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“It sure feels like we’re both part of it, even if we never set out to be,” he said.
Somehow, in the last twenty-four hours, my whole life had gone to shit, and I’d lost control of everything.
I looked out the window, watching the sun dip lower in the horizon. It would be dark enough for vampires to venture out any minute. This was their time of day, the time all supernaturals waited for. It had become my time of day due to my line of work, but I never felt like I belonged. But I never fully belonged in the sunlight with the humans, either. Now, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
I wasn’t even sure who I was. Was I half demon like David suggested? Or was there some other explanation for everything that’s happening?
We drove in silence for the next twenty minutes, my mind spinning in a million directions. The one thing that centered me and got me back to where I needed to be was my focus on finding justice for Lola. I had to keep that at the forefront. It was the only thing that made any sense right now, even if her death was senseless.
I missed her. I wished I could walk into her room and plop down on her bed and tell her this bombshell about my heritage. And that I’d kissed someone. Well, two someone’s. But there was no way I’d admit to my friend I’d kissed her brother unless I knew it was going somewhere. And it wasn’t, right?
Both of those kisses had to have been reactions to the impending doom we were all facing.
The car slowed as Elias took the exit. We were in the outskirts of the city, a place lovingly known asDead Man’s Row.
Decades ago, it had been an epicenter of industry. Several major car companies and others had manufacturing plants and warehouses here. None were operational anymore. The whole area seemed to have a permanent brown haze in the air, despite the fact that nothing had been in use for decades.
Right now, though, the brown haze wasn’t visible. Instead, the lights on long abandoned buildings illuminated broken windows and graffiti.
I’d never been through here at night. Not even on a hunt. Just driving past the rusting buildings and shattered glass windows was enough to send a shiver down my spine.
A few kids darted out in front of Elias’s car and he slammed on the breaks. The kids stopped and hissed at us, their feral expressions and fangs giving them away as vampires.
They scrambled away, through a hole cut into a chain link fence, onto the grounds of the old rubber factory.
Everything about this place was what you’d expect to see if Dr. Suess had written horror instead of children’s books.
A pair of women walked by, pushing a baby stroller, followed by a group of teenaged boys.
The vampires were awake and going about their business. It was like a backward version of a suburb with all the happy morning population going out for their exercise and walking to the park. Only, humans couldn’t see in the dark and they didn’t want to drain your blood.
I took down vampires regularly, but I was rarely around more than three at a time. In the last few minutes, we’d driven past more vampires than I usually saw in a week.
Elias turned and parked in front of an old stone cathedral. The building had been stripped of its religious iconography and one wall was completely covered in graffiti. A dozen cars were parked out front and lights flickered through the remains of stained-glass windows.
“A church?” I asked. “Isn’t that a little cliche?” Lots of vampires over the years had taken an interest in renovating old churches into homes and other buildings. A tongue in cheek response to the myth that vampires can’t be on holy ground.
“Hipster vampires,” he said.
I glared over at him and caught the smile. “That was an actual joke.”
He shrugged. “I’m not perfect.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Some of the nerves I’d felt rolling through me released.We can do this.
Just because I’m literally walking into a vampire nest, doesn’t mean I’m not going to make it out alive, right?
In the darkness, the cathedral took on an eerie, haunting look. It was a towering structure with a bell tower and several steepled rooftops. At one point, this cathedral had probably been beautiful.
I followed Elias up the crumbling cement steps. The entrance had three huge doors with carvings over each one. They’d been chipped away or eroded over the years but you could still make out some of the shapes.
He knocked on the door and I stood next to him, forcing myself not to reach for my stake. That wouldn’t be a great first impression. I’d wait to grab it if I needed it.
The door swung open with a creak that sounded like it was right out of a haunted house. They were really nailing the whole creepy vampire coven thing.
A female in torn jeans and a black tank top stared down at us. She was obviously chewing bright pink bubble gum. An odd choice for a vampire. Though, I could clearly see her fangs as she loudly smacked her gum. Maybe that was the point. To draw our eyes to her mouth.
She lifted a dark pierced eyebrow and shook her head to send the black bangs covering her right eye out of the way. I had to admit, she pulled off the Emo look well.
