Page 42 of Sinistram
“Sure. Pick a place. Should be random enough that no one expects us.”
Travis pulled up in front of a package store and waited in the car while Brent ran in and returned with a flask of Jack Daniels. He shook his head when Brent offered a nip.
“Can’t. Driving. Might need to run over another vamp or two.”
Brent’s chuckle didn’t reach his eyes. He knocked back a couple of long slugs and let out a satisfied breath. “That…helps.”
“You don’t have to drink the whole thing,” Travis said. “You can leave it in the glove compartment. Just can’t take it into the building.”
Brent wasn’t the only former soldier and monster hunter who had a complicated relationship with alcohol. Travis worried, but he didn’t judge. The kind of trauma Brent survived losing Danny and his family to demons, only to encounter more demonic attacks on deployment, went far beyond what therapists and medications could temper.
Travis scanned for danger as he used voice-activation to call Jon. “I’m heading your way. Brent’s staying another night. We got jumped by a vampire at his house, but I ran over it. Need to go back in daylight and make sure there aren’t any other surprises.”
“Okaaaay.” Jon drew the word out, but took the comment in stride. Travis figured that was a testimony to how weird their lives were.
“Just to be safe, figure we’re on high alert,” Travis told him. “Anyone who comes in has to pass the tests. No one goes out. Activate the wards. I’ll shore them up when I get there. Make sure all the doors, windows, and vents are protected.”
“Not my first rodeo,” Jon assured him. “It’s been a slow night, so that’s good. How close are you?”
“About five minutes. As far as I can tell, we haven’t been followed. Although if we’re guessing right about who sent the vamps, they already know where I live,” Travis replied.
“That’s not reassuring at all,” Jon said. “Are either of you hurt? Matthew’s on standby.”
“For once, we’re okay. Although we’d have gotten a few more holes in us if that vampire hadn’t been so eager.” Travis didn’t want to think about how things might have gone if the attacker had waited for him to drop Brent off and leave before revealing himself. Brent could take care of himself in a fight against monsters, but being ambushed and not having the right set of weapons could change the odds dramatically.
Travis let out a sigh of relief when St. Dismas came into view. Brent took another long pull from the flask, then obligingly stuffed it into the glove compartment. Travis pulled the car into his reserved spot, which was well-lit and protected by magic and wards. He glanced around but saw no one nearby.
“Let’s go.”
Brent grabbed his bag, and Travis locked the car. Jon was waiting for him at the door to usher them inside.
“Busy night?” he asked.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Travis still struggled with the attack and Sinistram’s possible betrayal. “We’ll fill you in tomorrow morning.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
After breakfast,Brent and Travis holed up in the apartment at St. Dismas to make calls. Travis checked in with the loose network of people with minor supernatural abilities he called his “Night Vigil,” and Brent called allies they had worked with on previous cases.
“Cassidy,” Brent said when he rang Deadly Curiosities and its owner, Cassidy Kincaide answered. “Do you have a minute? Got a potentially world-ending question for you.”
“Hello to you, too,” Cassidy replied, not sounding perturbed at the apocalyptic potential. “What’s up?”
Cassidy’s antique and curio shop had been in her family for generations, and like her ancestors, her psychometry gave her the ability to read the history and magic of objects by touching them. She and her friends in Charleston, SC, protected the city from supernatural attacks and lent their expertise to other hunters and witches, including consulting on magic and lore.
“Has Sorren heard anything about a vampire conspiracy?” Brent asked. Sorren, a nearly 600-year-old vampire, was Cassidy’s business partner and used his unique abilities as a guardian protecting mortals.
She chuckled. “You know they don’t all know each other, right? I don’t think there’s an actual ‘vampire network.’”
“Or maybe there is, and they just don’t tell mortals about it,” Brent joked.
“Could be. Stranger things have happened,” she agreed.
Brent brought her up to speed on the attacks against hunters, the souped-up supernatural events, and their encounter with the vampire the night before.
“None of that sounds good,” Cassidy agreed. “Sorren doesn’t do daylight, so he’s not here now. But if you give me the details, I can call him when he wakes up tonight and see what he’s heard. Given how long he’s been around, he’s got a pretty impressive network of contacts. But I don’t know how many of them are actually other vampires.”
Brent knew that not all vampires or werewolves were automatically evil, and that many supernatural creatures remained wary of others for a variety of reasons.
