1 Chapter 1: Love, Blood, and Fangs

Marcus Cutler POV:

The thrum of energetic music filled the air of the nightclub, while the floor was filled with people allowing that music to guide their movements. Most of these people had come out to have a fun night. Two had come to use this place as a hunting ground, myself included.

And of those two, only one of would walk out of here.

I moved across the dance floor silently, easily slipping between people as I searched for my prey, and the signs that would point me to them.

And then I saw her.

For all intents and purposes, she looked like a beautiful young woman in her twenties. A mass of golden curls fell from her head, her eyes were sparkling in the low light of the club, and her open smile revealed pure white teeth. But those eyes were a deep burgundy, and a careful look at her smile would reveal unnaturally long canine teeth. Her beauty itself was unnatural, possessing a quality that would make her visible no matter where she was in the room.

This was no young woman. This was a healthy, well-fed vampire.

I kept my distance to see whether she had noticed me, but she was too into her dance, and likely too busy searching for a suitable victim to notice the presence of a hunter.

As I tried to move closer, I noticed that the vampire was not alone. She was in the middle of a group of five other young people. A quick look confirmed the others were human, either thralls, or simply people entranced by the vampire’s beauty. Perhaps they were on her menu this evening.

As the song wound down, the vampire and her group moved to sit at a nearby table where drinks were waiting for them.

That was when I made my move.

While the vampire was talking to one of her companions, I walked past their table, depositing a small amount of powered garlic into her drink as I did. I didn’t need to see her take a sip to know she had drunk from the glass. The sound of spitting followed by violent choking was a clear indication.

Glancing over my shoulder I got to see what I had done.

The vampire’s eyes were wide, and her happy expression had been replaced by a look of panic. Her coughing had been replaced by a hoarse wheezing, and a splotchy red rash was appearing around her mouth.

The vampire’s companions quickly realized that something was very wrong, and one of them even called out that someone should call 911.

“I’m a paramedic,” I spoke up loudly as I moved back to their table. “What happened?” I asked the group.

One of them, an actual girl in her twenties, shook her head helplessly. “She just took a sip from her drink, and then …” she tried to explain.

I tried to make it look like I was examining the vampire. “She’s having an allergic reaction,” I told them. “Do any of you know her medical history?”

The group just exchanged more helpless looks.

At least that confirmed they didn’t know this person or what she really was.

“Call an ambulance,” I instructed as I picked the vampire up, cradling her in my arms. I turned to a nearby member of the club’s staff. “I need a place where I can lie her down. Is there a back room or anything?”

The staff member looked stunned and slightly alarmed (which was reasonable), but they nodded. “This way,” they told me, leading me across the room.

I was led into an employee break room where I set the vampire down on a couch. Her breathing was becoming easier; her body was already fighting off the contaminant. I didn’t have much time.

“She needs space,” I told them employee. “I’ll stay with her until help arrives.”

“Are you sure?” the employee asked. “I’m …”

“Just go!” I snapped more harshly than I meant to. They were only trying to help. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know they were trying to help a monster.

The employee didn’t try to argue a second time though, and they saw themselves out.

That meant I could work in peace.

The vampire had clearly grasped her situation, and she was trying to crawl away from me. I wasn’t going to give her the chance to get away. Pulling a knife out of my jacket, I drove it through her heart.

Contrary to popular belief, a stake, knife, or any object through the heart will not kill a vampire outright. What it does is induce a state of paralysis, that lets a vampire hunter remove the head safely, killing the vampire for real. That’s what happened now. The vampire’s body went painfully stiff as my knife pierced her. I removed the knife, knowing the paralysis would last for several more seconds. Moving quickly, I passed the knife through the vampire’s neck.

The body crumbled to dust in an instant.

I could hear voices coming from outside, and I could hear the sound of footsteps approaching. I quickly let myself out through a backdoor into an alley. I knew the scene I was leaving behind would be difficult to explain but offering explanations or justifications for vampire hunting wasn’t part of my job.

My car was parked several blocks away, a safe distance from the club. Even if the authorities got involved, I would be too far for them to tie to this easily.

Once I got back to my car, I texted my benefactors to let them know the hunt had been successful. Within seconds of sending the text, they sent an email back. It was my next assignment.

A quick look at the file told me this was going to be a difficult one.

The location was a small town in northern Ohio that had seen a spike in supernatural activity over the last six months. Vampires were the suspected cause, but there was no confirmation. My job would be to provide that confirmation, positively identify the vampires, and eliminate them.

Fortunately, I had been provided with a list of suspected vampires to make my hunt a little easier. The first three images didn’t really strike me, but the fourth told me the person who had taken the pictures had been on to something.

The woman on my screen looked like she was in her late twenties. She had long, shiny black hair, dark eyes, though I couldn’t tell the exact color from the picture, and her face was covered with a radiant smile. She was certainly beautiful enough to be a vampire.

I took a quick look at the name attached to the image.

Julia Locke. I’ll be starting with you once I get to town.

Though, if the suspicion is wrong and she isn’t a vampire, there are enough people on the list to make narrowing it down difficult.

Still, being given this assignment showed how much the Red Chapter trusted me.

I was in New York state now, and it was going to take me at least eight hours to get to the town in question. Since there was no time like the present, I put the car in drive and headed off.