Page 2 of Wolf Hunter

Being a living ghost has its advantages in my line of work. It makes me the best in the biz because hey, you can’t see me coming.

Usually, that is. This time, as I grasp frantically for my power, I can’t get it to activate. Whether it’s my erratic heartbeat or something else, I don’t know, but the vampire continues to stare directly at me as he closes the distance between us quickly.

Hell of a time for it to be on the fritz.

Fear mounting, I try to get ahold of my power again and blend in with my surroundings, but no, nothing. Still standing at five-six. Still pink haired. Stillentirelyfucked.

Uh-oh.

The vamp grabs my shoulders roughly and yanks me back onto my feet. His nostrils widen as he inhales, taking in my scent, and his pupils dilate out of hunger.

“What are you?” he rasps, his breath smelling rancid, like the blood he just drank before I stumbled in here.

I gag.Gross.

Nails biting into my arms, he shakes me hard, and my brain rattles inside my skull. “What are you?” he repeats, more forcefully this time.

I reply by punching him in the face with all my strength. It may not be enough to knock a vampire out, but it stuns him so that he lets go. I drop, crouch low, and sweep out my leg, catching him behind the ankle and making him topple over.

When I bounce back to my feet, there’s something else in my hand. Not my knife, but one of the thick books that had toppled from a shelf. I whip it across his head. It does the job and gives me that extra oomph I needed to send him to the ground.

Glancing at the cover of a shirtless man with flowing golden locks and a beautiful maiden on his arm, I realize I may have to take back everything I said about reading these. Damn book came in handy.

I should take this one home with me and give it a read. Feels like I owe it to the thing somehow.

When I look back up, I find the vamp’s spot on the floor empty, and my breath catches.

Ah, fuck. You’d think he’d have a concussion from that, but these bloodsuckers heal fast. I should’ve never taken my eyes off him.

There’s a flash of movement from above, and when I look up, a blur is racing toward me. It crashes into me, throwing me onto my back, and its massive weight grinds me into the floor. Even though his pale skin is stretched tightly over his face and neck in fury, recognition seems to spark in his eyes.

“I know who you are!” he shouts at me, spit flying.

“Oh, yeah? You do?”

That doesn’t make him ease up on me at all. Quite the opposite, actually—he grabs me by the shirt and uses it to slam my head against the hard wood.

My vision darkens as more pain erupts behind my eyes. Even his face becomes nothing more than a smear of color against the room’s shadows.

He growls the next words. “Wolf Hunter.”

So he does know who I am. Or, at least, he knows the nickname I’ve acquired over the years.

You may be wondering: why wolves when my work has me tracking down and taking out all kinds of supernaturals? Like this vampire here?

Simple. It’s because wolves are my specialty. And they hold a very,veryspecial place in my little black heart.

The vampire looms over me, snarling like a wild animal. Any bit of human veneer disappears under the weight of his bloodlust and wrath.

You know what would be great right now? Being able to go invisible, take him off guard, and then really shock him with a swift knee to the balls. But any time I try to dig inside myself to find my power, I can’t grab hold of it long enough to get it to activate. It keeps slipping through my fingers.

“Where’s the deadly killer everyone talks about?” he sneers. “The one that can turn invisible? Like a chameleon.”

A chameleon?

Well, I can honestly say I haven’t heard that one before, but my power is extremely unique, and I can change myself to match my surroundings so… it fits.

I’ve been called worse.

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