The Vampire Hunter. Michele Hauf

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СКАЧАТЬ long, grueling day of training, Rook had trained Kaz for a year before he’d been knighted by the founder, King, and officially accepted into the Order. At seventeen, Kaz had been the youngest knight to take vows.

      Live to serve. Serve until death. Die fighting. Words he lived by.

      “Afternoon, Rook.” The name was a moniker, he knew, and Kaz had no curiosity about his real name. In a job like this, a man had to protect himself with every measure available.

      Rook leaned in and read the computer screen. “What’s she up to? Is Switch involved in the faery-dust incident?”

      “Possibly. It’s a lead my informant gave me.”

      “She’s all sorts of suspicious, but I’d never task her with human murders. Werewolves, on the other hand...”

      That answered Kaz’s suspicion about what sort of wet work the vampiress did.

      “You know, I’ve been thinking about something since assigning you this job,” Rook said. “If this new blend of faery dust—”

      “They’re calling it Magic Dust.”

      “Is that so? Huh. Well, if it is making vampires go after one another, maybe we should stand back and let them at it. That solves our problem, doesn’t it?”

      “But that’s the thing. The longtooths aren’t killing one another for this new blend. It’s different than the usual stuff. It—I don’t know—it won’t let them go. It’s as if it builds up in their system and never shuts off, which compels them to seek more of the dust.”

      “Like meth,” Rook commented.

      “Yes.” Kaz had researched methamphetamine just days ago. “The drug turns on the dopamine in the brain and never shuts it off. It’s like an overflowing faucet. Unfortunately, vampires on this stuff go ape-shit for anything sparkly, thinking it’s faery dust. They murdered my friends, Rook. I will make it stop.”

      Rook crossed his arms over his chest, an uncharacteristic move. He was always on the alert, hands free at his sides, prepared. He shook his head. “Family and friends are never safe once ensconced in your world.”

      He knew that. And that was the toughest pill to swallow.

      “Don’t let sorrow for your friends jeopardize your focus out in the field, Kaspar.”

      Kaz lifted his chin.

      “You want revenge for the death of your friends? I gave it to you with this assignment. But first and foremost, we need to get to the core of the operation and find the origin of this insipid drug.”

      “I will do that.”

      “Not if you take out the vampire who killed your friends in a blind rage. Keep your wits about you, man. You’ll need him to lead you to the operation.”

      “I’m aware of that, and intend to do just that.”

      The knights vowed only to slay those vamps that presented a clear threat to humans. Of course, each knight had his own scale of gauging threat level. Kaz counted the vampire lethal when he killed, and not before then. The vampire who had killed his friends was still out there. And he had only one fang. That should go a long way in identifying his perp.

      “Once this Magic Dust circulates and becomes easy to obtain,” Kaz said, “half the vampire population in Paris could flip out.”

      Rook sighed and tapped the computer screen. “And you think Switch can lead you to the source? She’s a hard one.”

      “So it seems. But it’s the best lead I’ve got.”

      “Don’t let this become a war. The last thing the Order needs is a human to see the veil pulled aside and witness hunters staking vampires.”

      As had almost happened the other night when Zoë had stumbled onto the slaying.

      “Make it quick, clean and quiet, Rothstein.”

      “I will.”

      “Keep me apprised,” Rook said, and he walked out, leaving the lab door open.

      Kaz reread the info on Switch. There were a few details that would aid him in overpowering her. One being that it was believed a vamp from the Anakim tribe had created her (though that information was only hearsay). That tribe of vampires was not immune to sunlight.

      Sunset would be the optimal time to go looking for her.

      * * *

      Walking home from the grocery store, Zoë inhaled the evening air. She loved crisp, cool autumn. In this kind of weather she often wore ankle boots and tweed slacks and a snuggly, solid-colored sweater, along with her mother’s diamond pendant at her neck. Classic and cozy.

      In her recyclable bag, fresh veggies nestled against a crusty baguette. The celery, leeks and potatoes would make a nice stew that should last her—and Sid—a few days. Now that she needed to increase production for her buyer, she would be working nights through the week.

      Now, if only Luc would give her a call. She’d stopped by his apartment last week, but no one was home. She felt sure it was tough getting over a broken engagement, but to fall victim to such an addictive drug as faery dust? She’d thought Luc stronger than that, but then again, she knew he had a dark side that sometimes lured him to do things out of character. Best to give him the distance his very soul must require.

      Turning the corner toward her house, she passed by the narrow alley that was heaped with the neighbor’s discarded, bent-iron bed frame. Kicking the fallen leaves, she delighted in the schushing chorus that responded.

      Grunts echoed from down the cobbled alleyway, and she paused, stepping back beside a shed wall so as not to be seen as she peeked around the corner of the building.

      About fifty yards away, three men and one woman stood over a fallen man. In seconds the man who had been prone leaped to his feet and swiped a threatening weapon toward his attackers. With each movement, the tails of his long, black leather coat dusted the air like bat wings.

      Clinging to the rough brick, Zoë recognized one of the attackers. The vampiress with the bright pink hair—the very vampire she had hoped to never meet in a dark alley. She stood flanked by two others to her right and one to her left.

      The other man, the object of the vampires’ scorn, was human. She recognized him, as well.

      “Kaz,” she whispered, then checked herself to be sure she’d not spoken too loudly.

      Why was he standing up to four vampires? And doing an excellent job of it, since he wasn’t bleeding or dead.

      Yet.

      Did the man pick a fight wherever he went? He’d easily taken down four men the previous night. But tonight’s opponents were vampires. They had double, or even triple the strength of the strongest human man, not to mention a supernatural agility and speed.

      The vampiress chuckled and checked Kaz with an expert kick, which landed her high-heeled boot aside his jaw. Her henchmen followed closely with more brutal punishment. None went at Kaz alone; СКАЧАТЬ