Page 64 of Sunshine and the Vamp

Nothing but us.

“Fan out,” Aleksey said to the others. “Goal is capture, not kill.”

There was a grumble of assents and the men split off in pairs around the perimeter of the abbey. It loomed over us, a dark structure backlit by the light of the moon, watching over the city below like a ghost.

I headed straight up towards the abbey, Aleksey at my six. The thrill of the chase had adrenaline starting to pump through my veins. I had my gun ready, silver bullets loaded, and my finger on the trigger. As I got closer to the abbey, a sense of foreboding has the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. Something was wrong.

The crack of a gunshot ripped through the quiet night.

I immediately turned in the direction of the sound. “I didn’t think there was anyone else here.”

“Come on. Stay behind me.”

I crouched low to the ground and followed behind Aleksey. As we got closer, there were another couple of gunshots. One after the other in quick succession. Whoever was shooting was killing executioner style. One to the head followed by one to the heart.Pop, pop.Swift and efficient. There wasn’t much that would kill a vampire but a silver bullet to the head and heart was a pretty effective way to do it.

We took cover behind a low wall and risked a glance at the action unfolding. I couldn’t quite make sense of what I was seeing.

One of my men was stood in a field of dead bodies, gun in hand. He pulled the trigger on the last body and then looked right at me.

I launched over the wall and sped over to him. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground. “What the fuck, Donovan?”

Blood splattered his face and fear had his eyes blown wide. “I’m sorry. He didn’t give me a choice.”

“What do you mean?” I growled.

“He has my family. I had to kill them or he’d kill my family.”

Aleksey knelt next to me. “Who, Donovan?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But he has a message for you.”

“What?”

Tears brimmed over Donovan’s eyes leaving pink lines over his cheeks as they trickled through the blood. “I’m everywhere, Damyr. Tell me, are you looking over your shoulder yet?”

And then, before I had time to blink, Donovan brought the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

“Fuck!” I yelled as I fell back on my ass. I roared at the sky as anger and rage coursed through my body. My hands shook with it as I looked at the decimation Ronin had caused. He’d picked one of my men to turn on the others, just because he could. Was this all a game to him? If it was, I didn’t want to play anymore.

“We will get him, Damyr,” Aleksey said, his voice cold as ice.

I hoped so. I really fucking hoped so.

I dragged my phone out my pocket and called Roxie.

“What’s up, boss? Need help with another body?”

I sighed. “Sort of.”

The clicking of computer keys stopped. “Seriously?”

“Donovan just took out the five members of his team before turning the gun on himself.”

“Holy shit,” she gasped. “Why?”

“My mysterious benefactor threatened his family. It must have been serious for him to turn on us. Can you check on them and let me know that they’re okay? Then do a deep dive on him to figure out how he was targeted.”

“Sure thing. And I’ll send a clean-up crew to your location.”

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