Tags:
Science-Fiction,
Action & Adventure,
Urban Fantasy,
vampire,
paranormal romance,
Short-Story,
new adult,
alaska,
vampire hunter,
mature young adult,
Novella,
new adult fantasy,
alaska adventure,
aurora sky,
valerie ward
expect would happen? Was he supposed to
suddenly combust with a drop of her blood?
Whatever had happened made Roger smile again with
those horrific Parana teeth. Someone ought to knock them out of his
mouth. Valerie had half a mind to do it if it didn’t mean having to
touch the disgusting things.
“Didn’t work,” Roger said with a smug smile. “How
I’ve missed the sweet taste of untainted blood.”
He leapt forward.
This time Valerie was quicker. She snatched the knife
from her back pocket and jabbed it forward, unsure where she’d
struck him, only knowing she had found flesh.
Roger screamed.
“Who’s screaming now?” Valerie yelled, taking a step
back, knife gripped in her right palm and ready if she needed to
use it again.
“How’d she get that knife?” Crist asked in alarm.
Roger groaned,
muffling Melcher ’ s
answer.
The sharp-toothed freak clutched his stomach. He took
a step back, lips curling.
“You’re evil,” he snarled at Valerie.
Valerie tossed her hair back. “I’m your worst
nightmare, asshole.” She glanced at the agents quickly. Even with
Roger wounded she wasn’t taking her eyes off him for more than a
split second. “Want me to finish him off?”
Roger’s head, which had bent as he cradled his
mid-section, suddenly lifted, eyes round as gumballs. “ No! You can ’t let her. You promised
me blood if I bit her. I bit her. I’m not one of the others. My
brain works fine. You can’t kill me. You need me. You said you
needed me.”
Melcher, who’d been standing aside being as useful as
a mannequin in a men’s department store, finally cleared his throat
and stepped forward. “Calm down, Roger. No one else is getting
killed today.”
“Really?” Valerie asked. “Because I was just getting
warmed up.”
Still clutching his stomach, Roger glared at her.
With his lips pulled back in disdain he looked more hideous than
before. “Has anyone ever told you what a bitch you are?”
“All the time,” Valerie said, as though being
complimented. “Has anyone ever told you what an ugly son of a bitch
you are?”
Roger’s nostrils flared. He took a sudden step
forward then winced.
Valerie immediately lifted her knife. “You want more
of this, Roger? Huh? How about I stab you through the heart this
time?”
“Crist, get the guards,” Melcher said.
Agent Crist walked to the door swiftly and pounded on
it with her knuckle. A moment later the two young military men from
before entered. One of them approached Roger with handcuffs.
“Don’t bother,” Melcher said. “Get him to the infirmary.”
One of the guards glanced at Valerie quickly. She
rewarded him with a flirtatious smile, one he didn’t return. Fine.
Not like men in jungle suits attracted her.
They each grabbed an arm. Before they could turn
Roger around, he locked eyes with Valerie and said, “I can’t wait
until the day a vampire takes you down. I hope he drains you
slowly.”
Heat flooded Valerie’s head. It was true what they
say about redheads having tempers, and Valerie’s was about a
hundred degrees hotter than the average Reds.
She started toward Roger. She knew she wouldn’t be
able to get past his body guards, but she wanted to give him a
little start. It seemed to work. He flinched and released one hand
on his stomach to clutch at the nearest guard.
Valerie stopped and shot Roger her death glare. “You
make me bleed, I bleed you. And that goes for any other vampire who
tries to come after me. So next time you see your little fanged
friends, tell them to steer clear of Valerie Williams.”
“Get him out of here,” Melcher said.
The guards dragged Roger out in seconds. Once gone,
Valerie placed her hand on her hip, knife in her other hand, at her
side. “Are we done now?”
Melcher ’s
shoulders sagged. “The toxin didn’t work.” He looked at Crist.
“Maybe it really won’t work on AB positive.”
“Or maybe it’s her,” Crist said.
Melcher blinked once and then looked
John R. Little and Mark Allan Gunnells
Sean Thomas Fisher, Esmeralda Morin