Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

Stone slipped silently between two parked cars and peered out from under the bumpers to make sure the coast was clear. All was still. He sprang forward and ran across the street. Not a soul was around and he was thankful for the silence in his mind so he was able to concentrate on the task at hand. Even the crickets were silent due to his presence.

He instructed Alistair and Gunner to aid the werewolves while he and Gavin would look after the ones in Aubree’s neighborhood and the southern portion of the city.

A few minutes later, he entered Aubree’s apartment complex and met Gavin in a clump of bushes.

[Do you want to go up and check on her?] Gavin asked.

Stone hesitated before shaking his head. [No. It will only confuse her more.]

She didn’t need to be more confused than she already was. Frankly, he wasn’t ready to confront her. What would he say? It was too awkward. Besides, she started her new job in the morning. She had enough on her mind to worry about. Vampires, werewolves, and lycans shouldn’t be a concern of hers, if he could help it.

His nose wrinkled when he got a whiff of a vampire. Growling, he lowered himself to the ground and crouched in the bushes, using the scent of the earth to mask his own musk. If the wind blew in their favor, the vampire wouldn’t even get a chance to notice them before it was too late. However, if the wind carried their scent toward him, no matter how much they tried to mask their scent, the vampire would pick up on it.

Vampires usually preyed on the inebriated found in bars or clubs or walking down the streets in a drunken stupor at this time of the night. Stone didn’t pick up the smell of alcohol or drugs. What could bring a vampire into this neighborhood if not for that?

His lips curled back, revealing his large canines. Whoever this vampire was had to know about Aubree. There was no other reasonable explanation for him to be there because he wasn’t even following a human home for a late-night snack.

As the vampire came into view, dressed in jeans and a light gray sweater over a simple cotton tee, Stone picked up on the faint perfume that Carina wore to blend in with the humans.

He knew she was behind this! His instincts were always right when it came to that devious leech!

[Circle around him if he attempts to make a run for it. Try and hold him for questioning,] Stone told Gavin as he rose on his haunches, preparing to pounce when the vampire got close enough.

[Affirmative.]

The wind picked up, ruffling their fur from behind, and blowing it toward the vampire.

They both mentally swore as the vampire turned his head in their direction.

So much for nature working in their favor. The Goddess must be out to get them tonight.

Stone gritted his teeth and leaped forward. He knew it wasn’t Carina, but rather a poor soul recently turned by her.

As he approached, he could sense the newborn’s hesitation and fear, as if he couldn’t even conceive of the creature bolting at him.

He was fresh indeed. Probably just woke up from his vampiric coma and was still trying to figure out what was going on.

Stone almost felt sorry for him when he jumped on the guy and sent him crashing to the ground. He reeked of terror and his bloodshot eyes also reflected confusion. He opened his mouth to speak, but all he could rasp out was “Thirsty.”

When he didn’t fight back, Stone gingerly picked him up in his jaws and carried him to the bushes, where he promptly shifted back into his human form, and Gavin took over pinning him to the ground.

The poor kid couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen, and already his life was ruined.

Stone would have the honor of putting him out of his misery. Death was better than living a life sentence to sucking the vital fluids of human beings and other living creatures.

Standing over the vampire, he looked down upon him with cold, calculating eyes. “Who sent you, leech?”

The pale kid had ruffled red hair and he looked from Gavin to Stone, and back to the snarling beast pinning him down. He seemed unable to make sense of Stone’s question. “Water,” he managed to croak.

Frowning, Stone shook his head. “Water’s not what you need, and I can’t allow you to quench your thirst. That would make me an even greater monster than I already am.”

Gavin snorted in the boy’s face, bits of spittle striking his cold cheeks.

Whimpering in fear, the teen grimaced from the spray.

“I’ll ask you nicely once more,” Stone said, glowering down at the teenager. “Who sent you?”

“I live here,” he choked out. “I was just going home. Please, my throat burns. Give me water.”

Even though his heart skipped a beat, Stone refrained from recoiling and maintained control over his emotions. He knew better than to show any hint of weakness with a vampire—even one as oblivious as this one.

[Carina must be nearby,] he mentally told Gavin.

[How could she know, though?] Gavin asked.

Stone shook his head. [She’s always been a cunning one. She’d have to be to live for over a millennium.]

To the bloodsucker, he said, “How long?”

The vampire hissed in pain as Gavin pressed down harder on him when he started squirming then. “Not long. Four years.”

“So, you’re not visiting from another city? This is your current residence?” Stone asked.

“Yes! Please, whoever you are, just give me water!” he begged.

Stone crouched down next to him as his eyes grew wide. “I have nothing to give you.”

The newborn struggled to swallow, squeezing his eyes shut with the effort.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” Stone asked.

The teen pursed his lips and shook his head. “I-I was on my way home from the campus library. I-I don’t remember what happened after I got off the bus.”

Stone narrowed his eyes at him. “So, it was right here?”

“I don’t know!”

[I swear, I didn’t pick up anything last night!] Gavin said.

His massive form grunted, closing his eyes in regret as a low whine reverberated from his throat, causing the kid to flinch.

[Gawain, calm yourself,] Stone reminded him.

Disgusted with himself, Gavin’s ear’s flattened. [But if Carina snatched him right out from under my nose...]

Stone shook his head. [No doubt, Carina’s picked up on Aubree’s scent, as well as ours, and knows this is her location. All we can do now is be diligent in our efforts to keep her safe. Carina can’t enter Aubree’s apartment without prior invitation. As for entering the building itself, who knows?]

He turned to the young man and tried to keep the feelings of regret from bubbling up from his stomach. Despite his pity for the boy, he knew he had to tell him the truth. “Do you know what you are now? What you’ve become since last night?”

Apprehensively, the newborn coughed and shook his head, no.

“It is with regret that I inform you that you’ve become a vampire.”

His bloodshot eyes grew large in disbelief.

Stone lowered his voice as he leaned an inch closer to him. “And my job... is to eliminate your species.”

Rising to his feet, Stone stepped back as the young man began to cough, hiss, and thrash under Gavin’s enormous paws.

“May your god have mercy on your soul.”