Louis held his hands up. "I can wait for Rachel. I don"t like old dude blood anyways. They taste like hemorrhoid cream."
Calvin spluttered. "Listen, you little s.h.i.+t-"
I shut the door and ran down the stairs. Calvin could take care of himself around a newbie like Louis, I wasn"t worried. But Rachel was a whole other can of worms.
Her scent was still fairly fresh and I followed it, running as fast as I could along the streets. She"d stopped in an alleyway first in the Upper East Side, her scent lingering as if she"d stayed for at least a few minutes. I swept the alley, looking for what might have caught her attention. The faint ghost of ash caught my eye and I crouched over it, breathing it in.
Vampire.
So...this was one of the murder sites she"d talked about. I paused, thinking about the ash. The same as the vamp I"d hunted in Montreal when he"d swallowed that pill. There was a different smell to it than when I staked them. An undercurrent of antiseptic.
But what would make the vamp here down a suicide pill?
There was only one obvious answer and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Another Cazador. A hunter like me.
The implications were huge, but at the moment, I had to find Rachel. I"d deal with the possibility of someone like me later.
I jogged along her trail, tracing her next to a coffee shop. The night had fully fallen and my eyes adjusted accordingly. The coffee shop was hopping with hipsters, many of them with silly moustaches that so resembled the men of my bygone era.
"Stupid then, stupid now," I muttered under my breath. Rachel had met a man at this coffee shop. Someone I didn"t recognize, but I was betting he was a contact of hers, someone who provide her with information.
Maybe a lead. But if so, why hadn"t she come back to wait for me?
Because she"s more like you than you want to admit, my inner voice said. d.a.m.n, I hoped it was wrong because if she was that much like me, I had no doubt she was in trouble.
I picked up my speed, running fast enough that people did a double take as I pa.s.sed them, unsure of what they"d seen. Rachel"s scent trail took me to two more alleyways, both with the residual odor of death and vampires. More murder scenes then. d.a.m.n, she was determined.
From there, she headed back into Harlem to a bar called the One Toed Monkey. I pulled my cowl up, tucking my hair underneath it, and stepped inside.
Quiet for a Friday night, that was my first thought; the sign said "Closed", which I ignored. My second thought was that there was blood everywhere.
It had been cleaned, but if the smell was any indication, it hadn"t been cleaned well. My nostrils flared and my fangs descended. I strode up to the bar. The man behind the bar had a brand-new s.h.i.+ner and his lip was split, but he still managed to give me a smile.
Until I smiled back.
His face paled, making the s.h.i.+ner stand out. "s.h.i.+t."
"Where is she?" I leaned forward. "I can smell that she was here. I don"t like all the blood that"s been spilled; it"s making me antsy as h.e.l.l. So I suggest you speak quickly so I leave and don"t act on my...urges." I ran my tongue over my lips and fangs.
I hadn"t thought he could get any paler, but I was wrong. "A guy took her. Army dude grabbed her and ran. Then a bunch of his friends came in and smashed my place up." He held his hands up to either side of his head.
I leapt up onto the bar in a crouch so we were almost nose-to-nose. "Where"d all the blood come from, then?"
With a shaking hand he pointed at an empty white pail on the bar. "They poured a bucket on the floor."
The only reason they"d do that was to chum the waters to draw in what they were fis.h.i.+ng for. Why did I get the feeling I was the one they were trying to hook?
I inched closer. "You recognize me. What I am. What do you know about vampires?"
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. "Derrick told me about the project. He was hoping to confirm all the rumors. All I know is that it"s in an underground bunker somewhere in the city. I swear that"s all I know."
I reached out and patted him on the cheek, feeling the truth of his words. "Good boy."
Sliding off the bar, I started toward the back door, picking up a trace on Rachel again. Army dude had grabbed her, and his friends had busted the place up.
Out the back door I went, then across the street and into another alley. Rachel was with Sean, the man who"d ransacked her place. I smelled him now, the same scent that had permeated his business card and her apartment. d.a.m.n, what was he up to? Was it possible they were friends? No, it couldn"t be. Friends didn"t tear apart each other"s places. Even I knew that.
The front and back doors of the bakery were both smashed in, but Rachel hadn"t left and the smell of gun oil and rank man sweat was thick in the air. I crept in through a side window, keeping to the shadows as I searched for her.
The creak of a floorboard ahead of me stopped me in my tracks. I lowered myself to my belly and waited. Listening.
There it was, the soft exhale of a breath and the distant beating of several hearts. As I lay there, the glint of a gun winked at me from a side door in the shop. I watched the shop, eyes flicking from place to place as I counted the slightly darker shadows indicating feet blocking the miniscule light. There were at least six men waiting for me.
A trap with Rachel as the bait.
They had to have been watching her apartment; they had to have seen me with her. The blood in the bar was only a failsafe to draw me in if I did indeed follow her. This was their chance to catch the elusive Cazador by taking out her new a.s.sociate.
Very f.u.c.king clever, Sean.
Slithering forward on my belly, I kept searching for Rachel, following her trail into the main room. They"d blocked her from escaping forcing her to go to ground.
I rolled onto my back and looked straight up into the vent above me.
Rachel stared down.
"On three," I whispered. She nodded.
