Aurora Sky Vampire Hunter - By Nikki Jefford Page 0,72

garage door had been left open. Renard pulled in. James got out and pulled me with him. The other vampire quickly joined us and grabbed my other arm.

Renard led us into the house through a connecting door inside the garage. It was cold and empty inside. Renard turned an overhead light on inside the hardwood living room and stepped in the center.

Switch plates were missing from the outlets. Beyond Renard's shoulder, I could see into a kitchen. It was missing all its appliances, as though the previous owners took everything they could with them besides the actual house.

"So this is a vampire hunter," Renard said, looking me over as he paced.

"She just looks like a girl," the vamp on my right said.

"She is just a girl."

I glared at him.

"A girl with very bad blood."

Renard stopped in front of me. "You think my kind shouldn't walk the earth, but the way I see it, you're the atrocity. We've been around for centuries. How long have you genetically altered freaks been around? Couple decades? You were created in a lab. We," he said, stretching out his arms, "are the chosen ones selected by nature to live for all eternity."

Renard smacked a fist into his hand. "Now, when is your freak friend going to show up at Marcus's party?"

"I told you, he's not."

Renard glanced at his cohorts. "Aurora, you've probably been wondering exactly what happened to Janine. We'll show you...starting with your arms."

Renard's goons closed in on me before I could reach for the dagger. They each took an arm in a bone crushing twist.

"Wait!" I shouted.

I needed to stall. I needed my arms back so I could grab my knife.

"Yes?" Renard said.

"I - I don't know exactly when he's coming. He likes to make a late appearance."

Luckily, Dante was safe in Kotzebue with his run-of-the-mill rabid vampire. Kind of missed those kind right now.

"What's the plan, Renard?" James asked.

"Greg and I will head back to the party to get the boy. You'll stay here and guard her until we return."

"And what should I do with her while I wait? Break every bone in her body?" James's grip tightened on my arm.

"No, I have a better idea. Bring her here, boys."

They each gripped an arm and dragged me over to Renard.

"If her blood is toxic to us perhaps our blood is poisonous to her."

We have the same blood, you fool! I felt like spitting the words at him, but that was classified. Renard looked more intent on brutality than information. At least that much was going for me. He didn't want to interrogate me - just rough me up. Lucky me.

Renard pulled out a knife.

Damn, that was my move.

Renard stepped toward me. "Then again, we could just slit her throat."

The eyes of his cronies lit up like ghoulish orbs in their sockets.

"Do it, Renard!" James yelled. "Gut her like a harpy."

I thrashed under their grip until I saw the flash of the knife's blade just under my eyes. My body seized up in terror.

"You'll have to excuse my associates. They have no imagination." Renard sliced open his wrist in one swift movement, grabbed me by the back of the head, and thrust his bleeding arm inside my mouth.

My instinct was to bite him in self-defense. I did so without thinking. When I bit down, I heard him laugh and, too late, felt the first gush of blood spurt inside my mouth. I gagged in an effort not to swallow, but the blood was already trickling down my throat.

Renard retracted his wrist and opened his mouth over mine. He covered my lips in a wet, grotesque kiss before pushing me backward. The room turned over as I fell. I couldn't move to brace myself. I was locked up, as unbending as a pine tree crashing to the ground.

My tailbone connected with the hardwood. Pain shot through my pelvis. My heart burst into a rapid succession of pattering, as though trying to punch its way out of my chest. I opened my mouth to gasp, but nothing came out. Fear. Adrenaline. They powered my performance. It needed to be convincing.

Every part of me shook: my arms, my legs, my hands, my feet.

No one said anything for several minutes.

When the shaking showed no sign of subsiding, James turned to Renard and asked, "Can we kill her now?"

"No." Renard never took his eyes off me. "We leave her like this."

"Squirming on the floor?"

Renard's eyes widened like a sinister grin over his face. "Suffering. We'll give the