but vampires not so much. I need to keep my lore straighter in my head.