"One." I tensed my body, ready to grab her and run out the front door.
"Two," she mouthed at me as she lifted the vent"s grate to the side.
"Three."
She dropped out of the vent at the same time as I sprang to my feet. I grabbed her wrist and leapt forward, pulling her through the air with me and out the broken front bay window.
Shouts erupted behind us, and shots shattered the night air.
I bolted into the alley, taking her with me. "What the h.e.l.l were you doing with Sean?"
"How did you know?"
"I can smell him all over the f.u.c.king place," I snarled, running as fast as I could while dragging her behind me.
The sound of a howl drifted into the night air, followed close behind by four answering howls, one right after the other. I skidded to a stop as a creature that should not have existed stepped into the alley to block our escape.
It had four legs, a head, and a tail. But the rest of it bore no resemblance to man"s best friend. Its loose, mottled, furless skin looked like a costume three sizes too big. The head was far too human for my liking, except for the fact that its jaw seemed to be able to unhinge.
"What the f.u.c.k is that?" Rachel breathed out. She lifted her gun and squeezed off a shot before I could tell her it probably wouldn"t do any good.
Perfect aim, she hit the thing square in the chest.
It didn"t even flinch.
"I don"t know."
"You"re a vampire. What do you mean, you don"t know?" Rachel yelped as we turned to run the other way.
"When it comes to monsters, this is not on the list of natural species."
We slid to a stop as another of the demon dogs stepped into view, blocking the other end of the alleyway. Closer than the first, this time could see the oh-so-human eyes blinking up at us.
For the first time, I considered that we might be in over our heads.
Spotting a fire escape ladder, I pushed Rachel toward it. "Climb."
"We"ll be trapped on the roofs."
"No, we won"t," I said, right behind her. By the time we were halfway up, the two creatures had gathered at the base of the ladder.
Where were the army dudes?
Something whizzed by my head and slammed into the brick wall, sending mortar and dust into the air.
"They"ve got silencers," Rachel gasped as she pulled herself up the last few rungs.
I pushed off and leapt the rest of the way, landing beside her. "So they do. Your Sean has a.s.shole friends."
"Those aren"t his friends. Those are the bad guys. I can"t believe Sean would be a part of this," Rachel said, with more than a little defensiveness in her voice. But I could see in her eyes, even she didn"t believe her own words.
I looked over the edge. "Mierda." s.h.i.+t, this was getting worse and worse. The two creatures were climbing the f.u.c.king wall like spiders.
Rachel took a quick look and then stumbled back. "This has got to be a nightmare. This can"t possibly be happening."
I eyed up the buildings next to us. "Do you trust me?"
"I don"t think I have a choice, do I?"
I shook my head as her blue eyes met mine. "No, not if you want to survive."
I motioned for her to follow me as I ran to the far side of the roof. There was only one way this was going to happen. Before she could protest, I grabbed her arm and threw her over the gap between the buildings. She let out a squawk, but I was impressed. She didn"t scream. I backed up, took two running steps, and leapt across the divide.
Rachel was standing there glaring at me when I landed. "A little warning would have been nice."
"I wasn"t sure you"d let me toss you."
A shot zipped by us again, but it went wide.
"They have to be on the roofs by now, too." She shook her head. "This must go deeper than I thought if they"re willing to go to these lengths to keep me quiet."
It was my turn to shake my head. "I don"t think it"s just you. You were bait, Rachel. They knew I would come looking for you. You can"t think they didn"t know you were in that vent..."
She was silent as we jogged to the far side of the roof. This one she could jump on her own. We jumped three more rooftops before I stopped her. "Time to double back."
"Those creatures are back there."
"I doubt it." I took a deep breath. We were downwind of where we"d started and I was getting nothing. Retracing our steps, I stopped her when we reached the building I"d originally thrown her onto.
"Time to get back to your apartment." I kicked open the rooftop door and peered inside. Steps led down to a second door, which was unlocked. I ducked my head in and then motioned for her to follow me. The long hallway of apartment doors was silent.
"My apartment is going to be the next place they look," Rachel said.
"I know. Which is why we have to hurry. I left Calvin there with a hungry vampire."
"You did what?" She grabbed my arm. "A hungry vampire?"
I flashed her a smile. She was a protector of others. Just like me.
"Like I said, that"s why we have to hurry."
CHAPTER 22.
RACHEL.
What I really needed was a few minutes to clear my head, but Lea was right. Time was not on our side. I wouldn"t be surprised to find Sean"s friends-or the supposed terrorists-waiting behind my front door.
I turned and looked at the woman next to me. I"d met her less than twenty-four hours ago, yet here I was, literally trusting her with my life. Letting her make major decisions that could get me killed.
All I had to go on were my instincts. They"d served me well in Iraq. I"d be stupid not to listen to them now. And everything in me said she was my best option-at least at the moment.
"You don"t seemed too fazed by any of this," I said, hustling to keep up with her brisk pace. "This must be just another day at the office for you."
"I could say the same about you." She glanced over her shoulder. "Nice shot, by the way."
"It helped having a dad and brothers who were all about teaching me self-defense."
"That was well past self-defense."
I grinned. "Let"s just say I"m an overachiever." We were silent for a moment, then I asked, "So this is what you do? Run around catching monsters?"