Page 37 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

“Shit,” I muttered, kicking in the door with all my might and watching it fly across the room.

Being a vampire wasn’t a bad thing.

There were five people in the room, two women and three men. When I first entered, they were facing Antonio, but one woman and one man turned and came at me as the other three rounded on Antonio.

I was going to have to make short work of them so I could help Antonio fight his three.

“Where is Bianca?” I asked.

“Werewolves shouldn’t be in this land,” the woman said. I looked at her and hissed.

Vampire.

We had the same weapons and there was no way my newbie vampire powers were going to work against her. She wasn’t going to be like the bear outside.

“Werewolves can decide where the hell they want to be and where they don’t want to be,” I said. “Last time I checked, this wasn’t a DGC ruling. This was some asshole who took a hit out on my friend.”

“Yeah, that asshole has a lot of money,” the tall lanky guy said.

“What are you doing with this crowd?” I asked, recognizing a harpy when I saw one now. He had the signature necklace and the pointed features of all the rest of his type.

“Just looking for a payday like everybody else,” the harpy said.

“I’ll give you a payday,” I said, feinting toward the vampire, who moved toward me. I slipped away from her and went full on against the harpy, kicking his feet out from under him.

He hit the ground with a sound that was a lot heavier than I would’ve imagined for both a harpy and a skinny guy. I kicked him hard in the head. I felt a little bad doing it, but I needed to get one man down. His head swiveled to the side, hitting the ground hard again as I turned to face the vampire.

She grinned at me. “Do you think you’ve got what it takes to take me on?” she asked.

I braced myself, standing steady and waiting for her attack. This was going to have to be a swift and fierce battle. I was going to have to get the upper hand early on.

She flew off the ground, talons out and teeth bared. Her nails sank into my shoulders, drawing blood. I screamed and kneed her in the stomach. I whipped my arms up, breaking her lock on my shoulders, as she ripped flesh off me. I gnashed my teeth at her, going with the only weapon I had at my disposal. I caught her arm and twisted it to the side, gripping her tightly. She screamed in pain, but I didn’t release it, holding steady as I brought my teeth down to her jugular and bit into her. She would only have blood if she had fed recently, but regardless, it was fueling her. I took a drink.

Oh my god. I spat it out.

Vampire blood tasted like shit. It was drinking somebody else’s backwash.

She laughed. “Can’t drink from vampire.”

“And vampires can’t take stakes,” Antonio said, coming down hard in the middle of her chest with a wooden stake. She screamed as her body shriveled up and turned into dust, disappearing right between my hands.

I sat up, looking at the four other bounty hunters who were tied up around the room. There was one person missing.

“Where the hell is Bianca?” I asked.

Chapter 26

“She’s got to be around here somewhere,” Antonio said. “I can smell her.”

I scanned the barracks. It was dark and dusty on the inside, with rays of light sliding in through the cracks between the wooden beams. My eyes didn’t need time to adjust. I was a vampire.

“There.” I pointed toward a trapdoor in the floor.

“What the fuck?” Antonio raced over, reaching down at a handle, but there were chains and locks all over it.

“She’s got to be in there,” I said.

Antonio reached down, gripped the chain from both sides, and used all of his strength against the metal. The metal lost as the links went flying thanks to his brute strength.

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